"I want you to be smart about this." His eyes cut into her brutally as he rammed the shifter into park. ''We do this my way or we don't do it at all. It's your call. What's it going to be?"
She stared at him, hating it that he'd rendered her speechless. All she could think of was that she wanted her old life back. She wanted to by safe. She wanted her days to be predictable. Her nights ...
Dammit, she didn't want him to go back to Washington.
"Addison, I'm trying to keep you alive, I know this isn't easy for you but you're going to have to cooperate."
"Then we're going to have to keep our relationship on a professional level," she managed after a moment. "I can't deal with you when ..." Her voice trailed when she realized what she was about to say. "You're complicating things for me. This is hard enough without that."
He looked out the windshield at the snowy landscape beyond. "All right. We'll keep it professional from here on out."
"Promise me."
"You've got my word."
Not trusting her voice enough to speak, she looked out the window. The last thing she wanted to do was break down in front of him. The last thing she wanted him to know was that he'd hurt her.
Perceiving her silence as acquiescence, he glanced once in the rearview mirror and pulled back onto the highway.
*
They arrived at the office of Talbot Investigations at noon. Jack sat behind the computer, looking bone-weary, but wired on technology, nicotine, and caffeine. Two days of stubble darkened his jaw. His ponytail hung loosely down the center of his back, flyaway strands of hair falling into eyes that were little more than red-rimmed slits.
"Morning, big brother," Randall said as he closed the alley door.
Addison walked into the office, taking in the odors of cigarette smoke and burned coffee. An opened quart of chocolate milk lay on its side next to the keyboard, a puddle of muddy ooze beneath its spout. The garbage can overflowed with paper, a half-eaten burger, and pages of handwritten notes. The surrounding floor was littered with paper, much of it creased by the thin tires of his wheelchair.
It was obvious Jack had been at it all night without respite. He looked dead tired. An uncomfortable pang of concern slid through her as she took in the dark circles beneath his eyes. At-the same time, his tenacity touched her.
"Looks like you had a hell of a night," Randall said.
Grinning, Jack tamped out his cigarette. "You don't know the half of it."
"Any luck?" Addison asked.
"Some. Adoption files are tough."
Randall walked over to the desk and picked up the quart of chocolate milk. Absently, he smelled it, then tossed it into the trash. "Anything we can use?"
"Maybe." Jack dragged a stack of computer printouts across the desk.
Randall straddled a chair. Jack leaned close to him and said something just out of earshot. Curious, and more than a little annoyed that they were discussing something about her case without including her, Addison came up behind them and peered cautiously over their shoulders.
Jack pointed to the first printout, where he had concocted a haphazard flowchart. "I had five sources of information to work with that included the adoption agency, the hospital where Addison was born, the attorney who handled the adoption, the vital statistics office in Montgomery County, and the delivering physician. I knew from the start this wasn't going to be easy."
"I ran into problems with sealed records and confidentiality laws, as well," she interjected.
He nodded. "Exactly. So, I started with the easy stuff first. Namely the hospital where you were born."
Excitement zigzagged through her. .Months ago, she had, written to the very same hospital for copies of her records, only to have her request denied.
"I was able to hack into their historical accounts receivable records. I wrote some code and searched for the name Beckett. It came up with this." He handed a sheet of paper to Randall. "I thought it might be important."
Addison read over Randall's shoulder. Her heart kicked in her chest when she saw Agnes Beckett's name listed at the top of an emergency room invoice dated November of 1974.
Admittance time: 12:32 A.M.
Agnes Beckett
Age: 16 Female
Rt. 3 Box 72A Siloam Springs, Ohio
Sutures: $19.98
Emergency Room charge: $27.50
Attending physician: $60.00
X rays (technician) $46.50
Rape kit: $22.19
Total Due: $176.17
Trepidation built in her chest as she skimmed the invoice. She was wondering how the information was pertinent when two horrible words registered in her brain.
Rape kit
Shaken, she stepped back. Blood pounded in her ears. Terrible knowledge ripped through her. Suddenly she couldn't breathe, couldn't speak.