Mystery Woman

Chapter 6

      The next day McKenzie once again went over the facts of the case. Kate had tried to search the lab by herself. Of course! She wasn't interested in money or the jewels from the safe. She used Len and Jimmy to get into the house. She didn't try to break in on her own because of the alarm system. She needed them to hold the Hendersons at bay while she looked for something in the house. It wasn't in the safe, they went there first. That's when she wanted to search the lab on her own, but one of them went with her. Did she find it with Len there watching her? She also seemed pretty smart. She probably knew the Hendersons' late model car would have a GPS tracking system? Did she actually want the police to find the Hendersons and Len and Jimmy after she had skipped out by pretending to go to a phone to call in the ransom demand?

He picked up the phone and dialled Tom Henderson at his office.

The Hendersons had returned from their trip away the previous day.

"Mr Henderson, Alan McKenzie here. Sorry to bother you, but the woman Kate still won't talk. I think she was looking for something in your house, but not the jewels from the safe. Did you thoroughly check the house to see what else they took?

"No, not really," Henderson replied. "We only just got back from our overseas trip. I can't think of anything."

"Could you please check as soon as possible, particularly in your lab. Kate seemed interested in the lab. Oh, and can you tell me, whose idea was it for them to take you to the warehouse in your car, rather than in their own car?"

"That was Kate's idea."

"I thought so. I'll give you my mobile number so you can ring me as soon as you've checked for missing items."

"All right, Detective. I'll call you tonight."

It was ten thirty that evening when Tom Henderson finally called. "Detective I checked the house thoroughly, and made a list of missing items. There isn't all that much, mainly the jewels from the safe and a small amount of cash from my study.

"Anything from the lab?" McKenzie asked.

"Well that's the strange thing. They made a mess in there, but I couldn't see anything missing except when I checked the desk there was a circuit board missing from one of the drawers."

"A circuit board? Was it valuable?"

"I'm not sure. That circuit board has a strange history. My company didn't manufacture it. It came to us in rather unusual circumstances. We tested it at work to see exactly what it was designed to do, but couldn't figure it out. It had some components that were completely foreign to us. It appeared to be designed to work in some extremely advanced computer system, probably beyond anything we've got at our company. I took it home a few weeks ago to do some tests on it in my own lab, but I'd been so busy with other projects I hadn't had a chance."

"How big is it?"McKenzie asked.

"Rather small, about five by ten centimetres."

"And you're sure it's missing?"

"Yes, I had definitely left it in the top left drawer of the desk in the lab, and it's not there now. You think that's what they were after?"

"Not Len and Jimmy, they only wanted money, but I think Kate could have been looking for it. She didn't have anything on her when she was taken to the hospital. The pockets in her clothes were empty. If she did take it she must have stashed it somewhere, probably in the warehouse. I'll get a search team over there tomorrow. That circuit board may be valuable after all, Mr Henderson. I'll let you know if we find it. Thank you for calling."

McKenzie had just pressed the disconnect button on the phone when it rang with an incoming call from Detective Ryan."

"You're not going to believe this, Alan, but your mystery woman has gone AWOL from the hospital."

"You mean she's escaped?" How did she get past the man on the door?"

"It looks as if she had some help. Some guy came in to the nurses station around the corner from the ward and made a lot of noise. The officer ran off to subdue him, and when he came back Mystery Woman had vanished."

"Damn! Someone must have helped her out of the room. The doctor told me the other day that she could hardly walk. John, you question the man at the hospital. I'm going to the warehouse where the Hendersons were held. I have a feeling Kate might be going back there to pick something up."

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