by Debra Webb
“Ma’am, you worked with Gabrielle Grayson for how long?”
“Two years. She’s probably the only reason I still have a job. And in today’s economy that’s saying something.”
“She was your supervisor?”
“She was.”
“Why do you say she’s probably the only reason you still have a job?”
“I was fairly new to nursing back then. I was too busy trying to keep my social life up to par to do my job the way it needed to be done. She wrote me up twice for not paying attention and making dumb mistakes. That last time she sat me down and we had a come-to-Jesus talk. She made a believer out of me for sure. And she was right. I’ve had three raises since then and I’m real grateful to her for the way she set me on the right course.”
Jess had actually expected the woman to have negative things to say about Gabrielle Grayson. She hoped this interview wasn’t going to be a waste of time.
“Did you ever know Gabrielle to use any sort of prescription drugs?” Jess ventured.
“No way. That’s one thing that made her so good at her job. She really hated drugs, even prescription ones that are so easily abused.”
“During Gabrielle’s time here were you aware of any trouble between her and any of the patients or the other staff members?”
“That’s why I told Ms. Allison I wanted to talk to y’all,” Winters explained. “There was one patient who gave her a real hard time. Made a lot of threats about what he would do to her when he had the chance.”
“Do you remember this patient’s name?” Tension rippled through Jess. More than forty-eight hours into the investigation, they needed a break. This could be it.
“Yeah, I do, ’cause he was a big flirt. His name was Johnny Trenton. He was real cute and cocky but he treated us all like we were worthless. I think maybe he has a thing against women.”
Somehow Jess had expected she’d be hearing his name again. “Thank you, Ms. Winters. If you think of anything else at all, please call me.” Jess passed her a card. “And please talk to the other nurses who knew Gabrielle. We need all the help we can get finding the person responsible for her murder.”
Winters accepted Jess’s card. “I’ll do that. You know, Gabrielle had the biggest heart of any person I’ve ever met. Her work hadn’t changed that.”
“What do you mean?” Didn’t it take people with really big hearts to be a part of the medical field? Sure as heck took a strong sense of justice to keep cops pounding the pavement every day.
“Most of us start out with a touch of the Florence Nightingale complex,” Winters explained. “We love all our patients and we’d do anything in the world to save them. But time and dealing with illness and death kind of hardens us. It’s not that we stop caring, but we learn to maintain some level of detachment to keep our sanity. Gabrielle didn’t do that. She loved, in a chaste way of course, every patient. Even the ones who were mean spirited. She never gave up on anyone. Like I said, she changed my life. She was a saint.”
There it was again. That word. It wasn’t that Jess doubted the goodness of either Gabrielle or her husband, who was also touted by his colleagues as a saint. But somehow, somewhere, one or both of these good folks had encountered the exact opposite of goodness. Someone truly evil. Someone who knew Gabrielle Grayson well enough to want to stab her over and over.
Someone who took the time to write dozens of words in her blood while it was still warm.
Someone full of raging emotion.
They were scarcely out of the building when Jess’s cell clanged.
Lily.
Jess couldn’t risk ignoring the call. Her sister could have gotten test results and as terrified as Jess was to hear them… her sister needed her.
“Is everything okay?” Jess asked instead of bothering with a greeting.
“No,” her sister sobbed, “everything’s wrong.”
Blood running cold, Jess braced herself. “What’s happened? Did the doctor call?”
“He called Blake and me in to discuss my test results.”
Dear God, she just needed to spit it out. “And?” Jess prompted.
More sobbing. Jess’s heart thumped harder and harder. “Just tell me, Lil.” Tears burned her eyes. Please don’t let it be that bad.
“He said I’m depressed,” Lil wailed. “That I’m just losing my mind, that’s all. Getting old and probably about to go through the change.” Lil groaned an agonizing sound. “How can I be forty-four years old and feel a hundred? How can I hurt all over? Forget every damned thing? And just be depressed?”
Jess waited through the tears. Mostly she waited for her own emotions to stabilize. She’d just zoomed from terrified and ready to cry to furious and ready to kick the crap out of something.
“Dr. Collins told you this?” she confirmed. It took every ounce of control she had to speak calmly. “The same Dr. Collins I used to see? Downtown?”
“Yes,” came the pitiful response. “He prescribed an antidepressant and wants me to get counseling. I don’t understand. I’ve never been depressed in my life. This is so humiliating. I put my family through all this worry for nothing. I’m just pathetic!”
“Lil, you stop that, do you hear me?” Jess demanded. “You’re going to be fine and we’ll get this sorted out.”
“I’m falling apart,” Lil muttered.
“Sweetie, I have to go right now, but I’ll call you tonight. Okay?”
It took another minute to get Lil reassured enough that Jess felt comfortable ending the call. She turned to her detective. “I need to see Dr. Carl Collins,” Jess said. “His office is downtown.” She gave Lori the address.
“Are you feeling ill?” Lori asked, visibly concerned.
“Oh yes,” Jess assured her as she headed for the car. “I’m ill, all right. Ill as a hornet.”
Twentieth Street South, 1:30 p.m.
One flash of her shield and the receptionist ushered Jess to Dr. Collins’s private office. He was with a patient, so she had no choice but to wait a few minutes.
The last doctor’s appointment she’d had in this office had been about twenty-four years ago. She’d just turned eighteen and she wanted to get on birth control. Things had been too crazy between her and Dan to continue to risk their self-control. Condoms were necessary but not one hundred percent reliable.
“Mercy.” Jess sighed. Where had the time gone?
The door opened and she sat up a little straighter. Dr. Collins was short and pleasantly plump. Time had broadened his waist as well as the hairless path across the top of his head. The black-rimmed glasses looked exactly the same as the last time Jess saw him.
“I apologize for keeping you waiting.” He hurried around his desk, his lab coat swishing. “Give me a minute,” Collins said without looking at her. “I haven’t had time for lunch.” He dragged two protein bars from a desk drawer and offered one to Jess.
“No thank you, Doctor.”
He ripped the wrapper off and bit into a bar. “Lordy me, there aren’t enough hours in the day.” He savored a swig from the bottle of flavored water on his desk. When he’d gotten down another bite of fortification he beamed a smile at her. “What can I do for the Birmingham PD and their newest deputy chief?”
“Actually, Dr. Collins, I’m here on a personal matter.”
A frown claimed his face. “The last time I saw you as a patient, you were…”
Jess held her breath.
“… about to graduate high school and go off to Boston.”
Relieved, Jess smiled again. “That’s right.”
“I’ve been watching you on the news!” He shook a finger in the air. “You’ve gone places, young lady. Built quite the career for yourself. Turned into a sophisticated lady. My, my.” He gave her a nod of approval.
Before Jess could thank him, he launched into another sermon. “I was awfully proud to hear that you’d turned out so well.” He laughed, the kind that shook his belly. “I had my doubts when you were young. I sw
ear, you were the sassiest thing. Told anybody and everybody just what you thought.”
“Well, Doctor,” her face hurt with the effort of keeping her smile in place, “some things never change.”
The frown was back. “I beg your pardon?”
“You talked to my sister, Lily, about her test results today.”
He riffled through the files and notes on his desk. “Yes, yes, that’s right, but I won’t be able to discuss those results with you unless—”
“No need, Doctor,” Jess assured him. “Lily has already passed along your professional opinion.”
“I see.” Collins gave her a knowing look. “You and Lily have put your heads together and decided that an old man like me doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Well, let me tell you a thing or two, missy”—he was shaking his finger again, this time at her—“your sister has the classic symptoms of what I like to call over-the-hill or empty-nest syndrome. She’s hit that age, and you’re right on her heels,” he warned, “where this sort of thing is to be expected. You look in the mirror one day and realize you’re getting older or, like your sister, the kids are suddenly gone and she doesn’t know what to do with herself. Being a mother defined her and she’s lost. There’s no need to be embarrassed or in denial. It’s part of being a woman.”
Jess nodded. “I see,” she echoed. So that was the way he intended to roll, was it? She loved it when a doctor decided what a woman was feeling was simply because she was a woman before eliminating any medical issues. Jess stood. “I’m sorry I wasted your time, Dr. Collins.”
Smug in his assessment, he waved her off. “That’s what I’m here for. My patients are my number-one priority.”
Wasn’t that reassuring? “How’s your son doing these days? Kurt was, what, a year ahead of me in school?”
Understanding wiped that self-satisfied look off his face. “He’s fine, fine. Four kids. His wife is still teaching school and he’s established one of Birmingham’s top medical equipment providers. He’s matured into quite the businessman.”
Most likely because he flunked out of medical school. “I did a little checking on my way over here. Seems his love of hanging out at the bars downtown has matured into spending time at the country club on Saturday nights.” Three times in the past two months he’d been pulled over and his wife called because he wasn’t feeling well.
“What’re you trying to say, Jessie Lee?” The doctor’s friendly tone and nonchalant expression was long gone now.
“I’m saying I want you to run every test you can think of on my sister until you have exhausted your vast medical knowledge. And if you haven’t figured out what the problem is by then, I want you to send her to someone who doesn’t lump all women together and who doesn’t assume that fatigue and achiness automatically means she’s depressed.”
Collins held up his hands. “Now you know I can’t just run all sorts of tests. The insurance companies require justification for every test we run.”
She flattened her palms on his desk and looked him dead in the eyes. “I’m sure you’ll figure out that part. I expect you to call her and tell her that you’ve been thinking about her all afternoon and you want to do some other testing. Meanwhile, I’ll talk to the manager at the country club and make sure he knows to call your daughter-in-law before Kurt gets behind the wheel. That way none of us have to go through any unpleasant business.”
“I’ll call her right now.”
“Thank you, Dr. Collins. We’ll just keep this little chat between us.”
As Jess left his office she could hear him grumbling under his breath. Crusty old fart.
Lori was pacing the sidewalk outside when Jess exited the building. She quickly ended her call.
“Did you get things worked out?”
Jess grinned. “The doctor and I reached a mutually beneficial understanding.”
Lori went for a smile but it fell short of her usual dazzler.
“Is something wrong?” Jess asked.
“Kids can be a pain in the ass.”
“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience.” Jess headed for their parking spot. “And I happen to know you don’t have any children. Something up with your sister?”
Lori exhaled a big breath. “We’re picking up Chester after work tonight.”
“Is that typically a problem?” Jess didn’t need to tell Lori that her relationship with Harper was a package deal.
She threw her hands up. “I don’t know. I’ve never spent any time with him.”
Sounded like Lori and Harper had gotten the cart before the horse on this moving in together thing. “Take it slow,” Jess advised. Before she could say more her cell clanged. She checked the screen. Burnett. Her instincts went on alert. Could be news on Devon. “Hold on, it’s Burnett,” she said to Lori. “Harris.”
“I need you in my office now,” Burnett announced.
Jess tried to analyze his tone. Not angry or annoyed. Worried, she decided. “What’s up?” She consciously attempted to slow her heart rate, but that wasn’t happening this side of the grave.
“You with Wells?”
“Yes, why?” The thump, thump, thump in her chest got louder, echoing in her ears.
“The reason the Taurus wouldn’t start, Jess, was because someone had rigged an explosive to detonate upon ignition.”
His words quaked through her. A bomb?
“Luckily,” he went on, his voice a little high pitched, “whoever planted it got in a hurry or just didn’t know what they were doing and screwed up the wiring. When you tried to start the engine, everything shorted out. Hell.” He made a sound of frustration. “Just get here. Now, Jess. I don’t want you on the street.”
“Yeah… okay.” Jess ended the call, a kind of fog draping over her.
“Did the chief have news?”
Jess nodded, or at least she thought she did. Her stomach felt a little queasy. “Someone tried to kill me, Lori.” Her gaze collided with her friend’s. “And the part that scares me is that I think it’s one of us… a cop.”
2:30 p.m.
I’ve initiated a separate investigation into this tampering,” Burnett explained from his standing position behind his desk. The man hadn’t been still since she walked into his office. “We will find out how this happened, Jess. You can count on that.”
His face wasn’t as red as it had been when she first arrived, but he was still markedly upset.
“Who’s lead in the investigation?” Jess crossed her legs. She worked at keeping her foot from tapping. He wasn’t the only one upset. She hated that she had let the fear slip so deeply under her skin, but there was no denying it.
“Harold’s on top of it.” Burnett loosened his tie. “He asked to take the lead.” Fury visibly tightened his lips. “He’s already grilling personnel in the car pool. The whole place is on lockdown.”
Jess resisted the urge to ask why he didn’t consider Deputy Chief Harold Black a suspect. But that would be her ego talking. She and Black had seriously butted heads over a case and likely would do the same in the future, but Harold Black was a loyal cop.
No use pretending she could keep the break-in to herself. If someone was this serious about taking her down, she couldn’t afford to flirt with that particular denial. “There’s something…”
He planted his hands on his hips and fixed that look on her—the look that warned she wasn’t going to like whatever he said next. “Jess, it’s time for you to admit this threat is serious. I want you off the streets. Period. Harold said he would step in and take the reins while you work in the background.”
Not only did she not like that suggestion, she was not going to listen to another word, much less tell him about the break-in. How could she get her job done like this? She reached into her bag and pulled out her pad and pencil. While he watched, she wrote a short, sweet note, then passed it to him.
“Bullshit!” He crushed her resignation and tossed it across the room. “This is not a game, Jess. This is�
�”
Jess stowed her stuff and stood. “You can have someone follow me around and I’ll concede to having Harper or Wells with me every minute on the job. But”—she held up a hand when he would have interrupted—“ but if you push this idea that I have to duck and run for cover, I will resign.”
The standoff lasted another five seconds. “You try to evade protection,” he warned, “and I swear, I’ll put you in protective custody.”
He was forgetting a little thing called her civil rights. He was upset. She was upset. But this case—finding Devon Chambers alive and nailing Gabrielle Grayson’s killer—was more important than either of their egos.
“I will not attempt to evade my assigned protection.” Unless it’s absolutely necessary. “Can we move on now?”
He rubbed at his forehead as if a headache had started there. “Sure.”
She resumed her seat and he finally settled into his. She gave him a rundown of what they’d learned from Netty Winters, the nurse who once worked with Gabrielle Grayson. “Wells and I are following up with Trenton as soon as I’m finished here.”
“I want to know where you are and who you’re with at all times.”
Jess flashed him a fake smile. “Then you’d better make sure whoever’s pulling surveillance knows to relay that information to you.” She grabbed her stuff and stood. “I will let you know if there are any major developments.”
Her cell clanged before Burnett could argue with her last word. She dug for it and checked the screen.
Leslie Chambers.
Worry got a good sharp jab into her gut. “Harris.” To Burnett, she whispered, “It’s Devon’s sister.”
He nodded his understanding.
“You have to help me,” Leslie cried. “The people from Child Protective Services are here. They’re asking about Devon. I don’t know what to do.”
“I’ll be right there, Leslie. Tell them to wait.”
Jess shoved her phone into her bag, anger sparking. Though she understood this was the way the system worked and whoever had showed up at Leslie’s door was only doing their job, the timing made her mad as hell. One way or another she would see that Leslie and Devon were not separated under any circumstances.
