“That’s okay.” Nick was determined to be encouraging. “What about his eyes? Could you see any hint of color?”
“They were dark, too, but the whole night was dark.”
“Let’s talk about the shape of the eyes,” Nick said. “You couldn’t see the little details, but the shape is just as important. Were they round, maybe shaped like almonds? Were they big or small? What about the placement? Were they wide-set or was the space between narrow?”
Paloma screwed up her face in concentration as she thought. “Wide eyes, not close to the nose. He had one of those noses that’s like a ski slope, turned up at the end. I would say his eyes were more like a circle than an oval, but I can’t explain them more than that.”
“No, that’s good.” Nick meant it. “What about a beard? Did he have any facial hair?”
“None that I saw, but he had the things.” Paloma gestured to the side of her head and fluttered her fingers.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean,” Nick hedged.
“The things. The … um … hair that came down like this.”
“Oh.” Realization dawned. “Sideburns. He had sideburns is what you’re saying.”
Paloma nodded. “They were trimmed and neat but there were hints of white in them. I know because I looked hard at the side of his head right before I ran. That was the last thing I saw.”
“That’s very good,” Dwight said, joining in the conversation. “What about anything else that stood out to you? It might not seem important, but even the smallest detail will help us. Was there anything special about his shoes? Maybe he wore cufflinks.”
“What is a cufflink?” Paloma was legitimately confused.
“It’s a piece of jewelry,” Nick explained, holding out his arm. “When a man wears a shirt that goes underneath a suit jacket, he often uses cufflinks as sort of a decoration.”
“Oh, I understand.” Paloma bobbed her head. “Yes, he wore jewelry there.”
“Do you remember what you saw?”
“It looked like a weird and twisty knife with wings, perhaps like angel wings.”
“That sounds like the symbol for doctor,” Dwight noted. “I think we’re definitely on the right track.”
“The only problem is that I’m guessing a lot of doctors wear that sort of cufflink.”
“True.”
“There was a gem in them between the wings,” Paloma supplied. “It sparkled a bit when a pair of headlights hit. It was when we were walking down the street, before he frightened me. I remember thinking it was a pretty stone. Unique.”
“What kind of stone?”
“It was milky, like a cloud with extra colors in it.”
“That would be an opal,” Nick said. “That has to cut down the list a little bit.”
“I would think so,” Dwight agreed. “We need to ask the nurses who wears a set of opal cufflinks. They might be able to lead us right to him.”
“CRAP! I’M BEING PAGED.”
Andrea glared at the device on her hip.
“What does it say?” Maddie asked, concerned.
“I have to go to the emergency ward and check on a patient,” Andrea replied. “It won’t take long, but I can’t ignore the page.”
Maddie knew that well and good. “Okay, well, I can wait here,” she suggested hopefully.
Andrea let loose with a withering look. “If I leave you here, I’ll probably get in big trouble.”
“Not if you’re quick.”
Andrea heaved out a sigh. “Maddie, I don’t know. I’ve already crossed several lines.”
“I just want to look at the schedules,” Maddie promised. “I won’t look at anything else. If we can narrow down the schedules, at least we’ll have a place to start.”
“I thought we already did that. The emergency doctors are your primary focus, right?”
“Mostly. There are other doctors who moonlight in the emergency ward, though. I want to gather their names, too. If all goes as planned, I’ll be completely done by the time you get back. Then no one will be the wiser when we leave.”
“Oh, man.” Andrea rubbed her forehead, resigned. “Fine. If I get fired for this, though, I’m moving up north to live with you. See how much romance you manage to get in with a permanent houseguest.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Maddie grinned as she claimed Andrea’s seat and offered up a haphazard wave. “I’ll be quick. I promise.”
“I won’t be gone long.”
“I’ll be done by the time you get back. I’m almost positive.”
Maddie gave the computer her full focus, pulling up the emergency room schedules so she could take a gander. Once she realized how many pages she was looking at, she opted to print them out so she could have hard copies to search later. There was no way she would be able to make it through every schedule for the past month in a short amount of time, and if she tried, that would increase the odds of her discovery.
As she waited for the papers to print, she tapped her fingers on the desktop and stared at the computer screen. She recognized some of the listed names, but she didn’t know them very well. She was most often assigned to the fifth floor, which was a recovery ward. The doctors she worked with almost always stuck to that floor.
The way the computer was set up, Andrea had a virtual desktop. That meant she could keep her own items in the cloud and look at them whenever she wanted. As long as she was logged in, they were accessible. When she logged out, no one else could see them.
Most of Andrea’s files were boring and mundane. Schedules, reminder lists, upcoming seminars she might be interested in. All those things were normal. One folder, though, stood out. There was no name on it, only a symbol. Maddie recognized the symbol. Half the doctors in the hospital wore it on ties, cufflinks, and even T-shirts in their off time.
Out of boredom – and even though she knew it was an invasion – Maddie double-clicked on the folder. She figured it would be something mundane but instead found herself looking at a sea of photographs. The faces all belonged to young girls and women, and they were all taken in dark places so Maddie had to strain to make out certain details. The women sat in ragged clothes and torn jackets, tears streaming down their filthy faces as they stared at the camera.
Maddie’s heart skipped a beat as she flipped through the photos, dumbfounded. She had no idea what she was looking at. Then she happened upon a familiar face. It was one straight out of her nightmares.
Maddie double-clicked on the photo and when it enlarged so it was big enough to take up the entire screen, she found a terrified blond staring back. The woman was bruised and dirty, her eyes lifeless. Underneath the woman’s photo was one line of text. It was a series of numbers and letters Maddie didn’t recognize.
On a hunch, Maddie snapped a photograph of the text (while omitting the woman herself in case she was off base) and sent it to Nick, asking him if he knew what the numbers and letters meant. She didn’t get a chance to see his return message because she was distracted by the sound of the door behind her opening.
Instinctively, Maddie closed out of the window and pulled up the schedule, hoping that whoever was behind her wasn’t looking at the screen upon entry. She pasted a bright smile on her face, one that was shaky and felt fake, and turned to greet what she hoped would be a stranger or mild acquaintance. Instead she came face to face with a woman she believed up until mere seconds before to be a friend.
“That was quick.”
“Yeah, it was,” Andrea agreed, her face unreadable. “What were you just doing?”
Uh-oh. Maddie knew she was in trouble now. “I was just looking at the schedules. In fact, I think I found what I was looking for.” She got to her feet, her heart skipping a beat when Andrea tensed. “I can’t thank you enough for helping me. You always were a great friend. I have to get going, though.”
Andrea’s sigh was weary and worn. “Yeah, we both know that’s not going to happen. Sit down, Maddie. I think we need to have a talk.”
18
Eighteen
Maddie’s heart thumped hard as she tried to maintain control of her emotions.
“I just need to run and talk to Nick.” Her voice sounded unnaturally squeaky, but she had trouble controlling it. “We can talk when I get back.”
Andrea moved to cut off Maddie’s avenue of escape. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Uh-huh. Well … .” Maddie clutched her phone in her hand, the instinct to call Nick overwhelming. Of course, she was under no delusion that she would be able to do that with Andrea watching her. The woman wasn’t overly large, but she was strong enough to put up a fight. Since Maddie had no way to escape, she figured keeping her distance from Andrea was the smarter way to go. “I should call Nick.”
“Don’t even think about it.” Andrea extended a warning finger, all traces of warmth and consideration absent from her face. “You don’t want to make this worse than it already is.”
Maddie had no idea if that was even possible. “I don’t understand why you’re so aggressive all of a sudden,” she lied, hoping she could pull off an innocent act that was so profound Andrea would have no choice but to believe her. “I just want to talk to Nick. It’s not a big deal.”
“Right, you just want to talk to your tall slab of beefcake,” Andrea drawled, rolling her eyes. “Do you really think I’m going to fall for that?”
Maddie’s mind was racing. “I don’t know why you’re being like this.”
“Really? Do you think I’m stupid?” Andrea flexed her hands into fists. “Don’t play games with me, Maddie. We both know what you saw. I didn’t realize until I was halfway down to the emergency room that you would probably stumble across the file. You always were a busybody.”
Maddie balked. “I’m not a busybody. I’ve never been a busybody.”
“You’ve always been a busybody,” Andrea shot back. “You’ve gotten away with it until now because of the way you look, but you’ve always been up in everybody’s business even though people choose to look the other way. I mean … when people look at you they see an angel. When people look at me they see the angel’s ugly sister.”
Maddie’s mouth dropped open. “That’s not true.”
“Oh, it’s true.” Andrea was almost ranting as she paced in front of the door. “All I ever wanted was to find a nice doctor and settle down. That’s why I became a nurse. I knew I wouldn’t get one of the younger doctors, one of the hotshots, and I was okay with that. I don’t look like a model, after all, but I’m hardly deformed or anything. Doctors like everyone wants, hot doctors, are reserved for women like you.”
Maddie had no idea where this conversation was going, but she was massively uncomfortable with it all the same. “I think you’re being too hard on yourself.”
“It hardly matters,” Andrea continued. She was talking to herself more than Maddie at this point. “I knew coming in what my options would be. Imagine my surprise, though, when even the older doctors were focused on you.”
Maddie was dumbfounded. “That never happened.”
“It did happen. It did! I was open for offers and even suggested a few outings myself. No one paid me a lick of attention because you were here. All they could talk about was you.”
“That’s not exactly how I remember things.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t.” Andrea’s tone was practically dripping with sarcasm. “You were above it all. You were oblivious to all the attention you garnered. You didn’t have a clue that they all wanted you and no one wanted me.
“Quite frankly, the happiest day of my life was when you put in your two weeks’ notice,” she continued. “As soon as you were out of the building things got better for me. Oh, sure, there was some mourning and lamenting of your departure. There were even some people who thought you would return and they held out hope for a long time.
“Me, though, I was thrilled you were gone and I knew you wouldn’t come back because you were never happy here,” she said. “Everyone else missed that little detail, but I knew you were miserable and it made me glad because the one thing you couldn’t magically snap your fingers and get was apparently happiness.”
Maddie had no idea what to say. “So basically you think I’m to blame for everything bad that’s ever happened to you, huh?”
“Not everything. Just the stuff that’s happened since I met you.”
“Well, that sounds like a healthy attitude,” Maddie snarked. “It’s not at all ridiculous or immature.”
Andrea narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits. “I would be very careful how you talk to me,” she threatened. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m the one in charge here. Me!” She thumped her chest for emphasis, the sound offering up a hollow echo in the deserted room. “You’re going to do what I want for a change.”
Maddie licked her lips as she internally debated her options. “And how do you think that’s going to work? All I have to do is scream. Once I do, you’re done.”
“Really? Do you think so? You’re in a restricted area. Go ahead and scream. They’ll believe me when I tell them you snuck in without authorization. I dare you to scream.”
Andrea sounded sure of herself, but Maddie knew better. She recognized insecurity and worry when she saw it.
“I don’t really care if they believe me or you. I simply want to make sure that you don’t do something you’re going to regret.”
“I regret nothing.”
Maddie decided to approach the problem head-on. “Nothing? You don’t regret having a hand in the death of at least twenty girls. That somehow seems wrong.”
Andrea puckered her mouth but didn’t immediately respond.
“I’m serious,” Maddie pressed. “What were you thinking? How could you be involved in this?”
“You don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Andrea complained. “You don’t even know what this is.”
“It’s killing … on a massive scale.”
“It’s cleaning,” Andrea corrected. “We’re cleaning up the neighborhood.”
We’re? Maddie realized relatively quickly that Andrea couldn’t possibly be working alone. It made no sense otherwise. Of course she had a partner. Paloma said a man approached her. A man’s strength would be necessary to carry a body. The twist wasn’t that Andrea had a partner. No, actually the twist was that the man they were all looking for from the beginning had a partner … and she just happened to be female.
“You’re cleaning it up? How?”
“Have you looked around, Maddie?” Andrea sounded weary. “This place is a cesspool. There are illegals running around taking things they shouldn’t be taking. There are women peddling sex for money. There are drugs being sold on every corner. We’re trying to eradicate all of that.”
The answer didn’t make sense to Maddie. “If you’re going after the dregs on equal footing, how come all of your victims have been women?”
“I … .” Andrea worked her jaw.
“Because you don’t pick the victims,” Maddie surmised. “Your partner does. Who is he?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.” Andrea’s tone was cool and clipped. “It doesn’t matter. We’re doing a good thing for the neighborhood. Once it’s clean and the bad element is gone, we’ll be able to refurbish the buildings … bring new people to the area. It will allow for economic recovery. Isn’t that what we all want?”
“That sounds very well-rehearsed. I don’t believe it for a second, though.”
“You need you to get on board with this, Maddie. If you don’t, it won’t end well for you.”
Even though she was keen on staying alive, Maddie had no intention of pretending to be anything other than what she was. “Why would I possibly get on board with this? You’re killing people.”
“I never killed anyone.” Andrea was matter-of-fact. “I simply helped in the background.”
“Do you think that makes you innocent?”
“No, but I don’t feel an ounce of guilt so if
that’s where you’re going with this conversation, I would direct it elsewhere. There’s nothing you can say that will make me change my mind. We did the right thing.”
“So … how did it work? Convince me.”
“It wasn’t an especially deep operation,” Andrea replied, leaning her hip against one of the cubicles nearest the door. “We identified individuals who were bringing down the neighborhood and we eradicated them.”
“How?”
“What do you mean?”
“How did you eradicate them?” Maddie pressed. “Did you shoot them? Strangle them? Stab them?”
“Aren’t you friends with the detective in charge? Shouldn’t you already know that?”
Maddie racked her brain. Dwight hadn’t been forthcoming with any of the details, but she knew a few of them from the visions she had. “I know your friend used a knife at least two or three times. Some of the bodies were chopped up, too, so I’m guessing he used bigger tools when it warranted.”
“Chopped up?” Andrea furrowed her brow. “Why would they be chopped up?”
It was only then that Maddie realized Andrea was so far in the dark she would need her own moon to get out. “You really have no idea what’s going on, do you?”
“I told you. We’re cleaning up the neighborhood.”
“That might’ve been what your partner told you, but that’s not what was going on. You weren’t cleaning up the neighborhood. You were enabling a hunter.”
Andrea snorted. “Don’t be absurd. It was a cleanup effort. We talked about it for weeks before we started.”
“Yes, but how many trips were you present for?” Maddie challenged. “Whoever you’re working with needed the occasional alibi, I’m going to guess. That’s why he involved you. You also made a convenient scapegoat. If he got caught, he could point the finger at you. In fact, I’m going to guess, that when the police raid his stronghold – wherever that may be – he’ll have a ton of evidence that implicates you and nothing that points to himself.”
Andrea balked. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. The person I’m working with, the person I’m going to spend the rest of my life with, would never do anything of the sort. Oh, yes, I can see you’re confused. That’s the part of the story you’re missing, Maddie. I finally found my doctor.”
Grave Danger (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 12) Page 17
