“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 Jaspers. 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 me
an, 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?”
“All right already,” she said, still cheeky, but the chip on her shoulder seemed to be slipping.
“Harry, Mazzio’s fiancé—”
“—I know who the dude is.”
“Bottom line, she’s been taken.”
“Mulzini, I’m not going to get into this with you. You may jump at the drop of a raindrop about anything that has to do with that broad, but I do it by the book—or at least as close as possible. I’m not doing anything, at least until morning. And even that’s not twenty-four hours.”
“You listen to me, hot shot: You get this rolling now or I’ll make it my life’s goal to make sure you end up out on patrol again. And I don’t mean riding around in a squad car. You got that, Pepper?”
Mulzini disconnected, put his cell back on the bed stand. Harry could see that talking to Inspector Yee had pretty much done him in. Marcia was giving him the get-outta-here eye.
“I’m going to the patient waiting room and see if I can pull myself together. If I go home, I’ll be tempted to call Vinnie and tell him what’s going down. That would really be a bad thing for everyone—but especially him.”
“Look, Harry, I guarantee Pepper will get on it.” He turned on his side, reached for Harry’s hand. “We’ll get Gina back.”
Chapter 57
Gina was dazed. A hot dagger stabbed into her neck and her head was pounding. When she opened her eyes, there was only a wall of impenetrable black.
The loud jarring rhythm of tires thumping on the road made her dizzy. All she could remember was walking out of the elevator into the employee garage.
She felt around—she was in a tight space, knew she’d been stuffed into the trunk of a car.
Oh, my God!
A car trunk!
Terror squeezed her belly.
Someone has grabbed her.
Her breath burst in explosive gasps and her chest caved with claustrophobia. A rasp of air warned she was starving for oxygen—she needed to shut down a sudden vision of being thrown in a coffin—alive.
She groped for her purse—her fingers flew over and around all the things she’d shoved inside. Her Swiss Army knife was there. She pulled it out and buried it in her scrub’s pant pocket.
Her cell phone was gone but her small halogen flashlight was there. She used the beam to cut through the darkness.
Yes, she’d been stuffed into a trunk and she could barely move. Everything was closing in around her. She banged the top and screamed.
“Help! Help!”
She had nothing other than her jack knife to use as a tool..
The car slowed; it was being parked. Then, without any warning, the trunk flew up and she was staring into the eyes of the man who had been following her.
It was dusk, but she could see he was looking at her like a useless piece of nothing. He held a stiletto up so she could see it.
“One way or another, you are coming with me. If you scream, do anything to try to attract attention, I will stab you through your eye—or through your heart—or through your throat.” He pushed his face closer to hers. “Do you understand?”
She nodded.
He grabbed her hair, digging his fingers into her scalp, and lifted her head above the edge of trunk. “Take a good look around you. In this neighborhood, you could shriek your head off and no one would open a door, or raise a window shade. If I kill you, no one will give a shit. Got it?”
She nodded again.
“You are going to die one way or another. How long you live is up to you.”
* * *
Inspector Pepper Yee stared at the telephone—hadn’t stopped staring at it since talking to Mulzini.
Damn that man! Even from a hospital bed he has me feeling guilty about that weirdo nurse.
Yee had seen enough of that woman a few years back. More than enough.
She swung her legs up, planted her heels on the edge of the desk. In another couple of hours she was going home, get ready for a date with a guy she really wanted to spend time with. Tall, blond, buff like she couldn’t believe. He was the first man she’d had any real interest in since she and her husband divorced two years ago.
Now this.
She could let this whole Mazzio business wait until morning, just like she’d said to Harry Lucke—right now it was really too early to jump in, other than start the paper work.
But there was Mulzini. He’d asked her to run with it ... now. She owed him—owed more payback than to any other cop on the force.
Yee picked up a pen sitting idle on her desk and pushed the button at the top, snapping it open and closed—again, again. and again.
“Hey, Yee, knock it off before I hammer your head,” yelled one of the guys further down the row of desk. “I’m trying to think.”
“Nothing’s gonna help you pull that off.” She laughed, let her feet slide off the desk to the floor again. She pulled out her cell and tapped it.
“Hi, Jason. This is Pepper.”
“Couldn’t wait to see me, huh?”
“True enough, but we’re going to have to take a rain check.” She once more clicked the pen she’d refused to let go of.
“Not again!”
“I know. Nothing I can do about it. I’m off in a couple of days for forty-eight hours. How does that work for you?”
“Call me when you’re finished today—no matter what time it is. We’ll talk about it then.”
She killed the connection, pulled up her emergency numbers on the computer, and picked up a land line, punched in the numbers and waited.
“Ridgewood Security, Tom speaking.”
“Tom, this is Inspector Pepper Yee of the SFPD. I need to check your security tapes for the elevator that goes to the employee parking area.”
“For twenty-four hours?”
Pepper could picture him cringing. “No, Just the past three hours.”
“Okay, when do you want them?”
“I’m on my way now.”
Chapter 58
Mort Tallent stood in his spacious living room, staring out the panoramic window at San Francisco Bay.
He was confused ... so many unanswered questions.
My life has been nothing but unanswered questions.
One thing was certain: this morning he stepped away from the practice of medicine ... forever.
By now, word of his actions, or inaction, during surgery would be spreading throughout the hospital, not stopping until it reached administration.
He couldn’t return to that life now, even if he wanted to.
And he didn’t want to.
He had enough money put away to do most anything, most anywhere.
That possibility had been on the table for a long time. He could have done it with Annie that time when she asked him to do it. They could have run away, done anything he wanted to do. Anything they wanted to do.
Together.
Too late for that, Tallent.
Way too late.
* * *
It had taken time for Mort Tallent to straighten up and clean his apartment, especially the kitchen and the room that Vlad had taken over.
Afterward, he took a shower to get the feeling of Vlad’s slime cleansed from his body. He had to scrub long and hard before he was satisfied. By then, his skin was raw in places.
He threw a few things together, tied the marred surfboard to a luggage rack on the roof of the Mercedes, and drove north along the coast on Highway One.
At Point Reyes, he spent some time just taking in Tomales Bay before stopping at a local cafe for an oyster sandwich. Only after taking the last bite did it come to him that had to be the best sandwich he’d had in a long, long time.
It had been raining on and off
since he left the city, the kind of day they’d been having around the Bay Area for the past month or so. It was wonderful.
He continued to drive west until he could see the Pacific Ocean. The storm-tossed water looked powerful, restless, and beautiful.
He called Vlad’s cell, left a message: “Keep the money. Forget about Gina Mazzio.”
After that, he felt calm, at peace with himself.
He turned the car around and headed back south through Marin County, across the Golden Gate Bridge, through San Francisco, and down the Peninsula to Half Moon Bay. The whole time the rain came down in torrents, several times so forceful the windshield wipers couldn’t keep up and he had to pull off to the side of the road. Driving again, everything was drenched, cleansed. It was like the whole world was ready to start over. New beginnings for everything.
Except for him.
* * *
It was getting very late in the afternoon by the time Tallent changed into his wetsuit and carried his surfboard to a spot north of Half-Moon Bay. He looked at Vlad’s name scratched on the board’s polished surface. Vlad had taken over his life, owned him.
“No more!” Tallent screamed into the wind.
A light rain was still coming down, the tail end of the most recent passing storm. He watched the Maverick swells turn into waves that seemed to climb up into the sky before crashing back down and extending out to the shore.
He could picture Annie, smiling at him as if he were the only man in the world. He’d liked that feeling she gave him. What he didn’t like was that he’d never let her know that she was the only woman in world for him.
“Time to go!” he announced to the wind.
He hurried to the water, waded in, stretched out on the board, and started paddling. Soon, that’s all there was: paddling, breathing, laughing, then again and again.
Bone Crack: A Medical Suspense Thriller (The Gina Mazzio Series Book 6) Page 21