Part 22 (1/2)

Whoever had cleaned them out had a key. So why bother to make it look like the place had been vandalized? Unless whoever had done it was in a hurry and didn't have the time or patience to break the locks on the files.

Had Carolyn had the key all along? Slade doubted it. She must have taken it from Dr. Delaney. No wonder they hadn't been able to find the keys to his Suburban.

He glanced over at the cabinets lining the wall across the room, doubting Carolyn had left anything. She'd known exactly what she was looking for, it seemed.

And yet, his only hope was that she might have missed something. He started toward the cabinets, slowing as he spotted something dark pooling beneath one of the far cabinets.

He pulled the weapon from his pocket and moved cautiously toward the cabinet.

HOLLY BARELY HEARD what Chief L. T. Curtis said as she walked beside him down the hall. All she could think about was Slade back there alone in the lab. She hadn't wanted to leave him, but she knew that if she hadn't, Curtis would have forced them both to go. Selfishly, all she could hope was that Slade would find what they needed. A lead to their daughter.

Let Curtis bring down Carolyn Gray and see that she got her proper punishment. Holly just wanted her daughter-and Slade.

The chief was talking about Slade, how stubborn he'd always been, telling stories about Slade as a teenager. ”He's been obsessed with his mother's murder for as long as I can remember.”

So the cop didn't know that Norma had told Slade the truth. ”That seems pretty normal,” she said, only half listening. This part of the Inst.i.tute seemed completely abandoned. She could hear nothing but the sound of their footsteps and the cop's voice. Her mind, however, was on Slade and what he would find. He had to find something. something.

”Sh.e.l.ley doesn't just look like her brother,” Curtis was saying. ”Smart as a whip, that one. Always had to be careful around her. She never missed a trick.”

”I'm sure you and Norma love them like your own children,” she said. Somewhere deep in the bowels of this place she could hear what sounded like water running. Or maybe it was the heating system cranking out warm air, trying to heat this monstrosity. ”I'm a little confused about where we are.” They'd been walking, it seemed, for some time and yet she hadn't seen the entrance she and Slade had come in. Nor any elevator or stairs.

”This place is much larger than you would think from looking at it on the outside,” he said. ”The guy who had this place built thought the world was going to come to an end, so he had this part put in separately from the main house. The walls are made of reinforced concrete four feet thick. You could drop a bomb on this place and it would stay standing.” He seemed to realize she wasn't listening. ”So fill me in on what you know about this baby thing.”

”I'm sure Norma told you most of it.”

”Norma was too upset, she wasn't making much sense.”

Holly told him about the three monsters huddled at the end of her bed during her delivery in the abandoned part of the hospital.

”So you think they were Dr. Delaney, Lorraine Vogel and this nurse, Carolyn Gray?” he said.

”Yes, except...”

”What's wrong?” he asked.

She frowned as she remembered something. ”I have this memory of one of them talking to me and this distinct feeling that I knew the person. I remember being shocked because it was the last person I would have suspected. But I didn't know Lorraine or Dr. Delaney or Carolyn Gray.”

”That is odd. Maybe you'd just heard one of them somewhere and thought you recognized the voice,” he suggested.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him clutch his side. ”Are you all right?”

”Just a little indigestion. Slade gives it to me all the time.”

She spotted both stairs and elevator down the hall. She was anxious to get off this level. The echo of their steps along the concrete hallway was giving her a headache. The halls seemed to wind like a maze down here. She felt turned around, but then she hadn't been paying attention.

Unconsciously, now that she could see the elevator ahead, she slowed her steps, trying to give Slade as much time alone as possible in the lab.

”I wouldn't worry if I were you,” the chief was saying. ”We have a warrant out on Carolyn Gray, the crime lab is sending someone down from Missoula to help us with the investigation of Dr. Delaney's murder, and we'll continue to look for your baby.” He ran his beefy hand over his face. ”One way or the other, it will be over soon,” he said, his hand m.u.f.fling his voice. ”So don't you worry.”

They had almost reached the end of the hallway and the elevator. Her heart slammed against her chest. She stumbled, losing her balance.

Curtis grabbed her to steady her. ”Are you all right?”

This time she saw him flinch. Something was definitely wrong with him, but her mind was on the flash of memory. It moved through her mind like a wisp of cloud. She could feel him staring at her oddly. Just get to the elevator, she told herself. ”I think I'd like to sit down once we get to the main office.”

”No problem,” the chief said as he took her arm. ”Let's get you taken care of as quickly as possible so I can get back to your...boyfriend.”

SLADE COULD SMELL the blood pooling in front of the cabinet as he drew near. He reached out cautiously for the k.n.o.b, half expecting the cabinet door to be locked. He pulled. The door swung open.

Carolyn Gray tumbled out.

One good look at her, and Slade knew there was no reason to check for a pulse. She'd been shot and shoved into the cabinet as if her killer had been in a hurry. He could see now where the blood that had splattered on the white tile floor had been hastily wiped up.

He stumbled back, confused. Three monsters. All dead. If Carolyn had killed Dr. Delaney, then who had killed her? Not Lorraine. Carolyn's body was still warm and Lorraine- He jumped at the sudden sound of his cell phone ringing. Hurriedly, he dug the phone out of his s.h.i.+rt pocket before it could ring again. ”Rawlins.” He'd expected it to be Holly warning him that the cop was on his way back down.

”Slade?” It was Sh.e.l.ley. ”Is everything all right?”

Not a chance. ”Yeah.”

”I got your message. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I was farther up island.”

He started to cut her off, to tell her this really wasn't a good time, but then she said, ”You asked about the Christmas ornament. The twin golden angels?”

He'd almost forgotten, so much had been going on. He moved away from Carolyn's body, toward the door.

”I do do remember it,” Sh.e.l.ley was saying. ”You know who made it? Francie Dunn. You know, Jerry Dunn's mom. That was back when we were kids and played together.” remember it,” Sh.e.l.ley was saying. ”You know who made it? Francie Dunn. You know, Jerry Dunn's mom. That was back when we were kids and played together.”

He'd forgotten that Jerry had lived down the street from them back then. When he'd called Sh.e.l.ley, he'd hoped maybe the ornament had meant something to their mother-their adoptive mother, he mentally corrected himself.

”So Francie Dunn gave it to Mom,” he said.

”No, Francie made made it. L.T. gave it to Mom that Christmas, right before...” it. L.T. gave it to Mom that Christmas, right before...”

He stopped in mid-step, freezing. That Christmas, right before she was murdered? ”You're sure L.T. gave it to her?”

”Positive. I remember because she looked at him and burst into tears. That was so unlike Mom. Slade, what's going on? Why ask about the ornament now?”

He was trying to understand his mother's reaction and why the chief would have given her the twin angels. Norma said he'd been against the pregnancy. He'd never been close to either Slade or Sh.e.l.ley-and he definitely wasn't an angel kind of guy. Unless there was some special meaning other than the fact that the angels were twins that had made his mother cry.

”Slade, what's going on?” Sh.e.l.ley asked, sounding worried. ”Has something happened?”