Page 79 of Gone Before Goodbye
“You hired her for a job.”
“Do you understand what HIPAA violations are?”
“I do.”
“Do you understand patient confidentiality?”
“Again: I do. So who hired her?”
“If she wants to tell you—”
“She’s in Russia. She’s in trouble.”
Barlow blinks. “What makes you think she’s in trouble?”
“Four days ago, you travel down to Baltimore. You tell Maggie you have some big reason to see her. She comes up to New York. You two meet. Suddenly debts are paid. Lawsuits are settled. She gets on a private plane at Teterboro. She ends up in Russia. I get it. It’s some kind of surgical concierge service. Off the books. I don’t know whether it’s all legal or not, and I don’t much care.”
“I’m not going to confirm or deny—”
“Don’t make me punch you again, Evan.”
“Look,” Barlow says. “She’s safe. She’s fine.”
“I have reason to believe otherwise,” Porkchop says. “But you can allay my fears. Call the client. Get Maggie on the phone.”
“I can’t do that.”
“She’s in trouble, Evan.”
“How can you know that?”
“Call the client. Say there’s an emergency at home, that I have to talk to her.”
“How can you know something’s wrong?”
“Tell them you need to speak to her for a moment. I want to make sure she’s okay.”
“You do know I care very much about Maggie,” Barlow says. “That she was a prized and beloved student. That I was very close to her mother.”
“Yeah, I know all that,” Porkchop says.
“Do you really think I’d do something to put her in harm’s way?”
“If you did…” Porkchop stops. “Wait, I don’t want to come upwith another arch threat. So let me state this plainly. If you did indeed put Maggie in harm’s way, I’m going to kill you. Not sure how. I may throw you through that window. I may strangle you to death. I don’t know. I don’t care. I lost my son. You know that, right?”
“Of course.”
“I’m not losing Maggie. Do you hear me?”
Barlow nods. “We’re on the same side here.”
“Good. Then call. I want to hear her voice.”
Barlow heads over to his desk and sits down. Porkchop takes the chair across from him. Barlow opens his phone and checks phone numbers. He puts speakerphone on and calls one. No answer. He calls another. The same.
On the third number, a voice answers with one word. “What?”
Porkchop jolts up. He recognizes the voice. It’s the guy who was in the car with Maggie.
