Blood Orchid (Holly Barker 3)

“That’s all I’ve got, I’m afraid. I thought you’d like to know.”

“Forgive me if I seem ungrateful, Harry, but it seems like a bone for the dog. What have you found out on the Pellegrinos?”

“We’re still working on that, Holly, don’t worry.”

Yeah, sure, Holly thought. “Any news on the search for Trini?”

“He’s gone to ground, not visiting any of his usual hangouts.”

“Including the bar Tricky’s?”

“We’re looking everywhere, Holly, don’t worry.”

“Somehow, I have the idea that if Trini wanted to kill you, instead of me, you’d be looking a lot harder.”

“We have to leave that sort of pursuit to the locals and the state boys; we don’t have enough personnel to run dragnets. It’s always been that way; our people are investigators; they don’t set up roadblocks or search for hideouts.”

“Yeah, and in the meantime, Trini’s going to keep trying to kill me and Marina because he thinks one of us has the notebook. Can you get something in the papers saying that you’ve got the not

ebook? Maybe that would take the heat off Marina and me.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“Well, thanks for the information on the Russian, Harry. Goodbye.” She hung up, pissed off.

Her officers showed up around three with Marina’s car keys, and Holly worked until six, then went home. The guard outside the house showed himself when she arrived.

“Hi,” she said. “Everything okay?”

“Very quiet,” the young man replied. “Two of your officers showed up around mid-afternoon with a car; they put it in the garage.”

“Right. I’ve got the keys in my pocket.” She went inside. “Hello?” she called. “Anybody home?” No answer. She checked the garage to see if Grant’s car was there, and it wasn’t. Neither was Marina’s.

She ran upstairs to check the guest room, but it was empty; Marina’s things were gone. She ran back to the front of the house and grabbed her officer. “The car that was brought here this afternoon is gone. When did it leave?”

“I didn’t know it had,” the officer said.

“Did you leave the front of the house at any time?”

“Sure, I check the perimeter every twenty minutes or so. It could have left when I was on the beach side of the house.”

Holly looked up to see Grant turning into the driveway, and she ran over to his car.

“Hi,” he said getting out and handing her a box of wine bottles. “I picked up a few things to drink.”

“Marina’s gone,” she said.

“How?”

“I had her car brought back from Sarasota. I kept the keys, but she must have had another set.”

“She’s obviously headed for home,” Grant said. “Call the state police and have them pick her up on the interstate. Tell them she’s a material witness.”

Holly shook her head. “Problem is, she’s not a witness to anything; she didn’t see Trini shoot anybody.”

“In that case you couldn’t have stopped her anyway.”

Grant parked, and they went into the house. Holly picked up the phone and dialed Marina’s cellphone.