Don

'Sheriff, take a look back here,' Hysell called from the direction of Natalie's bedroom. Nick disappeared down the hall. Their voices lowered. Then Natalie heard the click of Hysell's ever-present camera. Someone's handiwork would be immortalized. Is that what the intruder wanted?

Natalie and her father sat silently in the living room. No damage had been done here. Blaine still trembled slightly but was gradually calming down. They could hear Meredith and Hysell going from room to room, searching, testing windows. At last they returned. 'All the windows are closed and locked except for a small bathroom window. There's some undisturbed dirt in the grooves holding the screen,' Nick said. 'No one came in that way. Natalie, you said the sliding glass door was unlocked. Do you normally lock it when you leave the house?'

'Always,' Andrew said.

'Dr. St. John, who else has keys to this house?'

Andrew looked blank for a moment. 'Keys? Well, Natalie of course. Then there's a set I keep in my office at the hospital.'

'Is the office always kept locked?'

'No. During the day it's usually open.'

'Even when you're in surgery?'

'Yes. But there's a secretary in an outer office. Mrs. Rosen. Ralph Harkins and I share her.'

'As a secretary?' Hysell interrupted.

Nick's lips tightened in irritation. 'Of course as a secretary,' Andrew said indignantly. 'What else?'

'I don't know. Maybe a nurse or something.'

'She isn't a nurse.'

'Well, I just thought-'

'Does anyone else have a key?' Nick plowed on.

'Let's see…' Andrew frowned. 'Harvey Coombs.'

'Harvey Coombs!' Ted burst out. 'You trust old Harvey with a key?'

Andrew shot him a paralyzing look from steel-gray eyes. ' Harvey has been my friend for thirty years. He's had some problems lately, but that wasn't always the case.'

'I see,' Ted said loudly, then mumbled, 'but I wouldn't let him have a key to my house.'

Nick took control again. 'We'll have to talk to Mr. Coombs.'

'He didn't break into my house,' Andrew protested.

'I'm sure he didn't, but I want to make certain he still has the key,' Nick said. 'He could have lost it or loaned it to someone.'

'He wouldn't have loaned it.' Andrew paused. 'He could have lost it, though. He's had it for over twenty years.'

'So he lost it five or ten years ago and it just happened to fall into the hands of a killer?' Ted asked.

'A killer?' Andrew thundered. 'Why do you think whoever did this was a killer?'

'Because of your connection with Eugene Farley and Natalie being your child,' Ted explained earnestly.

Andrew fixed Nick with his piercing gray gaze. 'What in hell is this man talking about?'

'Hasn't Natalie told you?'

Andrew sighed. 'Sheriff, my daughter has a lifelong habit of forgetting to tell me things. Why don't you fill me in?'

Ted looked as if he were dying to tell the tale, but mer cifully Nick cut him off, outlining the Farley theory concisely and dispassionately. When he finished, Andrew stood and walked around the room, his head down. Finally he looked at them and said, 'Well, what are you doing to protect Lily, Alison, and Natalie?'

Natalie was stunned. She had thought her father would first declare the theory absurd, then demand to know why she hadn't told him sooner. It seemed she didn't understand him any better than he understood her.

'I've only warned Mrs. Cosgrove and Mr. Peyton and Lily,' Nick said. 'We don't have the manpower to guard three people. Of course, Alison stays home most of the time. I believe a housekeeper is with her during the day.'

'Yes,' Andrew said. 'In spite of her mental condition, she's probably not as much trouble as Lily Peyton and my daughter.'

'Thank you, Dad,' Natalie said dryly.

'It's true. You've always been headstrong and reckless.'

'This gets better and better.' Natalie looked at Nick. 'I've told you I'll be careful. I'm sure Lily will, too. Now what about the havoc in this house?'

'I'll call our tech team, such as it is. Have you moved anything?'

'No. I do know that's real blood in the hall, but I'm not sure if it's animal or human. And I think the skull on the bed is real, although I can't imagine where someone would get a real human skull.'

'Can't be real,' Ted pronounced. 'Not unless we've got grave robbers in Port Ariel.'

'Given everything else that's been going on, I wouldn't rule it out,' Natalie said wryly.

The phone rang. Andrew answered, his expression distracted. Then his face tensed. 'Certainly she isn't here. I would have called you.' He paused and looked at Nick Meredith. 'It's Viveca Cosgrove. Alison has been missing for over two hours.'

'I thought you sedated her,' Nick said.

'I did. Not heavily, though. She's been off all medication for a year, so I thought her tolerance was low. I administered a small injection of Ativan, and she quickly fell asleep.' He shook his head. 'Too quickly. She was acting. The injection no doubt calmed her but didn't knock her out.'

Nick had spoken to Viveca and then made a quick call to headquarters, dispatching two deputies to search for Alison. 'Do you think she could have broken into your house?' he asked Andrew.

'Alison? Why? I thought you were worried about her, not suspicious of her.'

'I'm both,' Nick said. 'Anyone have any idea where this girl might go?'

Natalie lifted her hands. 'I barely know her. Dad?'

Andrew had begun pacing again. 'I didn't really know her, either. She was shy around me. But she was in better shape when I was seeing Viveca than she is now. She was on medication-medication she desperately needed. I don't know why in God's name Viveca turned her over to Warren Hunt. Oh, hell, this is my fault. I should have given Alison a stronger dose of Ativan.'

'No, her mother should have been watching her more closely,' Nick said firmly. 'Viveca's lack of vigilance isn't our problem, though. Finding Alison is. If she did this to your house, God knows what else she might do tonight. If she wasn't here, she's wandering around alone, drugged, and the perfect target for a killer.'

Andrew insisted Viveca should not be left alone. 'Well, Oliver certainly isn't up to baby-sitting her,' Natalie said. 'And don't even suggest Lily.' Andrew looked troubled. 'You go, Dad. I can tell you want to.'

'I can't leave you.'

'I'll be fine. The technicians will be here soon to collect evidence.'

'And when they're finished, you'll be alone again in a house that's already been violated tonight. We'll both go to Viveca's.'

'Count me out. I wouldn't be any help. She doesn't even like me.'

'You don't like her. That's why you don't want to go.' Andrew gave, her a determined look. 'But now is not the time for you to indulge your childish antagonism toward this woman. You cater to unfeeling egomaniacs like Kenny Davis. Can't you find an ounce of compassion for a woman who's distraught over her deeply disturbed missing daughter?'

'Don't you think that's a little harsh?' Natalie bristled.

'Maybe. But it's true.'

Natalie wanted to stay angry because her father had called her childish and criticized her relationship with Kenny, but she couldn't, because he was right. Whatever Viveca's faults, the woman did love her daughter.

She stood. ' Blaine, come along. We're going visiting.'

Andrew shook his head. 'Viveca doesn't like dogs.'

'I'm not going without her, not after what happened to her earlier this evening. She's frightened.' She gave her father a hard stare. 'It's both of us or neither of us.'

He stared back for a moment, then slowly smiled. 'You bend, but only so far. You're very much like my