Ash Return of the Beast

CHAPTER 65



Virginia Mason Hospital

11:35 p.m.

As they rode the elevator up to the second floor, Ravenwood was still trying to process the story Kane had just dumped in her lap. If she had only known about this sooner. Then she realized, no, it wouldn’t have changed anything. Cowl still had to be killed. The only difference now was that she had a clearer picture of what this case was all about, at least as far as Cowl’s involvement was concerned. It was all about revenge and Crowley was using Cowl to achieve his own ends. She slipped her hand into her jacket pocket and fiddled with the small plastic pillbox containing the cyanide capsules. In a few minutes it would all be over.

The elevator doors slid open and they stepped out only to find the nurse running down the hall toward them. “He’s gone! He escaped!”

Ravenwood and Kane stopped in their tracks. Kane grabbed the nurse by the shoulders. “Slow down. What do you mean, he’s gone?”

The nurse was clearly upset. “I…I don’t know… he’s just gone. I was with him in the room and I heard a loud noise outside the door. A crashing sound…I don’t know…I just went out for a minute to see what it was. When I went back into the room, he was gone.”

Kane pounded his fist on the wall. “Shit. Goddamit. Where the hell is Halverson?”

“He was summoned to an emergency in the south wing. I just called him moments ago and told him.”

Kane’s cell phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and flipped it open. “Yeah, what?”

“Lieutenant, this is Dr. Halverson. Listen, Cowl’s escaped. You’d better get over here, fast.”

“Yeah, we know. We’re already here.”

“You’re here? At the hospital? But how did you––?

“Never mind. How the hell did you let this happen?”

“Lieutenant, listen. I had––”

Kane shut off the phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He looked at his watch. “Christ. It’s midnight.”

Ravenwood nodded. “He’s got to be headed for your father’s place.”

Kane stiffened his back. Here it comes, he thought. Gotta go save the old f*ck. He turned to the nurse. “Exactly how long ago did you find him missing?”

The nurse shook her head. “I don’t know… fifteen minutes, twenty, maybe. His hospital gown was on the floor and his clothes are gone.”

“You said you were out of the room for only a minute. You’re telling me he got out of the bed, changed his clothes and disappeared with nobody seeing him… all in one minute?”

The nurse bit her lip, nearly in tears. “Maybe it was longer. I don’t know. It didn’t seem that long. I mean, I never expected––”

Kane turned to Ravenwood. “He can’t have gotten far if he’s on foot. And how the hell would he know where my father lives, anyway?”

“He’s not operating on his own, remember. The man is possessed. Crowley is probably feeding him all the information he needs. And if he had money in his pocket he could have taken a cab. Who knows? How far is it to your father’s place from here?”

“Thirty minutes. Twenty, if we step on it.”