Secret Prey

police officer conducting an official investigation, we can show you the records.’’ She sounded faintly amused.
    ‘‘Gee. Thanks. That’s really nice. Will somebody be in your records department, about seven o’clock?’’
    ‘‘There’s always somebody there. Around the clock.’’
    ‘‘Tell them I’m coming . . .’’
    CONNIE BELL STARTED CRYINGWHENSHE SAW LUCAS. She had a small bag with her, and the foster mother patted her on the shoulder, and Connie said, ‘‘Did you do this?’’
    ‘‘No.’’
    ‘‘Then who did?’’
    ‘‘I don’t know,’’ Lucas said, leading the way to the car. ‘‘But it was pretty mean.’’
    ‘‘My mom is really upset, I thought she was going to fight those people last night, I’ve never seen her like that.’’
    ‘‘Why don’t you call her?’’ Lucas said. ‘‘There’s a phone in the car.’’
    Connie called, told Helen that she was on the way home, and that Lucas was bringing her. She handed Lucas the phone and said, ‘‘Thank you, thank, thank you . . .’’
    And when they arrived at Helen’s home, Helen ran out and wrapped up her daughter, and they both started crying again, and after a moment, Lucas said, ‘‘Could you send Connie inside to get cleaned up? I’d like to talk to you for a minute.’’
    Connie went, Helen watching her running up the steps.
    ‘‘Do you have any feeling who might have done this?’’ Lucas asked.
    ‘‘There was a literature teacher she had last year, who hated Connie—and several other kids too. If this was last year, I’d say her. But I can’t believe that she’d wait a whole year. I’ve been racking my brain . . .’’
    ‘‘This is not the way they do things in the school system,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘They’ve got a whole bureaucratic procedure they follow, and it’s all very routine. This was strange, right from the start. I don’t think it was a teacher at all. Could you think, really hard, about who it might be?’’
    ‘‘Okay, okay . . . but you’re scaring me. Why?’’
    ‘‘Because it might be related to something else. Anyway, think about it. If you come up with anything, you’ve got my number.’’
    ‘‘Okay.’’ She stepped close and gave him a hug. ‘‘Thanks.’’
    TRAFFIC WAS BEGINNING TO EASE AS HE HEADED south, down to Dakota County, finally to MercySouth. He went in through the emergency entrance, was directed by a nurse to Records, and found a dark-haired young woman sitting in a pool of light from a desk lamp, in an otherwise dark room full of file cabinets and computers. Her feet up next to a computer, she was engrossed in a Carl Hiaasen novel. A stack of what looked like thick textbooks sat on the floor.
    ‘‘Good book?’’ he asked in the silence.
    She jumped, turned, saw him, looked down at the book, and said, ‘‘Yes, as a matter of fact.’’ She looked at the photo on the back cover. ‘‘And this Hiaasen is a yummy little piece of crumb cake, if I do say so myself . . . You’d be Officer Davenport, and you need some records.’’
    ‘‘That’s right.’’
    ‘‘I’m supposed to Xerox your credential,’’ she said. She went for the double entendre: ‘‘You’ll hardly feel a thing.’’
    ‘‘Young women these days,’’ Lucas clucked. He gave her his ID, she xeroxed it, and said, ‘‘There’s not much in the computer file—mostly just the bare bones. If you want to look at her actual file, we don’t have the paper anymore, but it’s on fiche.’’
    ‘‘I’d like that, if I could.’’
    ‘‘Sure.’’ She found the right fiche, set him up with a reader, and went back to the novel.
    THE FILE WAS SHORT, AND ECHOED THE OXFORD doctor’s report of symptoms on George Lamb. Amelia Lamb suffered from flulike symptoms—gastric discomfort, sporadic vomiting. She saw the doctor twice, the visits two weeks apart. The discomfort had increased in the two weeks, and he ordered a number of tests. He noted that her blood pressure was high and that she had been asked to come in for a series of blood pressure tests, but there was no indication that any blood pressure medication had been prescribed. Four days after the second visit, she was brought to the hospital by ambulance, and was reported dead on arrival. The record noted that the daughter reported that she’d been suffering chest pains but had refused to come to the hospital because of cost, and she’d called only after her mother had collapsed.
    ‘‘Relative