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“That’s the question of the hour.” His phone rang once more. “It’s Gabrielle.”
“Clay’s detective friend that came to the hospital?”
He nodded and swiped the screen. “Covelli here.”
“Hi, Vince.” Gabrielle’s smooth alto was a pleasant sound. “I’ve got some interesting news for you that I thought you might like to hear.”
“What’s that?”
“The guy that was nabbed, Freddy Harper? It wasn’t him who drugged Ms. Price.”
“What do you mean?” He frowned. “We have him on video.”
“He was there at the hospital, but he wasn’t the one you saw at the counter. There was another guy of similar build. If you look at the mask on the guy in the ER and then the mask Freddy takes off when he exits the hospital, they’re very close to being the same but are two different ones. And before you ask, yes, I’m sure. We’ve had experts weigh in and they’ve pointed out the differences. Even the color is different. It’s subtle, but it’s there.”
Vince ran a hand over his head and glanced at Raina, who was looking at him like she’d really love to be listening in. “All right, thanks. I’ll pass that on to Raina.”
“We’re doing our best to track the guy down. We got him leaving the hospital through a different exit about thirty minutes after the other guy and getting into a black pickup truck—which we discovered was stolen around eight that morning.”
“Of course it was.”
“I’ll keep you updated.”
“Wait, Gabrielle?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you find out who Freddy Harper is working for? I still think it’s important to know that.”
She went silent for a moment. “I guess we could, but right now it’s not a priority. He was there, but it didn’t have anything to do with Raina.”
“And that’s where I have to respectfully disagree. He was watching her at the restaurant and ran from us when we tried to catch up to him. He definitely has something to do with Raina. Even if he wasn’t the one who drugged her or shot at us earlier. You really need to look into him.”
Another pause on her end. “I’ll mention it to my partner and the others and see what they think.” She fell silent and he waited because he didn’t think she was finished. “I’m not saying it’s not kind of weird that he was at the restaurant,” she finally said, “because it is. And I can see why that bothers you, but—”
“And he ran.”
“Yes. And he ran. All good points. All right. I’ll see what we can dig up.”
“Right. Thanks.”
He hung up and filled in Raina, who let out a slow breath. “Wow. That’s not what I expected to hear.”
His phone buzzed and she laughed. “You’re one popular man today.”
He glanced at the screen. “It’s a California number. I’m guessing this is John Tate.”
The smile slid from her lips and she swallowed hard. “Oh. Okay.”
He tapped the screen and lifted the phone to his ear. “Covelli.”
“This is John Tate. I hear you’ve been looking for me.”
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
The nurse with the suture kit, whose nametag read Barbara, chose that moment to step inside, and to Raina’s frustration, Vince ended the conversation, with the promise to call right back as soon as he was released.
