Forgotten Place by LS Sygnet Page B

him. 
    "I'll agree on one condition," Shelly
said.  "You limit your involvement to the interview only
tomorrow, and you don't let this investigation take over your life
and interfere with physical therapy.  God knows I want you
back on the job sooner rather than later, but not at the expense of
your recovery, Helen."
    "I promise ."  No X's over my heart,
no fingers crossed.  Dr. Scott's words were still too raw in
my brain.  In order to escape whatever was on the horizon of
my life, I needed to be healthy.
    "What about Trevor Kent?" Crevan asked.
    "Stick around after we're finished
here.  We can brainstorm the quickest way of finding him, but
it might be a simple matter of asking one of Journey's friends
where he is.  In fact, I'll see Amy Peterson first thing in
the morning.  If this core group gets together for backyard
barbecues year round in this awful weather like Evans said, they
all probably know where Trevor Kent is living right now."
    "Is there anything I can do to help?"
    I looked at Orion, closely for the first
time.  Shaggy hair, unkempt beard, weary eyes, rumpled
shirt.  "I'm sure there is." 
    His jaw set stubbornly.  "Like butt out
and let Downey Division do its thing without my interference?"
    "John, she didn't say that," Ned said.
    "It's all right, Ned.  Johnny knows how
I feel about OSI rushing in at the last second to save the day and
close our cases."
    His posture stiffened.  "Seems to me
the last time I rushed in at the last second, it saved your life,
Helen."
    "Nobody asked you to do that."
    "Crevan did."  His eyes glittered with
unspoken rage.
    "Well I didn't ask for it.  I didn't
ask for a goddamned thing, did I?"
    Four chairs simultaneously inched away from
the table.
    "So is that why you're holed up here like a
fucking hermit starving yourself to death?  Oh, you didn't
think I'd notice?  It's pretty hard to miss, Doc.  You've
barely got the energy to move from here to there.  I doubt the
average rubber band would make a snug fit around your waist."
    The gasp tumbled out of my throat. 
"How dare you?"
    "How dare I?  I'll tell you how I
goddamned dare!  I –"  Johnny stopped, as if suddenly
aware that we weren't alone.  He clamped his mouth shut but
only for the millisecond it took to rein in his anger.  "The
point wasn't to let you slowly waste away, Helen."
    "You could give me a hand with the
Linder-Datello angle," Ned sliced through the pulsating tension in
the room.  "Given your knowledge of Datello's activities,
you've probably got the information we need already."
    Johnny glanced at his old
comrade and gave a curt nod.  "Right.  The name Linder
doesn't stand out in my recollection right now," another pointed
stare at me, "but then again, Datello has a lot of business associates."
    I struggled to modulate the tremor from my
voice.  "Will you call me when you're ready to talk to Linder,
Ned?"
    "Sure.  I guess the time depends on
what we find out about any link there might be to Datello."
    "We should set a deadline in any case. 
Let's say two o'clock tomorrow afternoon.  We hit him up for
answers then, ready or not.  Regardless of what his link to
Datello may be, we still need to find out if he has a better alibi
than the brown bottle flu.  Devlin, that should give you
plenty of time to talk to Samantha Wine.  The more we know
about the other side of this breakup, the better equipped we'll be
to question Linder."
    "I'll call Sync! first thing in the
morning and set something up."
    "Will you call me before you talk to
her?"
    "Absolutely," he said.  "How early is
too early?"
    "I should be done with therapy by
eight.  Any time after that is fine."  I focused my
attention on Shelly.  "I need to know more about David
Ireland.  Since no one has actually come right out and said
it, I may as well be the first.  If this investigation is
linked to his investigation of Datello, we're going to have to
start the profile from square one."
    "Mitch Southerby confessed to