didnât recognize him.â
He gave her a level look. âIâm pretty sure he disguised himself.â
âWhatâs going on?â she asked, pushing at her hair. âIs every patient Iâve ever failed coming after me now?â
âLooks that way on the surface,â he replied. âHereâs what we know for nowâthey both had emotional issues of some sort and they both came to your clinic for help. Weâre pretty sure Rutherford was the first shooter. When he failed the first time, he high-jacked the delivery truck. The driver was found unconscious on the road. He canât remember much about his attacker, but he described Rutherford. Rutherfordâs record fits the mode but his aim was a bit off today. And you probably didnât recognize him because his hair was longer and almost completely gray. Heâd lost weight, too.â
âI should have realizedââ
âLaura, somebody out there doesnât want you to realize anything. Theyâre playing mind games with you. I checked the two cards and rubbed a pencil over the indentions we thought we sawâlinks to Bible passages in Revelations.â
âRevelations? But why?â
âWho knows? The person or people behind this arenât exactly rational. The first one is from chapter one, verse eighteen: âI have the keys of Hades and Death.ââ
âThatâs the Lord talking through John.â
âNot in this case. Some madman is using the Lordâs words to taunt us.â
âWhat kind of keys?â
âWe donât know. It might not mean anything.â
âWhat about the second one?â
âFrom the second chapter, verse two: âAnd you havetested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liarsâ¦.ââ
Lauraâs stomach roiled with each word. âDo you think this person is talking about me?â
Paco sat with his hands on his knees. âAgain, we donât know. But we do know that these two men recently became employed by Lawrence Henner. You said heâs a wealthy businessman? Well, we found out he owns his own security companyâlisted under some sort of corporationâa shell company. I think you mentioned something about that, too.â
She let out a gasp. âNo, I mentioned that Alex Whitmyer worked for a security company. What if itâs Hennerâs company?â
âThat could be bad. Very bad. Just one more connection though.â He tapped into his phone. âIâll put Kissie on it.â After explaining a possible connection between Henner and Whitmyer to Kissie, he hung up. âIf theyâre working together, we can stop them.â
âCould Alex be in this thing with Henner? That would mean theyâre both more unstable than I realized. Henner could be fueling Alexâs obsession with me so he can come after me for my part in his sonâs death.â
Paco looked grim. âAccording to data weâve found underneath all the corporate logos, Henner does things in a much different way from CHAIM.â
Laura could believe that. âHe struck me as being demanding and unyielding, and honestly, I think thatâs why his son killed himself.â She couldnât say anymore. Or maybe she should. âPaco, he verbally abused his son. And now he blames me for Adamâs death. I never could prove that he was the one at fault because his sonnever told me the complete truth. But I believe that in my heart.â
âSo heâs coming after you for justification?â
âOr to ease his own guilt?â
âThen why the card tricks?â
Laura shook her head, fatigue and alarm warring inside her mind. âHe could be sending assassins, thinking weâd never trace it back to him. The first one didnât kill me, so he sent another one. Maybe the cards are his way of telling me what Iâve done wrong. Or his way of sending a
C. J. Cherryh
Learning to Kill: Stories
John O'Riley
Brenda Sinclair
Christopher George
Stephen Lloyd Jones
Karl Iagnemma
Celya Bowers
Jill Gregory
Aria Cunningham