by Kathy Reichs
“I’ll be jigswiggered.”
I peeked over the monitor at Ryan. His brows lifted ever so slightly. I lowered mine. Don’t say it.
“What’s the story on this Montague woman?” Gullet asked, still studying the patterned curl that was Cleopatra’s appendage.
“You know what we know.” I began clicking through the rest of the pictures. “Any luck locating the brother?”
“We’ve found seventeen Montagues in the metro area, none on Sullivan’s. We’re working the list. Saying we find this guy, will Miz Rousseau manage to pull DNA from the barrel DOA?”
“Yes.”
Gullet said nothing. Jigswiggered speechless?
“Who runs this clinic in the images you’re viewing?” Ryan asked.
“God’s Mercy Church,” I said.
“I mean on a day-to-day basis. Who’s there on the ground?”
Behind me, I felt Gullet reorient toward Ryan. “My apologies, but your affiliation again, sir?”
“Lieutenant-detective, Major Crimes, Quebec Provincial Police,” Ryan said.
Gullet was silent a moment, as though thinking about that. Then, “Oh. Canada.”
“We stand on guard for thee.”
I jumped in.
“I work with Detective Ryan in Montreal. He’s visiting in Charleston this week. As long as he’s here, I thought I’d get his view of things, just in case I was missing something obvious.”
“Homicide?” Gullet asked Ryan.
“Yes. We just change the pronunciation.”
“May I ask what brings you to Charleston?”
“Got some time. Thought I’d drop by, help you streamline the department.”
Gullet’s eyes narrowed maybe the breadth of a hair. Mine narrowed considerably more.
“You been working the murder squad long?”
“Yes, I have.”
“You choose that?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You know why?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Lieutenant Ryan is regarded as one of the best homicide detectives in Quebec,” I said. “His input could help. Bring a fresh perspective.”
Gullet’s body language told me he wasn’t buying it. I laid it on thicker.
“I’ve seen Detective Ryan crack cases that had been stalled for months. He has an uncanny ability to read crime scenes and to penetrate the minds of perps.”
“Miz Rousseau good with his involvement?”
“She is.”
“Hell’s bells, we’re going to have more guests than regulars ’fore I know it.”
Silence filled the room. I was about to break it when Gullet spoke again. To me.
“He screws up, it’s on you. And the coroner.”
“I trust him.”
“I’m not signing your check, sir. Your input’s strictly unofficial.”
“And exceedingly discreet,” Ryan said. “All homicides interest me, Sheriff, and if I can help without getting in your way, I’d like to.”
“Long as we understand each other.” Gullet showed not a trace of expression. “Might as well come on around, Detective. Have yourself a look.”
Ryan got up and joined us. I set my computer to slide show mode. Gullet spoke as Ryan viewed the images.
“Clinic’s on Nassau. GMC owns the building and equipment, provides an operating budget, hires and fires employees, but otherwise stays pretty much hands-off. Place is open Tuesday through Saturday, handles mostly colds and minor injuries. Anything more serious gets routed to a hospital ER. The staff is small, one full-time nurse, one drop-by doc, some cleaning and clerical personnel.”
“Who are they?” I asked.
Gullet crossed to his desk, picked up and opened a manila folder.
“Doc’s name is Marshall. Nurse is Daniels. Woman named Berry handles paperwork and supplies. Guy named Towery does cleaning.”
I was about to ask a question when a woman appeared in the doorway.
“Sheriff, you said you wanted a heads-up on complaints from the Haeberles. Marlene’s caterwauling on 911. Says John Arthur’s whacking on her again.”
“She OK?” Gullet asked.
“John Arthur’s on another line. Says Marlene’s blinded him in one eye with a wooden spoon.”
“They drinking?”
“Does my hound Tyson scratch his fleas?”
“Merry hell.” Gullet looked at his watch. “Tell Marlene and John Arthur I’m riding over there myself. And I best not find they’ve got tequila on board.”
The woman withdrew.
“We serve and protect,” Gullet deadpanned to Ryan and me. “Even our own blockheaded trailer-trash in-law kin.”
“May I save these images?” I asked, pointing to my laptop.
Gullet nodded.
After creating a folder, I uploaded Cruikshank’s pictures to my hard drive. As my computer shut down, I changed topics.
“Did you find anything on Willie Helms?”
“I’ve got an officer asking around at the shelters. Refresh me. What’s our interest in this boy?”
“While investigating Helene Flynn, Cruikshank was gathering information on Willie Helms, Unique Montague, and a number of other MPs. I believe he was pursuing something on his own.”
“Uh-huh.” Skeptical.
“Emma’s looking for a dentist who might have treated Helms,” I said. “The man on Dewees had a lot of fillings.”
“It’s one hellacious long shot.”
A lot of folks were pointing that out.
* * *
“One of the best detectives in Quebec?”
“Don’t believe anything I said in there. It was all hype.”
“Jigswiggered?”
“You knew what he meant.”
Ryan pulled into traffic. For a Saturday afternoon, there was quite a bit. “Is that a bad thing? To swigger a jig?”
“Under certain circumstances.”
“Or were plural jigs wiggered? Perhaps he really meant to swig a jigger.”
I punched Ryan’s arm.
“That’s an assault.”
“Arrest me.”
“Now what?” Ryan asked.
“Cruikshank, Flynn, and Montague all tie in to that clinic, but Gullet doesn’t want any wingtipped cowboys harassing the staff.”
“I’m strictly a loafer man.”
“He meant Pete.”
“The cute little tyke.”
Twenty minutes later we were back on the Peninsula, in a run-down section between the historic district and the Cooper River Bridge. The quartier featured low brick and frame bungalows, sagging porches stacked with rusted appliances, here and there a plywood-boarded window or door.
Ryan spotted the redbrick building first. Pulling to the curb, he cut the engine.
The clinic was a plain box with rusty ACs jutting from the windows and abandoned lots on both sides. In keeping with the hood, there were no shutters, no signs, not an architectural frill of any kind. The interior blinds were closed, as on the day Cruikshank’s photos were snapped.
As we watched, the front door opened, glinting late-afternoon sunlight from the tinted plate glass. An old woman emerged and began picking her way along the walk.
Shielding my eyes with one hand, I scanned up and down Nassau, following sight lines out from the clinic door. Half a block north was a bus shelter. Half a block south was a phone booth. Through the dingy glass I could see the receiver dangling by its cord.
“Pics were probably shot from the phone booth and the bus stop,” I said.
Ryan agreed. We got out and crossed the street.
The building looked seedier on actual viewing than it had on the disc. I noticed a window crack patched with gray duct tape. The tape was curled at the edges, suggesting the patch had been there awhile.
Ryan held the door and we both entered. Inside, the air was warm and smelled of alcohol and sweat.
The reception area held rows of Kmart vinyl chairs, two of which were occupied. A
woman with a black eye. A kid with one of those unfortunate goatee things on his chin. Both were coughing and sniffing. Neither bothered to look our way.
The receptionist did bother. She was about my age, tall and muscular, with mahogany skin and up-slicked frizz that was black at the roots and bronze at the tips. I assumed this was Berry, CEO of paperwork and supplies.
Running through Cruikshank’s images, I spotted Berry in my mind’s eye—JPEG 7. The tall black woman with the blond hair.
Seeing us, Berry straightened and set her jaw. Perhaps she’d already given last call. Perhaps our appearance suggested we weren’t there for Pepto.
Ryan and I crossed to the reception desk. I smiled at Berry. Her face remained hard as a Hell’s Angels logo. She wasn’t fingering brass knuckles, but it was close.
I introduced myself. “I’m Dr. Brennan. This is Detective Ryan. We’re working with the Charleston County Coroner’s Office, investigating the possible death of a woman who may have been Unique Montague.”
“Who?”
I repeated the name.
Berry’s eyes were black-brown, the whites yellow as stale beer. I watched them rove down, then back up my body. The movement nudged the jittery little temper trigger in my brain.
“We have reason to believe Miss Montague was a patient at this clinic,” I said.
“Do you?”
“Was she?” I tried but failed to keep the irritation from my voice.
“Was she what?”
I turned to Ryan. “Are my questions unclear, Detective? Maybe too ambiguous?”
“I don’t think so,” Ryan said.
I turned back to Berry. “Was Unique Montague a patient at this clinic?”
“I’m not saying she was, not saying she wasn’t.”
Again, I turned to Ryan. “Maybe it’s my manner. Maybe Miss Berry doesn’t like the way I’m asking the questions.”
“You could try being more polite,” Ryan said.
“Friendlier?”
Ryan shrugged.
Swinging back to Berry, I smiled the friendliest of smiles. “If it’s not too inconvenient, would you mind sharing with us what you know about Miss Montague?”
Berry’s eyes bore into mine. I definitely disliked what I saw in them. I also disliked the fact that she was right. Ryan and I had no official jurisdiction, and Berry had no reason to cooperate with us. Nevertheless, I maintained my bluff.
“Do you know what’s really, really fun?” I gave Berry another big smile. “Visits to the police station. The officers give you free soft drinks, doughnuts if you’re lucky, and a cozy little room all to yourself.”
Flipping her pen onto her appointment book, Berry sighed dramatically. “Why do you want to know about this Montague person?”
“Her name has surfaced in connection with a police investigation concerning a dead body.”
“Why her name?”
“I don’t think that’s relevant.” To Ryan. “Do you think that’s relevant, Detective?”
“I don’t think so.”
Leaning back, Berry crossed tree-trunk arms on a double-D chest. “You work for the coroner?”
“I do.”
“Better haul out a body bag.”
“Why is that?”
Berry looked to Ryan. “You two are such a scream I might die laughing right here in this chair.”
“That’s a very old line,” I said.
“I’ll hire new writers.”
“Let’s start over. Unique Montague may have come in with a cat on her chest.”
“Lots of our patients have parasite problems.”
Obviously, this wasn’t working. Mention Helene Flynn? Noble Cruikshank? Bad idea. If a connection existed, such questions could raise the alert Gullet wished to avoid.
“I’d like to speak with Dr. Marshall,” I said.
“He won’t talk about patients.” Realizing her mistake, Berry corrected herself. “If this Montague was a patient, which I’m not saying she was.”
“She was.”
We all three swiveled toward the woman with the shiner.
25
THE WOMAN WAS WATCHING US FROM UNDER half-mast lids, one swollen and discolored. Her skin was sallow, her cropped black hair spiked out in clumps.
“You’re acquainted with Unique Montague?” I asked.
The woman raised two palms. Her nails were chewed, her inner elbows welted with sinewy scars. “I said she come here. Nothing more.”
“How do you know that?”
“I spend half my life waiting at this dump.” The woman glared at Berry. “Don’t matter if you’re dying.”
“You’re not dying, Ronnie.” Berry’s tone was cold and unfeeling.
“I got the flu.”
“You’re a junkie.”
I intervened. “You spoke to Unique Montague here at this clinic?”
“I don’t waste no breath on whackos. Heard this whacko talking to a big brown cat. Called herself Unique.”
“You’re sure?”
“I heard you askin’. I laid down an answer.”
“When was she here?”
One bony shoulder hitched.
“Do you know where she lives?”
“Whacko told the cat they was going to some shelter.”
“Which shelter?”
“I look like a fucking social worker?”
“Language,” Berry admonished.
Ronnie’s mouth clamped into a thin, tight line. Kicking out her feet, she laced her fingers on her belly and lowered her eyes.
Goat-chin spoke without raising his head from the wall. “Someone gonna see me, or should I just go home and mail my snot to y’all in a baggie?”
Berry was about to respond when a door opened, footsteps clicked, and a man entered from a hallway to the right of her desk. The man held two charts.
“Rosario. Case.”
Hearing his name, goat-chin asked, “You the doc?”
“No.”
A smirk crossed the kid’s face. “Nurse Nancy?”
“Daniels. Corey Daniels. You got a problem with male nurses?”
When goat-chin opened his eyes, the smirk evaporated. For good reason.
If Berry was big, Daniels was bigger. I’m not talking NBA tall and skinny. This guy looked like Sasquatch in scrubs. His hair was pulled back in a sumo knot, and a line of tattoos snaked from his biceps to his wrist.
“Sorry, man.” Goat-chin lost all interest in eye contact. “I feel like shit.”
“Uh-huh.” Daniels shifted to Ronnie. “You living out another dose, sunflower?”
“I got a fever.”
“Uh-huh. Both of you follow me.”
“Mr. Daniels,” I said, as Ronnie and goat-chin pushed to their feet.
“Yo.” Surprised, as though noticing Ryan and me for the first time.
“They’re asking about some woman named Unique Montague.” Berry’s voice seemed a bit louder than necessary.
“And they are?”
“Coroner and a cop.”
“Got ID?” Daniels asked Ryan.
OK. The nurse was more shrewd than the secretary. Or not. I produced my UNCC faculty card. Ryan flashed his badge. Daniels barely glanced at either.
“Wait while I situate these patients.”
Whatever “situating” involved, it took twenty minutes.
When Daniels returned, he again spoke only to Ryan. “Dr. Marshall wants you to come back in an hour so he can talk to you personally.”
“We’ll wait,” Ryan said.
“Could take longer.” Daniels kept his eyes steady on Ryan.
“We’re patient people.”
Daniels gave Ryan a “suit yourself” shrug. When he’d gone, I took a shot at a ceasefire.
“May I ask how long you’ve been with this clinic, Miss Berry?”
Sullen stare.
“How many patients do you treat each week?”
“If this is a job interview, I’m not applying.”
&nb
sp; “I’m impressed with GMC’s commitment to the poor.”
Berry put a finger to her lips and shhh’ed me. The gesture jiggled that limbic switch.
“You must be very devoted to the organization’s aims to do this type of work.”
“I’m a saint.”
I wondered how saintly she’d be with my boot up her ass.
“Have you worked at other GMC clinics?”
Eyeing me coldly, Berry pointed at the Kmart chairs.
“What? Am I speaking in a rude manner again?” Barely holding my temper in check.
Again, Berry jabbed the sit command.
The little bundle of axons triumphed. The switch engaged.
“How did it work? You got the front desk when poor Helene vanished?”
Berry turned away.
I was conjuring an even more stupid quip when Ryan laid a calming hand on my shoulder. I had done exactly the sort of thing Gullet had warned against. Gratuitously disclosed information without getting anything in return. Chagrined, I settled into the chair next to Ryan.
Berry got up and locked the front door, then returned to her desk and busied herself shuffling paper.
Ten minutes dragged by.
Goat-chin appeared clutching a small white bag. Berry let him out. A short time later it was Ronnie.
Now and then I’d glance up and catch Berry watching us. Her eyes would flick away and paper would rustle. The woman seemed to have a lot of paper.
At seven, I rose, paced, resumed my seat.
“You think Marshall slipped out the back?” I asked Ryan under my breath.
Ryan shook his head. “The pit bull’s still guarding the front.”
“Did I?”
Ryan gave me a quizzical look.
“Slip out. Leave. Daniels acted like I wasn’t here.”
“The pit bull noticed you.”
I glared at Ryan.
“OK. The staff lacks some people skills.”
“GMC should look for a twofer, get their up-front tag team sensitivity training.”
“I thought you weren’t going to ask about Flynn,” Ryan said with just a hint of reproach.
“I wasn’t. Daniels pissed me off. Berry pissed me off. And it occurred to me that if they worked here together, Berry and Flynn might have confided in each other.”
Ryan looked dubious.
“They could have been friends.” More petulant than I intended.
