Corpse Suzette

that the dog was grinning.
    “That’s Sammy,” Myrna said,
“and Baby.”
    “Baby?”
    “The teddy bear’s name is
Baby. I taught Sammy the cutest trick with it. You say, ‘Sammy go get your
baby,’ and he’ll run and get it. Then you say, ‘Sam, love your baby,’ and he
growls and shakes it like it’s a rat. It’s hysterical. Sammy lo-o-oves Baby.”
    Myrna collapsed into
giggles, but Savannah continued to stare at the picture. “He’s really attached
to it, huh?”
    “Oh yes. Suzette always
took Sammy with her, everywhere she went. Everywhere! And wherever Sam went,
Baby went. If she tried to leave the house without the bear, Sam would stand by
the door and bark until she brought it, too.”
    Savannah mentally retraced
her steps when she had searched Suzette’s house. Both times. She was pretty
sure she would have remembered a teddy bear wearing a red and green plaid vest.
    So, Suzette wasn’t allowed
to leave the house without Baby, huh? Interesting. One more reason to consider
that maybe Suzette had staged her own disappearance after all. Leave the dog’s
collar out in a conspicuous place, but take his favorite toy.
    She’d have to mention that
to Dirk when she checked with him next.
    Thoughts of Dirk brought
her back to the business at hand. “Myrna, I need to ask you about something.”
    “As a reporter, or a
private investigator?”
    “Touché. As a plain old
P.I. who’s no longer technically on the job, but eternally curious.”
    “Okay. Ask away.”
    “Who has keys to the
medicine cabinet? The one there in Exam Room One, where Nurse Bridget takes
blood samples.”
    “Keys? Well, let me see.
Sergio and Suzette, of course. And Bridget. And Yasmina.”
    “Who’s Yasmina?”
    “Our anesthesiologist.”
    “Why haven’t I seen her
around?”
    “She hasn’t been here
because we haven’t had any surgeries scheduled.”
    “Who else?”
    “Well, I have a key that I
keep here in my desk.” She opened the bottom drawer and pointed to a small key
that was fastened to the side of the drawer with a piece of cellophane tape.
“We keep one here, just in case somebody loses or forgets theirs and needs to
get something out of the cabinet.”
    “And who knows that one is
there?”
    “Pretty much everybody, I
guess.”
    Savannah sighed. Everybody ,
she thought. Boy, that narrows the list—not at all.
    “So, tell me more about
this anesthesiologist, Yasmina.”
    “She’s fantastic at what
she does. She won’t have a problem getting work at another clinic. A
bunch of Beverly Hills surgeons have been after her for years, trying to lure
her away from Suzette.”
    “Do you suppose I could
speak to her sometime soon?”
    “You could talk to her
today, but as I said before, she isn’t here. She’s at Mystic Twilight, also
packing up her things.”
    Mystic Twilight, Savannah thought. I
need to check that place out anyway. “Could we maybe call her there? See if
she’ll talk to me and if she’ll hang around long enough for me to get out
there.”
    “Sure. I’ll give her a call
right now and you can ask her.” She gave Savannah a funny little smile.
“Anything for a girlfriend.”
     
    Dr. Yasmina La Rue sounded
like a sweetheart over the phone, with a soft, Caribbean accent and a chuckle
in her voice. But she also sounded like she meant it when she told Savannah,
“I’d be happy to talk to you, dear, but once I’m packed, I’m leaving Mystic
Twilight for good. You’d better hurry.”
    So Savannah didn’t dawdle
about getting into the Mustang and heading into the foothills east of town. She
called Dirk on her cell phone and gave him the news.
    “Where are you?” she asked
him.
    “Just approaching the city
limits. I got done in Santa Barbara a little early. Why?”
    “I’m headed for the Mystic
Twilight spa in Hidden Canyon. I have a personal invitation from Suzette’s
anesthesiologist, a lady named Yasmina La Rue. Have you been there yet?” she
asked him.
    “No. The staff there at
Emerge told me that nobody has been around there for a couple of weeks now, so
I didn’t bother. Did you check out the keys there at Emerge... who had them,
who didn’t?”
    “They all had one or had
access to one. Everybody and their uncle’s dog’s first cousin. Nothing there.”
    “All right. You want me to
come out there with you?”
    “Not particularly. I’m just
going to poke around. If I see anything interesting, I’ll give you a buzz.”
    “Okay. I’m going to go back
to