Notorious Nineteen

“What happened to your arm?” she asked.

  “Freak accident. Nothing serious.”

  “You look annoyed,” Lula said. “Is Tiki getting you into trouble?”

  “No. Tiki’s fine. It’s Cubbin. The disappearing thing is gnawing at me. It’s not like he was walking in the woods and disappeared. The guy was in a hospital. There were video cameras. There was limited access. Two nurses were on duty.”

  “How about if one of the nurses sneaked him out,” Lula said.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised. I talked to Norma Kruger, and she didn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Problem is, even if Kruger helped him, it doesn’t explain how Cubbin got off the surgical floor, or why he wasn’t picked up on camera. Briggs and the police looked at the tapes.”

  “Kruger could be a magician, and she could have given Cubbin the Cloak of Invisibility,” Lula said. “Harry Potter had one of those. I saw it in the movies.”

  “That would be a long shot,” I said to Lula.

  “Even so, we could go snoop on her,” Lula said.

  Connie looked up from her computer. “And you should try Dottie Luchek again. It’s not a high bond but it would be good to clear it.” Her attention shifted to the front window. “It’s Logan again, trying to get into your Buick.”

  Connie grabbed a shotgun from the cabinet behind her. Lula whipped out her Glock. And we all ran to the door. Logan turned, went wide-eyed, and took off.

  Lula shoved her Glock into the waistband of her spandex skirt. “What we should do is set Tiki out on the sidewalk and give Stephanie a big butterfly net.”

  I couldn’t get excited about the butterfly net, but setting a trap for Logan wasn’t a bad idea. I’d think about it after I got Cubbin out of my head.

  “I’m going to do a drive-by on Nurse Norma,” I said to Lula.

  “I’m with you,” Lula said. “I bet I could tell from looking at her if she had the Cloak of Invisibility.”

  I unlocked the Buick and got behind the wheel. “If we get to talk to her, let’s dial back on the Cloak of Invisibility. It’s a little out there.”

  “Gotcha. You won’t hear anything about it from me. My lips are sealed. I’m locking them shut and throwing away the key.”

  “Good.”

  “No way will I say anything about the Cloak of Invisibility. Even if she brings it up I’m not joining in the conversation.”

  “Good.”

  “You’re gonna have to tell me if you want me to say something, ’cause otherwise I’m not saying nothing.”

  I did a U-turn when there was a break in the traffic. “When are you going to start saying nothing?”

  “When we get to her door. I’m saving myself for then.”

  I turned left at Olden and cut across town. I drove into Kruger’s condo complex and crept past her address. The Jag was in the assigned spot. Curtains were drawn.

  “We gonna knock on her door?” Lula asked.

  “I don’t think so. She looks shut down. She works the night shift so she’s probably sleeping.”

  “We should come by at night when she’s working and see if she’s all locked up. You know, just check on everything for her so she don’t get robbed.”

  “It would be our civic duty.”

  “Damn skippy,” Lula said.

  I made a loop around the parking area and noticed a rust-riddled van parked across from Kruger’s apartment. A blond woman was behind the wheel. It was Susan Cubbin.

  I parked next to the van and got out. “Stay here,” I said to Lula. “I’ll only be a minute.”

  I opened the door to the van and stuck my head in. The cat was sleeping next to Susan, and I could see the kitty litter on the floor behind the seat.

  “Hey,” I said. “What’s up?”

  “I’m looking for my jerk husband, that’s what’s up. What’s up with you?”

  “Pretty much the same thing. Why are you parked here?”

  “He’s with the nurse. It’s the only explanation. I don’t know how she got him out of the hospital, but she’s got him squirreled away somewhere. Have you seen her? She’s probably made her powder room into a sex dungeon.”

  “So you’re following her around?”

  “No. I’m watching her condo. I’m waiting for a sign that he’s in there. As soon as I know for sure, I’m going in like gangbusters.”

  “Do you have her condo bugged?”

  “No. I bought some stuff, but I don’t know how to use it. It didn’t come with instructions.”

  Susan Cubbin was almost as good at snooping as Dottie Luchek was at hooking. Which was to say she was no good at all.

  “Lula and I went to see you yesterday,” I said to Susan. “The front door was open and there was a big guy with white hair in your house.”

  “A realtor?”

  “I don’t think so. He looked more like a maniac.”

  “They’re not mutually exclusive,” Susan said. “I put that piece of junk up for sale. I’m sure it was a realtor.”

  The cat stood, turned around three times, and settled back down.

  “How can you be sure Nurse Norma has your husband on ice here?” I asked her. “Maybe she has him someplace else.”

  “She doesn’t go anywhere else. She works all the time. If she’s not here then she’s at the hospital or The Clinic. I followed her there the first day. She’s at The Clinic from four in the afternoon until six o’clock.”

  “Is this clinic attached to the hospital?”

  “No. She’s moonlighting. It’s a private clinic on Deeley Street, and it’s called The Clinic. At least it says ‘The Clinic’ on the sign, but I didn’t see any patients going in or out. It might be one of those research places. There are a lot of them on that Route 1 corridor going to Princeton.”

  I gave her my business card again, and I went back to Lula in the Buick.

  “Well?” Lula said.

  “It’s Susan Cubbin. She’s hunkered down looking for her husband and the five million dollars. She’s got her cat with her and a sleeping bag in the back.”

  “Where’s she going potty?”

  “I didn’t ask.”

  “That would have been my first question,” Lula said. “I’m interested in stuff like that.”

  “Have you ever heard of Deeley Street?”

  “No, but I can find it on my cellphone.”

  Lula tapped the address in and we watched while the phone searched.

  “Here it is,” Lula said. “It’s off Route 1. Looks like it’s just before Quaker Bridge Mall. Are we going there? We could stop at Quaker Bridge and get one of them big salty soft pretzels and a Blizzard.”

  “That would be great,” I said. “And we could get a couple cheeseburgers.”

  “Don’t forget the fries.”

  “Do they still make supersize? I need supersize.”

  “Drive faster,” Lula said. “I’m about to have the big O just thinking about the fries.”

  I reached the mall in record time, parked, and Lula and I jumped out of the car and ran to the food court.

  We hit the burger place first, and Lula pulled a wad of money out of her purse. “I want two of everything on your menu,” she said to the girl behind the counter. “And hurry up because I have to put in my order at Dairy Queen and Dunkin’ Donuts.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I said. “I want the same.”

  The counter girl stared at us. “Am I getting punked?”

  “Say what?” Lula said.

  “Omigod,” I said to Lula. “What are we doing?” I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the counter. “We’re out of control.”

  “I don’t feel out of control,” Lula said.

  “Have you ever ordered everything on a menu before?”

  “Do I have to answer that?”

  “I’m going to the sandwich place and I’m getting a turkey club.”

  “That don’t sound like a lot of fun.”

  “You can eat whatever the heck you want, but I have to get into
a bridesmaid dress on Saturday, and I don’t want to look like a whale.”

  Lula tagged after me to the sandwich shop. “Who’s getting married?”

  “Ranger’s client. The same one we did security for last Friday.”

  “So this is a bridesmaid job? You’re like a undercover bridesmaid. Like in Miss Congeniality. Remember that movie? Sandra Bullock was a FBI agent that they made into a beauty queen. I loved that movie.”

  I got a turkey club and a bottle of water, and Lula got ham and cheese, a bag of chips, and a soda.

  “I think it was Tiki sitting in your backseat that made us crazy for all that food,” Lula said. “You might want to think about giving him back to Logan, on account of he’s going to make us fat.”

  Tiki fell into the same category for me as Grandma Bella and Catholicism. I couldn’t bring myself to be a true believer and have complete faith, but I had fear. There was the irrational possibility of the existence of a power beyond my comprehension.

  “I can’t give him back. I need the recovery money.”

  “Yeah, but Tiki might be more trouble than he’s worth. Money isn’t everything.”

  “The only people who say that are people who have enough money to pay the rent.”

  We finished eating and went back to the Buick and Tiki.

  “Look at him,” Lula said. “He’s smirking. I know smirking when I see it.” She pulled attitude and leaned in to him. “Well ha ha on you, because we didn’t eat all that food. We had a nutritious meal of a sandwich.”

  “That’s telling him,” I said. “Buckle up and we’ll try to find The Clinic.”

  THIRTEEN

  IT WAS THE middle of the day and Route 1 wasn’t especially challenging. No gridlocked traffic. No nutso drivers weaving in and out of lanes trying to cut three minutes off their drive time. No one giving everybody the finger because they had a crapola day at the office. I cruised along, following Lula’s directions.

  “It’s coming up,” she said. “Take the next light and you’ll be on Willow, and then turn onto Deeley.”

  We were in one of the many light industrial complexes that line the highway. Most of the buildings were medical arts. A plumbing supply company. A FedEx facility. And The Clinic was off by itself at the end of a cul-de-sac. It was a medium to large two-story stucco building painted a sick green. There were no cars in visitor parking. No lights shining from any of the windows. No signs indicating what sort of clinic it might be. I parked to the far side and we sat looking at the building.

  “According to Susan Cubbin, Nurse Norma spends two hours a day here,” I said to Lula.

  “It’s kind of out of the way of the hospital.”

  I called Connie and gave her the address. “See if you can find something called The Clinic.”

  Five minutes later Connie called back. “It’s a private clinic for surgical recovery. Usually that means it’s a spa type facility where wealthy men and women can hang after cosmetic procedures like face-lifts and liposuction. Two doctors are listed on staff. Abu Darhmal and Craig Fish.”

  “Anything else?”

  “I did a superficial search. Do you want me to go deeper?”

  “Yes, but there’s no rush.”

  I pulled the key out of the ignition. “Let’s go say hello.”

  “Okay, but if I get one whiff of hospital cooties I’m out of there.”

  I walked to the door and looked inside. Small vestibule. Dark. The front door was locked. I couldn’t see beyond the vestibule.

  “You sure Nurse Norma comes here?” Lula asked. “Don’t look like nobody’s home.”

  I rang the bell and waited. I rang a second time. Nothing. We walked around the building, but the blinds were drawn and we couldn’t see in any of the windows. An underground garage entrance in the back was sealed off by a roll-down door. There was also a metal fire door in the back. It too was locked.

  “Guess there aren’t a lot of ladies getting their fat sucked out today,” Lula said. “Business doesn’t look all that good.”

  We went back to the car and sat there.

  “What are we waiting for?” Lula asked.

  “I don’t know. I guess I’m waiting for something to happen.”

  “Looks to me like that could take a while.”

  “I’d like to see what’s in this building.”

  “You thinking it could be Cubbin? Like they could have him in here hanging by his thumbs until he tells them where he’s got the money stashed?” Lula said.

  “It’s a possibility.”

  “I bet I could get us in.”

  “Yes, but you’d break something. There’s a keypad on the front door. At four o’clock Nurse Norma is going to show up and punch in her code.”

  “And all we have to do is watch and get the code.”

  I turned the key in the ignition. “I’m going to move the car to the next lot so Norma doesn’t see it, and then I’m going to come back and find a place where I can see the keypad.”

  “You got binoculars?”

  “Yep.”

  I parked around the corner and left Lula with Tiki. It wasn’t quite two o’clock, so Lula had time for a nap and I had time to investigate some of the other buildings in the area and ask about The Clinic.

  I went to FedEx first.

  “I’m looking for The Clinic,” I said. “I was told it was in this park but I can’t find it.”

  “It’s all by itself at the end of the street,” the woman behind the counter said. “If you go out of our lot and turn left and keep going you’ll find it. I’ve never been in it myself, but they drop off here once in a while.”

  “I’m applying for a job there and the ad was vague. What kind of a place is it? The ad just said they were looking for a med tech.”

  “I don’t know what they do. They won’t ship anything for months, and then they’ll send out a bunch of cold packs and that’ll be it. Probably they use other shipping companies.”

  Myron Cryo Industries was The Clinic’s closest neighbor. Myron was in a large sleek black glass cube, separated from The Clinic by a clump of trees and shrubs. The lobby was high-gloss onyx and polished chrome. The guy working the reception desk was in a suit that had me thinking he moon-lighted at a Holiday Inn.

  “I’m supposed to be applying for a job at The Clinic,” I said to him, “but it doesn’t seem to be open for business. The front door is locked and no one answers. Did they move or something?”

  “As far as I can tell that’s normal for The Clinic. It always looks closed.”

  “Do you know what they do there? It didn’t say in the ad.”

  “Don’t know. I’ve never seen anyone go in or go out. Our security guard says sometimes he hears the garage door going up.”

  I walked to the end of the cul-de-sac, where there was another wooded area, and I was able to lose myself in the foliage. I leaned against a tree and waited, suspecting this was wasted effort. Nurse Norma was most likely going to enter through the garage.

  At four Norma’s Jag cruised down the street, turned in to the private drive at the side of the building, and disappeared around back. I heard the garage door roll up, and I dropped my binoculars back into my messenger bag. So much for this brilliant idea.

  I stayed in place and watched the building for signs of activity. After ten minutes I heard the garage door roll up again, and a black Cadillac Escalade with dark tinted windows appeared from the back of the building and motored down the street. I couldn’t get a good look at the driver but I copied the plate and called Connie to trace it.

  Lula was asleep when I reached the Buick. I rapped on the window to jolt her awake, and she snapped to attention.

  “Who? What?” she said.

  I slid behind the wheel and cranked the engine over. “I wasn’t able to get the front-door code, but shortly after Norma arrived I saw an SUV drive away from the building. Norma was replacing someone.”

  “Did you see who was in the car?”

  “No, but I
got the plate. Connie’s tracing it for me.”

  “So how are we going to get in this place?”

  “There’s a mail drop box in the back of the building next to the garage door. It’s designed to receive package deliveries. It isn’t locked from the outside because no one could possibly get into it. If it isn’t locked from the inside we might be able to shove Briggs in and have him unlock a door for us.”

  “You think he’d do that?”

  “A patient disappeared. That’s a major security breach, and Briggs can’t even explain how it happened. I’m sure he’d like to solve the mystery.”

  “I thought he said no. Like I thought nobody at the hospital cared.”

  “I don’t believe it. They have to care. It’s embarrassing. It’s bad business. And Briggs is head of security. I mean, how does it look on your résumé that you lost a patient?”

  “I see your point. Do you think he’ll fit?”

  “It was a pretty big drop box.”

  “When are you going to do this?”

  “Tonight.”

  “I’m in,” Lula said. “I don’t want to miss this.”

  I stopped at the hospital on the way back to the office. Lula waited in the car and I ran in to see Briggs.

  “Are you nuts?” Briggs said when I explained my plan. “I’m not doing that. And by the way it’s demeaning. How would you like to be stuffed into a drop box?”

  “I wouldn’t fit,” I said.

  Briggs narrowed his eyes at me. “I bet I could get you in.”

  “Let’s not get nasty over this. You lost a patient, and I’m offering to help you.”

  Briggs took a moment. “And you think Cubbin is in The Clinic?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “Okay. I’ll do it, but I swear if you ever tell anyone you stuffed me into a drop box I’ll shoot you.”

  “Fine. I’ll meet you in the FedEx parking lot at nine o’clock.”

  I returned to the car and plugged the key into the ignition.

  “Well?” Lula asked. “What did he say?”

  “He’s going to do it.”

  “Wow, just like that?”

  “He said he’d shoot me if I told anyone we stuffed him into a drop box. What’s with all this shooting stuff? Have you noticed there’s a lot of shooting going on? Something should be done about it.”