by E. R. FALLON
“Can we come in?” Terry said.
The woman replied in her heavy accent, “I don’t know how it is possible that you would want to speak with him. He’s not well.”
“Who are you?” Rebecca asked.
“I am his personal nurse.”
“He hires you?” Dino asked.
“No, I am hired by his father.”
“His father lives here with him?” Rebecca asked.
The nurse shook her head. “No. He lives in St. Petersburg.”
“Look, ma’am, can we just come in?” said Terry.
The nurse slowly nodded.
The large apartment was quiet except for the noise of a TV in one of the far rooms. In the living room there were chairs with red upholstery and a white grand piano in one corner. The bookshelf was swollen with bulky leather-bound volumes. A large painting of a blond angelic child among a flock of sheep in a rolling green meadow hung at one end of the room. Rebecca went over and studied it closely. When she realized it looked nothing like the boy in Beech Hills, she quickly looked away. The nurse cleared her throat and sighed. She met Rebecca’s gaze. “Please, he is not well.”
“We’re not here to arrest him,” Rebecca said. “We just need to talk with him for a moment.”
The nurse introduced herself to them as Tanya. She gestured for the detectives to follow her, leading them into a bedroom that had previously been hidden from their view.
White carpeting covered the floor, and the curtains of the sole window were open, revealing a magnificent view of Newark Bay. Next to a large white bed, a man was slumped over in a rocking chair.
“This is Alexei Fedotov,” Tanya stated matter-of-factly.
“Is he sick?” Rebecca asked. She’d noticed that the man didn’t even glance up at the abrupt appearance of three strangers in his bedroom.
“He is a schizophrenic. At his age, the prognosis is not good.”
Rebecca nodded in understanding. “Can he hold a conversation?”
Tanya scoffed. “He mostly sleeps due to his medication. Trust me when I say you don’t want to come near him when he’s not medicated. The last time I spoke with him a few weeks ago, when he’d refused to take his medication, he insisted that I was sent by the mafia to murder him at the request of his father. Not that it couldn’t be true, knowing his father.”
“Does he have any family nearby that we can speak with?” Terry asked.
“No. His father oversees his care, but still resides in Russia. Alexei sees all the finest doctors now, and he used to be one himself. Isn’t that, what you would say, ironic?”
“When did he stop practicing medicine?” Dino asked.
“Two years ago. That’s when I came to work for him. That’s when it got really bad.”
“Why isn’t he living with his father in Russia?” Rebecca asked.
Tanya eyed her closely. “Fedotov is not his real name. His father is Sergei Dmitriev, the steel baron. You’ve heard of him?”
Rebecca nodded. “He’s a billionaire.”
“He sent Alexei over here to America, and made him change his last name. He would never let Alexei embarrass him by being at home. He was greatly ashamed for people back home to see Alexei, because people knew he was crazy.”
“And so this jerk thought it would be a good idea to let him practice medicine here?” Dino said heatedly.
“He never told Alexei what to do,” Tanya said. “Alexei decided for himself. Ironically.”
Dino went up to the thin, sagging man in the rocking chair before Rebecca could stop him. “Hello, sir?” he whispered. When the man didn’t respond he spoke louder. “Sir?”
Alexei didn’t open his eyes once. His head hung low, and he stayed still as drool emitted softly from his open mouth onto his shoulder.
“Cooper,” Rebecca warned.
“Sorry.”
“Tanya,” Rebecca said. “We’re investigating the disappearance of a young boy who might have been operated on by Alexei a few years ago. The boy’s name is Lev Ilyin. Does that ring any bells?”
Tanya appeared to be contemplating something. “I live in the same neighborhood where Alexei once practiced, but I was not living there while he was still working,” she said. “But I’ve heard of this child. Everyone still talks about him in the neighborhood, because it was so strange.”
“What was strange?” Terry asked.
“How he disappeared,” Tanya said. “Alexei had a nurse who worked with him when he practiced in Stygian. I don’t remember her name, but if you give me a moment I can call a friend who might know.”
Rebecca looked to Dino and Terry for a signal, and then said to Tanya, “I’ll come with you when you make the call.”
Tanya gave Rebecca an uneasy look, but then went into the living room with her. She explained that she was going to call her friend Mischa, who was also a nurse, but was older and knew many nurses in the county.
Tanya spoke in Russian on the phone, seemingly unaware that Rebecca understood every word. Tanya used the words “asshole police” a few times.
She turned to Rebecca after she’d hung up. “She gave me a name. Natalia Dubinina. According to my friend, this woman, Natalia, worked with Alexei back then.”
“Do you think your friend’s right?”
Tanya shrugged. “She has never been wrong before.”
“She better be right,” Rebecca remarked.
Rebecca gestured for Tanya to return with her to the bedroom. “We’ve got a name, apparently,” she announced to Terry and Dino, who were attempting to converse with Alexei. “But no address.” She tilted her head toward the rocking chair. “Did you have any luck with him?”
Dino shook his head. “I’ll put a call in to the New Jersey Nurse’s Association. My ex works there. I’ll see if she can help us out.”
“You mean she’s actually talking to you now?” Terry said.
Dino took out his cell phone. “Given the circumstances, I think she will help us, yes.”
Rebecca thanked Tanya in Russian, much to Tanya’s surprise. She seemed to consider apologizing for what she’d called them on the phone, but didn’t.
* * *
Tulia said goodbye to Jimmy and reminded him to bring home his practice clothes for her to wash. He kept them in his gym locker, and they probably stank by now.
She felt deliciously guilty about her lunch with Andrew later that day, yet awful, at the same time. Terry hadn’t come back home last night. He’d called her late to explain that he was stuck at the station with his case. He was putting his life on the line every day, and she was seeing Andrew Falter behind his back for lunch. She wondered if he’d confront Andrew if he found out, and she smiled, thinking that might be kind of sexy. She liked Terry getting macho for her.
Tulia resented Terry’s job more and more. It had not only brought Carl Richardson into their lives, it had also strained their marriage and their family.
A little black dress would be perfect for lunch. But she decided it might seem too desperate, and it was too cold outside to wear one anyway, so she settled on a pair of dressy slacks and a white blouse she would pick up from the drycleaner’s. Her black boots would go well with that, she thought, as she made a second cup of coffee. She stirred in more sugar than usual, and delighted in the fleeting lightheadedness caused by the caffeine combined with the sugar, as if she was flying.
Her cell phone rang, and when she gazed at the screen she saw that Terry was calling, not Andrew or Jimmy, and she didn’t answer it.
He left a message, and her phone beeped twice to let her know. She entered her pass code and listened to Terry’s message:
I just wanted to see how you are. You never answer the phone anymore. I miss you and Jimmy. Tell him I said hi. I’ll be back tonight. I love you. Do you want me to pick up dinner?
“I only want one thing on my mind just now,” she said to herself in a whisper, deleting Terry’s message.
Chapter Seven
There wasn’t enoug
h time to sit down at Lulu’s, so they ordered a breakfast to go, with a couple of cups of coffee, and ate at the station while waiting for Henry Riley to show up. Natalia Dubinina had agreed to meet with them that afternoon after Dino’s ex-wife had come through. Apparently she knew a lot of immigrant nurses in the area through her volunteer work. Rebecca wondered why his ex hated him so much.
Rebecca felt Dino watching her as she ate her bagel, and she wondered if maybe the stare was merely because he was tired, and not deliberate. She decided she’d head to the women’s locker room to take a hot shower and change her underwear at least.
There weren’t a lot of female detectives at the station. Rebecca had met one named Marlene when she first arrived, and from time to time they ran into each other in the locker room. Marlene had joked to her more than once that this place was too damn small. Rebecca wondered what she meant — maybe that they were the only two homicide chicks in the place.
Rebecca had been meaning to ask Marlene if she wanted to go out sometime, a girls’ night out kind of thing, to a bar or to a club. She didn’t really know of any places, but she figured that Marlene would.
Rebecca excused herself from the desk Captain Peters had finally ordered for her and which had been put in the corner, next to her partners’ desks.
* * *
Dino watched Rebecca as she walked away from her desk. Terry noticed.
“If you don’t stop looking, Cooper, you might get slapped with a harassment suit.”
“It’s just my luck,” Dino said with a heavy sigh. “It figures that Peters picked an amazing woman to work with us, and because we work together, she’s out of my reach.”
Terry smiled slightly. “You know, if she’s interested too, you could probably ask her out. There aren’t any real rules against that, as far as I know. But if you two do get together, just don’t be too obvious about it around here. People are starting to wonder.”
“They’re starting to wonder? Why?”
“They notice you looking, and they see the way you two are together. If you piece it all together, well, you know.”
“It’s that obvious?”
“It is.”
“Who’s been talking?”
“No one, really. Just a couple of the guys.”
“Oh, yeah, which ones?”
“That guy Palmoni. You know of him, right, the loudmouth with the Ferrari?”
“I do. What’s he been saying?”
Terry cleared his throat. “Stuff about Rebecca, and it isn’t all polite.”
Dino stood up. “Wasn’t that Palmoni asshole suspected of taking bribes from dealers? I would’ve thought the department would’ve done something about it by now. I mean, he’s making eighty grand and driving a car that costs two hundred grand. Something’s not right. One thing’s for sure, I better not catch him saying shit about Rebecca. Because if I do . . .” He smacked his fist against the wall.
Terry shook his head and chuckled. “Sometimes you’re crazy, do you know that? It’s good of you to want to defend Rebecca from those jerks, but I get the feeling she’s going to want to take care of herself.”
Terry walked away from his desk and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?” Dino asked.
He turned to see Henry Riley standing in the doorway, wearing a green raincoat and a baseball cap. Terry greeted him. It wasn’t raining outside, and wasn’t supposed to anytime soon, as far as Dino could tell from when they had listened to the radio on the way back from the Regal Tower last night. Dino didn’t move to greet Henry. Something about the guy just didn’t seem right. Dino felt sorry for him because of what happened to his brother when they were young, but he couldn’t bring himself around to liking the guy. He stood and leaned against the edge of his desk.
Dino pulled up Rebecca’s vacant chair next to his desk and gestured for Henry to sit down. “Is it raining out?” he asked Henry.
Henry shook his head. “It’s supposed to snow later.”
“It is? I didn’t know that.”
Henry’s hands were shaking. He sat down.
“Have you been drinking, Henry? Got the DTs?”
“Yeah. Last night, I bought some stuff. Woke up this morning on a street corner. Found this coat in a dumpster where I was.” He touched the green raincoat. “I lied to you. There’s no snow today. I was cold so I put the coat on.”
“That’s okay, Henry,” Terry said. “As long as you’re not lying to us about anything else. Are you sober now? Because we can’t have a chat unless you’re clean.”
“I know that. I’m fine now.”
“Good. Do you want some coffee?” asked Dino.
“Yes, please.”
Dino rose from his chair and caught a pleasant scent in the air. He turned around and saw Rebecca walking into the room. Her hair was up, and it looked damp, like she had just showered. She was wearing the same pantsuit she had on earlier, but she looked more awake and seemed relaxed as she approached them.
“Hi, Henry,” she said in an upbeat tone. “How are you?”
“Detective Everhart, correct?” Henry said. “I remember your name.”
Henry seemed on the ball today, and Dino wondered if his naïve act from before was some sort of game.
“Yes, you’re correct,” she said.
Was Henry flirting with her? Dino felt a little irrational jealousy. Henry was no competition, and seemed so desperate it was sad.
“Are you ready to look at more cars for us, Henry?” he asked when he returned with the coffee.
Henry nodded and reached into his pocket. Dino watched him closely.
“I remembered to bring these,” Henry said, pulling out a pair of eyeglasses.
“Good. So maybe you’ll be able to help us out now,” Terry said.
“I sure hope so. I’ve always admired you guys.”
“Who?”
“You know, cops. I always wanted to be a cop myself, but they wouldn’t let me.”
“They?” Dino said.
“My folks. They were afraid I’d get shot. After Jake, they didn’t want to lose another kid. So I was pre-med.”
“You studied medicine?” Rebecca said. Dino sensed the revelation chilled her as much as it did him.
“Yes. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? I never finished school. I couldn’t go through with it. All those people watching me while I tried to perform the stuff they told us — oh, jeez, it made me so nervous. The dead guys we had to practice on scared the crap out of me. And my drinking didn’t help either. Then when I dropped out, I had to clean toilets to pay off my student debt.” Henry laughed a little to himself. He drank his coffee.
No one else laughed. Dino raised his eyebrows at Rebecca and Terry.
Henry removed the raincoat and revealed that he was wearing the same clothes as the other day. He smelled like he hadn’t showered in a couple of days. And his breath stank of booze. Dino gagged discreetly.
He excused himself and left the room. He could have kicked himself. Usually someone’s stench didn’t bother him that much.
He returned with another cup of coffee for Henry and found that Rebecca and Terry had already escorted him to the interrogation room. He put the coffee down and moved the chair Henry had been sitting in back to Rebecca’s desk. Then, because Henry stank and he didn’t want Rebecca to have to sit in the same chair, he swapped it with his.
He took a deep breath, steeling himself for Henry’s odor, which was now bottled up in a very confined space.
Not surprisingly, Rebecca and Terry were seated at the opposite end of the table to Henry. Dino decided to squeeze in between them. He realized he’d forgotten the coffee. Terry had pictures of every single state’s standard license plate spread out over the table.
“Take your time, Henry,” Terry said. “Think real hard. Which one of these looks like the plate you saw that night when you were in Beech Hills and found the boy?”
Henry glanced at the photos. Dino doubted he was trying ve
ry hard. He gradually pointed to the Delaware plate then seemed to change his mind and gestured to the state of Connecticut’s plate design.
“Connecticut?” Dino said.
Henry nodded. Then he shook his head. “But I’m not sure anymore. I don’t feel so hot.” Henry placed his hand to his stomach and rocked back and forth like he was going to puke. His stomach growled.
“Are you hungry, Henry?”
Henry shook his head and continued to clutch his stomach. “No, I just ate breakfast.”
“What the hell did you eat for breakfast?” Rebecca said.
Terry rose quickly from his chair. “Let me show you the bathroom.”
Henry leapt from his chair and followed Terry out of the room.
“Jesus. I’m glad it was Terry who went with him, and not me,” said Dino.
“Don’t you think Henry Riley’s strange?” she said after a while.
“Of course he is, but he might be harmless. Just because he’s down on his luck doesn’t make him a killer.”
“You’re not just saying that because you grew up together?” Rebecca said.
“We didn’t grow up together. He lived across the street from me but I was never friends with him.”
“I ran his name, and he’s got a misdemeanor, class C. No jail time because he pleaded guilty.”
“Let me guess, shoplifting?”
“Yeah,” Rebecca said. “And there’s a DWI charge from a while back.”
“All in this state?”
“Yep.”
“You really have it in for this guy, don’t you?”
“I don’t cut corners, if that’s what you mean.”
Taken aback by her response, Dino fell silent.
“If the personal aspect of this case is going to be an issue for you, Cooper, then I suggest you pull yourself from the case.”
“You really think Henry Riley’s a suspect, don’t you?”
“I think he might be, yes. I’m going to call his probation officer.”
“We’ve both been doing this for a long time, and I respect your opinion, but I don’t know if Riley’s the type.”
“Okay, but can you be positive?” Rebecca replied. “You said yourself that you didn’t really know him.”