"There"s got to be a connection between ComTele and this mess. I can feel it," she said angrily and started pacing back and forth.
McGrath poured a cup of coffee and thrust it at her. She took it and continued pacing, absently pulling at her eyebrow and frowning.
He watched her and smiled. She"d make a good cop, he thought. "Sit down, before you wear a path in my floor," he said. Rae sat and drank her coffee. He smiled fondly at this woman.
"You could have been seriously hurt last night, young lady," he scolded.
"You sound like my father," Rae accused and smiled.
"If I were related to you..." he started and stopped as Rae shot him a curious look.
"What did you say?"
Rae paced, her mind racing. He gave her a skeptical look. "I said if I were related to you." McGrath just let her go and waited. She stopped dead in her tracks and rubbed her forehead.
"Mike Porter. Porter, Billings." Her mind raced, trying to make the curious connection. Then it hit her. "It can"t be," she said in awe. "Okay. Stay with me."
McGrath said nothing but leaned forward and listened.
"Mike Porter works part time at ComTele. I was reading his application, and his mother"s name is Mary Billings."
"So," McGrath said.
"So. One of the members of the board of directors at ComTele is Arthur M. Billings," Rae said, and his eyes lit up for a moment as he grabbed the phone.
"Check one Arthur M. Billings, ComTele Industries, here in Chicago. I want everything, including family members, and I need it now." He put the phone down and rubbed his hands together. "A long shot," he warned.
"Maybe. And maybe not. ComTele has just gotten federal funding for medical research, hence the reason for the security system. This morning, they were in a meeting with a pharmaceutical company."
"You"re reaching, I"m afraid. Either that, or you"re psychic." He scratched his head. "But I believe everything else. Your professor sees these two with students the other day. Ordinarily, no big deal. But put it all together with everything that"s been happening to you... d.a.m.n, we need something to go on," he said helplessly. "If this Porter kid is related to Billings, and if we had some hard evidence on the two of them..."
Then another idea raced through her mind. Rae pulled a videotape out of her coat pocket and looked at it. "Even though we"re in the digital age, I"m glad I still make a videotape as a backup. Here"s three days of surveillance at ComTele." She shrugged.
McGrath snorted. "What are the odds of something being on that tape?"
Rae shrugged and smiled wickedly, waving the tape. He grabbed it from her and walked out into the precinct office and over to a television.
They sat there for a moment while McGrath put on his gla.s.ses, studying the remote. Rae waited patiently, wanting to rip it out of his hands. "My wife never lets me play with these things."
"It"s a guy thing. May I?" Rae asked patiently and s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of his hands.
They both watched. Not much was on there. Just employees riding the elevator. She sighed impatiently and fast-forwarded over the empty timeframe. She stopped when the video showed several people taking the elevator at various times. No one she recognized. "s.h.i.t," she mumbled and continued.
"I"m afraid this is a dead end," he started and stopped when he realized Rae wasn"t listening. She was staring at the screen. He looked and noticed an old man in the elevator.
"Someone you know?" he asked hopefully.
"Mr. Arthur M. Billings," she said as they watched.
Mr. Billings nervously paced back and forth in the elevator as he mopped his brow. The elevator doors opened, and he started to leave, then backed up and put up his hands. With that, two arms reached in and pulled him out. That was it.
"Hmm." McGrath whistled. Rae stared at the video, wishing for audio.
"It"s not evidence, could have been over anything," he said a bit dejected.
Just then, a young woman came up to him with a manila envelope. He took it and motioned Rae back into his office. Rae took the tape out and followed.
McGrath read the contents and raised an eyebrow, then handed it to Rae. She read it and looked up. "His nephew, I knew it. Now what"s the correlation between them and Amy Davis?"
"Drugs," he said pointedly as he snapped his fingers. Rae watched him as he walked over to the file cabinet and took out a folder. "Amy Davis"s file." He leafed through it. He stopped and smiled slightly as he slid it over to Rae.
He pointed to a section of the autopsy report. Rae read it twice. This was not in the report that Delia had shown her at breakfast the other day.
"A drug or substance of unknown origin, more than likely an amphetamine. Further tests can be administered." She looked up at McGrath. "I"m a.s.suming this is not the traces of cocaine that were found?"
"Correct."
"Were there further tests done?" she asked anxiously.
"Nope. Guess who convinced her parents not to?" He smiled as if he just swallowed the canary.
"Pam Rodriguez." Rae stared at the report.
"Yep. Read farther down. Detective Halloran was on this one."
Rae read his short report.
I advised them to go on. However, it was already determined an accident and the case closed. Ms. Rodriguez told them it was over, an accident. Why let them destroy her body any further? I couldn"t force them, it was already over.
Rae looked up at him, and he nodded as if reading her mind.
"We need to find these people." He looked at his door, and two detectives stood there, shaking their heads.
"Jerry Truman hasn"t been seen for three days. Mike Porter and Molly Eastman were no-shows at the university. Pam Rodriquez is MIA. Her store is locked up."
"d.a.m.n it," McGrath cursed and slammed his desk. "Well, what are you standing around for? Get back out there and find them!"
They turned and walked out. Rae rubbed her tired eyes. This was going no place very quickly. She had a bad feeling that something was going to happen soon. Then she had an idea.
"Lieutenant, no one knows what"s on this tape or that it even exists, for that matter."
"Your point, I"m afraid to ask?" he asked cautiously.
Rae paced, then smiled at him. "I think a visit to ComTele would be in order."
"I"ll go with you," he said firmly, and Rae shook her head.
"No, listen. So far, we have no hard evidence. Now here"s my plan."
McGrath winced. He was beginning to get a bad feeling about this, a very bad feeling.
Chapter 30.
"Gin!" Jane exclaimed happily as she set the cards on the table.
"That"s three hands in a row. I think you"re cheating," Sarah scolded and tossed down her cards. She then looked at her watch-almost two o"clock. Delia was sound asleep, and Sarah motioned to Jane.
"Let"s go down to the cafeteria, I"m starved."
Jane agreed and walked over to Delia and kissed her forehead. Her eyes opened, and she smiled sleepily. "Hey," she whispered.
"Hey yourself. The professor and I are going to get a bite to eat. We"ll be right back."
"Don"t leave the hospital. Rae should be checking in soon." She yawned and faded off again.
Jane stood there for an instant, watching her. Sarah walked up behind her. "C"mon, sweetie, let her sleep."
"Cafeteria food leaves lots to be desired," Sarah announced and tossed down the sandwich. Jane laughed and excused herself. Sarah looked up. "I don"t blame you, my stomach is grumbling."
Jane headed down the corridor to the restrooms.
"Keep walking, Jane," a voice whispered behind her.
She turned to see Mike Porter, white-faced and perspiring, looking around the hall. "Mike...what on earth?"
"Don"t talk. C"mon move, Jane."
They walked quickly out the nearest door, then down the path to the parking lot and over to the red sedan.
"Okay, Jane, drive," he hissed. Jane complied and pulled away.
"Mike, please, what are you doing? This is insane. Where did you get a gun?"
He laughed sadly. "That is the least of my worries."
Jane glanced at him as she drove. "Whatever you"re in to, this is no way to get out of it. Surely, something can be done."
"Nothing can be done!" he yelled helplessly. He was shaking as if he were sick.
"What"s the matter with you?" Jane tried to concentrate on the road. He wiped the sweat off his brow.
"The same thing that"s wrong with Pam. He got us all. Well, all except poor Amy." He gave a dejected chuckle. "She"s better off. We"re still here in this s.h.i.thole," he yelled and hit his fist on the dashboard. Jane flinched and watched the road. His hands were shaking so badly Jane thought the gun would go off.
"Just drive, Jane. Just drive." He sighed as the tears rolled down his face.
Sarah searched everywhere. Jane was nowhere. She asked everyone and anyone, and no one saw her. It was as though she vanished in thin air.
Frantically, she ran up to Delia"s room, praying that Jane would be there. She walked in. Delia smiled, then looked beyond her.
"Where"s Jane?"
Sarah put a shaky hand to her forehead and explained. Delia was reaching for the phone, and Sarah rushed over and handed it to her.
"Delia, I"m sorry. I don"t know where in the world she could have gotten to," Sarah said. Delia waved her off.
"It"s not your fault. She"s got to be someplace. Maybe she went to the gift shop or something."
Sarah shook her head. "I checked everywhere. She was just going to the bathroom."
Delia dialed Rae"s number and got voice mail. "s.h.i.t," she cursed and left a quick message to call.
With that, Rae came through the door. Sarah flew to her and wrapped her arms around her neck.
"What the h.e.l.l"s wrong?"
Sarah pulled back and let her go. She wiped her eyes and walked back into the room, saying nothing. Delia explained, and Rae sighed helplessly. She then walked up behind Sarah and put her hands on her shoulders.
"It"s not your fault. We"ll find her. She"s probably buying more flowers for Delia." She kissed her head.
Sarah laughed and patted her hand but walked away from her. Rae frowned for an instant, completely aware of the cool distance between them. However, right now, she had more on her mind.
Delia was already on the phone with the precinct.
"Delia, have them look for the red sedan. You never know, let"s keep all bases covered," Rae said with cool authority. Sarah watched her; she seemed detached and all business. "They can patrol the area of the hospital, Pam"s bookstore, and Jane"s apartment."
"Call McGrath and keep me posted, Dan." Delia nodded to Rae. She put the phone down and stared at it.
Rae walked up to her and kissed the top of her head. "We"ll find her," she promised, and Delia only nodded as she fought back her tears.
Sarah sat with a dejected sigh but said nothing.
Rae told them of the morning"s activities, and both listened. Delia was amazed. "Holy s.h.i.t. That"s all that was on the tape? Now what?"
"Here"s the plan. I"m going back to ComTele and have a discussion with Mr. Billings if he"s in. Then I"ll stop by The Snake Pit and spread the word that I have a certain video from ComTele. I"m going home to wait. McGrath will be skulking about. Hopefully, someone will take the bait." She shrugged.
Sarah listened in horror. "Why you? Why can"t the police tell Mr. Billings about the tape?"
"They"re already hiding like rats. If the police show their face, we"ll never get them out. They have to think I"m acting on my own. Look, I don"t think Delia"s. .h.i.t-and-run was an accident. I think everything that has happened to all of us has been done to scare me away. Now Jane..." Her voice trailed off as she tiredly sat.