Part 11

V. Ardanowski and Marcus Taggart were sitting at a table in Kelly's, drinking coffee. The night shift was just starting.

"I was reviewing the file for the thirtieth time, and I thought of going back to the principal at PC High, just to review again who were his friends, and who did he hang out with," V. said, "we weren't focused on that before. There must be somebody who knew him a little more than just in passing. Friends, girlfriends. But I wonder if I should be spending the taxpayer time on it, because it's a medical case now."

Taggart looked thoughtful. "We have zilch on this current shooting. I suppose it could legitimately relate to that. Who would want to shoot him? Do we even have anywhere else to start?"

"There's the Quartermaines," V. surmised.

"They won't tell us anything."

"They're so demanding. You'd think they'd be cooperative in return."

"You'd think. We'll hi there, Nurse Connor, isn't it?"

V. looked up to see a young woman in light green hospital scrubs, blonde hair up in a French braid, with a take-out cup of coffee.

"Yes," the girl answered. "You're the Detective."

"Marcus Taggart. Here, sit down, do you have a minute?"

"I guess. I'm not late."

He motioned her to the chair across from him, next to V.

"This is Detective Ardanowski."

"Hello."

"Hello. Pleased to meet you."

"Nurse Connor, you see, Detective Ardanowski, has this patient, Zander Smith. You know, the shooting we are working on?"

"Oh that case. I hardly know where to start on that case. Have you interviewed him yet?"

"I've been waiting for Nurse Connor to tell me it's o.k."

Quinn smiled, "Thanks, but I'll leave it up to Dr. Jones."

"Sure. I wouldn't want to talk to the patient a second before he can handle it," Taggart said, with just the slightest tone of sarcasm.

"He likes to come off as the hard-nose," V. explained to Quinn. "But I tell him it doesn't work well on your patient. Really, I should talk to him, because I can do it without putting him down. Taggart here has issues with unruly young men. Probably because he used to be one."

"See why she got promoted to Detective, Nurse Quinn? It's her unerring feel for human nature, in all of its variations. She even thinks she has a way to talk to Zander Smith. Some would call it hubris."

"I've been talking to him," Quinn said, "I guess he could talk about the shooting now. That's stressful though. I'll ask Dr. Jones."

"Thanks. In the meantime, we're going to pursue a lead we have at the high school," V. said.

"Do you have the bullets?" Quinn asked them.

"Bullets?" Taggart asked.

"Yes, don't you get the bullets and test them for striations?"

"I don't know if we have the bullets. Did we get them from the hospital?" he asked V.

"I'm pretty sure there're still there at this point," V. answered. "We'll get them. We don't have a gun to test them against, yet. But we ought to get a hold of them for the chain of custody. The hospital is ok, but I don't trust them totally when it comes to stuff like that. It's not their job – they're just focused on healing. As it should be, of course," she said, turning to Quinn.

"Can you tell me anything?" Quinn asked. "Where do you start if he didn't see the gunman or can't give a good description?"

"Good question, Miss Connor," Taggart said. He added flirtatiously, "come down to the station sometime. I can show you the forensic lab. It's very important to an investigation. Though it's not everything. The human element is always still there. One place I'm going to start is Corinthos Coffee. He works there. Under the table. Of course, no one there will tell me a single thing. But I have to try, for the record. See, Corinthos is organized crime. Small time. But organized crime. Zander claims he's a shipping clerk. Maybe he is. But what is being shipped? They don't want me to find out about that. They don't want any of us finding out, and they certainly don't want the FBI liaison finding out. It's easy for Zander to run into trouble. He could be making deliveries, and run across the wrong person. Somebody from a rival gang. They do something like this to show Corinthos they are badder than he is. They could have been trying to hit Corinthos himself, of somebody higher up the food chain of that organization; but only got Zander. But Zander won't talk, because solving the crime against him could give us all kinds of leads for crimes his boss commits. Some kid like Zander can easily get stuck between a rock and a hard place in that environment."

"Are you telling me this is another thing he won't tell anybody about?"

"You bet I am. What else is there?"

"I'm not sure I can say. It might fall under medical confidentiality."

"Don't worry," V. said. "We know about it. Alexis Davis was in, and we're already working on trying to identify him. She thinks she can help him and he just doesn't understand it – so he'll appreciate her prying in the long run. We will get those medical records."

Quinn asked, "Why not look in the most wanted lists? Do they break them down by state?"

"We do that routinely," Taggart answered. "So he's not wanted, at least by any description we can match, by any other jurisdiction."

"Why would a person so not want to contact his parents?" Quinn asked this question of Taggart and V. aloud for the first time, but having thought of it at least 50 times before. "Do you think maybe they'd have him arrested?"

"Maybe," Taggart said. "Or maybe he does not want them to find out about what he has gotten himself into. He could figure that the chances his medical condition can kill him don't add much to the odds his way of life could anyway."

"I can hardly believe the Quartermaine's daughter could have anything to do with all this," Quinn said, "Especially when she was underage. A high school student. When I was in high school . ."

"Oh, I know. Me too," Taggart cut in. "But that, my friend, is another story yet. Criminals have charm. They always have that. You think you are invincible. But watch out. See how he draws you into his problems already?"

"Well, it is a part of my job, and it is natural to my personality to want to untangle a mystery. Shed light on the darkness. I hate secrets!"

"And don't think he doesn't know it. Don't let that innocent look draw you in. Just remember, over and over. Very few people end up getting shot randomly, in spite of the news."

"Marcus, back up just a little," V. put in, "It could be abuse, you know. There are reasons that he could have run away that aren't his fault. And once a youngster is on the streets like that, it's very common for them to get into the stuff he did. Why assume the worst?"

"With Zander Smith, it is usually right."

"Yadda, yadda," said V.

Quinn laughed. "I better get to the hospital now," she said.