Deadly Care, page 28
part #3 of Joanna Blalock Series
Mariner considered bringing in another professional to do the job, but there wasn’t enough time. “And I want proof of her death. Pictures, photographs, whatever. And for your extra ten thousand dollars you’ll perform one other task. I want you to search Blalock and if necessary her laboratory. You’ll be looking for a cardiac pacemaker.”
Rimer listened to Mariner describe what the pacemaker looked like, then asked, “You want me to destroy it?”
“No. I want it back.”
“You’ll have it by tomorrow morning,” Rimer said.
Mariner watched Rimer walk down the steps and around the side of the house. Then he started pacing again. “Goddamn it! We need Blalock dead and we need that pacemaker back.”
“But if Joanna Blalock is dead we won’t have to worry about the pacemaker. The intricacies of the pacemaker will die with her.”
“Don’t bet on it. Maybe she’s already discussed it with somebody else. Hell, she may have even sent it to another lab for further study.”
“But if she’s not around, nobody is going to follow up-“That big cop will,,, Mariner cut her off. “And it’s not going to take a genius to put everything together.”
Amanda lit a cigarette, her hand shaking noticeably.
“How do you know she sent the pacemaker out?”
“I don’t know for sure. But every time I asked Blalock to let us have a look at Sally Wheaton’s pacemaker, she said it was still being studied. Now, what would you make of that?”
“Oh, shit,” Amanda muttered, nodding to herself.
“We have to get that pacemaker back.”
“And quick,” Mariner said, “before somebody connects that pacemaker to Bob Cipro’s death.”
Amanda nodded again, thinking about the phone call she’d received from Joanna Blalock. The one in which she’d asked for the details of Cipro’s death, in particular whether his body was ever found. They knew that Cipro was the faceless man. Goddamn it! Everything was coming apart. Amanda tried to swallow, but her throat was bone dry. “What do we do now?”
“We start covering up our tracks.”
“Maybe that won’t be necessary. Suppose Rimer gets Blalock and the pacemaker.”
“Suppose he doesn’t,” Mariner said and went back into the house.
Joanna awoke in a room flooded with sunlight. The light was blinding and everything was blurred. it took her a few moments to clear her head and focus her eyes. She was in a bare room with wooden floors and broken windows. In the distance she heard a mixture of sounds. People talking, birds squawking, and another noise she couldn’t recognize.
“How are you feeling, Janie?” Emma asked.
Joanna stared at the dirty woman at length before remembering her. “Where are we?”
“At the beach.”
“But where?”
“In a deserted apartment building in Santa Monica.”
Emma cackled loudly. “With an ocean view, mind YOU.”
“How did I get here?” Joanna asked, still confused.
“On a city bus,” Emma said and looked at Joanna strangely. “Don’t you remember last night? Don’t you remember what happened in the emergency room?”
Joanna thought back, recalling the ER and the nurse and the oriental doctor. And the man standing over her, arm raised and ready to strike. “The man,” she said softly.
“You’re goddamn right, the man,” Emma said hoarsely. “He was going to kill you with a karate chop You should have seen it, Teddy. It was the damnedest thing.”
“Why did he want to do that?” Teddy asked.
“Who knows?” Emma picked at her teeth with her fingers. “All he said was that he was her uncle.”
“Maybe he wanted her money,” Teddy suggested.
“Could be.”
Teddy studied Joanna, not liking her. He didn’t like any newcomers because that meant another face to feed and there wasn’t enough to go around as it was. And he didn’t like Joanna because she really wasn’t one of them. Teddy could tell she’d lived the good life. Her skin was soft and smooth and her hair was clean and fashionably cut. And she smelled good. He wondered what it would be like to screw her.
“Wish they’d get back with the food already,” Emma said.
“Yeah, me too.” Teddy was now studying Joanna’s neck and ears, where the jewelry had been. The earrings had brought fifty dollars and Emma had given him ten dollars. But where the hell had Emma hidden the necklace? It was worth a lot, Teddy knew for sure.
Emma was probably keeping it all for herself. He trusted Emma, but not when it came to money. Teddy didn’t trust anyone when it came to money. His gaze drifted to Joanna’s leg, now uncovered halfway up her thigh. Nice and smooth with no hair. He reached over and touched it.
Joanna quickly pulled her leg away, disgusted by the man’s appearance. He was a short, wiry man, unshaven, with sores on his forehead that were covered with scabs.
“What’s wrong?” Teddy asked.
“I don’t like to be touched,” Joanna said at once.
Emma smiled to herself, thinking that Janie was going to be touched by a lot of men in a lot of places.
And soon too. But not until Emma made sure that Janie had no more jewelry or money or anything else of value hidden away.
They heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Emma hurried to the far corner of the room. Teddy took out a switchblade knife and opened it, then went to the wall beside the door and waited.
“What-?” Joanna said.
“Shhh!” Emma shushed her and whispered, “Keep quiet.”
The footsteps drew closer and closer, then stopped.
The door opened and a man and woman walked in.
They were both tall and skinny, in their thirties, with strawberryblond hair and unwashed faces. They wore filthy jeans and layers of sweaters that had gaping holes in them.
“What the hell took you so long?” Emma demanded.
The tall woman said, “We went by the Free Clinic to have them take a look at Timmie’s leg, but they were closed for lunch.” She turned and looked down at Joanna. “How are you, Janie? Is your head still hurting?”
“No, it’s fine,” Joanna said, trying to place the woman.
‘You probably don’t remember us from last night,” the woman said softly. “I’m Bertie and this is my brother, Timmie.”
“Did you bring the damn food?” Emma growled impatiently.
Bertie put a brown paper bag on the floor. “Here it is.”
Emma grabbed the bag and removed a package of cinnamon buns wrapped in cellophane. She stripped off the wrapping and the homeless group tore into the buns, ripping off large pieces and filling their mouths.
They reminded Joanna of a pack of hyenas tearing apart a gazelle carcass.
“Got anything to drink?” Teddy asked, his mouth stuffed with food.
“Yeah,” Bertie said and reached into the bag for a bottle of water.
Emma glared at her. “You wasted money on goddamn bottled water?”
Bertie shook her head quickly. “I found it in a trash can. I guess somebody just took a swallow or two and threw it away.”
“Good,” Emma said approvingly and removed the cap. She took a long swallow and passed the bottle around to the others.
Joanna stared at the window, her mind now flashing back to the night before. She began to remember events that had preceded her arrival in the.ER. An ambulance, somebody placing an IV in her arm. Then there were lights, bright lights, and she was being carried upward on someone’s shoulder. He was talking to her, telling her everything was going to be all right.
“My leg is getting worse,” Timmie complained, “and it hurts like hell.”
“Let’s see it,” Emma said.
Timmie pulled his pant leg up and extended his leg.
On the outer side of the calf was a red, angry-appearing sore. “The damn thing is getting bigger all the time.”
“Maybe it’s cancer,” Teddy suggested, Joanna looked down at the lesion and said, “It’s a carbuncle.”
“A what?” Emma asked.
“A carbuncle,” Joanna said again. “It’s a boil filled with pus.”
“Do you know how to treat it?” Bertie asked.
“Sure,” Joanna said easily. “You just I-and-D it. You incise it and you drain it.”
“How do you do that?” Timmie asked, fear now in his voice.
“With a knife,” Joanna told him.
“Oh, no!” Timmie pulled his pant leg down and backed away. “No way! Nobody is sticking a knife in me.”
Emma grabbed Timmie’s sweater and pulled him back. “Keep still and do as you’re told.” She turned to Joanna. “Do you need a special knife to do it?”
“No,” Joanna said. “Any knife will do, as long as it has a sharp point.”
“How about a switchblade?” Emma asked.
“That would do fine.”
Teddy shook his head firmly. “You’re not using my knife. You’re not going to get pus all over my knife.”
Emma held out her hand to Teddy and waited. He hesitated, then unhappily gave her his switchblade.
Emma looked over at Joanna. “You’ve done these I and D’s before, huh?”
“Lots of times.”
Bertie asked excitedly, “Are you a nurse, Janie?”
Joanna shrugged. “I don’t know what I am.”
“Do you need anything else to do this I and D?” Emma asked.
“Just some gauze and a bottle of alcohol,” Joanna said.
“We’ll get those at the drugstore,” Emma said and led the way out.
They walked down a flight of stairs, then went through a side door into the alley. They made certain the door stayed unlocked and strolled out to the walkway in front of the old apartment building. Before them was the ocean, deep blue and calm as a lake. It was midday and the sun was bright and warm. People were lying on the sand, tanning themselves. Overhead seagulls were swooping down and picking up scraps of food from the beach.
They headed north along the cement boardwalk, stopping only to peer into trash cans to see if anything was salvageable. They passed building after building, all of them boarded up and deserted.
“Why are all the buildings closed?” Joanna asked.
“They’re like the building we live in,” Emma said. “Condemned because of damage caused by the earthquake.”
Joanna nodded, but she couldn’t remember the earthquake and wondered when it had happened.
Ahead Emma saw a group of either German or Scandinavian tourists with cameras around their necks. She figured that Bertie, with her blond hair and waiflike face, would do the best with them. “Bertie, do your thing.”
Bertie darted out in front and approached the tourists, hand out. “Could you spare some change for the homeless?”
The tourists began reaching into their pockets.
“What is she doing?” Joanna asked.
“She’s begging,” Emma said simply. “That’s how we get money to live.”
The walkway widened and was becoming more populated now. On the right were people gathered around tables watching chess matches. On the left were park benches with men sleeping on them. Joanna stared at the men lying motionless, shirts off, mouths agape. Her mind started to flash back and she saw a large tiled room with stainless steel tables and dead bodies on them. The bodies were split wide open, eviscerated.
“Corpses,” Joanna said quietly.
“Naw,” Emma said. “They’re just sleeping.”
Moments later they came to a small drugstore.
Emma reached into her pocket and felt the loose change, mainly nickels and dimes. Beneath the coins was the thirty-five dollars remaining from the sale of the earrings. And beneath that was the gold necklace. It was worth at least a hundred dollars, Emma thought happily, maybe even more. “Okay, everybody wait out here while Janie and I go in to get the things we need.”
The women walked into the store and down an aisle where bandages and antiseptics were displayed. The store owner was a step behind them.
Emma saw the man behind them and wondered if he had been sent by the government to spy on her, now that she had money. Those government bastards were everywhere. She fingered the switchblade knife in her pocket, ready to defend herself.
“Is there something I can help you with?” the owner asked, keeping his distance and hoping the pair wouldn’t bring fleas into his store.
“We need a small bottle of alcohol, a roll of tape and some gauze,” Joanna said.
“What type of gauze?”
“Two-inch,” Joanna ordered. “Preferably something impregnated with a bactericidal agent.”
The owner was taken aback by Joanna’s demeanor and use of medical terminology. “What kind of bactericidal agent?”
“Polymyxin will do.”
The owner quickly collected a bottle of ethyl alcohol, a roll of tape, gauze and a tube of polymyxin sulfate. “You got the money to pay for all this?”
Emma asked, “What does the polymyxin cost?”
“Eleven ninety-five,” the owner said.
“We’ll do without it,” Emma said promptly.
The owner smirked and replaced the tube. “Anything else?”
“That’ll be all,” Emma said, waiting for the man to turn before she quickly reached back to the shelf.
They paid at the front counter and walked outside.
The sun seemed brighter and hotter now and there were even more people on the boardwalk.
“Do we have to go back to the apartment to do this I and D?” Emma asked Joanna.
“No. We can do it on a park bench.”
“Good.”
The homeless group gathered around a bench outside the drugstore. Timmie laid his head back on Bertie’s lap and stretched out his leg. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and clenched his jaw.
“Jesus,” Emma hissed at him. “You’re acting like a big baby.”
“It’s going to hurt,” Timmie moaned as Bertie stroked his head.
“No, it won’t,” Joanna assured’him, then turned to Emma. “Get me a napkin and a cube of ice.”
Emma hustled over to a nearby vendor and talked him out of some crushed ice and a paper napkin, then hurried back. “What the hell is the ice for?”
“Anesthesia.” Joanna poured alcohol over the carbuncle and gently cleansed the area with the napkin.
Then she poured more alcohol on the sore and placed crushed ice atop it.
“It stings,” Timmie whined.
“Tell me when it stings a whole lot.” Joanna looked over to Emma. “Open the knife, strike a match and put the tip of the blade into the flame.”
Emma quickly performed the task and handed the knife to Joanna. Timmie was bitching louder and louder, tears streaking his cheeks. Bertie continued to stroke his forehead.
Joanna removed the ice and rapidly incised the frozen skin over the carbuncle. Thick yellow pus spurted out. She gently pressed down at the-edges of the sore and more pus came out, thicker yet and foul smelling. Joanna now saw something thin and brown protruding from the incision. She pulled it out and examined it. “A foreign body,” Joanna said to herself.
“A what?” Emma asked.
“A sliver of wood,” Joanna replied. “A splinter that probably started the infection.”
Emma reached into her pocket. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“What?” Joanna asked.
Emma took out a tube of polymyxin. “I lifted it from the drugstore.”
“Christ.” Joanna groaned, wondering what would have happened if they’d been caught. She carefully rubbed the antibiotic ointment into a strip of gauze and then packed the gauze into the now-drained carbuncle.
She took several long pieces of tape and strapped them around Timmie’s calf, bandaging the wound. “We’re done.”
“You’re done?” Timmie asked, opening his eyes. “I hardly felt anything.”
“Good,” Joanna said, pleased.
Emma patted Joanna’s shoulder. “You’re pretty cool, you know?”
“She’s great,” Bertie chimed in and leaned over to kiss Joanna’s cheek. “I’m so glad you’re with us.”
Timmie stood and walked around the park bench.
“My leg feels great. All the pain is gone.”
“Then you ought to thank Janie,” Bertie said.
“I do thank you,” Timmie said gratefully.
“I think I’ll make Janie my top assistant,” Emma said importantly.
Bertie and Timmie applauded loudly, happy with Emma’s decision.
Teddy cleaned his knife with alcohol and kept his expression even, although inwardly he was seething.
He had disliked Janie from the beginning and now he hated her. She was taking his place as the number-two person in the crowd, the person closest to Emma, the one who gave the orders when she wasn’t around. Now he would be like Bertie and Timmie, who just sat on their asses and waited to be told what to do and when to do it. Like slaves. Teddy wasn’t going to stand for that. He tested the sharpness of the blade with a finger, his eyes fixed on Janie’s neck.
“How do you know about antibiotics and all that stuff?” Emma asked Joanna. “Are you a nurse?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you have any idea where you live?”
“I’m not sure,” Joanna said slowly. “I keep trying to remember.”
Try harder, Emma wanted to say, believing that Janie was a nurse. And Emma knew that nurses made a lot of money and lived in nice apartments where they kept cash and jewelry and other valuable things hidden away.
The group moved northward along the boardwalk, now approaching an amusement park with a merrygo-round and a small ferris wheel. Beyond that was the Santa Monica Pier.
“I think we should work the pier,” Emma said.
“There’s a lot of tourists out today.”
“I’m going over to the Third Street Promenade,” Teddy said.
“There won’t be many tourists there,” Emma warned him.
“Maybe. But there’s a new dinosaur movie that just opened,” Teddy said. “Those things usually draw a nice turnout.”
“Okay,” Emma said, not trusting him and planning to search his clothes later. “We’ll meet back at the apartment.”
Teddy walked up a steep overpass and crossed Ocean Avenue. A motorist honked his horn at Teddy because he was crossing on a red light. Teddy gave the motorist the finger and kept walking. On the other side of the avenue the atmosphere changed and became much more expensive. Teddy passed by two trendy restaurants and watched the people leisurely eating lunch and sipping wine. He wondered what that would be like. To eat as much as you wanted whenever you wanted and to be waited on while you did it. Maybe have some coffee and dessert too. Teddy spat on the sidewalk, knowing he’d never be able to afford that.
