'Even better. Confront her, straight on. Tell her you think someone is making Cassie sick and you know how. Hold up a cylinder and say you're not buying any of this leftover crap. You want to take chances, go for a big blulf: say you've talked to the D.A. and he's ready to file charges for attempted murder. Then pray she cracks.
And if she doesn't?'
'You get thrown off the case, but at least she'll know someone's wise to her. I don't see what you can gain by waiting any longer, Alex.'
'What about Stephanie? Do I clue her in? Are we eliminating her as a suspect?'
'Like we said before, she could be Cindy's secret lover, but there's no sign of that. And if she was involved, why would Cindy mess with Benedict? Stephanie's a doctor-she could get the same stuff he could.
Anything's possible, but far as I can tell, the mom started out looking good and she keeps getting better.'
'If Stephanie's off the hook,' I said, 'I should let her in on itshe's the primary doc. Pulling something this strong without her knowledge is probably unethical.'
'Why don't you just sound her out and see how she reacts? Tell her about the cylinders and see where she goes with it. If you're satisfied she's clean, take her along with you when you play with Cindy's head. Strength in numbers.'
'Play with her head? Sounds fun.'
'It rarely is,' he said. 'If I could do it for you, I would.'
'Thanks. For everything.'
Anything else?'
Finding the Insujects had pushed the visit to Dr. )anos's office out of my head.
'Plenty,' I said, and told him how Huenengarth had beat me to Dawn Herbert's computer disks. Then I threw in my calls to Ferris Dixon and Professor W W Zimberg's office, and my updated blackmail theories on Herbert and Ashmore.
'High intrigue, Alex-maybe some of it's even true. But don't let yourself get distracted from Cassie. I'm still checking on Huenengarth. Nothing yet, but I'll stay on it. Where will you be in case something does come up?'
'I'll call Stephanie soon as we hang up. If she's in her office I'll run over to the hospital. If not, I'll be home.'
All right. How about we get together later tonight, trade miseries.
Eight okay?'
'Eight's fine. Thanks again.'
'Don't thank me. We're a long way from feeling good about this one.'
thinking of all the damage that could be done to a child in that TIME
I Kept heading south to the on-ramp.
Traffic was backed up to the street. I nosed into the snail-trail and oozed eastward. Nasty drive to Hollywood. At night, though, the ambulance would fairly zip.
I pulled into the doctors' lot just before four, clipped my badge to my lapel, and walked to the lobby, where I paged Stephanie. The anxiety that had hit me only a week ago was gone. In its place, a driving sense of anger.
What a difference seven days make.
No answer. I phoned her office again, got the same reCeptionist, the same answer, delivered in a slightly annoyed tone.
I went up to the General Peds clinic and walked into the examination suite, passing patients, nurses, and doctors without notice.
Stephanie's door was closed. I wrote a note for her to call me and was bending to slip it under the door when
