Indispensable Party (Sasha McCandless Legal Thriller No. 4) by Melissa F Miller Page B

nightmare.”
    Each of the sixty-seven counties
within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania maintained its own criminal docket
sheets, which were theoretically searchable on-line, but it would be tedious
and time-consuming for Naya to run the searches one at a time, and there was
always the risk that some county clerk had mistyped a letter when entering the
data or that a county wasn’t completely up to date with its dockets. No, Naya’s
time was better spent running down other leads. Especially if Gavin could go
straight to the source.
    “Okay. Give me the name and
social. I’ll call you back with anything that pops.”
    “The name is Celia Anne Gerig.
That’s G-E-R-I-G and her social is—”
    “Celia Gerig?”Gavin repeated,
cutting her off. Surprise registered in his voice.
    “Don’t tell me you know her.”
    “I know a Celia Gerig. She’s
local. If it’s the same woman, I took her to my prom.”

CHAPTER 9
     
    Celia woke up
late and bone tired on Saturday afternoon. She checked her watch. She’d slept
past noon. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done that. She didn’t feel
refreshed, though. She felt wrung out and flat.
    She pushed herself up on her
elbows and blinked the sand out of her eyes, trying to figure out where she
was. As the fog lifted over her brain, the events of the previous evening
returned: the dead car battery and the run-in with Ben; the drive north to the
rendezvous point; the meeting; the vaccination. It all came back, and she
realized she was in Lydia’s guest room.
    After Ben had jumped her battery,
she’d had to drive way up north to the rendezvous point to deliver the vaccines
to George and Lydia. With Ben’s warning in her ears, she hadn’t stopped to get
a bite or even use the restroom for fear the Civic wouldn’t start again if she
did. By the time she reached the old union hall, she was exhausted, hungry, and
sore from sitting hunched over the wheel.
    She didn’t recognize any of the
cars in the crowded parking lot, but she was tired, and it was dark, so she
just slung her purse over her shoulder, hauled the larger bag from the trunk of
her car, and headed across the uneven lot for the side door to the basement,
hoping George and Lydia would be there as promised.
    When she walked through the door,
she nearly fell over. Not only were George and Lydia there, but there must have
been somewhere between thirty and forty other people milling around in the
brightly lit room. Her heart started to race, and she felt the heat rise on her
face.
    Who were all these people? What
had she just walked into? She gripped the straps of both bags, hugging them
tight to her body, and stood in the doorway wavering.
    She swayed from side to side and
tried to decide whether to plunge into the crowd or back her way out the door.
    George and Lydia pushed through
the sea of milling bodies and appeared at her elbow.
    “What is this?” Celia asked. Her
voice shook.
    George smiled and patted her arm.
    “A good thing. We told Captain
Bricker about your success in acquiring the vaccines. He’s privy to some news
that led him to move up the timetable on the inoculations. That’s why all the
bigwigs are here,” he said, easing the strap of the larger bag off her
shoulder.
    His explanation cleared up
exactly nothing. She’d always been a bit player in the organization—a dabbler,
really. Not because she wasn’t interested, because she was, but because she
lacked any special skill or background that would enable her to take a
leadership role. George was former military. Lydia, his girlfriend and
second-in-command, was a nurse. Celia was just a nobody who wanted to learn how
to take care of herself.
    So when George had asked her to
stay behind to talk after their November troop meeting, she’d been more than
surprised—she’d been shocked that her troop leader was interested in talking to
her personally. Flustered, but excited at the prospect of doing something, she’d agreed to apply for