“No. I want to know where your revolver is.”
“It’s locked in Jack’s gun safe.”
“Then let’s go get it. It belongs with you until this is over.”
We walked up the lane to the main house. In Jack’s den, I dialed the combination and retrieved my gun while Nick did a walk-through and reported that all was okay.
Nick insisted on staying in my grandparents’ house until they returned from Africa, but he was taking his temporary occupancy a little too seriously. Making himself right at home, he opened the refrigerator.
“Looks like Harry stocked the fridge. Want something to eat?”
“No thanks. I have a lot to do. I’m going back to the barn.”
“Want me to walk you?”
“Not necessary. I’m armed now. I think I can make it across the pasture by myself.” I heard myself sounding snarky and apologized.
I heard my cellphone ringing as I ran up the stairs outside my apartment. I rushed in and grabbed it. It was Harry checking in.
“Hey, Aimless, when did you get in?” He sounded tired.
“About two hours ago. Everything looks good. I guess you didn’t have any problems while we were gone.”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“I don’t like the sound of that. What do you mean?”
“Had some unexpected company last night at the ranch. Keely O’Brien came by, high and pissed.”
“How did she even know where you were?”
“She saw me leaving Four Corners Pizza and followed. Said she needed a shoulder to cry on. She was so messed up, it’s a miracle she didn’t wreck her car on the way.”
“What did she want?”
“She wasn’t easy to understand. Lots of crying, swearing, and mumbling. At first she was muttering about Tucker. Some kind of lovers’ quarrel, I guess. She kept calling him … let’s just say it rhymes with his name. Then she switched to James and kept saying blood was thicker and he owed her. She was so incoherent I couldn’t make sense of most of it. I took her car keys and made her stay on the couch and sleep it off, which is why I didn’t get much sleep myself. She’s so damned unpredictable …. I was afraid to close my eyes with her in the house.”
I remembered what Keely said at the checkout counter in Coyote Creek. James owed her a part in one of his off-Broadway plays.
“Odd she’d bring that up with you, but it sounds like Keely when she’s high. Did you get any useful information out of her when she woke up?”
“Nothing but a mess on the bathroom floor where she overshot the toilet bowl when she hurled. She wasn’t talking this morning, but after coffee and toast, she seemed okay to drive home, so I gave her back her keys and let her go.”
“Did anyone else show up at the ranch?”
“Not while I was there, and the motion sensor camera I rigged for the driveway didn’t show anything suspicious.”
“That makes sense, because our bad guy or guys were probably in Idaho the whole time Nick and I were there.”
“True.” Harry stifled a yawn and I ended the call by suggesting he get a nap.
I called James hoping to find out where Game Boy was stabled, but his phone went to voicemail. Rather than explain in a message, I asked him to call back.
Cleo was next on my list. I needed to get a look at Cody and DeeDee O’Brien’s TMC patient charts, but I was wading into deep gray waters where confidentiality was concerned. Her access to patient information was less restricted than mine, so I needed her cooperation.
“You want to do what?” Cleo said.
“I need to go through their charts, but I don’t want anyone at the hospital getting suspicious.”
“Meaning Phyllis Poole? Then you’re still apprehensive about her?”
“Enough that I’d rather she didn’t know I was looking at those charts. I want to sneak into the records room and the archives, but I can’t do it without your master key.”
Cleo sighed. “I get that you need to see DeeDee’s chart to look at her records from Idaho, but why Cody’s?”
“I keep hoping a photo of his head wound will turn up. Maybe something has made it into his chart by now.”
“You realize this could get us both fired?”
“This was your idea, remember?” I played my ace in the hole. “Is Sig’s surgery still on for Thursday morning?”
“I’m afraid so. As far as he knows, Poole’s a superstar urologic surgeon, and he’s insisting on keeping that date and getting it over with.” I heard a deep sigh, then she went on, “I still think it’s a bad idea, but maybe I’m way off base. You said Laurie Popejoy thinks Poole is an excellent surgeon.”
“Laurie did say that, but we both know an excellent surgeon can also be a psychopath. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. You don’t want a nut case operating on Sig’s privates, do you?”
“That’s not funny.” Cleo’s voice trembled.
“What’s not … oh, sorry, no pun intended.” I pressed on. “Look, I’m not making light of this. We have precious little time between now and Sig’s surgery, and I’m going to be swamped at work preparing for the Wednesday night CME program.”
“I know. The urologic surgery case review. Most of the surgeons have finished their reviews, including Cody O’Brien’s chart, but as far as I know, all of those charts are still set aside in the Health Information office.”
“Have you heard any rumors about their findings?” I asked.
“No, but the urologists are all getting together Tuesday night to prep for the panel discussion.”
“Another reason I need to go in right away. As soon as they’ve finished with Cody’s chart it might be locked up again where we can’t get to it. Do you have keys to the administration suite?”
“No, but I can get into everything else in the hospital.”
“Even the morgue?”
“Sure, but why would you want to—”
“I’ll explain later.”
“When do you want to do this?” Cleo sounded skeptical.
“I’m thinking tomorrow night. Around midnight. When can I come by and get your keys?”
“Hold it a minute. My keys don’t go anywhere without me. You said it yourself: I’m the one who got you involved.”
“Then I’ll come by your place around eleven.” That would give me time to talk her out of coming along.
“Is the dress code the same as last time?”
“Not quite,” I said. “Wear something you might wear if you were called in after hours. We might have to convince someone that we have a legitimate reason to be there in the middle of the night.”
“Okay, but if that happens, keep in mind that I’m a lousy liar.”
“Then we’d better count on stealth and hope we don’t get caught.”
I tried James again and left another voicemail message asking him to call. Then I texted Nick, telling him I’d struck out so far with finding out where Game Boy was being kept.
By the time I finished the afternoon chores, I felt a nap coming on. The events of the past two days were catching up with me.
Chapter 24
Knocking on my door pulled me awake. A glance at the time told me I’d slept for almost two hours. I checked my peephole and saw Nick.
“What’s up?” I said, letting him in.
“I found the horse.”
“You found Game Boy? How? Where?” Suddenly I was wide awake.
Nick pulled out a dinette chair and plopped down. “You can thank Harry. I was at his place when I got your text. It was his idea to search sites that sell high-dollar horses. It took longer than I expected. There are a lot of sites and lots of horses on each one.” Nick held up his phone and showed me a picture of Game Boy. Someone’s already put the animal up for sale through a broker. It’s got to be the O’Briens, don’t you think?”
“Who else? But this is bad. If it sells right away, we’ll never get a chance to examine the hooves.” I looked again at his phone. Game Boy’s a
sking price was listed as $250,000. “We need to pretend to be interested buyers.”
“Already done,” Nick said. “I contacted the broker and asked where I could see the animal in the flesh. I was told there’s a legal issue regarding the death of the owner. The horse has been impounded at a veterinary clinic until a new owner is registered. The broker assured me it’s just a formality, but he said I’d need an appointment to look at the animal.”
“Good. If the horse is impounded, that implies Game Boy hasn’t been re-shod, but we can ask about that. Did they say which vet?”
“Creekside? Does that sound familiar?”
“Yes, we use them for the llamas. It’s a couple of miles up the road from the ranch. Did you already make an appointment?”
“No, there’s not much point unless you can get a photo of the cowboy’s head wound to compare with the hooves. I did convince the guy that I represent a very rich and serious buyer in Texas. That will explain my bringing a camera. I even mentioned we’d participate in an auction, so he’s not going to sell out from under us.”
“Okay, I’ll see what I can do about the photo of Cody's wound tomorrow.” I reached out and touched his arm. “Thank you.”
“Like I said, thank your brother.” Nick gave my forehead a quick peck and left.
I thought about Harry. He was always up for a little intrigue. I wanted to know more about why Keely was angry with Tucker, and why she felt James owed her. Harry would be the person to help me with that. I sent him a quick text asking him to call, but he didn’t get back to me before bedtime.
Monday morning at work I was buried in preparations for the Surgery Department’s CME program. Dr. Fausset had confirmed that every urologic surgeon was required to participate in the panel discussion. I still needed to meet with him to get his input on the agenda. Time was running short, so I phoned his office asking for a call back.
By mid-afternoon Dr. Fausset still hadn’t returned my call, so I checked in with Cleo. We arranged to meet at three o’clock. When I walked over from the library, I met her coming out of her office on the first floor. We caught an empty elevator and punched the penthouse button. One of the few safe places to talk privately in a hospital is an uninterrupted elevator ride.
Cleo and I were set for our raid on the Health Information office. We decided one o’clock in the morning would be better than midnight. When the elevator opened on the penthouse floor, there stood Jared Quinn.
“Hello, ladies, what brings you here?” He stepped inside.
Cleo looked so guilty I pressed my hand to her back and gave her a little shove. “The painting I was telling you about is at the end of this hall. Thanks for taking a look.”
I shoved a little harder and she lurched out into the penthouse corridor.
“Thanks, again,” I said with a little wave. The doors closed, and Quinn arched his eyebrow. “Cleo has great taste in art,” I said. “I’m thinking of buying a print by that artist, but it’s kind of expensive. I always get her opinion before I buy.”
“Huh,” he said. He pressed the lobby button. “You, too?”
“Lobby. Yes. Busy day. I have to get back.”
“Heard anything new on the Cody O’Brien situation?”
“Not really,” I said. “How about you?”
“We may have some good news. James O’Brien called to tell me he’s almost convinced the rest of his family to call off the lawsuit.”
“That’s great.” A good sign, I thought, recalling James’s promise. “Any idea how he accomplished that?”
“Something to do with his father’s failing health,” Quinn said. “Seamus is back in the hospital and it isn’t looking good. He’s in ICU.”
“Oh, I didn’t know.”
I had been so busy with my workload I hadn’t even checked the day’s admissions list. That news spiked a new sense of urgency. If Seamus was near death, there might not be time to write his cheating wife out of his will. Unless James had already managed to take care of that sticky family matter while Nick and I were in Idaho. I needed to talk to James, and soon.
I was curious to know if someone in the O’Brien family had been granted power of attorney over the estate. The obvious choices were Echo, James, or Keely. Seamus knew Echo was pregnant with someone else’s baby, and he knew Keely was struggling with drug dependency. Cody was dead, which left only James, whose career as a New York City producer may or may not be in financial trouble. My stomach went hollow at that thought.
Back in the library, I was about to call Nick when a man around my age came through the door pushing a housekeeping cart. He had shaggy dark brown hair and a soul patch on his chin. His ears sported hollowed-out gauges that created unsightly holes in both earlobes, a mystifying fashion statement that made me cringe every time I saw it. He parked the cart at the entrance and began emptying waste baskets into a large garbage bag. I didn’t recognize him, so I walked over to introduce myself.
“Hi, I’m Aimee Machado, Librarian. You must be new.”
“Cliff Weber,” he mumbled. “Just fillin’ in. Be outta your way in a minute.”
When he had gone, I called Nick to see if he had set up his planned rain check with Phyllis Poole. He told me they were meeting for drinks that night at one of Timbergate’s popular singles bars. He sounded a little too enthusiastic, but I tried to tell myself it was for a good cause. If anyone could find out what she’d been doing in DeeDee Dakota’s hospital room in Idaho, it was Nick. I had to know how her presence there fit in with Cody’s death in Timbergate.
Harry finally called just before quitting time. He confirmed that his evening was open, so I told him I needed the answer to two questions: why was Keely so angry with Tucker, and why did James owe her? Harry had said she was vague about her reasons. I knew that Keely was sore about not being cast in one of James’s shows. Was there something else? Something that might shed light on the complicated dynamic of the O’Brien family? Harry wasn’t crazy about the idea of a date with Keely, but his love of intrigue won out, and he agreed to give it a try.
When I got home, I put in a call to James. He apologized for not calling me back, saying he’d been distracted by his father’s failing health and had not been checking his messages. We arranged to meet and compare notes at Four Corners Pizza in Coyote Creek. Odds were good we wouldn’t run into Nick and Dr. Poole there. I had to stay awake until one o’clock in the morning, so the impromptu date with James was a way to kill two birds with one pizza. I’d see what he knew about the status of his father’s will, and with a little prodding he might even remember something more about Phyllis Poole. I didn’t plan to tell him about my trip to Idaho with Nick.
Finally I checked my email and found a message from Harry saying he’d called Keely to tell her he was worried about her. He’d talked her into going out for Italian food. Three dates arranged, and one to go. The fourth was my post-midnight caper with Cleo, getting into the Health Information office and the basement archives, and if necessary, checking TMC’s morgue camera photos of Cody’s head wound.
That made four chances to gather intelligence, but with Seamus in ICU and failing fast, the whole thing might fall apart before we could put the puzzle together. Meanwhile, we still needed a look at Game Boy’s hooves. I called Nick to see if he’d scored an appointment for us to see the horse.
“It’s arranged for noon tomorrow,” Nick said.
“Good. I’ll meet you at Creekside tomorrow at noon.”
I reached Four Corners Pizza at eight o’clock that night and spotted James studying the menu on the wall. He seemed subdued, no doubt worried about his father. I hadn’t been able to coax my way into the ICU during the workday to check on Seamus, so I had no idea how critical he was. I held off asking James about him until after we found an empty booth.
“I’m sorry to hear about your father,” I said.
“Thank you. I’m glad someone is. I’m afraid the vultures are circling back at the compound.”
The glow of
the candle on our table made the moisture welling in his eyes glisten. Was his sorrow genuine, or was I seeing an actor working his craft? He’d been on stage plenty before he turned his hand to producing, so I couldn’t be sure.
“I haven’t had an opportunity to find out how he’s doing,” I said. “Have you visited him this evening?”
“I don’t know if you’d call it visiting. I sat at his bedside in ICU for an hour, watching him sleep. The nurse assigned to him was in and out at least a dozen times. He’s hooked up to all sorts of things. Those machines are intimidating as hell with all the wiggling lines and beeps and flashing numbers.”
“Did his doctor come in while you were there?”
“You mean Dr. Poole? She came into the unit and spoke to his nurse, but I didn’t hear any of that.”
That threw me. I couldn’t imagine why Dr. Poole was involved. This was a patient with a diagnosis in the realm of internal medicine and infectious disease, not urology. Unless he was having kidney failure. But why Poole? It should have been Dr. Fausset. Of course, Poole was Fausset’s associate, and she would be on call for him if it was her turn in their call group’s rotation. That mental exercise brought me back to square one, so I let it go for the time being.
“Jared Quinn told me your family might drop the lawsuit over Cody’s death,” I said. “Should I thank you for that?”
“The family lawyer deserves most of the credit. He says there isn’t enough solid evidence against the hospital for malpractice or a wrongful death case. And I agreed with him. Suing was Echo’s idea to begin with, and Keely would rather grow chest hair than go along with anything Echo wants to do.”
“I guess that’s two against one, since there’s only the three of you left to make decisions.”
“That’s right. Tucker tried to put his two cents in, but the lawyer wasn’t listening.”
“Whose side was Tucker on?”
“It was kind of a wash. He seemed to side with Echo at first. I guess he figured if he was to marry Keely, he’d benefit from any proceeds if they won the suit.” James shook his head and seemed amused. “Keely shot him down. Said he could kiss her ass goodbye if he took Echo’s side.” That explained why Keely was angry with Tucker when she barged in on Harry.
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