Lisa Scottoline - Think Twice

“I’m sorry, we’re not permitted to make such calls.”

“Can I call 911 from this phone?”

“No.”

“Then will you call for me, please?”

“I’m sorry, we’re not permitted to contact 911, either. If there’s a problem on your floor, you can contact the nurse.”

“How about the Philadelphia police?” Bennie had a homicide detective on her speed dial, but she didn’t have her cell phone. “You can call information for the number of the detective division-”

“Sorry, but I’m not permitted to place any such calls. Please tell your nurse the problem, and she can help you.”

Bennie hung up, tried a different tack, and called her office. It went to voicemail, which surprised her. It seemed late enough for Marshall to be at her desk, and when the voicemail beep sounded, she left a message: “I’m going to be in late today, and we have a problem. Alice has reared her ugly head and she has my wallet. DiNunzio, please take care of Bear, and Marshall, please cancel my credit cards. Talk to you later.”

Bennie hung up, threw off the covers, and put the guardrail down. It wasn’t easy with the splint on her hand but she managed to peel off the cloth tape holding her IV, pull the needle from her vein, and stop the bleeding with her bandaged left hand. She was swinging her feet out of bed when a nurse walked by, then hurried in to stop her.

“My goodness! You-”

“Don’t even say it. I’m discharging myself. Do you know where I can get some clothes?” Bennie hobbled to the door, but the nurse stood in the way, folding her arms. She was different from the one last night, heavyset with short black hair, a pinched look around her mouth, and a businesslike manner.

“Your social worker will be up any minute. Once you speak with her-”

“You can help me get clothes, or you can move out of my way.”

“If you would just wait-”

“No more waiting.” Bennie tried to get around the nurse, but another woman came out of nowhere and blocked the threshold. The woman was thin and little, lost in a voluminous denim dress, and she had an officially sympathetic smile as she extended a hand.

“Hello, I’m your caseworker, Melissa. I heard you wanted to leave, but you can’t until we speak.”

“If you lend me clothes, I’ll speak to you.”

“Fine. Please, sit down, and we can have a chat, Ms. Arzado.” The social worker gestured to a nearby chair, and Bennie sat down.

“My name is Bennie Rosato, not whatever you called me, and I have to see the police.”

There was a commotion behind them in the hallway, and two uniformed cops appeared at the nurses’ station. The social worker and the nurse turned around, and Bennie stood up, gathering her gown behind her.

“Come in, gentlemen!” she called out, relieved. She didn’t have any more time to lose, and fifteen minutes later, she had finished an egg burrito and had given a statement to Officers Villarreal and Dayne, who sat in chairs opposite her.

“A wolf?” Officer Villarreal repeated, raising a thick black eyebrow. He was about thirty years old, with a wide, fleshy face, dark brown eyes and a ready, if skeptical, smile.

“I think it was, a wolf or a coyote. Do you have them around here?”

“Probably.”

“So I saw one.”

“We understand that you were drunk when you came in.”

“The pickup driver gave me whiskey.”

“He says he found you that way.”

“So he lied, but it doesn’t matter. The issue is attempted murder. My sister tried to kill me. She has my car, my wallet. I want to prosecute her.”

“And she’s your identical twin?”

“Yes, and her name is Alice Connelly.” Bennie knew it sounded nuts. If she hadn’t lived it, she wouldn’t have believed it, either. “Please, get me to a computer and we can verify this easily. You’ll see that I’m a trial lawyer, and she was a defendant in a murder case I tried.” The cops looked at each other, but Bennie rose, covered her butt, and went to the door. “There has to be a computer somewhere.”

The social worker hurried after her. “I suppose we could look at one at the nurses’ station.”

Bennie was already heading towards the nurses’ station, ignoring the other nurses and orderlies, looking at her funny. She walked around the high counter to an empty computer and was about to hit the computer keys with her splint when the social worker stepped in front of her.

“Please, allow me. Do you want to get on the Internet?”

“Yes. Please. Google my name and Alice Connelly.” Bennie spelled her name, the social worker plugged it in, and a long list of blue links appeared. Bennie pointed to the top one. “Try that.”

“Let’s see.” The social worker clicked the link, and Bennie couldn’t have asked for more. Side-by-side were pictures of her and Alice, looking identically happy, under the headline, TWINS WIN. The social worker gasped. “My, my!”

“How about that?” Officer Villarreal smiled, but Officer Dayne remained reserved, saying nothing.

Bennie looked over at the social worker. “Can you lend me some clothes, please? Now?”

Alice twisted her hair into a topknot, then clicked the barrette into place while Grady slept like the dead. She slipped into a khaki suit, white cotton shirt, and brown shoes with low heels, then checked her reflection in the bedroom mirror. She looked like Bennie, no makeup, no frills. It was almost criminal for a lawyer to go to court this way.

She got the messenger bag from the chair, then went under the bed and pulled out the cloth bag. She unzipped it and transferred as much money to the bag as she could carry without it looking suspicious. She shoved the gym bag back under the bed, went to Bennie’s jewelry box, took her passport, and stowed that in the messenger bag, too.

Grady was finally waking up, even though he’d conked out in his clothes. She couldn’t leave him here, now that Bennie was alive, so she squeezed his shoulder. “Grady? Grady? Time to get up.”

“What?” His eyelids fluttered, and Alice turned on the bedside lamp.

“Wake up. We have to get ready. I need your help, with Alice.”

“What’s going on?” Grady opened his eyes and shifted upward onto his elbows. “Is she here?”

“No. I’ll fill you in on the way to the courthouse.”

“Man, did I conk or what?” Grady sat up, shaking his head. “I fell asleep in my clothes?”

“Sorry to rush you around, but I figured you’d want to come to court.”

“Sure, yes, I’m up.” Grady slipped on his glasses and got out of bed as the BlackBerry rang.

“Excuse me a sec.” Alice went to the messenger bag and found the phone. It was DiNunzio. “What’s happening?” she asked.

“I’m on my way back from the Roundhouse.” Mary sounded excited. “I filed the complaint for criminal impersonation, and they didn’t need your statement. We have an emergency hearing on the restraining order set for eight o’clock.”

“Good girl.” Alice watched Grady stumble around the bed, stepping over the discarded Birks.

“Should I meet you there or pick you up in a cab?”

“Pick us up, but not in a cab.” Alice would have to leave the money bag in the car. She couldn’t take it into the courthouse, through security. “Call a hired car, and it can wait for us after court.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. But who’s ‘us’? You said ‘us.’ ”

“We’ll have co-counsel today.”

“What? Who?”

“My other partner,” she said, smiling at Grady.

Mary had to pretend she wasn’t nervous, so she couldn’t scratch the blotches under her high-necked white blouse. She sat in the second pew of the packed gallery with Bennie and Grady, waiting for their case number to be called. It wasn’t easy to get a restraining order, because courts are loath to restrict a person’s civil liberties without a convincing showing of threat. Mary had only gotten one or two restraining orders in her career, and even they were a long time ago-and her boss wasn’t the client. She sent up a prayer to Saint Jude, patron saint of lost causes and lawyers who were in over their heads.