I headed back up the stairs and kept going until I reached the landing. I could see Lesley’s office door was shut this time. It was stuck to its frame with yellow and black tape. I held down the handle, burst it open, and continued into the room. A cluster of numbered, yellow evidence markers had appeared on the floor, like a crop of angular plastic fungi. They were in a wide, flat U-shape where the end of the table would have been. The crime scene guys must have been busy with their ultraviolet lights.
The laboratory bottle had also been replaced with an evidence marker, but the trolley was still there. It was in the same place it had been when I was here with Weston. And the leather straps were just as empty. Tanya wasn’t attached to it. And if she ever had been, there was no sign of her now.
I took out my phone, pulled up the picture of Tanya, and held the screen next to the trolley. The frame looked similar, but I couldn’t be sure it was the same. The image was too small and too dark and too blurred. There was nothing to say Lesley didn’t have two trolleys. Or more. And nothing to pinpoint the location. The photo could have been taken anywhere. I felt as if I’d been tricked. No, that wasn’t right. Cheated. Out of the only thing that really mattered just then. The only thing that Tanya and I really couldn’t afford to lose. Time.
Officer Rossi was waiting for me in the hallway.
“Find what you need?” he said.
“No,” I said.
“Sorry to hear that. Anything I can help you with?”
“The woman who owns this house. Does she have any other places around here? Homes, offices, shops, garages, storage facilities? Anywhere with some privacy?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Then there’s nothing you can do. I’ll head back to the city. Thanks, anyway.”
“I could do a search online? There’s a terminal in the car.”
“There’s no point. Records of anything she owns will be well hidden. I need firsthand information. From someone who knows her. And I’ve got the perfect people in mind.”
“Will they play ball? The way I hear it, the woman’s pretty brutal.”
“Oh, yes. They will. They’re dying to. They just don’t know it yet.”
I waited until I was around the corner, out of sight, then called Lavine.
“Did you find her?” he said.
“No,” I said. “The house was untouched. Lesley must have another place her people can use.”
“Any idea where?”
“Not yet. So I need a minute with those two guys. The ones I caught at your office. They obviously work for her.”
“David, it’s better if I don’t know things like that.”
“I’ve got no choice. I need your help. You put them in the system. You can find out where they’re being held.”
“Be reasonable. Talk about compromising my position.”
“How about we talk about Tanya’s position. How compromised that might be.”
“Fair point. I’ll call you back.”
Lavine was back on the line before I reached the freeway.
“I’ve got bad news,” he said. “And I’ve got really bad news. Which do you want first?”
“I can always rely on you to cheer me up, Lavine,” I said. “Give me the really bad news.”
“The two guys you were asking about? Both are dead. They’re gone, David. I’m sorry.”
“When?” I said.
“Ninety minutes after they were popped.”
“They lasted that long? How did it happen?”
“Their throats were cut. I don’t have the ins and outs. But it has Lesley written all over it. She can’t have trusted them to keep quiet, I guess.”
“Damn. I’ll have to lean on Lesley herself, now. And she’ll be a much tougher nut to crack. Anywhere with witnesses, anyway. Where is she now?”
“Yes. Lesley. That brings me to the bad news.”
“What is it? She’s dead, too?”
“Not dead. But just as hard to talk to. We’re nowhere near finding her. The NYPD has turned up nothing. Same story for our guys. We’re chasing shadows.”
“Tell me you’re joking. Tell me now, and I’ll spare your wife and children.”
“I’m as pissed as you, David. And you should have heard what Varley said.”
“Do we even know what happened?”
“She pulled a switcheroo. Feigned illness, swapped IDs with another sick prisoner, and broke out of the secure hospital. The oldest trick in the book.”
“When?”
“Yesterday morning. It took them thirty-six hours to get to the bottom of it. We’ve only just got the full picture, ourselves.”
“So what’s been done about it?”
“Our field office is all over it. The NYPD has pushed descriptions out to all their patrols. They’re staking out that tenement building you found of hers, and searching for any more property she could own. And they’re going to recanvass Tanya’s building. They’re still trying to get a solid lead on the guys who snatched her. I’ll keep the heat turned up. As soon as I know anything, you’ll know.”
“OK. Understood. Just make sure it’s soon.”
“What will you do now?”
“Don’t know. Head over to her apartment myself, I guess. Try and put my hands on someone there. I’m only forty minutes out.”
“Sounds like you’re clutching at straws.”
“Got any better ideas?”
“Just don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
“Me? Never. But how about you? Found anything that goes bump in the night?”
“Nada.”
“Did big-head Maher come up with anything, now he’s back at his lab?”
“No. Well, yes. But nothing useful.”
“Such as?”
“Something about that weird blood drug.”
“Have they put a name to it?”
“No. They’re nowhere with that yet. But it’s obviously some deliberately made thing. And the surgeons were from Iraq, so Maher’s wondering if it’s part of some different procedure they have over there. He’s trying to find someone to check with.”
“What did he find, then?”
“Nothing. He’s just curious about the quantity involved. They found another whole bunch of vials in the basement. All used.”
“Empty medicine bottles? Sounds pretty normal for a clinic.”
“But you saw how strong the stuff is. Taylor took a whole vial. That means they’d only need a tiny bit for any patients they didn’t want to kill. So either they had millions of patients, which we don’t know about, or they threw most of it away.”
“It’s probably just a scam to charge more. Private clinic. Desperate patients. It’s a license to print money. Do you know what the busiest piece of equipment in that place was?”
“No. What?”
“The credit card machine. Check it, if you don’t believe me.”
THIRTY-FIVE
