by Grievous Sin
“Speaking of specific details, did you ever find a box to fit the key we found in Marie Bellson’s apartment?”
Decker shook his head. “Not yet.”
“What happened with Tandy Roberts yesterday?”
“Cindy, please.”
“I’m curious.”
Hannah began swallowing air bubbles. Decker said, “I think she needs to be burped. Give her to me. I’ll do it.”
Cindy handed him a diaper. “Cover your jacket.”
Decker threw the diaper over his shoulder and began walking with his daughter. As he patted her back, her eyes widened, her expression seemingly remorseful for her gluttony. Her stomach was sloshing liquid.
Decker said, “You’ve got good head control, Hannah Rosie.”
“I told you she was precocious.”
“Takes after Sis.” Decker smiled.
Cindy smiled back, then looked at the ceiling. “So what’s with Tandy?”
“Why do you keep asking about her?”
“Because she was a friend of Marie’s. I’m wondering who the heck could be Marie’s friend?”
“Paula was Marie’s friend.”
“Is it the same situation as Paula? Was Marie Tandy’s training nurse?”
Decker didn’t answer. He heard Cindy sigh, then said, “I know you’re your own person, Cynthia, but I see my obsessive streak in you. It’s bad enough when cases eat me up. Why should they eat you up, too? Especially when you’re not even getting paid.”
“So you do it for the money, Dad?”
“It puts bread on the table.”
“You do it because you like it. Be honest. If it was just money, you’d have been a senior partner in Grandpa’s firm by now.”
“Yes, I like what I do. But I’ve been trained and you haven’t, and therein lies the rub.”
“How can I be trained if no one will train me?”
“This isn’t an apprentice job, Cynthia. If you want to be a cop, apply to the Academy.” Decker paused. “God, what am I saying! You don’t want to be a cop, for godsakes! You’re way too smart for that.”
“Implying that you’re a cop because you’re dumb?”
“Princess, I applied because I didn’t know any better. I was a twenty-year-old kid with no guidance who had just gotten out of the army. I was at loose ends, and someone suggested being a cop. Like a dunce, I signed up. Just like with the army. They said sign up, I signed up. You know what, Cindy? I was dumb!”
“So why did you come back to it even after you passed the bar?”
“Because being an estate lawyer was worse than being a cop. I did it to please your mother, who wanted me to be just like Grandpa. I should have signed up for the D.A.’s Office.” Decker paused. “Not that I’m complaining…”
“I think your work is exciting.”
“Mostly, my job is paperwork and legwork, but yes, it can be exciting. And it can also be dangerous.” He started to pat the bullet scar on his shoulder, but stopped himself. Last thing he wanted to do was to traumatize his daughter any further. “You’ve conveniently left out dangerous, Cynthia.”
“What am I doing that’s dangerous? Asking a few questions?”
“Cindy, someone presoaked a body and Marie’s Honda with gasoline and pushed them both off a hundred-foot drop.” Decker suddenly lost patience. “We’re talking desperate people. Stop arguing with me and just stay put.”
“Can you at least tell me if Tandy’s a nurse? Last question, I promise.”
Decker bit his lip. “Yes, Tandy might be a nurse.”
Hannah let out a big burp.
“Atta girl, Han, you take after your old man.”
Cindy said, “I never remember you belching.”
“You never saw me in my rowdier days after a couple of six-packs.”
“You were once rowdy?”
“Before your time. ’Bout a century ago.”
Cindy smiled. “I’ll take the baby.”
Decker gave his little daughter to his big one and studied them both with pride. Two girls with two boys in the middle. A beautiful and bountiful family. All he had to do was make sure no harm befell any of them for the rest of their lives.
“So what did Marge think of Tandy?” Cindy asked.
“You promised last question. Now, forget about the case. Leave it up to the police.” He kissed her cheek. “I’m going to say good-bye to Rina. No more talk about joining the Academy, okay?”
“I wasn’t intending to drop out of college, Daddy.”
“Thank God one of us can think!” He kissed his daughters, pinched both of their cheeks. “Bye.”
“Bye.” Cindy sat back in the chair, waiting for her father to leave. Having studied him as he talked, she had recognized that look in his eyes—trying to be casual, but he had been concerned. She knew why. Her questions were good ones, but he didn’t want her to know that. Tandy was involved. Since old Dad wasn’t about to help her out, Cindy decided to check out Ms. Roberts by her own lonesome.
She rocked Hannah in her arms until her father called out another bye. She answered him, breathing a sigh of relief when the door closed. In the distance, she heard the motor to the unmarked kick in, then recede in Dopplerian fashion.
They’d located Tandy at a gym, but Cindy didn’t remember the name of the place.
How in the world would she ever be an ace detective if she couldn’t remember simple things like names of places? She sighed. Holding Hannah firmly in the crook of her right arm, she pulled out a phone book with the left hand. Under the Yellow Pages, she found two columns’ worth of listings under “Gyms.” She studied each name carefully, stopping when she hit the name Silver’s.
That was it.
Security was still tight and visible, but the extreme tension brought on by yesterday’s crisis had dissipated. Within a few months, Decker predicted Sun Valley Pres would return to its normal lackadaisical self, more concerned with budgetary issues than with medical problems. The administrative offices didn’t open before nine, leaving Decker with forty-five minutes to track down Darlene Jamison and the duty roster the night of Caitlin Rodriguez’s kidnapping.
Although he had no problem getting through the front door of the hospital, the nurseries were still under microscopic scrutiny. Even after he showed his I.D., he was met with suspicion by TECHWATCH’s body for hire. Finally, the guard let him pass through the maternity halls. All the nurseries had guards posted outside the entrance doors. Once again Decker showed his badge to the sentry outside Nursery J and was allowed to step inside the glass station. A blond nurse turned around. She was young, slim, with a round face and saucer blue eyes, but the ingenue effect was ruined by a face weathered with stress. Her name tag said C. Simms, RN. Decker showed her his I.D.
“Can I speak to you for a moment, Christine?”
Christine smiled wearily. “Have a seat. I have to check the lines on the premies. That can’t wait, Sergeant. But it shouldn’t take too long.”
“Is Darlene Jamison on duty this morning?”
Christine looked pained. “Darlene’s on temporary leave of absence. I suppose it was inevitable, but I feel bad for her.” She looked down. “Susan Altman is with the babies in the back. If you need anything, page her. But please don’t cross the yellow line—contamination.”
“Is Darlene at home?” Decker called out.
“Probably,” Christine answered.
“Do you have her phone number on hand?”
Christine didn’t answer as the door closed behind her. Decker opened his briefcase and checked his notes. He found Darlene’s number and used the wall phone to get the hospital operator and an outside connection. Darlene’s machine kicked in after two rings, and Decker left his message slowly, giving the woman time to interrupt the call and come on the line.
She never did. Either she wasn’t home, or she was avoiding him.
He stuck his hands in his pockets, then noticed the door to the nurses’ area. Much to his surprise, it was open, s
o he went inside. The glass room held three identical-size desks that were typical institutional issues—sturdy and ugly. Two of the desks held nameplates—Marie Bellson, RN, and Darlene Jamison, RN. Staring at the letters so intensely, Decker found the names undulating like waves of heat. Like the ghosts they were. How many victims did the case really have?
Marie’s desk had been gone through meticulously the day of the kidnapping. Decker’s notes contained the items reported—nothing significant. But since Darlene was not an immediate suspect, her desk had remained a private affair. Decker scanned the charts resting on top, then began to sort them. He took a quick peek over his shoulder, then quietly he opened the drawers, looking for personal items: a desk calendar or Rolodex or diary or letters—anything revealing. But as with Marie’s desk, Darlene’s drawers seemed to be repositories for medical charts and patient information. At a glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“Detective, that’s private!”
Decker turned around, smiled at Christine, and closed the file drawer. “I was just passing time.”
Christine raised her eyes. “You were snooping. Do you have a warrant to snoop?”
Decker grinned boyishly. “If I had a warrant, I wouldn’t need to snoop.”
“How can I help you?” Christine sat down. “Better still, how can I help the baby? We all feel so responsible. I keep going over that horrible night, asking myself what I could have done differently.”
“Did you come up with anything?”
“Maybe I should have checked in more often. We were so short-staffed.”
“Who else was on duty in Nursery J, Christine?”
Christine stared at him. “I’m sorry. Everything’s a blur. Maybe you can check the duty roster.”
“I have.”
“So why do you need me?”
“To see if your account agrees with what’s on the roster,” Decker said. “I’m sorry to take up your time, but it’s important.”
“I understand completely. For J, on duty officially? I think it was just Marie, Darlene, and me. I was actually assigned to three nurseries. I was moving back and forth between them. No backup. Budget cuts, they tell us….”
Her voice trailed off.
“What about Lily?” Decker said.
“Lily Booker?”
“Wasn’t she one of Darlene’s trainees?”
“Yes, she was, but I don’t think Lily was on that night.” Christine paused. “Don’t hold me to this, but she may have been crossed off the roster at the last minute. Another reason we were so short-staffed.”
Decker glanced at his nails and said, “Refresh my memory, Chris. Isn’t your nursing roster written in pen?”
“The official assignments are written on paper, then transferred to the plastic board that hangs from the wall in the front nursing station. We use a grease pen on the board, because assignments change at any given time. If the roster was written in pen, it would be a big mess.”
“Just like our station house’s scoreboard.”
Christine smiled. “Yeah, that’s what we call it, too.”
Decker tried to be casual. “So by ‘crossed off,’ do you mean you remember seeing Lily Booker’s name on the plastic board, and then it was erased?”
“I guess that’s what I meant. Why?”
“When is Lily due back on duty?”
“I really don’t know,” Christine shrugged. “She wasn’t written into today’s roster. Why all these questions about Lily? Was she involved?”
“Do you have her phone number?”
“No. But she should be in the medical directory.”
“Even if she’s just a trainee?”
“Oh, that’s right. She’s too new. But Darlene would probably have it. I’ll get you Darlene’s number.”
“I just called her house. Either she isn’t home or she isn’t answering her phone—at least for me. She may be mad at me.”
“More like scared.”
“That could be. Can you do me a favor and call her? See if she picks up the machine for you?”
Immediately, Christine picked up the phone and punched in some numbers. After a moment, she said, “Hi, Darlene, it’s Christine, are you there?” Pause. “Darlene, hi, are you there? Can you pick up the…Hi. Yeah, everything’s fine over here. Detective Decker is here…Darlene, he’s looking for Caitlin Rodriguez. He needs to talk to you. We’ve got to help!” There was a pause. “Hold on.” She handed him the receiver. “Anything else?”
“No, Chris, you’ve been an enormous help.”
“Then I’ll get back to work.”
Decker mouthed her a thank-you and spoke into the receiver. “Darlene, I need to ask you a few questions. Was Lily Booker on duty the night Caitlin Rodriguez was kidnapped?”
There was a long pause over the line. “What does Lily have to do with this?”
Darlene’s voice sounded frightened. Decker felt his stomach sink. “Can you just answer the question?”
There was another long moment of silence. “She called in sick.”
“At the last moment?”
“Yes, at the last moment. How did you know? Have you talked to Lily recently?”
Her voice had become anxious. Decker said, “No, I haven’t talked to her. Have you?”
“No.” Darlene quickly added, “But I haven’t talked to too many people since I was relieved of my duties.”
“Darlene, did you take Lily’s sick call?”
“No, Detective.” Another hesitation. “Marie did.”
“Marie did?”
Again the pause. “Yes.”
“Darlene, you seem to be unsure of yourself. Should we talk in person?”
This time Darlene started to cry. “Yes, Sergeant, I think we really should.”
26
First the low one went away.
That was good except the low one wasn’t the real bad one.
It was the high one that wreaked the most havoc.
And so hard to listen to. So sure of herself when calm, and shrill when she wasn’t.
But even the high one was fading—a peep now and then, but she could shut her up.
Turn her off.
Things returning to normal.
She could turn her off, because she had the control.
Control.
Better than drugs.
Better than food.
Control.
She had the control.
“Where are you?” Decker asked. “You sound like you’re on a portable phone.”
“I think the technically correct word is ‘cellular,’” Marge said. “And in answer to your question, I’m outside Tandy Roberts’s condo in Marc’s Beemer. Let me give you the phone number.”
“Wait a sec.” Placing the mike in his lap, Decker reached over into the backseat of the unmarked and fished out a pen and his notebook from his briefcase. “Shoot.”
Marge dictated the number. “These gadgets are real neat. You know, you don’t even have to dial one before the area code.”
“Let’s hear it for technology,” Decker said. “Just hope you don’t get brain cancer.”
“Perish the thought.”
“What’s Tandy up to now?”
“I came up to her place about a half hour ago. Kind of acting like Columbo—‘Uh, just one more thing, ma’am.’ I was looking for the baby. Obviously, I didn’t find her.”
“Anything suspicious?”
“No telltale signs like a playpen in the living room.”
“Could you check the other rooms?”
“Superficially only. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“What was the ‘one more thing’ you asked her about?”
“If she remembered specifically where she and Marie camped.”
“Did she remember?”
“With unusual clarity. Now I’m not an expert camper. Take me into the wilderness, and all mountains look the same. But Tandy described the flora and the fauna in detail. You’re right, Pet
e. She’s the camper. She knows all about the Angeles Crest region.”
“Meaning she’d know where to shove a car off the mountainside.”
“My very thought,” Marge said. “Man, I’d sure like to pop her trunk and find out if it reeks of gasoline. I’m sure she had the car cleaned, but lots of times people forget about trunks.”
“Be hard to convince a judge to give us a warrant.” Decker thought a moment. “Tell you what, though. I’ll call Mike and ask him to run a credit check to find out what kind of plastic she owns. Let’s see if she recently charged a major gasoline purchase on any of her cards. Did you have a chance to call Tujunga Memorial? See if Tandy was working there the night of the kidnapping?”
“Offices hadn’t opened yet. I’ll call in about ten minutes. Ye olde cellular does have its merits. So you think our body’s this Lily Booker?”
“Unfortunately, it’s possible. I just came back from Lily’s apartment. Found out the address from Darlene Jamison. No one was home, but I did find the manager, and she opened the door for me. There was mail on the floor, old messages on her phone machine, wilted salad in the refrigerator. Whole place seemed a little stale. It doesn’t look good.”
Marge was quiet.
“She was a young kid,” Decker went on. “Twenty-two. Didn’t even own a car yet. She had a bicycle in the living room, and the manager told me she went to work by bus. Now it looks like I’m going to have to locate a set of parents and ask them for her dental X rays. God, I hate this part of the job. You know, you should really make the call, Marge. Cut your teeth for homicide.”
“I’m on a stakeout.”
“All you need is a phone, Detective.”
“But having them call me back would be a bitch. This is not the type of call you can do from a cellular phone.”
“All right. I’ll do it.”
“Look, if you really want me—”
“Nah, it’s all right,” Decker said.
“You happen to check in with Lourdes while you were at the hospital?”
“She and Matty are gone. When I asked the desk for a forwarding address, they informed me that all further contact with them must be conducted through their lawyer. Looks like they took my advice.”
