Roger Dillon frowned. “If she’s asthmatic, wouldn’t she be taking a risk by using ether to knock herself out?”
“That was my first thought. So I checked with an anesthesiologist. Ether is a strong bronchodilator that opens up airways and has actually been used, on rare occasions, to treat severe asthma. And there is another possibility she may have been faking; she may not have asthma, at all.”
“We were idiots,” Dillon said.
“No, all of us were part of an audience that was fooled by a very clever illusion.”
“We need to speak to Nancy Porter or Jane Randall or whatever her name is, right away,” Anders said.
“I’ve got her address,” Robin said. “And I think you should bring backup. If I’m right, she has a gun and no compunction about killing.”
Robin and the detectives parked on a side street a block from Renee Chambers’s duplex. An unmarked car with four plainclothes officers parked behind them.
“Stay in the car,” Anders told Robin.
“If you identify yourself as a police officer, she may start shooting. She knows me. I’ve been in her house. She won’t suspect anything if I knock on her door.”
“I can’t let you do this. You’re a civilian.”
“Who has been in more violent confrontations than you and Roger put together.” When Anders hesitated, Robin pushed her point. “Look, Carrie. You know I can take care of myself, and I’m not stupid. I’ll bail at the first sign of danger.”
Anders shook her head. “Fucking lawyers. I should never have let this degenerate into a debate.”
Dillon laughed. “Go ahead. We’ll be right behind you.”
Robin checked her handgun to make sure it was loaded. Then she walked around the corner and stopped. A patrol car was parked at the curb in front of the duplex. Robin walked up to the driver’s window and saw an officer speaking into his radio. The officer turned to Robin. “This is a crime scene, ma’am. You can’t hang out here.”
Anders and Dillon had been following Robin at a distance. When they saw the police car, they joined her.
Anders flashed her badge. “We’re here to make an arrest. What are you doing here?”
“We got a 911 about a woman being held at this address.”
“Is she okay?” Robin asked.
“Yeah. She was tied up in a bedroom, but she isn’t hurt. Just scared.”
When they entered the house, they found a policewoman sitting at the kitchen table with Renee Chambers, who was wearing a sweatshirt, T-shirt, socks, and sweatpants and drinking a cup of tea. There was a fading bruise on her cheek, but she looked otherwise unharmed.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Anders asked after the introductions were made.
“She knocked on my door the Thursday before rehearsals were going to start—”
“You mean Nancy Porter?”
Renee nodded. “That’s what she called herself.”
“Okay, go on.”
“As soon as I opened the door, she hit me. Then she held a gun on me and forced me into the bedroom. I tried to say something and she hit me again and told me to shut up and do as I was told. Then she handcuffed me to the bed and put a gag in my mouth. I was terrified, but she said she wouldn’t hurt me anymore if I did exactly what she said.
“She left me for a while. Then she came back with my phone and had me call Marvin—”
“Marvin Olmstead, your agent?”
“Yes. She told me to tell him that I had a family emergency and had to go home, but that I had called Nancy Porter, who did a magic act with me in Minneapolis, and she would be here in time for rehearsals. She… she said that she would kill me if I tried to call for help or say anything that wasn’t in her script, so I did what she wanted.
“After that, she mostly left me alone. She would feed me andshe took me to the toilet, but I was locked up in the bedroom all day. Then today she said she’d done what she came for and was going to leave. She said I shouldn’t worry, that she would call the police and they would free me. Then she left.”