Page 91 of Poison Evidence

“I’m not ill, I’m pregnant, but I have been sick as a dog.”

“You’re pregnant? Congratulations! I’m so—”

“Thank you, we’ll celebrate when you get home,” Mara said, cutting her off. “Listen, you need to know something important. The DIA is doing their damndest to pin this on you. Curt didn’t want to tell me, but I overheard everything—my ear was practically right next to the cell phone—and I had an idea this morning, so I came to the office to check.”

“How can they pin this on me? I mean, I slept with Dimitri, but that wasafterthey set me up for this nightmare of a job. They were the ones who sent me here.”

“Your phone logs indicate you called Dimitri twice before you even left for Palau.”

“That’s bullshit!”

“I know. But once Curt told me the calls came from your work phone, I decided to see for myself. You did call the number, twice, just like the DIA claims.”

“I didn’t call him, Mara. I didn’t know Dimitri Veselov existed.”

“I figured that. So I cross-referenced it with that list of contractors I’d passed on to you—people you were approved to work with on the Palau project. Because of CAM, we needed to do a background check on anyone who would have access to the equipment. Dimitri’s number was on that list as a scuba dive charter.”

“Liberty Charters wasnoton that list. I would’ve remembered when I saw the boat. It was clearly out of my price range.”

“On the list, it’s called DV Scuba Tours.”

Ivy closed her eyes, trying to picture the list of contractors. Trying to remember if she’d spoken with Dimitri in March. She had a good memory for accents—and that included voices. She came up blank. “I kept a copy of that list in my desk, with notes on who I talked to, pricing, et cetera. Did I have a note next to DV Scuba Tours? I don’t have the copy I brought with me anymore.” It had gone out to sea withLibertywhen they abandoned her.

“You did. You wrote ‘automated voice mail, left message’ and the date and time you called. Which match the call log. As far as that goes—you’re in the clear. This can’t be used against you.”

“Good.”

“But, Ivy, I think—and Curt, who is here with me now, agrees—the more important point is this list was provided by the DIA. They supposedly vetted every contractor on the list to protect you and CAM. But I can’t find any record that DV Scuba Tours exists. If you can talk to Dimitri, ask him how his nonexistent business ended up on a DIA list of approved contractors.”

The conversation ended, leaving Ivy wondering how the hell she could get in touch with Dimitri. Talking to him had been the one thing she’d wanted since she woke up after surgery three days ago.

She returned to the deck to see the boat was pulling into their slip at the marina. Luke was at the helm as Ian was perched to secure the bow line. Five slips away was the enclosed hangar that housed Ulai and his seaplane.

The door to the hangar was open, a sure sign Ulai was there.

She glanced at the men who’d been guarding her for the last three days. If anyone knew how to get in touch with Dimitri, it was Ulai, but the seaplane pilot would likely clam up in their presence.

She took a deep breath and touched the holster at her back. It was completely illegal for her to be carrying concealed in Palau, but that was the least of the rules she was willing to break to protect herself.

Luke and Ian were focused on the boat. She slipped under the railing and onto the dock as silently as possible—not easy with one hand, but the engine noise covered the thump of her feet. She ducked down and darted around the boat in the next slip, using it for cover. She was halfway down the long main dock before she stood to her full height and hurried toward Ulai’s hangar.

When she reached it, she knocked once on the open door before stepping inside. “Ulai?”

A grunt sounded behind her.

She reached for her gun as she turned toward the sound. A leg—at the end of which she recognized Ulai’s broad bare foot—rested, toes up, on the dock just behind the open door.

“Run, Ivy!” Dimitri shouted.

The door slammed closed, revealing Ulai, stretched out on the aluminum floor. His head was bleeding. A bloody hammer rested on the dock next to his body.

Chapter Thirty-Three

The shock of seeing Ulai froze Ivy. She wanted to drop to her knees and check his pulse, but standing above him was Dimitri, his shirt and face covered in blood. Behind him was another man, who held a gun to Dimitri’s ribs.

The man shoved Dimitri forward and brought them both into the spill of light from the window. Ivy’s paralysis broke. “Rudy Fredrickson?” He didn’t look like the stiff bureaucrat she’d taken him for when they first met last fall. “What are you doing in Palau?”

Rudy continued to nudge Dimitri forward until he reached the bolt on the door and slid it home. “Tracking down a Russian spy. I found him over the body,” Rudy said. “He killed Umetaro.”

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