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“Where is Violet?” he asked.
“While she’s been undergoing radiation, she and her mother have been staying in an outpatient facility on the hospital campus.”
“Does Lambert know where she is?”
“Of course. He examines her routinely.”
“That’ll be the first place he looks for you. We’ve got to beat him there.”
He opened the door and pushed her through.
7:15 p.m.
In the distant vaulted entry hall, a grandfather clock chimed the quarter hour. Other than that, the silence following Nate Lambert’s declaration was so profound, Delores actually felt the pressure of it against her eardrums.
She and Richard sat side by side on the sitting room sofa. Nate was standing before them, the luckless messenger imparting the news that the castle had been breached.
Delores said, “What do you mean, it wasn’t there?”
For all Nate’s apparent uneasiness, his voice remained waspish. “I put it in words that couldn’t possibly cause confusion, Delores.” Spacing the words out, he enunciated, “The vial wasn’t there.”
“How did that happen? Did it ever leave the lab?”
“On the way over, I called the pharmacologist. He swears he did exactly as I instructed.”
“Only he, you, and Dr. O’Neal had the combination to the lock?”
“I gave it to her over the phone last night, but not within hearing of—”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Nate. We can stop dancing around it, can’t we? She fucking stole it!”
De
lores stood up, went over to the bar, and splashed whiskey from a decanter into a glass. She shot it, then poured another, and carried it over to Richard.
“He probably shouldn’t be—”
“Shut up, Nate.”
With a nod of thanks, Richard took the glass from her and drank the scotch with only slightly more temperance than she had, then set the empty glass on the coffee table.
“We all know what happened,” he said. “The question is, what are we going to do about it?” He looked first to Delores and caught her lighting a cigarette. In view of the crisis, he didn’t rebuke her. “Where is Goliad?” he asked.
“Once the box was delivered, I dismissed him for the night.” She gave Nate a scathing look. “Little knowing that his services would be required again so soon.”
Nate leaped to his own defense. “You two can’t blame me for this.”
Delores arched a penciled brow. “Blame you? I want to draw and quarter you.”
“The blame lies entirely with Brynn.”
“Like hell it does. I told you not to trust her. You didn’t listen.”
“I wouldn’t have sent her up there last night, had I known then what I’ve learned since.”
She propped a hand on her hip and tilted her head. “Well?”
“Criminality runs in her family. Her father has a long record.”
