The voice was familiar, but it was still startling to see Jessie’s face practically pressed against the glass. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Open the damn door!”
He reached across the console, unlocked it. Jessie jumped in and locked the door. She was completely out of breath. “I’m so scared. You have to help me.”
“Help you?”
“
She looked even more sleep-deprived than Jack was. Bloodshot eyes, pasty pallor. “That’s no reason to ambush me like this. How long have you been waiting for me to come out?”
“I had to do it this way. I can’t go anyplace where they might be waiting for me. I haven’t been home in three days. If I had just popped by your office, they would have found me for sure.”
“They, who? The police?”
“Farthest thing from it. These guys are thugs.”
“What guys?”
“The viatical investors.”
Jack shut off the engine, as if the noise were keeping him from hearing her straight. “Jessie, those investors aren’t thugs. They’re businesspeople.”
“Hardly. That company that sued me-Viatical Solutions, Inc.-is just a front. The real money… I don’t know where it comes from. But it’s not legit.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because they’re going to kill me!”
“What?”
“They are going to put a gun to my head and blow my brains out.”
“Just slow down.”
Her hands were shaking. He could see her eyes widen even in the dim light of the street lamps. “Start at the beginning.”
“You know the beginning. We scammed these guys.”
“You mean you and Dr. Marsh.”
“I mean all of us.”
“Hold it right there. I didn’t have any part in this.”
“Don’t act like you didn’t know what was going on. You let me scam them.”
“Wrong. I was completely shocked when-”
“Just cut the crap, all right? This is so like you, Swyteck. You come along for the ride to add a little excitement to your pathetic little life with Cindy Paige, and then when it all hits the fan, you throw up your hands and leave me twisting in the wind.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about-”
She stopped in midsentence. Her eyes bulged, and her shoulders began to heave. She jerked violently to the right, flung open the car door, and hung her head over the pavement. The retching noise was insufferable-two solid minutes of painful dry heaves. At last, she expelled something. Her breath came in quick, panicky spurts, and then finally she got her body under control. She closed the door and nearly fell against the passenger seat, exhausted.
Jack looked on, both concerned and amazed. “What are you doing to yourself?”
“I’m so scared. I’ve been throwing up all day.”
“When’s the last time you slept?”
“I don’t remember. Three days ago, maybe.”
“Let me see your eyes.”
“No.”
Jack held her head still and stared straight into her pupils. “What are you on?”
“Nothing.”
“The paranoia alone is a dead giveaway.”
“I’m not paranoid. These guys are serious. They stand to gain three million dollars under my life insurance policy just as soon as I’m dead. You’ve got to help me.”
“We can start with the name of a good rehab center.”
“I’m not a druggie, damn you.”
He still suspected drugs, but that didn’t rule out the possibility that someone was really out to get her- particularly since she had indeed scammed them. “If somebody’s trying to kill you, then we need to call the police.”
“Right. And tell them I scammed these guys out of a million and a half dollars?”
“I can try to swing a deal. If these viatical investors are really the bad operators you say they are, you could get immunity from prosecution if you tell the state attorney just who it is that’s trying to kill you.”
“I’ll be dead by the time you cut a deal. Don’t you understand? I have no one else to turn to. You have to do something, Jack!”
“I’m helping you the only way I know how.”
“Which is no help at all.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Call them. Negotiate.”
“You’re telling me they’re killers. You want me to negotiate with them?”
“You’ve defended worse scum.”
“That doesn’t mean I do business with them.”
“Can’t you see I’m desperate? If we don’t come to some kind of terms, they’re going to make me
“Then give them their money back.”
“No way. It’s mine.”
“It’s yours only because you scammed them.”
“I’m not giving it back. And I’m not calling the police, either.”
“Then I don’t know how to help you.”
“Yes, you do. You just want to stick it to me, you bastard.”
“I’ll do for you what I’d do for any other client. No more, no less.”
“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. That’s what you’re thinking.”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“Damn you, Swyteck! You never know what to think. That’s why we blew up seven years ago.”
He looked away, resisting the impulse to blow her off. A car passed on the street just outside the lot, its tires hissing on the wet pavement. Jessie pushed open the car door and stepped down.
“Where are you going?”
“As if you care.”
“Leave your car here. Don’t drive in this condition. Let me take you home.”
“I told you, I can’t go home. Don’t you listen, asshole?” She slammed the door and started away from the car.
Jack jumped out. “Where can I reach you?’
“None of your business.”
“I’m worried about you.”
“The hell you are. I’m not going to let you talk me into calling the police just so you can ease your conscience.” She fished her keys from her purse, and Jack started after her.
“Don’t follow me!”
“Jessie, please.”
She whirled and shot an icy glare that stopped him in his tracks. “You had your chance to help me. Now don’t pretend to be my friend.”
“This isn’t just talk. I’m truly worried about you.”
