Got Your Number

"It's locked." She peered through the narrow frosted window, but she couldn't make out anything.
    Capistrano threw his weight against the door, but it wouldn't budge. He pulled down the sleeve of his sweatshirt to cover his fist, then rammed it through the glass and looked in. "Angora's in there. Alone." He reached through the window and down to unlock the door from the inside.
    Roxann rushed into the room. Angora was deathly pale. Next to her sat an open bag of doughnuts and a small carton of milk, surrounded by a mound of broken capsules. "Call a doctor," she yelled to the guards. "Tell them she's been drugged, maybe poisoned."
    "Stay here," Capistrano said to Roxann. "I'm going to look for Oney."
    But Roxann was right behind him. He borrowed a two-way radio from one of the guards and stuffed it in his coat pocket. Then he fished a card out of his wallet and punched in a number on his cell phone while he moved down the hall, peering into adjacent rooms.
    "This is Detective Capistrano of the Biloxi PD. I have an emergency at Holy Cross Hospital. Possible murder attempt. The suspect is Dr. Nell Oney, Caucasian female, approximately fifty years of age, five feet five, one hundred ten pounds. Suspect may have left the building traveling on foot. Requesting periphery surveillance. Also, inform Detectives Warner and Jaffey."
    They found one of the sources of the smoke—a smoldering bin of used linens in a supply closet. The detective used the radio to alert the security guards and closed the door. There were probably similar fires throughout the building. They systematically checked rooms, then moved down one floor, but Roxann was afraid that Nell was long gone. On the seventh floor, however, a gravelly sound reached her ears—coughing. Apparently the smoke from the fires Nell had set was too much for her. Roxann nudged Capistrano and pointed to a women's lounge. He radioed the security guards and told them to notify the police. Then he drew his weapon, which brought tears to her eyes. He gestured for her to stay put, then crept to the door.
    "Dr. Oney," he called. "It's Detective Capistrano and Roxann. We know you're in there, and we know what happened. Come out and we'll work through this together." He backed away from the door.
    A few seconds later, Nell emerged, her pallor gray, and her eyes red-rimmed. She had her hand to her mouth, coughing so violently, her entire body shook.
    She gasped for air, and pointed a bony finger at Roxann. "I tried to protect you," she said. "I loved Carl, too, but I was protecting you when I sent you away."
    Roxann swallowed, unable to reconcile the wild-eyed woman before her with the nurturing mentor Nell had once been. "All those years ago...you made up the story about Carl being investigated because you knew I'd leave."
    "Yes. He was crazy about you, but I knew he'd never change. The man unzipped his fly for any pretty girl who walked by."
    She looked to Capistrano who gestured that she keep Nell talking. "You were sure he wouldn't come after me once I left South Bend?"
    "No, I wasn't sure. But I told Carl if he didn't stay away from you, I'd reveal that Tammy Paulen was pregnant with his baby when she died."
    Roxann blinked as another piece of the puzzle fell into place. "You killed Tammy, didn't you?" she asked softly.
    She smiled. "You're smarter than Carl."
    "He didn't know until Angora told him."
    Nell lapsed into another coughing fit and sagged against the door. Roxann started to go to her, but Capistrano held out his arm. "Do you need to sit down, ma'am?"
    Her next inhale expanded her frail chest. She shook her head. "No, I want to have my say before they take me away." She swallowed, then wiped her mouth with her hand. "Carl called me the night that Angora was at his house. Said if I even thought about revealing the Paulen girl's pregnancy, he could prove that I'd killed her. He said he was still in love with you, Roxann, and that now I couldn't stop him from pursuing a relationship with you."
    A bittersweet revelation. "So you sent over Frank Cape, with the scarf you took from my room?"
    Nell made a regretful sound. "That's where things went bad. I told Frank that if he did me a favor, I could find out where Melissa was hiding."
    Bile backed up in Roxann's mouth that Nell was willing to betray a woman who took refuge in the program she had created.
    "The idiot was supposed to make it look as if Angora killed Carl. Later he told me the scarf was already in the library, and