Terry Odell - Mapleton 02 - Deadly Bones

by Terry Odell

  “I’m on my way.” He clipped the phone to his belt.

  “Problem?” Colfax asked.

  “Megan Wyatt’s former guardian’s in the hospital. Megan thinks someone tried to kill her. I’m going to take her statement”—somehow, using official cop jargon justified the time—“and since someone is trying to get me to ignore the bones, I’m going to leave that case in your capable hands.”

  Colfax gave a twisted grin. “You’ve got it.”

  Gordon told Laurie what was going on. “You know how to reach me. See what you can do about moving that appointment, and there’s a deluxe box of Godiva truffles in it for you.”

  “Bribing a civil servant?” Laurie’s hand hovered above the phone. “Better leave so I don’t have to lie when I tell him you’re off on an urgent call.”

  After a quick stop at Dispatch to tell Connie to alert staff that Colfax was point man on any information relating to the bones, Gordon got in his official SUV and peeled out of the parking lot. He almost flipped on the lights, but he’d learned long ago that if people recognized a police car, they slowed down, and right now he didn’t need any overly cautious, temporarily law-abiding citizens impeding his progress.

  Traffic slowed as a tow truck hauled away a sedan that had gone one-on-one with a guard rail. Red and blue lights flashed on two county vehicles, and deputies were clearly working the accident scene. By now, it was too late for his own light bar to do any good, and Gordon banked his impatience as two lanes of traffic merged into one in order to get around the obstruction.

  Finally, he was at the hospital. Megan rushed to him as soon as he strode through the door. “Rose?” he asked.

  “Stable.”

  “What about you?”

  She glanced around as if she was afraid she was being watched. “Can we go somewhere to talk?”

  He thought about his barely touched cup of coffee at the station. “How about the cafeteria?”

  She sighed, which he took as acceptance. They strolled down the portrait-lined corridor, and she halted abruptly. She pointed at a picture. “Am I crazy, or is that one of the people in the picture I sent you? Wait.” She fished through her purse. “I had this in my hand when we got the call about Rose.”

  Gordon took the folded sheet and opened it. Megan tapped one of the men. “I thought he looked familiar, but I didn’t know why. Maybe I had this picture in my head, because he sure doesn’t look like this now,” she said. “Or for as long as I’ve been seeing him.”

  Gordon gazed between the blurry photograph of the man in hunting camouflage and the portrait on the wall. There was a definite resemblance, although he wouldn’t swear to it in court. “Could be. Although I’d never have pegged Doc Evans as a hunter.”

  Megan took the paper and ambled back and forth along the portrait gallery, clearly looking for anyone else who might have been in the photograph. The array of faces was arranged in chronological order, so Gordon limited his perusal to the earlier end of things. He stopped at the first photograph, a stern-looking man with rimless glasses and a handlebar moustache. Megan returned, holding up her paper.

  “You think he’s one of them?” she asked.

  Gordon took another peek at the printout. “No. Something creepy about the eyes stopped me. Like he’s watching, passing judgment.”

  Megan stepped closer to the portrait, reading the small plaque beneath it. “Dr. Abraham Pinkerton. One of the original founders. I can see where nobody would want to mess with him.”

  “Let’s get that coffee,” Gordon said. “And you can tell me why you called.”

  Sitting at the same table they’d used before, Megan explained what had happened to Rose. “If Sam’s right, and I think he is, then Rose shouldn’t have been given the wrong medication. Not after she’d already had a reaction to it.”

  Gordon mulled that one over. “I know nurses are stretched thin, and overworked. There’s always a possibility it was an innocent mistake.”

  “Can you look into it? Because if it was intentional, then it’s attempted murder, right? And you’re a cop. That’s what you do.”

  “What did Doc Evans say?”

  Megan frowned. “He was supposed to be on his way. I assume he went straight to ICU, and they don’t allow cell phones up there, so nobody’s called.” Her frown deepened, and she scooted her chair from the table. “I should get up there.” Her phone chirped and she fished it out of her purse. Apparently it was a text, because she fingered the keyboard, then dropped the phone back into her bag. “Justin,” she said. “I told him where we were.”

  Within a minute, Justin rushed to their table, eyes wide, face flushed. “It’s Dr. Evans.”

  Chapter 25

  “Sit down.” Gordon hooked a foot around a chair leg and pulled it away from the table, gesturing to Justin. Judging from the expression on his face, this was more than an announcement of Doc’s arrival. “What about Doc Evans?”

  Justin reached for Megan’s hand. “The accident. It was him. He’s in critical condition.”

  Megan’s eyes went round. “You mean the one we passed on the way here? My God, what happened?”

  “I don’t know.” Justin pushed his hands through his hair. “I was coming out of the men’s room and I heard the nurses talking about it. All they would tell me was that they were trying to get him stabilized in the ER, and they’d be bringing him to surgery.”

  “Are they sure it was an accident?” Megan’s fingertips drummed a nervous tattoo on the tabletop.

  “What do you mean?” Justin said.

  “The picture we found on Google last night,” Megan said. “One of the men was Dr. Evans.”

  “What does that have to do with the accident? Or Oma?” Justin said.

  Megan rubbed her temples. “I don’t know. It seems like too much of a coincidence. Dr. Evans and Crazy Freddy. Rose being attacked—I have a feeling there’s a connection.” She gave a quiet snort. “Listen to me. Feeling? I definitely spent too much time with Angie.”

  She turned imploring eyes to Gordon. “Can you check? Into both?”

  Although logic put Gordon on Justin’s side, the cop in him said Megan had a point. If nothing else, the accident coming on the heels of the medication mix-up with Rose had his cop radar beeping. He unclipped his cell phone and called Colfax.

  “Need a favor.” He explained the accident. “I need that car gone over six ways from Sunday. If it wasn’t an accident, I want to know about it.”

  Colfax didn’t ask for more. “I’ll make sure the scene is given a detailed forensics exam as well. Do you think this has something to do with why you raced out of here?”

  “If they turn out to be accidents, then I’ll concede coincidence. But I want to be damn sure before I rule them out.”

  “May I presume you’re considering a connection to the bones, given they were found on the Kretzers’ property?”

  “You may. Might as well write the doctor’s name on our board. See how he’s connected to Fred Easterbrook, or why he’s in the background of that shot. I’m going to see what I can do about tracing what happened to Rose Kretzer, and if it looks hinky, can you spare someone to watch her room?”

  “I’ll get it done.” Colfax disconnected.

  Which, when push came to shove, was why Gordon tolerated Colfax’s irritating banter. When it came to the job, he did get it done.

  “Thanks,” Megan said.

  “I want you to know that I’m unofficial here,” Gordon said. “I’ve got no evidence of anything improper, and even if I did, this is way outside of Mapleton. But Detective Colfax is on top of things.”

  “I remember him,” Justin said. “Abrasive personality, good cop.”

  “That’s him,” Gordon said, remembering how Colfax had tried to hit on Megan during the Bedford case. And how Justin had reacted. He also noticed that Justin hadn’t let go of Megan’s hand.

  Gordon’s thoughts drifted to Angie, which wasn’t where he needed to be now. Focus. He finished his c
offee, gathering his thoughts. “I’m going to go see if there are any strings I can pull to find out about Rose or Doc Evans. I’ll call if I have anything for you. I know you can’t use your phones in ICU, so check your messages when you’re somewhere it’s approved.”

  “Since we can’t all be in with Rose at the same time, you should be able to get through to one of us,” Megan said.

  “You have my cell number?” Justin asked.

  Gordon shoved back his chair and scrolled through his contacts. “Yes, I do. Hang in there.”

  Trusting that Megan and Justin would take comfort in each other, Gordon left them and took another stroll down the portrait gallery on his way to the elevator. Abraham Pinkerton’s eyes still grabbed him. Most of the other portraits showed some inklings of compassion, but not Pinkerton. Gordon pegged him as an administrator, not a practicing physician, when that photo had been taken.

  Upstairs at the nurses’ station outside of ICU, Gordon waited while the nurse he’d met on his last visit finished doing something on the computer. She looked up, neither smiling nor frowning. “Yes?”

  Gordon introduced himself again, this time with a quick flash of his badge, hoping she’d respect it and not pay attention to the fact that it was from Mapleton. “I’m investigating what happened with Rose Kretzer last night. I’d like to speak to whoever administered her medications.”

  Eyebrows winged up. “She’s already been questioned. By our staff.”

  Gordon pulled back, realizing he’d taken the wrong approach. He read her ID. “Ms. Upchurch. Sorry. I don’t mean to undermine your authority. Rose Kretzer is very special to me, and I’d like to understand what happened. Strictly off the record.”

  “I looked at the charts myself,” she said. “Her medication was administered on schedule, at eight p.m. Her reaction was recorded at three-seventeen a.m. There’s no way such a severe reaction would have been delayed that long. It would have begun almost immediately.”

  “Which means someone was with her between three and three-fifteen this morning. Who was in there?”

  “According to the charts, nobody. She was checked at midnight, and everything was normal. The next check would have been at four a.m., but the alarms went off, as I said, at three-seventeen.”

  “Don’t suppose you have surveillance cameras,” Gordon said. But he figured anyone sneaking around would have been smart enough to be dressed in medical garb, perhaps masked. He’d seen that scenario enough times on television shows and had to assume anyone with half a brain had, too. Of course bad guys weren’t known for having a full complement of brain cells, so it was a possibility.

  “No, we don’t. But this station is the only way into ICU,” she said, waving her arm toward the door behind her. “Someone’s on duty at all times.”

  “Bathroom breaks? Maybe grab a quick cup of coffee? Run an errand for a doctor?”

  She reddened, which answered his question.

  “Is there a way to find out who was inside during that timeframe? Maybe someone went in much earlier and waited in an empty cubicle.”

  Computer keys clicked. Her lips pursed in and out as she stared at the screen. “I wonder.”

  Gordon resisted the urge to grab the monitor to see for himself what the nurse was talking about.

  Chapter 26

  Megan nudged her coffee cup toward Justin. “Want some?” What she needed now was patience, not a buzz. Or a bellyache.

  Justin ignored the cup, instead taking her hands in his. “Do you seriously think Dr. Evans’ accident wasn’t an accident?”

  “I don’t know what I’m thinking. Gordon’s going to look into it, and I’ll leave that to the cops. How’s Rose doing?”

  “She’s her feisty self. Either whoever gave her the wrong medication didn’t give her enough, or the staff got to her in time.”

  “Which leads me to believe it wasn’t a real medical person who tried to kill her.”

  Justin’s jaw dropped. “You are serious. You think it was a murder attempt? Who would want to kill Oma?”

  “Nobody,” Megan said. “Unless it has something to do with those stupid bones.” She played the possibilities in her head. “Here’s how I see it. If a medical person wanted Rose dead, they’d have given the right dosage. They could have pretended to be helping her—taking charge and making sure nobody interfered with their plan.”

  Justin seemed to be pondering that for a moment. “You could be right. Anyone who knows anything about how all that machinery works in ICU would have disabled it so it wouldn’t have alerted the rest of the staff.”

  “So what do we do?”

  Justin did another round of pondering. “The bones were in their yard. If Oma is in danger because of them, then Opa might be, too.”

  A frisson of dread rippled down Megan’s spine. “I didn’t think of that. You’re right. We need to get upstairs.” She stood, shouldered her purse and rushed for the elevator.

  Justin caught up with her. “Sam’s never going to believe he’s in danger.”

  Megan mashed the button again. “Then we’ll have to convince him. There are a couple of motels nearby. We can tell him it’s easier to stay at one, so he won’t have to drive back and forth from Mapleton every day. Even if we’re wrong, it’s still more convenient.”

  When they stepped off the elevator, Gordon stood at the nurses’ station, leaning on the counter. Megan called his name and hastened to his side. “Where’s Sam?”

  “With Rose, I assumed.” Gordon slid his gaze to the nurse. “Is that right?”

  “Yes, Mr. Kretzer is still in there,” she said.

  Megan tugged Gordon away from the counter. “You have to protect him, too,” she whispered.

  Thank goodness Gordon didn’t look at her like she was crazy—or ask what she was talking about. His expression flattened, but he gave her a reassuring nod. “Let’s go talk to him.”

  “I’ll be in the waiting room,” Justin said.

  Without asking permission, Gordon escorted her to Rose’s cubicle inside the unit. Sam stood when they swished the curtain aside. Rose gave a feeble smile.

  Megan made herself smile back. She approached the bed, leaned over and kissed Rose’s cheek. “Good morning. How are you feeling?”

  Rose tsked. “Now, I feel better. But Dr. Evans.” She shifted her gaze upward to Gordon. “Such a tragedy. Do you know what happened?”

  “Not yet,” Gordon said. “But we’re investigating it.”

  “Did you find Olivia?” Rose asked.

  “Olivia? Who’s Olivia?” Gordon shot Megan a puzzled look, as if he was afraid Rose had gone off the deep end.

  “Fred Easterbrook’s wife,” Megan said. “Rose and I were talking about her last night. You remember. Angie thought it was strange that Fred had a shrine to his daughter but nothing about his wife. Rose knew her.”

  “Only to say hello to,” Rose said. “But Megan thought she might be important. Are the police finished getting those bones out of our yard? I don’t like them being there. A graveyard on our property. Even if they were there before it became our property. They do not belong.”

  Gordon stepped closer to Sam and lowered his voice. “Do you know if Rose is well enough to move to a regular room today?”

  Sam nodded. “Ja. The hospital doctors checked her early this morning. They said after lunch, as long as she does well, she will be out of this place.”

  “Pfft.” Rose said. “You should see what they call as bringing me lunch. Broth and Jell-O. That is not lunch.”

  “Let me see what I can do,” Gordon said, and he pulled Megan through the curtain. “Don’t say anything about what we’ve discussed until I get back.”

  “But—”

  “Trust me. Talk about happy things.” He parted the curtain for her. He pivoted and marched toward the door.

  “Trust me,” Megan mumbled, one hand on the curtain. “Didn’t Indiana Jones say that? And everyone knows how that turned out.”

  She managed anothe
r cheerful face—she hoped—and ducked inside, letting the curtain fall closed behind her. Don’t talk about anything they’d discussed. As if there was anything else on anyone’s mind.

  Rose and Sam exchanged a look Megan recognized as the one they’d used when they’d been discussing something they didn’t want her to hear.

  “Would you like me to read to you for a while?” Megan asked. Lame, but safe.

  “No, thank you.” Rose patted the side of the bed. “Sit with me. We’ll talk. I told Sam about your new business.”

  Of course she had. Megan studied Sam’s face for any signs of approval—or disapproval. Or worse, the this is just a phase. You’ll come to your senses look. She found none. Only curiosity.

  “You can be happy in this new venture?” he asked.

  Not asking if she’d succeed. Not asking if she knew what she was doing. Only asking if she’d be happy. Her throat tightened and her heart squeezed. “When I started at Peerless, I thought getting into the big events was career progression. I realized I’d left everything I’d loved about event planning in favor of what I thought was the prestige and status of a position with a nice salary.”

  “But money doesn’t buy happiness,” Sam said.

  Megan had always wondered if Sam had dreamed of a bigger, more modern bookstore, but his knowing expression answered her unspoken question. He’d been content with his little shop, working alongside the woman he loved. They’d never been rich, but their home had always been happy.

  “No, it doesn’t.” She got up and embraced Sam, then Rose. “I love you so much.”

  “Tell us more,” Rose said.

  “There’s not much more to tell yet. I’m laying the groundwork. I hired a web designer, and I have my contacts.” She smiled at Rose. “And the promise of a recipe for Apfelkuchen.”

  “Ah,” Sam said, with the first true smile she’d seen from him since Rose had taken ill. “With that, you cannot fail.”

  With the mood lightened, Megan explained the steps she’d already taken, but she skirted the other reasons she’d quit Peerless. When Sam didn’t say anything about investing, Megan had a pretty good idea what he and Rose had been discussing while Megan had been talking to Gordon.