Micah looked at her parents. She tried to warn them with her eyes not to use any names.
“I’m so tired,” she said, and it wasn’t a lie. “I can’t even think straight anymore.”
Cole studied Micah’s face. He motioned to Bellows. “Why don’t we go for a coffee? Marianna can sit with Micah.”
Deputy Bellows considered, then rose to his feet, adjusting his duty belt over his paunch. “I could use a coffee,” he admitted. “And a piece of pie.”
Cole laughed. “Yes, you probably could,” he admitted. “How about you, Micah? Do you want me to bring you something up from the cafeteria?”
As Micah’s body started to recover from its cold, exhausted state, she was starting to feel hunger pangs. “Well… maybe some fruit?” she suggested.
Cole cocked his head at her. “Some fruit,” he repeated. “I’m thinking that there’s something else you want.”
Micah’s face heated. She looked away from him, embarrassed. “Well… hospital cafeterias almost always have… Jell-O.”
“Nothing wrong with Jell-O.”
“It’s not exactly healthy.”
“You need a little treat now and then. You eat perfectly all the time. Jell-O isn’t bad for you. It’s a hospital. It’s healthy Jell-O.”
Micah laughed. She shrugged, trying not to look embarrassed about it.
“Color preference?” Cole asked, as if it were perfectly normal.
“Well… not green.”
“Orange or red are okay?”
Micah nodded, not meeting Bellows’s amused look. She wasn’t sure why she cared if he thought her tastes were juvenile or peculiar. “Yes.”
“Alright. We’ll see you later, honey, get some rest.”
The two men left. Marianna sat down and held Micah’s hand. “Are you okay, dear?”
“Fine. Why?”
“You seem like something is bothering you. Did you not want your father to take the deputy away—oh! Are the two of you…?”
“No, there’s nothing between us. He’s married. I did want Dad to take him. Something… doesn’t feel right. Frank was really good to me and helped me to get out of there safely, but…”
“But something isn’t right,” Marianna repeated.
“Yeah.”
“Maybe you should get some sleep. Your brain can’t function properly when you are exhausted. It will all make sense when you wake back up.”
Micah rubbed her eyes. “I don’t think I’d better go to sleep yet. Do you have my… can I borrow your phone?”
“Of course.” Marianna started digging around in her purse. “I don’t know if you’re supposed to use one in here, they always give you such dire warnings about cell phones and sensitive medical equipment. If you have someone you want me to call to let them know that you’re safe…”
“No, I need to talk to her directly.” Micah glanced around the curtained area, but she didn’t see any warnings about cell phones, so when Marianna found hers and handed it over, Micah immediately called the EvPro main number.
Who could she trust? Not Amy Bradshaw or Aaron Kwong, who had told her to get off of the Sweetgrass Doe case. Either of them could be taking directions from Kirk Haynes or someone in his employ. Veronica Clang and Mr. Hawkins were too low on the totem pole to agree to do anything against company policy without considerable pressure. IT would ask a lot of questions and report anything they heard to management.
That left one person. She had to put her trust in the person who liked her the least.
“Chastity Pollard, please.”
She waited for the receptionist to put her through, then waited while Chastity’s phone rang for a long time. Finally, Chastity picked up.
“Chastity Pollard.”
“Chastity, it’s Micah.”
“Micah? How are you feeling? Are you okay?”
“Pretty rotten,” Micah admitted. “But I’m safe.”
There was silence from Chastity, then an uncertain “Okay…”
Had the employees not even been told that she had been kidnapped?
“Chastity, I know I’ve asked you for a couple of favors lately. I just have one more…”
There was a sigh from the other woman. “Micah, we’ve all been told to stay off of the Sweetie Doe file, so if you have more requests to do with that… I can’t.”
Micah glanced around, making sure that there was no one listening in on the conversation. Who knew how many thugs Haynes might have around. And with only curtains for privacy, there was no way of knowing who might be nearby listening in.
“Do you know why you’ve been told to stay off of it?”
Chastity didn’t answer immediately. “No,” she said finally. “They said some nonsense about not putting resources into a cold file, but it’s not cold. And we put resources into cold files all the time. That’s our thing. Reviving a case when there were no more leads. Finding new information.”
“Somebody… in the company… is involved in the case.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that someone on the board is Mama Doe’s killer.”
“What?” Chastity’s voice squeaked. “How can you know that? If you do know something, you need to let the police know.”
“I did. But the police have a leak, and it just about got me killed. We need to preserve the evidence, Chastity. Because he is going to try to wipe it out, if he hasn’t already.”
“If he hasn’t already?”
Micah could hear Chastity typing quickly. She could picture the familiar wrinkle between Chastity’s brows and the frown on her face as she checked the file system to make sure that everything was still where it should be.
“The Sweetie Doe file is still here… it looks like everything is where it should be. Baby and Mama.”
“Good. Can you… make a backup? I know the company has its own servers and cloud backup and all of that, but we need to know it’s safe somewhere else. Download it to your computer. Make a copy on a portable drive. Half of Sweetie’s DNA is his, and if they wipe it out, and do something to her… there won’t be any evidence to convict him.”
“Okay,” Chastity murmured. She muttered beneath her breath as she did what she was asked, letting Micah know that she was still there and working on it. It was a few minutes before she gave her attention back to Micah, her words clear once more. “What about Papa Doe? We did the Lazarus and your fingernail samples.”
“Yeah. That’s what I was most concerned about. It’s under Baby Thompson-Smith. He won’t know that, but if he does what Bellows said and just wipes out all of my recent files, he’ll destroy it.”
“Mmm-hm.” Chastity tapped away, looking up the file. Micah waited while she had a look through the files or started them copying to her USB drive. Chastity swore suddenly. “This is him? This picture?” Her voice had gone all squeaky again.
“Yes. I just uploaded it—”
“He’s here! He’s in with Aaron right now!”
Chapter Fifty-One
Micah’s stomach clenched. Marianna hovered near her worriedly. “What is it, Micah, what’s wrong?”
Micah waved her mother away. “What’s he doing talking with Aaron? He’s never come by the lab before.”
“No. Why would a member of the board be slumming around with us?”
“Are you close enough to listen in on them?”
“You could hear him if you were here.”
Micah’s office was on the opposite side of the lab from Kwong’s. And she often had her door closed.
“What’s he saying?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t listening until now. I thought he was just… I don’t know… arguing about financial analysis or something.” Chastity swore again as she listened. “He’s talking about your job. Says you’re on suspension. He needs to see all of your files, secure them for an internal investigation.”
“You need to get them downloaded!”
“I am. They’re copying right now.”
<
br /> “Aaron won’t give them to him, will he? He’ll know it’s a load of crap. I’m not suspended.”
“You’ve been behaving erratically,” Chastity whispered into the phone. “You sustained a head injury. He doesn’t know which files might be in jeopardy. He needs everything.”
Micah closed her eyes, moaning. Chastity had to get the files copied and transferred to a safe location. It was a struggle to keep her mouth shut and not try to hurry Chastity along.
“Okay.” Chastity’s voice was calm once more. She cleared her throat. “That’s the first step. But I’ve got to get the backup off the premises before they figure out that I copied the files. Which could be any minute.”
There were, of course, security logs to show who had accessed files when. Full audits of every action, because they had to be able to show law enforcement the chain of custody and that no one had been able to access the files who shouldn’t have.
“Can you get it out?”
Micah tried to think of the best way to get a USB drive out of the building. Put it in an envelope to be couriered or mailed out? Try to walk through security with it? They weren’t usually searched too carefully, but if the alarm were raised, no one would be able to get out of the lab without having everything carefully searched. Not just a quick stroll through the metal detector and x-ray, but a hand search, pat down, and whatever else they thought necessary. Chastity, like everyone else, had consented to this possible violation of civil rights when she had signed her employment agreement.
“Just give me a minute.” Chastity was moving around as she spoke on the phone, and Micah pictured her slipping the USB drive into her purse and hoping it would avoid detection. “Sheesh, he sounds like he’s going to blow a gasket in there. Whatever you did, Micah, you’ve pushed this guy into nuclear meltdown mode.”
“Can you do it? Sneak out of there?”
“Sneaking is not going to be possible. Stay on the line, but don’t talk.”
Micah opened her mouth to ask Chastity what she was doing, but then closed it and obeyed. She could hear the yelling as Chastity clearly got closer to Kwong’s office and the screaming director. Then the yelling suddenly stopped.
“Aaron,” Chastity’s voice was faint, farther away than it had been. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but… I have to go home. I’m not feeling well.”
You had to admire the woman. Who else would have dared walk right into the argument and boldly let them know that she was leaving?
Micah couldn’t hear Aaron Kwong’s words, but his tone was exasperated.
“Sorry,” Chastity said once more. “Female trouble, and… I might have to go to the emergency room, I’ve never had this kind of—”
“Just go!” Kirk Haynes roared.
“I’m sorry,” Chastity said again.
Then she was walking away from the men’s voices, and Micah could hear a little hitch in her breathing as she walked, as if she were sobbing or out of breath. Or… laughing?
“Chastity? Are you there?”
There was no answer. Micah assumed that the phone was still in Chastity’s pocket. She now had permission to leave, and no one would think her sudden departure suspicious. Haynes himself had told her to go home. She had only to get through the security screening.
“Afternoon, miss,” the security guard on duty greeted. “Earlier than usual.”
“I’m not feeling very well,” Chastity confessed. “I'm hoping if I lie down for a while…”
“That’s too bad,” the guard commiserated.
Micah could hear Chastity putting various items into the bin on the conveyor belt, including the phone, still broadcasting live to Micah’s hospital bed.
There was the buzz of a walkie-talkie and bursts of static. Micah waited, anxious for Chastity to get through security and to freedom.
“Uh, Miss Pollard. Looks like there’s problem. You copied some files from the server?”
Crap.
They were already onto her.
Micah wanted to throw the phone across the room.
“Yes,” Chastity agreed. “Micah Miller asked me to get them for her. I put them on a USB drive and left them in her desk. It’s all locked up. No one is going to walk off with them.”
“It’s in her desk?” The guard relayed this information over his radio.
“In the locked drawer,” Chastity said helpfully. “I made sure it was secure.”
“You have the key to this drawer?”
“Micah has one, and I have one at my desk. It’s in my drawer with the rest.”
Micah happened to know that despite the woman’s good work habits, her desk drawers looked like a garbage dump. Or the results of an explosion at an office supply store. Haynes and Kwong would need an hour to go through everything for the nonexistent key.
“Mmm,” Chastity groaned, which Micah assumed was accompanied by painfully holding her pelvic region. “Can we finish up here? I’m really not feeling good…”
“Sorry, Miss Pollard.” The guard relayed the last few details over his radio. “I’ll get you through as quickly as I can. Would you turn out your pockets, please?”
“Women’s clothes don’t have pockets.” Chastity’s voice was growing irritated. “I just have my purse, and I put everything else in the bin. Can we get on with it?”
“Step through the gate, please, and hold up your arms… turn around…”
“What’s all this? You guys think I’m selling company secrets?”
“Just a precaution. Extra security today.”
“Is that it? Am I done?”
“I’m just going to do a quick pat-down, if you would put your hands on the wall, please?”
Micah listened in disbelief as the guard gave Chastity instructions and checked to make sure she didn’t have the USB drive hidden somewhere on her body. How far were they going to go with the search? Was there any hope that Chastity would be able to get the drive out with her?
Chastity sounded calm, but irritated, repeating several times that she wasn’t feeling well and wanted to get home.
Micah could hear the conveyor belt as it ran the phone she was eavesdropping on and the rest of Chastity’s possessions through the x-ray.
“You’re going to search my purse?” Chastity demanded a moment later. “You just x-rayed it. Exactly what do you think I’m hiding?”
“Just a precaution, miss. Please, I’m doing my best to get you out of here, but I need to make sure you’re not taking anything out with you.”
“Maybe I have it in my shoes. Do you want me to take my shoes off for you?”
“Just let me search your purse, please.”
Micah could hear the various zippers sliding open. How could Chastity be so certain that he wasn’t going to find the drive? Haynes would do anything to stop her.
She tried to analyze the other noises coming through the phone, but couldn’t be sure what the guard was doing as he looked through Chastity’s purse and personal items. Finally, she heard the zippers again.
“Thank you for your patience, miss. That will be all.”
“About time,” Chastity told him crossly. She picked up her things and walked out. She didn’t take out her phone and talk to Micah right away. When she got into her car in the company lot, Micah heard the phone cut out and then cut back in again as her car’s Bluetooth picked it up.
“Be off the lot in a minute,” Chastity said quietly, her voice still calm.
Micah didn’t know if she should answer or not, so she stayed silent. Eventually, Chastity spoke again. “Okay, we’re clear.”
“You got it out?” Micah demanded.
Chastity chuckled. “Sure.”
“How?”
“I’ll show you when I get there. What’s your address?”
Micah started to give it to her, then realized that Chastity was going to drive to her house. Her brain still wasn’t operating at peak capacity. “I’m at the hospital.”
“Oh, are you? Okay, I’ll go to the h
ospital. What room are you in?”
“Not in a room yet. Just in emergency. They should let you in. My mom’s here.”
“I’ll ask when I get there, then. See you in a few minutes.”
Micah said goodbye, but Chastity had already disconnected. Micah let out her breath and handed the phone to her mother.
“What’s going on?” Marianna asked. “Is everything alright?”
“Well… it will be. I just have to figure out what to do about the police.”
Should she trust Bellows or not? She didn’t like the way he had looked at her when he found out that she had saved the composite to the EvPro servers. Whether he was the spy or another cop was, she didn’t think she should deal with them. Maybe Wes, with his FBI contacts, could point her in the right direction.
She hadn’t thought that she would fall back asleep with all of the excitement. She was eager to see Chastity and to find out how she had gotten past security with the USB drive. But as soon as she closed her eyes to rest them, she was gone once more.
Chapter Fifty-Two
“Micah? Your friend is here.”
Micah opened her eyes and tried to remember where she was and who was there to see her. She looked at Chastity and then looked around for someone else. Marianna had said ‘your friend,’ and she and Chastity had never been friends.
“Hi,” Chastity greeted, looking shy in front of Micah’s mother. “You’re looking a little worse for wear.”
Micah rolled her eyes. She probably did look pretty rough.
“How did you get it out?” she demanded.
Chastity laughed in response. She put her purse on the bed next to Micah. “Go ahead, find it.”
Micah picked it up. She would never go through someone else’s purse, so she felt a little self-conscious even touching it. She looked at Chastity to make sure that she really wanted Micah to search it, then looked down at it.
It wasn’t neat and orderly like Micah’s with everything pigeonholed in its appropriate place, but the type of purse where everything was just dumped in the main section. Micah methodically took items out of the purse, examining each. She knew that the USB drive was hidden, somehow, or the guard would have found it. Unless it was still on Chastity’s person, hidden in her bra or somewhere else that the guard hadn’t patted down carefully enough.
Virtually Harmless Page 23