Fortune teller, p.4
Fortune Teller, page 4
“Carter and I are in a relationship. He’s going to speak better of me.”
“He also said you were stubborn, a professional liar, and were probably going to put him in an early grave.”
I smiled. “Okay, so maybe he meant it. But the thing is, I’m not a cop and don’t have access—”
“But I do. That girl…she’s the connection. I know she is. I can feel it as strongly as I feel that gash throbbing on the back of my head.”
“What if her parents come forward? What if it’s just a freaky coincidence? For all you know, Maya could have been adopted or separated from her family by her own parents and others aren’t even aware of her. Some family lines have superstrong DNA. We have generations of kids in Sinful who, I swear, look just like their great-greats in photos I’ve seen.”
“All possible, but if she is related somehow, maybe I’d finally get some answers. If not, then nothing’s lost because I don’t have anything to lose.”
Except hope.
I blew out a breath. Of course I was intrigued. Who wouldn’t be? And that Hallmark moment part of me that I mostly liked to dismiss was touched by his obvious feelings for a woman who had been gone from his life eighty times longer than she’d been in it. But what if I couldn’t find anything, either? What if that tiny flicker of hope that he’d clung to all these years was finally extinguished? Would that be a positive thing or a negative one?
I looked at his expectant, hopeful face and knew it was pointless to refuse. He was going to look into it with or without me. I was going to look into it with or without him. Might as well combine resources. That gave us the best chance of finding something.
“Okay,” I said. “Give me a dollar.”
He looked a bit confused but grabbed his wallet from the nightstand and handed me a dollar from it.
“Now you’re a client. I’ll draw up a contract when I get home.”
He smiled. “So I’ve got confidentiality and your butt is covered.”
“Well, it’s not shining bare, but covered is probably still a stretch. It’s Swamp Bar covered. But just so you know, the ADA isn’t a fan of mine.”
“That’s got to sting a little considering he’s up for the DA position only because you exposed the DA’s crimes.”
“He was more polite than usual when he questioned me, but there’s still no love lost.”
“Foolish man. He’d do better to have you on his side.”
I shrugged. “I’m only on two sides—truth and justice. Although I will occasionally wander over to some good old-fashioned revenge.”
He laughed. “You know, when Carter told me he’d settled down with someone, I thought, no way it will last. That man will never find his counterpart. But I was wrong. If you’d been around twenty years ago, I might not have gone for Maya.”
“Sure you would have.”
He sniffed. “Yeah. I would have.”
“I’ll do everything I can to help you get some answers, but I’m going to need a lot of help from you. I’m coming at this completely blind—no knowledge of the missing persons, not a clue as to her real identity.”
“I know. It’s the longest of long shots, but we have the girl.”
“What if she’s not related? We can’t know for sure that she is, and we don’t have a sample from Maya for a DNA test, even if we could get one done.”
“Actually, we do. I have a hairbrush. She used it to brush her hair at my place the day before she disappeared. We’d been…well, and she had to get back to Lara, who was baking with her landlord. I kept the brush. I know that sounds weird, but back then, I’d go through bouts of shaving my hair off military short and wouldn’t use the brush for months. After she disappeared, I didn’t care as much about things like regular haircuts, and when I grabbed the brush one day, I saw the long hairs and I bagged them. Just in case…”
He didn’t have to finish the statement. Plenty of bodies were pulled out of the swamp in less-than-identifiable conditions. DNA was the go-to if you wanted certainty. But in this case, all they would have gained was the certainty that fake identity Maya had died. They still wouldn’t know anything else.
“Okay,” I said, feeling encouraged with the possibility of hard evidence.
If the girl wasn’t related to Maya, then I would try to convince Blanchet to let the whole thing go. If she was, then I’d have a starting point just as soon as we knew the girl’s identity.
“As soon as I get out of here,” Blanchet said, “I’ll make a trip to my house and get that hair sample. And I’ll get the appropriate permissions to get a sample from the girl.”
“What if you can’t get them? If her family comes forward, there’s no reason to run her through CODIS, so your request for DNA goes out the window.”
He frowned. “We’ll cross that bridge later, but you’re right. It might take some time to go through proper legal channels, and surely by then, we’ll know who the girl is. I don’t suppose… No, I can’t ask you to break the law.”
I grinned. “I’m pretty sure you didn’t.”
Chapter Four
I headed back to the lobby and spotted Ronald pacing one side of the room. He looked over when I exited the hallway and threw his hands in the air.
“It’s about time! I’ve already drank my coffee and yours and just got refills. I’m going to have to detox tomorrow, or my skin is going to just up and leave my body, or worse, wrinkle.”
“I drink at least a pot a day and don’t even moisturize.”
He gasped and held up one hand. “I don’t know why we’re friends.”
“Because of my sparkling personality, which could use some help. I need a wig.”
“And what? These pants are so tight they’d show a freckle. Where do you think I have a wig?”
“In that huge purse you have in the SUV… You know, the one that looks suspiciously as large as Gertie’s?”
“Hmmmm. Well, I might have an emergency wig in there.”
I had no idea what kind of situation Ronald got into that called for an emergency wig, but I knew what kind of situation I had. And committing a crime in a hospital at the sort-of bequest of the acting sheriff definitely fell under emergency status.
“What is the wig for?” he asked.
“I need to get into a room and can’t be seen.”
“Well, good Lord, it’s not a magical wig. It can’t make you invisible.”
“I’ll take care of that part. I just need two things from you—the wig and a distraction.”
“Well, you’ve come to the right place for both. Give me a minute.”
He returned and shoved the purse at me. I held my breath as I opened it and looked at the emergency wig. I was afraid it was going to be something akin to what he’d lent Gertie, but when I saw the shoulder-length brown hair, I gave him a surprised look.
“What?” he asked. “Sometimes I need to blend, just like you. Do you know how hard it is to get service at some places when I go as myself? Took me three trips with different wardrobes to get those punks at the phone store to sell me the new iPhone. Debbie the Commoner, which is what I call the wig, can accomplish anything. Ronald the Awesome tends to scare salespeople. Except in NOLA. They don’t even blink in NOLA.”
I slipped the wig out of the purse, rolled it up, and stuffed it into my bra, causing Ronald to make the sign of the cross.
“I’m going to have to wash and restyle that when you’re done.”
“Are you even Catholic?”
“It depends on the situation.”
“Okay, I cased the ER before I left, and I need to access the room at the end of the hall. Halfway down that hall is the nurse’s station. I’m not getting by there unless they think I’m an employee. There’s an employee locker room before you get to the nurse’s station. I can lift some scrubs from there.”
“Do I even want to know why you know all this?”
“No.”
“Alrighty then. What do you need me to do?”
“The nurse already told me that she can’t allow visitors anymore, so she won’t unlock the door. That button is on the back side of the desk wall, right next to her computer. I need you to pretend to ask a question and spill your coffee, then when she’s grabbing paper towels, let me in.”
Ronald perked up. “That’s it? I can do that. I thought since Gertie wasn’t here, I was going to have to shoot someone or blow something up.”
I wondered briefly what those other zippered bags inside his purse contained but didn’t have time to dwell on it. I needed to get this handled before that girl was identified and out of here. And the night shift was the time to pull this kind of stunt because during the day there were far more eyes around.
I waited until the front desk nurse was turned slightly away from the lobby and slipped behind a fake rubber plant near the ER access doors. Ronald headed for the desk and plopped his coffee on the counter on the side farthest away from me.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” he said when the nurse looked up. “Fortune had to take a call, but she wanted to make sure you had her contact information in case anything happened with Mr. Blanchet. He’s a friend of Carter’s, and she feels responsible for him with Carter out of town and him filling in.”
“Of course,” the nurse said. “I’ll be happy to take her number down, but my guess is Mr. Blanchet will be leaving us tomorrow. The tests are routine in this type of situation, so as long as everything looks good, the doctors will let him go in the morning.”
“That’s excellent news,” Ronald said and threw his arms out, knocking his cup of coffee over the counter and onto her desk, where it splashed in all directions.
“Oh no!” She jumped out of her chair and ran for a cabinet on the rear wall.
Ronald leaned over the counter and pressed the button while half-yelling his apologies to cover the click of the door opening. “I’m so sorry! Oh my God! I’m such a klutz. Let me clean that up for you. Do you have a mop?”
I could still hear him offering condolences and janitorial services as I slipped inside the employee locker room. I located a set of scrubs that would fit over my jeans and T-shirt and yanked them on. Then I pulled the wig from my bra and stuffed my ponytail under it. I checked myself in the mirror and smoothed the hair out a bit, then hurried into the janitors’ closet and grabbed a box of tissues and used it to cover my chest, where my access card should be hanging, as I passed the nurse’s station in the middle of the ER.
One doctor and two nurses were at the station when I walked past, but they didn’t even look up. I figure as long as they got a glimpse of scrubs in their periphery, they didn’t take a closer look. I located the girl’s room and slipped inside. She was hooked up to a bunch of monitors, but I was relieved to see she was breathing on her own and her heart rate was a little weak but steady. Unless she had issues I couldn’t see, she was probably going to be all right. I took a quick picture of her whiteboard with her vitals on it, then hurried to the bed and took another of the girl, now that she’d been cleaned up a bit and I had better light.
I could tell by the rise and fall of her chest and the flickering behind her eyelids that she was dreaming. But her expression told me the dreams probably weren’t pleasant. Either that or she was in pain. I felt just a sliver of guilt as I reached up and plucked a couple strands of hair from her head. Then I wrapped them in tissue and shoved them deep into my jeans pocket and prepared to leave.
That’s when she woke up.
And grabbed my arm.
And screamed.
A nurse bolted into the room. “What happened?” he asked as he rushed to the girl, who’d collapsed back on the bed.
“A nightmare, I think. I’ll go get the doctor.”
I practically ran out of the room and did run down the hall. I could hear footsteps scrambling behind me, but they were going in the opposite direction, so I assumed the other nurse had issued the call. But when I didn’t return, they were going to come looking for me, and that was going to happen quickly.
I had a split second to consider my options. There was no way I could make it out of the building without them seeing me go. And that would invite all kinds of problems, especially for Ronald, who was still in the lobby and didn’t have the car keys. And even if I made it to the locker room, they’d definitely check there since they were looking for a nurse.
My plan devised—sort of—I bolted into Blanchet’s room and threw my cell phone at him. He gave me a startled look and I remembered the wig. I pulled it off and tossed it on the end of his bed. Then I yanked off the scrubs, jumped onto his bed, lifted a ceiling tile, and flung the garments as far back as I could. The hospital speakers sounded with what must have been the equivalent of a hospital code red for intruders, and loud voices sounded in the hallway. I jumped down and had barely gotten the wig stuffed back in my bra when the door flew open and the front desk nurse burst in.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, frowning. “I thought you left.”
“That’s my fault,” Blanchet said. “I’m staying at Carter’s house while I’m filling in for him, and we changed the alarm code. Fortune needs it so she can feed the dog since I’m in here.”
“The door to the wing was open so I thought it would be okay to just pop in and get it.”
The nurse narrowed her eyes. “Why didn’t you text it to her?”
Blanchet gave her a horrified look. “You don’t text alarm codes. Please don’t tell me you have. You don’t even say alarm codes on the phone. Those things are listening. Why do you think we’re whispering and our phones are under my butt?”
He made a big show of lifting his hip and pulled both phones out from under the blanket. Then he passed mine back to me.
“Is something wrong?” I asked. “Is the girl all right?”
“She’s fine, but we’re trying to locate a nurse who was attending. Have either of you seen a nurse in green scrubs with shoulder-length brown hair?”
We both shook our heads.
“Okay, well, I need you to leave, Ms. Redding. I have a situation here to handle, and this man needs his rest if he expects to be released.”
I gave Blanchet a nod, and he barely managed to contain his smile as I followed the nurse out. She gave me a pointed look and I headed straight for the exit door. I didn’t need an invitation. The sooner I got out of the hospital the better.
Ronald was pacing the lobby again and ran over as soon as I exited. I gave him a look that said, ‘not now,’ and he was practically bouncing by the time we got in the SUV.
“Good Lord! That was exciting! What happened?”
I backed out of the parking space so no one could see into the front windshield and finally freed my bra of the itchy wig.
“I’m afraid you’re definitely going to have to style it again,” I said as I passed him the rumpled hair.
He waved a hand in dismissal. “It was worth it. At least I assume it was. Now tell me what happened!”
I filled him in on the events as I drove, and he shook his head. “You’re a marvel. Truly. How can you think that quickly and not only come up with a plan but execute it? It’s a gift. It takes me twenty minutes just to decide on breakfast. And the execution…please, there’s flatware to choose and do I go with the daily ware, the stoneware, the collector’s stuff…and then there’s plating the food.”
“It sounds like a real problem.”
“Now you’re just making fun.”
I grinned.
“So did you get what you were going for?”
“Yes.”
He stared when I didn’t elaborate, and then his eyes widened. “You broke into that girl’s room, didn’t you?”
“Well, the door was unlocked, so no.”
“Did you steal her medical records?”
“Not exactly.”
He threw his hands in the air. “Are you going to tell me or not?”
My phone buzzed and I passed it to Ronald. “That’s Blanchet. Can you read it please?”
If I were twenty years younger… I understand why Carter settled down.
“Good Lord, the man sounds like Gertie,” Ronald said. “What exactly did you do for him?”
“Took him on as a client.”
Ronald sighed. “And now you’ll have the whole client confidentiality thing, and you won’t tell me any of the good stuff.”
My phone signaled another text.
You’re clear to share my story with your trusted circle.
Ronald clapped and then looked over at me. “Please tell me I’m in the trusted circle. I’m not asking to go investigating, because honestly, the times I’ve been involved have been a little stressful. And keeping wrinkles away is a delicate balance. Plus, I already live next door to you. I’ve had to add an extra Botox session since you arrived.”
“You’re in,” I said. “Text him back and ask him to forward me the picture. He’ll understand. Then send Ida Belle a text and tell them to meet us at my house. I’ll fill you all in there.”
Ronald sighed. “An entire car ride of anticipation. Can we at least discuss a nightly skin care routine for you? Nothing big. Maybe just a moisturizer before bed and a mask once a week?”
“You can talk about it, but it’s going to be a monologue as I have nothing to add. And I don’t make any promises on listening.”
“That will do. Now what do you clean your face with?”
“Shampoo?”
“Good. God.”
It was close to midnight by the time we gathered in my kitchen. Ida Belle, Gertie, and Harrison had beaten Ronald and me home and already had coffee brewing. Ronald took one look at the pot and went for a bottled water. He’d probably had enough of coffee to last the rest of the week. When we’d gotten our drinks and Harrison fetched a chair from the dining room, we all crowded around the kitchen table.
“First thing,” Harrison said. “How are the girl and Blanchet?”
“Blanchet seems fine,” I said. “Got a crack on his head, but he’s talking normal. They’re going to run some tests, but the nurse seems to think they’ll cut him loose in the morning, assuming everything comes back okay. The girl is stable and breathing on her own.”
