Chapter 20

Marlene had as many questions as I did. The police hadn't told her anything about the night Renee'd been killed, and she only had the minimal information she'd heard through the media. I explained that I'd only seen the ME's file thus far, but that there were some reasons to doubt it had been a suicide.

"What reasons?"

"There isn't a gun in evidence, for one. The police claim to have lost it."

"What else?"

"There wasn't any gunshot residue on her hands, although that's not conclusive that she didn't fire the weapon."

She nodded carefully. Marlene was a trim woman in her early forties, her air no-nonsense, and her questions direct and intelligent. "And it's in your company's interest to show it wasn't a suicide?"

I explained again about the various clauses in the policy. It was getting easier to bluff the more I did it; this time I actually sounded like I knew what I was talking about.

"I highly doubt Renee even owned a gun. She'd been married to a cop and she told me once that she'd hated having a gun in the house. It made her nervous."

"The ME thinks the shot was fired from about two feet away. It strikes me as an odd way to kill yourself, holding a gun that far out from your body." I knew it was, especially with a small caliber weapon like the one that had killed Renee.

Marlene straightened her arms and mimed shooting herself in the chest. "That's a really awkward position. It's hard to pull your fingers back when your arms are out like that." She shook her head. "I don't believe it, anyway. There's no way Renee killed herself."

"Can you tell me more about her?"

She gave me pretty much the same information I'd gotten from Bella, describing Renee as hardworking, one of their best nurses. They were a tight-knit bunch, she explained, and none of them were surprised when Renee was offered a position in administration earlier in the year.

"What exactly did she do in administration?"

"She was kind of the top nurse. If any of us had a problem, we'd go to her and if she couldn't resolve it herself, she'd act on our behalf with the rest of the staff."

"You mean the doctors?"

"Usually, but sometimes other staff. Payroll, sanitation, pharmacy, you name it."

Pharmacy. My ears perked up. "Was there anything unusual happening here at the hospital around the time she died? Any crazy patients making threats, stuff like that?"

"Oh, that happens every day. That's perfectly normal." She made a small wave with her hand. "Renee didn't treat patients anymore, anyway, in her new job." She paused and looked down at the table. "I'm trying to go back a month in my memory. Give me a second."

"Take all the time you need." I took a sip of my coffee and looked around the cafeteria. Not much to see, but the view out the windows was nice. If I craned my neck, I could probably make out the bagel shop where Bella was waiting.

"You know, there was something. It's probably nothing, but it had never happened before and it hasn't happened since. It can't be related, though," she shook her head again.

"Tell me anyway," I smiled, trying to be charming.

It worked. She smiled back. "Okay, but again, this is probably nothing. We were having a problem with meds." I leaned forward, giving her my full attention. "Several patients weren't responding to their pain meds."

"Their pain meds?"

"Percocet, actually. For about two weeks just before Renee died, our Percocet wasn't working."

"How did you know?"

"Oh, believe me, when a patient is in pain and the meds aren't working, you know it. On my floor, oncology, we had three cases, but there were more throughout the hospital."

"What did you do?"

"Some of us told the doctors but were pooh-poohed, as usual," she rolled her eyes, "and some of us told Renee. I talked to her about it myself."

"What did she say?"

"That she'd look into it, of course. She was going to check with the pharmacy, and in the meantime told me to let her know of any and all cases I knew about."

"Do you know what happened?"

"No, after that initial conversation I didn't see Renee again for several days. Our paths didn't cross any more unless I sought her out, and I didn't have any new cases to report."

"But you did see her again?"

"The day before she died. She passed me in the hall. I was talking to a doctor and she squeezed my elbow, giving me a thumbs up and a big smile. I took it to mean she'd fixed the problem." She sipped her coffee and looked out the window. "That was the last time I saw her."

I cross my arms and leaned back, thinking about Percocet. Was it possible Mala's cartel had switched over from illegal to prescription drugs, and somehow infiltrated the hospital's pharmacy? Was there a market for fake Percocet? How could there be if the nurses here had noticed immediately? I ran my hand over my non-existent hair. "If I wanted to talk to someone in the pharmacy, is there anyone you especially trust?"

She turned back to me and lowered her brows, weighing her answer before she spoke. "You're really an insurance agent?"

I pulled out my wallet and handed her a card. "Investigator, not agent."

She looked at it, still frowning. "It seems to me you already have enough suspicious circumstances to deny the claim."

"We're very thorough. We don't like to deny a claim unless we can back it up with something conclusive."

"So you're actually trying to prove that Renee was murdered?"

"If I can, yes."

"Why do you care more than the police?" It was more a question to herself, and she shook her head while she fingered my card.

"I'll be notifying the authorities of my findings." Dr. Ramirez was an authority, right? Right.

"And they'll do jack squat with it," she snorted. Then she sat up straighter. "It's such a shame you're not representing Bella. If you find out what happened to her, will you let me know? You have my number."

I feigned ignorance of Bella's whereabouts and listened while she confided how baffled all the nurses were that Bella had disappeared that night. Some thought she'd been killed, too, her body just not found. Others thought she'd been kidnapped into white slavery, possibly the motive for the murder, since they all knew how pretty Bella was from the photo on Renee's desk. A few even thought she was the one who'd shot Renee, that she was possibly mixed up with drugs.

"I don't believe that last one, though. Renee was so proud of her, going to vet school. She said once that Bella was going to make an excellent doctor, and treating animals was harder than people because they couldn't tell you what was wrong. She said Bella had a special intuition with animals, and with people. She's the reason I kept calling the police, and finally the morgue."

"Bella was the reason?"

She nodded, her professional demeanor finally giving way. "I have a daughter." She put her hand up in a fist to her chin. "I'd go insane if she just disappeared. Both of Bella's parents were dead and there was no one else to look for her, so I tried." She looked like she was tearing up. "I tried."

"You did good." I looked her in the eye, not having to fake anything. "If you hadn't called the morgue, I wouldn't have gotten your number and we wouldn't have had this conversation. You've given me a lot to go on, and when I'm finished, I promise to let you know everything I can about what happened to Bella."

She nodded and quickly pulled herself back together. "Thank you, I'd appreciate that." She glanced at her watch. "Time to head back."

"Thank you again for meeting with me." I rose after she did and extended my hand. She took it and looked carefully at my face. "Phil."

"Excuse me?"

"Phil, in the pharmacy, he's the one you should talk to. He and Renee, well – that's neither here nor there, but he's the one you should talk to."

The pharmacy was in the basement and it only took me a couple of wrong turns and misguided elevator rides to find it. I was apparently not very good with signs. Good to know, I thought, as I approached the front desk emblazoned with the same big blue P that I'd seen everywhere in this labyrinth. With arrows. Pointing me here.

Phil was younger than I'd expected, maybe in his mid-thirties, and had an open, easy-going manner. When I introduced myself and explained why I'd asked to see him, his smile dropped along with his handshake. "You want to talk about Renee?"

I went through my spiel, watching his face get sadder and then grow confused. "How can I help?"

"Your name was given to me by one of the nurses. She said there was something unusual happening with pain medications just before Renee died, and that you might know more."

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that. Come on back."

He led me down a hall to an open workspace and pulled an extra chair up to his cubicle.

"What do you do here?" I'd been expecting a pharmacist in a white lab coat, but this looked like an ordinary office.

"Accounting." He sat and gestured for me to take the extra chair.

"Do you like it?"

"It's okay so far. Good benefits. I don't especially like working in a basement, but that's my only complaint."

"It's confusing down here. It took me forever to find the pharmacy."

"I know, right?" He chuckled, his good humor returning. "It's like your inner compass shuts down as soon as you get off the elevator."

"You said it's okay so far? You haven't been here long?"

"Nope, only about six months. I used to play ball. Minor leagues." He watched for my reaction and I tried to look impressed. "When I was thirty I tore my ACL, so I quit and got my accounting degree."

I nodded and gave him a sympathetic smile. "That's a big change."

"No shit. From running around outside all day to this." He gestured up at the fluorescent lights. "But I'm not complaining. It's a good job, like I said, and I get along really well with everyone."

"Including Renee?"

"Especially Renee. She was something else." He shook his head and his gaze drifted over his desk.

"You two were close?"

"Not as close as I wanted. She thought she was too old for me and that we should be just be friends. I was hoping she'd change her mind."

"How did you meet?"

"I was lost over in the janitorial section. She'd come down to talk to someone over there and found me wandering around. She laughed and said I reminded her of a lost puppy. I told her she could adopt me, and that was it. We hit it off and started meeting for coffee on our breaks, stuff like that." He paused and pushed some paperwork around. "It's a goddamned shame, what happened."

"The police put it down as a suicide."

"Yeah, well, the police can kiss my ass."

"I take it you don't agree."

He shook his head. "There's no way. No way. You can tell your boss I said so."

I suppressed a smile. She already knew. "What do you remember about the pain medication problem that was happening back in – I guess it would have been early August?"

He blew out a breath and leaned back in his chair. "Let me think." He closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "The first I heard about it was from Renee. We were sharing a break, and she asked me if it was ever part of my job to check the pharmacy inventory. I said no, that I didn't have clearance to go back where they keep the drugs, that I just do the numbers."

"I imagine only certain people are authorized to handle the drugs?"

"Exactly. The actual pharmacists, and some of the administration types. They don't let just anyone back there."

"Did she tell you why she asked?"

"She said some patients weren't responding to the Percocet, not just once or twice, but enough that she wanted to check with someone in the pharmacy."

"Did she say what she was hoping to find?"

"No, I don't remember talking about that. She didn't seem as worried that time."

"That time?"

"We met again a few days later, and she was more upset. No, that's not the right word – confused, maybe. She said she'd checked the labels on the Percocet and everything looked legitimate."

"So she'd gotten back into the inventory?"

"Yeah, the head pharmacist took her, she said. She said the packaging and the security seals and everything were perfect, so that wasn't the problem. She was thinking maybe someone on staff with an addiction had found a way to intercept the meds between when they left the pharmacy and when they reached the patient, and was substituting the pills with something that looked identical."

I nodded appreciatively. "But didn't work." It was a good theory.

"Yeah, a placebo or whatever they call it. The only problem was it was happening all over the hospital, so she was worried it was more than one person, maybe even an organized ring that was stealing the stuff to sell on the streets."

It made sense from Renee's perspective, but I seriously doubted the cartel would risk messing around with a hospital just for a few handfuls of painkiller. There had to be another explanation. "Did she have any other theories?"

"Not that she mentioned, but she did ask me to do her a favor."

"What was that?"

A couple of men walked past just then, one in a suit, the other in a lab coat. Phil watched them depart, a frown deepening on his face. "Let's talk somewhere else. Do you want a coffee?"

"Not really. I just had one, but if you do."

"No, let's walk around for a bit. I know a good spot from the last time I got lost down here."

He led me to a poorly lit alcove at the end of a long hallway. We'd be able to hear anyone coming long before they heard us, but Phil kept his voice low as he turned to me. "When Renee was checking the Percocet, she scribbled down a batch number. She wanted to know if there was a way to trace the batch to the order, to see who we bought it from, and when."

What was that old saying? Follow the money. I was growing more impressed with Renee by the minute. "Did you find anything?"

"Yes and no. The batch number that she'd given me matched an order that had come in several weeks prior. I checked the distributor and it seemed to be the one we always used. But then I did a search of all Percocet distributors, and found something else. About a week before the Percocet started failing, we'd gotten a shipment from a different distributor, and a quick check showed that we hadn't ordered Percocet from them before. I didn't know if it was anything useful, but I told Renee what I'd found."

"Do you remember the name?"

"Oh, what was it?" He asked himself. "Something really basic. Phoenix Pharmaceuticals, I think? I know it had Phoenix in the name, because of the billing address."

"Also Phoenix?"

"No, that's what caught my eye. Some place I'd never heard of – Dos Piños, New Mexico. I've traveled all over the Southwest playing ball, but that was a new one to me. I remember thinking it must be one of those tiny dots on the map, and wondering why a pharmaceutical company would have a billing office there."

I'd quit listening after he mentioned Dos Piños. We'd been right. Renee had crossed the cartel here, at the hospital.

Phil was watching me, his eyebrows tightening. "Is that what got her killed? What I found out?"

"No," I said automatically. He couldn't carry that burden for the rest of his life. "What got her killed was her doing her job – too well. At least, that's what I think."

He tipped his head, still watching me carefully. "You know, I'm not stupid just because I used to play baseball for a living. This is some serious shit, isn't it?"

I nodded.

"Fuck. Goddamn it." He swiveled away and thrust his hands into his pockets in impotent rage. "I should have told her what I was thinking, that she should drop it. But she was enjoying playing detective, solving the mystery. I had no idea."

Suddenly I felt horrible in my fake get-up. Phil's rage, his remorse, and especially his grief, were real. I pulled my glasses off and stuck them in my pocket, loosening my tie. "Hey," I said quietly, "come on, walk me out of here."

When we got to the front doors, I paused. "You've got my card and can call me any time, for anything." I meant that. Phil could have been Bella's stepfather if things had turned out differently.

He nodded. "And you know where I work, although honestly I may not be here much longer."

"No?"

We exited together and paused again in the bright sun. "After Renee died, the basement just seems dimmer every day. You know?"

"Yeah."

"When you find that one person, when you're that lucky, " he looked down at his feet. " – what a fucking shame."

"You're right, about both."

He looked back up at me. "Say hi to the kid for me."

"The kid?"

"Bella. I hadn't met her yet, but tell her I say hi anyway."

"I told you before -"

"Yeah, I know what you told me." His gaze wandered off to the buildings across the street. "But I'm not stupid. I'd have done anything for Renee, too."

A/N: The pace is picking up, both with the plot and the posting. All good, I hope! - kts