“Which means his condition may have been deteriorating,” Ellie asked, reaching for her cell phone.
Kerney got out of the unit.
“Where are you going?”
“To find an address for an all-night pharmacy while you call in for a search of Spalding’s car.”
The on-duty pharmacist at the discount drugstore, a woman with a button chin and a long, narrow nose, stood behind the counter at the back of the store and listened carefully as the female police officer described a well-known brand of thyroid medication.
“Yes, it’s used as a hormone replacement.”
“If, as a pharmacist, you wanted to alter or tamper with it, how would you do it?”
“The easiest way would be to coat it with a clear substance. That way the pill would look perfectly okay.”
“Barring that, what could you do?” Ellie asked.
“I’m not sure I understand the question.”
“What if you wanted to change the actual composition of the pill?” Ellie asked.
“Well, this is a medication that you can get in a powdered form. Some pharmacists who specialize in mixing their own compounds like to fill prescriptions that way. But it wouldn’t look anything like the pharmaceutical version.”
The tall, good-looking man with the female officer smiled at her.
“How could you change the dosage or ingredients and yet have it look identical to the real thing?” Kerney asked.
“Same size, shape, color, and brand name?” the pharmacist asked.
“Yes. Could it be done?”
“I suppose, if you made it with a mold. But it would be painstaking work.”
“How would you go about it?” Ellie asked.
“Well, I’d start with making an impression of the lettering on the pill so I could duplicate it,” the woman said. “Then I’d have to build a mold to form it based on the precise measurements of the pill and its lettering.”
“What kind of a mold?” Kerney asked.
The woman tapped her finger against her chin. “Ceramic perhaps, but certainly something that wouldn’t break under pressure when you formed the pill, especially if you wanted to imprint a brand name.”
“What about the coloring?” Ellie asked.
The pharmacist smiled. “That would be the easy part. I’d use a natural dye.”
“Could you duplicate the shape of the pill by hand?” Kerney asked.
“Sure, but it would take some time to make a good supply, and the brand name would still need to be stamped on the pills to make them look authentic.”
“What’s the usual refill supply that’s given to patients?” Kerney asked.
“Three months is the norm, if the patient is stabilized on the dosage.”
“You’ve been a big help,” Ellie said.
The woman looked from the female cop to the man. “Now, please tell me what this is all about.”
“Crime, of course,” Kerney said, stepping away from the counter.
Ellie waited until they were in the parking lot before asking Kerney what he thought should be done next. He suggested having the pill found in Spalding’s pocket analyzed and getting started on the paperwork for a search warrant of Dean’s pharmacy and residence in Santa Fe.
“I don’t have enough evidence to get a search warrant approved yet,” Ellie said as she unlocked the passenger door to her unit.
“I bet you will have after the lab results come back tomorrow,” Kerney said as he ducked into the cruiser. “But you may not need to have the search warrant served right away. If you play your cards right, Claudia Spalding might just crack under questioning. Then you can go for an arrest warrant on Dean and serve both simultaneously.”
Ellie got behind the wheel and fired up the engine. “Want to be there for the Q amp;A with Claudia Spalding?”
Kerney shook his head and laughed. “Not a chance. Because of you, I’m spending an extra day in California, so I might as well enjoy it.”
“Sorry about that, Chief,” Ellie said as they arrived at Kerney’s motel. “I’ll call you when things shake out.”
“Leave me a message,” Kerney said as he climbed out of the unit.
Ellie watched Kerney unlock his motel door and step inside. He’d never once flared up under the pressure she’d put on him. Beyond that, he’d gathered important information to advance the investigation and had graciously accepted her apology without laying into her.
She’d come to Santa Barbara ready to ream Kerney out for meddling in her investigation. As she drove away, Ellie thought that Chief Kerney would be a hell of a good boss to work for.
Chapter 4
K erney slept hard, got up early, showered, dressed, and studied a tourist map that promised to guide him to Santa Barbara’s finest dining, shopping, and entertainment experiences, including an adult video store and a gentlemen’s club featuring fully nude live dancers.
He located a restaurant that looked interesting at a place called Hendry’s Beach outside of town. On the drive there, he enjoyed the quiet of the morning, the absence of traffic, and a view of the bay with gentle waves of surf rolling in.
The restaurant, located next to the beach, wasn’t open for business when he arrived, although several servers were busy setting the tables on an outdoor patio. He took his boots and socks off, rolled up the cuffs of his jeans, and walked in the shade of the cliffs that lined the shore. Only a few people were out, including some joggers, a couple walking two dogs, and several tourists snapping pictures near some rocks where a young seal seemed to be calmly posing for a photo shoot. Out beyond the surf, a dolphin briefly surfaced, drawing the attention of a lone seagull circling overhead.
On top of the cliffs, which showed signs of constant erosion, houses surrounded by tall, skinny palm trees looked out at the ocean. Steep stairs, some rickety and dangerous, provided access down the cliff face to the beach. Kerney wondered how long it would take before the sea, the wind, and the rain brought everything crashing down. A hundred years? A thousand? Ten thousand? Eventually, it would happen.
His thoughts turned to Sara and the beaches they’d walked together on their honeymoon in western Ireland. There, cliffs of solid rock towered over them and a heavy surf threw angry plumes of white foam into the air. It had been a happy time on the shore of a turbulent sea under misty gray skies.
Sara had spent hours inspecting and gathering seashells, stuffing the choice ones in the pockets of her windbreaker, enlisting Kerney to fill his pockets as well. The shells now sat in a large, hand-blown glass bowl on Sara’s desk at the Pentagon.
He wondered how Sara and their son, Patrick, were doing back on the East Coast. He pictured her getting Patrick out of bed, fed, and ready for the day, Patrick banging his rattle on the high chair and giggling, Sara dressing hurriedly and running a brush quickly through her strawberry blond hair.
The restaurant was open when Kerney returned, and he took breakfast on the patio, careful as always not to eat too much. He’d been gut shot in a gun battle with a drug dealer some years back, and it had damaged his stomach badly.
He finished his meal and decided it wasn’t too early to call Penelope Parker. She answered on the first ring and readily agreed to meet with him again. He left the restaurant just as a smiling young couple with a toddler sitting happily on the man’s shoulders entered. The sight of the family made him miss Sara and Patrick all the more. But soon he’d be with them for two solid weeks. He would be teaching some classes and taking a top-cop seminar at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, thirty miles away from the small house Sara and he had bought in Arlington, Virginia.
The thought of seeing his family made the day seem much brighter. He smiled as he headed down the road to visit Penelope Parker.
Ms. Parker seemed pleased to see Kerney when he arrived. There was a nervous energy to her greeting that he couldn’t quite decipher. He wondered if it came from spending her days cut off from the world while tending to Alice’s needs. She escorted him to the patio where coffee, juice, and a platter of warm scones were arranged on a table, and seated him so he could have the best view of the city and the bay.