Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE COUNTERElise Mercer’s pharmacy did not look like the headquarters of a conspiracy.
That bothered Detective Maya Brooks.
Criminals, in her experience, rarely decorated themselves helpfully.
Mercer Family Pharmacy sat between a bakery and a boutique in Edina. White shelves. Soft lighting. Free blood-pressure screenings. A bowl of lollipops near the register.
On the wall hung a photograph of Elise shaking hands with the governor at a charity gala.
Another showed Richard beside her at the pharmacy’s twentieth-anniversary celebration.
They looked comfortable together.
Too comfortable, Maya thought.
At 8:30 Saturday morning, Elise arrived wearing a camel-colored coat and expensive sunglasses.
She saw the police.
Stopped.
Then smiled.
“What happened?”
Maya introduced herself.
“I need to ask about Richard Hale.”
Elise’s expression shifted almost perfectly.
Concern first.
Then confusion.
“Richard? Is he okay?”
“His wife is in intensive care.”
“Oh my God.”
“She was poisoned.”
The color drained from Elise’s face.
Just enough.
Maya noticed.
“Can we talk inside?”
Elise unlocked the door.
Ten minutes later they sat in her office.
“I’ve known Richard since college,” Elise said. “He’s practically family.”
“How practically?”
Elise’s eyes hardened.
“You know we dated.”
“I do.”
“Then why ask?”
“To hear how you describe it.”
“It was forty years ago.”
“Relationships don’t always expire when calendars say they should.”
Elise folded her hands.
“If you’re implying something, Detective, imply it clearly.”
Maya placed a photograph of the patch on the desk.
“Do you stock these?”
Elise looked at it.
“Yes.”
“Did Richard have access?”
“All pharmacists have access.”
“Controlled?”
“Tracked.”
“Show me.”
Elise hesitated.
Then opened her computer.
Inventory records showed that a box from the matching manufacturer had been logged two weeks earlier.
Maya leaned closer.
“How many?”
“Five patches per carton.”
“How many remain?”
Elise checked.
“Five.”
Maya stared at her.
“You’re saying none are missing?”
“That’s what the system says.”
“Then why did two from this batch appear outside the pharmacy?”
Elise said nothing.
The office door opened.
A young pharmacy technician froze.
“Sorry.”
“Come in, Jenna,” Elise said quickly.
The technician entered holding a clipboard.
Maya noticed her glancing repeatedly at the photograph.
“You recognize it?”
Jenna’s face changed.
Elise cut in.
“She sees these every day.”
Maya kept watching Jenna.
“Did Richard remove any medication without entering it?”
“No,” Elise said.
“I asked her.”
Jenna looked terrified.
“No.”
Elise smiled.
“See?”
Maya stood.
“Thank you.”
She handed Jenna her card as she passed.
“For anything you remember.”
Elise’s smile vanished.
Maya was halfway to her car when her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Brooks.”
Silence.
Then a whisper.
“It’s Jenna.”
Maya turned toward the pharmacy window.
Elise was watching her.
Jenna whispered, “Richard didn’t steal the patches.”
“Who did?”
A pause.
“Elise told me to adjust the inventory.”
“When?”
“Thursday.”
One day before Laura collapsed.
Maya walked farther down the sidewalk.
“Why?”
“She said a shipment had been damaged.”
“How many?”
“Two.”
Exactly two.
“Jenna, I need you to leave that building.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Elise knows where my daughter goes to school.”
The line went dead.
Meanwhile, Ivan had not left Laura’s hospital floor.
Laura was off the ventilator by noon but weak.
She stared at Ivan when he entered.
“Richard?”
“Police are looking for him.”
She closed her eyes.
“Of course he ran.”
Ivan pulled up a chair.
“You knew he was planning something?”
“I knew something was wrong.”
“How long?”
“Months.”
Laura swallowed.
“He started coming home late. Started hiding his phone.”
“Did you think he was having an affair?”
“Yes.”
“With Elise?”
“I didn’t know.”
Ivan waited.
Laura stared toward the window.
“Three weeks ago, I found a second phone.”
“What was on it?”
“Messages. Mostly deleted.”
“Mostly?”
“One wasn’t.”
Her voice shook.
“It said, ‘Friday ends this.’”
Ivan felt a chill.
Yesterday had been Friday.
“What did you do?”
“I confronted him.”
“What did Richard say?”
“That it was about work.”
“Did you believe him?”
“No.”
“So why were you at the Stonebridge Hotel?”
Laura looked at him.
“Because someone texted me from Richard’s phone.”
“What did it say?”
“Come to the hotel garage. We need to talk somewhere private.”
Ivan leaned forward.
“Richard sent it?”
“I thought so.”
“What happened when you arrived?”
Laura’s breathing changed.
A nurse glanced in from the doorway.
“It’s okay,” Ivan said. “Take your time.”
“I parked. Richard was standing near the elevator.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
“Elise?”
Laura shook her head.
Ivan frowned.
“But you wrote Elise’s name.”
“Because she planned it.”
“How do you know?”
Laura’s face tightened.
“Because the man who was standing beside Richard told me.”
Ivan’s pulse quickened.
“Who?”
“A man I’d never seen before.”
“What happened?”
“Richard told me to get into another car.”
“You refused.”
“Yes.”
“He threatened you?”
Laura laughed bitterly.
“No.”
“Then why did you get in?”
“Because he showed me a photograph.”
“Of what?”
“Our daughter.”
Ivan’s stomach dropped.
Laura and Richard had two adult children.
Their daughter, Hannah, lived in Seattle.
“What kind of photograph?”
“Hannah leaving her apartment that morning.”
Laura’s voice broke.
“He said if I didn’t cooperate, something could happen to her.”
“Richard said that?”
Laura nodded.
Ivan stared at the floor.
There were some things friendship could not survive.
This was one.
“What happened inside the car?”
“They gave me something to drink.”
“You drank it?”
“I pretended.”
“Then how did the sedative get into your system?”
Laura went pale.
“I don’t know.”
Ivan looked at the IV site on her arm.
Then at the faint mark on her neck.
A tiny puncture.
He stood.
“Laura, did anyone touch your neck?”
“The stranger grabbed me when I tried to run.”
Ivan examined it.
There.
A needle mark.
He called Maya immediately.
Thirty minutes later, the hospital’s security desk received a delivery.
A plain white envelope.
No return address.
Inside was a photograph of Ivan leaving the hospital the previous Christmas.
On the back, written in black ink:
DOCTORS SHOULD KNOW WHEN TO STOP TREATING A LOST CAUSE.
Maya looked at Ivan.
“They know you found the patch.”
“No,” Ivan said.
May you like
He studied the photograph.
“They knew I would.”
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