“I really don’t think I should be discussing that,” Quincy said. “The convention center prides itself in...”
“Relax, Quincy.” Summer put her arm around his shoulder and led him toward the escalators. “Oh, we’ve already talked to Brian. And Stephanie. Right Maxie?”
Maxie caught up with them. She sidled up to Summer and reached into her satchel. “We were just at his hotel room, in fact.” She took out the recorder and turned it on. “He said that he was hit by Doctor Anderson of all people. He seemed pretty upset about it. He even said he was going to get even. We’re thinking lover’s triangle.”
“That’s a logical assumption,” Summer said to Maxine,. “A very logical assumption.”
“Thank you.” Maxine gave a small curtsy. “I try my best.”
“Well... I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion.” Quincy stammered. “Not at all...”
“So you’re going with him getting punched in the eye for no reason, Quincy?”
“Those two have been having... friction since they arrived.”
“Oh?” Maxine held the recorder behind Quincy’s head so Summer could see it. “That’s a shame. Two professionals not getting along. How unusual. Especially with a woman in the mix.”
“Well, Doctor Anderson has those dental clinics...”
“They are ‘it’ in the Tri-State area, so I’ve been told.” Summer said, making quotes with her fingers when she said ‘it’.
Quincy rolled his eyes. “Everyone gets told that. Anyway, Doctor Larson has a similar business endeavor out west. Nevada and California, if I remember correctly. I don’t think it’s as big as Terrance; From Seattle to Eugene, I’m the orthodontic king of the I-5 corridor.” He said as he now made quotes with his fingers. “Really, those three are the most successful of the dentists here by all accounts .”
“So what’s the problem? Their offices are a thousand miles away from each other. What do they care about each other?” Maxine said- she was from Dallas, Oregon- just west of Salem and Interstate Five. “Family Ortho Specialists are all over the place. Hell, my parents took my little brother to one of them for braces a few of years ago. What’s the big deal?”
“It’s... complicated.” Quincy said. When they reached the elevators, he looked up and down. “Which way are you going?”
“So there is something going on between those three crazy kids!” Summer said.
“Up or down?” Quincy asked again tersely.
“We’re going... down?” Summer guessed. “We’re going to check on a lead before lunch, I think.”
“Excellent.” Quincy side-stepped to the ‘up’ escalator and stepped onto it. “I’ll see you ladies later.” He turned and looked forward, obviously not wanting to say anything else.
“You know, I have a feeling he was going to pick whichever way we didn’t.” Maxine said. “So what lead are we running down?”
“I want to talk to Scott again. Get his side of the story.”
The pair got on the escalator going down.
“You know, I don’t see how Scott could have hit him.” Summer said.
“Why’s that?”
“Because Brian’s right eye was swollen.”
“So?”
“Scott is right handed.”
“How do you know that?” Maxine asked.
“He was writing something when I walked up to him.”
“What does that prove?”
“Well,” Summer said, “Usually when you punch someone in the face, you swing with your dominant hand. And you end up hitting the side of the face that is on the same side as what you swung from, which is the opposite side in relation to the person who was hit. So if Brian’s right eye is swollen, then someone left handed hit him.”
“Is this something you learned in your Krav Maga classes?”
“That and being left handed means I notice when other people are left handed.” Summer said. “So shirtless Brian was lying to us.” She snapped her fingers. “He said Scott caused him to get hit in the eye, not that Scott actually hit him in the eye!”
“Why would he say that? And why are Scott and Stephanie so upset?”
“We shall see.”
When they got to the bottom of the escalator, Stephan was standing with his back to them, surveying the massive room.
“Making sure folks don’t go up the down escalator?” Maxine said as she stepped beside him.
“Maxine,” Stephan said with a smile. “What are you two up to?”
“Just regular reporter stuff.” Summer said, noncommittally.
“That’s not what I hear.” Stephan said with a raised eyebrow.
“What?”
“Harassing folks is regular reporter stuff?” Stephan said with a smirk. “Didn’t know that.”
“Who us?” Summer feigned innocence.
“I heard over the radio that there was a complaint made about some reporters harassing someone in their hotel room.”
“Who us?” Maxine said as she fought not to smile.
“Caused a ruckus.”
Summer laughed. “Ruckus? Must be some other reporters out causing ruckuses. Ruckusi? Is it like cactus?”
“Ruckuses.” Maxine said.
“You two.” Stephan shook his head.
Summer looked at Maxine. “I can’t believe Brian complained after he groped me. Big old handfuls of my tits, and he complains. I should be offended.”
“What?” Stephan startled. “He what?”
“Forget she even mentioned it.” Maxine said.
“That’s not right, Summer.” Stephan said. “I can have a talk to him about it if you want.”
“You and Eddie could take turns talking to him, I imagine.”
“Who’s Eddie?”
“Never mind.” Summer smiled genuinely at the man. “I appreciate it, but it’s fine.”
“Okay then.” Stephan waggled a finger at her. “So what are you harassing folks for?”
Summer looked away. “Lying to the press.”
Stephan let out a loud, hearty laugh.
Summer and Maxine waited.
“Are you through, Sir?” Summer finally said.
“Wooo!” Stephan wiped his eyes. “Sorry, you really caught me off guard there. I can’t believe that someone told a lie to you lovely lady reporters.” He grinned. “You want me to bring him in? Rough him up?” He started laughing again. “Read him the Constitution?”
“Okay, okay,” Maxine said. “We’re going to go back to our story, you go back to standing still.”
“See you at seven?” Stephan said hopefully.
“As long as we’re not arrested, right Maxie?” Summer said.
“What?” Maxine did a double-take. “Arrested?”
“We’ll be fine.” Summer took her friend by the arm and pulled her away toward the large double doors leading to one of the conference rooms. “Let’s see which is better.” She pointed at the a-frame sign in front of the doors. “Crowns or indirect fillings.”
“What? What’s an indirect filling anyway?”
“Who cares?” Summer said. “All we need to do is find where the esteemed Doctor Scott Anderson is.”
“And maybe even Doctor Dixon to see if she’ll talk about why she was upset once we get her alone. The plot thickens!”
“I agree.” Summer walked through the doors then stopped- the conference room was mainly empty. “Huh. I guess we’ll never know what an indirect filling is.”
“Well someone here might know where Scott is. Let’s ask that guy over there.” Maxine pointed at a man sitting at a table. He was bent over, writing in a notebook. “He seems studious.”
“And left handed,” Summer nudged her friend. “Did you notice?”
“No,” confessed Maxie with a frown.
The women approached the man from behind- he never looked up from his writing. When they got closer, they walked in a broad arc to approach him from the front so they wouldn’t startle him.
“Excuse me,” Su
mmer said. She smiled when the man looked up. “Sorry to interrupt you, can we ask you a question?”
The man looked from Summer to Maxine and back to Summer. “Are you dentists?”
“No.” Summer said. “We’re reporters.” She held up her press pass. “I was hoping you would have some idea where Doctor Scott Anderson might be. We were thinking he was here for the discussion. Were you in charge of the symposium by any chance?”
The man nodded then looked down at his notebook. “Doctor Anderson.” He flipped several pages. “He won the extraction. And he’s expected to place in fillings tomorrow. Tri-State practice.”
“That’s him.”
The man held up the notebook. There was a large pencil sketch of Brian in the center of the page. The rest of the page was filled with writing- probably about the doctor. “Doctor Anderson.”
Maxine leaned in close to her friend. “That doctor is naked. He sketched him naked.”
Summer patted Maxine’s shoulder. “Ahh, yeah.” She said. “Are you... a dentist?”
The man stared at Summer for a long moment then flipped to a blank page in his notebook. “Who are you again?”
“Summer Schauers. I’m a reporter for the Tucson Herald Observer,” Summer said nervously. “All the news that fits, we print?”
The man looked at her again. “Hmmm.” He started sketching.
“Oh boy,” Summer buttoned a button on her shirt. “You really don’t have to do that.”
“Is it S-h-o-w-e-r-s, or S-c-h-a-u-r-e-s?”
Summer cringed. “The second one?” She buttoned the next button up- only the top wasn’t buttoned at this point and it would be a struggle to get it to.
Maxine stifled a laugh.
“Hmmm.” The man said. He didn’t look up from his sketching.
Summer fought the urge to move closer to see what he was drawing. “Do you know where he would be, by any chance?”
“Eating lunch. Doctor Anderson always eats his lunch early. He’s always done eating before anyone else. He’s a fast eater. And an early eater.”
“Thanks.” Summer said. She looked at Maxine. “Let’s go.”
“You want to see how it turns out?” Maxine smiled. “You know; just out of curiosity.”
“I dragged you into this room, I can drag you out of it,” warned Summer. “Let’s get up to the café.”
“Fine, fine.” Maxine waved to the man. “See you.”
“I really hope not,” Summer said.
The man didn’t look up from his notebook as the two women left.
When they got out of the room, Summer shuddered. “Eeesh; that was creepy.” She rubbed her hands together. “I need a shower now.”
Maxine laughed. “Hey, maybe now you have a groupie.”
Summer cringed. “Or a stalker.” She looked down at her chest. She unbuttoned the second button down. “I’m afraid what the sketch is going to look like.”
“I’m glad to see you two are having a good time,” Stephan said as the two approached the escalators.
“We just met the creepiest man ever,” Summer said.
“No way.” Stephan shook his head. “You think Earl is the creepiest one here?”
“Earl? You know his name?”
“He’s... unusual but harmless.” Stephan said. His eyes dipped to Summer’s chest. “Uh oh.”
“What?”
“I see you’ve buttoned a button.” He winked. “I can’t wait to see Earl’s sketch of you.” He cocked his head to the side. “He’s actually really good. Some of the dentists have paid him for portraits. Course, he doesn’t do clothes when it’s for himself.” He smirked. “Man, I can’t wait to see his sketch.”
Summer shuddered again. “Eeesh! Now I have the creeping jeebies, thanks for that.”
Stephan laughed again. “So where’re you two off to now?”
“The café.” Maxine said. “That’s on the main floor?”
“Right,” Stephan said. He pointed to the far end of the room. “It’s on that side of the building. Don’t talk to strangers on your way and keep your top on.”
“Thanks for the advice.” Summer shoved Stephan. He didn’t move. She did a double take at him. “Okay, I’m done with this floor.”
“See you.” Stephan said to Maxine. “Stay out of jail.”
“So far, so good.” Maxine waved as the pair walked up the escalator.
“Okay, we need to play it cool with Scott. Let him do the talking.” Summer said. She unbuttoned the third button of her shirt again.
“Right.” Maxine said. She held up the digital recorder. “I’ll handle the recording.” She clipped it to the strap of her camera where it could be mistaken for an accessory. “And I’ll keep an eye out for left handers.”
“Excellent.”
The pair reached the top of the escalator quickly since they walked up the moving stairs.
Maxine pointed. “Hey, there he is!”
Summer turned to look. Scott Anderson was walking away from the café back toward the room where the tooth extraction competition took place. “Done already? He is a fast eater. Thanks Earl. Let’s go, Maxie.” Summer picked up a jog.
Maxine quickly caught up with Summer and grabbed her arm. “Whoa, whoa. Why don’t we see where he’s going first? See who he’s going to meet, even.”
Summer slowed to a walk. “Yeah; that’s a great idea.”
The pair walked quickly to stay in sight of the dentist as he marched toward the extraction competition room. When he got close to it, he stopped and took out his phone. He swiped his finger across it a couple of times, ostensibly checking his messages. He looked from the room he was heading toward and then the bathroom. After two iterations, he went to the men’s room.
“Oh. Well.” Summer said as she stopped. “That was weird.”
Maxine laughed. “Yeah, what’s up with that?”
The pair stood and watched the restroom for a while.
“Do you think someone texted him and told him to go to the bathroom?” Summer asked.
“Who does that? Texts someone to tell them to go to the bathroom? Is his mother still checking up on him?” She raised her voice an octave. “Did you go pee-pee yet today, Scotty?” She lowered her voice. “No, Mom.” She raised it again. “You better go make pee-pee. Just in case.”
“I’m dashed.” Summer stared at her friend. “At him for going in there, and for you saying ‘pee-pee’ twice.”
“Maybe it’s his urologist?”
“You aren’t helping.”
Maxine held up a finger. “Or whoever he was going to meet said they were going to be late, so he decided to go to the bathroom first.”
“Okay; that’s better.” Summer said. “Crud. So now we’re waiting.”
The pair stood and watched the bathroom door for almost ten minutes.
“How long is he going to stay in there? Think he saw us?” Maxine said.
“No, I don’t think so.” Summer shook her head. “Alright, I’m going in.” She started for the door. “He’s not getting off that easy.”
“Summer, you can’t do that.” Maxine said. She looked around. “You’re going to get us kicked out of here. Eddie will kill you if you don’t come back with a story.”
“That’s what I’m doing.” Summer said. “Wait for me and keep an eye out.”
“For who? The police?”
Summer opened the door. “Here goes nothing.” With that, she ducked into the bathroom.
Maxine walked a couple of steps from the door and leaned against the wall, trying to look unsuspicious.
EIGHT
Summer peeked around the privacy wall into the bathroom on the left side and saw no one. After seeing there was no one at the urinals on the right side of the room, she quickly moved past them to the stalls and ducked into the first one that was open- a large handicapped stall.
She turned and started to sit on the commode then decided to just stand in front of it in case anyone else came in. Then she de
cided that a man would only stand at the urinal so she turned and squatted down, holding onto the grab bars for balance in front of the commode. She listened closely but didn’t hear anyone.
With a grimace, she got down on her hands and knees and peeked under the stalls- there was no one in any of them on that side.
“Damn.” She said as she stood. She started to wipe her hands on the back of her pants but stopped. Holding her hands out in front of her, she opened the stall and went to the sink, quickly washing her hands with soap.
Emboldened, she dried her hands with a paper towel as she moved around the rear of the large bathroom to the mirror-image row of toilets and urinals on the opposite side. When she got to the edge of the wall, she put her paper towels on the floor and once again knelt down to look under the partitions. Half way down, there was a pair of legs sticking out where someone was sitting on a toilet.
“Oh man,” Summer said. She stood and moved down the stalls, ducking to look under the door. When she reached the door the feet were behind, she steadied herself and knocked.
“Hello?” She said in a deep voice.
When no one answered again, she pushed on the door. It opened slightly.
“Hello? Doctor Anderson?” She called tentatively. “Are you okay?” She pushed the door open a little more. “Please don’t have your pants down.”
She took a deep breath, steeled herself then pushed the door open.
Scott Anderson was sitting on the toilet. There was a large kitchen knife sticking out of his chest. “Oh dear.” Summer absently noticed that the handle of the knife was angled from the left. “At least your pants are up.”
NINE
On numb legs, Summer walked out of the bathroom. She looked left and right for her friend.
“Over here,” Maxine said.
Summer stumbled to her. “Scott...”
“Scott. Good; he was in there.”
Summer leaned against the wall. “He was.”
“Did you talk to him?”
Summer shook her head. “He’s...”
Maxine put her hand over her mouth. “Oh no, he was...”
Summer nodded.
“He was going? Gross!”
Summer shook her head. “He’s... He’s...”
Pulling the Trooth Page 4