She suspected he was hiding his personal glee that Kate Shugak had been thwarted in her scorched-earth search for the truth. What did he say?

I wasn‘t there, I—

Who was there? Who can tell me what he said?

The nurse in pink had been there. She approached Kate with caution, keeping enough distance between them so that if need be she‘d have a head start. Kate fixed her with a basilisk stare. Nurse . . . Pritchard, is it? She was reading from the name tag fixed to the pink top.

Pritchard gave a timid nod.

At least it wasn‘t Ratched. Kate indicated Lempe with a jerk of her head. The doc here tells me you were in the room when Mr. Gammons woke up.

Another timid nod.

What did he say?

Pritchard gave Lempe a nervous glance and Kate stepped between them, staring into Pritchard‘s eyes. Pritchard was six inches taller than Kate and outweighed her by seventy pounds but she took a step back. What. Did. He. Say, Kate said again. Pritchard‘s face might actually have lost a little color. Her voice came out in a rapid squeak, like somebody fast-forwarding a tape. It was like he woke out of a nightmare he was screaming what are you doing Rick no no don‘t please don‘t. It took Kate a moment to apply proper attribution and punctuation. He said, What are you doing, Rick? No! No, don‘t! Please, don‘t!‘

Pritchard nodded, looking longingly at the door.

Kate was remorseless. Those were his exact words?

Another frightened nod.

Okay, thanks.

Pritchard spun on her heel and scuttled down the corridor.

Kate turned to look at Gammons, back in his chair, staring out the window. If he says anything more, it would be useful if accurate notes were kept. Lempe gave her a curious look. Does what he said help your case? Part of it, she said.

Kate called Brendan on her cell phone as George was loading the Otter for the flight home. It was an all-freight flight this trip, which was good for her Costco purchases, but he had had to install a seat for her. He was still grumbling when Brendan picked up. Brendan? It‘s Kate.

Kate! My one, my own, my only true love.

Any other news on those names?

As a matter of fact.

Brendan, my plane is about to leave.

Your friend Allen was an embezzler, a con man, and a big-time recidivist. He left a paper trail in various names from Minnesota to California, everything from identity theft to credit card scams. He must have been pretty good because he‘d only been convicted once, for running a pyramid scheme out of a phony investment office in Tucson. He made the mistake of hanging around too long and a bunch of his investors showed up and beat him up bad enough that he couldn‘t run when they called the cops. Even then, he was out in three months with good behavior. You got all that?