“Ah, Dr. Romera.” Chief Allison smiles when she sees me. She’s been the Chief since I started at the hospital, but she worked alongside my dad for years before that. Highly respected, an authority in her field—pediatrics—Dr. Allison is an excellent doctor, but also a hard woman. She never smiles. Never. Something is quite wrong here. “This is Agent Lowell from the Drug Enforcement Agency. She’s requested a moment of your time.”
DEA? Really? I would have thought they’d send the FBI instead, but then again, maybe this toxin is something the DEA have seen before. Maybe this has more to do with the drug than the actual risk of contagion. The agent looks like a bit of a blank slate—the generic pantsuit; the generic ponytail haircut; the generic flat shoes, made for running. Since she’s not a member of the Bureau, she doesn’t necessarily need to wear such formal clothing—I’ve seen DEA agents wearing Hawaiian shirts walking around this hospital—which means that she’s chosen to wear the suit. That tells me a lot about her already. I give the woman a curt smile, offering out my hand. “Of course. Anything I can do to be of help.” Except tell you the truth. Or generally disclose anything that might actually assist you in your investigation.
It’s like this Agent Lowell woman can literally hear me thinking this as she reaches out and shakes my hand. Her business-like expression falters and I quickly see what lies beneath—out-and-out disapproval. She doesn’t know me. She’s never met me before, and yet I can tell she already suspects something. Perhaps I’m just being incredibly paranoid. It’s comforting to believe this, until…
“If you would give us a moment please, Chief Allison. Ms. Romera and I need to have a little talk.”
The Chief, despite her passive attitude since I walked in, still has balls of steel. “Oh, I’d say that’s entirely up to Dr. Romera, wouldn’t you, Ms. Lowell? It seems to me that your request to talk with one of my employees comes without any official mandate that might force the matter.” Dr. Allison didn’t like the cop’s flagrant put-down when she chose not to use my title, so now Allison’s deigned not to give Agent Lowell her title, either. Agent Lowell’s facial features go blank.
“Oh, I assure you, there will be an official mandate if I think that justice is being obstructed here. I can get a warrant for this woman’s arrest at any moment of my choosing.”
“Then perhaps you should—” Chief Allison starts to say, but I quickly jump in; I don’t like where this conversation is heading. I really don’t want this Lowell woman heading right out to get a warrant for my arrest.
“No! No, it’s fine, Chief. I can talk to her. It’s not a problem. I have nothing to hide.” No greater a lie has ever been told, but much better that I spend half an hour being grilled by this woman here than be grilled for much longer at a police station. The truth of the matter is that I don’t know anything about Nannette Richards, or why she ended up with my name scrawled across her skin before being poisoned and sent to this hospital for me to treat. I won’t have to lie about that.
Chief Allison gives me a slight nod before turning cold eyes on Lowell and leaving the room. A moment of awkward silence follows where Agent Lowell slowly paces around the Chief’s desk and shoves her paperwork out of the way, making room so she can perch on the edge, directly across from me.
And then she starts talking, and everything spins on its head. “Where is your sister, Dr. Romera?”
The speech about not knowing my dead patient dies on my lips. My sister? What the hell? What can this possibly have to do with my sister? “Uh…Alexis?” I ask, stalling for a moment. A moment to think. To get my head around this change in direction.
“Do you have any other sisters?” Agent Lowell asks, her voice clipped.
“I’m assuming you already know that I don’t.”
The woman nods, her neat and tidy ponytail bobbing up and down. She’s only six or seven years older than me, but her pulled-back hair and severe expression make her seem an awful lot older. “In the interests of saving time, it’s probably safe to assume that I already know an awful lot more than you think I might, Sloane. I know that your sister was taken by a biker gang, and I know she’s resurfaced. Now you need to tell me where she is. Right now.”