Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

POE KNEW THEY had to work quickly and carefully to stay on the right side of the law. Technically, this was a conversation, not an interrogation. The trick was to keep Keelin Dale from recognizing the difference.

Marple had extracted the frazzled nurse from behind the security barrier with a vague threat of exposing her as a drug thief. Now the three of them were sitting in a cluster of public seating in front of a wall of glass near the main airport entrance.

“Who are you?” asked Dale. “Are you the police?”

Poe could see how nervous and flustered the nurse was. He glided right past her legitimate question. “Let’s not talk about us,” said Poe. “Let’s talk about you.”

“The pills,” said Marple, following up quickly. “We’ve traced them to you.”

“How?” asked Dale. Her hands were clasped so tightly her fingertips looked scarlet.

“Never mind how,” said Poe. “Did you take them from St. Michael’s?”

“God, no!” said Dale. “Do you know how hard it is to get drugs from a hospital these days?” She shook her head. “It’s like Fort Knox in there.”

Marple held off for a few seconds, then tipped the next domino. “Easier to steal babies, right?”

Dale bit her lower lip. Her pale skin blanched, making her freckles stand out even more. “Omigod, omigod…” she mumbled. She tried to avoid eye contact, but Poe leaned over to stare right at her, pressing the advantage.

“You’re an addict, Keelin. We’re very familiar with the type. Poor judgment is one of the symptoms. So is risk-taking behavior.”

“Somebody found your weakness,” said Marple. “Promised you a lifetime supply of Halcion. Enough to deal, if you wanted, and make a tidy profit. No more fake scrips. All you needed to do was provide some simple information about the maternity unit.”

Dale was in tears now. “They said nobody would get hurt. They promised the babies would be ransomed in no time. They only picked babies with rich parents.”

“Rich white parents,” said Marple.

“That wasn’t my idea!”

“Whose idea was it, Keelin?” asked Poe. “Who are we talking about? Who’s behind this?”

“Who’s your contact?” asked Marple. “Do you have a name?”

She and Poe were playing off each other, ping-ponging their questions before Dale could catch a breath.

“I don’t know!” she finally shouted. A passing businessman looked over. Dale lowered her voice. “I talked to somebody on the phone. A woman. I used burner phones, like she told me. I threw them into the compacter after each call. I wasn’t on call the night it happened. That was part of the deal. They told me to fly to Rabat and wait until everything got worked out. They said nobody could touch me there.” She took a deep shuddering breath. “The babies,” she said, almost in a whisper. “Did they get the babies back yet?”

Suddenly, a riot of red and blue lights blasted through the window. Dale jumped up. “Oh, Christ! You are cops!”

“No, Keelin,” said Poe. “I promise we’re not.”

Marple looked outside. “But we know a few.”

A New Jersey State Police SUV screeched to a stop outside, followed by an NYPD patrol car. An unmarked sedan with flashing dashboard lights pulled in front and parked at a hard angle near the entryway. Helene Grey stepped out. Poe rapped on the glass until she spotted him.

In a few seconds, the police were through the main doors, hands on their guns. The two New Jersey troopers approached first. “Keelin Dale?” one of them asked. Two NYPD uniforms were right behind.

Dale turned to Marple. “Are they arresting me?”

Grey stepped between the troopers and held up her badge. “Keelin, I’m Detective Helene Grey, NYPD. Right now we just want to talk. That’s all.”

“I’d go if I were you,” said Marple. “Believe me, you’re a lot safer with them than you’d be with whoever is waiting for you in Rabat.”

Dale turned to Marple with a pleading look. “Will you come with me?”

Poe realized that, for Keelin Dale, Marple had become the least of three evils, right below the cops and the kidnappers. The panicked nurse desperately needed a friend.

“Of course I will,” said Marple. She glanced at the troopers and held Keelin’s forearm. “No cuffs here. We’re walking out together.”

Poe watched as Marple and Dale exited, sandwiched between two cops, and slid into the back of the NYPD patrol car.

Grey sat down next to him. “Auguste, are you insane?”

“I called you, didn’t I?” he replied.

“Right. After you chased down a prime suspect on your own.”

“A prime suspect we identified. I trusted Margaret to bring her in.”

“Sometimes I think you guys trust each other a little too much,” Grey muttered.

“Anyway,” said Poe, “I don’t think Dale can identify anybody. They were smart enough to keep her at a distance. She was just a cog in the machine.”

“We’ll see,” said Grey. “I’ll have New Jersey get a warrant for a legit search of her apartment. We can press her on the pills and see if her memory improves on the kidnapping.” She stood up, pulled a business card from her pocket, and handed it to Poe.

“I’ve got a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning,” she said. “If you want to be there, fine. If you don’t, I’ll understand.” Before Poe could respond, Grey turned and walked out the sliding doors. Poe watched her thank the New Jersey troopers before she climbed into her sedan and led the small motorcade toward the airport exit.

He glanced down at the business card.

Exactly what he’d been afraid of.