Patrick Jane woke with a start to the sound of his phone ringing. He was lying on one of the couches in his office in the guesthouse at the back of his property in Malibu. He hadn't felt able to go into the house yet so after driving here yesterday he'd taken the service road and come to the back, wanting to find out what had been happening during his stay in hospital. His only clues when he'd been discharged were the two voicemails on his phone, both from months ago. One had been from his lawyer, asking him to call when he recovered, and the other from his PA asking the same. He couldn't face talking to his lawyer so he'd called his PA and listened with growing surprise to her outgoing message:
"Hello, this is Susan McGowan, PA to Mr. Patrick Jane. I'm very sorry, Mr. Jane is no longer with us. On his behalf I'd like to thank all his patrons and clients. He always said it was a privilege to share in your lives, however briefly. Please do not leave a message. Thank you." She'd recorded the same outgoing message on the office phone.
She hadn't known how long he would be in hospital so she had to come up with some message to stop his clients calling. Implying he was dead but not actually saying it would stop them from trying any harder to find him while giving him a bigger air of mystery if he ever made a comeback. Clever. He'd always had a great deal of respect for Susan. When his credit card had worked at the car rental place his esteem for her had grown even higher.
The phone was still ringing. What time was it? He pulled it out of his vest pocket and looked at it. Two seventeen pm, his lawyer was calling. He snapped it open.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is this Patrick Jane?"
"Is that you, Zack?"
"Paddy! It's great to hear your voice! You gave us all a big scare back there. Where are you?" Only people from his dim and distant past called him Paddy. Zack's father Simon had been famous in the Carnie world as the go-to lawyer on the West Coast. Patrick had only been thirteen when he first met Zack Taylor, then just a law student. Although they were more than eight hours' drive away in Carson Springs Patrick wouldn't have dreamed of having anyone else as his family lawyer.
"I'm in my office down in Malibu. Since yesterday evening."
"Yeah, I got a fax yesterday from the hospital about your discharge, then a notification from the credit card company when you rented the car. You, uh, sure you want to be back there so soon?"
Patrick ignored the question. He'd needed to know where he stood before he did anything else and his office in Malibu was the only place he could start. He hadn't wanted to come back, not ever, but his new purpose in life had driven him here, he'd had no choice. So, Zack had a fax from the hospital? Interesting. He probably had other paperwork from the hospital too.
"So you're my guardian, huh? The five wishes thing?"
"The five wishes thing and the durable POA. After you were taken to the ER Susan called me. I came down on the first flight I could get and took over as your proxy. Though really, Paddy, Susan was mostly the one looking after your affairs. After a week or so I left her to do all the the legwork. I pretty much just signed off on her recommendations. She's very thorough and scarier than she looks when she gets going, isn't she? I heard her on the phone to your medical insurance people a few times, I'm not surprised we won your appeal.
"Yeah, I read her note. What happened to Susan? And Emilio and Lila?"
"One of your neighbors snapped up Lila and Emilio when they got laid off, Trevor Worthington I think. Susan, uh, she's working for me now." Patrick could hear the tension in his voice. "After she laid herself off I hired her to run things here. She moved to Carson Springs about four months ago."
Patrick was pleased about Lila and Emilio. It had been obvious when he arrived that his gardener and housekeeper were no longer in his employ. He was glad things had worked out for them. Trevor was a slight acquaintance, he'd always seemed something of a boy scout to Patrick. Hopefully that meant he'd be good to his employees. He'd wondered about his PA last night while he had been going through the records she'd left for him. She could be helpful if she still worked for him but did he really want to include anyone else in his search for Red John? He'd decided no, definitely not. His new purpose had to be private. If he was going to do what he intended to do he was best leaving everyone else out of it.
"Glad to hear it. She deserves a good job, they all do. I guess she's closer to Marie and the grandkids now. You got yourself 'a price above rubies' there Zack."
"I know I have, thanks Paddy." Zack had sounded worried about having hired Susan, maybe he was afraid Patrick would think he's stolen her away, or even want to hire her back? Now he sounded relieved. "Look, the reason I called was because now you're out of the hospital you don't need me to be your proxy anymore. I just have some documents for you to sign, your POA and five wishes need updating, that sort of thing. Would you like me to fly down? I can be there tomorrow around lunchtime."
"No, it's OK, I have some business in the Bay Area, I can go there via Carson Springs. I'll drop by tomorrow afternoon if that's okay?"
"Sure Paddy, no problem. Ah, would you mind if I ask what is the nature of this business?" Zack suddenly sounded very uncomfortable.
"Why would you ask that?"
"The discharge fax from the hospital was very specific. It wanted me to check you weren't drinking or, uh, gambling. Sorry Paddy, I don't want to pry but until you sign this paperwork I have a duty of care." He probably genuinely didn't want to pry, Patrick thought. Dr. Miller had told him to avoid narcotics too, when he'd been discharged she had left him with just enough meds for a few days rather than issuing a prescription. Zack must be too embarrassed to ask about that. Interesting.
"I just need to take the rental car back, Zack," Patrick replied mildly. "I'm buying a car but it wasn't available straight away so I rented for a couple of days. No booze, no card games, I swear." It was the truth but it wasn't the whole truth. He also had plans for his hospital records, an idea about how to start his hunt for Red John. Now he knew about the fax from the hospital he would have to make plans for Zack too.
"Um, Paddy, is there someone who can stay there with you? The fax also said you shouldn't be alone for the first few days…" Patrick rolled his eyes impatiently. Susan would have handled me much better, he thought. I guess I ought to be grateful Zack chose to call me instead but there are limits...
"Well you can call one of your hookers for me if you like, Zack, but I won't be much use to her while I'm on my meds." He'd kept as much sarcasm out of his tone as he could, he liked Zack. Between them, he and Susan had looked after his affairs better than he could have hoped. If Zack had decided not to ask about drugs Patrick was pretty sure mentioning a hooker would put Zack off even more. "Tell you what I'll do, I'll take her to go visit Trevor this evening, maybe we'll bump into Lila and Emilio as well, they know how to party. You want me to get him to call to say I arrived OK, or would you prefer something in writing?"
"Oh come on, Paddy, there's no need for any of that. I had to ask. Your Dr. Miller was, well, very forthright about what you should and shouldn't do in the first week after your discharge." Yes she was, Patrick thought. She was afraid I might be vulnerable to becoming an addict after I left. It's a bit late for that, though.
"I'm sorry Zack, you know I hate being told what to do. I'm fine, enjoying the freedom, you know?" Freedom. Just saying the word out loud flashed the vivid memory of Janis Joplin on the radio one rainy night in the middle of nowhere singing 'Me and Bobby McGee' some time in his childhood, his dad behind the wheel of the RV wiping away a tear. It was the only time he'd ever seen his dad moved by a song. Patrick knew he had nothing left to lose: the idea of re-framing it as 'freedom' was an intriguing one. "I do have a question for you, though. Why the Hangley Shorter in San Francisco? We have hospitals around here you know."
"You have lots of rehab facilities down there. The Hangley Shorter has the best doctors and facilities in the state for long-term in-patient psychiatric care." Susan's notes had pretty much said the same thing. He had wondered if there might have been more to it, but Zack sounded genuine. He'd also been polite enough not to add the word 'secure'. He should cut him some slack.
"If you say so. I'm not sure I agree with you about the facilities though. Their moules mariniere left a lot to be desired and their gigot d'agneau pleureur was tough as old boots. You know," he added, as though he was mentioning some curious fact he'd recently discovered, "it's very hard to eat that stuff with a wooden spoon." This elicited a chuckle from Zack.
"Man, it is good to hear you talking like that. I'm glad you're feeling better, Paddy."
"It's good to talk to you too, Zack. I'll see you tomorrow."
So… It had been a while. He remembered the Taylor & Son Legal Services office as having a domestic lock on the front door, regular filing cabinets. They wouldn't present a problem. He didn't remember there being an alarm but he could check for one when he visited tomorrow. He'd already decided to see Dr. Miller when he returned the rental car, on the pretext of thanking her but in fact to find out how to get at his hospital records. Once he'd dealt with them he was going to spend some time in a library, researching Red John. Hangley Shorter was a UC teaching hospital but he didn't want to use their library and risk bumping into anyone who could recognize him. Stamford was only an hour or so out of San Francisco and Stamford Medical School was supposed to be the best in the world, wasn't it? He'd be able to get his hands on copies of anything he needed there, once he'd worked out a way to gain entry to it.
After that he could start making real plans.
Patrick threw the dust sheets back over the couch, the desk, then locked up. He turned and hesitated. There were just a couple of things he needed to do first before he set off for Carson Springs. He took a few deep breaths before forcing himself along the familiar little path to the house.
