waiting.
The guard was oblivious to anything but his evening entertainment.
Swiftly, without so much as a rustle, Marc sprinted across the lawn, moving between the gaps in the floodlight beams, until he reached the eastern garden. He squatted down and whipped out the penlight flashlight he kept in the pocket of his jeans. Flicking it on, he anchored it between his teeth and aimed it downward.
It took about two minutes to find the spot in the shrubbery that Ryan had described in detail. It took less time than that to retrieve Gecko, stick him in the backpack and retrace his steps to the fence.
Again, Marc remained crouched, waiting, sizing up the situation inside the security booth.
The guard was stretching. He scratched his head and looked idly around, using commercial time to do a perfunctory check of the area.
The game resumed. The guard’s scrutiny of his surroundings ended, and his attention shifted back to whichever Yankee was at bat.
Marc was up and over the fence, and on his way to his car before the ump could call strike one.
It was after eleven when Marc strode into the brownstone.
Casey and Ryan were pacing the floors. They jumped on Marc the instant he stepped inside.
“Did you find Gecko?” Ryan demanded.
“Yup.” Marc whipped the little critter out of his backpack and turned him over to Ryan. “Nice directions. He was right where you said he would be.”
“And no one saw you?” Casey asked, already knowing the answer.
Marc arched a brow. “A half-assed guard watching a Yankee game is not exactly a major challenge. And the positions of the floodlights were predictable as hell. Let’s face it, Casey, it’s a medical facility, not a terrorist compound.”
“I know. I wasn’t worried about the employees. I was worried about the task force.”
“No sign of them.”
“And I haven’t heard from Patrick. So, hopefully, we’re still ahead of the game.” Casey turned to Ryan. “What next?”
“Next we go to the conference room.” Ryan was already leading the way up the stairs.
Once inside, Ryan went straight over and plugged Gecko into a specially designed connector, where he began to recharge his battery and retrieve the information stored inside the little critter’s memory.
It didn’t take long for the first sights and sounds to come through.
Linda, sitting in the garden. Time passing as she gazed placidly around. Then impatience, followed by eagerness.
Abruptly, her eyes lit up and she began to wave her entire arm. “I’m here, baby. Right here.”
“Hi, Mama.” An eerily familiar voice reached their ears. “It’s so good to see you.”
Linda’s visitor came into view. She walked over, leaned down and hugged the older woman. Then, she straightened, and the camera got a full frontal view of her.
And all three of the Forensic Instincts team’s jaws dropped.
The person visiting Linda was Hope Willis.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Casey called Peg first thing the next morning, as she, Marc, Ryan and Hero headed up to Armonk in Ryan’s van.
“Nice of you to call,” Peg said in a chilly voice. “I’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday.”
“Peg, where are you?” Casey asked.
“At the Willises. We’ll be leaving to interview a person of interest in a few minutes-
“Are the Willises with you?”
“Yes. But they won’t be traveling with us.”
“I know who your person of interest is. Don’t go to Sunny Gardens,” Casey asked fervently. “Please. Not until we get to you. It’s urgent that you wait-
“Casey, I’m not playing games with you anymore. We have a job to do.”
“And you’ll do it perfectly once you have the missing pieces. If not, you’ll blow it all. Please stay put.”
A long pause. “How far away are you?”
“We can be there in forty-five minutes. Ryan’s flooring the gas.”
“Fine. Forty-five minutes is all you’ve got. Then we’re leaving.”
“Fair enough. We’ll be there.”
Patrick was pacing on the Willises’ front lawn when the van screeched up to the curb. He strode across the lawn and met Casey as she jumped out.
“What did you find?” he demanded.
“Something that will help solve both cases.” Casey was already hurrying toward the house. “I don’t know where Krissy is-yet. But I will.
“You’d better be right. And your information had better be good.”
“I am and it is. What does the task force know?”
“Everything about Linda Turner. First of all, they drew the same conclusion we did. But they needed grounds to descend on Sunny Gardens. So they got them. Since Linda was clearly trying to keep her condition a secret, the task force got a list of doctors she’d worked with when she was employed by the hospital. In no time, they found the private practice of the semiretired doctor who was treating her. The pharmacy she used was two blocks away from his office.”
“Who gave them what they needed-the doctor or the pharmacist?”
“Both. All her medical records were confidential, but Peg spoke to one pharmacist who recognized Linda, and who said they hadn’t been supplying her with prescription meds for over a month. The pharmacist’s impression was that Linda was moving to an on-site facility. When the task force took that information to the doctor, and impressed upon him the urgency of the situation, the doctor confirmed that he’d recommended Sunny Gardens to Linda. Between that, and the fact that Claudia Mitchell was murdered right after interviewing at that facility…”
“The task force got the warrants they needed. So they were on their way to Sunny Gardens when I called.”
“Oh, yeah. They were furious about waiting. Peg put her neck on the line for you, amid lots of dissent. So, like I said, you’d better have some hard, solid evidence to give them.”
“And, like I said, I do.” Casey paused outside the front door. “Thank you, Patrick. I know how hard this was for you, not only because of how badly you want to solve the Felicity Akerman case, but because you strayed a hair from the straight and narrow.”
His jaw tightened. “I did it for one reason-I think you’re good enough to crack this without being bogged down by bullshit. That doesn’t mean I approve of your methods. It means I’m desperate enough to tolerate them.”
“Let’s get inside.” Marc had come up behind them, along with Ryan, who was carrying his laptop and the shocking video-
The whole group went inside, converging in the media room, where most of the task force, including Hutch and Grace, along with Claire, the Willises, and Vera and Sidney Akerman were waiting.
Hope practically raced forward, grabbing Casey’s arm with sheer desperation. “Did you find Linda? Was she at that place Sunny Gardens?”
“Yes.” Casey studied Hope intently, saw the genuine emotion in her eyes. Not that any confirmation was necessary. Still, she was relieved to get it.
“Did you talk to her? Did she tell you where Krissy was?”
