Chapter Thirteen
Lazzari's admission left me reeling and Jackson was even more on edge than he was before, if that was even possible. As soon as we were back in the cab Jackson let fly a string of curse words that I didn't even know that he knew.
“Impressive vocabulary, Jacks,” I muttered. “Leroy take us to Wayside.”
Jackson glared at me. “What?”
“I think it's time we go and have a chat with our employer, don't you agree?”
Jackson refused to talk to me the entire ride to Wayside. Not that I blamed him. I was burning cash and daylight like nobody's business. Leroy didn't say anything either, he just turned on the jazz radio station and drove.
I couldn't complain. I needed the silence to try and work out my thoughts. We were treading water and getting nowhere fast. I knew that we'd be able to figure this one out, and if we weren't, well then, something or someone, would come by and drop a bit of good fortune into our laps. It's how it always worked before, and I was sure it would work out again.
Wayside was our last ditch effort though. If I could be honest I didn't see us solving this case without a little bit of divine intervention. Or maybe someone at the precinct would make a bit of headway on the case that would propel me ahead of the game.
Ha, yeah right. Stringer was still working this case and he was still convinced that I was guilty. What a bastard.
I sighed and stared out the window as we drove. There was too much rattling around in my head. Five Points had to be behind this, but Lazzari seemed like an okay kind of guy. Mobster reject material, sure, but he gave me the feeling that he was more on the straight and narrow than his reputation suggested. Maybe Jacks was right, after all. Maybe this was just a case of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time and things got out of control.
I scowled at my reflection. No, there was no way that breaking someone's neck was an accident. Not the way Kali said it was done. There was a murderer on the loose and I'd be damned if I wasn't gonna find out who it was. Doctor Jones, and all of his patients, deserved that much at least.
Jackson prodded me in the kidney with his robotic hand, snapping me out of my thoughts. “We're here.”
Wayside Medical Firms was housed in an old brownstone school. The building was tall and the brick face made me think of the precinct where I'd spent so many years of my career. It also reminded me of school and I shuddered at the thought.
“Hey, Leroy, I dunno how long we're gonna be, if you need to skedaddle, we can get ourselves home.”
“I haven't got anything else to do,” Leroy replied. “I'm off the clock and I can do my paperwork and stuff tomorrow.”
“Do you mind turning off the meter for this one?” I asked sheepishly.
“Not a problem, boss. I'll be here when you're ready.”
I smiled at Leroy in the overhead mirror and I got out of the cab, following Jackson up the walk towards Wayside Medical Firms' front door.
This was just a research facility. I knew that they kept all the manufacturing and testing in a different location. This was where all the designers, researchers and other various paper pushers worked. There was no medical facilities here and that made my life a lot easier. My employer was sure to be home.
We walked into the building and I was immediately more at ease than I was in Five Points. This was a homey kind of place. It still had the school feel to it, but it was comfortable, subdued. The linoleum floors were simple, like they hadn't been changed from the mottled jade they'd been when this building was a school, the bright white walls were bordered in green and plants and couches lined every available space in the lobby. A coffee station filled up one of the far walls and it was all I could do not to walk over and help myself to a cup before announcing our presence.
“Detective Tuesday, I presume?” the secretary at the front desk said brightly.
I smiled at her; she was cute, young and fresh faced with plain brown hair highlighted with honey blonde. Her eyes were brown and she was dressed plainly. She could have been Kali's cousin or something, the resemblance was striking. She also didn't have any Clockwork, which I found to be odd, given her place of employment.
“Should I bother with the cliche of 'you've been expecting me'?” I asked.
She smiled right back at me. “Well, I was told that you'd probably show up, and then I was given a vague description of what you looked like, so you'd at least be correct in that assumption.”
I scratched my nose as I considered that. I shrugged. “Fair enough. Would you be a dear and please call my employer down here so that we can have a few words?”
“I can do you one better,” she replied. “Take the elevator up to the next floor and head to the office at the far left end of the hallway. Mister Henkka will be expecting you.”
Jackson made a choking noise that suggested that I should be way more impressed by the name being dropped in front of me. I didn't say anything, instead nodded at the cute doppleganger Kali and led the way towards the elevator. I pushed the button and the doors slid open. I stepped inside, followed by Jackson, and I pushed the button with the big number one on it.
The doors slid closed with a ding and I turned to look at Jackson. “Okay, so who is Mister Henkka?”
“Ivan Henkka is the owner of Wayside,” Jackson explained, irritation in his voice at my ignorance.
“Oh, cool, so we get to talk to the boss huh?”
“We've been hired by the boss, Blaze.”
“Oh.”
I pursed my lips and folded my arms across my chest. This was suddenly an even bigger deal than I had originally thought.
“You're really quiet, Blaze,” Jackson warned.
“Did you want me to start screaming like a teenaged girl at a rock concert?” I shot back. “I could throw my panties at Ivan Henkka if it'll make you feel better?”
“No, I'm good. I don't really need to see your panties, Blaze.”
I nodded. “That's what I thought.”
“You're thinking aren't you?”
“You say it like you're surprised.”
“Just worried,” Jackson admitted.
I snorted a chuckle. “I'll play nice, I promise. I'm on my good behaviour today.”
The bell dinged again and the doors slid open. Ratty was waiting for us with a smile on his face. “Gentlemen, nice to see you again.”
“Hey Edward,” I replied. “Take us to your leader.”
“Right this way,” Ratty said, turning to lead us down the hallway.
I grinned at Jackson and we followed.
Ivan Henkka was older than I thought he would be. He was sitting in his office, a refurbished classroom if the chalkboard on the wall was any indication, behind a desk that made mine look small, and smiling. The smell of coffee assaulted my nostrils as we walked in and Ratty moved away from us to another coffee station.
“Hello boys, please, sit down,” Henkka said. “It's good of you to come here, finally. Have a coffee, won't you?”
“Don't mind if I do,” I replied as Ratty handed me a mug. “This isn't gonna get you off the hook for answering questions,” I warned, jokingly.
Henkka laughed. “I wouldn't expect it to. Now, ask me what you need to know, I know you're both terribly busy.”
I looked at Jackson expectantly and took a long, slow sip of my coffee. Jackson fidgeted in his seat, clearly not ready to take the lead on this one. I gulped back another few mouthfuls of my drink and set the mug down on the end table next to my seat.
“We just came from Five Points,” I began.
“How is Pasquale?”
I shrugged. “Pissed that Doctor Jones is dead.”
“We all are,” Henkka replied. “It's a tragedy that this has happened and that is why I hired you. You're the best, and I expected nothing less than professionalism on your part.”
“I try,” I muttered. “I need to know how Five Points would have known that Doctor Jones was working for you.”
Henkka waved his hand, as if
my question was an annoying fly. I hated getting dismissed like that. “We made the announcement that we had a medical breakthrough about six weeks ago. Doctor Jones was announced to be coming back to work for us about ten days ago.”
“Why wasn't this all over the news?” Jackson asked.
“We made sure it was small. We let Five Points do all the blustering about how they were ready for testing and whatever it is that they've been lying about. We announced our recent developments as a business announcement, not a medical one.”
“Clever,” Jackson admitted.
I shrugged. “Your blueprints are sure impressive.”
“Thank you,” Henkka said. “You can keep those since I assume they will be invaluable to your investigation.”
That was a shock. I had been expecting him to fly off the handle when I admitted that we'd opened them. This Henkka guy reminded me of Santa, it was really freaking me out.
“Look, I don't know what you want from me,” Henkka admitted. “All I can tell you is that yes, this was public knowledge. I assume that Five Points had been following the news and that they wanted to get Jones on their payroll because he was the best of the best. You say it was murder, right? You saw someone there? Then assume that this was someone working for Five Points.”
I shot Jackson a look. Jackson shrugged.
“You don't believe me?” Henkka asked sadly.
“I don't believe anyone when there's an ongoing investigation,” I replied. “But I don't see why you'd have killed your best doctor. Especially when you're paying to keep his operation going. Your contract was an offer that was sincerely too good to pass up. I believe that you are innocent in the murder, but I can't believe that you were completely oblivious to whatever it was that Five Points was doing.”
Henkka shrugged. “We meet once in a while behind closed doors. Lazzari and I are on rather friendly terms for such bitter rivals. It's better for business if we can talk civilly.”
“So you share information once in a while?” Jackson asked in disbelief.
“Kind of,” Henkka admitted. “Nothing to do with business practices, or proprietary things, but more like when one is doing a fund-raiser or when one wants to buy or sell facilities. That sort of thing.”
“And what about the increasing number of kids getting addicted to surgery?” I asked. “Do you talk about that, too?”
“Yes,” Henkka admitted. “Lazzari never wanted to help, no matter what he says. Doctor Jones was the one who pushed us to help his practice flourish. He knew better than any of us how many kids are actually out there risking themselves. He knew better than anyone how many of them die and disappear.”
“And you just wanted to help?” I drawled.
Henkka shrugged. “Terry wanted to help. I respected him, so I chose to help him as a silent partner.” Henkka's blue eyes flashed with a sudden angry intensity. “I swear to you that we had nothing to do with this. I will give anything to find out who killed my friend. You have my full permission to do whatever you need to do to find out who killed Terry.”
I nodded and stood. Jackson followed my lead. I stepped forward and held out my hand to Henkka. He took it slowly, almost afraid that I was gonna do something to him. I noticed that even good old Ratty stiffened, ready to pounce on me if I breathed funny.
“Believe me, Mister Henkka, I wanna find the scumbag who killed him, too. We're not gonna stop before we find out, and we're not gonna let him get away with this.”
Jackson nodded.
“You have my word as a cop and a detective.”
Henkka gripped my hand tighter than I'd have expected from a guy like him and he nodded. “Thank you.”
I nodded again and strode confidently out of the office.
Jackson followed me. “You're insane!” he hissed as I pressed the button for the elevator.
“I know,” I replied.
“How are you gonna get us out of this one?”
I shrugged. “Good old fashioned detective work.”
Jackson groaned under his breath. We needed to get back to the office. It was going to be a long night.