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CHAPTER
81
THAT NIGHT, DEVINE WENT BACK to an empty town house. Speers’s room held her unused law books, but not the Glock under the mattress. The woman had evidently left the hospital, come back here, and gotten her weapon. He wondered why. And he also wondered where she was now.
They had all returned from the bar and gone to their rooms. At around four a.m. Devine had been awoken by the gas. During that time, Valentine must have messed with the gas lines and fled, leaving them all to die.
Campbell had texted him that their APB had so far turned up no leads on the man.
Where the hell are you, Will? Back in Moscow getting a medal from Putin?
He was about to go up to his room when the phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number but decided to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Devine?”
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Emily Spanner.”
“I’m afraid I don’t—”
“I’m Jill Tapshaw’s mother.”
“Oh, Mrs. Spanner, I’m sorry. I looked up the faculty at Caltech but didn’t see a Tapshaw listed. So I just left a message on the department receptionist’s voice mail for Professor Tapshaw.”
“It’s all right. Spanner is my maiden name. That’s happened before and I finally got your message. But what has happened? Is Jill okay?”
“She’s fine. There was a gas leak in our town house. I’m one of her roommates. But we all got out okay. They took Jill to the hospital for observation, but the last time I checked she was fine.”
“Oh my God, I had no idea. You’re sure she’s in no danger?”
Devine wasn’t quite sure how to answer that, since it was clear someone had tried to kill them. Or maybe just me. But he didn’t want to unduly worry the woman.
“No, she’s fine. Really.”
“Do you think I should come out there?”
“From a health perspective I don’t think it’s necessary, but I’m sure she’d love to see you.”
“I’m not too sure about that.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s just family issues, Mr. Devine. We’re all dysfunctional in our own way.”
Devine thought of his own family. Truer words were never spoken. “I didn’t have any contact info on Jill’s father, or even his first name.”
“George is in Canada. We’re divorced.”
“And I couldn’t find any contact information for your son.”
“Dennis?”
“Yes, I thought Jill’s twin might want to know about what happened to her, too.”
“I’m sure he would have.”
