CHAPTER 5

Matt awoke to his cell phone the next morning, but it wasn't the alarm. "Houston." He hadn't even looked at the caller ID.

"Houston, we've got another one." Hoyt sounded as if he had never been to bed.

Matt groaned. "Another plastic surgeon?"

"Yep. A Dr. Greg Anthony. Looks to be a .22 again."

"Alright, where is it?" Matt listened as Hoyt rattled off the address. "I'll be there as quick as I can." e He hung up. CJ was still asleep which was unusual. She hardly ever slept through a phone ringing. Matt tried to sneak out of the chair without waking her up, finally accomplishing the feat, but only after whacking his knee on the end table. Silently cursing, he headed out to his truck after resetting the alarm.

Hoyt was waiting for him in the lobby of the Medical Arts building on South Beverly Glen Blvd. Matt was still in the suit that he had worn to Dr. Siler's funeral the day before, minus the tie and coat. "Wow, Houston, decided to dress up today, did we?"

"No, we haven't changed since the doc's funeral yesterday afternoon." He walked along the hallway with the lieutenant while trying to get a crick out of his neck. "CJ and I fell asleep in the recliner last night watching a movie."

"Oh." He chuckled. "Guess old age creeps up on us all."

"Bite me." Matt obviously hadn't had his morning coffee. They walked into the surgeon's office and Matt could hear a woman crying somewhere down the hall. "What do we know about him?"

"Dr. Greg Anthony, age 46." Hoyt followed him into the private office. It looked much the same as the other two crime scenes.

Matt looked at the man: salt and pepper hair, brown eyes, medium build, and a bullet hole in his forehead. "No weapon again?"

"Nope."

"Who found him?" Matt yawned and stretched.

"The cleaning lady. She was supposed to have come last night but got delayed by car trouble and got here early this morning. The poor woman almost had a heart attack. She's back here." He led the way to one of the exam rooms where a female officer was doing her best to calm the lady. "She doesn't speak English, by the way."

Matt nodded, then knelt down next to the woman. "Mi nombre es Matt Houston. ¿Y usted?"

"Mi nombre es Lupe Hernández. Es horrible! El médico es un hombre tan agradable, que haría algo como esto?"

"She says her name is Lupe Hernandez. It's just awful! The doctor is such a nice man, who would do something like this?"

"¿Vio a alguien cuando llegaste aquí?". Matt translated that for Hoyt. "I asked her if she saw anyone when she got here."

"No, no señor. Solamente el medico."

"She only saw the doctor." Matt stood up and patted the woman's hand. "Gracias." Turning to Hoyt he asked, "Was there any sign of forced entry?"

"No, not on any of the doors or the windows."

"Okay, that's three times this guy has broken into an office and there's no sign of it. He either has keys or he's picking the locks." He went to the nearest door and began examining it. Matt saw absolutely nothing.

"Did this guy graduate from UCLA as well?" Matt had forgotten to look while he was in the office.

"Yep, sure did – in 1984." Hoyt himself was completely baffled.

"The other two doctors were members of the Mu Delta Sigma fraternity. I wonder if this guy was as well?" Houston looked back toward the office while he thought.

"I don't know – I haven't seen anything about a fraternity in here."

"Okay, I'm going to interview Mrs. Siler today – the funeral was yesterday so I didn't bother her. Could you try calling Mrs. Anthony and letting her know that I'll be there today?"

"I can do it." Hoyt and Houston both walked out of the office and up the hallway toward the parking lot.

"I'm going to run by the office and grab a shower and change of clothes. I'll call you later." Matt walked on out to the parking lot and his phone began ringing. It was CJ. He smiled as he answered. "Hey sleepyhead. How are you doing?" He climbed behind the wheel of his truck and shut the door.

"Well it seems that my pillow disappeared." CJ yawned and stretched. "Is everything okay?"

"No. Hoyt called: there's been another plastic surgeon killed." He backed out of the parking space and headed towards his office. "I'm on my way to the office for a shower and some clean clothes."

"Alright, well I'll be on my way shortly." She yawned again.

"You could take the day off." Matt thought she was looking a little tired yesterday.

"Nah, no need. I'll see you later. Love you."

"Love you, babe. 'Bye." He hung up and thought about the three doctors. If Anthony was a member of the fraternity as well, he might need to do some checking in that area.

When he got to the office, Matt went downstairs, showered, changed into jeans and a white shirt and went back upstairs just as Chris stepped out of the elevator. "Are you here early or late?" She smiled at her boss and went to start a pot of coffee.

"Early. Hoyt called me to another plastic surgeon's murder." He was looking around behind the bar for something to eat – and was not finding anything that even halfway sounded good. A big stack of CJ's pancakes would really hit the spot. He sighed and then laughed out loud.

"Something funny?" Chris stuck her head around the corner.

"Yeah, it is. I've gotten spoiled the last few months and didn't realize it until just now." He grinned. "Have you had breakfast?"

"Sure have. Guess you haven't?"

"Nope, but I'm about to go find something quick – before I start gnawing on the steering wheel in my truck. See you later." He walked out to the elevator, hit the button, and was gone.