Expectation (Ghost Targets, #2) (20 page)

"What if someone's working with her?" Katie said, still thinking of her time with Martin. She caught Reed's eye. "What if it's somebody special?"

He frowned, then turned to the lieutenant. "What do we know about her buyers?"

"Nothing," Drake said, bitter. "We've got nothing on them, and that's a frightening prospect. I was hoping you two had come up with something—"

Katie shook her head. Reed answered more accusingly, "We were late to that party," he said. "We only just found out about it."

Then a thought struck Katie, and she spoke up. "What about the recording?" Both men turned to her, and she nodded enthusiastically. "The recording from Theresa. Remember? We have Eric ending his relationship with Ellie."

Reed looked blank, but Drake understood. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. "We don't want anyone to know this." He pointed a threatening finger at Reed. "We don't want
anyone
 to know this, but we have some suspicions that Eric could be an accomplice in her plans."

Katie nodded. "I think we're getting our information from the same source," she said. "If their relationship was something other than romantic, then we might find something useful in the breakup."

Drake looked across to Reed. "Have you watched it yet?"

"It's just audio," Katie said. "And no, he hasn't. It was just me, and that was before I had any idea. Hathor, play the Snoopy audio file on this desk. Thanks."

It started with Ellie's voice, that gentle purr promising him whatever he wanted, and Katie cringed again. Her new understanding didn't make it any better. Drake looked just as unhappy, hearing his soldier openly seducing the good doctor. He shook his head when Eric first told her no.

"What was she doing before he showed up? That could be more useful than his sudden change of heart. Go back."

"There's no back," Katie said. "Ellie cleared this whole conversation out of the archive. I only have this snippet because Mrs. Barnes had hired a service to make sure Eric wasn't trying to leave her."

"So it's a copy?" He hung his head. "We can't even get location information out of it?"

"We may be able to get some," Reed said, while Ellie screamed her objection over the speakers. "There's some ambient noise that we might be able to isolate. You can hear a voice through a window or wall at three seconds. It's muffled, but we may be able to get something."

"I have a better idea," Katie said, rising from her position in the corner. "If you would excuse me...." She left the office and pulled the door closed. Then she said, "Hathor, connect me to Meg Ginney. Thanks."

Katie didn't expect an answer. It was after five by then, but the girl could easily still be at the clinic. She answered on the third ring, though. "Hello?"

"Meg, I've got a question for you and I need you to answer me honestly."

"Wh—what?" She stammered, surprised by Katie's tone, but Katie didn't have time to soothe her.

"You said you and Eric almost got together," she said. "Would it have been at the clinic?"

"I...Miss Pratt, I really don't want to talk about that."

Katie sighed. "This is important, Meg."

"No," she said. "No, all he could think about was work at the clinic. It would have been somewhere else." She sounded bitter at having to answer, but Katie couldn't let it go.

"Where then?" Katie said. "I know you said nothing happened, but if you can think of anything, if you know anything at all—"

"Okay," Meg said, shouting. "There was a motel. Okay? We only went there once, and we didn't end up doing anything—"

"But where?" Katie said, excited. "Where was it?"

"The Sunrise Inn." The girl took a deep breath, and let it out. "I don't know where it is. Okay? Is that all?"

"That's all," Katie said. "Thank you for your help." Before she could say more, Meg cut the connection. Katie had what she wanted. She burst back through the office door, triumphant, and said, "Craig, show location details for the Sunrise Inn on Dora's desk." A glowing marker appeared, just west of center in the TMS analysis projection path, and Katie smiled. "She's there," she said. "She's at the Inn."

"Where'd you pull that out of?" Reed said, but Katie waved the question away.

"Bring up the security footage for the place. Even if her ID is hidden, I bet you can get a good look at her face." She looked at the map and guessed at the distance from the convenience store to the motel. "Start at two fifty, but I'm guessing she got there around three oh five."

Reed nodded and pulled up video source from the motel's parking lot. Lieutenant Drake was still curious, though. "How did you find that place?"

"Barnes had used it for his romantic trysts before," Katie said. "She would have been comfortable there. Stands to reason if she were laying low, but had a reason to stay in town, she'd go somewhere familiar."

"Somewhere she knows how to hide from Hathor." Drake nodded. "That's good thinking."

"That's her," Reed said, and the other two turned to find a still frame of Ellie Cohn, frozen as she climbed out of her private taxi.

"What room is that?" Katie said, leaning closer. Pull up a floor plan of the hotel."

"No," Reed said, jumping to his feet. "Craig, save all that to the casefile and push it to my handheld, then clear out the desk. Thanks." He was already across the room, open door in his hand. "Come on," he said. "We're going to make this bust."

Katie caught up with him in the hall, Drake a step behind her. Reed was talking into his headset. "Dora, we've found her. I'm sending you location information now. Can you assign one of your cars to bring Katie and me out there? Thanks."

"That's not necessary," Drake said. "I have a car—"

"And you're going to need it to bring Ellie back to the base," Reed said. "We'll ride separate. See you at the Inn." With that he pushed the outer door open and held it for Drake. The lieutenant had no choice but to step out into the sunlight, where his car still waited by the door.

A moment later Katie and Reed followed after him as one of the police cars pulled up to the curb. Katie quipped, "Hoping for another private conversation?"

Reed answered deadpan. "Yes," he said as he pulled his door closed. "I was hoping you could contact Martin for me."

"I...." Katie's smile faded. "That's not how it works."

"That
is
 how it works," Reed said, "and you've been holding out on me."

"I don't just call Martin. He doesn't answer—"

"I don't believe that," Reed said. "I've seen you two together, don't forget that."

"Please, Reed, you've got to believe me—"

Martin spoke in her ear. "It's okay," he said. "Find out what he wants."

Reed spoke almost in answer to him. "I want to know who Ellie was dealing with, and exactly what information she was trying to sell them. If we can't get those, Drake's cooperation ends as soon as Ellie is in his custody."

"I can do the first part," Martin said. He sounded agitated. "But I have no intention of telling him what Ellie knows. Katie, I'm serious—"

"Don't worry about that," Katie said soothingly, then to Reed's questioning look. "I'll try to get it done."

"Good," Reed said, settling back with his handheld. "I'm going to start putting our case in Jurisprudence. Now we know it's a poisoning, we can get things moving."

For Reed's sake, Katie pretended to record a voice note to Martin, but Martin was already off the line working on Reed's search. After she passed on the request, Katie pulled out her own handheld and started reviewing the security footage of Ellie. She showed up at the hotel stumbling, looking tired in spite of the coffee she'd picked up down the road.

"Hmm," Katie said, and after a moment Reed looked up.

"What?"

"Why...." Katie tapped her handheld and switched to the convenience store video. "Why would she stop for a coffee, if she was on the run?"

"Did you see her at the motel? That girl was dead on her feet. Probably needed the caffeine just to make it to her bed." He shook his head. "I'm guessing she hasn't slept for days."

"But why stop somewhere public?" Katie watched the short video loop through twice. Ellie definitely looked like she was dragging, swaying on her feet while she filled her coffee cup. "She had to leave traffic, which automatically added ten minutes to her drive, then go into a crowded shop just to get some cheap black coffee when she could have made up a pot in the privacy of her hotel room."

"Habit," Reed said. "I checked while you were on the phone. Ellie's been to that convenience store before. On the day of Theresa's recording, for one."

"Whenever she goes out to the motel, then."

"Probably so." He shrugged. "People make stupid mistakes. It's the only reason we can do our jobs."

"Well, that and the assistance of the terrible Martin," Katie said. It earned her a black look from Reed, but she ignored it and went back to her examination of the Sunrise Inn.

Ellie's car was parked at the north end of the west parking lot, hidden from view of the road. That also put her in one of the rooms from eighteen to thirty-six, on either floor. Katie pulled up the registry and quickly eliminated half of the rooms by their occupants. Then she started checking through security feeds for the empty rooms. She didn't see Ellie in any of them, but the feed from room one twenty-one was blank.

"I might have something," she said. She did a search through the archives, but couldn't find a record of anyone renting that room in recent history. She tried to book it but the motel's reservation service told her it was unavailable, now, next week, and next year. "Yeah," she said to Reed. "I think she's in one twenty-one."

"Good," he said. "Dora has three teams there now." He passed the information along to the police, ending it with, "Be careful."

Katie frowned. "You think she's dangerous?"

"I think she's a powerful person, uniquely skilled, and backed into a corner," he said. "That is always dangerous."

Katie looked back down at her handheld, which showed a view of the parking lot, Ellie's car close to the camera, and nothing moving. "What is she up to?"

While she was still trying to guess, Reed started receiving video feed from Dora at the motel. He shared it to Katie's handheld and she opened it up, curious. When Reed noticed, he connected her to his audio link with the Chief, too.

The recorder in Hart's car had a much better angle on room one twenty-one. The covered walk that gave access to the second floor rooms acted as an overhang for the first floor, and the door to Ellie's room sat way back in the shadows of that overhang. The only window into the room was tall and narrow, six feet to the right of the door. The blinds were drawn, of course.

Hart's car was in the parking lot just behind Ellie's, with two other police cars to the right and left, forming a barricade around the room. Katie watched as one of the officers approached to knock on the door, but he got no response. Most of the rooms next to Ellie's were empty, but Katie saw officers go to the one above her and the one next to that to speak with the inhabitants. The cop by Ellie's door tried one more time, then withdrew as someone off-camera started calling out to Ellie over a bullhorn.

Dora said softly, "I hope you know what you're talking about, Reed." She was standing just in front of the camera, off to the right, facing away toward the motel. She shook her head, and said, "Is she even in there?"

"We've got her on camera entering the place," Katie said, "and she never left. She's in there."

For a moment, Hart said nothing. Then she looked back over her shoulder, a glance at the camera, and she sighed. "Is she dangerous?"

Katie looked to Reed, expecting him to give his trapped animal speech again, but instead he said, "Hathor, connect us to Lieutenant Drake." He waited for the connection, then said, "Drake, we've got men on the scene—"

"I'll be there in five," Drake said, sounding satisfied.

"We need to know what to expect," Reed said, as though he hadn't been interrupted. "Is Ellie armed?"

"Should be, yeah." The lieutenant thought for a moment, and said, "Yeah, she'll have her sidearm on her. Can't see her carrying anything heavier than that."

Reed said, "I don't suppose it's got an identity lock on it?"

Drake chuckled. "Wouldn't do much good in her line of work, would it?"

"I suppose not." Reed sighed. "Did you get that, Dora?"

"Suspect is armed. Got it. I'll pass the word, but we were operating under the assumption, anyway."

"She's not just armed," Drake said, his voice gruff. "I've seen that girl on the firing range. She's deadly. You should probably wait for me to get there—"

Hart bristled. "My men can handle this, Lieutenant."

"I'm sure they can, but I need Corporal Cohn alive. You just sit tight. I'm already on my way—"

"With all due respect, you don't have any jurisdiction here, so how about you keep your advice to yourself?"

Katie looked to Reed again, but he was helpless to stop the catfight that was emerging between the other two. Katie just rolled her eyes and dropped out of the connection. "Tell me if they say anything important," she said, and went back to the surveillance footage at the convenience store. She watched it play through, zoomed in close, looking for some clue to what was going on behind Ellie's tired eyes. "Why were you there?"

Reed leaned across to see what Katie was looking at, and his eyes narrowed. "You could be on to something," he said. He pulled up the casefile on his own handheld, and shook his head. "God, I should have listened to you. Katie, what if she met her buyer there?" Katie frowned, considering, but Reed went on. "That could explain her exhaustion, if she'd been trying to move things ahead of schedule. Could explain what's going on now, too. She's sleeping off three days of pure anxiety."

Katie could understand that. Of course, she'd been under anesthetic and on severe painkillers after her experience with Martin, but even without that—without the injuries—she knew she would have been useless for days after getting home. She considered Reed for a moment, who had tried so hard to convince her to stay home for another week. His eyes were locked on his handheld, as he scoured the same short video footage Katie had been looking at for the last ten minutes, looking for some sign of their culprit. She smiled at him anyway.