CHAPTER 7
After spending three more hours checking on the members of the class of '84 who didn't make it to graduation, Matt and CJ decided to call it a day. He followed her to the house and they worked together on making a salad. While CJ was content with just a salad, Matt chopped up a left over steak and put it in his. They sat out on the patio eating dinner, then walked down to check on the horses. After making sure they each horse got some attention, they walked back up to the house and crawled into the recliner together to watch another movie.
Matt's phone rang about an hour later. "Damn! It's Hoyt. Hey, what's up?" He listened. "After you warned them…" He listened again and sighed. "Alright, where is it? Be there in a bit. 'Bye." Matt looked over at CJ. "Guess I'll be back in a while." He kissed her and got up out of the recliner.
"Hang on, I'm going with you." She got up and slipped her shoes back on and the pair headed out to the truck. It took nearly thirty minutes for them to get to the office of Dr. Mark Rutgers. They were cleared through by a patrolman and walked into the office suite.
"Well, here we go again." Hoyt led them back to an exam room where they saw the body of Dr. Rutgers. He was sitting on a stool and the upper portion of his body was leaning over on the countertop. Once again, the wound looked like a .22.
"Anything different about this one other than the fact that he was in an exam room?" Matt looked around.
"Not that I can tell." Hoyt was rubbing his eyes.
"Wait a minute – there's a file underneath him." Matt leaned over and tried to take a look. "Can't make out the name right now – he's on top of it." He looked around the room. The paper on the exam table was wrinkled. "It looks like this guy might have been the patient Hoyt." Matt tapped on the paper.
"You're right. After the coroner gets here we can get a look at that file."
CJ spoke up. "Maybe the doctor was going to heed your warning about not staying late, but if he had an emergency patient…"
Matt nodded. "That very well could be it." He looked around. "Let me guess: he was found by the cleaning crew?"
Hoyt pointed toward the back of the suite. "He's back here." They three of them walked down the hallway and found Jack Ulster sitting in the kitchen nook. "Mr. Ulster, this is Matt and CJ Houston. They are private investigators that consult with the department." The three shook hands.
Ulster looked shocked. "I can't believe there's a nut going around killing these doctors. My wife heard about it on the news and told me to be careful here tonight. I never dreamed I would come in and find him like that." He shook his head. "Doc Rutgers was a real nice guy, not snobby like some of 'em I work for…some of 'em can be pretty snotty."
"Have you heard the doc talk about having a problem with anyone: a patient or an employee?" Matt was getting tired of asking the same questions.
"Nah, he seemed to get along with everybody. Real nice fella – even saw my daughter once for free – real bad acne." He took a sip of the Fizzy Pop in his hand.
"Did you notice anyone else around when you got here – anybody in the hall or the elevator?" CJ spoke up this time.
"No…well, I didn't actually see anybody, but I heard something. Like somebody banged into something, but I never saw anybody. It was just as I was about to turn the corner up here…" He motioned to the corner of the hallway where the elevator was located. "When I got around the corner there wasn't anything there. Weird." He took another sip. "Oh God, could it have been the guy that did this?" Fear splashed across his face.
No one said anything for a minute. They were all thinking it, but Mr. Ulster was the only one who said it. "He could have killed me, too."
After the coroner came and left and the body had been removed, and photos had been made of the folder sitting on the countertop, they finally got a look at the name on the folder: Steven Rossi. Hoyt copied down the address and other personal information in the file and they went to his office to look for a record on the man. There was no one by that name with that social security number. "This is the guy. He faked the patient record to get an appointment with the doc. We need to find whoever set up this chart for him. Do you have the number for the office manager?" Matt was starting to feel a little better about this case. So far they had been stalled at every turn. But if they could get a description of this guy, that would sure help.
Hoyt called the home number for the office manager and asked about who had made up the chart and it turned out that she had done it herself. She was extremely upset when she found out about the doctor, but agreed to come down and work with a sketch artist to come up with a drawing of the suspect.
CJ was sitting there listening to the conversation between Hoyt and the office manager when she had an idea. "Matt, we should check the list of non-graduates and see if there is a Steven Rossi on there." He nodded and when Hoyt got off of the phone, they told him what they were going to do and that they would call and let him know.
Back at the office, the pair got off of the elevator and went straight over the back of the couch to BABY. CJ pulled up the list of the students who didn't graduate. "That's him I'll bet." She pointed to the entry for a Steven J. Rossi. She called Hoyt and told him.
"Bingo! Way to go, CJ. Let me run his social security number. The last known address for him was on East 67th. You want to come over here and we'll go together?" Hoyt was ready for this case to be solved. Four victims was four too many.
"Yeah, be right there." Matt turned and started for the elevator as CJ closed up the computer and then followed him. When he pushed the button for the elevator she was right next to him. "You're staying here aren't you?"
"No, I'm going with you." She just looked at him.
"CJ, this could be dangerous. We don't know much about this guy other than the fact that he has probably killed four people. I think you need to stay here or at least at Hoyt's office."
"Matt…" She was ready for battle but he stopped her.
"CJ, we've been through this before, remember? There's a chance you could be pregnant. I'm not going to have you in harm's way."
"Well," As much as she hated it, she knew he was right. "Okay, I'll wait at Hoyt's office."
Matt leaned over and kissed her. "I know you want to be in on it if we bust him, but we can't take that chance, babe." They got on the elevator and started down. He put his arm around her. "It's kind of hard to get used to, isn't it?"
"It is. I've never had to worry so much before." She put her head on his chest. "Sorry."
"You don't have a thing in the world to be sorry about, babe." He leaned over and kissed her. "I love the fact that you're ready to go in there and kick some butt. But right now isn't the time." He looked down at her. "And by the way, you're not the only one who has so much to worry about now. I've always tried to be careful, but now I have reason to be extra careful." The elevator came to a stop in the parking garage and they got in Matt's truck and headed back to Hoyt's office.
Matt pulled his Sig Sauer out of the console of the truck and checked the clip: fully loaded. They got out and he tucked the gun into the waistband of his jeans and headed up to meet Hoyt. When they got to his office he was putting on a bullet-proof vest. He handed one to Matt who started to turn it down, then CJ cleared her throat. "Yes dear." He put it on as Hoyt grinned at him. Matt leaned over and kissed CJ. "Be back quick as we can. Love you."
"Love you, too, hon. Be careful." She plopped down on the couch to wait.
