Girl Three (31 page)

Michael shifted his gaze and stared out the window. He’d stopped tapping his fingers on the console. Jessie watched him intently.

He set his jaw and reached into the back seat. “Let me boot up my laptop.”

…

Light from the laptop glowed on Michael’s face as he studied the information on the screen. Time passed interminably slowly while Jessie waited.

“I think I can get us in there,” he finally said.

Jessie nodded, relieved and nervous. “You seem to want to pin Sam’s murder on Talmont as much as I do. I appreciate your help.”

“I’m with you,” he said sincerely, holding her gaze until she looked away.

Jessie’s stomach fluttered.

“I want Talmont to get what he deserves, but I haven’t helped yet.”

She glanced at his computer screen, unable to decipher the data she saw, but thankful that he had it. “The lab is a crime scene.”

“MPD should be done in there by now. I expect we’ll have the place to ourselves, considering the weather.” Michael’s tone was all business. He set the laptop on the console, put the SUV in gear, and drove toward Ian’s practice. Snow crunched beneath the tires as they made their way slowly toward Massachusetts Avenue.

“The easiest way into the place is probably through the fire escape door on the second floor.”

Jessie wished she had known where that was when she’d been there the other night.

“I’ll pick that lock and go in,” he said, “but I’ll only have sixty seconds to get to the alarm pad by the front or the back door and disarm it.”

“Do you know the code?”

After driving a block, he said, “I think so.”

“You think so?”

“Unless they’ve changed it. And it doesn’t look like they have, from what I can tell.”

Jessie had to go with that. She couldn’t start worrying about what might go wrong. Despite what had happened last night, Michael was helping her get the evidence she needed to put Talmont away.

“So I’ll just wait for you on the second floor—then we’ll go to the lab together?”

“No. I’ll park somewhere on Q Street. You’ll just wait there until I get back.”

Jessie shook her head. “I’m going with you. I want to see for myself that the sample you get is Talmont’s.”

“You think I would take a risk like this and not come out with the right sample?”

“You think I would come up with this plan and not expect to have an active role?”

He sighed as he pulled into a space just beyond a No Parking sign on Q Street, about forty yards from the back entrance to Ian’s practice. The street was quiet and still, the only sign of life was the lights in the windows of the townhouses beyond. “Okay. I think I can make it to the back entrance alarm pad faster than I could make it to the front. Before I go up the fire escape, I’ll unscrew the light by the back door. Wait there and I’ll let you in.”

Jessie nodded.

“But we need to get in and out of there fast,” he said.

“I’m no pro at breaking and entering, but I get the basic rules.” Jessie sighed. “You probably already know this, but the lab is on the third floor.”

“And it has no windows, which is good for us. We won’t use a flashlight until we get in there.”

Jessie’s stomach tightened. “Sounds like a plan.”

“There’s one more thing we have to figure out before we go in.”

“What’s that?”

“There’s an inventory control system on the cryogenic freezers.”

Jessie had been in enough reproductive laboratories to know that. “What kind of system is it?”

Michael put his computer in his lap and clicked through several screens. “It’s a two-tier turntable system. He stores the samples in 0.50-cc straws inside goblets.”

“That’s standard. How does he identify them?” Jessie caught herself. “Or
did
he identify them?”

“I don’t have that information.”

“There’s probably an automatic system in the lab for filling and identifying samples. It should be linked with a computer that assigns a bar code and whatever limited text they use on the straws. Do you have passwords for the lab computers?”

Michael clicked on another screen and nodded. He closed his laptop and handed it to her. “Bring this with you. We’ll need it once we get in there.”

She clutched the computer. Now she was certain he wouldn’t leave her behind. He couldn’t get into the lab computer without the password.

Michael grabbed a backpack from the backseat and slung it into his lap. He raised his eyebrows and looked dead-on at Jessie. “Ready?”

“Yes.”

Their plan to get in worked flawlessly. They took the steps two at a time to the third floor and entered Ian’s pitch-dark lab. Michael closed the door behind them and switched on his flashlight.

Jessie was overcome with an eerie feeling when she thought about Ian dying here. “So this is where they found him.”

“That’s what my contact told me.” He shone his flashlight around the lab, and she followed it with her gaze. The equipment looked familiar to her—IVF chambers, incubators, microscopes, centrifuges. “Stop.”

He aimed the light at a small machine sitting on the counter—one that Jessie recognized. A computer was situated next to it.

“That’s a MAPI system. It’s what we’re looking for.” She handed him his laptop, then hurried over and struck a key on the computer keyboard with her gloved finger. The screen lit up, casting a hazy glow in the lab. “Got that password?”

He set his backpack on a stainless steel table, propped his computer on top of it, and went to work. “Give me a second. You said it’s called a MAPI system?” He scrolled down the page, squinted at the screen, then walked over and typed in a password.

“That’s it,” she said, squeezing his forearm.

He covered her hand with his and clutched tightly. “We’re going to make this work.” Slipping her hand from beneath his, she gave him a half smile and turned her attention to accessing the inventory system, thankful she was familiar with it even though she’d never guessed the knowledge would be useful.

“Looks like he used a barcode system and names—up to ten characters, so some are cut off.” Awkwardly typing with her gloves on, she entered “Talmont” in the search box. “Come on. Be there.”

She and Michael gazed at the screen.
NO MATCHES FOUND
.

“Too easy,” she said. “What else would he have filed the sample under?” She thought of all kinds of things, like spelling his name backward or using a random number that only Ian would have known. If he’d done something like that, then all hope was lost.

“Hope,” she said, typing in the word.

“Hope?”

“As bizarre as it sounds, that was the name Sam gave to her extortion scheme. The Hope Campaign.”

The computer returned the results.
THREE MATCHES FOUND
.

“Hope-Kette, Hope-Olney, Hope-Talmo.” Her heart beat faster. “Hope-Talmo is the one we’re looking for,” she said. “Color-coded red, second tier.”

Michael stood in front of the cryogenic freezer. Even in the hazy light, she could see the look of concern on his face. “What?”

“The freezer has an alarm.”

“No way. Is it activated?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Do you have the code?”

“No.”

“We need to open it. We are
not
coming this far and leaving with nothing.”

Michael gazed at the controls on the freezer. “If we do this, we need to be prepared to haul ass out of here afterward. Even if we don’t hear an alarm, it could be silent and connected to a monitoring station. Imagine how fast the cops would get here, considering what just happened in this room. And after the suspicion you raised about yourself, this is no place you want to get caught.”

“It’ll take them longer with the snow.”

“Us too, once we’re outside.” He walked over to the table, closed his computer, and crammed it into his backpack. “How fast can you find the sample?”

Jessie lifted one shoulder. “I’ve seen this brand of freezer before. Since we’ve got the code, I should be able to find it right away.”

Michael’s brow furrowed. “As soon as you grab it, let’s head for the stairs. I’ll reset the building alarm and we’ll go out the back door. The exit is dark, since we killed the bulb. Then run like hell.”

He slung his backpack onto his shoulders and joined Jessie by the freezer. “Here goes.” He pulled the door open.

Nothing.

“Assume it’s a silent alarm,” he said as she hurried through the motions of locating the right specimen straw. She pulled several red-topped ones from the goblet where she thought Talmont’s straw was stored. One of them was
HOPE-OLNEY
. Two straws later, she had the
HOPE-TALMO
one in her hand.

“This is it.” She slammed the freezer. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Forty-Six

The snow had fooled the forecasters and stopped at four inches, give or take. It made for a treacherous rush hour, but the city came to life in slow motion. Jessie had been in slow traffic, trying to get to Nina’s before she left for work. She searched for an unlikely parking spot near Nina’s place, but found only snow-covered cars that weren’t going anywhere soon. She circled the block, hoping she wouldn’t miss Nina. Still, she had no luck finding a spot.

As she approached Nina’s, she caught a glimpse of her leaving her apartment, her lime-green hat on her head. Sophie bobbed on Nina’s hip, wearing a smaller, matching hat.

“Aww,” Jessie said. Those two were so precious to her.

She could tell by Nina’s gait that she was in a hurry. Jessie pulled her car parallel to the ones parked on the street and rolled down the window.

“Nina,” she called. The snow muffled her voice, and Nina kept walking.

Jessie accelerated, keeping her pace. She tapped on the horn. “Nina, wait.”

Nina looked over, surprised and confused.

Jessie put the car in park and switched on the hazard lights. She grabbed the package from the passenger seat and hurried out of the car.

Nina watched with leery eyes, shaking her head. “What are you doing? Please tell me you didn’t come to say good-bye with your car idling in the street and me having to take Sophie to the sitter and get to work in twenty-five minutes.”

Jessie smoothed her fingers over Sophie’s little pink mitten. “I wouldn’t do that. I’m sorry I was so stubborn and unreasonable last night. Today you may think I’m even worse.”

Nina frowned, narrow-eyed.

“Please don’t judge me for this,” Jessie said. “God knows, I’ve already done enough of that for both of us. But this was my last chance—
is
my last chance. I need your help.” She handed Nina the lightweight thermal envelope.

“What’s this?”

Jessie opened her mouth but couldn’t say the words. What she and Michael had done last night would be worth it when Talmont was convicted, but right now she felt guilty and embarrassed standing in front of the friend who’d warned her to stop pursuing Sam’s murderer.

Nina cocked her head, concern etching her face. “Jess?”

A motorist blew his horn at Jessie’s car, then sped around it, slush spewing from beneath his tires.

Jessie drew a sharp breath. “It’s a semen sample. From Senator Talmont.”

A deep line creased between Nina’s eyebrows, then her mouth dropped open. “You. Did. Not. You said you could use his ego and his libido to your advantage, but I never thought you’d have sex with him to—”

“I didn’t.” Jessie looked away from Nina. “But I needed his blood or his sperm and I knew a sure way to get one of those. So I invited him over, thinking I could seduce him and get a sample that way, but I couldn’t go through with it.”

Nina’s stunned expression morphed into a grimace, and Jessie felt more embarrassed now that Nina knew.

“Then where did this come from?” Nina tipped the envelope toward her.

“Ian’s lab.”

“Is this the semen from Sam’s extortion scheme?”

Jessie stared at the snow piled around her boots. She nodded her head quickly to get it over with, then shifted her gaze back to Nina.

“You broke in there?” Nina looked incredulous.

Another nod.

“Oh, Jess.” Nina shook her head. “How did you get in there without getting caught?”

Another motorist blew his horn at Jessie’s car.

“I think it’s better if you don’t know the details.” Jessie swallowed hard.

“I understand that you want vengeance for Sam,” Nina said, a hollow depth in her eyes. She hugged Sophie closer. “But you need to think about yourself. I’m your best friend and I don’t even know you anymore.”

Tears welled in Jessie’s eyes. “I understand.” She tipped her head toward the package in Nina’s hand. “But will you test it for me?”

Nina frowned, looking as though she was thinking about it. Jessie waited, her stomach twisting, knowing she deserved to suffer.

Finally, Nina turned and walked away. After a distance she glanced over her shoulder at Jessie and yelled, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Chapter Forty-Seven

Michael hadn’t been able to say no when Jessie needed him to save her from herself—and from Talmont. It was his job, after all. At least where Talmont was concerned. As for saving her from herself, no experience or degree had qualified him for that.

But it hadn’t been his job to help her break into Ian’s practice. They might’ve gotten conclusive evidence that would pin Sam’s murder on the senator, but they’d obtained it during a B&E and it wouldn’t be admissible in court. His judgment had become skewed. The crimes he’d committed last night far eclipsed the ones he’d perpetrated under Croft’s contracts.

He wasn’t thinking straight because of his feelings for Jessie. But she’d made it clear last night that it was all business between them—that the only desire they shared was to bring Sam’s murderer to justice.

He waited in his Swann Street apartment, expecting the knock on his door precisely at noon.

Croft had obliged.

Michael stepped around the duffel bags, boxes, and a suitcase all heaped near the entrance. His life, concentrated into a pathetic pile. He opened the door.

Croft stepped past him, wearing dress shoes despite the snow, and stopped short next to Michael’s stack of stuff. “What’s all this?”