makes me feel?"
"Please, give me another chance." He leaned forward, expression earnest. "I love my job. If I lost it...or you, I don"t know what I"d do."
"You"re not going to lose my friendship."
"I would never deliberately hurt you."
"I know that." And she did-no matter what her sister thought. "I need you to tell me more about this
woman. What she looked like. What she-"
That night at Ian"s office. The woman who took the file.
"Oh, my G.o.d."
"What?"
She brought a hand to her mouth. She couldn"t believe she hadn"t made the connection before. She had
been hurting, not thinking clearly.
But now she was.
She had to tell Stacy. This could be it, the break that would lead to the real killer. And to Ian"s freedom.
"This woman, Ted, I think she might have been in Ian"s office. The night after he was arrested."
He frowned. "I don"t understand."
"I haven"t told this to anyone else. That night, I went to his office. I thought maybe the police had missed
something. Something that would help prove his innocence.
"It was late. I let myself in the back. I didn"t want to draw attention to myself, so I didn"t turn on the lights.
"Someone walked in on me. A woman. I hid in the supply closet."
He went white. "My G.o.d, Jane."
She continued as if he hadn"t spoken, working to remember details of the woman"s appearance. "She
came in the same way I had, through the back. She was dressed entirely in black and had a pen-light.
She went directly to the file cabinet, removed something, then left."
"What did she take?"
"I don"t know for sure. I think a patient file."
"So her name wouldn"t be found by the police."
"Exactly. Why else remove a file? She didn"t want the police to connect her to Ian"s practice."
"She had a key, then?"
"Maybe. But I don"t think I locked the door after me. I know I didn"t set the alarm. It wasn"t set when I arrived."
For several moments he said nothing. She sensed he was processing what she had told him. "Even if you didn"t lock the door behind you, which would have been very stupid, by the way, although as the recently crowned king of stupidity, I have no right to talk, how had she intended to get in? She was either going to break in...or she had a key."
"Ian and I both have keys. So did-"
Marsha. Of course.
Had the police checked to see if her keys were missing?
Of course not. Why would they have? That would have been outside their frame of reference-proving
Ian"s guilt.
She saw by Ted"s expression that he had come to the same conclusion as she. "Whoever killed Marsha
could have taken it. She could have coaxed the alarm code out of her as well. And used both to remove
a piece of incriminating evidence from the office."
Jane rested her head against the pillow, acknowledging exhaustion. "Truthfully, I don"t think she would have been worried about the alarm code. She knew exactly what she was looking for. By the time the police arrived, she would have been long gone."
"What can I do to help?" Ted asked.
She tipped her face to his. "What did she look like?"
"Dark hair. Short and sleek. She was one of those intense-looking chicks. You know what I mean?"
She shook her head that she didn"t and he went on. "Not pretty in a soft way. Sharp features. But s.e.xy."
"Height? Weight?"
"Medium height. Maybe five-six. Slim."
Jane had been able to make out little of the woman that night in the office, but the woman"s size sounded
similar. And she"d had dark hair, either short or pulled back from her face.
"What was her name?"
"Bonnie."
"Bonnie? That"s it?" He nodded. "You didn"t ask for her number?"
"She got away before I could."
"Have you seen her since?"
"No."
"Before that night?"
He shook his head.
"She told you she was a student at UT Dallas, but that could have been a lie. If what I"m thinking is true,
it probably was."
"She definitely lived here," he offered. "We talked about the city. She knew Dallas."
Jane searched her memory. Sometimes Ian would mention a patient by first name only. She didn"t recall a
Bonnie-if that was even her real name. She would have Elton ask Ian, anyway.
"I could go on a bar crawl. See if I can find her."
"Where would you start?"
"She had several tattoos. All spiders. Talked about several local clubs. A place called the Web in the
Fair Park area. Another one called The Black Widow. I think that one"s on Greenville. I could branch out from there."
"I don"t know, Ted. If she"s the one, she"s dangerous. And if she discovered you were on to her-"
"She won"t." He smiled, squeezed her fingers and stood. "Don"t worry about me. The worst trouble I might get myself into is a killer hangover. That"s why it"s called a crawl, you know."
Jane wasn"t convinced. "Maybe I should talk to Stacy. She or Mac could tail you. If you found her they
could back you up."
He made a face. "Your sister and I don"t see eye to eye. And that partner of hers, he gives me the creeps."
"Mac? He"s a little intense, but creepy?"
"Let"s see what I can do on my own. When I locate her we can call in the Mounties."
She acquiesced. "But only if you promise to be careful."
"I lived through a stint in the navy, remember?" He crossed to the bedroom door, then stopped and