The Bannerman Effect (The Bannerman Series) by John R. Maxim

even as their enemy. Could the girl have been involved in drugs?”
    “Impossible,” she answered flatly. Not Raymond Lesko's daughter.
    “Then it must be said. You were involved, as their associate. The father was involved, as their enemy. If the girl herself is innocent, and if this attack was a message, that message must have been meant for either you or the father. Is this not so?”
    “Perhaps,” she said slowly. ”I do not think so.”
    “Tell me why.”
    “Because a message is pointless unless its meaning is clear. If this was done because of me, or because of Lesko, they would have called me within the hour to boast of it, to hear my anguish. It is their way.”
    “Do we then conclude,” Urs Brugg asked, “that it must have been done because of Bannerman?”
    “If that is so, why this method? Why cocaine? You said he had no connection with it.”
    “There is one common thread,” he reminded her. “It is your former associate, Palmer Reid.”
    Elena fell silent as she considered the suggestion. Palmer Reid. Even the name, when mouthed, formed the beginnings of a sneer. Lesko had spoken of a connection between Reid and Bannerman. Uncle Urs had confirmed it. But their relationship was far from what Lesko may have imagined. By all accounts, they despised each other.
    “Uncle Urs?”
    ”I am still here.”
    “It was Palmer Reid.”
    A long silence. “You say he is responsible? For the attack on the girl?”
    “You will ask me why,” she said quietly. “You will ask me his motives. I do not have those answers. But Reid is behind this. I feel it.”
    Urs Brugg started to speak, to argue other possibilities, to point out that no action could be taken on mere intuition. He chose not to state the obvious. “What would Lesko do if you shared that conviction with him?”
    “He would go after Reid. And Reid would crush him.”
    “In that case, Elena, I suggest that we leave the matter in the hands of Mr. Bannerman. He seems more than equal to the task. Has Mr. Lesko been told about his daughter?”
    ”I have left a message. I will wait here for his call.”
    “Elena.” A thoughtful pause. ”I am posting armed guards at your house. If you leave it, I want Josef and Wil-lem with you at all times.”
    “It is not necessary,” she argued. “If Palmer Reid wanted to harm me he would have done it two years ago.”
    “Not Reid,” he said. “Bannerman. Perhaps even Lesko.”
    The line went silent for a moment. “Lesko would not harm me,” she said, her voice small.
    “Elena, listen to me.” His tone became stern. ”I have intuitions of my own in this matter. Neither Bannerman nor Lesko are likely to be behaving dispassionately, especially if the girl dies. The use of cocaine points to you, if not as the killer than as the indirect cause. If you are right about Reid, this may well have been his intention. To set you, Bannerman, and Lesko one against the other.”
    “Lesko will not harm me,” she said stubbornly.
    In the intensive care unit of Davos Hospital, a nurse approached the bed where Susan lay. She checked the flow of glucose into Susan's arm, then checked her pulse and jotted the result. Next she lifted the patient's head with one hand and tugged at a bloodstained pad with the other. She replaced it briskly, a bit roughly. The man sitting by the bed looked up at her. The nurse met his gaze, hesitated for a moment, then withdrew. For the remainder of her shift, she would shudder at the look she saw in that man's eyes.
    Bannerman stood up. Carefully, tenderly, as if in apology, he smoothed the edges of her pillow. The right side of her face was now in view. He had deliberately placed his chair where he could only see the left side, the less damaged part. Her right eye was swollen shut. The brow was held together by sutures. The cheekbone was fractured. The impression of a gloved hand was still visible across her mouth. An oxygen tube was taped to her nostrils. Her left eye remained partly