“Okay, thanks,” she replied and stood up. “Oh, one thing. Will I be paid for today?”
This time it was my mouth that hung open. Wow, for a little sprite of a girl, she’s got some gall.
“Check in with Human Resources on your way out, Ms. Bailey,” Dorey replied testily. “They can answer that question.”
“Thanks!” Jasmine chirped. “It was a pleasure meeting you all.”
I swear, if she skips out of here I’m going to scream.
“All right,” Dorey said, turning to the other two. “Anyone else want to leave?”
“I’m here to do a job,” Gary affirmed.
“Yeah, can we just get on with it all ready?” Eugene growled.
He’s going to be fun to work with.
Chapter Thirteen
Casey Dennis
The hallway was busy, with people going to and fro, but it seemed to empty out when I asked, “What’s wrong, Celine?” I couldn’t imagine what had her riled up, but she was clearly pissed about something that I apparently did.
She cut me an angry look as if she were throwing daggers at my head. “What the hell do you think you were doing with my patient?”
I stepped closer to her. “Your patient? I don’t understand. Who is your patient?”
“The woman you were molesting in there, that’s who.”
“Scottie? The mother of the sick little boy?”
“Yes, that’s her. So, I repeat, what were you thinking?” Celine demanded.
“First of all, Dr. Aponte,” I bit out. “I don’t appreciate your tone. Secondly, I don’t know what the hell you are accusing me of?”
“I saw you with her. I saw you kiss her. You’ve been here two days, and you’re already kissing on the patients. That’s reprehensible.”
“Stop. Just stop right there.” I inhaled sharply, trying to calm my nerves. I’m not sure why she was insinuating something so vile, but I wasn’t going to tolerate it.
“Scottie is very fragile right now and you’re playing with her emotions,” she declared.
Obviously, I wasn’t getting through to her and I could feel the anger building inside. I needed to try a different tactic. A softer approach. “Celine. It’s not what you think. Yesterday, when I was making rounds, she thought I was the chaplain and asked me to pray with her. And today, she called me, asking me to pray with her again. That’s all I was doing, Celine, offering comfort to someone who was suffering. I had no way of knowing she was your patient.”
“If you had, would you have still kissed her?” Celine asked judgmentally.
Tilting my head, I looked into her eyes, searching for what she was really after. “Yes, I probably would have. She was hurting, Celine. What was I supposed to do?”
Celine put her fingers to her lips as if was she thinking it through. Then she stepped close and look intently at me. “I’m sorry, Casey. I was wrong and way out of line.”
“You were protecting your patient. I can understand that.”
“And you were just being kind to her,” she replied. “I should have known that. I completely misread the situation, which is not like me at all.”
“You do seem a bit distracted,” I offered. “Is anything wrong?”
“Oh, yes. I needed to talk to you about something,” she said just as the elevator dinged and the doors swung open.
Dorey stepped off, followed by two people I didn’t recognize.
“Good morning, Chief,” she said, eyeing Celine casually.
“Good morning, Ms. Davis. Are these the new recruits?” I asked.
“Yes, Eugene Kozlowski, and Gary Bennett. Guys, this is Chief of Security Casey Dennis, our director.”
“It’s nice to meet you both,” I said, distracted by Celine’s reaction to them, as if she knew one of them, but didn’t want to let on. I wondered if one of them were her patient and she just didn’t want to out him, as it were. I looked at both men with a keen eye. Gary kept looking toward the ICU as if he were ready to move on and Eugene eyed Celine with what could only be called a lecherous stare. I couldn’t blame him for staring at Celine. I know I do every chance I get, but the protective side of me was ready to punch him in the mouth. “Continue on your rounds, Ms. Davis, and I will meet you back at the office.”
“Roger that, Chief,” she responded and waved at the two to follow as she walked toward the ICU. Eugene took one last ogling look at Celine before he rushed to catch up with Dorey.
Celine had her arms wrapped around her midsection as if she were cold. “Can we go up to my office?”
I was about to tell her no because I needed to get down to my office, but I had put her off twice already. “Sure, lead the way.”
We jumped on the elevator and rode it to the fifth floor in silence. She punched in the code and opened the door to the unit, making sure it shut completely behind her. “This way,” she said, walking around the corner from the nurses’ station. She pulled out her keys and unlocked her office door.
She showed me in and went straight to the couch and sat down. I followed suit, sat down and propped one leg up on the cushion so I could turn to look at her.
“Okay, let me preface what I’m about to say with a disclaimer. The reason we didn’t go to the police with this was because of patient confidentially.”
“Uh… okay,” I responded.
“My partner, Dr. Nicholas Hall, had an appointment scheduled with the, um, victim.”
I sat up straight and glared at her. “What the hell?”
She held up her hand. “Let me finish, please.”
Frowning, I nodded, reluctantly.
“Dr. Hall wasn’t even aware of it. He hadn’t had his session with her yet. Our receptionist, Nancy, recognized her picture on the television and told me about it.”
“But Celine, if he hadn’t had met with her yet, it can’t be patient confidentially. She wasn’t legally under his care yet. You both have interfered with an ongoing police investigation.”
“Oh, no,” she muttered, putting her fingers to her lips. That’s her tell. When she’s thinking something through, she does that. I just needed to be patient and wait on her to decide what she wanted to say, but at the moment, I wanted to pull the words out of her. She placed her hand on my knee and said, “You have to believe me, Casey. That was not our intention.”
“I believe you,” I assured her, fighting the urge to take her hand in mine. “When did your receptionist tell you about her?”
“This morning. I had to drop by my office before coming to the hospital. She said the news was showing the picture and asking if anyone knew who she was. Nancy remembered the woman because she had that scar on her chin. Nancy said she thought that the lady came in sometime last month, but you see, we’re always booked up at least a month in advance.”
Questions began swirling in my head faster than I could keep up with them. “Is it usual that patients drop in to schedule appointments? I mean, don’t most people just call on the telephone?”
“Yes, but not always. Sometimes patients are afraid of being found out, so they come in instead of calling.”
“Tell me about your office and partners.” I was in full detective mode. “Are you open twenty-four seven?”
“No. We’re open from ten in the morning to ten at night. There are five of us with varying schedules and patient loads. For instance, I only see a few patients in the evening.”
“So, you’re the vice-president of the unit here, and also have a practice away from the hospital?” I scratched my head even though it didn’t itch. “You keep some long hours, Celine.”
“I was only just promoted at the beginning of the year, but I’ve been able to balance things pretty smoothly so far.”
“And your partners? Do you know them well?”
She nodded. “I went to college with three of them, the fourth I’ve known for about three years and the fifth one we just contracted with a few months ago.” She pulled her hand back and I realized how much warmth and ener
gy her small hand had created. “Why did you want to know about my partners, Casey?”
“Is this what you were trying to tell me earlier?” I asked, ignoring her question.
“Yes. What are you getting at?”
Smiling, I put my hand on my knee where her hand had rested. “I’m getting at the fact that you didn’t withhold evidence, Celine. Not yet, anyway. Let me call Becky and—”
“Who’s Becky?” she asked.
“Detective Littleton. Lead detective on the case. This may be the first real break she’s had.” I was almost giddy with possibilities. “Your office will have the victim’s name and address. That’s more than the police had two minutes ago.”
She nodded that she understood and I dug my cellphone out of my pocket.
“No, wait,” Celine said, putting her hand on my phone. “I don’t want the police scaring our patients. Can’t we just have the detective come here instead?”
“Detective Littleton is going to want to talk with Nancy, you and perhaps even Dr. Hall. If I were leading the case, that’s what I would do. I don’t know that she will insist it be at your clinic though, so you could have Nancy bring a printout of the appointment to this office and let the detective question her here.”
Celine smiled. “Yes, I’ll call her right now.”
“Good deal. I’ll call Detective Littleton and ask her to meet us here in about thirty minutes. Is that enough time for Nancy to get here?”
“Plenty of time. You’ll be here, also?” she asked.
“Yes. Uh, unless you’d rather speak to her alone?”
She shook her head. “No, actually, I’m kind of relieved. Thank you.”
“Good,” I said, standing up. “I need to check in with my office so I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
***
“Okay, what have we got?” I asked, walking into the office and up to Michele’s desk.
Michele handed me the fax copies from the temp agency. “One of the temps has already quit,” she said.
“Really? They hadn’t even met me yet,” I joked, feeling playful after talking with Celine. The excitement of discovering clues had always energized me. It was like a natural high.
“I know, right?” Michele said, and then inhaled sharply when she realized what she had said. “Um, I meant, um… well…”
“It’s all right, Michele. I set you up for that one. Dorey was making rounds, and I met two of them. I was wondering where the third one was. Now I know.”
“Shall I have the agency send out another one?” Michele asked.
“No, let’s see what we have with these two first.”
Michele busied herself with a stack of papers on her desk. “Here is the report Josh typed up from last night’s shift. And here’s one that Dorey wrote about her shift yesterday.”
“Yeah, he mentioned that,” I said, glancing over the papers. “I didn’t ask them to do a written report. What’s this about?”
“It was Dorey’s idea. She thought you might appreciate a detailed summary from each shift.”
I was impressed. The staff were beginning to own their responsibilities. “That’s a good idea. Keep a log of these, but also have them send the text to my cellphone.”
“Will do. Also, Susie, Mr. Alexander’s executive assistant, called and said that he wants an update on the murder victim situation.”
Maybe I should take a lesson from Dorey and send the CEO daily reports. “I’m meeting with the police in about half an hour. I’ll get with him after that. What else?”
“You have a one o’clock with Chief Nursing Officer, Brenda Shoeing, in her office. And a two o’clock with the Chief People Officer, Darrick Henry, in his office.”
“Very good. Can you sync my cellphone with my calendar so I don’t forget?”
“Sure, won’t take but a minute,” Michele said, holding her hand out.
I pulled my phone out and handed it to her. “While you’re at it, would you add everyone’s cellphone number, please?”
“No problem, give me a few minutes though.”
“I’ll leave it with you. I need to get back upstairs. I’ll be in Dr. Aponte’s office meeting with the police. Call me on the two-way if you need me.”
She looked at me for a moment and then nodded. “Roger that, Chief.”
Looking at the box sitting on the counter beside the coffeepot, I walked over and pulled a paper cup from the stack. “Are there any bagels left from this morning? I’m starving.” Peeking inside the box, I saw there was only a piece of a bagel left and it did not look appetizing.
“Here, how about a breakfast sandwich?” Michele asked, walking over to the refrigerator. She opened the freezer door. “I have a stash of sausage, egg and cheese muffins for just this type of emergency.” She pulled out a cellophane-wrapped sandwich.
“Remind me to give you a raise, Michele,” I said jokingly.
“Chief?”
I popped the sandwich in the microwave. “Hmm?”
“You wanted me to remind you to give me a raise.”
“Huh?” I looked at her and she was grinning.
***
“So, you’re telling me that the victim was a patient, and yet she wasn’t a patient?” Becky asked.
I thought Becky was being overly obnoxious with her repeating the same question again, but that might just be her style. When I was a young detective I had a chip on my shoulder because I was determined to prove to my partner, who was twenty years my senior and grumpy as hell, that I could do the job. I never did impress him, and thankfully he retired two years later. Now, as I sat across from Celine in her office, watching Becky question the receptionist in much the same fashion that I did back then, I wondered what chip she carried on her shoulder.
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying,” Nancy replied.
“Start again from the beginning, Ms. Baker,” Becky instructed.
Nancy looked confused and a little bit worried. She had already said what happened, but having a witness repeat the story sometimes jogs memories that had been forgotten.
“It’s all right, Nancy,” I said. “You’re not in any trouble. It’s standard operating procedure. Just tell us everything that you remember.”
Nancy nodded. “I remember that I was working the nightshift that day—”
“What day was that?” Becky asked. Nancy searched her memory, but shook her head. “Was it the middle of the week, or maybe at the end of the week and you were ready for the weekend?”
“Yes. Yes, it was a Friday! I remember because I was thinking about my boyfriend and our plans for the weekend when she walked in.”
“Very good, Ms. Baker,” Becky said. “What were your plans for the weekend?”
“It was unseasonably warm so we were going to the Bay of Chickens for one last beach party.”
“Bay of Chickens?” I asked.
“Oh, that’s right, you’re not from around here,” Becky said with a smirk. “It’s a popular beach and hiking area in the Blue Mesa Reservoir.” Becky pulled out her cellphone and tapped on a button, then she turned her attention back to Nancy. “Ms. Baker, according to my weather app, the last warm spell we had on a weekend was five weeks ago; September 23. Does that sound about right to you?”
Nancy darted her eyes as she counted on her fingers. She was going through her calendar in her head. “Yes, that’s exactly right.”
Excellent detective work.
“Very good. Now we have a timeframe placing the victim…” Becky looked down at the printout of the appointment the victim had made, “placing Ethel Farmer in your office on September 23. That was almost a month to the day she was killed.”
“How long did the killer hold the other victims hostage before killing them?” I asked.
“Six to eight weeks,” Becky replied.
“So then the—”
Becky cut me off. “Ms. Baker, you’ve been a great help, and I may need to ask more questions later, but for now, you’re free to go.”
> Nancy looked at Celine, who nodded.
“Thank you, Nancy,” Celine said. “I’ll see you back at the office later.”
My curiosity was peaked. Becky clearly did not want to discuss scenarios in front of Nancy. Would she in front of Celine? As soon as the door closed behind Nancy, Becky glanced at Celine and me.
“Dr. Aponte, Chief Dennis, what I’m about to say has not been released to the public. I need your promise that it will remain between us.”
“Of course, Detective,” Celine replied.
“No problem,” I agreed.
Becky stood up and began to pace. I could tell that her mind was running through all the facts of the case. We were a lot alike in that way. Finally, she stopped and looked at Celine.
“There is a common thread connecting the victims of this serial killer, and that is psychiatrists.”
“Oh, no,” Celine gasped and put her fingers to her lips. They were trembling.
Becky looked over at me with an unspoken question on her lips.
“How many are we talking about?” I asked.
“Ms. Farmer was our fourth victim, and, although the first three victims were left behind a dumpster at their psychiatrist’s office building, Farmer was found here in the parking lot.”
“Were the other three also patients at Celine’s clinic?” I asked.
Celine inhaled sharply and held her breath.
“No. All of the victims were at different offices with different doctors.”
I suddenly realized the question that Becky hadn’t asked yet. “His schedule was interrupted. He wasn’t done with the victim, so in his mind, Ms. Farmer’s death doesn’t count because he didn’t get to finish his ritual. He is probably already looking for her replacement.” I looked at Celine intently. “Detective, are you thinking that perhaps he’s going to take another woman from Celine’s clinic?”
Becky nodded and instant tears flooded Celine’s eyes.
She jumped up. “Oh, my God!”
Chapter Fourteen
Casey Dennis
Better the Devil You Don't Know Page 11