Free The Phantom of Black's Cove by Jan Hambright Page A

didn’t think so.” She stepped past him, seeing for the first time the fine etching of scar tissue crisscrossing his torso like a road map. Remnants of his past received in the accident that killed his parents?
    “I’ll let myself out.”
    He turned and she felt his contemplative gaze on her backside. It wasn’t a totally unpleasant experience, but that fact bothered her and the residual sensation stayed with her even after she climbed in the waiting taxi for the ride back to town.
     
    J ACK READ THROUGH Ross Morgan’s medical file once more before he put it down and rocked back in his chair.
    Out of the original Black’s Cove seven test group, Ross was the only patient who hadn’t responded to the NPQ formula. His grandfather had never been able to determine why. But could he give Olivia the information, without risking full exposure of the entire group, himself included?
    Maybe he could black out the other test subjects’ names and their results. It could work, but she was smart. Smart enough to figure out what those results produced? If so, she would expose them all.
    Jack closed his eyes, searching for a solution, but in his gut, he knew she wasn’t going to stop asking questions until she got answers. Answers that could get her killed.
    Frustrated, he opened his eyes and stood up, feeling the fringe of euphoria that always preceded a precognitive vision. He slumped against the edge of his desk in a waking dream.
    Who would it be this time? Whose life would hang inthe balance waiting for his intervention? Which citizen of Black’s Cove would he rescue in the nick of time?
     
    O LIVIA STARED at the number coming up on her cell phone screen, a number she didn’t recognize.
    Flipping it open, she answered. “Hello?”
    “Miss Morgan?” A female voice whispered over the connection.
    “Yes. Who’s this?”
    “Just listen.”
    Caution ignited in her brain and she contemplated closing the phone on the mystery caller.
    “I have information about Jack Trayborne and what went on at Black’s Cove Clinic. Are you interested?”
    Excitement surged in her veins, but it was quickly diluted by an ounce of reality. Nothing was free.
    “What’s it going to cost me?”
    The line went silent and she almost shook the phone to get the woman talking again.
    “Nothing.”
    She hesitated to respond, a measure of suspicion holding her in check. “I don’t believe you.”
    “Jack Trayborne has secrets, Miss Morgan.”
    “How did you get this number?” Her mind stuck on the detail. She’d only given out her cell number to the hotel and the cops, no one else, but it was listed in her missing laptop. Could that be the source? Was she speaking with the woman who’d stolen it?
    “Be at the roadside park on Highway 21 at twelve sharp today. I’ll leave an envelope taped to the bottomof the picnic table in area number one. If you like that sample, you can have more. Just call the number on the note and I’ll be there.”
    “I don’t believe—” The line went dead. She pulled the phone away from her ear, hit redial and listened to the call go through.
    After seven rings, she was about to give up.
    “Hello?” A male voice answered.
    “Who is this?”
    “Dean.”
    “Where have I called?”
    “A pay phone on 10th street in Black’s Cove.”
    “Sorry.” Olivia hung up and sat down on the bed. What to do? There had to be someone besides Jack who knew what went on at the clinic thirty years ago. But could she trust an anonymous caller on a pay phone, who just happened to know her cell number?
    No…no…no. But she was fresh out of leads. She knew the park in question. A restroom, three or four picnic spots, on the main highway…in broad daylight.
    Glancing at her watch, she stood up, grabbed her purse and the keys to the car she’d rented this morning.
    She had ten minutes to get to the roadside park six miles away.
     
    J ACK FLOORED THE Jaguar and whipped around a red Pontiac creeping along in front of