Клэр Донелли - Last Licks

8

A slow, redtide crept up Will’s neck to his face. “You wasted our time when you’d already cremated your uncle?”

“I wanted to find out what your investigation had turned up,” Alfred coolly replied. “From what I heard, I have nothing to worry about.”

“You mean, worrying about a murder charge?” Sunny asked. She figured it was worth one last chance to try and shake up Scatterwell a little. “Maybe you could tell us where you were between, say, ten p.m. and four a.m.?”

“I was home, alone, watching a DVD and then sleeping in bed.” He smiled. “The sound sleep of the innocent.” From his mocking tone, Alfred might as well have been channeling his uncle’s nasty side. “Good luck to you. I’d say you’ll need it.”

Sunny watched Will’s hands slowly close into fists at his sides.

We’d better get out of here before Alfred winds up adding another assault complaint to his record. She put a hand on Will’s elbow. “No use wasting any more time,” she said. “Let’s go.”

It was a long walk back to the street, especially when they heard Alfred chuckling behind them. “I’d love to shove that laugh back down that smug jerk’s throat,” Will muttered. “Along with a couple of teeth.”

“Getting mad isn’t going to get us anywhere,” Sunny warned, then smiled. “Getting even might. You know, it’s amazing. I had my doubts about this investigation. But all of a sudden, I wouldn’t mind proving that Gardner’s death was a murder, especially if it meant taking down some smug jerk for the crime.”

They climbed into Will’s pickup. “Now that you’ve had a moment to cool down, do you really think Alfred is a suspect?” Sunny asked Will.

He stabbed his key into the ignition aggressively. “Well, he destroyed any possible evidence of foul play by cremating Gardner’s body. I wonder if he was already arranging that when I called him yesterday morning.”

Sunny nodded. “That’s definitely a mark on the suspect side of the ledger.” She glanced at him. “Do you think Alfred actually committed the crime?”

“If I were Gardner, I certainly wouldn’t take a drink from him in the middle of the night.” Will frowned, chewing on that for a moment. Then he said, “Of course, from what you’ve told me about Gardner Scatterwell, maybe he didn’t think that Alfred had the stones to try and kill him.” Will continued to think it over. “Of course, Alfred didn’t have to be the actual doer. He could have paid to have it done.”

Sunny blinked. “You mean that now you’re agreeing with what Ollie suggested? That somebody at Bridgewater Hall could’ve been tempted by money?”

Sunny suddenly remembered Rafe Warner’s frayed shirt and went silent.

“The one thing I keep hearing about the wonderful world of health care is the low salaries—especially the farther down the ladder you go with the caregivers,” Will continued. “Alfred seems to have at least a piece of the Scatterwell fortune. I think he might be able to offer a price that someone on the staff couldn’t refuse.” He shook his head. “I wish we could look into where Alfred’s money’s been going, but I don’t think we could talk Nesbit into doing some forensic accounting.”

Sunny grinned. “Who needs Nesbit? We can get Ollie digging into good old Alf and the Scatterwell fortune. He’s good at following the money, and he has financial contacts all over the state. The day that Gardner died, he had me bringing files of earlier deals he’d done with Stan Orton. I bet he’s doing the same sort of investigation into Mr. Orton’s finances.”

“Probably to see if Orton demanded money back from his bumbling assassin.” Will turned the key. “Okay, that gives us two reasons to check in at Bridgewater Hall, getting Ollie to tap into his money contacts and seeing who on the staff might have been bribed.” He grinned. “By Orton or anybody.”

As they drove up, Sunny used the time to check in with Nancy. She was relieved to hear that no problems had developed at MAX. Let’s hope it stays that way, she thought, but then changed her mind. Maybe one, small, reasonably easy problem, she hedged. Just so Ollie doesn’t think he can dump me and hire Nancy at half my pay.

Arriving at the nursing home, they decided to tackle the question of susceptible personnel first. That meant a visit to the administrator’s office, which turned out to be on the second floor and took advantage of the bay window next to the main entrance.

“Do you have an appointment with Dr. Reese?” the secretary outside his office door asked. Since she had a computer screen facing her chair, she probably had the answer in front of her eyes.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll see us,” Sunny told the woman. “Or those confidentiality agreements he’s had you working on will be pretty useless.”

She quickly got on the phone. “He’ll see you now,” she said, rising to open the door. But Reese beat her to the punch, swinging the door open from his side and gesturing Sunny and Will into the office.

When they explained that they wanted to see who’d been working the night that Gardner had died, Reese frowned. “I don’t think—” he began.

“I can’t imagine anything in the employee attendance records that could affect patient confidentiality,” Will broke in.

“And if you’re worried about the labor problems, we’ll certainly do our best to stay out of them,” Sunny chimed in.

Reese sank back in his desk chair, his face gray. “Do you think I like playing the bad guy here?” he demanded in a hoarse voice. “There was a reason why the board forced Faulkner out and brought me in. This facility has been losing money for the last two years. We’ve had to dip into the endowment, and if we keep doing that, it’s just a matter of time before we have to close the doors. Yes, I’m asking people to sacrifice. But the alternative would be no jobs at all.”

“Have you explained that to the union?” Sunny asked.

“I don’t dare.” Reese leaned across his desk. “If they hear that we may close, the more well-heeled families will pull their loved ones out of here. That will just accelerate the downward spiral.” He paused for a second, clearing his throat. “Of course, I’m telling you all of this in confidence.”

Boy, Sunny thought, he’s really depending on those confidentiality agreements—especially since we haven’t signed them yet.

“In the meantime, employee morale is diving, and your mortality rate is going up,” Will pointed out. “Is there a connection?”

“None that I can find.” Reese dug out a handkerchief to mop his suddenly sweaty face. “We have a monthly mortality review, and there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Every facility dealing with the elderly has spikes and sometimes valleys in their statistics.” He sighed. “It’s just unfortunate that it’s happening now.”

“Maybe more unfortunate than you think,” Will said, telling Reese their suspicions about a staff member’s possible involvement.

“You think that one of the staff was bribed—that one of our people—” He broke off, staring blindly into space.

Probably imagining the headlines, and what would happen after they came out, Sunny thought.

“At this point, let’s call it an unnerving possibility.” Will used a soothing voice. Sunny had seen cops use it to coax suspects into confessing crimes. “It would be better if we checked it out to exclude innocent people.”

Reese caved. “Rafe Warner has the relevant records.” He gave them a pleading look. “Just don’t tell him what they’re for.”

Sunny figured it was kinder not to mention that Rafe was already aware of their investigation.