Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 07 - Vague Images (18 page)

“Way. So this afternoon the brother, Lucas, left a note saying someone called to say she was at the hospital, but Scoobie says she’s not there. And neither is Lucas.”

When I didn’t add anything else, George looked disappointed
. “Oh. That’s too bad.”

“I guess I forgot to say Lucas was the guy in the hoodie
. On the hospital security tapes. When Tanya Weiss was…”

“Murdered
. Yeah. I’ll meet you at the front door of the hospital.”  He turned and walked to his car.

“YOU BROUGHT GEORGE?” Scoobie said this as if I’d brought Pebbles and she’d pooped on the hospital floor.

“Good to see you, too,” George said.

I motioned that we should move to the seating area in the hospital’s main lobby, and I sat and crossed my leg so I could rub my ankle. “He promised not to tell, and I thought if Kim’s really missing he might help us find her.”

George reached for his notebook and I swatted at his hand, missing by several inches
. He grinned at Scoobie.

“So, what’s going on?” I asked.

“I’m not sure anything is, and if I didn’t work here I wouldn’t have access to who was treated here. But I do, and there’s no record of Kim being here.”

“So who would have called Lucas?” I mused.

“I don’t know,” Scoobie said, “but I don’t like it. No name of the caller on his note, and no Kim here.”

“How many people know he was the guy in the hoodie?” George asked.

“You told him that?”  Scoobie was bemused. “You must have gotten him to sign in blood.”

“George is big on trust,” I said, sweetly
. “You know that security guy, Todd Everly?  He might be willing to look on security tapes to see if Lucas was here. Or Kim.”

“Why would he do that for you?” George asked.

“They’re best friends,” Scoobie said.

I flushed
. “We are not. He asked me to walk him through the day I found Tanya. He let me look at a couple of the tapes from that day to make sure it was Lucas on the footage.”

“He didn’t know?” George asked.

“Police hadn’t told him yet. He was ticked, which is probably why he let me look.”  I thought for a couple more seconds. “Come on, let’s go to his office.”  They followed me to the elevator and we rode to the third floor in silence. I figured George was so excited at the thought of hospital security tapes that he couldn’t speak.

Todd Everly’s door was shut, and there was no glass in the door, so I couldn’t tell if he was in there
. I realized it was close to six, so he had probably left for the day. I knocked anyway.

A chair scraped on the floor and the door opened
. Todd looked at each of us, his gaze resting on George for a couple of seconds before he looked to me again. “What can I do for you, Jolie?”  He was dressed in sweats. A duffle bag and a pair of running shoes sat on the floor near where we were standing.

“Sorry to bother you, but I’m worried about a friend, the guy who was…who we talked about before
. His sister might be hurt, and he came over here to check on her.”

Todd opened his door and we walked into his outer office
. “You’re fairly sure he came over here?”

“Yes,” George said, “and I should tell you I’m here as Jolie’s friend, not as a reporter.”

Todd’s concerned look lessened and he nodded.

“I know it’s unorthodox, but I wondered if we, or maybe just you, could see if he was on your tapes in the last few hours.”

Todd looked skeptical, and Scoobie added, “He left a note saying someone from the hospital asked him to come over. I’ve checked in the ER and admissions. Neither he nor his sister has been here today. Ever, actually.”

Todd frowned lightly, “Be careful where you repeat that.”

Scoobie nodded. “Will you look?”

“You have a photo of the young man when he’s not wearing a hoodie?” Todd asked.

“No, but we have one of his sister.”  Scoobie took a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to him. “And I think Lucas was wearing a Harvest for All tee shirt.”

Todd took Kim’s photo and nodded
. “Have a seat. It takes a long time to go through a lot of tape, but I can look fairly quickly at the ER and other entrances. What was the timeframe?”

It took a minute for Scoobie and me to reach agreement
. This was partly because we had to figure out when Lucas would have changed Pebbles’ litter box, because Scoobie hadn’t done it. We finally agreed, much to Todd Everly’s amusement, that because there was no evidence the box had been recently used, Lucas cleaned it before I got there at four-twenty, but likely not long before that.

“Have a seat
. I’ll do some checking and come back out in a few minutes.”

The visitor chairs were straight-backed with lightly padded seats, and they were close together in the outer office, which was only about ten feet by ten feet.

George spoke first. “So, are you worried that she might hurt herself, or that someone might want to hurt one or both of them?”

“It’s hard to know,” I said, in a low voice
. “Maybe they’ve just gone off to the beach or something.”

“Yeah, right
. If you thought that, one of you would have talked the other out of coming,” George said.

Scoobie gave a half-smile, half-grunt, and looked at me
. “Exactly what did you tell him?”

“Probably too much, but he promised.”  When neither of them said anything, I added, “I said they were here in high school and had to leave…”

“She said something that implied witness protection,” George said, looking at Scoobie.

“Did she?” Scoobie grinned.

“And I said Kim was upset because of their mom, and Lucas was worried about her.”

“And something about an exit through her bathroom window,” George added.

Scoobie shook his head lightly. “I never get you two.”

George and I spoke together, “Me, either.”

George had kind of a hopeful look. “Don’t go there,” I said.

Scoobie leaned forward in his chair so he didn’t have to talk too loudly
. “I’m not worried about Lucas’ mental health,” he began.

“Wait, was he the guy you brought to the meeting on a few days ago?”

Scoobie nodded. “So you know he’s frustrated about his sister, but other than having the Serenity Prayer backwards, I think he’s okay.”

I smiled.

“Like our friend here,” George said, kind of jerking his head in my direction.

“Hey
. I’m the one who told him to take Kim to a movie instead of talking about meds.”

“Yeah, yeah,” George said.

“I’d say,” Scoobie continued, “that she’s sad, and uncertain, and wants what she didn’t have, which is a supportive mom and a home she likes.”

“Lot of that going around,” George said, with a kind of knowing look at Scoobie.

I added, “And she hasn’t learned to be happy with what she has or to change herself. Problem is, Lucas thinks he can make it right, or make her right, and she doesn’t want to talk about it.”

“Damn,” Scoobie said
. “You do listen in those meetings.”  He looked back at George. “So she spent the night, but when he pressed her she left.”

“Out the bathroom window
. But why would you worry if there’s a mix-up about whether they were over here?” George asked.

Scoobie and I looked at each other
. “Because they had to leave here twelve years ago when some people their father ticked off found out they were in Ocean Alley,” I said.

George groaned
. “This might be the best story of the year.”

“You promised,” Scoobie and I said.

He nodded. “I meant it. But, you never know, one day they might want to talk…”

George stopped when Scoobie and I stared at him
. He put his hands, palms out, toward us. “Uncle.”

The door to the room with the cameras opened, and Todd motioned to me
. When all three of us stood, he pointed at me, and I followed him toward the monitors.

“This him?” Todd asked.

I squinted at the screen, pleased to see it was Lucas. “Yes. This was today?”

“It was,” Todd hesitated, “the thing is, it almost seems as if whoever was greeting him knew to stand out of the range of the camera.”

I felt my heart beat faster. “What do you mean?”

“Lucas and the other person are just inside the door by Physical Therapy at…let’s see, five-o-four PM.”  Everly pointed at part of a shadow just to Lucas’ left
. “The camera by that entrance takes in the area just outside the exterior door and a few feet inside. The ones in the lobby are part of a group, so we can see the full lobby by switching to another camera view. I think the person who greeted Lucas knew to stand just out of the sole camera’s view.“

I shivered, but before I could say anything, George stuck his head into the room and asked, “Where would a camera next pick up the two of them?”

Todd frowned at him, and George took this as permission to come into the room as Todd spoke. “About twenty meters away, where the hallway merges with another one near the main lobby. They never appeared on that camera.”

“What offices are along the way?” I asked.

“Just PT and the back exit that leads out of Administration. There’s a security pad on both of those doors.  If someone opened the admin door there’d be an alarm, because that door’s only supposed to be used if there’s an emergency.

“Is the PT door alarmed after a certain time?” George asked.

Todd shook his head. “Locked, but no alarm. There probably wouldn’t have been anyone in PT then. Their last patient is at four. If some staff were still in there, the door could even have been unlocked. That would mean no need to use the security pad to get in.”

“So, maybe they went into PT,” I mused
. “I was in there a couple of days ago. It looked like there were doors in the back that went to other hallways.”

“Yes, I’ll show you those
. They lead to a hallway behind PT. Nothing there.”   Todd continued. “Think some more. I know that image of Lucas and the guy’s shadow was just a vague impression. But are you sure you I don’t recognize the shadow of the person your friend was talking to?”

“The Shadow knows,” Scoobie said, from the doorway
. But he looked at the image and shook his head. I had already looked, and George must have looked over my shoulder. He said nothing.

Todd gave Scoobie a raised eyebrow and went back to his computer screen
. “Makes sense for you guys to walk around a bit, and I’ll pull material from other cameras.”

“Can’t we look at footage from inside the PT suite?” George asked.

“Again, the person knew his or her way around. I’ll check, but the only camera on in there is at the PT registration desk. People don’t necessarily want to be photographed getting treatment, and in some of the treatment rooms they might have a shirt or pants off, or something.”

“Swell,” Scoobie said.

“Good to know,” I murmured.

George grunted a laugh, and we said thanks and walked into the third-floor hallway.

“I guess we could each pick a floor,” I said.

“I should probably do first,” George said
. “I get thrown off of other floors sometimes.”

Scoobie nodded
. “I’ll do this floor, since it’s the main patient floor and I’m still in scrubs. And I’ll walk through the ER.”

George pointed a finger at me
. “The important thing is to look like you know where you’re going. Nobody’ll stop you.”

He walked toward the elevator and I looked at Scoobie
. “That leaves me the second floor. I’m not going in the ladies’ restroom near Radiology.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

IN ALMOST EXACTLY half-an-hour, the three of us were back at the Security office. No one had seen any sign of Lucas or Kim.

Todd stuck his head out of the room where he was reviewing the computer screens
. “I’ve been through the stuff. You won’t like it.”

I had been seated and rubbing my foot, so I trailed George and Scoobie into the cramped office space and looked at the screen as Todd clicked his mouse from blank hallway to hallway
. “You can see how often people pass through the lobby all afternoon—I have this on a fast speed for viewing. Your friend never went back out the doors near PT, and I’ll have to study the lobby a bit more, but I don’t think he was in there.”

“So, he stayed in PT?” I asked.

“Doesn’t seem likely,” Todd said, still scrolling through screens.

“Can we go down there and look?” Scoobie asked.

Todd gave a somber nod as he stood. “You’re with the right person.”

We didn’t talk as the four of us took the elevator to the first floor, except that George tried to get Todd to tell him how many security cameras there were throughout the hospital
. “Don’t push your luck,” was Todd’s only reply.

There was little light in the hallway leading to PT, but the lighting rose as we walked
. “This exit door is locked after six PM, so we put most of the lights on motion sensors.”

When we got near the entrance to Physical Therapy, George walked to the door where Lucas had stood with whoever phoned him
. George pointed up, and we all followed his finger. The camera sat at the top of the wall, and was easily spotted.

“People could figure out the range of this camera,” George said.

Todd nodded. “Not precisely, but enough to know how to stay out of its view. The thing is,” he paused, “ten days ago most people who worked here wouldn’t have paid any attention to where we have cameras and where we don’t. People expect them.”

“Are you saying that since Tanya’s murder,” I asked, “people are more aware of them?”

“It’s more than that,” Todd said. “I’ve been asked to suggest locations for additional cameras. My guys and I have walked throughout the building testing the range of the cameras and developing recommendations. We talked to lots of staff as we did this.”

George looked up at the camera for a second and back at Todd
. “So almost everyone who works here is better briefed on camera locations. A lot of people would know where to stand to avoid the ones you have now.”

Todd nodded
. “I’m afraid so.”

“Okay,” Scoobie said
. “That’s good to know, but it doesn’t help us find Lucas. Let’s look in PT.”

“Of course.”  Todd took a key from a buttoned pocked near his belt
. “Master key. Saves me memorizing a lot of security pad passwords. They change a lot.”

“Good to know,” Scoobie said.

George met my eyes, but I couldn’t read his expression.

“We’ll need to walk through together,” Todd said
. “I can’t let visitors wander in secure areas alone.”

There was the large treatment space with equipment, weights, Pilate’s balls, and some low tables I’d seen patients lie on to exercise
. For some reason, the intense quiet of the normally busy area made me uneasy.

We said nothing as we walked to the hallway that led to the individual patient treatment rooms
. These were unlocked, and Todd opened each door wide enough for himself and whoever was right behind him to look inside.

“It doesn’t make sense,” George said.

“No, it doesn’t. Come on, the staff area is back here,” Todd said.

We traipsed the short distance to an office on the left
. It held only a fridge and break-room furniture. We left PT. I hadn’t really expected to see Lucas riding one of the PT bicycles, but I had no idea where to look next.

“Did you look in the cafeteria?” Todd asked as we walked toward the lobby.

We were passing a closet marked Electrical when a noise made me stop. “What was that?”

Todd turned sharply to stare at the door
. “You hear something?”

I nodded and Scoobie said, “A groan
. Hurry, open the door!”

Todd almost plunged his master key into the lock and then swore
. “It’s supposed to work everywhere.”

George walked about five paces down the hall, picked a fire extinguisher out of its slot and walked back toward us
. “Stand back.”

“What are you…?” Todd began.

George brought the extinguisher down hard on the door knob, and there was a splintering sound. He did it a second time and the knob hung loosely from the door. Before he could put the extinguisher down, I pulled open the door. Lucas was seated on the floor and gagged. His head almost touched a large circuit breaker box that was on the wall, and he blinked at the light. There was blood on the front of his shirt.

WHEN THE HEAD OF Security calls the ER and says he needs immediate assistance, the staff haul ass. It was less than a minute until we heard footsteps running full tilt toward us. Scoobie and I were kneeling by Lucas and George had walked a few feet away from us.

Todd seemed to have vanished, but a couple of seconds later he walked out of the door that led to the back of the administrative offices
. “I wanted to be sure no one else was near here,” he said. He walked toward the lobby, I assumed to check other hallways.

Scoobie had taken the gag out of Lucas’ mouth
. “You’re okay now, buddy.”

“You’ll be home in no time,” I added, then remembered I was talking about my house.

Two EMTs, whom I knew usually worked on an ambulance, were soon running their hands up and down Lucas, probably checking to see if anything was broken before they moved him. One of them shone a pin light into Lucas’ eyes, and he reacted by turning his head and groaning slightly.

“I think we can move him,” the taller of the two men said
. Carefully they helped a groggy Lucas half stand. One of the EMTs reached under his armpits and the other behind his knees and they placed him on the stretcher as Scoobie steadied it. It took less than ten seconds to strap him onto it and they moved briskly toward the ER.

George and I trailed the gurney and I wondered why Scoobie almost sprinted ahead of us
. As George and I reached the ER, a tall nurse with a huge bun on top of her head raised her arm, palm out, to prevent us from following Lucas.

“But, we’re…” I began.

George grabbed my elbow. “Let’s go sit.”

I turned to tell him to leave me alone, but when he nodded toward the waiting area, I figured there was some reason for his behavior
.

He leaned toward me and spoke quietly
. “Scoobie went ahead to be sure he would be in there. He’ll stay out of the way so they don’t throw him out.”

I nodded and limped to a chair and sat to massage my ankle, which was sore after walking quickly to the ER
. “I thought he looked as if he’d be okay, didn’t you think?”

A thin, elderly man across from me said, “Whoever he was, he butted in line
. I was supposed to be next.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, not about to explain the concept of triage
. “He was mostly unconscious, so I guess they wanted to check him out fast.”

“Humph.”  He went back to a battered copy of Field and Stream magazine, tilting it toward a lamp on the table next to the plastic couch he sat on.

George gave the man an impassive look and turned to me. “He’s young. He’ll be okay.”  As if to indicate he wasn’t sure about this, George moved away from his chair and began pacing on the vinyl floor.

I told my mind to calm down so I could think
. It seemed highly unlikely that the mystery person on the security screen really had news about Kim, but he must have said something for Lucas to follow him partway down that hall.

Who could I call to see if people were in PT or Admin and saw Lucas today?  Bob Ellis, whom I thought of as my therapist, might know
. I pulled my phone from my pocket ready to call information, and paused. It might not be smart to telegraph that there’d been an injured man in the hospital electrical closet. Then I realized that Lucas might not have ended up in that closet immediately. Maybe the PT office was empty and he and the other person went into the PT rooms for a while. Then they might have gone back to the hallway where we found Lucas quite a bit later. That made more sense. Still, someone had to have seen the two of them.

“Jolie.”  When I glanced at George he had a look of impatience that said he must have called my name a couple of times
. “We can go in.”

I walked into Lucas’ cubicle in front of George
. Scoobie was standing next to the gurney and looked up as George and I entered. Now that his head had been cleaned and he was in a hospital gown, Lucas didn’t look as if he had any grave injuries. His face was as colorless as the sheets.

I went to the other side of the gurney and put my hand on Lucas’ arm, which was lying across his chest
. He opened his eyes. “Jolie. Did you find her?”

I shook my head
. “What made you come here?  Your note said someone contacted you.”

“Called on my mobile.”  He closed his eyes.

“Someone you know?” Scoobie asked.

Even lying down Lucas shrugged
. “Didn’t know him. I’ve left my number a lot of places, in case they see Kim.”  He opened his eyes and looked at me. “He said his name was Alfred, and he told me to meet him at the side door.”

“Alfred?” George asked.

I ignored George and spoke to Lucas. “You’re on the security tapes coming in that door, but the person you met seemed to know to stand away from the camera.”

“Huh.”  He looked from Scoobie to me and then his eyes rested on George
. “He kind of looked like you, but it wasn’t you.”

George has auburn hair and is maybe five ten
. “Same height and coloring?” he asked.

“Mmm, sort of,” Lucas mumbled
. “Maybe more brown hair.”

“What was he wearing?” I asked
. If we knew that maybe Todd could check other cameras for the guy.

“He had a white coat, like a doctor, but not scrubs.”  Lucas shut his eyes for a second and opened them again
. “White shirt, burgundy tie.”

“I’m gonna find Everly,” George said, and left the room.

Before Scoobie or I could say anything else, a guy about twenty-five pushed a portable x-ray machine into the room. He looked at Lucas. “Scoobie hit you?”

Lucas smiled weakly
. “Not this time.”

“We don’t want to move you a lot until we x-ray your head,” the man said.

“Behave yourself Kevin,” Scoobie said, and nodded toward the door. He and I walked into the hall and Scoobie pulled the door shut behind us.

“He’ll be okay, right?” I asked.

“Kevin’s a good guy. He’ll be careful with Lucas.”

We leaned against the wall outside the ER cubicle and listened to the man explain that he was going to put a stiff piece of film under Lucas’ head
to take pictures.

The x-ray equipment reminded me of Scoobie’s rude boss
. “Do you think Sam would have been angry enough to kill Tanya Weiss?”

“You remember why we’re here, right?”

I frowned. “Yes, but maybe someone heard Lucas was on those tapes and wanted to make sure he doesn’t say something.”

Scoobie shrugged
. “Or the people who are mad at his father wanted something. We can talk to Lucas in a minute. No use specu…”  He paused, looking toward the ER entry.

Sergeant Morehouse stopped and looked at the two of us
. “Is this that guy in the hoodie?”

“His name is Lucas, remember?” I asked.

“Where is he?”

“In this room, getting his head x-rayed,” Scoobie said.

“Have ‘em do Jolie next,” Morehouse said, seeming pleased with his remark.

“He could be badly hurt,” I said, irritated.

“If he was, you’d be in the little room for family,” Morehouse nodded to a closed door at the end of the short corridor.

The door to Lucas’ cubicle opened halfway, and Scoobie angled himself in and began to move Lucas’ gurney so the portable x-ray machine could come out.

I stood against the opposite hallway wall, next to Morehouse. He had on a pair of cotton slacks and knit shirt, which implied that he had been off duty when called.

“What happened?” he asked.

I went over Lucas’ note and Todd Everly’s help in looking for Lucas and Kim, and then finding Lucas in the electrical closet. “And Todd’s key didn’t work, so George broke the lock with a fire extinguisher.”

“George? What in the hell was he doing here?”

“He came with Scoobie and me when we figured Lucas might be missing. He said he wouldn’t be a reporter for a while.”