Shadowfires. By: Dean R. Koontz

higher than the normal average. In twenty years, the only stain on

Desert General had been the Case of the Purloined Pills. That was what

Peake named the affair when Sharp quickly briefed him on arrival, before

confronting Dunn and Werfell, it was a name Peake did not share with

Sharp, since Sharp was not a reader of mysteries as Peake was and did

not have Peake’s sense of adventure. Anyway, just last year, three

nurses at Desert General had been caught altering purchase and

dispensation records in the pharmacy, and upon investigation it was

discovered they had been stealing drugs for years. Out of spite, the

three had falsely implicated six of their superiors, including Nurse

Dunn, though the police had eventually cleared Dunn and the others.

Desert General was put on the Drug Enforcement Agency’s “watch list” of

medical institutions, and Alma Dunn, though cleared, was shaken by the

experience and still. felt her reputation endangered.

Sharp took advantage of that weak spot. In a discreet session with Alma

Dunn in the nurses’ lounge, with only Peake as a witness, Sharp subtly

threatened the woman with a very public reopening of the original

investigation, this time at the federal level, and not only solicited

her cooperation but brought her almost to tears, a feat that Peake-who

likened Alma Dunn to Agatha Christie’s indomitable Miss Jane Marple-had

thought impossible.

At first, it appeared as if Dr. Werfell would be more difficult to

crack. His record as a physician was unblemished. He was highly

regarded in the medical commumlty, possessed an AMA Physician of the

Year Award, contributed six hours a week of his time to a free clinic

for the disadvantaged, and from every angle appeared to be a saint.

Well… from every angle but one, He had been charged with income-tax

evasion five years ago and had lost in court on a technicality. He had

failed to comply precisely with IRS standards of record keeping, and

though his failure was unintentional, a simple ignorance of the law,

ignorance of the law was not an acceptable defense.

Cornering Werfell in a two-bed room currently unoccupied by patients,

Sharp used the threat of a new IRS investigation to bring the doctor to

his knees in about five minutes flat. Werfell seemed certain that his

records would be found acceptable now and that he would be cleared, but

he also knew how expensive and time-consuming it was to defend himself

against an IRS probe, and he knew that his reputation would be tarnished

even when he was cleared. He looked to Peake for sympathy a few times,

knowing he would get none from Sharp, but Peake did his best to imitate

Anson Sharp’s air of granite resolution and indifference to others.

Being an intelligent man, Werfell quickly determined that the prudent

course would be to do as Sharp wished in order to avoid another

tax-court nightmare, even if it meant bending his principles in the

matter of Sarah Kiel.

“No reason to fault yourself or lose any sleep over a misguided concern

about professional ethics, Doctor,” Sharp said, clapping one beefy hand

on the physician’s shoulder in a gesture of reassurance, suddenly

friendly and empathetic now that Werfell had broken. “The welfare of

our country comes before anything else.

No one would dispute that or think you’d made the wrong decision.”

Dr. Werfell did not exactly recoil from Sharp’s touch, but he looked

sickened by it. His expression did not change when he looked from Sharp

to Jerry Peake.

Peake winced.

Werfell led them out of the untenanted room, down the hospital corridor,

past the nurses’ station-where Alma Dunn watched them warily while

pretending not to lookto the private room where Sarah Kiel remained

sedated.

As they went, Peake noticed that Werfell, who had previously seemed to

resemble Dashiell Hammett and who had looked tremendously imposing, was

now somewhat shrunken, diminished. His face was gray, and he seemed

older than he had been just a short while ago.

Although Peake admired Anson Sharp’s ability to command and to get

things done, he did not see how he could adopt his boss’s methods as his

own. Peake wanted not only to be a successful agent but to be a legend,

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