InSight

except you.” Mrs. Gentry paused. “Let me rephrase that.”
    “No need. I get the picture,” Abby said.
    “Ha! Glad to see there’s someone here who hasn’t lost her sense of humor. Not that you’ll need it where you’re going. All the loose ends will be tied up. Stewart escaped from a mental hospital. He’s delusional, capable of anything, Doctors will attest to that, even your doctor friend. Prove otherwise, my dear. Oh, but sorry, you won’t be here, will you?”
    Carlotta Gentry’s plan sounded despicably plausible. It wouldn’t work, but she’d make a damn good case. And I won’t be around to refute it.

Chapter Forty-Two
    Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Know Nothing

    N orm Archer got out of his car in front of Synthetec’s brick and glass building and approached Luke’s side of the car. “The building’s locked. I found no other pharmaceutical labs in the area, not that they’d advertise an illegal one. I couldn’t find Valentina Kozov either. The IRS has no record of her working in the United States . In fact, immigration has no record of a Dr. Valentina Kozov entering the country.”
    Jeff touched Luke’s arm to get his attention. “I bet everyone who worked in the secret lab entered this country illegally.”
    Luke shifted to Norm. “How did Matt find her?”
    “Matt had his ways. He wouldn’t be opposed to standing in front of the Synthetec lab and interviewing people as they came out. Subtlety escaped him. Those tactics cost him his life.”
    “What about the head of the Synthetec lab?”
    “ Heidel ? I’ve talked to him before, but he disavowed knowledge of anything illegal and said he knew nothing about falsifying data on Receptormine’s trials. Matt’s investigation proves that’s a lie, but without verification from his original source we have nothing on paper, and they have everything substantiating their findings.”
    “Where’s Heidel now?” Luke asked.
    “Out of the country on vacation.”
    “How convenient.”
    “I interviewed almost everyone who worked there after Matt’s accident,” Norm said. “No one admitted anything. In these days and times, no one wants to lose their job.”
    “Matt said a Dr. Sylvan Crock headed the secret lab. Anyone get in touch with him?” Luke asked.
    “A ghost. He headed it, but no one’s ever seen him, and there’s no record of him either. Probably a phony name.”
    “What the hell is going on here?” Jeff asked. “How can these people get away with this shit?”
    “We have to find the first chemist Matt talked to.” Luke said. “The one from Synthetec.”
    “I have men interviewing everyone at Synthetec associated with the Receptormine trials. We’ll get someone to talk once they know they’re facing criminal charges.”
    “What criminal charges?” Luke asked. “Falsifying scientific data is difficult to prove. So many variables enter into forming the results that both sides can make a case for their findings. At best, you’ll get them for a fine. Hardly a threat to challenge a bullet in the brain.”
    “How about obstruction of justice, and I think if I’m very creative, I can add attempted murder. Matt Devon’s murder. That ought to shake someone out of his amnesia.”
    “Might work,” Luke said, “but we don’t have time. Damn. We arrive in Charleston before Collyer, or whoever has Abby, and we can’t use the advantage to get a jump.”
    Norm’s phone rang. One of his men tracked down Dr. Haywood Barnette , Matt Devon’s first source. Norm smiled. “Let’s get going.”
    * * * * *
    Barnette was one of those lockjaw speakers: lips tight, mouth barely open. Luke had a hard time reading him, but he got enough.
    “I signed a confidentiality agreement. I’ll lose my job…” Barnette twisted his hands, obviously upset he’d been forced to admit he was Matt’s source. “I spoke to Devon …wrote the story, everyone…was suspect. I need this job. I’ve…wife and four kids.”
    “You won’t be able to pay for their college if you’re in jail,” Norm said.
    “For what? I’ve done nothing wrong.”
    “How does accessory to murder sound?”
    Norm was stretching it, Luke knew, but from the shock on Barnette’s face, the threat drew the necessary reaction.
    Barnette panicked, waved his arms in denial. He must have raised his voice because his mouth opened and Luke understood every word. “Murder. No way. I don’t know anything about murder. I only knew that Heidel falsified the trials on