Notorious Nineteen

have eaten something, but I couldn’t remember. My mind was on the bars. It was hard to get past the fact that Susan Cubbin had five million dollars in gold in her kitchen. A dilemma I wasn’t likely to face because the men I loved didn’t have stolen gold bars buried in their backyards. At least none that I knew about.

TWENTY-ONE
    I WAS SHOCKED out of sleep by someone banging on my apartment door. I rolled out of bed and padded to my small foyer. The sun was pouring into my living room. The day had started without me. I looked through the peephole and didn’t see anyone. There was more pounding and I realized it was low on the door. I looked through the peephole again, this time down toward the floor. It was Briggs. I opened my door and he rushed in.
    “A person could grow old standing out there,” Briggs said. He squinted at me. “Are you still in pajamas? It’s the middle of the day.”
    “It’s eight o’clock in the morning.”
    “Well, it feels like the middle of the day. I’ve been up since three. I can’t sleep. This disappearing patient thing is drivingme nuts. And I think the hospital is interviewing security people. They’re gonna fire me over this.”
    “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
    “Are you kidding? It’s worse than that bad . They didn’t want to hire me in the first place.”
    “Because you’re short?”
    “No. Because I’m incompetent. I have no qualifications. All I’ve got going for me is the short card.”
    “Better than nothing.”
    “Yeah, go figure.”
    I walked into the kitchen and got the coffeemaker working. “What do you want from me?”
    “I want you to find these guys.”
    “I’ve been trying,” I said to Briggs. “Do you want coffee?”
    “Yeah. You got any eggs?”
    “No.”
    “Toast?”
    “No.”
    “Cereal?”
    “No.”
    “What have you got?” he asked.
    “Coffee.”
    “How do you live like this?”
    I took two coffee mugs from the cabinet and set them on the counter. “I keep forgetting to stop at the store.”
    I gave Briggs his coffee, set him in front of the television, and brought Tiki in to keep him company while I took ashower. I wanted to help Briggs but I had nowhere to go. I was out of ideas.
    I took as long as possible in the shower, drying my hair, applying makeup. I wasn’t eager to start my day.
    “Hey,” Briggs yelled from the living room. “Did you die in there? Let’s go!”
    I ambled out. “Where do you want to go?”
    “The Clinic. I think you should bust in there and search the place. Dollars to donuts Pitch is in there.”
    “How am I supposed to bust in? No one answers the door.”
    “Break a window. Kick down the door. What the heck do I care? Just get in.”
    “Why don’t you go in? You’re the only one with a way to get in.”
    “I’m afraid I’ll get caught trespassing or something. And then I’ll for sure lose my job. You and Fatso break into places all the time. It don’t matter with your job. And you got a cop for a boyfriend.”
    “I’ll drive us out there, and we’ll take a look, but I’m not breaking in.”
    “How about if something’s going on?”
    “Like what?”
    “Like a helicopter landing. Or Pitch looking out a window? Or attack dogs patrolling the property.”
    “If we see any of those things I’ll call Morelli.”
    “I guess that’s okay,” Briggs said. “I just don’t want Pitch getting away.”
    I parked within sight of The Clinic, and Briggs and I watched the building for three hours.
    “I’m hungry,” I said. “And nothing’s happening. I’m giving up on this.”
    “He’s gotta be in there,” Briggs said. “Where else would he be?”
    “Switzerland?”
    “There’s a car coming,” Briggs said. “Duck down!”
    The car sped past us and turned in to the driveway to The Clinic’s garage. We sat and waited and an hour later the car left The Clinic and drove down the road. I followed at a distance.
    “This is big,” Briggs said. “This is a new car. It’s a silver Lexus. It wasn’t in the garage that night. And it doesn’t belong to Nurse Cokehead.”
    The Lexus left Route 1, cut across North Trenton, and pulled into the parking lot of the medical center where Craig Fish had his practice.
    It was Craig Fish.
    “This isn’t earthshaking, since he’s supposed to work at The Clinic,” I said to Briggs.
    “Yeah, but why would he go there if there were no patients? He must be checking on someone.”
    I drove across town, hit the drive-through