“Hey, man, it’s pretty cold for you to be out here.”
Tallent was startled. He turned and stared at a young man dressed in a wet suit. He’d taken hold of his arm. A dog yapped at the both of them.
“Why don’t we go on in now? Okay?”
He had kind eyes. Tallent saw himself, as he used to be.
“Yes, thank you. I think it’s time.”
Chapter 37
Gina and Harry sat at a favorite table in the cafeteria—a huge picture window that gave an open view of the hospital’s atrium garden. Though most of the growth was evergreens, the bare deciduous trees and shrubs still gave the garden a snowless, wintery feeling. Rain or no rain, staring out the window always brightened her day.
When Gina first sat down, she was restless, still disturbed by Tallent’s earlier behavior in the locker room. All morning, she’d hardly been able to concentrate on taking care of patients, some of them pretty sick. It had been a real struggle.
Now with Harry, she tried to pretend everything was fine—but keeping secrets from the person she trusted most in the whole world was difficult.
“Okay, there’s no sense trying to hide from me, Gina Mazzio.” He reached for her hand. “What’s bothering you?”
His blue eyes were always her undoing.
She couldn’t stop herself, blurted out, “I think Mort Tallent intended to kill me this morning.”
His mouth dropped open. “Literally kill you, right here in the hospital?”
She nodded, tried to get it together, calm herself, but she knew that wasn’t going to work, not with Harry. She surrendered, let it all come out in a rush.
“I’d gone to the locker room to get something from my purse. There was no one else in the place, everyone was out on the unit. With the dim lights, it’s kind of spooky in there anyway. Then Tallent popped up out of nowhere. I thought I was going to die of fright.”
She forced herself to stop—to quiet down. Her heart was pounding and that trapped feeling was clawing at her chest.
“Go on,” Harry said. He leaned across the Formica table. “What happened next?” He reached over, took her hand, and squeezed. “Tell me!”
“I was scared. He caught me off guard, blurted it out, ‘What were you and Lolly doing in my office after hours?’”
“He’s probably been waiting for an opportunity to catch you alone so he could question you.”
“That wasn’t it.” Gina saw the concern in Harry’s eyes. She wanted to stop, wipe the worry from his face, find something else to talk about. But she could see he wasn’t going to allow that. “He kept moving closer and closer. There was so much venom oozing from him. I swear, if he’d had a gun, he would have shot me.”
“Oh, babe, do you really think so?” Harry squeezed her hand again.
“Listen, he was beyond angry. He was crazed.” She looked up and saw Vinnie and Helen making their way through the cafeteria food line.
“My brother and Helen are almost to the cashier,” she said. “They’ll be here in a minute or so. Please, please don’t say anything. I can’t stand to see Vinnie die a little bit every time something happens to me.”
Harry sat back up in his seat. “You’re right. We’ll keep our lips zipped about any of this. Vinnie’s finally getting it together. He doesn’t need to know.” He glanced from her to Vinnie and Helen, then back at her.
“But did Tallent actually touch you?”
“No!”
They faked interest in the cold food sitting on the table in front of them and sighed in unison as they started picking at the now unappetizing food.
Gina turned and smiled when Vinnie and Helen got to their table.
* * *
Kat Parker couldn’t eat a drop of her enchilada. The melting cheese was oozing from the center of the tortilla, along with the pinto beans. Normally, she would have been fork-deep in the Mexican dish, but not today. Her appetite was gone at the thought of her cardio procedure the next morning. She couldn’t stop thinking about how this could be her last day on earth. Tomorrow she might die.
But there was still time. She could call off the whole thing ... just plain chicken out.
That thought brought a sudden flood of relief—the pain in her neck disappeared and the heaviness in her chest dissipated.
Watching Cal maneuver his way to her table, tray balanced on one hand, burst that escape bubble. How could she start a new life with him and constantly worry about her health? It wouldn’t be fair.
When he reached the table and sat down, she saw that they’d ordered the very same meals, from appetizer through dessert.
“Damn! We even eat alike now.” He laughed and dug in, taking a mouthful of his enchilada, chewing and posing at the same time to take up another forkful. “Hey, your food’s getting cold, Kat.”
“I’m not very hungry today for some reason.”
He looked at her. Worry lines etched his face, then deepened. “You have to eat to keep up your strength. “Please take a couple of bites. Do it for me.”
She hesitated, then took a small bite. The aroma and taste made her feel a little bit better. She decided then and there that she would do what she had to do, no matter what, so she could be free to love again.
“You’re really the best thing that has ever happened to me, Cal.”
“I know.” He gave her a big, exaggerated smile. “Now dig in before I come around there and give you a slobbery kiss right here in front of everyone., then start feeding you one bite at a time.”
* * *
Vlad awakened with a start.
For a long moment he couldn’t remember where he was. He tried to sit up, but pain ripped through every part of him.
He remembered Rosia had been in bed with him. He’d also heard her voice cursing him in the dark before she got up and left. When she didn’t come back right away, he drifted off to sleep. Now, he carefully turned so he could see the clock on the bedside table: 12:30 p.m. He’d slept through the night and half the day.
“Hello,” he semi-shouted.
No response.
“Hello, Rosia?” Again, silence.
What a stupid fool. You know she’s at work now.
He scooted his legs until they hung over the edge of the bed. But he couldn’t get his upper body off the mattress. It took several more tries before he managed to get into a sitting position. He sat there for awhile, painfully inhaling and exhaling as if he’d just lifted a massive weight.
When he tried to take a deep breath, steel swords jammed into his ribs. “Oh, my God!” he screamed.
You can’t stay here. You need to get up and get the fuck out of here.
He finally got to his feet and swayed from side to side for a few seconds before he felt secure. Soon the room stopped spinning.
Gotta getaway from here, man.
It had taken a long time to sink in, but the pain helped him to understand.
He’d gotten too comfortable. He’d liked this identity, liked being Vlad Folo. Because of that, he hadn’t relocated or changed his name in almost three years—the longest he’d ever stayed in one place, remained a single identity.
Maybe that mugging was a blessing in disguise.
He shuffled to the large full-length mirror against the wall; it took him a few seconds to get steady in front of his reflection. When he had a solid stance, he eyed his body, smothered in a crazy patchwork of bruises from bottom to top. Then he focused on his face.
“Shit!” he screamed out. He looked like he’d been run over by a train.
Nose taped, eyes a vivid purple-blue. It wasn’t him. It was someone else. Someone wearing a mottled blue mask.
Disgusted, he turned around, put one foot slowly in front of the other and scuffled back to the bed.
Until he healed, he was helpless.
* * *
The tiny screen on Harry’s cell showed his brother’s name.
“So?” he said.
“Got you a guy, Harry. Well, actually, I got
you a gal. One of the union clerks.”
“She’s really into computers and systems and all that shit?”
“Don’t even ask me to go into it. Half the words she used were so foreign to my poor brain that I almost asked for a translator.”
“Trustworthy! Is she trustworthy?”
“Oh, yeah! Know why? Don’t answer. Either way, I’m gonna tell you. She thinks her mother and aunt were both bullied into surgeries they really didn’t need. Her mother used up all her savings. Worse, the aunt died. This woman is ready to do most anything to yank these kinds of doctors out of hiding, expose any treatment that’s not on the up and up.”
“She wasn’t worried about the legal implications?” Harry said.
“We discussed that in the beginning. She was a little hesitant at first, said what you really needed was a ‘black hat’ hacker.’ You know, someone who’s into it for personal gain, or is just plain malicious.”
“Well, that’s not us.”
“Maybe not, but that’s the kind of hacker you need. She calls herself a ‘white hat.’ Helps people test their security systems ... retrieves lost passwords for friends ... that sort of thing.”
“But will she help?”
“Yes. She’s even excited about it.”
“When can Gina and I get together with her?”
“I’ve got her phone number. She’ll be expecting a call from you.”
Chapter 38
Gina dropped Harry off right after work, gave him a wave, and drove off. He stood in the rain for a moment and watched the back of her beloved, cranky Fiat roadster as she drove away.
It is kinda cute.
He wondered again if she’d ever give up on that funky car. Knew she’d probably always find a way to breathe life back into it, if it took her own dying breath.
Harry climbed up the stairs and stood at Paul’s door, waiting for his older brother to answer his knock. Sooner or later he would open up, if for no other reason than to yell, “Go away!”
That was their ritual.
Harry was always hesitant to use the key Paul had given him the day his brother moved in to this bachelor’s apartment after a contentious divorce. That day he’d insisted that Harry take the key. “I need to know there’s someone out there who cares whether I’m alive or dead.”
That was more than two years ago.
It was probably that memory more than anything else that kept Harry from using the key—he was always afraid that one day he would unlock the door and find Paul dead.
It had been a really sad time. Even now, Paul still tried to get his ex-wife, now re-married, to change her mind and take him back. His brother couldn’t let it go.
Harry thought of Gina and realized how many times they’d come close to losing each other, too.
The Lucke men never seem to give up, no matter what. Like wolves, we mate for life.
Paul always acted annoyed when he had to answer the door, but Harry was never sure whether it was a façade to discourage unwanted guests, or real. And Harry didn’t like barging in on anyone, not even his brother.
Live and let live.
That reason alone made him uncomfortable with the idea that they were going to hack into someone’s computer and romp through supposedly confidential information.
Cyberspace didn’t seem real to Harry—maybe most people felt the same way. He didn’t know for sure, but he suspected that it was true. Virtual reality wasn’t something you could define easily and it definitely wasn’t touchable.
That was the virtual part.
When he thought about the nebulous iCloud holding all the information on the planet, it made his eyes cross. Mostly, you just had to accept, like quantum physics, that it really did exist, even if you didn’t know what the hell it was.
If there was a place that held all the world’s important information, he was about to use it to abandon his own ethics and violate someone’s right to privacy.
His brother flung open the door. “Again! What’s with not using your key?”
“I hate doing it.” Harry walked into the apartment and noticed that even after the big cleanup, the place was already morphing into Paul’s usual messy man-cave.
His brother ambled into the kitchen and pulled a beer out of the refrigerator and gave it to him. Harry sprawled out on the sofa.
“So is all of this real?” Harry took a long pull from the bottle. “Did you really find someone to help us?”
“Yeah, it’s the woman I mentioned to you yesterday. Hell, you spoke to her on the phone.” Paul looked at his watch. “She should be here any time now.”
“What’s she like?”
“Are you kidding me, little brother? What are you expecting?”
“I don’t know. Knowing you, it could be someone covered with tats and sporting a lot of face jewelry.” Harry laughed at the look on his brother’s disbelieving face. “Oh, come on, Paul. I’m pulling your leg. I don’t know what to expect.”
“Well, she works in the union office around a lot of big bruisers, so you know she can take care of herself.”
The door bell rang with an impatient dot...dot sound.
“You can see for yourself.” Paul set his beer bottle on the coffee table and jumped up to open the front door. An attractive woman, somewhere in her early thirties, with an inquisitive tilt to her head, stepped inside. Her hair was drenched, as was the coat she was wearing.
“Sheesh, is it ever gonna stop raining?”
Paul took her coat, hung it on a hall closet door knob where it dripped water on the floor.
“Christina, this is my brother, Harry.”
She reached out and shook Harry’s hand, held onto for a long moment while she scrutinized his face. He was certain that whatever vibrations she got from her brief once-over would have a lot to do with her decision as to whether she would work with them.
After a moment, Christina smiled, dropped his hand, plopped down next to him on the sofa. “How about a beer, Paul?” She turned to Harry. “I hear you’re a nurse?”
“Guilty, as charged,” Harry said, smiling.
“What kind of nursing do you do?”
“I’m usually a travel nurse. You know, I work on contract for whoever needs me, most anywhere in the States. Right now, I’m working here at Ridgewood in ICU.”
“Mmmm, my instincts tell me,” she said seriously, studying his face, “you’re top notch.”
Harry didn’t realize just how tense he was until a long breath escaped his lips.
* * *
They’d been making small talk, eating a home-delivered pizza, and drinking beer for almost an hour when Christina said, “Okay, tell me exactly why you want into this guy’s files, Harry? I mean, it’s a challenge and fun, but also damn risky ... and as illegal as a physical B&E.”
“Mainly, we’re sure this doctor has been cooking his books—not reporting income, which is really none of our business. But, we’re fairly certain that in the process of lining his pockets, he’s also performing unnecessary patient procedures.”
“Yeah, well, I think doctors do that all the time, but they usually don’t get into trouble for it.” Tears suddenly filled her eyes. “My aunt died because she was pushed into an unnecessary surgery.” She sniffed, reached into her purse for a tissue, and blew her nose. “Couldn’t prove it, of course, even though I tried.”
“Yeah,” Harry said, “malpractice isn’t easy to prove ... insurance companies make sure of that.”
“Tell me more,” Christina said.
Paul went back into the kitchen, asked if anyone wanted another beer.
“Not me,” Harry said.
“Christina?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Since unnecessary surgeries are hard to prove” Harry said, “we’re more interested in outing him for padding Medicare charges for procedures, and cheating insurance companies.”
Christina gave him a squint. There was speculation in her eyes and her faint frown lines deepened.<
br />
“You’re not giving me the whole story, are you Harry? Like, there’s something more going on here.”
“No, no! This is what we need to know.”
“Yeah, sure. And what else?” Christina took a long pull on her beer bottle. “I don’t dig that you’re doing this just to protect the government or insurance companies from being ripped off.” She shook her head from side to side. “Nope, I just don’t buy it.”
Harry stared into her eyes. “You might not want to hear the rest of it.” Harry picked up another piece of pizza and tentatively took a bite.
“Look, man, you know where I work ... and what Paul does for a living.” She took another long pull from her beer bottle. “I won’t tell you where the dead bodies are buried, but I’ve got to know why I’m jumping into this, or I’m out. What you’ve told me here, well—”
“—okay! Okay!” Harry said. “This doctor, along with everything else I’ve said, is involved in murder. We’re sure of it. Maybe more than one.” Harry leaned over, his face, up close. “Do you really want to know more?”
Chapter 39
Kat was terrified. She hung onto Cal’s arm as he drove her to Dr. Tallent’s office.
“You don’t have to go inside with me,” she said, not wanting to let go of him. “I’m okay now. Really, I am.”
But she wasn’t. She was spinning out of control and he was her anchor, her only anchor.
“You don’t get it, do you, Kat?”
She looked at him, wanting him to turn around and take her home.
“I’m not leaving you. Do you understand? We’re doing this together.”
When they walked into the waiting room, instead of the receptionist, a nurse in blue scrubs was waiting at the side of the desk. She smiled and motioned to Kat.
“Hi,” the nurse said. “Are you Kathryn Parker?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Great. I’m Dara.” She held out a hand. “Can I see your identification, please?”
Kat fumbled through her purse and handed the nurse her driver’s license. The nurse checked it carefully, then looked at Kat and compared her face to the DMV photo before returning the license.
Bone Crack: A Medical Suspense Thriller (The Gina Mazzio Series Book 6) Page 14
