oblique but enough to raise a red flag. He said that he’d made the arrangement, and it would be handled soon. He said that he expected her to show her gratitude for his loyalty over the years in a generous manner.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing that would incriminate her. I believe she’s too smart to make any statement on the phone that would endanger her in any way. She said that she’d always be generous to people who made that poor girl ‘comfortable.’ She said to let her know. Then she hung up.”
“Cool. Very cool,” Eve said thoughtfully. “So Nelda Avery is behind Drogan’s attempt?”
“Presumably. At least she’s the family member who’s pulling the strings. Pierce was almost groveling when he was speaking to her. He must have been dancing on hot coals when he had to tell her that Beth had flown the coop. No wonder that Drogan is so frantic about finding Beth. Pierce is probably applying pressure.” He frowned. “Or maybe it’s personal. Drogan was pretty intense, but it was anger at Beth that was coming through, not worry about what Pierce was going to do. He made a couple of ugly mentions of what he was going to do to Beth when he found her.”
Eve felt a chill. “And you think that he may have found her already?”
“I don’t know. It could have happened.” He looked at the GPS on the dashboard. “We should know soon. Another forty minutes.”
* * *
“DROGAN, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?” Pierce’s voice was shaking with anger as Drogan finally picked up. “I just had a call from the local police asking questions about Jessie Newell. I told you that any questioning had to be done discreetly. Just find out the information, then make the kill. You fumbled everything again.”
“No, you did it. Everything would have gone off just as I planned if that Detective Quinn hadn’t interfered. You were supposed to throw him off the trail.”
“I tried.” Pierce took a deep breath. “He’s a cop. I couldn’t just kick him out of the hospital. I thought that I might have convinced him that—” Why was he making excuses to this idiot, he thought impatiently. “Did you get a lead on Beth from Newell?”
“Yes, he’s the one who helped her get away from the hospital. I took Newell’s phone and talked to her on his cell.”
Yes. Pierce’s hand tightened on the phone. “So you know where she is?”
“No, she hung up on me before I could trace the call.”
“You bungled that, too?”
“I’m getting very tired of your insults, Pierce. Be careful.”
Pierce struggled to curb his tongue as well as his rage. Drogan was definitely unbalanced and unpredictable. Besides, the man was his only path to Beth at the moment. “You can hardly claim any great progress when you had a chance to trace her and lost her.”
“I didn’t lose her.”
“What?”
“I’m going after her right now. You should be grateful I didn’t kill Newell. He’s going to lead me right to her. After I hung up from talking to Beth Avery, I headed for the hospital where they’d taken Newell. I knew that if I hadn’t damaged him too much, he’d be on his way to her as soon as he could. He wouldn’t tell me anything even though I hurt him bad. If she meant that much to him, he wouldn’t stay in that hospital when he knew I’d be after her. So I staked out the hospital parking lot and waited.”
“And?”
“Newell was picked up by Quinn and whisked away from the hospital.”
“Quinn, again.”
“And the woman who was with him at Newell’s apartment. Find out who she is.”
“I will.” Quinn was displaying an odd intensity about Beth’s case that was surely out of all proportion. He was reluctant to have to tell Nelda how badly the situation had deteriorated, but he might need her to do some discreet investigation into Detective Joe Quinn. “You think that they’re going to Beth Avery now?”
“I’d bet on it. And I’m right behind them on the freeway. Quinn’s taillights are only four car-lengths ahead.” Drogan hung up.
“Drogan is following Jessie Newell. He thinks he may be on his way to Beth,” Pierce said to Stella as he pressed the disconnect. “But Joe Quinn is with Newell. It could be bad if there’s police interference.”
“Maybe.” She leaned on the corner of his desk. “But when I talked to the hospital inquiring about Newell’s condition, I found out that it was the emergency room who notified the