by B A Trimmer
“They’d supposedly just gotten in a big shipment and were storing everything in the warehouse. The hospital wrote off the entire thing as being destroyed.”
“Seems like a lot of bad luck for one hospital.”
“That’s not all of it. Last year, they reported some sort of ransomware that supposedly corrupted their inventory files. They also seem to have a string of fall-guys.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s the people we keep hearing about. Five times in the last four years, the hospital has turned in someone they say had been stealing drugs. In every case, they gave the police video records of the person actually committing the theft. The hospital is saying these people and the thefts are the reason why their accounting records are so messed up.”
“You’d think the cops would be able to piece together what’s happening over there.”
“It looks like they suspect what’s going on but haven’t been able to actually prove anything.”
“Have the reports come through on Lillian Abbot yet?”
“The regular reports say she’s clean. She has no criminal background, hasn’t had a parking ticket, nothing like that, and her credit’s good. Only, it’s sort of weird.”
“How is it weird?”
“The records on her only go back a few years.”
“Is that unusual?”
“I can usually find records on someone at least back to high school. But with her, there’s nothing. I can’t even find the college she went to.”
“Maybe she changed her name after a divorce?”
“Maybe, and Abbot is a relatively common name, so I might have completely missed it.”
“Did you do a deep dive?”
“Yes, but the secret software reports on her haven’t come back yet.”
“I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”
“Speaking of the secret software, I made a call this morning on the office phone, and it was making some weird clicks,” Sophie said.
“What kind of weird clicks?”
“Like maybe someone’s running a wiretap on it.”
“Are you still worried about the Men in Black?”
“You don’t think I should be? I read stories in the news all the time about people disappearing when they get too close to the truth.”
“By the news, are you talking about the tabloids you get in the check-out line at the grocery store?”
“Hey, the news in those papers is as good as anything I’ve seen lately on the networks. If you want to hear a lot of crazy conspiracy theories, just tune in to the nightly network news.”
~~~~
I drove up to Scottsdale General and sat for almost three hours watching Michael Palmer’s car. I decided that if I was going to continue to do this for a living, I’d need to take up knitting or something else to keep me busy while I sat around doing nothing.
I had just started thinking about food when Sophie called.
“Hey,” she said. “Are you coming back to the office? Suzi’s supposed to be here sometime this afternoon.”
“I’ll be down there in twenty minutes,” I said. “So far, Michael Palmer hasn’t gone anywhere but to work since last Thursday.”
Chapter Eleven
I walked up to the front to find Gina huddled with Sophie at her desk, looking down at a report.
“Hey,” Sophie said as I walked up. “I got the secret software reports back on Lillian Abbot.”
“And?”
“And you know how I said there weren’t any old records on her?”
“Yeah, what did you find out?”
“Well, it turns out, before about seven years ago, Lillian Abbot didn’t exist.”
“She had to exist somewhere,” I said.
“We’ve spent the last two hours punching everything we know about her into the secret software to see if we could get a match,” Sophie said.
“But we hardly have any information on her at all,” I pointed out.
“True,” Gina said. “Fortunately, the website picture of her is in high-definition. Sophie was able to use the facial recognition feature of the database.”
“Well?” I asked.
“According to what we’ve been able to piece together,” Sophie said, “Lillian Abbot is an alias for a woman named Ruth Skaggs.”
“Really? What else did you find out?”
“She’s been a criminal for most of her life. She also spent three years in prison for running a narcotics ring out of a medical clinic in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where they had the big Civil War battle. After her release, seven years ago, she disappeared and is currently wanted for multiple parole violations.”
“Are there any pictures of her?” I asked.
“Several,” Sophie said as she displayed them on her monitor. Most of the photos were of the woman in prison orange.
“Yup,” I said. “It’s the same woman. How did the hospital miss that when they ran her background check?”
“We’re thinking they didn’t miss it,” Gina said. “Maybe they even hired her because of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it,” Gina said. “If you wanted to make a lot of money by setting up your hospital to be a secret narcotics ring, you’d want to hire someone who already knew how to do it.”
“Whoever brought her in would need to be pretty high up in the hospital,” I said. “Covering up something like that would take a lot of authority.”
“Well,” Sophie said as she brought up the executive staff of Scottsdale General on her monitor again. “The only person who seems to be above it all is him.” She then pointed to the President and CEO.
“J. Barrett Knight?” I asked. “We talked about him the other day. It doesn’t make any sense. His family pours millions of dollars into every charity in Scottsdale you can think of. I don’t see how he could be involved in any of it.”
“Fine,” Sophie said. “You come up with a better explanation.”
“What about the guy who attacked me? His name was Benny.”
“I cross-referenced everyone who works at the hospital with the name of Benjamin or Benny,” Sophie said. “I found a guy who’s listed as a warehouse manager called Benjamin Todd.”
“Do you have a picture of him?”
“Here you go,” Sophie said as she pulled up a photo that had been taken as a police mugshot.
As I looked at the picture, the face was several years younger, and the hair was shorter, but I recognized the man as the one who had taken such pleasure in torturing me.
“That’s him,” I said. “What do you know about him?”
“According to the secret software, he was born and raised in Vicksburg. He was working in a local clinic there when Lillian Abbot set up her narcotics operation. This was back when she was known as Ruth Skaggs. He has a long list of minor criminal convictions, mainly assaults, DUIs, bar fights, things like that.”
“He didn’t get fingered for his part in the drug ring?”
“It doesn’t look like it. He seems to have escaped undetected when Ruth Skaggs headed to prison.”
“He seems like a slippery little creep,” I said. “I could see him talking his way out of a situation.”
“Well, you said he was bad news,” Gina said.
“I take it Lillian hired him when she became the Supply Chain director for the hospital?”
“It doesn’t say who hired him,” Sophie said. “But he started about three months after Lillian Abbot joined the executive staff.”
“I’d say that’s close enough for a connection.”
~~~~
After lunch, Gina and I gathered at Sophie’s desk while we waited for Suzi to call. I was still stressing about the meeting while Sophie seemed to be like a kid waiting to open a big present. As usual, Gina was calm and was simply taking in the situation.
My phone rang and I pulled it out of my back pocket. It was Suzi Lu.
“Hi, Suzi,” I said. “You’re on speakerphone wit
h Sophie and Gina.”
“Laura, I’m with Carla. Will this afternoon still work for the introduction? We’ll need at least half an hour when we won’t be disturbed. Forty-five minutes would be better.”
“We’re ready for you,” Sophie said. “Anytime between one and three-thirty should be good. It’s only the four of us here, and we don’t have any clients scheduled for the rest of the afternoon. All Lenny is doing is preparing for a hearing on Friday.”
“Perfect,” Suzi said. “Thanks, Sophie. We’re half a block down the street. We’ll be there in two minutes.”
I disconnected, and Gina looked at me. “You still seem uneasy about this,” she said in her motherly tone.
“I really hope this works out,” I said. “The last time we set Lenny up with someone, it turned out to be a real roller coaster ride.”
“Yeah, but I gotta see what happens,” Sophie said. “I’ve been looking forward to this all day.”
“Well,” Gina said. “At least this will be interesting.”
Sophie hit the intercom button. “Boss, would you mind coming out to the front for a minute?”
The door to Lenny’s office opened and he walked up to Sophie’s desk. “What?” he asked, clearly annoyed.
As if expecting a new client, he looked around, but it was only the three of us. “Where’s the client?” he asked.
“Um,” I said. “This isn’t about a new client.”
“Okay,” he said, sounding irritated. “So, what is it then?”
The front door opened and Mistress McNasty strolled in. She was wearing a tight red leather shirt, unbuttoned down to her navel, and a pair of black leather pants. She held a riding crop and was slapping it against the palm of her hand.
Behind her walked a woman, maybe thirty-five years old. My first impression was the woman was an Amazon, like in Wonder Woman.
Where Suzi is of average height and thin, the woman with her was at least six feet tall and athletic. She had long red hair that curled halfway down her back. She was wearing black leather pants and a tight blue leather shirt, which was opened to expose an ample amount of doctor-assisted cleavage.
Her boots had a three-inch heel, which made her even more imposing. She looked erotic and intimidating, sort of like Gabriella, but with less feeling of outright danger.
Lenny’s mouth dropped open, and his eyes bugged out in surprise. “Mistress McNasty?” he asked weakly.
Lenny stood in the middle of the reception area while the two women slowly circled him. I could smell their perfumes mingling as the air slowly swirled around the office.
It didn’t take long for Lenny to become self-conscious as the women assessed him. He seemed to shrink as he looked back and forth between them.
Suzi looked Lenny over with mild disdain. “Slug,” she said. “It has come to my attention that a proper woman has recently dismissed you from her life. No doubt it was because you’re so weak and disgusting.”
Lenny’s eyes became slightly unfocused and he got a look of confusion on his face. “Um, yes, mistress,” he quietly said. “How did you know?”
“It’s my business to know these things. As it so happens, you did me a service several months ago. I wish to repay my debt by introducing you to Countess Carla, the Cruel. Perhaps she can make a man out of you.”
“Mistress, you didn’t tell me he was this pathetic,” Carla said to Suzi as they continued to circle. “I mean, just look at him. It will take weeks to achieve even basic discipline with him. I really don’t know if I want to put in the effort. The final results will be miserable, at best. I have my reputation to think of.”
“I realize he’s wretched and completely loathsome,” Suzi said. “Still, he does have one or two qualities that give me a faint glimmer of hope. I think he can be trained to at least obey you.”
“I have my doubts,” Countess Carla said as she shook her head. “But as a personal favor to you, Mistress McNasty, I’ll interview him. That is assuming he can afford me. One look at the sorry state of this office and I’m already having second thoughts.”
“Oh no,” Lenny said, now excited as he looked back and forth between the two women. “I have plenty of money. I just never spend any of it fixing up this place. It pretty much looks the same as it has since the nineteen-eighties. The carpet hasn’t been replaced for over twenty years.”
Gina and Sophie looked at each other. “Eeewww,” they both said in unison.
“Worm,” Suzi said. “Do you have someplace private where Countess Carla can judge you?”
“Um, yes, mistress,” Lenny said as he looked back and forth between the two stern faces. “We can use my office.” His voice was shaking and I couldn’t tell if it was from fear or excitement. Maybe it was a bit of both.
Lenny led the women into his office and closed the door. The three of us stood in a slightly shocked silence for several seconds.
“Wow,” Sophie said. “That was amazing.”
“This will certainly take Lenny’s mind off Elle dumping him,” Gina said.
“Yeah, but did you see the look on his face?” I asked. “I still hope we haven’t created another monster with this.”
“I thought it was hot,” Sophie said. “I wouldn’t mind if those two women started walking around me and talking about my need for some firm discipline.”
“Eeewww,” Gina and I both said.
“Hey,” Sophie said, slightly annoyed. “Don’t yuck on my yum.”
We walked closer to Lenny’s office, but all we heard was the quiet murmur of voices. After the excitement we’d just had, it was a little disappointing.
Ten minutes later, the office door opened and Suzi came out.
“It’s looking good so far,” she said. “Carla will have a mini-session with Lenny to see if he can follow orders and obey her without question. Assuming it goes well, the sessions after this will be at her dungeon.”
“Is there anything we should do to help?” Gina asked.
“Actually, there is. Pretend you don’t know where he’s going when he disappears at the same time every week. In fact, don’t even mention this happened at all. It will work out best if Lenny keeps this as something separate.”
“We can do that,” I said.
“With all the talk about Lenny’s money, should we be worried?” Gina asked.
“No, Carla is good. Lenny won’t be allowed to give her anything of value, other than the agreed-upon fees for their sessions. Now, these fees can be as high as both parties agree to, but she’ll keep it reasonable and the price will be arranged ahead of time. She’s not trying to cheat him or trick him in any way.”
“You don’t know Lenny,” Sophie said. “If he falls for her, I can see him going completely overboard.”
“That can happen, and you’ll all need to help keep an eye on him,” Suzi said. “Especially during the first few months. A new client will sometimes try to show his appreciation by attempting to give expensive gifts. Carla wouldn’t accept one if he tried, but be alert if he buys anything to give to her.”
“What will she do if Lenny insists on giving her presents?” Gina asked.
“In that case, let Carla know. She’ll focus his gifts on something positive. Is there anything you can think of that would benefit him? Some worthy cause or charity he’s been wanting to get into?”
Sophie looked around the office. “Redecorating this crappy place would be a start, especially after that crack about not replacing the carpet in twenty years. Maybe then we’d attract a higher class of clients.”
“That would be perfect,” Suzi said, smiling broadly. “Something like that would benefit everyone, not just Lenny. I’ll be sure to let Carla know.”
From inside Lenny’s office, we heard Carla shout: “Obey me, slave.”
This was followed by the distinctive sound of a hand striking flesh and then Lenny yelping like a small dog. He started to make a hurt, whimpering noise. It was actually kind of creepy.
“Do you think eve
rything’s going alright in there?” Gina asked, her eyebrows raised.
“Oh yes,” Suzi said with a laugh. “I’ve been waiting for it. Lenny needed to experience something painful to drive home the concept that he’s not in control when he’s in the presence of his mistress. Don’t worry. She’ll never do anything to permanently damage him.”
~~~~
Twenty minutes later, the office door opened, and Countess Carla, the Cruel, stepped out. She was smiling brightly and I could tell she had enjoyed herself.
She made eye contact with Suzi and nodded her head. At this, Suzi also broke out in one of her infectious smiles.
“Very well,” Suzi said. “We’re done here. Lenny will be acceptable. Remember everything we talked about. And make sure to call if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“Thank you so much for the referral,” Carla said to us in a quiet voice. “He seems like a total sweetheart.”
We looked at each other and Gina wrinkled her nose. Sweetheart wasn’t a term anyone had ever used before about Lenny.
The two women took off through the front door. A minute or so later, Lenny came out of his office looking dazed, but happy. He was holding a glass of Beam on the rocks.
The entire left side of his face had a bright red mark from where Countess Carla had slapped him. From the size of it, she had put some force behind her swing.
“Wow,” Sophie said, ignoring Suzi’s advice not to talk about the session. “What happened to you?”
“Um,” Lenny said. “I didn’t answer a question quickly enough, so Countess Carla slapped me. Only, she called it a correction.” He reached up and felt the red mark on his cheek. “It hurt, but it also felt kind of good at the same time. It’s hard to describe.”
Sophie nodded her head, as if she completely understood. Gina and I only looked at each other.
“Sophie,” Lenny said. “I’m going, um, golfing this Thursday morning, from nine to noon. And, I’m also going golfing every Thursday from nine to noon, from now on.”
“Okay,” Sophie said with a knowing smile. “I’ll put it on your calendar.”
“I’ll be in my office for a while. Make sure I’m not disturbed for at least half an hour. I need a couple of cigarettes.”
