Chapter 33
The beach looked gloomy. CC had fond, and not so fond, memories of Revere Beach. It was a long stretch of beach just down the street from her childhood home. As a little girl, she played there with her brother and parents. Later, she would take Stevie there under the guise of having fun. In truth, CC often used the outing as an excuse to get out of the house.
In high school, it was a popular hangout. Later, when she lived in a rat-infested rooming house, it was her refuge. Now the city had cleaned it up as well as most of the surrounding neighborhood. Still, an unsavory element clung to the low-rent businesses and homes.
She tightened her coat around her body when she stepped out of the car. The October wind storming off of the ocean was freezing. Frank was already waiting for her by the seawall. They ducked under the bright-yellow, crime-scene tape just in time to catch State Medical Examiner Timmons. CC recognized the trooper in charge, Sean McManus, a good guy.
“Calloway.” He tipped his hat. “Would you mind?” He motioned to the body bag.
“Body is slightly bloated,” Timmons said as he unzipped the bag. The smell of decay assaulted her at once. The stench of a rotting corpse was something she would never get used to. His face was indeed bloated from being in the water. But there wasn’t a doubt in her mind.
“That’s him.” She sighed wearily, wondering when all of this was going to stop. “Dr. Jack Temple. He lived right over there.” She pointed to the tall building located across the street. “We should check out his place,” she said as the body bag was re-zipped.
McManus agreed with her suggestion, and the three of them, along with a CSU tech made their way across the busy street.
“How did it happen?” CC asked during the elevator ride up.
“Don’t know,” Timmons flatly stated. “Drowned, that we know for sure. But it appears he was only in three feet of water. Facedown, that’s all it takes. I’ll know more when we get him back to the lab.”
“I know he liked to go for a walk along the beach every night,” CC said. “Still doesn’t explain how a smart guy like Jack ended up drowning in a couple feet of water.”
“You never know with these things.” McManus sounded grim.
“You know this guy well?”
“He’s my wife’s boss at the hospital.”
“Does he have family we should contact?”
“He and his wife are separated.” CC was fighting to hold it together. “She’s on a cruise at the moment. His sons are in the area. My wife should have the contact information.”
“Thanks for the help on this one,” McManus said sincerely as they stepped off the elevator. “Without an ID, it might have taken a good while before we found out who he is.”
“This is it,” the manager gruffly announced while unlocking the door to Jack’s one-bedroom condo.
“Do you need a key to lock and unlock the door?” CC asked before they stepped inside.
“Yah.” He wiped his nose on his shirtsleeve.
“Portrait of a middle-aged man in the middle of a divorce,” McManus said when they stepped inside.
“Very little furniture and a big-ass television,” Frank noted as they took in the Spartan surroundings.
“Jack was a bit of a neat freak,” CC added to the conversation.
“What’s that?” She pointed to two objects lying in the middle of the living room floor.
She and McManus slipped on latex gloves as they began to search the empty surroundings while the tech snapped off a series of pictures. Frank hung back by the front door to ensure that the manager left and no one else entered, disrupting the search.
“We have a woman’s scarf and a Charlie Card,” McManus said and bagged the objects CC had pointed out. “The card has a photo on it. A woman.”
“Empty bottle of vodka sitting by the sink,” CC said while searching the tiny kitchen area. “You might want to bag that as well.” She paused for a moment to look inside the refrigerator. It was a collection of healthy food that had been ignored in favor of takeout. Inside the freezer, she found nothing but a couple of trays of ice and another bottle of Kettle One. She used her phone to take a quick picture of the bottle of vodka. “There’s another one in the freezer you might want to bag as well.”
“Okay.” McManus didn’t seem to agree with her suggestion, but he bagged the bottles. “Nothing else here,” he said after they checked everything. It didn’t take long. Jack seemed to be getting by with the bare essentials. His phone was sitting in the charger, clothes with dry cleaning tags hung in the closet, and his keys were in a bowl that rested on a well-worn table by the front door.
“Where are his keys?” CC asked, confusing her companions.
“Right there,” McManus grumbled and pointed to the bowl.
“I meant the keys to the condo.” Without touching the keys in the bowl, she pointed to the interlocking rings. “These are his car keys. Those are the hospital keys. You can tell by the way they have ‘Do not duplicate’ engraved on them. The rings interlock and have clips so they can be attached to a belt loop or a lanyard. There should be a third set with his house keys.”
“And you know this how?”
“My wife has the same key ring.” She pointed to the hospital logo. “It allows the staff to exchange keys without having to hand over their personal keys. It also makes it easy to just grab the set that you need.”
“Well.” McManus rubbed his chin. “He would have had them on him. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to lock the door when he went for his little walk. I’ll have CSU look for them. He might have dropped them when he fell. They could be anywhere by now.”
“I know you don’t have to…” CC hoped she wasn’t about to overstep her bounds. “But if you could keep me in the loop, I’d appreciate it.”
“No worries, Calloway.”
She and Frank left McManus to carry on with the investigation. She asked him for one more favor, and he agreed. She left Frank and headed straight to the hospital. With a flash of her badge, she brushed past the reception desk.
The emergency room was in full swing. Jamie was tied up with a patient. CC decided to wait in Jamie’s office. Just as she was about to enter, a doctor stopped her. She recognized him.
“Dr. Nolan, I’m Detective Calloway.” The surly man had been introduced to her on several occasions. He stared up at her with a blank expression. “Dr. Jameson’s wife.” She could never figure out if the guy was forgetful or simply rude. Given his chosen profession, she hoped for rudeness. She ignored his curious stare and waved him off. She made herself comfortable in Jamie’s office, curled up on the sofa, and watched the sunset. If it hadn’t been for the horrific events of the day, she might have appreciated the view.
* * *
Jamie hated the day she was having. The ER was overflowing with patients, and the staff was worried about Jack. Adding to her troubles was Dr. Nolan crawling up her butt. It was painfully obvious he was using Jack’s unexplained absence to move himself up the food chain. If she caught him yakking about hers or Jack’s lack of professionalism one more time, she was going to shoot him up with a healthy dose of Haldol. An evil smirk crossed her lips when the thought of drugging the annoying man played out in her mind.
“Jamie?” Stella waved her over.
“What now?” She snapped without meaning to.
“Didn’t Nolan tell you?”
“That he’s a big pain in the ass? He didn’t have to. I figured it out all on my own.”
“We all knew that long before you started working here,” Stella said with a snort. “No, did he tell you that your wife is waiting for you in your office?”
“What? No. For how long?”
“Over an hour.”
“Great.” Jamie knew full well that Nolan had intentionally failed to inform her. “I’ll be in my office.”
“Sorry, Jamie,” Stella said. “He said he’d tell you. I should have known better.”
Jamie rushed to her off
ice, which was down the hall from the emergency room treatment area.
She rushed inside, ready to apologize. She found the love of her life sprawled out on the sofa, snoring like a moose in heat. She couldn’t help thinking how tired CC must be if she fell asleep on a sofa that was a good couple feet too short for her. She hated waking her, but it had to be done.
“Caitlin?” She gave CC’s shoulder a gentle shake. She jumped back when CC bolted upright.
“What? I’m awake.”
“Yeah, right.” Jamie almost laughed. “You look exhausted.”
“Today sucked.”
“I’m sorry I took so long.” Jamie winced, still troubled by the weary look in CC’s eyes. “Nolan failed to mention you were here.”
“The guy’s a dickhead.”
“Language,” Jamie said, although she wholeheartedly agreed with CC’s assessment. “What happened today?”
“I got a late start checking on Jack because I had to go downtown and answer some questions.” CC seemed reluctant to talk, which made Jamie even more nervous than she already was. “Bert is dead. I had to go through an interrogation. It was brief. No one thinks I was involved.”
“Wait, he’s dead? How?”
“Someone didn’t like him. Turns out I went to high school with the guy who killed him. He’s doing time for some very nasty stuff. Apparently, Bert molested his kid sister.”
“How old were you when this happened?” Jamie knew CC was blaming herself.
“I was a kid. Logically, I know that there was nothing more I could have done. I still feel guilty. That’s not the worst part. In fact that’s the good news for the day.”
“Geez, what’s the bad news?”
“We found Jack.”
“And?” Jamie was shivering, already sensing the answer.
“I’m sorry,” CC choked out. “His body was found at the beach. It appears that he drowned.”
“Are you sure?” Jamie knew it was the truth; part of her needed to be absolutely certain.
“I saw the body. It was him.”
“I don’t understand.” Jamie was fighting to keep her tears at bay. “In the middle of October, he decided to go for a swim?”
“We don’t have the details.” CC wrapped her arms around Jamie’s trembling body. “The state troopers promised to keep me in the loop. We’ll know more after his autopsy. Baby, I’m sorry. The troopers will probably be calling you soon, to get his contact information.”
“My God, poor Joyce. I contacted his son, Mike. He said he stopped by and saw Jack early yesterday morning. He dropped off some mail that had been piling up at Joyce’s place. I can’t believe this.”
Jamie couldn’t hold it together any longer and began sobbing. CC held her tightly until Jamie forced herself to stop.
“Crap,” she said and sniffed. “I need to get back to work.”
“Baby, you need to take a moment.”
“I can’t.” Jamie brushed the tears from her face. “Today has been insane enough. I have to call Mike, tell the staff, and I have no idea when I’ll be home. I’m second in command without him…”
“Easy.” CC once again wrapped her arms around her sobbing wife. “Take a moment.”
Jamie gave in to the comfort of CC’s embrace. She started crying once again. Then she allowed herself to simply be held. When she felt a little steadier, she pulled herself together. She took a moment to wash her face and gave CC one last embrace before she set off to face what would probably be the longest day of her life.
CC kissed her goodbye and asked Jamie to call if she needed anything. Feeling a little more composed, Jamie made her way back into the emergency room. She entered during a lull and just in time to hear Nolan talking about Jack’s lack of professionalism.
“Dr. Nolan, zip it.”
He jumped at her hostile tone and kept his mouth shut.
“Get any and all available staff together in the lounge, now,” she ordered him.
“Excuse me?”
“I said now.” It was a rare occasion when she reminded a member of the staff that she outranked them. When she did, no one, not even Nolan, questioned her.
Jamie took a moment to catch her breath. Then she went down the hall and entered the break room. Anyone who could be pulled away from what they were doing mingled around, awaiting her arrival.
“I’m sorry to pull you away from your duties.” She felt the weight of the world pressing down on her as everyone in the room watched her. “There’s no easy way to say this. I don’t have any details, yet. Dr. Temple has passed away. Apparently, he had an accident late last night or early this morning. Again, I don’t have any details. When I do, I’ll let you know.” Her mind went blank. She had no idea what she should say next. After a couple of decades of informing immediate family members of the passing of a loved one, she had no idea how to tell the staff about Jack.
“But—” one of the residents began to say.
“Dr. Jameson will post the funeral information when she knows more.” Stella effectively cut the youngster off. “In the meantime, as sad as this moment is, we do have a responsibility to our patients. Isn’t that right, Dr. Jameson?”
“Yes, this is an extremely sad day, but we have to keep the ER running.” Jamie felt herself slipping into work mode. “As I said, when I have more information, I will let you know. If anyone would like to take a moment to go to the chapel or catch their breath, I understand.”
The staff was clearly shaken as they shuffled out of the room. Nolan lingered behind. Jamie knew the wheels were spinning. He wasn’t concerned about the how or why of Jack’s passing. She hated thinking it, but she knew Nolan was thinking about who was going to fill Jack’s seat.
“Doctor?” She shook her head when she saw him flinch.
“When did it happen?” He seemed at a loss. Jamie hoped that just perhaps he was moved by Jack’s passing and not mentally calculating the perfect time to submit his resume.
“I’m not certain,” Jamie answered. “The police are doing an autopsy. He was discovered on the beach. At this moment, it’s anyone’s guess.”
“So you found out from the family?”
“No.” Jamie mentally counted off at least a dozen times during that hour CC was waiting that she and Nolan had not only crossed paths but had spoken as well. “My wife, the police officer, told me. I’m curious as to why you failed to inform me that she was waiting in my office.”
“I didn’t know.” His voice squeaked a school girl’s. “I thought it was personal.”
“It was,” Jamie said furiously. “I considered Jack to be a good friend. Even if CC was stopping by to say hello, why not tell me? You know what? Never mind. We have work to do.”
“Who’s going to be in charge?” he asked.
Jamie paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully. She wished she could smack him around. “It’s the weekend. We carry on just as we would during any other long weekend. If you would like to go home, you are more than welcome to. Come Tuesday, I’m certain the suits will assign someone to handle things during the interim. For the moment, you’re free to go if you want to, and you don’t need to come in tomorrow either.”
“I see.”
Jamie didn’t miss the leery tone of his voice. He thought she was making a power play. The truth was, she hadn’t thought about who would handle what. Her only concern was for Jack’s family and keeping things running. She didn’t want Jack’s job. She liked being in the thick of things and practicing medicine. She found the administrative aspect of her job frustrating.
If Nolan wanted it, then more power to him. Although, it would mean he would be her boss, which was not something she was looking forward to. Still, given the choice of having Satan as her boss or being chained to a desk, she’d opt for Satan. First do no harm, she silently reminded herself.
He stood there, obviously weighing whether he should leave and spend time with his trophy wife or stick around in hopes of advancing his career. Jamie c
ould see the fear in his eyes. He needed to show the powers that be what a good team player he was, when in reality, he only wanted the accolades and prestige without having to do the work. Jamie didn’t care about his dilemma. Her focus was on the here and now.
“If you’ll excuse me, Doctor.” She brushed past him, eager to get away from him. “I have work to do.”
Jamie hoped that by immersing herself in work she would be distracted. It only slightly helped ebb the pain. Much to her annoyance, despite the fact she had told everyone she didn’t have any details, everyone pestered her with questions regarding Jack’s passing. Since she didn’t know anything, she had nothing to say.
Around midnight, she retreated to her office in hopes of catching a quick nap or at least a moment of peace. Stella barged in without bothering to knock. Since she came with cookies and coffee, Jamie opted to overlook the faux pas.
“You look like crap. Eat something.”
Jamie did as she was told while the two of them made themselves comfortable on the sofa. “Nolan’s still lurking around.”
“We could use the help,” Jamie said, not really believing her words.
“He’s not helping.” Stella’s snort made her disdain evident.
“He hasn’t seen a single patient. All he’s done is trawl for information. He could care less about what happened. He wants Jack’s job.”
“He’s welcome to it.”
“Don’t you dare stick me with that prick.”
“I don’t want the job.”
“Why not?”
“Because I like playing doctor.” She couldn’t resist teasing the older woman.
“That must make CC happy.” Stella giggled before her face turned somber. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”
“I know. It just doesn’t seem real. He loved the beach and his nightly strolls. How did he end up drowning?”
“In that neighborhood, there could have been a thousand things that happened.” Stella shook her head. “I’m sure the condo is nice. But that area doesn’t have the best reputation.”
Checkmate (Caitlin Calloway Mystery Book 2) Page 28
