Notorious Nineteen

there’s no rush.”
    I pulled the key out of the ignition. “Let’s go say hello.”
    “Okay, but if I get one whiff of hospital cooties I’m out of there.”
    I walked to the door and looked inside. Small vestibule. Dark. The front door was locked. I couldn’t see beyond the vestibule.
    “You sure Nurse Norma comes here?” Lula asked. “Don’t look like nobody’s home.”
    I rang the bell and waited. I rang a second time. Nothing. We walked around the building, but the blinds were drawn and we couldn’t see in any of the windows. An undergroundgarage entrance in the back was sealed off by a roll-down door. There was also a metal fire door in the back. It too was locked.
    “Guess there aren’t a lot of ladies getting their fat sucked out today,” Lula said. “Business doesn’t look all that good.”
    We went back to the car and sat there.
    “What are we waiting for?” Lula asked.
    “I don’t know. I guess I’m waiting for something to happen.”
    “Looks to me like that could take a while.”
    “I’d like to see what’s in this building.”
    “You thinking it could be Cubbin? Like they could have him in here hanging by his thumbs until he tells them where he’s got the money stashed?” Lula said.
    “It’s a possibility.”
    “I bet I could get us in.”
    “Yes, but you’d break something. There’s a keypad on the front door. At four o’clock Nurse Norma is going to show up and punch in her code.”
    “And all we have to do is watch and get the code.”
    I turned the key in the ignition. “I’m going to move the car to the next lot so Norma doesn’t see it, and then I’m going to come back and find a place where I can see the keypad.”
    “You got binoculars?”
    “Yep.”
    I parked around the corner and left Lula with Tiki. It wasn’t quite two o’clock, so Lula had time for a nap and I had time toinvestigate some of the other buildings in the area and ask about The Clinic.
    I went to FedEx first.
    “I’m looking for The Clinic,” I said. “I was told it was in this park but I can’t find it.”
    “It’s all by itself at the end of the street,” the woman behind the counter said. “If you go out of our lot and turn left and keep going you’ll find it. I’ve never been in it myself, but they drop off here once in a while.”
    “I’m applying for a job there and the ad was vague. What kind of a place is it? The ad just said they were looking for a med tech.”
    “I don’t know what they do. They won’t ship anything for months, and then they’ll send out a bunch of cold packs and that’ll be it. Probably they use other shipping companies.”
    Myron Cryo Industries was The Clinic’s closest neighbor. Myron was in a large sleek black glass cube, separated from The Clinic by a clump of trees and shrubs. The lobby was high-gloss onyx and polished chrome. The guy working the reception desk was in a suit that had me thinking he moon-lighted at a Holiday Inn.
    “I’m supposed to be applying for a job at The Clinic,” I said to him, “but it doesn’t seem to be open for business. The front door is locked and no one answers. Did they move or something?”
    “As far as I can tell that’s normal for The Clinic. It always looks closed.”
    “Do you know what they do there? It didn’t say in the ad.”
    “Don’t know. I’ve never seen anyone go in or go out. Our security guard says sometimes he hears the garage door going up.”
    I walked to the end of the cul-de-sac, where there was another wooded area, and I was able to lose myself in the foliage. I leaned against a tree and waited, suspecting this was wasted effort. Nurse Norma was most likely going to enter through the garage.
    At four Norma’s Jag cruised down the street, turned in to the private drive at the side of the building, and disappeared around back. I heard the garage door roll up, and I dropped my binoculars back into my messenger bag. So much for this brilliant idea.
    I stayed in place and watched the building for signs of activity. After ten minutes I heard the garage door roll up again, and a black Cadillac Escalade with dark tinted windows appeared from the back of the building and motored down the street. I couldn’t get a good look at the driver but I copied the plate and called Connie to trace it.
    Lula was asleep when I reached the Buick. I rapped on the window to jolt her awake, and she snapped to attention.
    “Who? What?” she said.
    I slid behind the wheel and cranked the