“Ooh, can you say that again?” Heather teased. “‘Cracked the case’ is my favorite phrase.”
“No time for games,” Gabby said sternly, then flashed a mischievous smile. “Besides, I have it on tape so we can replay it over and over. Let’s do this.”
Tina nodded and led the way through the door, as Gabby narrated in her podcast voice. “We are now stepping inside the Bibs and Bobs Craft Store, which is currently empty except for our little crew and…”
Tina tuned her out as she focused on Kate Mansfield. The woman behind the counter watched them approach, a myriad of expressions flitting across her face. She wore a quilted vest over a turtleneck, her graying red hair tied up in a graceful knot.
“Remember me?” Tina said.
Kate said nothing as her gaze darted around their little group. Smart move, not speaking. Exactly what a lawyer would encourage her to do.
“I was sorry to hear about your son getting arrested,” Tina continued.
Jack stepped to her side, his head tilted as he studied Kate’s now-impassive face.
“Odd,” he said to Tina. “She doesn’t seem upset by that.”
“Well, you know, families are complicated. Apparently, some parents don’t mind their children sacrificing themselves. Maybe she thinks it’s for the greater good?”
Jack addressed Kate directly, while Tina took note of the color rising in her face. She wasn’t as stoic as she appeared. “I can understand why you would be interested in a new drug that would erase trauma. Your ex-husband really put you through hell, didn’t he? When Dr. Choudhoury approached you about trying a new drug on Mark, you didn’t hesitate. As least, that’s what she says.”
Tina held up her phone, which showed a photo of Dr. Fatima Choudhoury. “I finally managed to speak with her. I thought it was odd that a neuropharmacologist was working with your ex-husband. She’s a researcher, not a psychiatrist. She explained that she was working on a treatment for paranoid schizophrenia when she noticed some fascinating side effects. I also found out who’s currently funding her research, as of about a year ago. Hendrik de Vries.
“Anyway, she says she intended Night Light to be a legitimate treatment option, not some kind of free-for-all recreational drug. The blackmarket smuggling, that was all you. You knew the Clydes from when you lived on Sea Smoke. You knew it would be a perfect hub for smuggling it across the border. You and Dr. Choudhoury communicated through postcards left in your ex-husband’s room. Luckily, I had your handwriting on file.”
That photo of the corkboard sure had come in handy.
Tina shifted her tone to one of compassion. “I suppose you wanted something to make up for what you’ve gone through in your life. Understandable.”
“You think you understand?” Kate finally spoke, her voice sounding almost rusty from holding her tongue that long. “You couldn’t possibly. Why should I care what happened to Mark? Fine, give him the drug. Dr. Fatima said it would transform his personality. Then she told me that with non-schizophrenics, it erases the effects of trauma, as if it never existed. Do you know how incredible that is? It could change the world! How many damaged people are out there causing harm? Countless! So I tried it myself. And you know what happened?”
Tina shook her head, riveted by the anguish on Kate’s lined face.
“Nothing. It didn’t work on me. I’m one of the very few Dr. Fatima knows who have no reaction. Do you understand how ironic that is? I was the one who deserved some relief. Not Mark!”
“So you decided money would be the next best thing?”
“It is the next best thing. Money is power in this world. That’s why you’re going after me, isn’t it, instead of Hendrik?” She set trembling hands on the counter. “Are you here to arrest me?”
Tina and Jack exchanged a glance. She had an arrest warrant for Kate Mansfield in her pocket, along with a search warrant for the entire premises. She was almost completely sure that the packing boxes filled with tissue paper contained more than craft supplies. Someone had to pick up the drug-soaked tabs from the hospital lab and store them until they were ready for the next step. Adam/Lloyd/Seth/Joseph couldn’t do all those pickups.
“You’re not going to find anything here,” Kate said, as if she was reading Tina’s mind. “I knew exactly who you were the first time you came in here. I’m not in touch with Celine, but I know everything that happens in her life. It took me a minute, but I remembered the name Tina Chen.”
“So that whole sobfest was just to throw us off?” Tina shook her head in disgust with herself. “It really worked. Well done.”
“Damn.” Jack folded his arms across his chest, looking hugely offended. “I really thought we had a moment there. You out-acted me, Kate Mansfield.”
“It’s actually Naomi Martin.” Kate blew out a breath. “And the truth is, I’m relieved you broke the whole thing up. Once Hendrik took over, it became too dangerous.”
Something else clicked then. “He paid you for it, so you’re all set. Now you don’t care what happens. You’ve got your money in the bank. Wait—did you encourage Benny Clyde to go to the police to put Hendrik out of business?”
“Me?” Kate blinked innocently. “Oh no, that was Sandy Clyde. She wanted all of them to get out of the smuggling business, but Benny was the only one who agreed. I believe she was coordinating with Jessie, until that poor girl disappeared from the island.”
Sandy. The name in the Post-It note. And that mystery phone call Jack had gotten at the Sunderland place. It all made sense now. She must have been calling Jessie, then gotten confused when Jack answered, and decided it was too risky to speak.
“Jessie is doing fine, by the way,” Jack said sternly. “In case that matters to you at all.
“None of us ever wanted to hurt Jessie,” said Kate. “We all wanted to help her. Poor Lloyd was in love with her. But she kept threatening to expose us.”
