She nodded at him. Her face showed concern, but no fear, and that helped me relax.
George looked at me again, his gray-streaked hair falling into his eyes just as it did in high school. He’d become quite a distraction to me recently. “Sam, could you excuse us so I can talk to Jen?”
I didn’t answer him, instead I looked at Jenny. “Are you okay?” She nodded. “Don’t forget, if he starts treating you like a suspect, stop talking and get a lawyer.”
Even though I wasn’t looking at him I could feel George’s glare trying to bore a hole through the back of my head. Then he said, “No need to worry about that, Jen. I’m just talking to everyone who was present for all the deaths. Then I’ll talk to other people. You are no more a suspect than your sister.” I turned back to him at that remark. It reminded me of what he’d said to Dr. Burns’s killer not too long ago. Virtually the same words. And he ended up arresting that person for murder not too long afterward.
I looked at Jenny again. “Just remember what I said.”
She nodded.
I walked into the hallway and saw my brother Rob standing in front of Exam Room 10. He must have been the cop George had given orders to.
“Don’t even start,” he said.
I did my best to ignore him, but it’s hard when your siblings know you so well. “Okay, I was just going to invite you over for dinner, but if you don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine.”
I swear he chortled. I don’t think I’d ever heard someone chortle before. It was like an explosive chuckle. Rob knew I didn’t cook. Hell, the world knew I didn’t cook. I ought to invite the world for dinner some night and show them I knew what I was doing. Nah. Probably not.
I went to my normal “go to” spot in the ER—the break room. Carter was sitting in his usual spot in the corner. I wondered if George knew that Carter was here for all the deaths too, or at least most of them. If I told him that, it would at least take the heat off of Jenny for a while. Maybe I should ask Jen if she’d ever seen Carter in the main part of the ER instead of just in the break room. My vibes weren’t on high alert around him, but I thought I had some response because he was so strange.
Carter was just sitting there, almost pasted to the corner of the room. The light barely reached him. A perfect spot for eavesdropping. Maybe he knew more than he had told me so far.
“Hi.” I started very gently, afraid he’d bolt if I was too aggressive.
I think he might have nodded. I do know he grunted. I took that as an encouraging sign.
“How did you know people were poisoned?”
“I told you that I just knew,” he yelled. He didn’t seem happy with my question. “If you know where to look, Ms. Wanna-be Sleuth, you’ll find the answer. It’s right under your nose.”
“That sounds like you know a lot more about the deaths than you are saying.”
“Duh,” he said.
At least I think that’s what he said. He’d slunk back into his regular persona, quiet and almost invisible. I thought it was only fair to tell him that he was a suspect.
“There are four main suspects as far as I’m concerned—Jenny, Loretta, Dougie, and…you.”
Carter’s laugh could have been heard across the river in West Quincy. Surprising that a seeming nonentity could make so much noise. Especially someone who normally only grunted. He didn’t respond with words, just laughter. Odd. Made him seem more weird than usual, which I’d thought was an impossibility.
I went back to the ER proper and saw that Rob was still standing by Room 10, but now there was crime scene tape across the door. I avoided him, not wanting to be made fun of again. George wasn’t in evidence, so I began looking for him.
No one really knew this was my day off, so I just started peeking into each room. The first one held Jenny and a doctor I didn’t know, working with a patient. Jen’s back was to me, so I just quietly closed the door.
In the next room I saw a flurry of activity. One of the doctors was my sister Jill. I hadn’t known she was working today, but it would be good to talk to her when she was less busy. Dougie was the other doctor in there, and Loretta seemed to be assisting them. Since it appeared to be a serious situation I repeated my earlier action, closing the door without being detected.
The next few rooms were empty, silently awaiting their next patients. I continued to ignore Rob, but did notice someone had gone inside the room he was guarding. I imagined it was someone doing crime scene work, and perhaps George was there too.
I knew the whereabouts of all four of the major suspects. There was no one to follow, three of them were very busy, and the fourth was incommunicado. I wish Carter was more verbal, but then I guess he wouldn’t be Carter.
Sleuthing was boring sometimes. I didn’t feel grief over the loss of Dr. Adams; I’d only met him once, and he was easy to dislike. Jen had told me some tales of how she had to stand up to him several times to protect her staff from his wrath.
I stood in the nurses’ station, waiting to see if George would emerge from Room 10. My patience was rewarded when he soon appeared, telling Rob to stay there until he was relieved by another officer. Rob nodded. Funny how he knew how to behave when on duty. At home he acted like one of the three stooges, easily fitting in with my other two brothers, Pete and Ed.
It was fairly easy to intercept George since he stood in the hallway for a few minutes, talking to Rob. Another person left Room 10 and walked straight to the ambulance bay exit.
George said goodbye to Rob and began walking and writing in his notebook at the same time. “Hey,” I said as I got into a walking pace with him.
He stopped abruptly, turned to me, and grinned. “Hi ya,” his usual greeting.
“I wonder if you have time to talk to me.”
“Always. Want to talk now or do you want to meet for dinner?”
“Now if you don’t mind.” I noted the disappointment on his face.
We scooted into an empty exam room. I walked quickly to the window, so we wouldn’t be dangerously close. I wanted to keep this professional.
George said, “I guess this isn’t personal.”
“Right. It’s got to do with the murders. First, have you gotten the autopsy results from Springfield on the people who died after Pluto?”
“Not yet. Today or tomorrow.”
“Well, I’ve got an idea about a suspect. My vibes get set off when I’m around him, but it’s not a horrible reaction.”
“Sam, remember when Dr. Burns was murdered. Your vibes let you down.”
“Stop reminding me of that. I was right on one of the murderers. I was always right about one of them.”
“Yeah, but you were convinced the other murderer was innocent, because your vibes weren’t present with her. So excuse me if I’m not overly excited about what you’re saying.”
“George Lansing, you are a pain in the butt. Here’s what I know and you can do what you want with it. I’ll do what I want with it too.”
He rolled his eyes, which was very unattractive in a man his age. “Go ahead,” he said.
“I can’t prove this guy was present for all the deaths, but he’s suspicious. I know he was here for some of the deaths. His name is Carter Callahan, and he was an EMT here until he got laid off because of some ‘irregularities’ in his certification. I haven’t checked that out yet. But I did follow him and he took the bus all around town and then got off the bus here at Bay General. Right where he started. That’s weird, right?” I didn’t give George a chance to answer. “He’s here almost all the time and hangs out in the break room. He was there a few minutes ago.”
Before he could remind me, I said, “Yes, I know I’m not a cop. I’m a social worker. That’s why I’m giving you this information. Happy?”
He smiled. “I’d be happier if you’d have dinner with me.”
“Not tonight, but in a few days, okay?” I wanted to save a few evenings just in case Michael asked me out. Stupid. Juvenile. But oh, well…
; I guessed it was time to leave when George leaned in for a kiss. I did the unforgivable move of turning my head to give him my cheek. “’Bye.” I said. “See you later.”
Part of me wanted to stay and avail myself of George’s kisses. It had been a long, long time since I’d been in a romantic situation and George definitely seemed a lot more interested than Michael.
Since it was still early and was my day off, I went home, changed, put the leash on Clancy, and took her for a long walk in a different direction. I didn’t bother talking about the investigation, and she didn’t ask. We just went. Part of the way we ran, although I wasn’t able to run too far. I chalked it up to having been sick yesterday.
We walked all the way to St. Francis University and back, at least a half mile each way. Clancy led the way, probably happy to finally be getting the attention she so richly deserved.
This walk was one of my favorites. To get to SFU, I had to leave the ritzy section of town and walk right by where I grew up. It was only a few blocks, but it was an extreme difference. The north side of Broadway was where I grew up, and the south side of Broadway is where I now lived. The only reason I lived in the mansion section was that I rented Gus and Georgianne’s carriage house. Gus had been my friend since I was a kid, and when I moved back to Quincy he immediately offered me the carriage house. He grew up like I did, in a working class section of town. Georgianne had a lot of family money. Gus said that money got in the way sometimes, but that it was easier to deal with problems when your bills were always paid.
Clancy and I loved SFU. It was my alma mater, at least for my undergraduate degree. The old buildings towered over the campus and were magnificent reflections of the majesty of the city. Red bricks and limestone blocks. Perfect. Quincy was built on the limestone bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, and a lot of the architecture contained limestone.
Quincy had roughly two hundred fifty full blocks of buildings on the National Historic Register. My childhood neighborhood was sandwiched in between historic blocks. Growing up, I always felt that SFU was my backyard, and I made myself at home on the tennis courts, baseball fields, and even the gym. Jen and I spent a lot of time there as kids.
For a change I just reminisced instead of working on the mysterious deaths. Until I got information on the deaths other than Pluto’s, it was hard to do much brain work. But I could still follow the suspects, and check into their lives. So that’s what I would do, and maybe I’d let Clancy help me.
NINE
My first thought upon waking had to do with the autopsies. My second was Clancy’s therapy dog certification test. I decided to call George and ask about the former. And I’d check online for the date for Clancy’s test. I’d already been notified by email that she qualified.
“Yeah.” George’s phone response showed that he was always on duty.
“It’s me. Sam.”
His tone changed. “Hi ya. How are you?”
“Good. I’m calling to find out the results of the autopsies from Springfield. Did you get them?”
“I’ll check my email.” His tone let me know that he was disappointed it wasn’t a social call. I heard him take the phone from his ear, then he put me on speaker so he could read and talk at the same time. “Yeah, here it is. Just a second.” He muttered as he read. “Okay, we have the results from two more bodies.” They were bodies now, no longer patients. “Same as with Pluto. Arsenic. Maybe something else. Further tests. Will take a few more days. That’s it, Sam.”
“Well, at least now we know that two of them were poisoned like Pluto. That gives us three murders. We still don’t know if it was accidental or intentional, though. Guess I’ll have to check into it more.”
“Sam…”
“Don’t bother telling me what my job is or isn’t. I already know.” And I hung up.
I slipped on my tracksuit, with a T-shirt underneath because of the errant zipper on the jacket. “C’mon, Clancy. Let’s go.”
It only took a moment for us to get out the door and head for our usual morning walk through our neighborhood. Clancy led the way and I didn’t have to think about the walk itself. She knew when to stop, when to go, and when to smell squirrel tracks.
“I know I haven’t talked to you much about these deaths. But I’m having trouble even finding clues. If it’s okay, I’ll go over the suspects with you.”
She turned and smiled as she walked. I knew that meant “okay.”
“There are three people who were present for all the deaths, and one who may have been there for all of them.” Suddenly, something hit me. “Damn. I forgot to ask George if any of the dogs had been autopsied. I wonder if they died from the same poison.”
Clancy didn’t like hearing that. She shrugged off a shiver and kept going. “Sorry, Clance. Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.”
We were soon at the turnaround point, and Clancy automatically did just that. I decided to forget about problems and began singing George M. Cohan songs from the first World War. That livened up both of us. Clancy seemed to march in time to the rhythm, just as thousands of soldiers had almost a century ago.
When we got home I quickly showered and dressed for work. Today I’d work at both the Clinic and the hospital. My first appointment wasn’t until nine, so I took a moment to check on the therapy dog test. Luckily, I had sent everything in just in time. There was a test this weekend in Chatham, a small town near the state capitol of Springfield. I entered my credit card information to pay for the test, reminded myself to practice the necessary skills with Clancy before then, and promised Clancy I’d be home for dinner. As I left, I stopped at Michael’s office on the way to the Clinic. His office was downtown in one of the old buildings that had been converted to small offices. Great for start-ups and for business’s like Michael’s which, only consisted of one or two people.
I found his office door open and walked in. Michael was sitting there doing two things—looking worried and looking incredibly handsome. My crush was still in full swing, even though I’d made out with George.
He didn’t see me so I politely cleared my throat.
“Sam. Sorry. I’m glad to see you.”
That set my pulse racing. “It’s good to see you too. I came in to give you a report on the suspects.”
He nodded, but looked like his mind was elsewhere.
I asked, “I have information on the autopsies. Do you?”
He shook his head so I filled him in. I also told him again about Carter, and how I’d followed him. Of course Michael reminded me that my job wasn’t to follow people. As usual I ignored what he was saying. I was a grown up and knew what my job was. Then I asked him if he had any other information. He shook his head again. I wasn’t getting my “evil vibes” but this sure felt funny. Normally Michael was attentive and suddenly he was almost ignoring me.
There’s nothing subtle about me, so I said, “Is something wrong?”
He replied with the normal answer, “No, why?”
“You just seem preoccupied.”
“Nah. There’s just something I need to talk to you about.”
This time I was confident he wasn’t going to say he loved me, and surprisingly, I was okay with that. “Well, just do it. I’m not good at waiting.” I sat down in one of the ultra-modern office chairs in front of his desk.
“I’m finding it hard to work with you on this case, because…”
Because he loved me? Because he hated me? Because…
Michael hesitated. “…because of Jenny’s involvement.”
My sputtering caused him to stand up and come around the desk. He sat in another chair next to me. “I know you are positive she had nothing to do with it. Since you are so biased, I wonder if you’re the right person to help with the investigation.”
Whew. It had nothing to do with whether he liked me or not. But, wait a minute…I jumped up and for the first time was able to tower over him. “Who in the hell do you think you are? You think my sister killed someone? Are yo
u crazy?”
He leaned back in his chair to get away from the berserk woman in his face. “Exactly. That’s exactly what I mean, Sam. Exactly.”
I stopped sputtering for the moment and did something uncharacteristic. I thought before I talked. “For argument’s sake, let’s just say you’re right. I could still do what I’m doing at the hospital. I would promise that I would quit saying I’m positive Jenny is innocent.” I paused, trying hard to control my temper. “Okay, we both know that’s a promise I can’t keep. But I’m really enjoying working in the ER. It’s exactly what I want to do. In fact, working half time at the Clinic and half time at the ER is close to my dream job.” I didn’t add that what actually made it my dream job was that I got to snoop.
Before Michael could speak, I added, “Do you have any evidence that Jen was involved?” I tried to act calm, and gave an Academy Award performance.
Michael went back behind his desk, seemingly convinced I was not going to do any harm.
“If you really want to know, I’ll tell you.” He waited, maybe to see if I was going to voice any objections. “First, as you know, Jen was there for every death.”
“You’re right. I do know that. Tell me something new.”
“You aren’t going to like this, but when Dr. Adams was murdered, I started looking at Jen more closely. They absolutely hated each other. Do you know that?”
“No. Not really. I’ve heard her complain about him, but nothing that got to the level of hatred.” I grasped at any excuse I could think of. “But no one liked him. I’ve heard other staff call him a bastard.”
“Relax, Sam. I don’t know if I think Jenny did it. But there’s a lot of evidence to show Jen has stood up to Dr. Adams many times. In fact, she was reprimanded by her supervisor recently because of how she talked to the doctor.”
I hadn’t heard this, and would need to talk to Jenny outside the hospital to find out her side of things.
“Besides,” he continued, “the poison that killed Pluto was on the wings she brought to the party.”
Any Meat In That Soup? (Sam Darling Mystery #2) Page 6