Ken Douglas - Death Glitch

“ Maybe she’s running, but maybe she’s not. Maybe she’s still in the hospital somewhere or maybe she just walked on home. You got an address?”

“ Yes, she lives on Putnam, off Washington, by San Rafael Park; 581 Putnam Drive.”

“ That’s maybe a thirty minute walk, maybe a little longer. Chances are we’ll probably find her there if we leave now.” He turned to go, then turned back to Shaffer. “This is a big hospital and there’s a good chance she’s hanging around here someplace, you should check.”

“ We will, but I think she’s gone. I hope you find her before word gets out and somebody else does.”

“ We’re the only ones who know,” Peeps said. “If none of us talk, how can the word get out?”

“ Oh, somebody else knows,” Mouledoux said.

“ He’s right,” Shaffer said.

“ Who?” Peeps said.

“ Whoever made her this way,” Mouledoux said. “He knows. Some scientist somewhere, operating out of a secret lab, or maybe some top secret government types. Somebody. Somebody did this to her and she probably knows who.” Mouledoux was at the door. He opened it, held it for Peeps.

Mouledoux retraced his steps and in a few minutes they were in the parking lot. There was a ticket on the ride. Mouledoux laughed.

“ What’s so funny?” Peeps said. “You’re the one who signed it out.”

“ Swell.”

“ Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”

“ Thanks.” If there was anyone who could get a parking ticket fixed, even parking in a handicapped zone, it was Peeps. “Christ, one woulda thought the meter maid woulda seen it was one of ours.”

“ They don’t pay them to think.”

Ten minutes later they pulled up in front of Eisenhower’s two story house. There was no car in the driveway. However, the blinds were open and Mouledoux could see a big screen TV on inside.

“ Think she’s home?” he said.

“ Hard to tell.” Peeps said. “TV could be to fool anyone thinking of breaking in.”

“ Let’s find out.” They got out of the ride, went to the front. Mouledoux rang the bell and got no joy. He tried again. Still no joy.

“ Don’t look like she’s here,” Peeps said.

“ No, it doesn’t.” Mouledoux went to the gate to the side yard. It wasn’t locked. At the side of the house, he saw a side door for the garage, tried it and found it unlocked. He shook his head, entered.

“ We got no warrant,” Peeps said.

“ This woman’s in trouble,” Mouledoux said, “and it’s our job to help if we can.”

“ You’re saying we shouldn’t do what you said, you know, take her back the hospital.”

“ Fuck no. I find her, I’m gonna advise her to get a one way ticket to Rio and to never come back.”

“ But what about the chaos you said would happen?”

“ It’s gonna happen anyway.”

“ I don’t understand.”

“ You think that lot back there can keep their mouths shut? Christ, that Dr. Shaffer promised Eisenhower he’d keep her secret, then as soon as he possibly could he has Romero call us and he spills his guts. If he can’t keep his word to someone he respects and used to be in love with, you think we can trust him just because he says we can?”

“ I hadn’t thought about it.”

“ And that fucking lawyer. I’ll give you odds he’s got a half dozen P.I. s on the job looking for her.”

“ Look.” Peeps pointed.

“ Smashed her iPhone,” Mouledoux said. “She’s on the run.”

“ So what now?”

“ You’re the senior detective. How should I know? I’m the new kid on the block.”

“ You can spend the next couple three hours digging into her past,” Peeps said. “Find out if she’s got friends she trusts. I’ll check with the granddaughter’s ex, see if I can get a line on her.”

Peeps Friday knew an opportunity when it knocked and this one was banging away at his door with a sledge. He didn’t believe for a second the preposterous story about that old bat getting young again, but this was exactly the kind of information Mansfield Wayne paid good money for and if there was one thing Peeps Friday coveted, it was good money.

He shivered a bit as he got on 395 and headed south. It had been a long time since he’d been out to the Wayne estate and he was always apprehensive when he went there. Going through the gates was like entering the embassy of a foreign country. Maybe it was only four or five acres at the top of Saddlehorn Drive, but inside those gates old Manny Wayne was the law and his security guards, who were fiercely loyal, would skin you alive and serve you to his Rotweiller guard dogs if he asked them.

Maybe he should have called first, Peeps thought as he turned onto Mount Rose Highway. He’d gone back to the hospital and gotten the disc from Dr. Shaffer, telling him he’d copy it and get the original back to him. Shaffer hadn’t wanted to give it to him, but he’d had no choice. Neither had Peeps, becasue Manny needed to see the disc. Manny, like himself, may not believe what was on there, but maybe he would. One thing was for sure, he darn sure wouldn’t believe the story if Peeps told him over the phone. Seeing is believing, he told himself.

But he didn’t believe it.

But he hoped Manny Wayne would.

Mansfield Wayne was just leaving the john, which because of his enlarged prostate he was visiting a lot more than he liked, and about to make his first martini of the evening, when Gerald, the major on duty, he liked to give his guards rank, rang him and told him Peeps Friday was at the gate. It was 5:00 and he had his first drink at 5:00 straight up and his second at 6:00, seven nights a week, without fail. He spent the two hours, from 5:00 to 7:00, in thought. He didn’t like to be disturbed and those who knew him, knew this. So, he carried a touch of irritation with him when Peeps showed up at the door.

“ Mr. Mansfield, I have something for you,” Peeps said.

“ Mr. Friday, you know about my private time.”

“ This can’t wait, Mr. Mansfield. Because of the hour I was going to take this to your son, but with all due respect, sir, this is too big for Tucker. I had to come straight to you and I had to come as soon as I possibly could.”

Mansfield Wayne was a quick study and what he saw told him Peeps was about to burst. Peeps was greedy, but he wasn’t stupid. If he said he had something too big for Tucker, then he did.

“ Come in, Peeps.”

“ Get your slobbering face off my shoulder.” Amy pushed Hunter’s face away and the Siberian husky sat back in the backseat with a woof. Amy turned, looked back at him. She could swear the dog was sulking. “I’m sorry, don’t feel that way. I didn’t mean it.”

In an instant Hunter was back on his paws, looking at her with his odd eyes; one blue, one brown. His fur was a solid dark grey, almost black, but not, save for his white face and the insides of his ears, which were also white. He looked ghostly. A friend, who danced at the Men’s Room with Alicia, got a job in New York and couldn’t take the dog. So Alicia, the Southern girl with a heart of gold, said she’d take him.

From what Amy had gathered it wasn’t working out. Alicia wasn’t really a dog person. She liked her freedom. Liked to be able to take off on the weekends or whenever on the spur of the moment. She couldn’t do that with a big dog. Not unless she took him along and she didn’t seem to be up for that.

“ Okay, boy,” Amy said. “You can come back.” And in an instant Hunter had his head back on Amy’s shoulder, staring, as Amy was, out the front window as she piloted her car into the park.

“ He likes you,” Alicia said as Amy made a left.

“ There’s a gazebo up ahead by a little lake; more like a pond, actually. Nana and I used to feed the geese there. That was my favorite place in all the world.