InSight

people are lethal.”
    “Damn, my head hurts. What are you doing here, Abby? And you, Jeff. You’re supposed to be home.”
    “We came to find you,” Abby said. “You’ve been missing for three days.”
    He sat up. “Did you say three days? But I just…got here. Where have I been all that time?”
    “That’s what we’d like to know. Carlotta Gentry and her chauffeur are the last people claiming to see you.”
    “Damn. Three days. Where’s Norm?”
    “He and his partner are interviewing everyone who might have seen you. I’ve got a call in to him now.”
    “My mind’s a blank, like it’s been wiped clean.”
    “It probably has,” Abby said. “Carlotta Gentry confirmed your meeting. Do you remember coming back to the hotel?”
    “No. Jeez, I’ve got a bump on my head the size of a golf ball, and I don’t remember that either.”
    “I assume you got whacked by Collyer,” Jeff said. “So much for not being at a disadvantage.”
    “What? I didn’t get that.”
    Jeff repeated.
    “Yeah, I said that, didn’t I? Guess I figured that wrong.”
    “You were drugged. You’ve got a needle mark in the vein of your right hand.”
    Luke squinted at his hand. “Now I remember. I woke up dizzy as hell, strapped to a gurney or cot in an operating room. Then I passed out again.”
    “Or you were drugged.”
    “Someone changed the drip bag hanging over me. That’s all I remember.”
    “Did you see who?”
    “No, I tried, but he stood behind me. He wore gloves. Green surgical gloves. I remember thinking, I’m a goner.”
    Abby stroked his head. “We can only guess what they would have done.”
    “You’re a lucky man, my friend. If it weren’t for Abby, you wouldn’t be here. You should have seen her. She nailed that bitch at her own game. Got her by the short hairs and yanked on them good.”
    He sat up. “What did you do to get me back?”
    “We visited Mrs. Gentry with a recording of Stewart telling me he overheard her and Collyer talking about killing his father. That’s why they wanted Stewart out of the way.”
    “You what? Did I read you right? You walked in there threatening her, with Collyer probably standing nearby?”
    “I went with her,” Jeff said. “Archer knew where we were going.”
    “Do you realize how foolish that was?”
    “Not as foolish as you prancing into Carlotta Gentry’s lair like a lamb in the middle of a wolf pack. If I’d known you were going without Norm, I’d have chained you to the bed,” Abby said.
    “If you’d have done that, I would’ve gladly stayed home.” Luke sandwiched her face and kissed her.
    Abby laughed. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I was worried sick.”
    “Ahem,” Jeff said. “I’m going down to the desk and see who brought you in. Besides, I’m beginning to feel like a fifth wheel. Be right back.”
    “Take your time, buddy.”
    Abby filled Luke in about her trip to Dayton . “Stewart was lucid—as lucid as he gets. I’m sure he knows more. He said he told me about his father’s plane crash, but I don’t remember. Now that they know he’s remembering things, he’s in serious danger.”
    “Stewart knows more than the murder. If that’s all they had against him, they’d have killed him eight years ago. Dead, he’d never expose them. There has to be something else, the same something they killed Matt for. Something tangible. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
    Abby rubbed her temples. “Could I know and not know I know?”
    “That’s more your field than mine. Right now, I’m having a hard enough time figuring out what I know.”
    “Either way, I’m erasing the tape after Norm hears it. I made a deal. The tape in exchange for you.”
    “Then you have nothing.”
    “She’d slough it off as the rant of a murdering psycho anyway. We know it’s true, and so does she, but as a cop you know it wouldn’t hold up. Ask Norm. We need more than that to stop this woman. Call it a draw. I got what I wanted ― you.” She moved closer to him. “How do you feel?”
    “Shaky, a little sick to my stomach. What I can’t figure out is why they drugged me.”
    “Jeff thinks they filled you full of a truth drug to find out if Stewart told us anything, but you were probably too dizzy to read their lips. Come on. You’ll feel better after a bath. I’ll help you.”
    “That’s the blind leading the blind. I’ll take it, but only if you take it with me.”
    “You can’t feel that bad.”
    * * * * *
    B y the