Jonathan Kellerman - The Clinic

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

“If she picked up some player and he had a room in the casino, they probably went upstairs.”

“If?”

“Okay, when.”

“She ever work the street?”

“Yeah, right. She was a hard-up, two-bit hooker.”

“Any idea why she was killed out on the street?”

“Probably walking the john out and he freaked.”

“Did she make a habit of walking johns out?”

“How would I know? You asked me to guess, I'm guessing.”

“You never dropped in on her during working hours?”

“Yeah, right. And piss her off grandly.”

“So she laid down the rules.”

“She was the star, man.” Faint smile. “One time, when we were- she was in a good mood, she said, I know you're bugged by what I do, Teddy, but try to get past it, it's no big deal, just acting. Right, I said. And the Oscar goes to. And she laughed and said, exactly. They should give an Oscar for what I do- best supporting actress with her legs spread. I- it, that bugged me. I didn't like hearing it. But she thought it was funny, laughed like crazy.”

“When did she get sterilized?”

Barnaby's hands dropped. “What?”

“When did she get sterilized- have her tubes tied?”

“Before I knew her.”

“How long before?”

“I don't know.”

“So she told you.”

“It only came up because I got stupid, started talking about how I liked kids, one day it would be cool to have a couple. She laughed- she laughed a lot.”

He licked his lips again. “I said what's funny, babe? She said you're cute, Teddy. Go ahead, have some rug rats with some nice girl. Have an extra one for me 'cause I got fixed. I said what do you mean? And she said fixed. Operated on. I said what'd you go and do that for? She said no fuss, no mess, no pills to give me cancer. Then she laughed again, said I consider it a business expense, wish I coulda taken it off as a tax deduction. Big joke. I didn't like it but with Mandy, you went along or you got off the bus. When you went along with her, laughed with her, things were cool.”

“And when you didn't?”

“She shut you out.”

“So she got sterilized before you met her. Meaning over a year ago.”

“I met her a year and a half before she died and it was before that.”

“Did she say where she had the operation?”

Second's hesitation. “No.”

“She ever mention the name of the doctor?”

“No.”

“What, Ted?”

“She never mentioned the name.”

“She tell you something else about him?”

“No, but I saw him.”

“Where?”

“The casino.”

“When?”

“Maybe a month before.”

“Before she was killed?”

“Yeah.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Why, is he some kind of-”

Milo held a big hand up. “Tell me, Ted.”

“Okay, okay, I was working and saw her doing her thing. Slinking around in a little black halter dress, her hair up, fake diamond earrings.” He closed his eyes for a second, preserving the image, opened them, tugged at his red shirt. “I tried to catch her eye, so I could maybe get to see her later. She gave a big smile, then I saw she was smiling past me, not at me. At someone else.”

“The doctor,” said Milo.

“I didn't know he was a doctor. Later she told me he was. She walked right past my table, he was at another 500-dollar table, big pile of chips. She said hi to him and some other guy, hugs and kisses, like old friends. He collected his chips and they all walked off. Next day I told her nice of you to say hi. She said don't get touchy, I go way back with the guy. He's the doctor who fixed me. I owe him.”

“What'd she owe him for?”

“Maybe he did it for free, who knows?”

“A trade?”

Barnaby shrugged.

“What did he look like?” said Milo.

“Nothing special. Thirty-five, forty. Short. But big here.” Touching a shoulder. “Like a gym rat. Short hair, almost skinned, kind of jap eyes. Good threads- suit, tie, the works.”

“And the other one?”

“What other one?”

“You said there was another guy.”

“Yeah, but he was old, no big deal. Sick-looking- yellow skin, in a wheelchair. The doctor was pushing him around. Maybe he was a big-bucks patient having a last fling. You see that all the time in Vegas. Totally fucked- up people, paraplegics, people on air tanks, losers with no legs. Getting pushed around the casino with cups full of chips. Like a last fling, you know?”

“What else did Mandy say about them?”

“She didn't say nothing at all about the old guy.”

“And the doctor?”

“Just that he fixed her.”

“And she owed him.”

“Yeah. Is he some wacko?”

“No,” said Milo. “He's a hero.”

Barnaby looked confused.

Milo said, “Anything else you can think of?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Yeah. You're welcome.”

“The address on Vista Chino your current one?”

“Yeah.”

“What's the address of the place you're leasing?”

“What's the diff, you got me busted, I can't take it now.”

“Just in case.”

Barnaby recited some numbers and a street. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he started to walk off.

“Want me to talk to Giovanne?” said Milo.

“It won't do any good.”

“Suit yourself.”

Barnaby stopped. “Hey, you wanna do it, fine. You wanna feel like a hero, too, fine.”

We played five hands of losing blackjack, thanked the pit boss, got back on the highway, and raced through the desert. A gray moon sat low in the sky and the sand looked like snow.

“Old man in a wheelchair,” I said. “Maybe Big Micky Kruvinski?”

Milo shifted his bulk in the driver's seat and rolled his neck. “Or maybe he was a rich patient. Getting his ashes hauled, bill it to Medi-Cal as physical therapy. Lord only knows what kinds of things Cruvic does for a buck.”

“The main thing: Cruvic knew Mandy.”

“Bastard. Gotta find a way to get into his records. Barone's an expert on building paper walls and all we have against Cruvic so far is suspicion, no grounds for a warrant.”

“Did you ask Barnaby about dope because you think there might be a dope angle?”

“I asked him because he's still a user- did you see all that sweat, those eyes? I meant what I said about bad guys.”

“Hope and cocaine? No evidence she ever used.”

“No evidence on Hope, period.”

“Casey Locking might be able to provide some,” I said. “He has some connection to Cruvic. I keep thinking about the time we talked on campus, his taking the law-and-order line. Which is standard psychopath behavior- the rules apply to everyone but me. Maybe I can learn something about him from Hope's other student- the one in London. I'll try her again.”

He pushed the Porsche over ninety. “It's weird, Alex. The case starts out all high-tone- professors, the high-IQ crowd, but now we're back on the usual terrain: dopers, dealers, hookers, characters.”

“Hope's little boxes,” I said.

He thought about that for a mile or two, finally said, “Yeah. But which box had the rattlesnake?”

We stopped for coffee at an all-night diner in Ontario and were back in L.A. just before 2:00 A.M. Another note had been added to the scrap on the dining-room table:

Talk about your ships in the night!

Wake me if you want.

Your pen pal. R.

Despite four cups of decaf my throat was dry from the desert air and I poured myself an iced soda water and sat drinking in the kitchen. Then I realized it was morning in England and went to the library to find Mary Ann Gonsalvez's number.