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“Olivia called me and wanted me to testify for her. I told her I couldn’t do it. But talking to her made me remember a patient I lost unexpectedly. I was called in after a car crash and was in surgery for hours. Olivia went to see a patient for me, and the patient died that night. The death was very unexpected, though she’d found out the week before she had pancreatic cancer.”
“When was this?”
“A year ago.”
“Why didn’t you call the police then?”
“I didn’t suspect anything like murder. No one would have. But now with everything that’s happened, I have to consider the possibility that Olivia did something to her. Would an autopsy show a drug like that now?”
“I doubt it, but I’ll ask the coroner. I suspect it would be too instantaneous to lodge in bone or hair. Hang on, let me ask. He’s across the hall.”
Jon rubbed his head and listened to the faint sounds coming through the phone.
The detective returned. “No go. It would be impossible to detect now. Convenient.”
“Look, I didn’t have to tell you about this case. I knew it wouldraise your suspicions, but I had to ask about it, okay? I care about my patients. I thought Olivia did too. I still find it hard to believe she’d do something like that to people she supposedly cared about. What about liver assays? Would there be enough to check there?”
“The coroner says no. You seem to know a lot about investigations.”
“My girlfriend is a law enforcement officer for the Park Service. She works closely with the sheriff, and I’ve been tagging along with her some. You can talk to Sheriff Mason Kaleva and check me out.”
“I will do that.”
Was it Jon’s imagination, or was the detective’s tone a tad warmer? “Look, I know you have to do your job, but none of the rest of us knew about her activities.”
“You’re sure about that?”
There was a warning tone Jon didn’t like. “I argued about Olivia’s innocence with you last time we spoke. I now know I was wrong. So no, I guess I can’t vouch for the others. But as desperate as she was when she called me, I think she was the only one and is trying to get some of us to vouch for her. I don’t know what drove her to do it. That’s something you’ll have to take up with Olivia.”
“Is that all you have to say?”
“That’s it. I had hoped none of it was true.”
“Didn’t we all. Thank you for calling, Dr.Dunstan.”
The call ended, and Jon thought the detective calling him “doctor” might have been a sign he believed him. But time would tell.
A flash of movement caught his eye, and he spotted a mail truck pulling into a parking space in front of the bed-and-breakfast. He bounded to the door and met the woman beforeshe could ring the bell. He quickly signed for the overnight delivery and shut the door.
His hands trembled as he opened the box and stared at his mother’s ring. It was a lovely set with top-quality diamonds, but it didn’t suit Annie. Henry might have already started on the ring since he was familiar with these stones.
He grabbed his keys and headed for the door.
***
By the time Sarah took care of Scout and made it to the big house, Max and Anu had left to get Anu to work on time, and Sarah spent the next couple of hours bathing the golden retriever, during which she determined the dog was a male. She gave him copious amounts of water and fed him again. By lunchtime, he was a different canine.
But where was his owner? She fixed a peanut butter sandwich in her small cabin, then went to gather the belongings at the campsite. The dog whined and didn’t want to follow her into the brush, so she left him by the water and went to where she’d found him.
There was no sign of the tent or his water dish. No backpack or anything else. The only sign the woman had camped here was the way the grass was beaten down. Maybe Max’s employees had gathered them up for her.
Sarah went back to the big house to ask to use the satellite phone, only to be told Max had taken one of them and the other was out with one of the groundskeepers. The employee had taken a four-wheeler, so it was hard to say where he might be on the island.
With Scout in tow, Sarah wandered down to the dock to sit in the sun and wait for Max’s return. Squirrels chattered from the oaks along the shore, and gulls swooped down to taunt the dog, who didn’t seem to care. The fresh scent of the water and the warmth of the sun made her drowsy, and she lay back on the deck and closed her eyes.
It was about one when she heard the rumble of an approaching boat and sat up. She recognized Max’s sleek yacht and dangled her legs above the edge of the water as she waited for him to come ashore. He might know the answers to her questions without using the phone, but she hated feeling so cut off from the world.
Not that she had anyone to call.
