Coughing & Donuts: A Mercy Mares Cozy Mystery

by Ava Mallory

  Lou couldn't write fast enough and I can't say that I was doing myself any favors by rambling.

  “Wait a minute. What do you mean he was a horrible guard? I'll have you know that Slowicki was the best cop I'd ever worked with.” Lou raised his voice.

  Cop? The guard was a cop?

  “He was a cop?” I asked to see if we were talking about the same man.

  Lou shouted, “Yes!”

  I cringed. My friends and family kept warning me that my mouth would someday get me into trouble. Looked like this was my someday.

  Officer Lerner intervened before either one of us said anything we'd regret. “Okay, that's enough. Let's just go grab some shoes and roll on out of here.” She grabbed my arm a little rougher than I felt comfortable with and escorted me through the apartment toward the two bedrooms at the back of the unit.

  When we were out of Captain Benetto's line of vision, she released my arm and told me to put some shoes on and grab my purse.

  I looked down at my bunny rabbit pajamas and asked, “Can I change first?”

  She shook her head. “I wouldn't push my luck if I were you. Just grab some shoes and let's get out of here.”

  “I have to go like this? I just woke up. I haven't had a chance to brush my teeth or comb my hair yet.” I protested.

  She sighed. “Don't you get it? This isn't some beauty contest we're entering you in. You're going in for questioning? A man is dead and another is nowhere to be found. Both of whom you spoke to last night.”

  What?

  “Who? What? Who are you talking about? I was working last night. Lou saw me at work last night. How could I know anything about a missing man and a murder?”

  She clicked her tongue, annoyed by my questions. “I'm trying to help you, but you're not making this easy. You were the last one to be seen with Officer Slowicki and you were the last one seen with Eli Pardo.”

  Eli Pardo? The patient?

  I didn't bother to tie my shoes and ran out of the room to confront Lou. “What is she talking about? Eli Pardo is missing? How can he be missing if you were the one that took him to the hospital last night and escorted him in?”

  Lou smirked, answering me in a low voice, “I left him with you and you're the last one to have spoken to him. We've already spoken to Amy and she informed us that you asked that his restraints be unfastened. Now, he's gone and a man is dead. A man you both had issues with and a man you were last seen arguing with. Any other questions?”

  His response left me at a loss for words. How could Amy have pointed the finger at me and why do they think I had anything to do with the guard's murder? Who saw what and what about all the cameras?

  Without saying another word, Lou grabbed me by my elbow and escorted me out. I glanced back and saw that Officer Lerner had my purse in her hand. She secured the door shut and followed us, along with the other officers.

  “But, Eli was only wearing the gown.” My words were barely audible.

  *

  “Is this a joke?” Ruby laughed nervously into the phone.

  “No, this is very real.” I answered, wrapping my bathrobe around me. After four hours at the police station, I felt dirty. I'd never sweated so much in my life. There I was, innocent as all get out, feeling like there was no end in sight to the hard line of questioning Lou spewed at me.

  Ruby cleared her throat. “Start all over again. They took you in for questioning because a patient eloped and killed a guard? I don't understand. Were you working when the patient eloped?”

  I loved Ruby like a sister. She and her psychiatrist husband, Hank, were my best friends in the world. We'd all met in college. They stayed by my side through my marriage, the birth of my child, divorce, the loss of my parents and grandparents, and beyond. Truth be told, Ruby's way of approaching a situation, especially one that I was embroiled in, did rub me the wrong way sometimes. I needed a shoulder to cry on, not an analytical approach to solving my problems.

  “Ruby,” I began, “I told you already. I wasn't there when that kid took off. At least, I don't think I was. I didn't have anything to do with that and no one ever said that he killed the guard. He just happened to take off around the same time. I don't understand how though, because we had him with four points and he was wearing a gown.”

  Ruby always knew how to put me in my place. “Okay, listen. As your supervisor (I always forgot that fact), I need to know everything from Point A to Point B or I can't help you. If you weren't on duty, how is it that they are blaming you? And, tell me again, what happened to the guard. No offense, but you sure can get into a whole lot of trouble in a really short amount of time. My goodness, it hasn't even been twenty-four hours since you left here and why didn't you use your cell phone to call me when you couldn't find your way inside the building?”

  I sighed, because I knew what she was going to say when I answered her. I had a knack for forgetting to charge my phone. It was a bad habit, but one that I just couldn't seem to break myself from. I opened my mouth to speak, but she beat me to the punch.

  “Let me guess – your phone wasn't charged? Mercy, how many times have Hank and I told you to make sure that you keep the phone charged, especially when you're traveling? What if something had happened?” She stopped and we both laughed at the irony of her question.

  When our laughter died down, we got back to business.

  “So, I don't know why... Well, I guess I do, but it still doesn't make it right. Apparently, I was the last one seen speaking to the security guard and the nurse I was working with claims that I was the last one with the patient. She must be confused, because I distinctly remember that she asked me to finish his intake paperwork while she checked his restraints. Anyway, it's a hospital. There are cameras everywhere. I'm sure someone will finally look at the tapes and they'll see that there's no way I could be responsible for the patient's escape or for the guard's murder.” I think I was trying to convince myself of this at the same time I tried to convince Ruby that all would be fine.

  The way I'd been put through the ringer by Lou and homicide detective, Rhett (Yes, that was his name.) Arnold, you'd think that they all, but caught me committing the murder.

  “Well, hopefully, they'll take a look at the footage soon. Elopement is no big deal. It happens, but if it turns out that he killed the guard after escaping from the hospital, well, that will be a whole other problem. That will reflect badly on the facility and on you. Let's hope that's not what happened.” Ruby was speaking to the choir. That was my worry too. To think that I'd just spoken to a young man who was capable of murder, chilled me to the bone. I can't believe I'd actually felt a little sorry for him, but just like I didn't appreciate being judged before cold, hard facts, I couldn't yet bring myself to believe that he'd done nothing more than take off from a psych unit.

  “Whatever happens, let me know right away. When are you scheduled to work again? Wait. They didn't fire you, did they?” Ruby asked, reminding me of something else for me to have to worry about.

  “I'm scheduled for training tonight. As far as I know, I still have a job. Could this cost me my job?” I knew the answer, but needed some confirmation that was in fact happening a very real possibility.

  Ruby tried to sound like she was joking, but somehow I missed the humor in her response. “Only if you're guilty.”

  *

  The guard's tower was taped off. Two armed guards stood near a parked security vehicle. I hadn't even noticed Lou until I'd reached in my pocket for my employee badge.

  No badge.

  The two security guards stood stone faced as Lou pulled something out of his pocket and waved it at me. I was relieved that he'd given me a friendly gesture until I'd noticed that he was holding my badge.

  “Where did you get that? I must have dropped it when I...” I began, but Lou finished my sentence for me.

  “When you took off running from the guard tower this morning?”

  “I... I... I told you. I must have dropped it. I was only running be
cause the guard...” This time, I stopped myself from going any further because nothing I could say would help me not to look guilty of something. Although I knew that I'd run in frustration, I didn't believe my explanation was going to do anything to get suspicion off of me.

  “Don't you want this back?” Lou asked when I didn't move to retrieve my badge.

  “Aren't you going to use it as evidence against me?” I asked, feeling my smart mouth beginning to get ahead of my common sense.

  Lou's face turned red instantly, asking me through clenched teeth, “Is there something you want to tell me? I swear, if you don't tell me now, things are going to get pretty ugly real fast for you.”

  I hadn't anticipated his anger. I thought I was asking a legitimate question. If I wasn't under arrest, then, I didn't see the harm in having my name tag back. I hadn't even realized that I'd lost it. In the chaos of last night, with the coffee spilling and the papers flying all over the place, I guess I hadn't realized that I'd dropped my name tag in the first place.

  Lou wasn't done with me yet. He had another pressing question for me. “What were you two arguing about? Explain to me how it is that you show up in town and my friend is dead hours later.”

  I didn't have an answer for him. I still didn't see the connection. So what if I'd seen him. I'm sure everyone who worked that shift had seen him as they arrived and when they left.

  I spoke my mind, without thinking it through. As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how insensitive I sounded. “Maybe you should recuse yourself. I don't see how it would do you any good to investigate your friend's murder.”

  The heat in his body rose to astronomical levels. I could feel the heat emanating from his body and burning into my flesh.

  The two security guards shuffled uncomfortably where they stood. I'd gone too far and I knew it.

  “I'm sorry.” I offered, but it was too late. The damage had been done. He stepped closer to me. I instinctively closed my eyes.

  “Here.” He shoved my badge into my hand and brushed passed me to go inside the guardhouse. I hadn't noticed that there was a team of people in there already.

  “You sure know how to make friends, don't you.” One of the guards said.

  I looked at his name tag. It said: P. Vera.

  I answered, “I guess so. Can I go in the building?”

  He looked at the other guard for a moment before he answered. “As far as I know, yes, you can. Must be nice to have friends in high places.”

  I thought I'd heard him wrong and asked, “Sorry? What did you say?”

  He explained. “Well, Bauer vouched for you. Didn't he tell you? I heard that his wife made him keep you, so consider yourself lucky. For now.” Both guards laughed.

  “Bauer? Rollie?” Vera nodded.

  “Interesting.” I left it at that and went in search of the facility administrator. I hadn't seen him since my arrival and didn't really even begin to consider what he thought of all of this.

  Chapter Four

  I knocked on the door, trying not to sound too desperate, but I wanted an explanation. I didn't like special favors being done for me. It didn't look good and, although it probably saved my ever-expanding behind for the time being, it didn't feel good. I'd worked too long and too hard to build a solid reputation for myself to have someone throwing their authority around on my behalf, unless of course it was Ruby. She, being my supervisor and as close to a sister as I'd ever get, had a little more leeway to help me when I was in a bind.

  He opened the door, surprised to see me on the other side of it. “Mercy? I was just talking about you.”

  “So, I've heard. Do you mind telling me what's going on? I don't need you to vouch for me. I didn't do anything wrong, so I don't need you to intervene on my behalf.” I hadn't seen him in a few years, but I was a little surprised to see how much he'd aged since the last time I'd seen him.

  He put his hands up defensively. “I didn't do this for you. Karen asked me to do this for her, so I did. End of story.”

  I calmed down for a moment. Karen was one of my all time favorite former patients. I'd taken care of her both when she was in the hospital previously and when she was in need of home health care. She'd requested my assistance specifically. I'd like to think that we became quite close when she was under my care. We'd spend hour after hour, swapping recipes or snacking on some of the sweet treats she liked to make when she was feeling up to it.

  I sighed. “How is she doing?”

  Rollie opened the door wider to let me in his office. “She has some good days and some bad days, but more good days lately. As soon as she heard what happened, she begged... Well, she ordered me to make sure that you didn't lose your job. At least not until this all blows over. Just so you know, I for one, don't think you could have had anything to do with this.”

  “She asked you to save my job?” A lump of emotion formed in my throat. I really liked her. Even before this incident, she was the sweetest person in the world.

  “Yeah, she did. So, for what it's worth, I have no intention of letting this blow up into a huge story and I won't let you become a scapegoat on this.” Rollie informed me. “You haven't been here long enough to know this, but Pleasant Cove is a sort of hideaway for the wealthy. I'm talking, Hollywood stars and media moguls. We're used to press and being under scrutiny, but never in my twenty plus years here have we ever been embroiled in a scandal like this.”

  “You've never had a murder here? Wow, I'm surprised, but no disrespect to Mr. Slowicki's family, why is this such a big deal or scandal, as you said?” I asked.

  “It's not murder that's the issue so much as it is where the murder occurred.” Rollie started to explain, but I still didn't see the difference. Murder was murder, no matter how you looked at it, as far as I was concerned.

  Noticing the confusion in my eyes, he sighed. “Like I told you, this is a place where people go to get away from the world. Their careers are on the line if they end up here. Sometimes, their agents or studios have forced their hands and given them an ultimatum. They get clean or get help or they risk losing everything.”

  I nodded, still not ready to feel too sorry for some egocentric multimillionaire that worried about their Hollywood image, when other people had similar problems minus the eccentric lifestyle.

  Rollie continued, “Mercy, they come here to hide. Yes, it's true that some will make a big deal of announcing that they are seeking help, but for the most part, they go to great lengths to not be seen and not be associated with us and we accommodate them to the best of our ability.” He looked out the window, down into the parking lot, where detectives and crime scene analysts milled about, searching for clues. “A murder here draws media attention. It's bad enough that they already have fans and camera crews following their every move, now we are virtually sending out an open invitation to anyone with a cell phone to come and record what's going on here and share it with the world.”

  Wow! He really thought this stuff out.

  I could see his point from a PR perspective, but the fact remained that a man had been murdered. Why he wasn't more concerned about that, baffled me.

  “You're worried about the media attention? That's the most pressing issue that you think you have?” This wasn't the first time that he and I disagreed on an issue. The only difference was that in regards to our previous issues, we were both on the same side, keeping his wife alive. Here, I wanted to catch a murderer and get suspicion off of me and he worried about his bottom line. It made no sense.

  Rollie sat back in his seat, looked at me with weary eyes and said, “Report to work. Don't do any interviews with the media. Don't bother the police. Let them do their job and just do as your told.”

  “Do as I'm told? Like some trained monkey? What else would I do? You know my work ethic. I do my job and, if I remember correctly, you were always quite pleased with my work.” He needed a friendly reminder and I needed to make him see that I wasn't some push over.

  “Okay, Mer
cy. I know you're a good nurse, just try to keep a low profile. The staff upstairs has been instructed not to speak of the murder. We don't need to upset patients. There will be a meeting in regards to how it is that Mr. Pardo could simply walk right on out of here under our watch.” He shook his head. I understood his frustration. A place full of cameras and monitors shouldn't have been so easy to walk away from. I could see how he got past the guard with no problem, because Mike wasn't the least bit interested in securing anything beyond the mounds of food he had piled on his desk both times I'd seen him.

  *

  Amy waited for me to swipe my badge before we stepped outside to head to our cars. Other than the yellow police tape, there was no sign of an active investigation taking place.