Girl Missing by Tess Gerritsen Page B

know?”
    “The hospital couldn’t ID it, so they sent the blood sample to a university lab. A lucky break, too. They were able to identify it.”
    “There are two other victims—”
    “Yes, and a funny thing happened to their blood samples. Jane Doe’s got lost in transit. And as for Xenia Vargas, I won’t trust any results I get back on hers. In fact, I half expect that her blood sample will get lost as well.”
    “Don’t you think you sound just the slightest bit paranoid?”
    “Paranoid? No, I’m afraid I’ve never had much of an imagination. It’s one of my faults.”
    He moved closer to her, so threateningly close she had to fight the impulse to retreat a step. “Whatever your faults, Dr. Novak, a lack of imagination isn’t one of them.”
    “Let me lay out the facts, disturbing but true. First, Jane Doe’s specimens were lost. I know Ilabeled them properly, I filled out all the right forms, and I put them in the right box.”
    “The carrier could have lost it. Or it could’ve been stolen from his vehicle. There are dozens of possibilities.”
    “Then there’s the matter of Xenia Vargas. Her specimens did make it to the state lab, but they can’t ID the drug. So they send it to an outside lab for further testing. Guess which lab?” She looked him in the eye. “Cygnus.”
    He didn’t even flinch. Calmly he said, “We routinely handle requests from the state. We’re only thirty miles away, and we’re better equipped.”
    “ Third , there’s the matter of Dr. Michael Dietz, Nicos Biagi’s doctor. He identifies the drug as Zestron-L. Then he resigns from Hancock General and skips town. I think he was forced out by the hospital. Because Cygnus just happens to be a major donor to Hancock General.”
    “Cygnus had nothing to do with Dietz’s resignation. He was already on his way out.”
    “How would you know that?”
    “I’m on the hospital board. Three malpractice suits were more than we’d tolerate. Dietz was adisaster waiting to happen. His license was already in jeopardy.”
    Kat paused. That would account for Dietz’s reluctance to face the press. He didn’t need the publicity.
    “But Zestron-L is your drug. And someone’s trying to keep its identity from the ME. Someone’s protecting Cygnus.”
    He began to pace back and forth by the fountain. “This is bizarre,” he muttered. “I don’t see how that ID could be right.”
    “You can’t argue with a lab result.”
    He stopped and looked at her, the gaudy lights from the fountain washing him in their watery glow. “No,” he said at last. “You’re right. I can’t.”
    The absolute steadiness of his gaze made her want to believe that there were no lies between them, no hidden agendas, that his bewilderment was real. I must be getting soft , she thought. A pair of blue-gray eyes, a tuxedo, a man too gorgeous for words, and my horse sense bites the dust. What is wrong with me?
    “Come with me,” he said, and held out his hand.
    She didn’t move, feeling shaken by the sudden temptation to take his hand, to feel herwhole body swallowed in his warmth. This was what she’d fought against, from the first time they’d met, this quickening of desire.
    He was still holding out his hand, still trapping her in a gaze she couldn’t seem to escape. “Come on, Kat,” he said.
    “Where?”
    “To Cygnus. The lab. Tonight, I’m going to root out the answers. And I want you there with me, as a witness.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not so sure that you’ll like the answers.”
    “You may be right. But it’s clear to me that you’re not going to let up. One way or another, you’re going to dig up the truth. So I might as well work with you. Not against you.”
    The logic of the devil. How could she argue with it?
    She said, at last, “All right. I’ll go with you.”
    “First let me smooth things over with Isabel.”
    Back in the ballroom, she watched him approach Isabel, saw the hurried excuses, the apologetic head