'Quit interrupting and let me finish,' Dallas said. 'I talked to the man who delivered the package. He told me he went to
Renard's home first. She wasn't there, and so he headed over to the hospital. He said she signed for the package in the
emergency room.'
'Why do we care where she was when she signed for it?' John asked.
'I was getting to that,' Dallas replied. 'The messenger remembered that, when he was pulling out of the parking lot, he almost
ran into an ambulance as it came flying by. He said another ambulance was right behind the first, and while he waited, he saw
the medics unload four boys. He remembers seeing a lot of blood on their clothes.'
'So?' Preston prodded.
'So, my guess is that Dr. Renard was pretty busy last night.'
'We're supposed to hang tight because you guess the doctor didn't have time to read the files and call the police?' Cameron asked.
'Will you shut up?' Dallas snapped. 'As soon as Monk got to Bowen, he drove over to the St. Claire hospital. Sure enough,
Dr. Renard had been in surgery. Monk told one of the aides that he wanted to talk to the doctor about a financial opportunity
and asked her if he should wait. The aide told him that Renard had two back-to-back surgeries and wouldn't be done for several more hours.'
'What else?' John asked. He was sitting behind his desk, drumming his fingers on the blotter. Dallas resisted the urge to stop him.
'The slip showed she signed for the delivery at exactly five-fifteen,' Dallas said, checking a notepad. 'I checked with the ambulance service, and the time of arrival at the hospital was five-twenty. So…'
'She couldn't have had time to do anything about the package,' Preston said.
Dallas continued. 'While Renard was in surgery, Monk put a tap on the phone line to her house. When he got back to the
hospital, there had been a shift change in the ER. He took advantage of the opportunity to slip into the doctors' lounge and
search Renard's locker. He even had an aide helping him. He told her a package had accidentally been sent to the wrong person.'
'And she bought it?'
'Monk can be charming when he wants to,' Dallas said. 'And she was young. They didn't find anything, but she gave him all
kinds of information about Dr. Renard.'
'Maybe Renard took the package to surgery,' John suggested.
'I doubt that,' Dallas said. 'The aide said she went up with a patient.'
'Then what did Monk do?'
'He waited. It was late when Renard left the hospital, and he followed her. She made one stop on the way home. She went by
a clinic, and she had some papers in her hands when she went inside. Monk would have searched her car then, but she'd left
the motor running, which indicated she wasn't going to be there long.'
'Did she have the papers when she came back out?'
'None that he could see,' Dallas answered. 'But she was carrying a backpack. Anyway, he followed her home, waited until
he was sure she was asleep, then broke in and searched the house. He found the backpack in the laundry room and went
through it first.'
'It wasn't there.' John made the statement.
Dallas nodded.
Cameron began to pace. 'She had to have taken it to her clinic. Maybe she was thinking she'd deal with it today.'
'Monk went back and checked the clinic. It wasn't there either. He assured me he searched everything. Only problem was,
he broke a lock on her desk and decided he had to trash the place so it would look like kids had been there.'
'Where the hell is the package?' John was furious now and wasn't trying to hide it. 'I can't believe the bitch sent it to her
cousin. She hated her relatives.'
'I don't know where it is,' Dallas said. 'But it occurred to me…'
'What?' Preston urged.
'She can't possibly know what she has.'
CHAPTER TWELVE
St. Claire, Louisiana, was easy for Theo to find. Bowen was impossible. There weren't any signs pointing the way, and as Jake had indicated, the little town wasn't on a map. Loath to admit that he was lost and needed directions-a genetic flaw passed
down to the males in the family, according to his sisters, Jordan and Sydney-Theo drove around in circles until he was almost
out of gas and had to stop. When he went inside the filling station to pay, he broke down and asked the attendant if he happened
to know where Bowen was located.
The freckle-faced, slightly cross-eyed teenager nodded enthusiastically. 'I sure do know where Bowen is. Are you new in town?' Before Theo could answer, the boy asked another question. 'Are you looking for the new high school? It's over on Clement Street. Hey, I bet you are.' He paused to give Theo the once-over, then squinted up at him and nodded. 'I know why you're here.'
'You do?'
'Sure I do. You're interviewing for the coaching job, aren't you? Yeah, that's it, isn't it? You're answering the ad, aren't you?
We heard someone was maybe interested, and it's you, right? It wasn't a rumor after all. We really need help 'cause
Mr. Freeland-he's the music teacher, but I guess you already know that- doesn't know squat about football. So are you
going to take the job?'
'No, I'm not.'
'Why not? You haven't even seen the place yet. I don't think it's right to make up your mind before you even see the place.'
Theo's patience was wearing thin. 'I'm not a football coach.'
The teenager wasn't buying it. 'You look like you ought to be a coach. You got the shoulders, like maybe you used to play some football when you were young.'
When he was young? Just how old did the kid think he was? 'Look, all I want is directions-'
The teenager cut him off. 'Oh, I get it,' he said, nodding enthusiastically.
'Get what?' Theo asked in spite of his better judgment.
'It's a secret, isn't it? I mean, until the position is filled, it's like a secret. You know, when the principal
