by Wally Duff
“I won’t. I’m going to arrest him, but I’ll take all the blame. I can’t ask any other cops to put their jobs on the line for a case like this.”
“What if he’s already left the hospital?”
“I have a black and white sitting at his house. If he’s there, or shows up, those cops will call me, and I’ll go over there and arrest him.”
“What about Wickham?”
“I sent them her DMV picture. If she shows up there, they can hold her.”
“On what charge?”
“I have no idea. At least she’ll still be alive.”
I was afraid to look at the speedometer as Janet weaved in and out of cars.
“I have an idea.” I dialed David. “Check and see if anything has happened to the funds from the MidAmerica Hospital Foundation. If Fertig is on the run, he might have taken the money as a going away present to himself.”
“Are you in a car race?” he asked. “I hear tires screeching in the background.”
“Kind of. Do it and call me.” I turned to Janet. “Why don’t these idiots pull over?”
“I guess they don’t think a red Porsche 911 is a cop car, even with the flashers on.”
She hit the brakes as we came to the off-ramp, throwing the tiny car into a violent slide. She straightened the wheel, and we roared into the front driveway of the hospital. She slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. I did too.
My phone rang. It was still on speaker. “I’m down in the wing with the on-call rooms,” a breathless Alexis said. “They’re all empty.”
“Damnit!” Janet said. “Alexis, we’re heading to Fertig’s office. If he’s there, I’m gonna bust his ass.”
“On what charge?” she asked.
“I’ll think of something.”
“What do you want me to do?” Alexis asked.
“Get somewhere safe and stay there. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
136
Janet turned to me. “Change of plan.”
I waited.
“Wickham drives a silver Lexus RX Hybrid.”
“How do you know that?”
“Same way I got her picture, the DMV. Go down to the underground parking garage where the doctors park and find her truck.” She handed me a scrap of paper with a license number on it. “Sit on it. If Fertig comes out with her, stop him.”
“How?”
“Are you still carrying?”
I held up my backpack. “I am.”
“Use your gun to hold him until I can get there.”
“But what if you can’t prove Fertig is guilty of anything?”
She adjusted the gun on her hip. “Then I’m gonna be buried in the biggest pile of shit you ever saw, but I’m not going to let him kill Wickham.”
“Do you have walkie-talkies?” I asked. ‘We need to stay in contact.”
“Detectives don’t carry equipment like that unless they check it out for a bust. We’ll have to go with our cell phones, but I don’t have the walkie-talkie app on this fancy phone Frankie got me.”
“How about speed dial?” I asked.
“That’s a solution. You do it. I’ll do the same. Set your phone on vibrate. I don’t want him to hear either of us coming.”
We set our phones. She ran toward Fertig’s office. I shoved my cell phone into my front pant pocket and pulled out the Glock. I threw my backpack into the seat of her car.
I sprinted down the stairs to the parking garage one floor below. As soon as I threw the door open, I knew I was in trouble. There were at least three hundred cars in the garage.
I would never find Wickham’s Lexus in time.
137
The attendant in the guard shack was my only way out of this mess. I sprinted the length of the garage to the little house. The guard saw me running toward him, but he stayed inside. Once I arrived, I had to bend over to catch my breath before I could talk.
“I need your help,” I wheezed from my crouched position.
I stood up. He didn’t move or speak. He wore the hospital’s blue security uniform complete with a badge and a Taser on his belt. His skin was white, and his clothes hung on him. Kerry had bigger muscles than this guy.
“I need your help,” I repeated.
His answer was to reach out and close the window between us.
“Excuse me?” I said.
He backed up to the far side of the little booth. I knocked on the closed window with the butt of the Glock.
“Open this window right now!” I said in my best angry policewoman’s voice. “I need your help!”
He opened the window and backed up again.
“Have you seen Dr. Wickham?” I asked.
His eyebrows shot up. “I... ah... no.” His voice was high- pitched and squeaky.
“Where’s her Lexus?” I asked.
“I can’t tell you.”
“Listen to me, buster. I need to find Wickham, and I need to do it right now!”
“Please don’t make me do this,” he whimpered.
“And why not?”
“I don’t think she wants to be disturbed.”
I lifted the Glock and purposely pointed it at him. “I don’t have time for this. Where is she?”
His face turned bright red. “Her SUV is parked in D-11.”
“You’re absolutely sure she’s there?”
“Trust me, officer. I know exactly where they are.”
My hands began to get sweaty. “They?”
He pointed in the direction of D-11. I saw her SUV several rows away. I saw a female head. She had short, spiked, dirty-blond hair. A second head with sunglasses and long dark hair sat next to her. It looked like they were talking.
I took out my cell phone and speed dialed Janet. “I found Fertig!”
“What?”
“He’s sitting in Wickham’s Lexus.”
“I do not want to turn this into a hostage situation.” It sounded like she was running. “I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Get your butt over to Wickham’s SUV and arrest him.”
“Janet, I’m not a cop.”
“He doesn’t know that. You have a gun. Flash it, but do not shoot him!”
138
I snuck between the parked vehicles as I approached the silver Lexus. Ten rows away from it, my cell phone vibrated. I squatted down behind a black Toyota sedan. They couldn’t see me.
“Tina, I stopped in the OR to check those rooms, and they’re not in there,” Alexis said. “Have you guys arrested Fertig?”
“Janet hasn’t.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I’m looking directly at Fertig and Wickham.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m in the underground parking garage.”
“You’re supposed to be with Janet.”
“She sent me to check on Wickham’s Lexus. Good thing she did.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Wickham’s still alive. It looks like she’s talking to Fertig. I’m gonna go and arrest him.”
“How can you do that? You’re not a cop.”
“Fertig doesn’t know that. I have to keep him from killing Wickham.”
“Don’t you think you should wait for Janet?”
“She might not get here in time. I left the guard shack, and I’m about ten rows away from Wickham’s SUV.”
I disconnected.
Suddenly, there was a bright flash and a muffled gunshot from Wickham’s Lexus. Holding my gun in front of me, I sprinted toward the truck.
I was six rows away when the Lexus’s passenger door opened and a man stepped out.
“Fertig!” I yelled. “Stop right there!”
He turned and raised his right arm. There was a gun in his hand. I dove behind a blue Prius as three shots whizzed over my head.
Peeking over the front fender of the car, I saw him run toward the darkened entrance to the hospital.
His long white coat was open and flapping around his legs. It looked like he might be carrying something. There were red stains splattered on his white lab coat and white scrubs. He still had on his sunglasses.
I stood up and sprinted toward the hospital entrance. The doorway was recessed, but I thought I saw a white coat. I ducked behind another small car. Several shots hit the car, shattering the windows and setting off the car alarm. The honking reverberated off the cement ceiling.
“Fertig!” I yelled over the noise. “You are pissing me off!”
He responded by firing two more shots.
The door to the hospital opened and closed.
I waited. Following him was out of the question. This was a job for the cops.
139
But there were no cops around. I ran forward, holding my gun with two hands out in front of me. It was harder than it looked on TV, but I sprinted as fast as I could until I came to the wall next to the entrance door.
I peeked around the corner and looked through the glass in the door into the hallway. I saw Fertig running down the hall, his white coat still flapping behind him, the heels of his cowboy boots clumping on the tile floor. The high heels on his boots made him appear taller, but they weren’t made for running, because he wobbled as he ran.
When he reached the end of the hall, he turned and fired three shots in my direction. I dove back behind the wall. Two shots shattered the glass in the entrance door. The last shot hit the security camera in the ceiling above the door. It exploded, and pieces fell to the floor. The acrid smell of shorted out electrical wires drifted out through the broken glass of the door.
He disappeared left down a hallway. I heard two more shots, followed by the sound of more breaking glass. I got up and opened the broken door, intending to run after him, but I stopped.
My pulse pounded in my ears.
This is crazy!
Fertig’s a killer. I’m a mom with a husband and a toddler. It was a total mismatch. Carter would kill me for this — if Fertig didn’t first.
I stopped moving and slid down to the floor. My heart pounded against my sternum, and it was hard to catch my breath. This wasn’t a PTSD attack. I’d had plenty of those, but this was different. I’d had the crap scared out of me because Fertig tried to shoot me.
Sitting against the wall, I tried to slow my breathing to calm down.
And then my phone vibrated.
140
“Wickham’s dead,” Janet said. “She has a GSW to the chest. Where in the hell are you?”
She didn’t exactly yell the last part but did raise her voice.
“I’m in the hallway that comes in from the parking garage. I followed Fertig in here.”
“Stay put! Do not even consider moving! I will be there forthwith.”
Sounds like a plan.
I remained sitting in the hall as I waited for her.
My phone vibrated again. “Fertig is walking right toward me,” Alexis whispered.
NO!
“You listen to me! He’s got a gun. Don’t you dare do anything stupid.”
“This dickhead isn’t gonna beat us this time.”
“This is not the time to be competitive! Get out of there right now!”
“Not a chance. He’s shorter than I am, and my purse is heavy. I’m gonna hit him with it and grab his gun.”
It sounded like she dropped her phone. There was a scream, followed by a gunshot, and then a crunch.
The call dropped.
I don’t have time to wait for Janet.
Alexis is my friend, and she needs help.
I checked my clip. It was full, and I had one in the chamber.
I called Janet as I sprinted toward the end of the hall. “Alexis is in trouble.”
“Alexis? What the... How is that even possible?”
“She tried to stop Fertig.”
“Do not move! Do not hang up! Do not freaking do anything! Do you hear me?!”
I left the phone on but didn’t respond. I kept running. When I reached the end of the hall, I turned left. At the far end of the next hallway, I saw a female sitting against the wall.
She had long blond hair and sunglasses perched on her head. Her purse was next to her right hand. There was a pool of blood under her butt and legs. Blood streaks covered the wall to her right.
“No!” I screamed as I ran forward. Glass crunched under my shoes. I jumped when I heard Janet yelling at me over the still- connected cell phone.
“Tina, say again!”
“Alexis is bleeding all over the floor! I think Fertig shot her!”
“Stop where you are. It might be a trap. He might be waiting for you. I’m on the way.”
She was right. Fertig could be using Alexis as bait, and he could shoot me too. I stopped and flattened myself against the wall.
“Alexis!” I shouted. “I have you covered. If you can move, crawl toward me.”
She rolled down onto her chest and abdomen and then used her elbows and forearms to inch toward me. As she did, her left shoe fell off, but the right didn’t because her leg wasn’t moving.
I yelled into my phone at Janet. “It’s her right leg. I need medical help down here right now!”
“Stay where you are,” she said. “I do not want you getting shot too.”
Alexis stopped moving. She dropped her head down, and then her arms gave out and she collapsed to the floor.
She might be dying. I didn’t care if Fertig had set a trap to shoot me.
I did the only thing a friend could do. I ran toward her.
141
Alexis lifted her head as I sprinted toward her. She pushed herself up on her forearms and again tried to crawl toward me. As she moved, she left a wide trail of blood behind her on the tile floor.
Too much blood!
When I reached her, she groaned and rolled over on her back. I knelt down, sweeping the hall in front of us with my gun. The stench of gunpowder and metallic odor of fresh blood enveloped us.
“Thanks for coming, Teenz,” she whispered.
I patted her shoulder with my left hand, trying to avoid looking at the wet patch of blood expanding on the floor underneath her.
“Which way did Fertig go?” I asked.
“He ran through the doors behind me.”
I wanted to chase him, but Alexis came first. I put my gun on the floor. Bright red blood pumped from a small hole in the front of her right thigh. I put my hand under her leg and felt another hole lower down in the middle of her hamstrings. I pulled my hand back. It was covered with fresh blood.
I took off my belt, yanked up her short skirt to the level of her bikini panties, and tied the belt as tightly as I could above the wound. The pumping blood slowed down, but it still oozed way too fast.
Her suit and white blouse were smeared with blood and fibers. I put her purse under her head, hoping to give her a little comfort.
“Stay here,” I said. “I’ll make sure Fertig is gone.”
“It’s not like I’m going anywhere right now.”
Stepping over her, I grabbed the Glock and ran to the doors. I pushed them open. The hallway was empty. I didn’t hear any clumping sounds of Fertig running in his cowboy boots.
I hurried back to her and put my gun back on the floor. “What happened?” I asked, as I pulled my belt tighter around her leg.
“Fertig was running toward me, but he was looking back over his shoulder and didn’t know I was here,” she said. “I thought I could surprise him and knock the gun out of his hand with my purse. When I hit his arm, he shot me in the front of my leg. He stomped on my phone and ran away. That’s why I didn’t call you.”
I put pressure on the wound with my right hand, but blood still oozed from the wound and squished between my fingers. I picked up my cell phone to call Janet again, but it slipped out of my left hand and slid across the floor.
Damnit!
Her clothes were a mess, and now mine were, too, but I concentrated on stopping the blee
ding. And it wasn’t working.
