Newborn Conspiracy (17 page)

“Well, we don’t always get what we want, do we?" Because there was no way Logan was going to allow Donnie Bishop anywhere near Mia and Tanner."Now, tell me how the hell you found out where I was staying?"

But Logan immediately thought of the meeting at the prison. The way Donnie had pulled Mia and him into a huddle so he could tell them to meet him in the parking lot. During that embrace, he could have put a transmitter on them.

“You planted another tracker somewhere on our clothes." Logan snarled.

“I wouldn’t do that." There was a touch of sarcasm in his voice. Enough to confirm that Donnie had done just that."Maybe I just have a nose for finding people."

“You’re an SOB, you know that." But Logan silently added much harsher profanity. Not just for Donnie. But for himself. He should have checked their clothes; the shooting had distracted him.

He’d let himself get distracted too often lately.

“So?" Donnie asked."Can I come up and have a beer and a man-to-man chat with you?"

“Not on your worthless life. Leave the disk with Cartwright and once I’ve listened to it, I’ll be in touch with you."

Or better yet, he’d be in touch with the police.

“Oh, you’ll want to hear more," Donnie insisted."A lot more."

Logan hoped that was true. But while he was hoping that he also thought there might be evidence on that disk for the police to make an arrest. Of course, there was no way Donnie would incriminate himself. Still, there might be something to nail Genevieve or Royce and maybe one or both of them would incriminate Donnie. Logan wanted the man arrested for something.

“I sent your visitor on his way and I’m having hotel security monitor him to make sure he leaves the building." Jason said, coming back onto the line."I’m on my way up to bring you the disk."

“Once you’ve dropped it off, make sure Donnie Bishop doesn’t come back," Logan insisted.

Mia got up from the bed and placed Tanner in the bassinet. She also began to get dressed.

What she didn’t do was look at him.

Logan dressed, too, so he could go to the door and get the disk from Jason. He took his gun with him when he went to answer the knock.

Jason handed him the single silver CD that had “Careless Whispers" handwritten on it with a permanent marker. The plastic case covering the disk was wet.

“It’s raining and sleeting," Jason let him know when Logan ran his index finger through the moisture."There’s a bad storm moving in tonight."

With the thick drapes closed, Logan hadn’t been aware of the change of weather. But he had to wonder—why had Donnie braved the weather to get this recording to them? He could have had a courier bring it over.

Unless he had something more sinister in mind.

With Donnie, that wasn’t too much of a stretch.

Logan thanked Jason for the CD, closed the door and locked it as quickly as he could. He only hoped that Donnie wasn’t using the delivery of the recording as a ruse to try to get to them.

Mia came into the sitting room where he was putting the disk into the CD player in the entertainment unit. There was a hiss of static and then, as clear as a bell, he heard Genevieve’s voice.

“I want this surrogate. She’s the only one who’s come in that looks like me. That’s why I arranged to have her inseminated with that semen I got from Cryogen Labs."

Judging from her tone she was repeating the information or arguing with someone. Her voice was tight and adamant. And Genevieve was no doubt talking about Mia, Mia walked closer, obviously disturbed with hearing the confirmation of Genevieve’s plan.

A plan that had succeeded in creating a child.

“I can’t go along with this." someone on the disk said. Logan easily recognized that voice, too.

It was none other than Donnie Bishop.

“Oh, but you will go along with it." Genevieve demanded."As a favor to my father. You know these people here at Brighton. You know how to make this work for me."

Here at Brighton. So they were at the clinic for this little chat. And if Genevieve had already stated the whole surrogacy process, then it was…approximately what date? Early April maybe, since that was the month of Mia’s insemination. Or perhaps it was even May and Mia was already pregnant.

Maybe there’d be a surveillance video to confirm this meeting. Logan wouldn’t mind seeing the pair’s body language to try to determine if anything other than the obvious was going on. It was possible that Donnie was simply using this recording to make Genevieve look as guilty as possible. Of course, Genevieve was guilty, but Logan wasn’t convinced she was in on this alone.

“Favors don’t extend this far," Donnie informed her."I won’t help you kidnap a woman and steal her baby, my advice? If you want your boyfriend back, a baby’s not the way to do it, anyway. Try liberal amounts of tequila and some scented massage oils. That works on me."

“Maybe you don’t understand what I’m saying." Genevieve again. She was really riled now."This isn’t a request. One way or another, I will get a baby."

“Surrogacy is too messy," Donnie said. Logan remembered the man saying that before in reference to George Devereux."Especially when there are much easier ways to go about this.

Let me give you someone to contact. She recently moved into the home for unwed mothers that’s near here. Her name is Collena Drake and she’s pregnant."

Logan hadn’t expected to hear Collena’s name popup in this particular conversation. Of course, he knew Collena had worked undercover at Brighton, but he hadn’t thought she’d used her real name.

“So?" Genevieve fired back.

“So, Collena Drake can assist you in finding a suitable child to adopt from the home, and then you can always fake the DNA results for your boyfriend. If you need any help with that, just let me know. I have friends who have friends who work in DNA labs."

Genevieve didn’t answer right away. "I can trust this woman, Collena Drake?"

Donnie laughed. "As much as you can trust anyone around here. But I’m going to give you some leverage when it comes to her. Leverage that will force her to cooperate in case she gives you any resistance."

“What kind of leverage?"

“The best kind. Collena Drake is an undercover cop of sorts. Her assignment hasn’t been sanctioned by SAPD. She’s a renegade. Keep that hush-hush, just between us, if the clinic director finds out, she’ll minder Sgt. Drake and I wouldn’t want that to happen. I might need a cop if the Feds investigate this place. Go to Collena Drake. Put in your baby request. Pay her well. And she’ll stay quiet because she won’t have a choice."

That was it. The recording ended.

Logan and Mia stood there in silence. Letting it all sink in. Logan not believing what the heck he’d just heard.

“Was Collena working for Donnie?" Mia asked.

“No." But Logan didn’t like the sliver of doubt that he felt creep into his mind."Besides, Donnie could have doctored this recording. I won’t know if it’s authentic until I’ve sent it to the lab for testing"

Donnie Bishop is a slimy jerk, Logan reminded himself. Collena Drake is a former cop. If it came down to it, he’d trust Collena.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to verify a few things.

He took his cell phone and called Collena’s room at the hospital. It was late, but hopefully she’d still be awake. It took four rings before anyone answered.

And the person on the other end of the line definitely wasn’t Collena Drake.

It was Roger Dade, the team member he’d assigned to guard Collena at the hospital, “This is Logan. Where is she?"

“I was just about to call you. Collena’s gone."

Logan felt his stomach tighten."Gone where?"

“I don’t know. And I’m not sure how she got out of her room. I didn’t see her leave."

His stomach tightened even more, “So someone could have kidnapped her?"

“Maybe. But it doesn’t look that way, Logan,"

“Then what the hell does it look like?" But Logan instinctively knew he wasn’t going to like the answer.

Roger Dade cleared his throat."It looks as if she sneaked out. As to why she’d do that—it’s anyone’s guess,"

Oh, Logan had a guess, several of them, in fact.

And none of them were good.

“Collena left the hospital?" Mia repeated after hearing Logan’s account of what’d happened, “Why would she do something like that?"

Logan stayed quiet a moment, the only sound was the partially frozen rain battering against the trio of windows in the sitting room."I’m not sure."

He tried to call Collena’s cell phone again, but through the tiny speaker, Mia heard the call go directly to voice mail, just as the other calls had done. The woman apparently wasn’t answering tonight. Mia could tell from Logan’s stiff posture and tight jaw that he was not happy about this latest development.

She wasn’t exactly happy about it, either.

They already had enough unsolved riddles without adding this one.

“Something obviously went wrong at the hospital." Logan mumbled. "That’s why Collena left.

That’s the only explanation for it."

“But is she even medically okay to be away from her doctors?"’

He shook his head."I doubt it, which tells us something. Whatever happened must have been serious enough for her to risk her health by leaving."

Mia didn’t like the obvious conclusion of that."She might have thought she was in imminent danger. But then, why wouldn’t she have just gone to your team member since he was in the hall guarding her?"

His jaw tightened even more, “I have no idea. But I’ll find out." He tried Collena’s number again and then cursed under his breath when she still didn’t answer. Logan had his thumb poised over the button to redial her number again, but another call rang through.

“McGrath" he answered immediately, using the speaker function so Mia could hear.

“It’s me."

Not Collena, but Donnie Bishop. Mia groaned. Now was not the time for another dose of Donnie,

“Tell me about Collena Drake."

“Tell me what you know about my frickin’ house," Donnie countered. "Who the hell set fire to it?"

Surprised and concerned, Mia walked closer and sank down on the sofa next to Logan. She touched his arm and rubbed gently. It didn’t seem to help. His muscles stayed tight and knotted.

“I don’t know who set fire to your house." Logan answered, after taking a weary breath. "But please tell me you didn’t have your recordings stashed there."

“Oh, they were there, all right, in a hidden floor vault in the basement. I’m still on my way there, but according to the police, it looks as if everything down in that basement was destroyed. I’m guessing that the intense heat would have melted the disks. A coincidence? I don’t think so, and that’s why I want some answers from you."

Mia squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to curse. Those recordings were their best chance at an arrest and now they were gone.

And no, it wasn’t a coincidence.

“Now, here’s the question. Logan." Donnie continued. "Did you tell Genevieve that I’d given you the sample of our conversation?"

“No. I haven’t had time. In fact, I just finished listening to it about a half hour ago. Do the police suspect arson in your house fire?"

“You bet your butt they do. According to their preliminary search, someone doused the basement with accelerant. A lot of it. And since I was at your hotel dropping off the recording, I obviously wasn’t home to stop this idiotic firebug or to call 911."

“But you suspect Genevieve?" Logan clarified.

“Of course. Who else?"

Genevieve was a solid suspect, but Mia had to wonder—could Collena Drake have done this?

After all that recording insinuated that she was a dirty cop. Of course, in that recording Donnie was the one who’d accused Collena of being dirty and Donnie wasn’t exactly a trustworthy guy. He could have made those accusations or even doctored the recording to make himself sound more innocent than he really was.

Donnie was droning on about Logan having to do something to stop all of this nonsense when Mia heard the slight click.

“Sorry" Logan said immediately to Donnie, “I have to go. I have another call coming in. But good luck looking for that arsonist." The sarcasm drowned his voice. "When or if you find the person responsible, let me know"

Mia stood, went to the bar to pour herself a glass of mineral water. However, she stopped when she heard the caller’s voice on Logan’s speakerphone.

Logan caught Mia’s gaze before he answered the call. The frustration was still there in his eyes, but there was a small amount of relief. Mia felt it, too. Because until she’d heard Collena’s voice, she’d had a niggling fear in the back of her mind that the woman might be dead.

“Collena," Logan greeted her, “I’ve been trying to reach you."

“Yes, I saw your name on my caller ID, but I couldn’t answer the phone right then. I couldn’t be sure that no one was following me."

Well, that sounded ominous, but then Mia hadn’t expected Collena to deliver good news.

“Where are you?" Logan asked.

“I’d rather not say, just in case the line isn’t secure " Her voice was shaky. "I found a tiny transmitter on my dinner tray, right there next to a carton of milk."

“Donnie," Logan mouthed.

Mia had to agree. Donnie had certainly been active in planting bugs and it wouldn’t have been difficult to put one on a hospital tray.

“And then when the nurse opened the door to my room," Collena continued, “I thought I saw Royce Foreman lurking around in the hall. Since I knew I couldn’t defend myself, I couldn’t hang around and wait to see what he was going to do."

Logan groaned. "And that’s why you left?"

“I got a really bad feeling, Logan. Like something horrible was about to happen. The last time I ignored a feeling like that, someone tried to kill me at Brighton."

"My guard would have protected you" Logan reminded her.

“Maybe, but I couldn’t stay in that room. And I knew I’d made the right decision about leaving when I heard about the fire."

That obviously grabbed his attention. "How did you hear about the fire?"

“I called my office. When no one answered, I phoned a colleague. He said that someone had set fire to the office and that everything inside was probably destroyed. That includes the hard copy files and some of the other evidence that the police had confiscated from Brighton."