2 Multiple Exposures (6 page)

Chapter Six

“So do you believe her?” I asked Spencer on the way back from Lissa’s.

He rubbed his jaw. “I’m not sure. She seems to be telling the truth, but I’m not crossing her or her husband off my list, especially not before I get the autopsy report.”

I rested my hand on his thigh as I always did when we were together. He continued to focus on the road.

“Could you tell by looking at him how he died?” I hesitated to know the details.

“Maybe.”

“What does that mean?” Spencer could be vague when he wanted to avoid answering my questions but also didn’t want to ignore me right out. I wondered if he held it against me that I hadn’t told him about the letter. Normally, he wasn’t trivial, but it was a particular pet peeve of his for me to keep information to myself regarding an open case. Go figure.

His cell phone dinged, and he pulled it out of his pocket. A shutter seemed to drop down over his expression, and at the same time the muscles in his leg tensed. I frowned, curious, but he said nothing about what the text contained. While I was a nosy cat, I respected Spencer’s privacy and trusted him. Okay, with my background, most of my trust in the man beside me came from his openness with me from the start. I greatly appreciated his patience, and did my best to share in return. I was not perfect.

“Is everything okay, Spencer?” I prompted.

“Yeah.”

Nothing more. I had no choice but to let it go. He dropped me off at Dr. Bloomberg’s offices, and I noticed the yellow tape across the front door. The police were already treating it like a crime scene. I turned to Spencer for clarification, but he wasn’t looking at me. He stared down at his phone, an expression I couldn’t interpret on his face. Normally, he was quite open about giving me a kiss in greeting and when we parted, but maybe because he was on duty?

“I’ll call you later,” I said and started out of the car. He mumbled something, and I let the door shut a little harder than necessary. Spencer didn’t appear to notice. At least I supposed he didn’t because I did my darndest to keep my head up and marched toward my car as if I didn’t care either. Yes, that was a real bit of maturity there.

I reached my car and stuck my key in the door when a hand grabbed my arm. The small yelp died when I looked up to find Spencer standing before me. He offered a half apologetic smile and kissed me. The touch was so brief, I scarcely felt it, but the hurt feelings died a quick death.

“I’ll talk to you later?” He stroked my cheek.

“Sure, I know you’re busy.”
Now
I was nothing if not gracious.

He chuckled and strode toward the building at a clipped pace. I climbed into my car and drove away.

* * * *

I strode into my apartment a short while later, wondering what old Dr. Bloomberg had been up to specifically and at whose expense had he done it. The man must have had hundreds of patients over the years of his practice, and if even a fraction of them had husbands as angry and aggressive as Hardy Joe, who knew how Spencer would narrow down the list of suspects. Of course, that depended on him even figuring out if the information had been leaked.

Had Lissa told anyone else? I considered whether she might have shared her suspicion with her sister. Then again, if she had, wouldn’t Reeza have told her husband as a policeman, and Pete would most certainly have informed Spencer.

As I mentally ran over the possibilities, I started to feel less used with Lissa’s choice to bring me in on the secret and more special. Her assumption had been right, and if Dr. Bloomberg hadn’t died, then he could have continued on indefinitely violating his patients without their knowledge.

I opened the refrigerator and remembered I hadn’t been shopping, so there was nothing to eat. I had skipped lunch because the prospect of going to the doctor had robbed me of appetite. Now it came rushing back with a vengeance. I groaned, considering what to do.

Checking the time, I found it to be just past three. I shouldn’t have canceled my date with Edna, darn it. She had probably made other plans. Rather than wonder, I phoned her. She answered on the first ring.

“Hi, Edna, I know I said I couldn’t come to tea, but well I was able to get away sooner than I thought. I don’t suppose you’re still free?”

“Oh goodie,” she chirped like a small kid. “I just made plans with Talia, but I’ll call her and cancel.”

“No, I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

“Fiddlesticks.” She chuckled. “Talia cancels on me all the time at the last minute. And it’s for silly reasons she’s only too glad to share. I’m happy I have a chance to get her back for once.”

I shook my head, amused. The two women might be in their seventies, but they behaved like teenagers in competition. “Well, if you’re sure…”

“I’m positive. You just come right over, honey, and I’ll have everything ready and waiting.”

“Wonderful. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes or less, Edna. See you then.”

I freshened up a bit and retouched the light makeup I had worn that morning. Then I was headed out the door. Before I reached the street, my cell phone rang, and I paused to answer. At first, I didn’t recognize the name Russell, and there was no first name listed on the caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Makayla?”

I identified Lissa’s voice right away and then recalled her actual last name. “Hi, Lissa, is everything all right?”

“For now, yes, but I’m worried. What if Dr. Bloomberg was killed and—”

“Hold on, Lissa. We don’t know that for sure. He was up in age, so there’s a strong possibility that he just died of natural causes. Let the police have time to get the report, and we’ll know for sure. There’s no sense working yourself into a lather for nothing. Besides that, we don’t know the doctor did anything with that camera.”

Silence on the other end.

“Lissa?”

“Makayla, I know he used that camera.”

“How do you know?” I reached my car but paused before sticking my key in the lock. The funny thing I had noticed with Briney Creek, many of the residents neglected to lock their cars, or their homes from what I heard. I, on the other hand, coming from New York never failed to lock mine. Of course, it had made no difference whatsoever to the man who had broken into my studio not once but twice. Consequently, I tended to look over my back a lot and double check those same locks that never made me feel completely safe.

“I know because he always insisted on taking the pen into the examining room with him, and whenever he had forgotten it and one of us volunteered to get it for him, he said no. One day, I insisted since we were so backed up, and he snapped at me. Dr. Bloomberg was always a kind-hearted, patient man. That’s why I can’t fully reconcile him doing something like this. If I hadn’t seen the way he acted for myself, I would never have believed it.”

“How long do you think he’s had the pen, Lissa?”

“Maybe four months. Could be longer. I wasn’t paying much attention, and it took me a while to catch on.”

Four months wasn’t long at all. Well, a minute was too long for one of the victims, but what if Dr. Bloomberg had had the camera pen much longer, and Lissa never knew? Just because she never noticed didn’t mean anything. I was still of a hopeful mind that the doctor hadn’t used the pen, but it seemed unlikely.

I unlocked the car and slid behind the wheel. A neighbor was just walking by, so I waved and shut the door for privacy. “Lissa, is there any chance one of the other girls noticed the pen and told someone?”

“I don’t think so. I hinted around to it with the others, and all of them dismissed his obsession with the pen, calling it a harmless quirk. Now that I think about it, I wish I had asked one of them if they noticed how long he had it.”

Chewing on this information, I thought of another question. “What about one of the patients figuring it out?”

“That’s possible. No one said anything to me, and I doubt they said anything to the others because we all discuss what they say if it’s funny or interesting.” The last of her sentence was spoken with an apologetic air.

Very professional, ladies.

“So a patient may have known and could have passed the information to her husband or boyfriend. Is that why you’re afraid he was murdered?”

“No.”

I tensed.

“It’s because I think he had a partner.”

My blood ran cold. “A partner? Are you sure?”

“No, I’m not sure, but I remember a couple months ago, I was working late trying to get some filing done. After I had finished everything, I wanted to tell Dr. Bloomberg good night. When I walked down to his office, he was on the phone with someone. I couldn’t hear their part, but he was saying something like, “No, I don’t want that. Give me something more powerful with more features.”

“That’s not so suspicious. He could have been referring to anything.”

“True, but when I came into view, he started like I had caught him doing something he shouldn’t. He rushed the person off the phone, and I assumed he was trying to order medicine and didn’t know our procedures. I offered to help, and he said ‘I’ll handle it myself. Good night, Lissa.’ A dismissal just like that.”

“I’m assuming you girls handle all the ordering, and he signs off on it.”

“Not us girls,” Lissa corrected, “me. I have run that office for four years, and it bothers me to think he would be… right under my nose.”

I tried to order in my mind all she had told me up until that point. Did the evidence of what Lissa heard lead to a partner, or just a guy who supplied him? What did Dr. Bloomberg mean by “I don’t want that?” Was the supplier trying to give him a cheaper pen, one that would be too obvious? What additional features did he need? Then I recalled my own knowledge of the equipment, and it might be just as I had said. The original pen might only have been able to take photographs. Dr. Bloomberg might have decided he wanted more. He needed video.

My stomach lurched, and I had to lean over the steering wheel with my eyes closed until it settled. Lissa was saying something in my ear, but I was busy sucking in deep breaths to keep from gagging.

“Makayla, are you there?”

I raised my head. “I’m here.”

“Listen, I still don’t trust the police.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

She hesitated. “Never mind. I just don’t want Hardy Joe involved. So, I’m going to work with you on this. Please, will you help me? I feel responsible for not looking out for all the women that Dr. Bloomberg might have hurt.”

“I’ll do what I can, sweetheart, but I’m not a trained officer.”

“But you
are
dating the sheriff.”

I groaned. “You might be overestimating my influence on the man. He’s good at what he does, and that has nothing to do with me.”

“I think you’re underestimating your influence. We women have a lot of power, and we have to use it. Sometimes, we have to guide our men on the path they should take.”

Why did that statement bring up an image of Lissa “guiding” Hardy Joe to kill Dr. Bloomberg for his sins? She was pretty insistent that he not be allowed to know about the issues with Dr. Bloomberg. I could see why Spencer decided not to cross her and her husband off of his suspect list should the doctor’s death be ruled a homicide. She certainly didn’t have an alibi, and I and several other people could put her at the scene. Still, I wanted to do all I could to help solve the mystery of what Dr. Bloomberg had been up to.

“I’ll do what I can,” I promised.

“Great. Thank you, Makayla. I knew I could count on you.”

I made a noncommittal noise of agreement.

“In a few hours, I’m going to send you a list.”

“A list of what?”

“Patients, every one of Dr. Bloomberg’s patients.”

“Can there be that many?”

“Over three thousand, unfortunately.”

“Over three thousand?” I emphasized. “Are you exaggerating, Lissa?”

“No. Doctor’s offices handle a lot of patients for years. With general practitioners, they may see patients from birth to death and across generations. Then there are the many that come for a few years and then move on. There are patients who move into Briney Creek, and those that leave and never return. We get a lot of turnover, but actually three thousand isn’t that many, considering Dr. Bloomberg has been practicing for more than forty years.”

I supposed I had to agree. “The police won’t let anyone in the office just yet while they search it, and I imagine your computer access won’t work.”

“Oh, I don’t have access from home. Dr. Bloomberg wasn’t
that
modern. I compiled a list a few days before I sent you the letter.”

I laughed. “Lissa Russell, you should be the detective!”

“You’ve noticed I don’t use my married name at work.”

“That’s your business, Lissa. I know there are plenty of people who don’t take their spouse’s name.”

“I wish I hadn’t married at all.” The bitterness came through loud and clear. “Hardy Joe is a good man, but I’m ashamed to say I can’t feel proud of him. I didn’t marry him for love but to help me and my sister have the chance at a better life.”