Got Your Number (36 page)

Her phone rang, and Mike Brown was on the other end with the time and place of the polygraph the following day. "I'll drive you," he offered. "I have to dress a couple of hams, but I should be through in plenty of time."

She had the feeling that dressing the hams didn't involve matching shoes and handbags. "Mike, I want to thank you for all your help, and I'd like to pay you for your trouble."

"Ah, forget about it," he said. "Just getting to know you has been a pleasure."

She imagined him pushing up his glasses. "I think you're nice, too," she said.

"See you tomorrow," he said cheerfully. "Call me if you need anything."

Angora hung up the phone thinking that Mike Brown was the kind of man who probably put away a lot of meat loaf and gravy. Heck, he probably
grew
his own meat loaf.

She reached for the remote and turned on the TV. Carl's murder and the death of Frank Cape were all the rage on the local news. She shivered at her brush with danger. Her guardian angel must have senior status to have gotten her through this mess.

A honking noise blared into her room, startling her. The source of the intermittent sound wasn't readily apparent, but she deduced it was some kind of alarm. She sat up, holding one hand against her bandages. The intercom beeped.

"The fire alarm has been sounded. If you're able, please vacate your room and proceed to the nearest exit. Emergency personnel will be around to make sure each room has been evacuated. The fire alarm has been sounded... "

Her heart beat faster as she swung her feet over the edge of the bed. The movement pulled at her incisions, sending burning pain through her abdomen. She inhaled sharply. Her room was on the eighth floor—how would she ever make it down the stairs?

The door to her room swung open and she sighed in relief at the sight of Nell Oney. "Dr. Oney, thank goodness you're here. Can you help me? Over there are my house shoes, and my coat is in that closet."

But instead, the woman locked the door and walked toward her, smiling. "There is no fire."

Chapter 33

Roxann slammed down the phone—Angora's line was still busy. Nearing panic, she tore downstairs and outside into the parking lot, praying that Capistrano had been delayed. It would take her forever to flag a taxi. She spotted the Dooley pulling away from her and her immense relief fueled a burst of adrenaline. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, waving and screaming at the top of her lungs. "Wait! Capistrano, wait!" Just when her fear peaked, the brake lights came on. She stumbled, recovered, and flung herself toward the truck.

He opened the door. "What's wrong?"

She was too winded to talk. "To the hospital... fast." She yanked open the passenger side door and vaulted inside.

Capistrano pulled out, following her hand directions. "Did something happen to Angora?"

"I can't... be sure... but I think... she's in danger."

"From whom?"

"Nell."

"What?"

She took a deep breath and exhaled. "I found a page from the ME report that fell under the credenza in the hotel room. Carl's middle name is Chester."

He frowned. "I don't get it."

"Nell's favorite cat, the one she dotes on, is named Chester."

He scratched his temple. "Okay."

"I think she's been in love with him all these years. I think she put Frank Cape up to killing Carl."

"That's a pretty big leap, Roxann."

"No. I remembered something that Cape said when he told me he killed Carl. He said a lot of good it did him, and that nobody keeps their word. I think Nell struck a bargain with him—kill Carl, and she'd find out where Melissa was living."

"Did she find out?"

"No, but not for lack of trying. She asked me several times, and my supervisor said she'd even been in touch with him about the case. And I distinctly remember a conversation where she asked about Melissa and Renita." She shook her head. "I never mentioned their names."

"But how would she have gotten in touch with Cape?"

"I'm guessing through Elise James—she ran with a pretty bad element." She wet her lips. "Elise is dead, by the way. Overdose on prescription drugs that were laced with something. But I'm starting to wonder... "

"Go on."

"I wonder if Nell was the one who gave her the drugs. She's been ill, and I stumbled across enough prescription painkillers in her cabinet to take out a herd of elephants."

He quirked an eyebrow. "What else do you have?"

"She tried to divert suspicion in the Tammy Paulen case to Angora, tried to convince me that Angora was guilty and unstable. I'll bet she told others the same thing."

"To protect Seger."

"Probably."

He pointed to the file between them. "Do you remember the date the Paulen girl was killed?"

"Yeah, it was December second, 1992."

"Look in that folder for a copy of Dr. Seger's bio. It's four or five pages stapled together."

"Why? What am I looking for?"

"Just a hunch, but check the dates on his list of speaking engagements."

She found the paper, which listed Dr. Seger's accomplishments. A resume of sorts, including an exhaustive list of seminars he'd given. Roxann scanned the dates, then stopped. "November twenty-ninth through December third, Carl was giving a seminar in Philadelphia."

Capistrano whistled low. "Think he loaned his car to anyone to use while he was gone?"

"Someone who doesn't have a car." She closed her eyes. "I can't believe it. Angora said that she told Carl she'd seen his car leaving the scene."

"So he knew that Dr. Oney had done it."

"Right. Maybe he called Nell, threatened to blackmail her. Maybe that's when she contacted Cape and made the deal or sped up the deal they'd already made."

Capistrano's mouth tightened. "If we realized that Seger wasn't around when the Paulen girl was killed, someone else will eventually notice, too. And without Angora around to testify... "

She nodded, reeling. Nell... lonely Nell. Had she stayed holed up in her little house quietly going mad?

He picked up the phone. "What's the name of the hospital?"

"Holy Cross."

He punched in a number and asked directory assistance for a direct connection. "Security please," he said. "This is urgent." Then he frowned. "What?... When?... Thank you."

He disconnected the call. "The hospital has been evacuated for a possible fire. The fire department is on its way."

"Think it's a coincidence?" she asked.

He pulled a blue siren from beneath his seat, rolled down the window, and stuck it to the top of the cab. "Darlin', there are very few coincidences in this world."

Chapter 34

Angora allowed Nell to plump her pillow and brush off the crumbs. "Thank you."

"I brought you something," Nell said, holding up a white bag. "Jelly doughnuts and milk."

Angora smiled—maybe she'd misjudged Dr. Oney. She'd thought for some reason that the woman didn't like her. "Thank you. The food here is terrible."

Nell handed her a doughnut and opened a pint carton of milk. "Go ahead and eat. I had one already."

She frowned at the message still playing over the intercom. "If there's no fire, why don't they turn off the alarm?"

"They probably have to wait for the fire department to reset it."

Angora bit into the doughnut—the food of all foods, in her opinion. Dee wouldn't even allow them in the house. Ooh, and whole milk. Wow. She took a big drink, then winced. "This milk tastes funny."

"It's fresh," Nell assured her. "I just bought it in the cafeteria."

"Oh. I'm used to drinking skim."

"That must be it," Nell agreed.

She took another large bite and swallow of milk, "Roxann said she was coming over."

"I'm sorry I'll miss her. I can't stay very long."

"Roxann really thinks the world of you, you know."

Nell looked sad. "I think the world of her, too." She stood and walked around the room with her hands clasped behind her, as if she were in the classroom giving a lecture. "I hear that you've been spreading lies about Dr. Seger."

She stopped mid-chew and talked through a mouthful of jelly. "Huh?"

"Mike Brown said you told the police that you had a sexual encounter with Carl in his office."

She swallowed and tried to speak, but her throat was dry and tingly. She downed another drink of milk, then laid her head back. "I wasn't lying. It... happened."

"You lying little glutton of a bitch," Nell said in a calm voice.

But Angora wasn't sure she heard her correctly, because something was wrong. Her head felt funny, and her stomach burned—inside
and
out.

"He also said that you saw Carl driving away from the scene the night that Tammy Paulen was killed."

"I... did." She moaned and clutched her stomach.

"That makes two lies, Angora.
I
was driving Carl's car. I saw that little slut in the road and I ran over her." She laughed. "Not only did I not slow down—I actually sped up. She was pregnant, you know. She told me it was Carl's baby, but she was a liar, too."

Nell walked over and lifted Angora's hand, then dropped several capsule halves from her own gloved hand and closed Angora's fingers over the bits of plastic.

Angora couldn't resist her—she had no control over her limbs. She watched as Nell guided her hand over the tray table and allowed the empty capsules that now had her fingerprints on them to fall out and roll next to the carton of milk.

"But those are our little secrets, Angora. You can take them to your grave. Which should be very shortly considering the amount of painkiller I put in that milk."

Angora's tongue seemed to overflow her mouth. She couldn't talk, but she could hear every word the sick woman was saying.

"I thought they'd lock you up for sure. I set you up with a dim farmer who thinks he's F. Lee Bailey. He told me things because he thought I was trying to help you." She laughed. "I think the poor clod is in love with you."

"Help... me," Angora whispered.

"Oh, but I am. You see, you have the reputation of being unstable. Did you know there's schizophrenia in your family? It's hereditary. I know because my mother was schizophrenic." She laughed. "But I digress. You were depressed, Angora. You were just jilted at the altar, then all this business with Carl, then your surgery. You were so overcome with grief that you took your own life with pills you stole from my kitchen cabinet. I made a point of telling my sister when I went to Indy that someone had been pilfering my medicine." She sighed. "So you see, everyone will believe you simply gave up."

Angora fought the urge to give in to sleep. This was the third time in as many days that she'd thought she was dying, and Dee always said that the third time was the charm. Where was that senior guardian angel? Oh, boy, she was a goner this time, taken down by jelly doughnuts.

Chapter 35

Roxann ran down the hall, looking for Angora's room number. The acrid smell of smoke was even stronger on this floor, although she didn't see smoke. Capistrano was behind her, followed by two security guards. She was short of breath from running the eight flights of stairs.