Bone of Contention: A Medical Thriller With Heart (The Gina Mazzio Series Book 4)

by Bette Golden Lamb

  Thelma smiled at Gina. “I really think we can be friends. We just got off on the wrong foot.”

  Gina was stunned.

  Never saw that coming.

  Chapter 50

  Harry called late in the morning, wanted to meet for lunch.

  “You’ll never believe it. Thelma, Taneka, and I are going to lunch ... together! Taneka is mediating ... thinks everything will be just dandy after we break bread together.

  “Do think it will work?”

  “As far as I’m concerned, it’s like going to lunch with Jack the Ripper.”

  “I guess there’s no way out of it. Not if you want to keep your job.”

  “No, I’m trapped. Unless those lab results turn up first. And man, they better be positive.”

  “Be realistic, babe. The culture could be negative.”

  “Harry, I know Thelma is responsible for those women dying. And now I’m pretty sure it was her husband who tried to kill me. It all fits.”

  “You need hard facts, Gina.”

  “I know. No help from Mulzini without those requisite cold, hard facts.”

  * * *

  Right up until they were out the door, Gina had hoped that the lab results would come in; it would have settled everything right there and then. But that wasn’t happening.

  For one last time before they left, Gina sneaked into one of the rooms to use the computer – the fourth time since she’d arrived for work that morning. She’d had to rush – it was only a few minutes before they were out the door for the high summit lunch. Keeping her fingers crossed didn’t help her one bit. It was the same as the three previous times. No results.

  “Why don’t we go to the Bistro,” Taneka suggested. “It’s a nice little restaurant and the food is pretty good.”

  “That sounds like a great idea.” Thelma said, smiling. “Their service is a little slow, but we’ve done it before without problems.”

  “Oh, we’ll get back in time,” Taneka said. “It’s a good choice. Their booths make things more private.”

  Gina watched the two them confer as though she didn’t exist.

  Thelma finally addressed Gina. “We’ve eaten there before.”

  “So I hear,” Gina said.

  “It’s only a mile from the hospital. but with the rain, walking is out.”

  "Works for me," Taneka said.

  Did Taneka ever disagree with Thelma? This is creepy.

  “Why don’t I drive,” Thelma said. “We can’t fit into your car,” she said to Gina, laughing. “Besides, we’d all be drowned before we could get to it.”

  Gina’s pulse started racing.

  There’s only one way she could know anything about the car I drive. It was her husband who attacked me, then told her all about it.

  In the elevator going down to the garage, Gina’s claustrophobia was choking her. Thelma was close in on one side, Taneka on the other. It was like being at the bottom of a deep hole. She was desperate to escape. But there was no way out.

  “It’s a good thing I parked in the garage,” Thelma said.

  “We’ve had nothing but rain on and off for the past week.” Taneka frowned. “Things are starting to flood.”

  Gina remained silent. She couldn’t imagine why they were having this inane conversation when they were all probably going to spend an acrimonious lunchtime together.

  * * *

  By the time they ran into the restaurant from the parking lot, the three of them were pretty wet. At least the place wasn’t too crowded ‒probably most customers decided it wasn’t worth going out in the rain.

  They were shown to one of the booths and given menus. Gina had no appetite, but she ordered roasted red pepper soup from a waiter who seemed to materialize right after they picked up their menus.

  “Is that all you’re eating?” Thelma said after ordering a meat ball sandwich.

  “I always eat a light lunch.” Gina’s eye was starting to twitch a warning signal. Thelma had a self-satisfied look on her face, even with Taneka present. The medical assistant was usually more subservient.

  “I always eat as if there’s no tomorrow,” Thelma said.

  Taneka started to order her selection. “I think I’ll have‒” Her pager interrupted her. She held up a finger for the waiter as she punched in a number on her cell. She listened carefully before responding. “Oh, I’m not too far from the hospital. I’ll catch a cab. Be there as soon as possible.”

  Taneka had a troubled grimace on her face. “Sorry. That was the administrator. They’ve set up an emergency meeting over another pending labor dispute. I can’t get out of this.”

  Gina watched Thelma from the corner of her eye, but tried to keep her focus on Taneka.

  “You two go ahead and have lunch,” Taneka said. “You don’t have to have me here. But please take notes so we can discuss it later. I’m confident you’ll both work this out.”

  Gina blurted, “There’s no point in our having a meeting without you, Taneka.”

  Taneka’s face turned to stone. “Gina, if you want to keep this job, you will settle your differences with Thelma, right here and now. Am I clear?”

  Gina nodded, but Taneka wasn’t paying attention. She was already almost out the door to the restaurant.

  Gina’s neck was stiff and painful. “I want to go back right now, Thelma.”

  “If you say so, Gina. No sense just sitting here if you don’t want to talk.”

  Caught off guard by the medical assistant’s compliant response. Gina’s thoughts were flying everywhere, searching for some kind of escape as they ran through the rain to the car, leaving behind the restaurant and a disgruntled waiter.

  * * *

  Vinnie was in the hospital cafeteria during his lunch break; Helen sat directly across from him, a lovely smile on her face. She was talking earnestly about something, but her voice was just a buzz of words to him. He didn’t have a clue as to what she was talking about.

  In the beginning, right from the moment they met, he’d not only felt happy and safe, but really on top of things, almost back to his normal, pre-war self. He was lulled into believing he didn’t need Harry’s or anyone else’s help. All it was going to take was time and love. But during the past two nights, he’d reverted into the fearful, desperate man he’d become after his discharge, and before he’d met Helen.

  He was having nightmares where he was alone and everyone around him was dead. Explosions and the cries of the wounded left him feeling torn and screaming.

  Helen would wake him, hold him close until he dozed off into some kind of twilight sleep. One fact was clear: he hadn’t really gotten better. In fact, he was worse since Dominick had come back into the picture.

  He could not let that bastard hurt his sister. While no one else seemed to believe that Gina’s ex was here in San Francisco, Vinnie did. He knew the man, knew what he was capable of doing.

  “Vinnie!” Helen tugged at his hand until she pulled him out of his thoughts. “What’s going on in that head of yours, big guy?”

  “I’m worried about Gina.”

  “That’s not what’s causing your nightmares.”

  Vinnie held her hand. She was quite beautiful, with her huge eyes and soft mouth. All that sweetness and so much energy in such a tiny package.

  “I guess it doesn’t take much to make me feel threatened.”

  “Has Harry talked to his friend about you?”

  “Good old Harry. I can see why Gina loves him so much.”

  “Lovely,” Helen said. “But you haven’t answered my question, dear boy.”

  “Next week. I have an appointment with a shrink that works with vets ... vets like me. You know, the damaged ones.”

  She smiled. “Don’t you know, we’re all damaged? No one gets away with a clean slate.” She looked deep into his eyes. “At least we’re going to get you some real help, Vinnie. And, darlin’ boy, the sooner, the better.”

  “I can’t stop worrying about my sister. Dominick could
very well be here planning to kill her. I can’t let that happen. Do you understand?” He squeezed her hand so tightly, she winced. “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry, Helen.”

  “Not to worry. Let’s just make sure you get the help you need.” She gave him a wide smile that made everything seem possible.

  Chapter 51

  The rain was coming down in sheets when they drove out of the restaurant parking lot. The deluge hammered Thelma’s Honda, sounding like buckets of pebbles falling from the sky.

  “Well, isn’t this cozy?” Thelma said.

  Gina said nothing. Without Taneka to neutralize the two of them, Thelma had dropped her cooperative façade.

  “This is much better than sitting in a restaurant,” Thelma said. “Why don’t we just drive around for a while? We still have a few minutes before the lunch hour is over.”

  “No, I think we need to go back to the clinic. We can find an empty exam room and talk there.”

  Thelma let out a cackle that made Gina’s heart freeze. “Why would I ever want to talk about anything with you?”

  Gina shifted in her seat, looked back over her shoulder. “So, let’s get back to Ridgewood. If we’re not talking, I want out of this car.”

  “Want, want, want! Don’t you think I have wants too? There’re so many things I want. Instead, I get to enjoy your lousy company.”

  After that, Thelma went into silent mode but kept on driving rapidly through the heavy traffic even though visibility was severely limited. Some streets were now flooded, but Thelma managed to keep the car from getting stranded. It was miraculous that she didn’t hit something, or that someone didn’t run into them.

  “Take me back, Thelma. Now!”

  Thelma turned sharply onto an approach -ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge.

  Alarm cut through Gina. “Why are we crossing the bridge instead of going back to Ridgewood?”

  “Because it’s a pretty bridge.” Another of her heart-stopping cackles. “Because this is something I want. Is that good enough for you?”

  “Look, Thelma, why don’t we just cross the bridge, turn around, and go back to the clinic? We’ll still have time to go someplace and work out our problems over a bowl of soup or something.”

  “Too bad you aren’t one of those bitches looking for an abortion. I would have loved making sure you were sick as a dog ... sick like Carrie was.”

  Gina turned and glared at Thelma. “What?”

  “Oh, yeah. She was just like you. Had no respect for me because I’m not an RN. Treated me like dirt ... just the way you do."

  The wipers were loud, working hard without having any success in pushing the rain water away from the windshield. Gina could barely see through the glass; she was sure Thelma was having the same problem.

  “I don’t treat you like dirt, Thelma. I don’t treat anyone that way—”

  “—like I have no brains, can’t do anything complicated or important, can’t think on my own.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Oh, shut up! I’m so sick of you and your kind.”

  She flipped on the turn signal and cut off the freeway at the Sausalito exit. Even though it was slick from runoff flowing across the road like a river, Thelma continued to drive the twisty road at a constant speed – fast.

  Gina wanted to grab the door handle and take her chances by flinging herself from the car. But even if she could get the seatbelt undone and open the door without Thelma stopping her, she’d probably break her neck rolling down a hill – especially at the speed they were going.

  “Yeah, you’re just like that Carrie. Fast talking, probably an easy lay ... probably just like the women Marvin’s been fucking around with.”

  “Marvin?”

  “Yeah, Marvin, my husband. You met the slob. He’s the one who grabbed you off the street the other night. Thinks he’s God’s gift to women ... can do any damn thing he pleases.? They were driving through the center of Sausalito now. Gina’s brain was working overtime.

  Take the chance – release the belt, drop out of the car.

  “If you have any ideas about getting out of my car, forget them.” She held up a large syringe. “It’s filled with Clorox. You touch the belt and this goes into your neck.”

  “Thelma, let’s talk about this sensibly.” Her mind was racing in all directions; she tried to slow herself down.

  “There’s nothing you can come up with that’s going to make me like you or give a damn about anything you have to say.” Thelma turned to look at Gina while the car careened down the street. The medical assistant laughed, obviously seeing the alarm on Gina’s face before she turned her attention back to the road.

  “Besides, you know what I’ve been doing and how I’ve been doing it.”

  “Why would you even want to kill those women?”

  “That’s a complicated question. One you probably think I’m too stupid to answer, but I’ll try to make my little mind make it clear for you.”

  “I never said—”

  “Women shouldn’t be getting abortions. They were put on this good earth to have babies. And, as my husband would say, to be fucked. It’s against nature, against God’s will to have an abortion.”

  “So women shouldn’t have any choice or control over their bodies?”

  “No! We are God-given vessels, made to be filled ... not emptied.”

  “Is that the way you really feel?”

  “Does it matter what I feel? My husband looked at me with respect for the first time when I came up with this plan to kill the sinners.”

  “If you don’t believe in abortion ... don’t have one. But you’re committing murder, Thelma."

  “An eye for an eye.”

  “Those women never did anything to you.”

  “An eye for an eye.”

  * * *

  "Inspector Mulzini, please,” Harry said to the officer who answered his call.

  “He’s kind of tied up. Who’s calling?”

  “Harry Lucke, a friend of his.”

  “Well, lemme see.”

  Harry thought about Gina while he was on hold. He had one of those weird feeling at the bottom of his stomach that Gina always described as a premonition. He didn’t like the idea of Gina out with Thelma. The woman sounded pernicious and although Gina could never really identify Thelma’s husband as the one who tried to kill her, the situation felt fraught with danger. The only redeeming feature was that Taneka was there, too.

  “A friend, huh?” Mulzini said piping in on the telephone line.”

  Harry laughed. “What can I say? It’s become our own private code. The people who man your phones guard you like an American treasure.”

  “And rightly so.”

  “Listen, Inspector, I’m worried about Gina.”

  “Harry, you ought to take that woman out and marry her once and for all. Marriage definitely dulls the senses and Gina could use a little of that.”

  “I’m not sure it would work in her case.”

  “Well, I spoke to her not too long ago. We’re all waiting to see what that lab work shows. I’m betting that co-worker’s husband is the one who nabbed her. A witness saw his home management sign on the door of the truck that carried her into the park.”

  “Isn’t that enough to pick him up? I mean, you have a witness.”

  “It’s not an exact ID,” Mulzini said. “And Gina never saw his face. I need hard evidence to make anything stick.”

  “Yeah, well,” Harry said, “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I spend so much time with Gina, but her going to lunch with that Thelma Karsh makes me ... uneasy.”

  “Have you tried to reach her on her cell?”

  “She’s turned off. My calls keep going to her mailbox. That’s just not Gina. It takes an act of God for her to turn off her phone.” Harry laughed. “Unless she’s pissed at me.”

  “We’ll catch her at the hospital after lunch, Harry. Try and stay calm.”

  “I’ll check back in with you in fifteen minutes or
so.”

  “Good. You do that.”

  Chapter 52

  Gina looked out at the rain-drenched streets, saw there were flood barriers up at several intersections. Thelma began to hum an eerie, off-tune song that made the hair on Gina’s neck stand up.

  After a long spell, the medical assistant said, “It was the first time I can remember Marvin bragging about me. We went to The Holy Eye meeting and he told everyone how smart I am. He’d never said that before.”

  “That’s one of the anti-abortion groups, isn’t it?” Gina said.

  “Gee, aren’t you the smart one.”

  “Do they know you’ve been murdering women?”

  “They don’t know the details.” Thelma laughed. “I’m smarter than that. But they know I’ve been up to something ... something clever and good.”

  “It doesn’t take too many brain cells to grow bacteria and hurt vulnerable women,” Gina blurted.

  The slap was sudden, hard, and stung.

  “You smartass New Yorker. You probably grew up with a bank account and pretty clothes.” Tears dotted Thelma’s eyes. “Me, I’ve been waiting tables since I was sixteen ... lucky to finish high school.”

  “I learned to take care of myself the hard way, too, but I don’t murder people because I don’t agree with them. Do you know what a horrible death those women suffered because you deliberately filled them with bacteria?”

  “Oh, shut up! I don’t want to hear any more from you.”

  “Your thinking’s really screwed—”

  Thelma slapped Gina again. “Didn’t I tell you to shut up?”

  * * *

  Taneka sat in the nurses’ station, tap-tap-tapping her left foot. It was ten minutes past the time Thelma and Gina should have been back from lunch. The one remaining RN on the floor had called her out of her administrative meeting to help with the patient load.

  The phone rang. It was Gina’s fiancé, Harry Lucke.

  “Ah, good,” he said. “You’re all back from lunch. May I speak to Gina, please?”