The Deep End

by Debra Purdy Kong

  “See?” Ruby remarked.

  “I’ll deal with this.” Mia entered the common room.

  Ruby clicked her tongue. “Uh-oh. She’s got her screw face on.”

  Casey smiled. “Does she take over like that a lot?”

  Ruby chuckled. “Dat lady lives for it. Wants to run everythin’ and everyone.”

  Mia pried the girl’s hands off of Roxanne’s hair, then took the remote from Roxanne. She stood between them.

  “Dey hate the lecturin’.” Ruby hurried up to Mia and interrupted with, “Tanks, Mia. I know you’re busy, so I’ll do the rest. Everything’s fine, all cook and curry now.” Ruby took the remote from Mia and escorted her to the door while assuring her that both girls would be punished. She then turned to Casey. “Let’s go see Mercedes.” As they headed toward the back of the unit, the air grew warmer and staler. “She’s takin’ Mac’s death hard, so don’t mind her nasty side. Dat gal’s moods are overworked most times anyway.”

  “I don’t blame her. Mac’s death was pretty awful.”

  Ruby stopped and gave her a curious look. “You found him, yeah?”

  Casey nodded. “It was a tough night, what with the escape and the fire alarm going off. Mia says that some of the residents blame Tanya and Justin for Mac’s death.”

  Ruby clicked her tongue again. “Crazy talk started by staff. Worried about looking bad in front of bosses, so dey blame those two. Tanya and Justin aren’t killers. Just got more hormones than common sense. Tanya’s a smart gal, but needy. Comes from a fancy home with parents in the pharmacy business,” Ruby whispered. “Acting out got dat gal plenty of attention. Her first time here, her madda and fadda came and made a big fuss, and she liked dat. Now dey don’t come or even call.”

  Was Ruby supposed to reveal this much about a resident?

  “She’s an only child and dat’s the problem. I have five brudders and two sistas. Never was time for whinin’ ’bout attention.”

  “Any idea how she and Justin got out?”

  “Through the south exit about when poor Mac’s heart was giving out. Exit alarm was disconnected. Supposed to be checked every week. Someone sure messed up.”

  Had Mac mumbled Justin and Tanya’s names because he’d been in the corridor and seen them leave? If so, why didn’t he use the two-way radio to call for help? Or had his heart forced him to return to his office for his pills? On the two occasions she’d worked with Mac, Casey had noticed that he rarely wore his jacket in this overheated building.

  “Winson was supervising Justin’s unit that night,” Casey said. “Wouldn’t he have seen Justin leave?”

  Ruby snorted. “He says he went and saw Amir for a minute.” She glanced behind her and whispered, “But dem two’s always breaking rules ’cause Mac wasn’t big on enforcement.” Her wide mouth grew rigid. “We’ll see what the big bosses say.”

  “Have they been here?”

  “Soon. Just watch, everybody’ll be actin’ all proper while pointin’ fingers at somebody else.”

  If it was proven that Winson had left his unit unsupervised, he could wind up in trouble. After the strained conversation between him and Amir Friday night, Casey doubted Amir would cover for him.

  “Any idea how the kids managed to leave the property when there’s barbed wire on top of the fence?” Casey asked.

  “Wooden crates were piled up. Grounds are supposed to be patrolled every day. Another rule broken.”

  “How would they have gotten over the top without cutting themselves? And who put the crates there in the first place?”

  “Dunno.” Ruby stopped in front of a room and tapped on the open door. “I brought company, and Casey could use a manicure.” She turned to Casey. “It’s Mercedes’s specialty.”

  When had Ruby noticed her nails? Mercedes was curled up in a fetal position, her eyes closed. Even in that position, she looked too long for the cot.

  “Mercedes, you be nice to dis gal.” When the girl didn’t respond Ruby clicked her tongue and turned to Casey. “Shout if you need anything.”

  As Ruby left, Casey stood in the doorway. What was she supposed to say to a sullen teen? Talking about Mac would be a bad idea, but what about Tanya? Residents probably knew more about the girl’s disappearing act than staff.

  “May I come in?”

  Mercedes opened her eyes, yet barely nodded. Casey took a cautious step into the sparsely furnished room. Mercedes’s cot was attached to the wall, as was the desk across from the cot. Bars prevented any chance of escape through the small window. Casey strolled to the orange plastic chair next to the desk and sat down.

  “Are you really a nail expert?” she asked.

  Mercedes blinked at her. “Uh-huh.”

  “I’ve never had a manicure in my life, but yours look great.” She focused on Mercedes’s black and red nails, nails more than capable of gouging Mia’s hand.

  Mercedes propped herself up. “You tried to help Mac, right?”

  At least there was no recrimination in her voice. “Yes.”

  “Did he say anything before he . . .” Mercedes lowered her head.

  “Not really.” Had she heard something? “Why do you ask?”

  Mercedes shrugged. “No reason.” She glanced at the door. “Some people are glad Mac’s dead.”

  Interesting. Casey nodded as if she already knew this. “I heard Roxanne call him a pervert. Was there anything to that?”

  “It’s bullshit.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Mercedes’s expression hardened. “I know what the real deal is, and Mac wasn’t it. Roxanne just wanted him to transfer her out of this hellhole, like he was doing with Tanya.”

  Casey believed her. She felt bad for mentioning what had to be a painful part of Mercedes’s past; however, she needed to push the boundaries to find answers.

  “Which people are glad Mac’s gone?”

  “Most of the supervisors.”

  “I thought he got along with them.”

  “You’re new, chica.”

  Was that derogatory? Casey decided to ignore it. “What was their problem with Mac?”

  Mercedes again glanced at the door. “They thought he was too old. Mac would forget things and he was sick a lot,” she murmured. “Worse, Mac was gonna fire some of them.”

  Was this true, or was the girl making up stories? If Mercedes was telling the truth, how would she have found out? “Mac would have had a hard time pulling that off,” Casey remarked. “It’s not easy to fire unionized employees unless they’ve committed a crime, and this place is closing in a few months anyway.”

  “I know that.” Mercedes’s dark eyes glittered with hostility. “Killing Mac is criminal.”

  “True.” Casey hesitated, then decided to plunge ahead. “Apparently, some people think Tanya and Justin might have had something to do with his death. But Mac had a serious heart problem and hadn’t been looking well that night to begin with.”

  “That’s the thing.” The girl edged closer to Casey. “I heard Mia tell Ruby that Mac had too much medication in his system. Someone overdosed him. Homicidio, got it?”

  She got it. She just didn’t buy it. Casey had googled dilated cardiomyopathy and learned that Mac had an enlarged heart, which made it weak. Digoxin was the correct medication, and she’d only given him one pill. How could he have had too much in his system, unless he’d taken a pill or two earlier? Casey started to comment about an accidental overdose, when Mercedes shushed her.

  She reached for Casey’s hands and in a slightly raised voice said, “Your nails are disgusting.” She looked at the door. “Ruby, can I get my nail kit?”

  After several seconds, Ruby poked her head in the door. “Were you callin’?”

  “I need my nail stuff.”

  Had Ruby been eavesdropping? Was this why Mercedes didn’t want to continue the conversation? The girl flashed Casey a grim smile as they waited in silence for Ruby’s return.

  A minute later, Ruby reappeared carrying a s
mall bag. She glanced at Casey with an unreadable expression. How trustworthy was Ruby, and did she also believe that Mac had been murdered?

  “Have fun,” Ruby said, then left.

  Was she still outside the door? Casey listened but heard only distant chatter.

  “Bring your chair closer,” Mercedes said, sounding a little more cheerful. “What color do you want?”

  “I’m open to suggestions.” Casey watched the girl rummage through the bag. Keeping her voice just above a whisper, she asked, “Any idea which employees Mac wanted to fire?”

  “Practically all of them,” she whispered back. “No one cares about their job.” She peered at Casey. “You can’t trust anyone to do or say the right thing.”

  “Including the residents?”

  “Anyone,” Mercedes answered, peering at her.

  Casey tried to obtain the names of individuals Mac had planned to fire, but Mercedes stopped cooperating. Maybe she didn’t know, or maybe she was worried that Ruby would overhear. It could be that she simply liked playing games, holding power over people. The conversation drifted to music and movies, anything that didn’t involve Fraserview. Casey tried a few casual prompts about Mercedes’s personal life, but the girl diverted the questions with finesse. Clearly, Mercedes was intelligent and sensitive, but there was a dark cloud hanging over her, as if she were resigned to an unhappy fate.

  While Mercedes painted her nails turquoise, Casey pondered the possibility of murder. If the police believed Mac’s death was suspicious, wouldn’t his office be taped off? And who were the people Mac supposedly wanted gone? A union employee worried enough about his or her job to kill Mac would mean that Mac had something really serious on that individual. Non-union staff were easier to let go, but their jobs didn’t pay well enough to kill for, especially since the job wouldn’t exist in a few more months. Unless the murder—if it truly was—had nothing to do with employment issues.

  By the time her nails were finished and the superficial chitchat had run its course, Casey was eager to leave Mercedes to have a word with Ruby. The possibility—remote as it was—that Mac might have been murdered was getting to her. She headed back down the hall and found Ruby in her office.

  “Hi, Ruby. Have you got a minute?”

  “Sure.” She moved away from the keyboard as Casey sat in the chair opposite the desk. “How was your visit? Did she give you trouble?”

  “She was fine.” Casey hesitated. “Does Mercedes have any family support?”

  “No, her fadda’s in prison and madda’s dead. All she got is her uncle.”

  “Is he in his mid-thirties with thinning hair?”

  “Dat’s him, Cristano Cruz.” She clicked her tongue. “In Jamaica, we’d say he’s a ginnal—someone you can’t trust.”

  “Why?”

  “Dunno for certain.” She shook her head and frowned. “But der’s something about him.”

  Casey recalled the way Cruz had surveyed the residents in the visiting area Friday night, and how Tanya had given him furtive glances. Although he had been helpful with Mac, he sure left in a hurry when the police showed up. There was another troubling issue, one that could force her to reveal part of her conversation with Mercedes, but she had to ask.

  “There’s a rumor going around that Mac died from an overdose of digoxin. Do you know if it’s true?”

  Ruby gave her a look, then rubbed her chin. “It’ll all be coming out anyway.” She paused. “Mia found out—don’t ask me how—that Mac had ten times more of dat medicine in his body than he should have.”

  Casey slumped back in her chair. “But I only gave him one pill.”

  “Don’t worry yourself. Mac hadn’t been taking ’em very long. Could have got confused and done it to hisself.”

  “Maybe.” She recalled the overturned thermos, the contents dripping onto the carpet. “You don’t think someone could have deliberately overdosed him, do you?”

  Ruby’s eyes grew round. “What for? Mac was a good man. This place is closin’. Nobody cares ’bout nothin’.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Until tonight.

  It would be risky to raise the topic of potential firings with Ruby. It was also quite possible that Mac had kept his computer password protected to prevent staff from learning about his decisions. If that was true, then he’d failed.

  Casey left the unit, her thoughts swirling. Staff would have had easier access to Mac’s medication than residents, and they’d have known that he didn’t wear his jacket much. It would be natural to assume that the digoxin was in one of those pockets. God, had Mac really been murdered?

  Feeling more than a little uneasy, Casey hastily signed out, then collected her coat and purse from Rawan, who then returned to perfecting her makeup. Outside, she spotted Phyllis shutting the door of a little blue Smart car.

  “Forgot my ciggies.” Phyllis shook one out of the pack, lit it, and took a long drag. She blew smoke toward the sky. “Dark night in a dark month. No end in sight.”

  Casey shoved her hands in her pockets. “I’ve heard that not every­one is sad about Mac’s death, and that he might have had problems with some of his staff.” Reaching out to the cleaning lady didn’t seem as big a risk as it would be with the youth supervisors. “Just between us, do you think it was true?”

  Phyllis looked at the ground for a few moments, then peered at Casey through those big, blue-framed lenses. “Sometimes, there’s more to what you know, and sometimes there isn’t. The hard part’s realizing what’s what.” She took another drag on her cigarette. “My father believed he knew what was best.” She blew the smoke out. “Always preached that the Lord was on his side. Thought it justified everything.”

  A second reference to her father. Was Phyllis stuck in the past? “He sounds a bit fanatical.”

  Phyllis grunted. “Didn’t know I’d married a man just like him until it was too late. But then he died. Took forever, mind you.”

  “Your husband was religious?”

  She barked out a laugh. “No. Not religious.” Her amusement faded. “Only thing he believed in was his fists.” Phyllis looked up at the sky once more. “We all make terrible choices now and then. Watch out for yours.”

  A word of advice, or a warning? “I will.” Casey hurried to her car.

  TWELVE

  WITH AN UNEVENTFUL EVENING OF volunteering now over, Casey waited in Fraserview’s parking lot for her car to warm up while she listened to a phone message from Amy.

  “I’m sorry for my anger last night. I realize you had to call the RCMP.” She sounded shaky. “I decided not to search for Justin this morning. As long as Tanya’s with him, it would be pointless. I believe he’s still close by, though. I gave him food for only two days and no money.” She paused. “I’ll see you at work.”

  Casey closed her eyes. Poor Amy sounded so defeated. Didn’t Justin care what he was putting his grandmother through? Amy had said that homeless teens slept under the nearby bridge, and thought that Justin might be hanging out there too. A plan began to form.

  Casey phoned Lou, but before she could propose her idea he said, “I caught Devon at the back door and told him to leave.”

  “Damn that kid. Did he give you any trouble?”

  “No, and the alarm’s on.”

  “Do you think Summer would have let him in?”

  “Tough to say. She saw me running through the kitchen and out the back door, but she looked more startled than guilty. I don’t know what surprised her more: Devon’s appearance or me running through the damn house.”

  Casey wished the frost on her windshield would evaporate faster. “I’ll talk to her. Meanwhile, how about a little trip tonight?”

  “It’s already after nine. Where would we go on a Sunday night?”

  “Coquitlam. My gut is telling me that Justin’s hiding out beneath a bridge on the Lougheed Highway. Apparently, it’s used as a refuge by homeless kids. Amy believes he’s hiding nearby.”

  “Come on, Casey. It’s n
ot your problem.”

  “I contributed to her troubles. If I hadn’t made my appearance so obvious, Justin might have gone with Amy last night.”

  “Didn’t you say that the girl was controlling him?”

  “Yes, but he did go back to see Amy. He might have had a change of heart and decided to stand up to Tanya.”

  “Or he might have wanted something else from his grandmother.”

  “Possibly.” Once Tanya realized there was no cash in the backpack, she could have ordered Justin to go get some. “Listen, things are strained between Amy and me. I made things worse and now I need to make them right. I could really use your help.”

  “You didn’t make things worse, and what if your plan backfires? Justin could have hooked up with teens who are high, or violent, or both. What if they’re carrying weapons?”

  “I know the risks.” Lou knew how often she dealt with homeless people on the job. She’d had her share of rides through the seedier parts of the city, dealing with people who were high on something and demanding a free ride, or those in serious need of a fix and medical help. “Being a homeless fugitive is a bigger risk for Justin. He’s not street smart, Lou.” She heard a long sigh. “I think Summer should come too. She needs to see that her life doesn’t totally suck when compared to other people’s.”

  “You’ve got a point there.”

  “If I exchange food and cash for a little information, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Still, safety in numbers, right?”

  “What happens if Summer doesn’t want to go?”

  “She doesn’t have a choice. This is her wakeup call as much as it is Justin’s.”

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DRAGGED me out here,” Summer grumbled from behind Casey. “My boots are muddy. It’s freezing. My hood won’t stay up in this stupid wind!”

  “Lower your voice,” Lou said. “We don’t know who’s ahead.”

  It had taken an intense discussion to convince Summer that homeless kids might respond better to someone closer to their own age, and that leaving her home alone was not an option. It was a decision Casey was starting to regret. Once they had parked, and a light drizzle began, Summer wanted to wait in the car; however, Casey squashed that idea. Summer tried to argue, but Casey was in no mood for debate and whining. She’d ordered Summer out of the vehicle.