Bone Crack: A Medical Suspense Thriller (The Gina Mazzio Series Book 6)

by Bette Golden Lamb

  He sat down and stared at the monitor. His secret recorder showed no unauthorized security breaches.

  He opened the desk drawer. Everything was as he’d left it, except for his Time Out health club membership card—it was turned over to reveal his password, ANNIE’S DOWN. Someone had been here, used his password, and gone through his computer files.

  He picked up the phone for his receptionist. “Maya, please come into my office.”

  It was barely a moment before she stood at his doorway. “Yes, Doctor?”

  “Get hold of the head of building security. Tell him I need to see him in my office.

  Right now!”

  “Yes, Doctor.”

  While she was gone, he searched every drawer and found nothing suspicious. Of course, there really wasn’t anything in his desk to be worried about. That wasn’t the problem—it was his computer.

  He felt sick.

  I take care of one problem and another one pops up like a noxious weed.

  Maria was out of the picture—who could have been here poking around?

  He forced himself back into his routine and brought up his schedule for today’s patients. They were all consults except for a four p.m. surgery—someone too important and too busy to fit into Tallent’s normal scheduling.

  Someone who doesn’t realize how weak and fragile the human body is. Someone who thinks he’s still in control even when he’s decked out, drugged out, and on a surgical table. Someone very stupid.

  He was putting on a fresh white coat when Maya brought a bouncer-type person to the door of his office—tall, muscled, rough-looking, but neatly dressed in a business suit.

  “This is Jerry, Doctor Tallent.” Maya said.

  “Come in, Jerry. Just a few questions.”

  “Good morning, sir.”

  “What time did the janitors leave the building last night?”

  Jerry looked at an eight-and-a-half by eleven clipboard, turned over a couple of pages, and said, “That would be twelve a.m., sir, according to the time clock. ”

  “Did any of your security guards report anything unusual.”

  Jerry checked his notes again. “No, sir. Well, except for a lost identification card—one of employees in your department. I was going to return it to her today.”

  “No need,” Tallent said, holding out his hand. “I’ll do it for you. Thanks.”

  The head of security removed the ID card from his clipboard and gave it to Tallent.

  “Before you go, Jerry, do you have the security tapes from last night?”

  “Sure. We always keep them for at least forty-eight hours.”

  Tallent nodded. “Great! How long will it take for you to make a copy and bring it to me?

  Jerry smiled. “I’ll have it for you in fifteen minutes.”

  “Perfect.”

  * * *

  Tallent plugged in the flash drive Jerry had delivered to Maya for him. He sat back in his chair and watched. He’d never seen the tapes that the single camera took throughout the day.

  He sped through the video. He could see himself coming and going, Maya popping into his office on and off throughout the day. Every patient he saw had ended up as part of this digitized record. There was also a lot of back-and-forth of personnel, as well as Cantor and Brichett popping in to talk. Later the janitors with their cleaning gear entered his office—then the motion-sensitive surveillance camera went into sleep mode.

  He was bored and about to extract the flash drive when the camera awakened and went back into action. He sat upright in his chair. At first there were only shadows, then Lolly Stenz was walking down the hall in front of someone. Lolly looked scared to death. In a moment another face that he knew from the Ridgewood CCU entered the frame.

  “Gotcha! Gotcha both!”

  Chapter 19

  Mulzini was sitting on the end of the bed in his underwear, trying hard to push himself up to finish dressing. He had a ten a.m. appointment with Dr. Morton Tallent.

  Man, I don’t want to go.

  The thought no sooner disappeared than his neck started hurting and with that came shortness of breath.

  I gotta go, gotta find out what’s going on with this damn aging body of mine. Life has turned me into a broken-down, fifty-year-old. When did that happen?

  He stood, pulled slacks and a sport shirt out of the closet, threw them on a chair. Marcia stuck her head in the doorway. “Not ready, yet?”

  “No, I’m just trying to get myself into gear. I’m getting there.”

  “Okay, but we don’t want to be late.”

  “There is no we,” Mulzini growled at her. “You’re not going with me.”

  “Oh, yeah? Think again, big guy. I’ll be right there with you—and I think you already knew that.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, yeah.”

  “Oh, by the way, Gina called.”

  “What’s up?”

  “She just wanted to wish you well.”

  “Does the whole world know about my appointment? Oh, yeah—wait a minute; I guess I told her about it.”

  “Get with it, man.” Then Marcia was gone.

  He’d barely got one arm into his shirt sleeve when Dirk walked into the room. Without a word he walked up to Mulzini and threw his arms around him and hugged him, then held onto his arm. He wouldn’t let go. “You’re going to be fine, Pops.”

  Mulzini looked at the earnest face so full of life and hope—so unlike the kid he’d found homeless in Golden Gate Park a year ago. Marcia fell in love with Dirk instantly and so did Mulzini. He’d never regretted bringing the boy home and into their lives.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Mulzini had to turn his head away when tears started filling his eyes.

  “I know you’re scared,” Dirk said.

  “Hey, bite your tongue you little brat.”

  “A brat, maybe, but I’m turning seventeen in a few months—not so little anymore.” He pulled Mulzini back into his arms and they both spontaneously started crying on each other’s shoulder.

  Mulzini stepped back. “You better not ever tell Marcia about this.”

  “About what?” Dirk pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket, gave it to Mulzini then took it back and mopped his own face. “Good luck today. I’ll see you later.”

  “Need some bucks?” Mulzini said pulling a twenty out of his wallet.

  “Naw. Hauling furniture on weekends keeps me rolling in the stuff.”

  They both laughed and Dirk was out the door.

  * * *

  After checking in with the receptionist, Mulzini and Marcia sat down in the waiting area of cardiologists. Mulzini reached over and squeezed her hand. “If anything happens to me, you need to know most of my important papers are in the top right-hand drawer of my desk.”

  “Will you stop that?” she said. “It’s only an office visit. We’re here to get information. Hell, you’re a cop, you should know what that’s all about.”

  “Marcia, I know something bad is going to happen. I just feel it.” His heart was racing and he could barely sit still.

  “Now you stop it, right now, Stephano Mulzini.”

  “You know better than to call me that name.”

  “Oh, I know you hate it. But it’s my way of throwing cold water in your face.” She leaned across the arms of the two leather chairs and kissed him on the lips. “You’re here for help—not to die. Try to remember that, please.”

  The door to the office area opened. A slender woman came into the room and looked around. The other four people sitting in the room looked up from whatever they were doing. Mulzini assumed, from their expressions, that not one of them wanted to be next. He knew he didn’t.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Mulzini?”

  Only the first of many unwanted questions.

  They both nodded.

  “My name is Maya. Allow me to take you in to see the doctor.”

  They stood and followed the chic woman down the hallway. She paused at one of the doors, opened it, led them inside, and showed
them to a pair of matching walnut and leather chairs placed in front of a large desk.

  “The doctor will be with you in a moment or two,” Maya said and left the room.

  Mulzini barely had time to give the office a quick once-over when a tall, fiftyish man came in and stood before them.

  “Mr. and Ms. Mulzini, I’m Dr. Tallent.” He reached out and shook both their hands.

  Mulzini could tell just from his handshake that this man didn’t like to touch people. His whole body language didn’t inspire any sort of confidence. There was something off about him. Tallent sat down behind his desk.

  “I see from the form you filled out that you work for the police department?”

  Another question.

  “Is that some kind of problem?” Mulzini said. Marcia squeezed his arm as if to say, “Cool it!”

  Tallent gave him a phony chuckle. “No, no, of course not. It’s just that that must be a very stressful job.”

  “It has its moments.” Mulzini felt as though he already had this man’s probing fingers wandering up and down his body. “I deal with it.”

  Tallent nodded. “I see from your internist’s notes that you refused to get any of the tests he ordered.”

  Mulzini could feel the hairs on his neck getting prickly, a warning that he was about to lose his temper. He took a couple of deep breaths and calmed himself. “Look, my doc already talked to me about atrial fib until it was coming out of my eyeballs. I had all those tests a year ago, when this AF crap started.”

  Marcia dug her nails into his arm, letting him know he was getting out of line.

  Dr. Tallent’s face flushed. “Look, Stefano—“

  “—do not call me that!”

  “I don’t understand—isn’t that your name?”

  “My name is Mulzini. That’s what I like to be called—please.”

  “Okay, sir. Your internist found that you had no structural damage to your heart, however, no one has examined your blood vessels to see if there are any other problems that might be causing you ...” He paused and ran one finger down a sheet of paper in front of him. “Let me see—shortness of breath, fatigue, and, of course, your episodes of increased AF.”

  “They recommended a cath a year ago, but he refused,” Marcia said.

  Mulzini glared at her, then turned back to Tallent. “Maybe I didn’t have the cath, but I’m not going through that whole business again. I don’t want to take all of those tests a second time, understand?”

  “Well, sir, I see you’ve had a twenty-four-hour AF episode and they had to do a cardio-version to set you back to a normal rhythm.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Next thing up is the stroke business.”

  “And the fact you refused to take the anti-clotting medicine,” Marcia said.

  “Look, doc. I’m in a risky profession. I can’t afford to be on anything where I can keep bleeding. A cut can do that to you, right?”

  Tallent threw his notes on his desk and ignored the question. “Look, Mr. Mulzini, we can set you up for the Cath Lab right here in our offices.”

  “No hospital?”

  “No. We have our own CCU right here. There’s a good chance an ablation might be the answer for you.”

  “Yeah, my internist discussed that.”

  “You might also have narrowing of an artery—”

  “Look, I know all that crap. Just set me up so I can get back to my life.”

  “Okay, sir. Let’s get to your physical and we’ll go from there.”

  Chapter 20

  Cal’s arms were wrapped around her. He tongued her neck, trailing downward over her breasts, her belly. They were sucking up each other’s breath while his hands rode her hips, her bottom—lifting her onto his cock ... writhing, moving faster, frantic ... gulping for air, drowning in each other ... screaming with joy.

  Kat Parker jolted back to reality. She was having one of those daydreams again. She’d been doing that a lot lately. The kind of mind games or fantasies you know aren’t real, but feel real and urgent. She snapped out of it, looked around. But she was safe in her office.

  She wished she could stop thinking about Cal Cortez. She hardly knew him; he’d only come into her life two days ago, almost right after she went to see Dr. Tallent.

  She shouldn’t have even met him, but she’d filled in for someone who was out sick—she’d had to finalize his employment entry into Golden Eye Tech.

  The minute he walked in the door she was caught. He was not only handsome, in a rugged kind of way, he was an anomaly in her world. It was rare she met any employee over fifty. Technology was filled with thirty and forty-year-olds, at least the ones she’d met.

  “My name is Cal Cortez,” he’d said with a nervous laugh. “But you already know that.”

  “Yes.” Then they just sat looking at each other; it wasn’t at all uncomfortable or disquieting. It was pure attraction, something she’d forgotten about along the way.

  “Are you free for dinner?’ He’d blurted it out.

  Before that, she was lost and lonely, but one day, one moment had changed it all.

  Something real happened to her that day.

  Kat had not felt well for so long that it was surprising that since she met Cal and saw Dr. Tallent, things had gotten so much better. Maybe her life would now change for the better.

  Was it meeting someone new and vital? Was it because she was finally going to do something positive about her health—have the cardiac catheterization and find out once and for all what was the matter with her, if anything?

  Dr. Tallent tried to explain the procedure, had gone over the possible disastrous things that could happen, even though he’d made it plain that having a stroke or developing a blood clot was statistically very low. It all seemed unimportant compared with all the benefits she would get from just knowing about her physical situation.

  She started daydreaming again and right on cue, her phone rang. It was Cal.

  “Hi, Kat.”

  “Hi.” She was totally breathless thinking about his green eyes and they way they seemed to swallow her.

  “How about I make us dinner at my apartment tonight?”

  It caught her totally off guard. “I ... I’d love to.”

  “I’ll come and get you at five. Okay?”

  “Yes. I’m looking forward to it.”

  The minute she hung up she tried to remember what underwear she’d worn, not that they’d necessarily become intimate, even though she knew they both wanted to. At least, she did.

  Now she was restless and when she tried to pick up where she’d left off on a project sitting on her computer screen, she couldn’t remember what was so important about it. Instead, she started daydreaming again.

  * * *

  Tallent picked up his phone. “Maya, please bring Lolly Stenz in to see me right away.”

  “Yes, doctor.”

  He sat at his desk flipping Lolly’s employee card over and over. The metallic strip on the back served as a key that allowed her entry into every section of the penthouse offices. This one little key could be the beginning of the end. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be amusing.

  Done in by a stupid little nothing.

  “Hi, Mort. You wanted to see me?”

  Even though he expected her, her voice startled him. She stood at the doorway—had on her soft head cap, scrubs, and shoe coverings.

  “Come in, Lolly. Close the door, please.” He could tell she was nervous—her body was tense and she was slightly bent as she approached his desk and slid into the leather chair opposite him.

  He leaned back, tapped a pen from point to top, back and forth, drawing the moment out. She shifted in her seat, apparently trying to get comfortable.

  “What were you doing in my office last night?”

  She looked stunned, but blurted, “Why?”

  “Why?” he said, trying to hold back a sneer. “Because you don’t belong in here.”

  “How—”

  —Tallen
t pointed to her employee ID card on the desk in front of him, flipped it over, and tapped it as if it was a winning blackjack card.

  “You know, I was wondering what happened to my card. I thought I’d lost it in the employee parking garage.” She gave him a tentative smile.

  “I think you lost it when you and Gina Mazzio were here last night.” He leaned forward, half-way across the desk. “We have you on our security tapes—don’t try to deny it.”

  She leaned back into the seat and laughed. “I should have known.” She grabbed a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. “You know Gina Mazzio—she works in CCU at Ridgewood.”

  “Of course I know her. She’s also the one who recommended you to Robert for this job.”

  “Well, she was curious about the offices and our own little CCU set up so I brought her here after hours to show her around.”

  “It was after three in the morning, Lolly.”

  “I know it was dumb, but when we’re all busy it’s hard to show off the place.”

  “And you were in my office and at my computer. Is that part of the tour?”

  “I don’t know why we did that,” she laughed nervously. “Sort of when the cat’s

  away, the mouse will play kind of thing.” She held up a hand. “I know, pretty lame. But she was curious.” She shifted in her seat again.

  “Enough to go through my desk drawers?”

  “I’m sorry. I admit it was pretty dumb, but we both suffer from insomnia and it seemed like a fun thing to do. I hope you’ll forgive my stupidity. ”

  He held her eyes for a long moment. “Go on, get out of here—go do your job.”

  She was up like a shot. “Please forgive me.”

  He nodded at her.

  Not a chance in hell, you lying piece of shit.

  * * *

  Lolly left Mort Tallent’s office, hurried to the bathroom, and locked herself in. She looked in the mirror.

  She was white as chalk. The face staring back at her was one of a scared-shitless human being—her eyes were watery and when she removed her surgical cap, her hair was soaking wet and plastered to her head.