"It's so sad," Emma was saying.
"Did they say the wife's name?"
"Yeah, something with aV. Vera, maybe."
Vera Schroder. No, the name didn't mean anything to Tully, either.
"Gotta go, sweet pea. Remember everything I said, okay?"
He was back on the road again. He got Maggie's message and revised his route. It would take him more than forty minutes to UVA. He was looking for a radio station with more news from Chicago when his cell phone rang.
"This is Agent Tully."
"Conrad's mom got one of those cute little packages filled with money, too." It was Caroline again and even more angry."What the hell's going on, Tully?"
The realization hit him and it felt as if Caroline's words had injected ice water into his veins. He could see everything so clearly.
He had recognized Vera Schroder. And now he remembered where. It was a photo from a newspaper clipping that his roommate had insisted he keep tacked on their bulletin board to motivate him. A distraught young woman, devastated at finding her parents dead in their home after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol. Only, her name wasn't Schroder then. It was Vera Sloane. She was George Sloane's sister.
CHAPTER
78
University of Virginia
UVA at Charlottesville was Maggie's alma mater, so when Professor Sloane told her to meet him in the Old Medical School Building she knew exactly where it was. She also knew from her alumnae newsletters that the building was now used for faculty offices. Other than offices, it housed research laboratories and clinical-training facilities. Fall break made it possible for her to find a quick parking spot.
Maggie had worked with Professor Sloane only once before, but she knew him from teaching at Quantico. His forensic-documents class used to follow her criminal-behavior class. Cunningham frequently called on Sloane as a consultant when documents were a part of a case. She wasn't surprised that Tully and Ganza hadn't pressed the professor when he gave them what sounded like a quick assessment. Tully and Sloane rubbed each other the wrong way. She knew it from the tension the two men gave off just being in the same room. She was hoping she could get information out of Sloane that perhaps Tully wasn't able to.
The front door to the Old Medical School Building was unlocked, though there was no one in the halls. She took the elevator to the basement, and as soon as she got off she could hear what sounded like monkeys screeching at the end of the hallway. Doors were closed and secured with key-card locks. A few signs indicated most of the rooms down here were research labs. One had a QUARANTINE sign posted.
She continued to search for what could be Sloane's office. Unsuccessful she headed down the other direction despite the screeching. Her cell phone started ringing and she grabbed it out of her pocket.
"This is Maggie O'Dell."
"It's Sloane," Tully said, and he sounded out of breath.
"I'm looking for him now."
"No, you don't understand—"
That was all Maggie heard before she felt the blow to the back of her head.
CHAPTER
79
Tully couldn't believe he hadn't seen it earlier.
He barreled down the Hwy-20 exit off of I-95. It would take him forever to get to Charlottesville. Maggie's cell phone was going to voice message. Had Sloane already done something to her?
Now, of course, it all made sense.
He remembered George Sloane asking where he was when the box of doughnuts was delivered.
Sloane had said, "If I remember correctly, you can't resist a chocolate doughnut."
Chocolate doughnuts were Tully's one constant obsession. He went through stages. Oreo cookies, licorice and once upon a time jelly beans, but chocolate doughnuts were a mainstay. But that wasn't what should have set off the trigger. Sloane had also said, "So terrorists are delivering their threats at the bottom of doughnut boxes now?"
How did he know the note was at the bottom of the box? Only Cunningham, Maggie, Ganza and himself knew that.You'd never assume a note to be at the bottom. Sloane knew because he placed it there.
And why would Caroline and her fiancé be targeted by the Ebola mailer unless her old sweetheart, who had still been in touch with her as recently as July, was somehow involved?
Her old sweetheart, Indy aka George Sloane, had gone a bit berserk the last time she had chosen someone else. It had even gotten him thrown out of the FBI before he finished training. As a result he became a forensic-document expert, still working with the FBI but always on the outside, working on the fringes. Working on every major case but never getting the credit he thought he deserved. George Sloane had always wanted to be a feebie, not a professor.
How many other packages had Sloane mailed?
And Maggie was with him right now. Unable to answer her phone.
Maybe Tully was wrong. Maybe she wasn't in danger. It was possible her cell phone was just out of range. Maybe there was no reason for Tully to panic.
Tully told himself this as he continued to punch down on the car's accelerator.
CHAPTER
80
University of Virginia
Maggie's head throbbed. High-pitched fingernails on a chalkboard brought her back. Her eyes fluttered, blurry images, swishes of green. The air was foul, something rancid, sweaty fur, animal feces.
She recognized the screeches from down the hall. Only, they weren't down the hall. They were closer. She opened her eyes, kept them open, willed them to focus. Then jerked to consciousness.
Beady eyes stared out at her. Green fur flicked and swirled. Razor-sharp claws scratched out between the metal bars of cages. She was in the middle of a small room lined on both sides with cages of screeching monkeys.
She tried to bolt upright and fell back. Her wrist was anchored to a corner table, strapped tight with a plastic tie. She pulled and yanked at it, but it dug into her skin. Her movement only made the monkeys scream louder and bang around inside their cages, slamming their small hands against the bars or reaching out.
Maggie tried to calm herself. To steady herself. Keep quiet.Don't move.
With her free hand she patted down her jacket pocket and wasn't surprised to find her cell phone gone. So was her Smith & Wesson. She looked around the room to see if there was anything she could use to cut the plastic tie. There was nothing but monkey cages. Pellets of food and monkey feces scattered across the floor around and even underneath her. She rose to her feet, keeping her movements slow and easy. She couldn't stand upright with her wrist bound to the metal table.
She searched the room again for anything she could use. This time she noticed the two end cages and a chill slid over her. Both the doors were flapping open. That's when she saw a flick of a long green tail slip out from behind the table by the door.
Instinctively she grabbed at her shoulder holster, again, before remembering it was empty.
Then she saw a second ball of green fur out of the corner of her eyes. This one was sitting high up on top of the cages and he was staring down her.
Okay, so there were at least two monkeys loose. Sharp claws, sharp teeth. Somewhere from her data bank she remembered that they spit, too.
Don't look them in the eyes. Stay quiet and calm. Don't move.
She'd figure something out. But she needed to stay calm. Breathe. She scanned the room again, moving only her eyes.