Daddy's Little Killer

Chapter 38

Chapter 38

 

The moment we entered Lowe's kitchen through the back door of his house, a flood of memories assailed me. I gripped Johnny's arm.

"What's wrong? Chris assured me that Lowe is out at OSI with everyone else. He's not gonna walk in on us, Doc."

"I remember."

"You remember what you were doing outside Lowe's house?"

"Not that specifically. I remember what I was doing here. Johnny, he invited me to come here for lunch Thursday. We sat at that table and had zucchini frittata. I started feeling funny after drinking the glass of chardonnay he gave me," I pointed, "through there. In the living room."

Johnny charged through the kitchen. "In here? Then what happened?"

"I felt worse after we started eating lunch. Dizzy. Kind of woozy."

"The son of a bitch drugged you."

"Why not kill me then when he had the chance?"

"Doc, I do not wanna think about how close you came to having that happen."

Carrie's recollection of the needle in her arm ricocheted through me. "He drugs his victims, Johnny. He did it to Carrie Blevins. The fact that he did it to me without a needle isn't important."

"Or it explains that bruise on your arm."

"You mean Maya didn't draw my blood for testing Thursday night?"

"Of course not. I would've hounded her for the results if she had."

"If I was already incapacitated, why inject me again?"

"Let's look for his safe. Maybe we'll have a better idea if we find it."

We were half way through the search of the living room when Orion's cell phone rang. He spoke too low for me to pick up more information than it was Darnell who called. When the call ended, he didn't resume his search.

"What's wrong?"

"They didn't have to reach too far to pretend that someone died at your house, Helen."

"What do you mean?"

"They found two bodies. Winslow just called Chris. Identification on one was easy to confirm. He died of a single gunshot wound to the head."

"Rodney?"

Orion nodded. "She's not certain on the other yet, waiting for dental records to confirm the ID found on the body."

"Who was it?"

"Matt Rogers."

"Rogers? What on earth was he doing there?'

"Probably his master's bidding. His body was found in close proximity to the center of the explosion that destroyed the house. Chris says it looks like he planted the bomb and something went wrong."

"We need to find the safe, Johnny. If Lowe could exert that kind of influence over his subordinates, I can only imagine the lengths he went to, to control Hardy and Weber."

"You think they're being blackmailed?"

"They admitted as much to me Wednesday. Of course no one has ever tipped his hand and given them reason to suspect the identity of the blackmailer, but any time they stepped out of line, they both received stern reminders. Given their behavior on Thursday when I met with them after interviewing Datello, I surmised that they had received a dire warning for bringing me into the department."