“I’ll think of something.” She gave him a wink and returned to the nurse’s station.
“Hey, Clara, do you think it would be alright if Jeremy could use a phone to call me? Just in case he needs something.” She lowered her voice. “Like a lawyer?”
“If I’m on duty, I’ll let him use my cell,” she said in a hushed voice.
“Thanks. I owe you.”
Maggie drove to the airport, where Annie’s jet was waiting. “Hello, Roger,” Maggie greeted the pilot. “How’s the weather looking?”
“Clear skies. We should have wheels up in about twenty minutes. Do you need anything?”
“Maybe a sandwich,” Maggie said sheepishly.
Roger, who had been Annie’s pilot for a while, was used to Maggie’s voracious appetite. He nodded and thought to himself,Where does that girl put it?
Maggie strapped herself in and pulled out her laptop. She instantly sent a message to the mainframe:
Sykes was a pharmacist at Sunnydale. Boxes of Oxy, hydrocodone codeine, and morphine were missing from shipments. Contacted the sales rep but got no real answers. Sykes told his boss and was fired almost immediately. Then came the accident and the vial at the crash site. Seems like a setup to me.
A colleague named Regina works in admin office and visited him. He thinks she is on his side. I left my contact info for him to pass on. Izzie should make friends with her. Wheels up in five. Later, gators.
The information was uploaded to their secure server, giving all the Sisters access to the information. It was the quickest way to share details in real time.
Tempe, Arizona
Maggie’s flight took off and landed without any delay. A people-mover tram brought her from the hangar to the rental agency. She laughed to herself.This is like déjà vu all over again. She quickly filled out the paperwork and drove the car to Theresa’s hotel.
Henry and Frida had asked Theresa if she wanted to join them again for some sightseeing. She wasn’t sure what to give them as her excuse. She surely didn’t know anyone. Should she tell them the truth? No. But she also didn’t want to lie.How about a headache?That was something she didn’t have to fake. Her two new pals were disappointed, but said they would check in with her later in the afternoon to see how she was feeling.
Theresa was pacing the floor, waiting for Maggie to come to her room. Theresa trusted Lizzie, but she hadn’t yet met Maggie. Everything was moving quickly. And eerily. She still couldn’t shake off the disturbing feeling she had from her late-night escapade. The knock on the door jolted her. She peered through the peephole. A thirtysomething woman with wild curly red hair smiled up at her. Theresa slowly opened the door but kept the safety chain on. “Maggie?”
Maggie automatically pulled out her press pass. “That’s me.” She continued to smile.
Theresa shut the door so she could take off the safety chain, then let Maggie in.
“Hi, Theresa,” Maggie said pleasantly. She knew how unnerving all of this had to be for the woman, who continued to pace.
“Hi. Please come in. Sit.” Theresa motioned to one of the club chairs.
“Thanks.” Once again, Maggie pulled out her laptop. “Tell me everything you remember about the accident.”
Theresa recounted the collision with as much detail as she could, which was truly little. “He came out of nowhere, sideswiped me, causing my car to hit a pole.” She pointed to the fading bruise under her eye. “Airbag deployed. When I looked up to see who it was, they were gone.”
“Do you remember if the truck came from behind?”
“Yes, it did. It was as if he was trying to overtake me on the road.”
“And there is no security footage,” Maggie stated.
“Correct,” Theresa responded. “I’m afraid that’s all I know.”
“About the accident,” Maggie said, still typing. “What about the night crawl?”
Theresa was stunned. She had no idea how much Lizzie was sharing and with whom. “Uh, well.”
“It’s okay. Lizzie and I are part of a team. I have some general information. I just need you to go over it with me to make sure we’re not leaving out any important details. Let’s start from the beginning. When you first arrived at Sunnydale.”
Theresa described her experience in great detail, from the curt phone call to the odd behavior of the staff, the mysterious woman in the wheelchair, the ring, and the questionable death of her aunt.
