Read Online Tainted by Ross Pennie - Free Book Online

three cases reported to us . . . yesterday.” Technically, it was yesterday. Hamish had called so late on Tuesday night it counted as yesterday.
    “Three? Yesterday?” Trinnock sounded apoplectic. “For God’s sake, man. Why didn’t you call me immediately? I’m going to look like an idiot, ignorant of what’s going on in my own patch.”
    “I’m sorry, Peter, but until a few minutes ago, there really wasn’t much to say. Natasha’s only just returned from interviewing the family of the third case. And it’s good news.”
    “What do you mean, good news, for Chrissake?”
    “All three cases lived in England at the height of the mad cow epidemic there. We’re pretty sure that’s where they contracted their CJD .” He shot Natasha a sheepish look:
What else am I going to say to him at this stage?
    “I damn well hope so.”
    “We’re still checking the details.”
    “I don’t want a horde of satellite trucks descending on us like that goddamn Lassa fever fiasco.”
    “Yes, Peter.”
    “There’ll be hell to pay if this blows up in our faces. I’ll give you the weekend to get it sorted out. Quietly.” Trinnock cleared his throat. “And keep in mind — that promotion of yours isn’t a done deal.”
    Zol ended the call and gazed into the darkness that came all too quickly on November afternoons. “Oh, Natasha,” he sighed. “Life is one damn deadline after another.”
    She nodded and bit her lower lip, then went back to her office.
    He closed the door behind her and set the lock. He reached into the inside pocket of his blazer and pulled out a slip of paper. The note trembled in his hand as he pondered what was written in his own scrawl: the name and phone number of a private investigatorrecommended by his lawyer friend, Dave Hatala, earlier this afternoon. Dave had sworn that a PI ’s alternative approach could be a lifesaver, especially when a matter needed absolute discretion.
    There was no way the health unit could be seen to have a private eye on its staff. But Dave insisted that this particular one could slip invisibly in and out of anywhere, public and private. She used unconventional methods but she didn’t break the law. And what was the problem if she helped crack the case, saved hundreds of lives, and Trinnock never found out? When it came to paying her, Zol could call her a consultant. The unit hired many consultants every year, and the accountants seldom asked questions.
    Zol fingered the paper. Yes, he’d phone her. Dave said she screened her calls, so Zol should leave a message. He looked at his watch: five forty. He had to get Max to soccer by six fifteen. He’d leave her his cell number.
    Sweat trickled down his neck as he dialled. He couldn’t quite believe a regular guy like him was phoning a private eye.
    “Colleen Woolton is bright and feisty,” Dave had said. “You’ll be pleased with her service. And one last thing . . .” He’d coughed or chuckled, Zol couldn’t be sure which. “Don’t be put off by her height.”

    Natasha arrived at Zol’s house at nine fifteen the next morning to collect Ermalinda on the way to Vanderven’s mansion. Zol had suggested it might help to have Ermalinda along because she and Vanderven’s housekeeper had long been friends, and they attended the same Filipino Catholic church. Perhaps Letty would feel more comfortable opening her pantry cupboards to a sympathetic compatriot.
    As Ermalinda sat smiling shyly in the front seat, her mittened hands folded in her lap, Natasha mused about what her father had once said about Filipina women being housekeepers to the world.From Hong Kong to Helsinki, Dallas to Dubai, families were coddled and vacuumed and laundered by millions of gracious, nearly invisible women who had developed personal service to an art form. What power they could wield if they organized and shared all the secrets they’d witnessed in the bedrooms and bathrooms of the global elite.
    Natasha pulled her Honda to the sloping