Chapter 8

"Holly, do you remember if Dougald worked with this Evan character?" Robert asked.

"I think so. Maybe I met him at a Christmas party once?"

"Hmm, I've seen you at Christmas parties, no wonder you can't remember his last name."

Holly shot Robert a dirty look. "I think I'd remember it if I heard it."

Robert came up with a plan to sneak into Dougald's workplace, reasoning that they could steal his filofax, go through it and see if there were any Evan's in it. They managed to get into the maintenance supply closet, and came up with not only good disguises, but the master key to the various offices. The pair made their way to Dougald's office. Holly's heart sunk as she read the nameplate on Dougald's office door, which now read Joseph Smallwood. Robert came up behind her and put what he meant as a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Holly shook it off.

"What the hell are we going to do now?" grumbled Holly. She had been snapping at Robert all day.

Robert shrugged. He started looking through the filofaxes on the secretaries' desks, hoping against hope that he would turn up an Evan. He wasn't getting very far when Holly's voice interrupted his search.

"Robert!" she hissed excitedly. He put down the the addresses and went out to see what Holly was looking at. She pointed to a picture on a bulletin board. It was of a company soccer team. "Look, look! That's him!" Underneath the picture was the list of the team members.

"Evan Pembleton," Robert read aloud. He ran back to the secretaries' desks but couldn't find the name anywhere. They heard the elevator open and scurried around the corner. "Listen, now that we have a name, we should be able to track him down. Let's get out of here now."

Back at the hotel, Robert started searching for Evan online. He quickly discovered that Evan no longer worked for Dougald's former employer. After a few more searches through local newspapers, he also discovered that Evan had opened his own financial services company. The contact information for that was easy to find. "Now we're in business," thought Robert to himself.

Robert took a minute to check his email. He was pleasantly surprised to see a message from Robin, which Patrick had sat her down and practically forced her to type.

Dad,

I got your message about the antidote and I heard from Morris shortly afterwards. Several vials of the antidote have been delivered to the Markham Islands. I was reading about the unrest there - did you hear that the prison was blown up? Would you be able to find out if Holly is OK? I still can't get over the idea that she would have tried to profit from the antidote; it just seems so out of character for her. Anyway, if you get any news, please let me know.

Things here are returning to some semblance of normality, at least at the hospital. I decided to move out of Mac's into an apartment. It was a good move for me and I'm enjoying having my own space again.

Talk to you soon.

Robin.

Holly wandered into the room and noticed Robert's expression. "You look pleased. Let me warn you, if it's about some money that the Nigerian government wants to send you, that's a scam."

"Ha ha. It's an email from Robin. And it doesn't contain the word 'hate' or the phrase 'never contact me again', so it's a start. Actually, Holly, she's asking after you, with the problems at the prison. You know, she told me she thought your actions over the antidote were my fault."

Holly was touched by Robin's concern for her. "It's going to take her a long time to forgive you, Robert. You must realize that. And it's not helping matters that you're not there working through things with her."

"She said she didn't want me to stick around," replied Robert regretfully.

"People do and say lots of things they don't mean, Robert, especially when they're hurting," said Holly pointedly.

The next morning, Holly made an appointment to meet with Evan. She met him for breakfast at a café. Robert sat one table over, reading a newspaper.

"Holly, so nice to see you. I was so very sorry to hear about Dougald."

Holly accepted his condolences graciously. "Thank you Evan, Dougald always spoke highly of you," she fibbed as she didn't recall hearing his name until the stock tip, "I know he valued your expertise very much." Holly flirted mildly with Evan for a little while, then asked him about the investment that he had proposed to Dougald.

"I was afraid you were going to ask me about that." Holly's heart skipped a beat. "You see, I've felt quite bad about that ever since. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. I was approached by some gentlemen and offered a hefty commission in order to suggest the stocks as a wise investment to your husband."

"I see. Do you know who it was that did that?" Holly asked politely.

"They were representatives of Crylium Industries."

"And do you know why they wanted Dougald and me to invest in their company?" inquired Holly.

"No, I don't. To be honest with you, there was so much money involved, that I didn't really ask questions. Holly, I hope we can consider this a confidence between friends. I wouldn't want the wrong people to know about this."

"Of course, Evan. I completely understand." Holly did everything short of batting her eyelashes at him.

Evan felt as if he were on top of the world. He decided to make his move. "Perhaps you'd like to get together for dinner tomorrow night?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card.

Robert sat back and stewed. "Pommy bastard."

"Oh, I'd be delighted." Robert shot a look at Holly. Her left eye was twitching. He got up and paid his cheque. "I'll give you a call tomorrow." Holly was a bit repelled at the prospect of having to spend more time in Evan's smarmy company, but managed a big smile for his benefit.

She walked out of the restaurant, and almost into Robert. He picked the business card out of her pocket and laughingly said, "Oh Evan, I'd loooove to go to dinner with you." And then stopped dead when he looked at the business card. He showed it to Holly.

"Thinking with that other part of his anatomy, I'd say." He pointed out the Viranon logo and address on it to her. "I guess he's been too busy to have new business cards made."

As Holly exited the restaurant, Evan picked up his cell phone and made a call. "Yes. It's Pembleton. You'll never guess who just paid me a visit. Yes, the widow McFarlane. She's in London. We just had breakfast in the City and I've made plans for dinner." He listened for a minute, "Absolutely. I'll be in touch."

Holly spotted the man first. She grabbed Robert as if to kiss him. A casual observer would have thought it a moment between two lovers. Holly whispered into Robert's ear. "There's a man over there following us, standing by the traffic lights." He put an arm around her and headed down the street, walking briskly.