The FBI Thrillers Collection Books 1-5 - Catherine Coulter [566]
Atherton stepped back from me, looked hard at Maitland, and sighed. “Well, hell. If there’s a chance we can get anything on Del Cabrizo, I want to be there with you to find it. But I think they must have hit you guys so quickly to give themselves time to close down shop, to destroy evidence.”
Maitland, always a diplomat, said, “If you can nail Del Cabrizo it would be quite a feather in the DEA’s cap. We can use all the help we can get.”
“As of right now,” Big Carl said, “this is an interagency operation. All right with you, Atherton?”
Atherton nodded. He was looking at Laura, oxygen in her nose, an IV in her arm, lying there pale and silent. He walked over to her and lightly touched her shoulder. Maybe he really gave a damn about her.
Laura, her voice a thread of sound, said, “Please get Molinas. He tried to make us think he was so noble, trying to make his daughter well, but he isn’t. He would have done anything to us. He wouldn’t have cared if we died or just went crazy. He’s as bad as Del Cabrizo.” She blinked, closed her eyes, and turned her cheek into the hospital pillow.
Maitland stood up. “It’s time for the FBI and the DEA to mount a joint operation. We’ll all go down to this compound to see what’s going on.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Out with it, Mac. What happened?”
“Molinas is dead,” I said to Laura. “It wasn’t our side who killed him. Del Cabrizo’s people arrived before we did and executed him.”
“He was afraid of Del Cabrizo.”
“He was right to be. Unfortunately, we didn’t find Molinas’s daughter. By the time we and the Costa Rican people got to the compound, it was deserted. The police burned it to the ground to prevent any possibility that it could ever be used again as a halfway point. They’re going to patrol the airspace too.”
“Any word yet from Edgerton?”
“They searched the Tarcher house from top to bottom, and they’re going through his business records. Nothing yet, no financial records to indicate anything concerning drugs.
“Paul’s gone, everything in his house including his computer, gone as well. Tarcher says he doesn’t have any idea what all this is about. They can’t hold him, at least not yet. They’re still looking for Jilly too. But as of two hours ago, we’ve got nothing on anybody.”
I helped Laura move herself higher on the pillow. “There, that’s better. Now, what about Charlie Duck and the traces of the drug the M.E. found?”
“Tarcher said he hadn’t any idea how Charlie Duck had gotten ahold of Paul’s drug. Maybe Paul killed him, Tarcher said.” I lightly kissed Laura’s hand. Her skin was smooth and soft. Her fingers clasped mine. Her grip was stronger. “As you can imagine, the local sheriff, Maggie Sheffield, isn’t a happy camper. She and Atherton are going at each other like two cocks after the same hen.”
Laura laughed.
“Well, two dogs after the same bone. You get the idea. Since I got this from Atherton, he didn’t quite phrase it like that, just complained that this cop in Edgerton was a pain in the butt.”
“What are we going to do, Mac?”
I kissed her mouth and the tip of her nose. I got her earlobe on the third kiss. “We’re going to stay right here until you’re well enough to travel. Then”—I drew a deep breath—“I’ve got to go back to Edgerton. I’ve got to find Jilly.”
“Give me a couple more days, Mac. We’ll go together.”
Four days later, all four of us landed in Portland, Oregon. Sherlock and Savich wouldn’t let us go alone.
Savich rented a Toyota Cressida and I rented a Ford Explorer at the airport. They remembered us from last time and gave us a distrustful look, but our original rental cars had been returned to the rental company, the repair bills paid, everything right and tight.
I laid back behind Savich’s