Mercy (Buchanan-Renard #2)

Mercy (Buchanan-Renard #2) Page 40

Michelle explained, and when she was finished, the detective couldn’t hide her excitement.

“You’re telling me you can ID one of them? You saw his face and you’re certain he’s the man who came up to you at the stadium?”

“Yes.”

“My God, wouldn’t that be a piece of luck if the man you saw was Monk. No one’s seen him before, but now with a description . . .” “I’d like to talk to your informant,” Theo said.

She shook her head. “You think I have his phone number? It doesn’t work that way. He calls me when he feels like it, and he always uses a pay phone. We’ve traced the calls, but a car never gets there in time. He’s as elusive as the ghost.”

“Okay,” Theo said. “What about your file on Monk?”

“What about it?”

“I want to see it.”

She ignored his request. “We’ve got to find that package,” she said to Michelle. “No hint of what might be inside?”

“Not yet.”

“I’m going to get Monk this time. I swear it on my mother’s grave. He’s so close I can almost smell him.”

“I want to see your file,” Theo repeated. This time he made sure she understood he wasn’t asking. He was demanding.

She gave him an icy stare without responding.

Michelle hurried to diffuse the antagonism. “We’ll help you any way that we can, Detective.”

Harris was still looking at Theo as she answered. “The best way to help is to stay out of my way. I’m running this operation. Is that understood?”

When Theo didn’t answer, she cleared her throat nervously. “I’ll put a net around the area and start squeezing. You take the doctor home and stay there. If you hear or see anything suspect, you call me.”

She pulled out two cards and handed one to Theo and gave the other one to Michelle. “You can always get me on my cell phone.”

It didn’t take a law degree to know Harris wasn’t going to cooperate. She was playing close to the vest, and in retaliation, Theo didn’t feel the need to share the information he’d collected with her.

“I’m going to want to see your file, Detective, and I’m going to want to see what’s inside that package,” he snapped. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“You can see what’s in the package,” she said. “And if it’s something unrelated to Monk, then you can investigate to your heart’s content.”

“And if there is information connecting Monk?” Michelle asked.

“Then I’m calling the shots. This is my investigation, and I’m not about to let the Feds mess it up. I’ve spent three long years chasing Monk’s shadow, and I’ve got too much invested to let the FBI interfere. It’s not going to happen.”

Her contempt was palpable. The unfriendly rivalry between the Bureau and local law enforcement agencies was deep-rooted and a hell of a nuisance, as far as Theo was concerned. He wasn’t in the mood to be diplomatic or play games.

“You’re worried the FBI will take your case?” Michelle asked.

“Damn right, I’m worried. Three years,” she repeated. “I’m going to get Monk, and when I do, I’m not going to hand him over to you,” she told Theo.

“Hey, I’m an attorney with the Justice Department. I don’t care what you do with him, unless he’s one of the shooters who tried to kill Michelle and me last night. If that’s the case, then you and I are going to have to come to an understanding.”

She shook her head and said, “The police chief told me you are on vacation . . . that you came here to fish. So go fish and let me do my job.”

“Look, I understand why you want the collar, but —”

“What?” she demanded before he could finish.

“I’m in, like it or not. You think I’m going to sit around and wait? Maybe I didn’t make myself clear. He tried to kill us.”

Harris was irate. “I’m not letting you screw up this investigation.”

Theo wasn’t about to get involved in a shouting match. Forcing himself to speak in a level voice, he asked, “How many times do I have to say it before you understand? You’re not stopping me.”

“The hell I’m —”

He cut her off. “I can stop you, though, and we both know it. One phone call. That’s all it would take.”

He wasn’t bluffing. When it came to push and shove, he had the muscle. She didn’t. Simple as that.

Harris decided on a more prudent approach. “Okay, we’ll share information. I’ll send you copies of what I’ve got on Monk as soon as I get back to the station. And I’ll let you see what’s inside the package.”

“Assuming we can find it,” Michelle interjected.

“We have to find it,” she snapped.

“Now, I want something,” Harris said.

“What?”

“I want forty-eight hours before you start interfering or call in your troops. I guarantee I’ll have Monk behind bars before then. If he’s working with the men who came after you and the doctor, I’ll get them too.”

“You’re pretty sure of yourself. What aren’t you telling me, Detective? Do you know where Monk is now?”

“Forty-eight hours,” she insisted.

He didn’t waste any time thinking about it. “No.”

“Twenty-four hours, then,” she demanded. “That’s reasonable.”

Her neck was getting red from anger, but Theo didn’t give a damn if he was making her life difficult or not.

“No.”

“What the hell do you want? Give me something. My men are closing the net now, and we’ve all worked too damn long to let you take over. Let us get him. Three long years —”

“Yeah, I know. Three years,” he said. “Okay. I’ll give you twelve hours, but not one minute more. If you haven’t made any arrests by then, I’m acting.”

She checked her watch. “It’s almost nine o’clock now. Twelve hours . . . yeah, I can live with that. You take the doctor home and stay there with her until nine tonight.” Turning to Michelle, she said, “Let’s get moving. Where do we start looking for that package?”

Michelle saw Frances motioning to her. She was holding the phone up. “It’s either down here somewhere or upstairs on the surgical wing. Will you excuse me? I’ve got a phone call.” She didn’t wait for permission. As she hurried to the counter, she called out, “Megan, why don’t you and Detective Harris go on up to the surgical floor and start looking. I’ll be up in a minute to help. Frances, you can go ahead and bandage Mr. Buchanan and give him a tetanus shot.”

She picked up the phone and moved back to get out of Megan’s path.

“This way, Detective,” Megan said, leading her toward the elevator.

Michelle wasn’t on the phone long. She came back to Theo and said, “Dr. Landusky found out I was in the hospital and asked me to check a patient for him. Has the numbing worn off? I could give you something if you’re hurting.”

“I’m okay.”

“See to that paperwork, Doctor,” Frances said before she left them alone.

Theo was watching the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, he picked up the phone and asked Michelle to give him Mary Ann’s home phone number.

She rattled off the number. “Why do you want to talk to Mary Ann?”

“I don’t.”

Michelle’s friend answered on the third ring. She sounded sleepy.

Theo didn’t waste time chatting. “Let me talk to Noah.”

Michelle’s mouth dropped open. “He went back to New Orleans with Mary Ann?”

She had her answer a second later when Theo said, “Get out of her bed and go in the other room so we can talk.”

Noah yawned loudly into the phone. “This better be good.”

“It is,” he promised.

“Yeah, all right. Hold on a minute.”

Michelle heard her name being paged and went back to the counter to pick up the phone. A nurse wanted her to check a chart before she gave the patient medication. Michelle hung up just as Theo was ending his conversation.

She heard him say, “After you check it out, get back here. Thanks, Noah.”

The second he hung up the phone, Michelle asked, “What are you doing? I heard you promise the detective you would give her twelve hours and not do anything until then.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You did say twelve hours?”

“Yes, I did,” he agreed. “So you know what that must mean.”

“What?”

“I lied.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

They were searching the wrong cubicle. Michelle went past her desk and found Detective Harris and Megan sorting through Dr. Landusky’s things.

“Have you already searched my cubicle?” she asked Megan.

“I thought this was where you worked,” Megan said. She was sitting on the floor next to the desk, going through folders.

“Mine’s next door.”

“Gee, I’m sorry, Dr. Mike. All this time, since I started working here, I thought you were a slob because I thought this was your workspace. Every time I came up here, you were sitting at this desk dictating or writing in one of the charts.”

“I used Dr. Landusky’s cubicle because that’s where the nurses and the staff secretaries put his charts, and I covered his practice while he was on vacation.”

“But, I’ve been dropping your stuff off here.”

“We’d better keep going, then,” Harris said. “Maybe it was dropped here by mistake.”

Since Detective Harris was searching the desk, Michelle got down on her knees and began to go through the pile against the wall. “I don’t know how Landusky can work like this.”

“He’s always behind on his charts,” Megan volunteered.

“Will you concentrate on the task at hand?” Harris demanded. She sounded like a schoolteacher reprimanding two errant students.

“I can talk and look at the same time,” Megan assured her.

“Keep looking,” Harris urged.

“Could this be it?” Megan asked a few seconds later. She handed a small yellow envelope to Michelle.

“No,” Michelle answered. “It has to have the Speedy Messenger Service label on it.”

“What about this one?” Megan asked.

Once again, she passed a package to Michelle. Harris glanced over her shoulder and waited for Michelle to answer.

The package was a legal-sized, padded manila envelope. Michelle read the name of a law firm in the upper corner just above the label and caught her breath.

“I think this could be it,” she said as she handed the envelope to the detective.

Harris acted as though she’d just been given an explosive. She gingerly tested the weight, then slowly turned the package over. The detective took time and care pulling the tab across the top. There was another manila envelope inside. Harris sliced it open with a letter opener.

Holding the envelope by one edge, she looked around the desk. “This will work,” she said as she picked up a large binder clip from one of the shelves. “I don’t want to touch the papers inside and mess up any prints.”

“I could get you some gloves,” Megan offered.

Harris smiled. “Thanks, but this should work.”

Michelle leaned back against the wall, a pile of folders in her lap. She watched as the detective used the clip to clasp the corner of one of the sheets and lift it halfway out.

Megan knocked over a stack of newspapers and charts when she got up on her knees. Michelle helped her restack the pile in the corner.

“What does it say?” Michelle asked the detective.

Harris looked disappointed. “It’s some kind of an audit or a financial statement. No names on this page, just initials next to what I think are transactions. Lots and lots of numbers,” she added.

“What about the other papers?”

“Looks like there’s around twelve pages, maybe more, but some of them are stapled together behind this sheet,” she said. Shaking her head, she added, “Too risky to try to pull out.”

She was slowly pushing the paper back into the envelope. “I’ve got to rush this to the lab. Once they’ve gone over the pages, then I’ll get someone to help me figure out what all these numbers mean.”

It was a huge letdown not knowing what any of it meant. Michelle moved the folders and got up as Harris walked to the elevator and pushed the button. “Thanks for your help,” she said. “I’ll keep you apprised.”

“You promised Theo you’d let him see the contents of that package,” Michelle reminded her.

The elevator door opened. Harris stepped inside and punched the button. As the door was closing, she flashed Michelle a smile and said, “I’ll let him see the papers in twelve hours and not a minute before.”

Michelle stood with her hands on her hips, shaking her head as the door closed. Megan came up behind her.

“What did you expect to find in that envelope?” she asked.

“Answers.”

“When things settle down, will you tell me what’s going on?”

“Sure,” Michelle agreed. “If I ever find out what’s going on, I’ll be happy to fill you in.”

“Your boyfriend’s an attorney. He’ll probably know what those numbers mean, and you know he’s not going to let that detective get past him without looking. I’m going to take the stairs down to ER. I don’t want to miss the fireworks.”

Michelle had one more patient to check; then she would be finished. “Tell Theo I’ll only be a minute,” she called out as she turned and headed to CCU.

Detective Harris wasn’t about to take the chance of running into Buchanan. She got off the elevator on the second floor and took the stairs to the first. Following the exit signs, she found a side door and slipped out without anyone seeing her. She circled the outside of the hospital and was running toward the parking lot with the envelope clutched to her chest when she heard screeching tires behind her. Harris swung around just as the gray Toyota bore down on her.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The detective wasn’t answering her cell phone, and Theo was furious. He tried twice, and each time he was transferred to voice mail. His messages were to the point. He wanted that package, and he wanted it now. He also left a message for her at her precinct and was just hanging up the phone when Michelle got off the elevator. Even though Theo had heard one version from Megan of what had transpired, he made Michelle go over it again as he followed her into the doctors’ lounge to pick up her clothes.