Stephen White - Critical Conditions

“I know you’re not crazy about him, but I’m glad it’s Malloy, Alan. It could be worse. He’ll work it up fair. He’s still trying to make amends for what happened with Lauren. And he has kids. I think that will help. It should be somebody who has kids.”

“What about motive, Sam? Does anyone have a clue why Merritt would do this?”

“You know, nobody’s there yet, as far as I know. That will come last. At first, I wondered about burglary. Sometimes these adolescent girls get into goofy stuff, especially when they’re together. But I checked their house real carefully for signs of stashed valuables. I didn’t find anything. Maybe she has a partner in crime who has all the stuff stashed. If that’s the case, it’ll surface. Scum always does.”

I asked, “Have you talked to Brenda to get names of Merritt’s friends?”

“Yeah, already did that.” He readjusted the ventilation vents, which weren’t blowing any air.

I said, “I’m going to see one of them tomorrow. A girlfriend named Madison.”

“Is this part of therapy? Or can you tell me what you find out?”

“I think I can tell you what I find out.”

“Good. What’s this button do?” He pointed at the dashboard.

“Rear speakers.”

“My car doesn’t have any. Merritt’s been under a lot of pressure lately. The whole family has. You know that. Doesn’t excuse anything, but still.”

I said, “Yeah, I know, still. Did Brenda call John while you were at the house?”

“She said she did. She went into the bedroom to do it, though. I didn’t hear anything.”

“I have to talk with him some more. It looks like I may have to go to Denver to do it.”

“John’s all right.”

I said, “What about the suicide note we found on that little computer? What about that?”

“What about it?”

“If Dead Ed killed himself, there’s no crime. Merritt’s clean.”

“Alan, use your head. There are two gunshots in the victim, not one. No weapon was found on the scene. There’s enough evidence-even for an L.A. jury-in my niece’s bedroom. The note is easy enough to fake.”

“I didn’t memorize it, Sam. But it seemed authentic enough to me. I mean, a fifteen-year-old faking that?”

“Maybe, why not? She’s bright.”

“Were her prints on the computer?”

“We don’t have good comps, remember.”

“Were anyone’s prints but his on the computer?”

He didn’t answer me, but his eyes said, “No.”

“Wouldn’t her prints be on the keyboard? If all those other prints you guys collected were hers, wouldn’t hers be on the keyboard, too?”

He placed the pad of a thumb under each of his nostrils and forced air into his nose, clearing his ears. “I know. I know,” he said. “It’s screwy. I told you that from the beginning. It’s goofy.”

“Sam, anything else seem not right to you tonight? I mean, did anything strike you as particularly odd?”

“Other than finding my niece’s clothes covered with somebody else’s blood and a gun in her bathroom? No, nothing else seemed odd at all.”

“Brenda didn’t seem strange?”

“Come on, Alan. Everything involving this family and Brenda and Sherry is strange.”

“Sam, would there have been any reason for Brenda to know Ed Robilio?”

“I’m the last one to ask. I don’t know who they know in town. Sherry has never even seen the inside of her sister’s house. But given Brenda’s line of work, she could know just about anybody, couldn’t she?”

“I guess.”

“Where are these questions coming from? You know something I should know?”

“I’m not sure where I’m coming from. When I first saw the gun in the bathroom tonight, I immediately thought about picking you up for the Rangers game yesterday and going into that house and seeing…the dead doctor. I ran off at the mouth a little about that with Brenda-” I could tell he was about to reprimand me. “Don’t, Sam. And I told her that there was an unsolved shooting that had just been discovered in town and told her who the victim was, and I got the impression, when I said that his name was Edward Robilio, that she knew him.”

“She didn’t say?”

“Not exactly, no. Actually, when I asked if she knew him, she denied it.”

Sam said, “But maybe she knew of him? You know, from her work. Maybe she was investigating him or one of his companies for one of her little features?”

“Cozy just told me who he was. He has more than one company?”

“One major one, that’s MedExcel; I’m sure you’ve heard of that one. A couple of smaller related things that he started recently.”

“I’ll ask her about it, but I don’t think she’s going to tell me the truth.”

Sam nodded. “If Sherry were here, she would be agreeing with that. She thinks that Brenda knows as much about honesty as Simon knows about nuclear physics.”

Finally, I had an inkling of what the feud was about. Brenda’s lack of honesty was part of Sherry’s indictment of her sister. I changed the subject in order to feel Sam out about my plans for the next day.

“I put Merritt on a seventy-two-hour hold tonight. I’m trying to find an adolescent bed in a psychiatric hospital for her. Will the police object to that, to moving her to a psychiatric hospital?”

He was fiddling with the glove box knob. “Probably, but you never know. They may argue that they handle suicide watches better than the hospitals do. If I were you, I would have a judge-proof argument ready, in writing, in case they challenge you. Where are you thinking of putting her?”

“Maybe Centennial Peaks, but I called already and the charge nurse on the evening shift thinks they’re full, though they may have a female bed-maybe-coming free by the weekend. There’s that new place in Niwot, but I don’t have privileges out there and they’re getting mixed reviews from people I know, anyway. I’ll call them first thing tomorrow.”

Sam said, “Wait a second. What about Denver? At Children’s? You worked there once, right?”

“Yes.”

“It would sure make things easier for John and Brenda, having both kids at the same hospital, don’t you think?”

I hadn’t considered the advantages of transferring Merritt to The Children’s Hospital, probably because it would mean a round-trip daily commute to Denver for me to see her for treatment.

“It’s a long way to go, Sam.”

“That’s my point. Save Brenda and John a ton of commuting. You still okay with the people at Children’s, haven’t burned any bridges?”

“Yes, I still have privileges there.”

“Well?”

“I’ll think about it. You want Merritt out of Boulder for some reason?”

“Why would I want that?”

He had that look on his face, so I let it drop. “I don’t want her at Fort Logan, Sam. I’ll warn you now that no matter where she ends up being admitted, I’m going to try my best to get an ambulance transfer completed before the DA gets all his ducks in a row. I’m thinking it’s going to be easier to get a transfer accomplished before the courts and the cops are formally involved.”

He didn’t actually smile, but his mouth widened. “You’re thinking clearly now.”

“Can I take you somewhere, Sam? I’m about ready to go home.”

“No, I want to hang around until Merritt’s protection shows up. Maybe stop in and see her before I go. It’s important to show her we’re behind her, right?”

“Absolutely. You’re a good uncle, Sam Purdy. She’s lucky to have you.”

“I don’t know about that. What she needs right now, I’m afraid, is magic. And I’m no magician.”

“Try and convince Lauren and me of that.” Sam’s police magic had saved my butt and my wife’s butt more than once.