Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center (25 page)

Jack Fr
ancois averted his eyes and looked
apologetic.

"Mitch is a gambler?"  Alex's voice was sharp. "I've never ever seen play bo
ard games?  You have got to be wrong
!
"  Alex was shocked and unbelieving.

"He's been in trouble before because of his gambling.  Has unscrupulous
, nasty
friends that show up when
he's overspent his credit line.”

Alex was quiet for a few minutes
as she thought about the implications of what the
captain had said
.  She remembered the man who'd approached Mitch outside her apartment, and the two men she'd noticed outside Cafe Volange last night.  Finally she spoke.

"I know nothing
about
Mitch's gambling.  He's been a good companion and a friend to me."  Alex was visibly upset because she had tears in her eyes.

"Sure you're okay?" 

"Yeah
, thanks for telling me, Captain Francois."

"
It
’
s Jack.
Take care Alex, and be careful. I'll be back around later this afternoon."
  The captain's voice was gruff
,
but his look was gentle as he touched her shoulder on his way out.

A
lex felt like crying the moment that Francois left.  Mitch'd been the only positive thing in her life, and now, even he was suspect.  She was developing a terrible headache.  Wish I could go home, she thought as she left the Cajun Cafe.

Alex returned to her office and became more depressed as the hours passed.  She continued to think about
what F
rancois
had said
.  I had no idea that Mitch gamble
d, she thought
.  I can't imagine he's involved i
n
this
.
I'd never get over it.
I had no clue.  There has got to be something wrong with me.
What have I told him about CCMC?   Alex
’s brain was trying to replay the tapes of her recent
conversations with Mitch as she tried
to remember what she said or had not said to him about CCMC in last few weeks.  Had she betrayed the
hospital or any confidentiality? 
I probably haven't told him anything of substance, but I probably shouldn't have told him anything.
Why am I so stupid, such a
loser?
A nagging voice reminded her she'd talked about some of the situations at the hospital.  She'd voiced her concerns about the press coverage. 

The more she thought about things, the more
anxious
Alex became
about her relationship with Mitch.  Of course Mitch knows I've seen Robert
...h
e left my house on Tuesday so Robert could stop by. 

The more Alex concentrated, the m
ore jumbled her thoughts became and
the more her head ached.  After several hours of reviewing things in her mind, Alex
was
convinced that it was preposterous to think Mitch could be involved in the mess here.  If he's a compulsive
gambler, I'll find out myself.
I'll ask him.  Nevertheless, Alex couldn't put the images of the stout man with the cigar and the
man with the ponytail
out of her mind.

It was clear
to Bridgett that her boss was having a bad day.  After several attempts to cheer her up, she finally said, "What gives, Alex?  I've never seen you so down.  Is it Diane's death or the accident with Mrs. Henderson, or what?"  Bridgett's blue eyes reflected her concern.

Alex looked up at Bridgett.  "Don't know, Bridge.  I guess I'm just tired.  It's been a rough week."

"
No, that’s not it. 
Don't look so sad, Alex. 
The weekend is
coming up.  You've been waiting for this weekend for months.  Try to put this CCMC stuff behind you
and
have some fun.  After all, you
do
have a date with a hunk."  

Alex groaned inwardly,
y
eah, a compulsive gambler hunk
that
I'm not sure I know or trust anymore, Alex thought to herself. 

"I'm going home.  I have a bad headache and I don't have any appointments for the rest of the day, do I?"

Bridgett shook her head no.  "Get some rest.  You need it."

"
I’m just tired.
I haven't been sleeping well this week.  Nobody has.  By the way, did Latetia give Captain Francois the name of that new board member?
  Do you know his name?
"

"
Nope,
d
on't know, but I'll handle it.  Get out of here.  I'll take care of things for the rest of the day and I'll call you only if absolutely necessary.  I promise."

"I've been called three days this week because of extreme emergencies.  You'll need a better excuse than that."  Alex was laughing as she got up from her desk.  "See you tomorrow."

"Don't forget your
ball
gown.
You need to pick it up Yvonne’s,
” Bridgett
reminded her on the way out.

"Got you.  I'm out of here.  Take care."  Alex went straight home, not caring to stop at Yvonne LaFleur for her ball gown.

***

M
itch woke
up a
t eleven o'cl
ock that morning.
  He had a terrible headache, and little recall of the previous evening, at least the latter part.  He remembered his dinner with Alex and his late night visit from
Frederico
and the stranger.  His
burned
forearm confirmed that visit.  He also
remembered his quick trip to
Gulf Shore
s
to gamble.  He'd played blackjack at the Casino Magic, lost a bundle of money an
d his credit line.
He recalled two men approaching him at the Biloxi Belle Casino, closing in on him while he was drinking Scotch.  The men, gangsters no doubt, had "reminded him to deliver the goods by tomorrow night."  After their threat, they'd become friendly and had a drink with him.  

Mitch couldn't remember anything after that.  I don't even remember getting in my car and driving home.  God, I feel terrible, he thought as he staggered out of his bed to the nearby bathroom.   He was repulsed at what he saw in the mirror.  His left eye was purple and swollen shut.  The right side of his face had a long jagged scratch down the sid
e.  Mitch became ill as he thought
he must have been drugged not to remember getting beaten.
It terrified him not to remember.

When he recovered several minutes later, he rushed to the window to look for his Lexus.  It wasn't there.  No wonder I don't remember drivin
g home.  He returned to his bed and remembered
he had no car, no money, no info for
Frederico
and his gangster friends, and no
means of escape.  After dismally surveying his situation and seeing no plausible
way
out, he went to his bureau and pulled out his forty-five semi-automatic. 

As he fingered his gun
,
he decided he really didn't have many options.  I'm going to be dead tonight anyway, he thought.  They're going to kill me if I don't get some information from Alex.  Mitch held hi
s gun for a few minutes as he felt
the
cold steely barrel and fingered
the etching of the serial number.  Then he made his decision.

Sunlight was streaming through her win
dows as the staccato ring of her house
phone jolted Alex out of a deep sleep.  As she gr
abbed for the receiver
,
her clock radio indicated
it was after five.  She'd been sleeping for over three hours.  The unmistakable voice of Jack Francois greeted her groggy hello.

"You
sleep?
  It's Happy Hour!
" Francois joked. 

"I left work a little early.  I had a terrible headache, came home, took some aspirin and fell asleep.  Feel much better now."  Alex was surprised but she really did.

"Good.  Listen up.  I got the name of your newest board member, Jonath
an Mercier.  He's from somewhere in the Midwest
, and now lives in Slidell.  The interesting part of it is that he spent a fair amount of time in Virginia a few years back.  He oversaw some kind of
huge
commercial real estate
venture and made a ton of money
.
He
bills himself as a venture capitalist
" 

Alex said, "What commercial development?"

"Damned if I know what development.  I ain't no Forbes rep reporting on the lifestyles of the rich and famous.  Anyway, that's all I know.  He seems to be on the up and up, at least no rap sheet.  I'm going to talk to some people at his office.  As far as I'm concerned, this guy's too clean a package
for my jaded brain
. The fact he lived in Virginia when Bonnet was in medical school is interesting to me, especially since you said he looked like he hated Robert."

"Good.  L
et me know what you find and get some rest, Captain.  It makes you feel much better,
"
Alex yawned loudly, not meaning too, right
in Jack’s face.  “Whoops, ‘scus
e me.”

"Can't
and Can’t.
  Got a hot date with the voodoo Queen."

"
Huh??
What're you talking about?"

"Late tonight there's a voodoo gathering out at the Lake near the Bayou St. John.
Voodoos been hanging there since the beginning of time.
I'm gonna look up a few old
friends;
see if they got a handle on CCMC.  Should be
real fun." 

Alex immediately remembered the gathering.
“
Can I go with you?  I think they know something about CCMC."

Francois' voice was curt.  "
Hell no. You out of your mind?
  These meetings aren't for the
faint hearted.  They'
re pretty ugly, sometimes gory, kill animals and run around naked.
No way in hell."  Francois' voice was firm.  "But,
what
makes you think they know something?"

Alex hesitated, and then decided to tell him.  "I went to the voodoo museum last night, and the woman there told me they did. I was thinking about going myself, but to be honest, I
forgot
about it after everything today.  Take me."

"No way.  I'll talk to
you in the morning."  Jack’s
voice was gruff and he clicked off the phone. 

Alex spent a restless evening.  She kept hoping Mitch would call, and then prayed he wouldn't. 
She vacillated
between wanting to see him and never wanting to see him again. 
After thumbing through several magazines and toying with her TV remote, she took a long hot bath.  She was just beginning to relax when the phone rang.

She answered it quickly, thinking it was Mitch.

"It's Robert.  Nothing new ha
s happened.  I just w
anted to check on you. Do you know anything
?"

"Do you remember our new board member?   He gave you some pretty angry looks while you were talking.
He looks like he hates you.
"

"Jonathan Mercier?  I know him, and does he hate me.  Why?"  Robert said curiously.

"Well, Francois said Mercier spent some time in Virgini
a, and the captain thought
you may know him.  He's chec
king all possible leads to figure out
who's after you.  How do you know Mercier and why does he hate you?"

Robert sighed into the phone before answering.  "He thinks I killed his wife and baby."

"What?"  Al
ex nearly jumped out of the tub and got
water all over the bathroom.

"When I was
a surgical resident
in Virginia, his wife was in a terrible auto accident on I-64 near Charlottesville. 
She was
eight
months pregnant.
She had
massive
internal injuries and a
ruptured spleen
.
The steering wheel had crushed her chest and her trachea. She couldn’t breath
e
.
I did
an
emergency
trach and surgery
,
but
she didn't
make it. She really never had a chance. Neither did her baby.
" 

Alex was jolted back seven
years. 
"Never mind, Robert.  I remember this now.
It was awful.
You were upset for weeks afterward."

"It's one
of those cases that
have
haunted
me for years.  I felt like a failure for a long, long
time
.  Mercier still blames me for his wife's death.  For months he wrote me letters,
which threatened to sue me and
have my license revoked, anything to cause me pain and diffic
ulty.  He tried to sue me
,
b
ut it was thrown out as being frivolous. 
He tried to take me before the Board of Medicine in Virginia
,
but they would
not
hear the case.
That made him angrier.  He was in a rage for months."

"Could he
still be in a rage after all of this time
because of
the accidents
that happened
to your patients?"

"I
don't know.  I certainly wouldn’t think so. 
It’s
been almost seven
yea
rs."  Robert paused as he considered
the possibility.
Alex could picture him, thinking hard, his forehead wrinkled up.
"I almost panicked when I saw him at the trustees meeting.  I knew trouble could come from it, but I forgot about it until now."

"We need to talk to Jack
."  Alex could feel her heart thudding.

"
Yeah,
we will
.
First
thing in the morning.  If you need anything else, call me.  Have a good night."   Robert's voice was warm as he said good-bye.

After her talk with Robert, Alex
became
more restless.  I'm going to the voodoo gathering, she decided.  The heck with what Francois says.  He'll never know I'm there.  She considered calling Martin, but decided against it since she knew he'd try to talk her out of it.
He’d already told her it wasn’t safe.  What the hell, she thought, I’ll drive myself.

At eleven-thirty
, dressed in black jeans, a black hooded sweatshirt sweater and black boots,
Alex drove
her silver BMW down to the Bayou St
.
John
near where it intersected Lake
Pon
t
cha
r
train
.
  On the way, it occurred
to
her that she had no idea what she was going t
o
do or how to talk to the Voodoos or any way
to get to the person or persons who might know something about the CCMC incidents.  I'll just have to play it by ear, she thought.
It couldn’t be but so bad, she admonished herself.

  When Alex rou
nded the bend in the road, she immediately heard
the sound of drums.  She
parked her car in a grove of trees next to a new Lexus
.  She convinced
herself that anyone
owning
a Lexus
couldn't possibly believe in voodoo.  Alex walked towards the lake where she noticed a group of about
two hundred
people congregated around several bonfires.  

She
stayed
hidden
in the shadows under a tree and peered through the mist at the water.  Between two fires stood a table, covered with a black cloth.  A round white cloth covered the ground below the table.  

It was cold and damp. Alex
pulled her hooded sweatshirt closer around her body
,
and she stretched the hood to cover her face.  The chill of the night air and the icy fear racing through her veins made her shiver.

She strained her eyes and peered
throug
h the mist on the
l
ake
and thought
she saw a boat
approaching.  Whatever was in the water was illuminated by candlelight.  Suddenly,
people rushed
to the shoreline where loud chanting
erupted
and numerous pots of fire were lit by
a
gr
oup
of cloaked figures
.  The raft came closer.  Alex was so intent on watching the scene in t
he fog and mist
below;
she didn't notice the
huge
black man approach her from behind.  Suddenly
,
a quiet voice spoke directly into her ear. 

"Who are you
,
and why are you here?"  The voice was lilting, and the man spoke in a dialect she thought was Gumbo French.

Alex
almost jumped out of her skin
at the sounds of his voice. She was unable to speak as she
looked at the huge man
.
She was terrified and afraid that she was going to pass out.  She struggled for control and gawked at the big man.
He wore a white billowing poet's shirt and tight, dark breeches. 
His skin was the darkest black she had ever seen
,
and h
is hair reached nearly to his knees
.  He
had
much of his hair
tied up in
a number of knots and braids
secured by bones.  The pupils of his eyes were dilated a
nd glassy.  The more Alex gazed
at
him, the more frightened she became.  She was sure he man could hear her heart thudding in harmony with the drums.

The man eyed her steadily.  "I asked you who you are.  Speak or leave."  His voice sounded foreboding
, threatening
.

"My name is Alexandra Destephano.  I work at the Medical Center, and I have to find someone who knows about the voodoo that's been happening at the hospital.  Can you tell me?"

"I know nothing.  Leave here.  You're not welcome.  You're not one of us."  The man
, his pronouncement ominously final, pointed towards the cars
.

"The lady from the voodoo museum told me to come
."  Alex persisted as she shook
so hard her teeth chattered.
  "
She s
aid I could learn
more about the voodoo curse at the medical center from the people who were here.
Who are you?"
Alex was shocked that she was even able to speak.  She couldn’t figure out if she was shaking from fear or the cold air.

The man just stared at her.
His
eye
s were enormous.
The whites of them almost blinded
her in the darkness. 
"I'm a witch d
octor.  My name's Dr. John
.  I serve the High Priestess. 
Leave here at once.  I demand it.
  If you do not leave immediately, we will kill you.
"

Alex watched Dr.
John move steadily towards the l
akefront.  She hid behind the tree when he turned to look for her.  She watched until he disappeared into the crowd and breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone.  She turned her attention to the crowd.  Suddenly the tempo of the music increased, the drums beat faster.  A group of wo
men stripped off their clothing and began to dance naked.  S
everal of them donned white ca
misoles and circled the bonfire, their movements undulating in the firelight.
  Alex was mesmerized by the female dancers.  The dancers escalated their movements
to
the driving drum beat.  Alex could hear them pantin
g and could clearly see the rising and falling of their breasts as they moved around the bonfires.