Rizzoli & Isles 8-Book Set

They would have no video footage of this corridor.
    Downstairs she slipped into the conference room where Moore and two nurses were reviewing the surveillance tapes. No one glanced her way; they were all focused on the TV monitor, where the tape was playing.
    The camera was aimed at the 5 West elevators. On the video, the elevator door opened. Moore froze the image.
    “There,” he said. “This is the first group to come off the elevator after the code was called. I count eleven passengers, and they all get off in a rush.”
    “That’s what you’d expect in a Code Blue,” said the charge nurse. “An announcement goes over the hospital speaker system. Anyone who’s available is expected to respond.”
    “Take a good look at these faces,” said Moore. “Do you recognize everyone? Is there anyone who shouldn’t be there?”
    “I can’t see all the faces. They step off in one group.”
    “How about you, Sharon?” Moore asked the second nurse.
    Sharon leaned toward the monitor. “These three here, they’re nurses. And the two young men, at the side, they’re medical students. I recognize that third man there—” She pointed to the top of the screen. “An orderly. The others look familiar, but I don’t know their names.”
    “Okay,” said Moore, weariness in his voice. “Let’s watch the rest. Then we’ll look at the stairwell camera.”
    Rizzoli moved closer until she stood right behind the charge nurse.
    On the screen, the images backed up, and the elevator door slid shut. Moore pressed Play and the door opened again. Eleven people stepped out, moving like a multilegged organism in their hurry to reach the code. Rizzoli saw urgency in their faces, and even without sound the sense of crisis was obvious. That knot of people vanished to the left of the screen. The elevator door closed. A moment passed, and the door re-opened, discharging another gush of personnel. Rizzoli counted thirteen passengers. So far a total of twenty-four people had arrived on the floor in under three minutes—and that was just by elevator. How many more had arrived by the stairwell? Rizzoli watched with growing amazement. The timing had been flawless. Calling a Code Blue was like setting off a stampede. With dozens of personnel from all over the hospital converging on 5 West, anyone wearing a white coat could slip in unnoticed. The unsub would no doubt stand in the back of the elevator, behind everyone else. He would be careful to keep another person between him and the camera. They were up against someone who knew exactly how a hospital functioned.
    She watched the second group of elevator passengers move off the screen. Two of the faces had remained hidden throughout.
    Now Moore switched tapes, and the view changed. They were looking at the stairwell door. For a moment nothing happened. Then the door swung open, and a man in a white coat came barreling through.
    “I know him. That’s Mark Noble, one of the interns,” said Sharon.
    Rizzoli took out her spiral notebook and jotted down the name.
    The door flew open again, and two women emerged, both in white uniforms.
    “That’s Veronica Tam,” said the charge nurse, pointing to the shorter of the pair. “She works on Five West. She was on break when the code was called.”
    “And the other woman?”
    “I don’t know. You can’t see her face very well.”
    Rizzoli wrote down:
     
    10:48, stairwell camera:
    Veronica Tam, nurse, 5 West.
    Unknown female, black hair, lab coat.
     
    A total of seven people came through the stairwell door. The nurses recognized five of them. So far Rizzoli had counted thirty-one people who’d arrived by either elevator or stairwell. Add to that the personnel already at work on the floor, and they were dealing with at least forty people with access to 5 West.
    “Now watch what happens as people leave during and after the code,” said Moore. “This time they’re not rushing. Maybe you can pick up a few more faces and names.” He fast-forwarded. At the bottom of the screen, the time display advanced eight minutes. The code was still in progress, but already unneeded personnel were beginning to drift away from the ward. The camera caught only their backs as they walked to the stairwell door. First, two male medical students, followed a moment later by a third unidentified man, departing alone. Then there was a long pause, which Moore fast-forwarded through. Next a group of four men exited together into the stairwell. The time was