Which leaves me nothing more to do except head for the hospital. Before I leave, I put that call through to Gloria’s lawyer. An answering service picks up, and I leave my name and number.
DAVID IS STANDING OUTSIDE GLORIA’S HOSPITAL room door. He doesn’t see me at first. He’s leaning against the wall, head down, shoulders slumped. He looks sad and my heart jumps.
I rush up to him. “What’s the matter? Is it Gloria?”
He straightens with a sudden jerk. “Where did you come from?”
“You told me to meet you here, remember? Why are you standing outside? Did something happen to Gloria?” I move to look through the window in the door. There are two people standing in my line of sight, their backs to me. A man I recognize dressed in an off-the-rack suit, Harris, and a woman I don’t with smooth, shoulder-length black hair who’s decked out in a red Versace power suit and Ferragamo pumps. “I can’t see Gloria; Harris is in the way. Is she all right?”
David waves a hand. “Slow down. She’s fine. She’s with her lawyer. Harris arrived a minute ago.”
The Versace suit is her lawyer? “That’s Jamie Sutherland? Gloria never mentioned that her lawyer was a woman. I assumed—”
“That Jamie was a man. Happens all the time.”
I turn away from the window and focus my attention on David. “I’m sorry for dragging you back here. You know I wouldn’t have if I’d been able to come up with anyone else. I don’t suppose Gloria told you what I’ve been doing?”
He nods. “She said you’re working for her. Trying to prove her innocence. You helping Gloria. A surprising turn of events, wouldn’t you say?”
But he’s smiling, which makes me smile, too. With relief. “No kidding. When I started the investigation, I didn’t really care how it turned out because Gloria and I made a pact. Did she tell you about that, as well?”
He nods, eyes serious once again. “She did. When this is over, she’s gone. For good.”
I’m not sure how to interpret his expression. Is it relief or sadness? I’m glad Gloria was honest with him for once. “You know, all that aside, I don’t think Gloria killed O’Sullivan. I think she’s being framed.”
David looks past me into the room. “She didn’t try to kill herself, either,” he says quietly.
Shit. All the good feelings I had for the woman are swallowed up in a rush of anger. My first instincts had been right. “Damn it. You mean she really did fake it? Is that woman stupid or delusional?”
David stops me with an upturned hand. “No. I don’t mean she faked it. I mean it wasn’t suicide. Somebody tried to kill her.”
CHAPTER 46
“SOMEONE TRIED TO KILL GLORIA?” MY FEELINGS are boomeranging. I realize I’m more comfortable thinking it was a botched fake suicide than a murder attempt. I always thought I was the only one with motive enough to want her dead.
David either isn’t paying any attention to the lack of concern in my voice for Gloria’s plight, or he’s too distracted to comment. “She said someone came into her suite while she was asleep,” he says. “A man in a hotel bellman’s uniform wearing a mask. He chloroformed her and dragged her out of bed. He fed her pills and whiskey before he left. The next thing she knew, the paramedics were forcing a tube down her throat, and she was puking her guts out.”
“Does she know who called the paramedics?”
David shakes his head. “No. Harris says it was an anonymous nine-one-one call from a pay phone in the hotel lobby.”
“What about the bellman’s uniform? Anyone report one missing?”
“The manager said the uniforms are picked up each Friday afternoon by a dry-cleaning company and returned on Saturday. They’re left in an employee’s lounge. Anyone could walk in and pick one up. It’s a big hotel with a large staff. The people working day shift aren’t familiar with people working the night shift and vice versa. No one claims to have seen anyone acting suspiciously.”
“But how did he get into Gloria’s suite? He must have had a passkey. Surely somebody keeps track of those.”
David nods. “The manager is looking into that.” He looks past me into Gloria’s room. “It doesn’t make sense. Why would someone hurt Gloria, then call for help.”
I remember Harris’ comment that he would have to tell the DA that Gloria attempted suicide. “Maybe because if people think Gloria tried to kill herself, it would make her look guilty.” I’m thinking of Laura now, the jealous stepmother. Wanting Gloria to suffer the humiliation of a trial might be just her style.
“If they wanted her out of the way, why not kill her when they had the chance.”
I shrug. David doesn’t know about Jason or his suspicions about his stepmother. I want to speak with Gloria’s lawyer before I voice my own opinions, so I add, “Maybe whoever is responsible didn’t want Gloria dead. They wanted her in jail. Whatever the motive, it was a clumsy attempt.”
Or juvenile. Jason? How hard would it have been for him to buy over-the-counter drugs, take a bottle of liquor from home, steal a bellman’s uniform? No, any smart kid could have done that. Now, getting his hands on a passkey is another story. That would have taken some ingenuity.
I give myself a mental thump on the head. It couldn’t have been Jason. He was genuinely concerned about Gloria. He might have faked it when we met at Lestat’s, but that display on the courthouse steps? He had no idea I was watching. He wouldn’t risk hurting her or worse if the plan went wrong.
“Anna?”
David’s voice pulls me back.
“What are you thinking?”
Nothing I want to share. I turn my attention to the room. It looks as if Harris and the lawyer are getting ready to leave. I gesture vaguely at the window. “Let’s see what Harris has to say.”
Harris comes to the door, then stands back to allow Jamie Sutherland through first. She looks at me with calm brown eyes and holds out her hand.
“Are you Anna Strong?”
I nod and return a brief handshake. Jamie Sutherland is thirtysomething, tall, lithe, possessed of great cheekbones and arresting but irregular features. Wide eyes, small, straight nose, a generous but rather thin-lipped mouth. Along with that sweep of black hair, I’m guessing Eurasian ancestry.
Harris greets me with a nod, too, as he closes his notebook and slips it into his jacket. “I’ve taken Ms. Estrella’s statement. As soon as the doctor gives his okay, she’s free to go. Bail conditions remain the same. She’s not to leave the jurisdiction.”
“What about the attempt on her life?”
David’s tone is belligerent and confrontational. Obviously, he and Harris didn’t mend any fences while I was gone.
Harris doesn’t rise to the bait. Worse, he ignores David completely. He looks instead at Jamie Sutherland. “Counselor, we’ll be in touch?”
When she nods, he steps around us all and makes his way to the exit.
David looks as if he’s about to charge after him. I stop him with a hand on his arm. “Go see Gloria,” I say. “I want to talk to Ms. Sutherland.”
He shakes off my restraining hand but doesn’t argue. With a grunt, he pushes open the hospital room door and steps inside.
Sutherland throws a wry smile my way. “Well. Looks like someone has finally tamed the Ryan beast.”
It’s an odd thing to say and suggests a familiarity with David that catches me off guard. “You and David . . . ?”
She laughs. “No. Not an ex. David and I met at Notre Dame. He was a senior and I was a first-year law student. We had friends in common, that’s all. Ah, but that temper. Got him in trouble more than once.”