Nolan tried not to look like the kid getting caught cutting class.

“Pretty slick move with the handcuffs,” Agent Brown said. “Did your father teach you that?”

Nolan looked out the window as Agent Brown rolled the SUV away from the hospital. He sighed. “No. He taught me to pay attention to things. I read a lot. Those handcuffs are garbage. I was doing Caldwell a favor.”

“I don’t think he would agree with you.”

When Nolan looked at Tara, she held up a placating hand. “No, he doesn’t know you escaped. He’s probably forgotten all about you. For now.”

“What happened back there? At the Sheriff’s station.”

“You said it was just some tweaker,” Tara said wryly. “He tore that office apart. I’ve never seen that kind of strength. Especially on a little guy.”

“I saw some of what he did,” Nolan said. “His hands were ruined. The ER doc said his heart basically exploded.” His eyes drifted around the vehicle, taking everything in.

“That reminds me. What were you doing sneaking out of the hospital looking like Derek Shepherd?”

“Who?”

“Nevermind,” Tara said, shaking her head. “Why were you there?”

“Well, I went by Nikki’s place and found some things that didn’t make sense and--”

Tara interrupted. “Hold up. You searched Nikki Bowen’s apartment? Do you have a key, or did you just pick the lock?”

Nolan was silent for a moment. “Why are you driving a rental?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Tara said incredulously. She was gripping the wheel and the big SUV was going about ten miles over the limit as they rolled through town.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“If you are with the FBI, why are you driving a rental car? Doesn’t the field office have a pool you could borrow from?”

“Don’t change the subject, Keller.”

Tara was getting worked up. That made Nolan more uneasy. He wasn’t sure if her pretending to be an FBI agent was better or worse for him. He didn’t have a lot of options or allies. The voice of his father was coaching him about how to use Tara for the information he might need. Ignoring that voice, he said, “Something very bad is going on and I’m trying to figure out what. Satan worshippers did not kill Nikki. I think she was killed because of her job.”

“At the hospital?”

“Her other job. She worked part time doing research models for a company in…I can’t remember.” Nolan had almost said Miami. Though she worked to hide it, Tara’s accent was laced with hints of Spanish influence. Her ‘r’s had a slight roll. When she compared him to Derek Shepherd, it sounded more like Chepherd. These things became more pronounced when she was upset, as she was now. The small, black leather carry-on in the back seat had an MIA tag still attached.

Nolan’s heart raced, and he considered bailing out of the truck. The car had auto lock doors, so he’d have to unlock them manually before jumping out. Unfortunately, Tara was driving like a Miamian, still well over the limit.

“What did you find at Nikki’s that makes you think she was killed because of her job?” Tara asked. She had regained her calm demeanor and her generic accent.

“Do you know what Benepali and Cyproterone are used for?”

Tara was silent. She braked for an orange light, but ran it and mashed the accelerator. “Pharmacology isn’t my speciality.”

Yet she knows they are drugs. “I found both in Nikki’s apartment, but she doesn’t take any medicine. She isn’t sick.” Nolan frowned. “Wasn’t sick.”

Tara glanced at Nolan.

“Besides, these aren’t medicines a healthy woman would take. Any woman, really. I also found a partial molecular modeling report on her computer. That’s why I went to the hospital. To find the rest of the report.”

Tara shook her head. “Man, you just zoom through the felonies, don’t you?”

“There is more. Two sheriff’s deputies showed up at her apartment. They were planting a book on Satan worship, and black candles. They even had a little pile of chicken bones they dumped on the table.” Nolan watched Tara for a reaction.

“Nolan, are you sure about this?”

“Yes. As I was… egressing, one of them was spray painting a red pentagram on Nikki’s living room wall.”

Tara’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Hold on. You are going to have to give me the whole story from the top. Is there a place to get a decent cup of coffee around here?”

“No. But I know a church with bad coffee.”

Tara gave Nolan an exasperated look, which he met with a winning smile.