A.W. Hartoin - Mercy Watts 04 - Drop Dead Red (7 page)

“I can’t,” he said, his dark eyes pleading. “I have to know how much trouble Donatella’s in.”
 

I bit my lip. Dad would kill me if I said anything. On the other hand, what could it hurt? “Is this just between you and me?”
 

“I swear. My family doesn’t know I’m here and I won’t tell them.” Oz took my hands and pressed them between his buttery soft leather gloves. “Please.”
 

“Blankenship didn’t implicate her. He claims he doesn’t know her and appears to have no interest in screwing her over. But keep in mind that he’s a mass murderer, so pretty much all bets are off.”
 

“What else? There’s something else,” said Oz.
 

“I don’t think it’s Donatella, but there’s somebody in the mix. He wasn’t completely alone in the shooting. Someone was involved somehow.”
 

“Are you having one of your father’s famous feelings?”

“I guess so.”
 

“Good. Someone else being involved is good for Donatella. I’ll put some feelers out and see what I can come up with.”
 

I yanked my hands away. “You said you wouldn’t involve your family. They’re going to know about me.”
 

“Not necessarily. Tulio is my aunt’s favorite restaurant. We’ve known the owners for fifty years. My family will want to help. They don’t need to hear your name,” said Oz.
 

“You’ll tell me what you find out?”
 

“And you can filter the information through your father. Everybody wins.”
 

Usually when someone says that, I’m the one who loses. But I nodded anyway. “Can I go now?”

Oz stepped aside and then looked up. “Check it out.”
 

I peered through the window of my truck and there, at the top of the stairs, was Aunt Miriam. No coat. No expression. The increasing snow half obscured her. If it weren’t for the wind whipping her veil around, I would’ve thought she was an illusion.
 

“Oh, no.”
 

“That woman is scary,” said Oz. “She reminds me of Sister Constance at school. She hit me. A lot.”

“You have no idea. Quick. Go before she writes down your plate number,” I said.
 

“Do you think she will?”
 

I jumped in my truck. “Count on it. Go.”
 

Oz walked to his car like he didn’t care that the world’s scariest nun was giving him the stink eye. His car turned over on the first try and he drove away before my ancient truck even thought about starting. The engine finally revved and I looked back up, praying she wasn’t coming down for ‘a talk.’ The top stair was empty. Aunt Miriam had vanished into the swirling snow. If only her memories of Oz would vanish as well. But they wouldn’t and, when I least expected it, Aunt Miriam would happen to remember a handsome member of the Fibonacci family in a wintry parking lot. Eventually, this meeting would come back to bite me in the butt.
 

Chapter Five

MY NIGHT IN the ER was as nutty as a Watts family reunion, but without the drunk uncles and lectures on the importance of being Irish. A guy zipped his penis up in his jeans. Another guy got amorous with a lightbulb. Radiology will keep those films forever. A fight broke out at a Furry convention. You haven’t lived until you’ve treated cuts and bruises on six guys in fox costumes. On the normal side, there were a few accidents involving people who didn’t understand the concept of black ice. I managed to stay awake with the help of burnt coffee and stacks of charts that needed to be updated.

I finally walked out into the icy morning air at 7:30am. My truck was more enthused about starting, and I was about to pull out when Dad’s ringtone started in my purse.
 

“No. I’m not answering.” I put my truck in reverse.
 

Dad hung up and then my phone started again. This time with the Wicked Witch of the West ringtone. Come on. Who was next? Uncle Morty?
 

I sighed and dug out my phone. “Hello.”
 

“Hi, honey,” said Mom. “Here’s Dad.”
 

Damnit.

“Mercy, what are you doing?”
 

“Is this a trick question? I just got off work,” I said, rubbing my eyes and smearing the remains of my mascara on my fingers.
 

“Excellent. Head over to Children’s. Donatella is expecting you. The kids are in the PICU,” said Dad.

“It’s the crack of dawn. It can wait.”
 

“Remember Ameche.”
 

“Like you’d let me forget,” I said. “I’ll go over after I sleep. Seriously. It was a busy night.”

“It was not. I have a scanner, girl. You caught five MVAs. None of them over thirty-five miles an hour. You were bored senseless. Get over to Children’s.”
 

“What’s the rush?”
 

“I’ll let the doc explain that.” Dad hung up like there was no chance I wouldn’t disobey. The odds were actually in favor of disobeying, but somehow I turned right when I should’ve turned left. Damn my curiosity. Dad always knew how to get to me.
 

St. Louis Children’s Hospital was surprisingly busy, especially for a weekday morning before eight o’clock. Children got sick, too. Sometimes I forgot that. I wanted to forget that very much. Not that Children’s was an unpleasant hospital. It was the only hospital that didn’t make me somber. There were colors, real colors. Not just soothing earth tones, but primary colors. I trotted past a red sculpture of an elephant and dashed in under a pretty portico that an artist designed to be welcoming, not an apology for having to be there.
 

I rode the elevator to the kangaroo floor and was just starting to feel chipper when the door opened. There was Chuck, hunched over like someone recently kicked him in the groin. Sidney Wick stood beside him, looking the way Dad described him, not beautiful.
 

We all stayed put until the elevator doors started to close. Chuck’s long arm shot out and stopped it. “Fancy meeting you here.”
 

“You should be totally shocked. I know I am,” I said, stepping out onto the animal print carpeting.
 

Sidney shook his head. “You’re not going to cause me any problems, are you, Miss Watts?”
 

“Who me?” I asked. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
 

“Why are you here then?”
 

Chuck stayed silent. He clearly already knew.
 

“Ameche’s my friend and I’m a nurse. I can deal with the medical stuff. Explain things. It helps to have an expert when the family’s under so much stress,” I said.
 

Sidney’s heavy rounded shoulders relaxed. “Ameche didn’t mention that you were helping out.”
 

“Why would he? Medical explanations have nothing to do with what happened at Tulio.”

“Let’s hope not.” Sidney went onto the elevator. “You coming, Watts?”
 

Chuck let go of the elevator door. “Be down in a minute.”
 

Sidney raised an eyebrow at us, but the door cut him off before he could insinuate something I’d rather not have insinuated.
 

I spun around and headed for the PICU doors, but Chuck grabbed my arm. “Hold it right there, Missy.”
 

“Missy? Are you high?” I asked, shaking him off.
 

“I don’t know where that came from. I’m so damn tired, I’m not sure what your real name is.”
 

“Carolina.”
 

“Oh, yeah,” he said with a wan smile, and then he sniffed me. I hate when men sniff me and it happens more than you’d think. “Is that Aunt Miriam’s meatloaf?”
 

“You don’t know my name, but you can recognize the meatloaf smell.”
 

“It’s distinctive,” he said.
 

“I’ll give you that.” I shoved him toward the elevator. “Go to bed.”
 

Chuck grinned and the sleaze came roaring through the exhaustion. “I will, if you come with me.”

“Gross.”
 

“No, it’s not. Everyone says so.”
 

I wrinkled my nose. “That’s why it’s gross.”
 

“That didn’t come out right,” said Chuck.
 

And yet it’s true. Slut.

“See ya. Gotta go.”
 

Chuck snagged my arm and steered me to a cushy bench done in orange. “So you caught this case?”

“I didn’t catch it. It hit me in the head at Dad’s insistence.”

“Maybe you can calm the Berrys down. They want someone to blame for Tulio.”
 

“Do you think it was random?” I asked.
 

“Blankenship says it was and Sidney believes him. He wanted to ruin the restaurant after they fired him. He didn’t know the Berrys.”

“That sounds so stupid when you say it out loud. All those people. Children. Over getting fired.”
 

“Agreed. What did
he
say?” asked Chuck.

I grimaced and crossed my arms.

“Come on. Tommy told me that he was sending you out to Hunt.” There was a sharpness in his voice that surprised me. Chuck was Dad’s protégé and I’d never heard an ounce of criticism come out of his mouth before.
 

“You got a problem with me going out there?” I asked.

Chuck’s lean form bent over me and he whispered, “You bet I do. I told Tommy not to send you. It wasn’t right to ask that of you.”
 

I was so surprised. I couldn’t say anything. Chuck was more protective of me than my own father. Come to think of it, it wasn’t so surprising. Dad had sent me to places nobody should go. It was a no-brainer to think I shouldn’t go to Hunt.
 

“How bad was it?” asked Chuck.
 

I shrugged. I didn’t really know what to say.

“That bad?”

“Not really. Blankenship was…”

Chuck’s face went hard. “Did he threaten you?”
 

“No. Nothing like that. It was just weird, being in that place and looking at him, knowing what he did.”

“You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked.

“Of course. You must think I’m a serious wimp.”
 

“Not at all. Did you get anything from Blankenship?”

“Not really.” I didn’t want to say anything about Blankenship having a partner, in case Dad wanted that information close hold.

“Good. Promise me you won’t go out there again,” said Chuck.

I had absolutely no intention of even driving by Hunt’s gate, but I didn’t say that because I could do whatever the hell I wanted, “I will not. I’ll do whatever I have to do to help out Ameche and Donatella. You should know that.”
 

“I do. I wish I didn’t.” He grinned and was still charming, despite the dark circles under his eyes. “Missed a spot.” He kissed my cheek and I caught the scent of good whiskey underneath coffee and a mint.

“A spot of what?” I wiped his nonexistent spit off my cheek.

“Whatever.” Another winning grin.
 

But I was not won over. “Save it for Philippa.”
 

“We broke up. Didn’t she tell you?”
 

My hands went to my hips. “I hope you didn’t break her heart.”
 

“That’s not what I do. She knew it would never get serious anyway.”
 

I didn’t ask why. Philippa was great and Chuck was obviously an idiot.
 

He let go of my arm and I headed for the PICU doors. I could feel him watching me walk away. Maybe Philippa was lucky after all.