Bone Crack

by JJ Lamb

  I must be getting old. I’m really beat.

  Not only that, both he and Jon Brichett had been working overtime to take on many of Tallent’s patient referrals. His books were closed—no more new patients.

  It was a relief in many ways. It had become obvious that Tallent had no love for practicing medicine. What he did love was raking in money.

  Cantor wondered if Tallent would really just take some time off or end up leaving their practice all together. Trying to talk to the man privately had become useless. He’d dodged meeting after meeting with him and Burchett.

  He and Tallent had been friends at one time—maybe not close, buddy-buddy great friends, but they were always respectful of each other. Until recently. Now they barely spoke, even when riding in the same elevator.

  Cantor was on the way to the locker room to change into fresh scrubs when Gina Mazzio grabbed his arm.

  “Bob, I need your help.”

  Gina’s face was flushed and she was breathing like a race horse after a run. She was barely able to talk.

  “Hey,” he said, “what’s the matter?”

  “My friend Mulzini is having a cath shortly.”

  “Okay. What’s the problem?”

  “He signed up with Mort Tallent. Your waiting list was too long and Mulzini is a full-blown Type A. He wouldn’t listen to anybody about a possible delay one once his mind was made up to do the procedure.”

  “So?” Cantor said, puzzled.

  “There’s something wrong with Mort. I don’t trust him anymore.”

  Somehow, Gina had pushed the wrong button—whether it was because he was unhappy with Tallent himself, or because he was just plain tired.

  “What is it with you, Gina? Aren’t we running our practice to suit you? I mean, we brought Lolly Stentz into our practice because you recommended her. Didn’t you vouch that she was top-notch?”

  “Yes, I did. She’s a great nurse.”

  “Okay, so where is she? And if she’s so great, why did she up and walk out on us without word of warning? Our offices were left high and dry, critically short-staffed.” He tossed his gown into a nearby laundry container.

  “It was an emergency. She had to leave.”

  “I’ve known you a long time, Gina. Your word usually carries a lot of weight with me, but I’m beginning to wonder about your judgment lately. And now, you’re making unwarranted accusations about Mort’s competence. Who the hell do you think you are?”

  Her arm dropped away from his and he watched her face morph from surprise to anger.

  “I really don’t give a damn what you think of me, Bob. But I do know you care about your patients. All I’m asking is for you to please stick around until Mulzini is in recovery. Please!”

  He watched her, head held high, flip around and head for the Cath Lab scrub area.

  Chapter 54

  Mulzini was moving, floating. Instead of trying to listen to the voices around him, he surrendered to the lulling motion. He knew he was giggling because it reminded him of being a kid in a flimsy cardboard box, flying down a hill. There was still an echo of joyous laughter in his head from long, long ago.

  He opened his eyes and stared into the overhead lights whizzing by.

  He was out of the cardboard box now and thinking about his telescope, tucked away at home in the storage closet. It was there with all kinds of other things that had been put aside as not being important. He remembered carrying the telescope outside and setting it up on the sidewalk so he could study every quadrant of the night sky—always ending up indulging in his main fascination, the moon.

  Whenever he would share that memory with Marcia, she would laugh and call him a “Moonie,” even though she knew that any mention of that defunct cult always got his hackles up. He had a hunch she did it to get a rise out of him—which it always did.

  Funny lady.

  He heard someone say, “Mr. Mulzini, we’re positioning you under the equipment now.”

  “’S Mulzini ... jus’ Mulzini

  “Hey, Just Mulzini. It’s me. I’m here too.”

  “’Zat you, Mazzzzz...i...o?”

  “Yeah. Think I’d lose an opportunity to finally have you in my power?”

  He started to drift off. “Poor, Mazzio ... my trouble-shooter ... trouble-maker ... trouble ... trouble ... toil ‘n trouble...”

  * * *

  Gina watched Mort Tallent in the other room, scrubbing for the procedure. She usually liked the glass partition that allowed her to see outside the Cath Lab, it kept her from feeling claustrophobic. Today, even with Tallent’s face mostly covered with a mask, she could still see his piercing eyes shooting pure malice at her.

  Tallent knows Mulzini’s my friend. Would he dare to take his anger at me out on him? What an idiot she was. Why hadn’t she been more open with Mulzini—insisted he change doctors?

  And why hadn’t Bob Cantor listened? Why was he so angry at her? Most of all, why wasn’t he here to save her friend?

  All Gina could think of was helplessly watching Mulzini die on that table because of her and Lolly. And they hadn’t then even found anything.

  Now, she and Harry knew that everyone of those fifty-thousand dollar payments were to someone named Vlad. Each payment corresponded to when Tallent’s wife was murdered, when Maria Benke and her mother were murdered. The twenty-five thousand was the same time Lolly ran away. And the final fifty? Gina was certain it had her name on it.

  Not going to happen! Tallent and this Vlad guy are going down.

  When she finished the shift, she was going straight to Inspector Pepper Yee—a Mulzini cohort. There hadn’t been a lot of trust between Yee and Gina, but the cop would do her job. If they were suspicious of Tallent in the past, it shouldn’t take much to arouse their attention again.

  If only Mulzini hadn’t been sick—he would have believed her right away. He would have at least tried to help.

  Gina finished with last minute details in setting up the instruments and equipment that Tallent would need. She decided that after the ablation, Tallent would kill Mulzini, if that’s what he planned. Or it could happen like it did with Kat Parker—the result of his carelessness.

  The team leader, Gwen, was the circulating nurse today. Right now she was checking Mulzini’s vitals and administering more meds.

  “How are you feeling,” Gwen ask Mulzini.

  “I keep drifting off into nowhere land. This is the best rest I’ve had in a long time.”

  “That’s good. Just keep in mind, we’re going to keep bugging you. This is a hospital ... we can’t let you get too much rest.”

  Gina’s stomach was a cauldron and her knees almost failed her when Tallent walked into the procedure area.

  She handed him a sterile towel to dry his hands, then helped him into his gown and gloves. He seemed to lose his way for a moment, adjusted, nodded at Gina, looked at the equipment on the table, then stood there staring off into space.

  The nurses and technicians were all waiting for the procedure to begin, but Tallent kept his gloved hands folded across his chest.

  “Doctor?” Gina prompted.

  He slowly turned, looked directly into her eyes. She could see he really wasn’t in this room ... he was someplace else that she couldn’t even imagine.

  Everyone seemed caught in a time-lapse, looking at one another, each probably wondering what to do next.

  Then she saw Bob Cantor through the glass partition in the scrub area, making preparations to step in. When he came in, he stepped up close to Tallent and said, “I’ll get this one, Mort.”

  * * *

  Tallent could swear he heard the sound of the ocean as he slowly returned to the locker room.

  No, he wasn’t imagining it. The crashing waves kept roaring in his head.

  In the hospital garage, he got into his Mercedes, and sat very still for a long, long time.

  Chapter 55

  Gina was both exhausted and exhilarated when Mulzini’s procedure was finished—ever
ything had gone smoothly. He was in great shape, headed for post-op.

  Working with Cantor had been wonderful. They were a great team.

  “So I’m a jerk, right?” Cantor said as he started out the door of the Cath Lab.

  “Can’t argue with that.” Gina was gathering the instruments, getting them ready to be cleaned. She was determined to remain calm even though she was still annoyed by the way he’d treated her. It didn’t work.

  “Why all the hostility? I thought you and I got along pretty good. You always seem to trust my judgment ... until this morning.”

  “That’s not fair, Gina. I came, didn’t I?”

  “I guess that’s something.”

  “You need to understand, things are unsettled around here. I don’t know whether you know it or not, but Mort’s taking a leave of absence from his practice. Frankly, I don’t think he’ll return to medicine.”

  “After this morning, I think we can agree that’s a good thing.”

  “Maybe so, but Jon and I are having to take up the slack. We’re not only overworked, we’re kind of pissed at the guy.”

  “You’re better off without him, Bob. This morning doesn’t even cover it all.”

  “Maybe, but I didn’t get into medicine to work myself to death.”

  “Why does anyone get into medicine?” Gina said. “It’s because we want to help people.”

  “That’s an idealistic fantasy that most of us start out with. We all look for that rosy future, but it doesn’t take long before reality smacks us in the eye. If we could only just treat patients.” He let out a big sigh. “There’s so damn much paperwork—insurance forms, Medicare forms, federal forms, state forms; it goes on and on and on. The partnership eases that burden somewhat, but the worst thing for me personally is watching people die because they can’t afford expensive, over-priced meds.” He turned away. “I’m tired of it all.”

  “All I know, is that this morning you saved a life.”

  * * *

  At the end of the shift, Gina went to check on Mulzini. Marcia and Dirk were already there, sitting in chairs next to the bed, talking softly. When she looked at the man of the hour, he was sound asleep, snoring softly.

  “Look at him,” Marcia said. “He hasn’t slept like that for weeks. Now that it’s over, he’ll probably have to sleep most of every day for a week just to catch up.”

  “Yeah, he hasn’t been himself much lately,” Dirk said. “It’s been tough, especially on Mom.”

  Hearing Dirk say “Mom” made Gina smile. The kid had really found a family that loved him. She still remembered him alone, lost, sleeping in the park, and fighting off sexual predators to survive.

  “Everyone is pleased with how it went,” Gina said.

  “Thanks for all your help,” Marcia said. “I’m really grateful.”

  Gina bent over and gave her a hug. “Well, I gotta go. Tell him I love him, mean old grump that he is, and that I’ll see him tomorrow.”

  Walking down the corridor, Gina pulled out her phone and tapped in Harry’s number.

  “Hi, babe,” he said. “Just finishing up my notes. Where are you?”

  “Just leaving CCU. Dropped in to see Mulzini.”

  “Sure he had plenty to say. How is he?”

  “Done in and asleep.”

  “Wait for me,” he said. “I’ll meet you at the elevator.”

  “I’m beat ... going to head on down; meet you at the car instead.”

  “Gina, wait for me! Please!”

  “Harry! You’re being a bear.” She was too happy to stand still doing nothing. “I’ll meet you down stairs.”

  When the elevator arrived, four other people were inside. Stepping out into the garage, everyone turned left except her. She turned the other way, right into the arms of a man who smothered her face into his chest.

  She punched at him, tried to yank free, but his steel grip locked around her, pinning her arms to her sides. He slammed her hard in the neck.

  Gina dropped and spun into nothingness.

  * * *

  Harry ran like a mad man, ran to the locker room, grabbed his coat, and jumped into an open elevator. He pounded on the garage button; two other passengers stared at him and stepped back to the rear of the car.

  “It’s not gonna go any faster, not matter how many times you pound that button,”

  one of them said.

  Harry nodded and punched the button again.

  When the elevator door opened at garage level, he sprinted to where Gina had parked the Fiat that morning.

  It was there, but Gina was nowhere in sight.

  He pulled out his cell and called her.

  This wasn’t right, not after she’d said she would meet him at the car. And if she’d been delayed by someone or something, she would have let him know.

  He tried to call her again, same results.

  If it hadn’t been for that hired killer stalking her, he would have waited a while longer.

  Instead, he speed-dialed the SFPD.

  “This is Sgt Haspers. How may I help you?”

  “My name is Harry Lucke. I need to speak to Inspector Pepper Yee.”

  “Regarding?”

  “Please tell her it’s about Gina Mazzio.”

  Harry was jumping out of his skin waiting for Yee to pick up.

  “This is Inspector Yee.”

  “Do you remember me, Inspector? Harry Lucke?”

  “Who could forget you, or that dingbat girlfriend of yours? Gina Mazzio, right?”

  “Please, please listen! I think Gina’s been snatched from the garage at Ridgewood Hospital. I really need your help.”

  “How long has she been missing?”

  “It just happened.” Harry could hardly speak, all his words spilled out on each other.

  “I wouldn’t call that missing, Harry.” Her words were short and sarcastic. “If she’s still missing in the morning, we’ll talk.”

  “But, Inspector.”

  Inspector Pepper Yee had hung up.

  Chapter 56

  Harry ran back to the elevator, punched the #5 button, pulled out his cell, and once more tried to call Gina. The call went immediately to her mailbox.

  “Damn it!”

  Stepping out of the elevator, he hurried to Mulzini’s room. The Inspector was awake, talking quietly with his wife and son.

  “Hi, Harry! I hear I just missed Gina. Best sleep I’ve had in months.”

  Harry didn’t know what to do. Mulzini needed to left alone, but the inspector was the only one he knew who would understand the situation. His heart was banging against his chest; his fear had left him weak and almost useless.

  “Yeah.” He couldn’t say any more than that.

  “Are you all right?” Marcia said.

  Dirk stood, half-led Harry to his chair.

  “What’s up, Harry?” Mulzini pushed up onto his elbows.

  “I think Gina’s been kidnapped.” He bent over and covered his eyes.

  Harry could hear the Inspector take a couple of fast breaths. “Are you sure?”

  “Would bet on it. I spoke to her right after she got off shift. We were supposed to meet in the garage. I couldn’t have been more than a couple of minutes behind her. When I got there, she wasn’t there and she doesn’t answer her phone.”

  “Whose feathers did she ruffle this time?” Mulzini’s face had paled. Marcia reached for her husband’s hand.

  “Do we have to do this right now, Harry?” Marcia said. “He’s just out of recovery.”

  Mulzini shook his head. “Let him talk, Marcia.”

  “Short version,” Harry said. “The doctor who was supposed to do your surgery, Tallent, is involved in some serious illegal business practices. He may also be involved in murder. Gina’s certain he’s paid someone to kill her.” Harry paused. “Don’t ask me how we know all this because I can’t tell you, at least not right now.”

  “What do you mean ‘the doc who was supposed’ to do my surgery?”
/>
  “Tallent sort of spaced out on them and Gina got Bob Cantor to do your surgery.”

  “Well, that explains why that doctor was in here checking on me. He said Dr. Tallent was unavailable.”

  “Yeah,” Harry said. “That’s certainly the truth.”

  “Have you reported all of this to the police?” Marcia said. She poured some water into a cup and passed it the inspector.

  “Why don’t I answer that?” Mulzini said. “You tried, right?”

  Harry nodded.

  “But they won’t look into a missing person incident for twenty-four hours.”

  “I’m really lost,” Harry said. “And frightened. Don’t know what to do to get someone out there right now.” He looked at Mulzini, willing him to come up with a plan. “Gina could be dead by morning.” Tears slithered down across his cheeks.

  “Cool it, Harry. Gina’s a tough cookie.” Mulzini eased back down until he was flat in the bed again. “Who’d you talk to at the station?”

  “Pepper Yee. Gina has dealt with her in the past. Sounds like she has a real grudge against Gina.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Mulzini said. “But she sure as hell doesn’t like her. Thinks she interfered in one of her cases. Knowing Gina, that could be true enough.” He motioned for Harry to stand by, then picked up the bedside phone and put in a call.

  “Hi, Pepper?”

  “No! That you, Mulzini?” She laughed into the phone. “There’s a rumor you went under the knife this morning. Is that true?”

  “Yeah. Why, did you think I died or something? If so, you’d better think twice. Can’t get rid of me that easily. I’ll be back soon enough to get you off your duff.”

  “Seriously, how are you, old man?”

  “Smug little thing, aren’t you?”

  “What can I do for you, as if I didn’t know,” she said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, whenever anything happens to that nut case Mazzio, you hop to it. I swear, you have a thing for nurses.”

  Mulzini’s voice almost turned into a growl. “If you were smart, you would too. They damn well have saved a lot of cops. When are you gonna get that into your thick little skull?”