Fine Points Malice And Payback
Rookie Tucson Detective Andrew Coates - Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3…
Andrew had fallen asleep on his sofa with his cell phone pressed against his cheek. The repetitive chime woke him with a start at 3AM. “Yeah…This is Andrew.”
“Coates, its Mendoza. Brayburn and I were about to go off shift, but we got called by two patrol officers who answered a 911 disturbance at Rock Creek Apartments near the university.”
“You got a fifth victim. Same MO, but this time she was still breathing, barely. She’s been rushed to University Medical.”
“Shit!”
“Keep it together kid. Clarence and I are on our way to the hospital. We’ll meet you there. I’ll text the captain too.”
Andrew was wide awake. His heart raced as if he’d sprinted, uphill, but his head felt like it was packed with wet cement.
………..
When Christos looked around the church basement everyone else in the vast shelter appeared asleep. Vance snored quietly on the cot to his left. Arizona was on another cot to his right breathing deeply, but quietly.
The woman in Christos’ reoccurring dream seemed familiar, but each time he awoke details of her image faded… A tall fine-boned woman knocked on a door in front of him. When he opened the door, he was given an envelope. Inside the envelope were two photographs, one of Saint Luther’s Church and a second one of a boot print.
Christos had recognized the sole pattern, as the same as the boots he had been issued for his Air Force graduation, twenty-six years before.
He lay back on the soft paper covering his pillow, fairly sure that anything in a dream was not a reliable clue for the kid detective’s murder investigation. Still, he liked the eager, younger man and decided to share what he remembered.
………..
Detective Coates braked abruptly, stopping in a fire lane. He leaped from his vintage Bronco, at a run toward the Emergency Admissions sign. Bursting inside, he looked frantically for Detectives Mendoza and Brayburn.
His blonde hair stood almost straight up at the back of his head, his shirt was half tucked in, and dark circles rimmed deep below his grey-brown eyes. He looked like he needed medical attention.
“Coates, isn’t it? Detective Andrew Coates?”
The voice behind him sounded familiar, but when he turned, if it hadn’t been for her distinctive deep blue eyes, Andrew would not have recognized Captain Fleming’s wife Suzanne.
He had only seen her in the office twice since joining the Tucson police. She had breezed in both times, stylishly dressed, with hair and makeup perfect. She was a stunner.
He was thrown, seeing her in nurses’ scrubs. She was without makeup and her long dyed blonde hair was twisted in a simple bun. He nodded mutely.
“Are you okay? You really don’t look good. Arthur’s working you too hard.”
“You…” His throat was dry. He swallowed and tried again. “You work here?”
She nodded, with a half-smile that immediately reminded him of the Mona Lisa.
“Have you seen Lucia Mendoza or Clarence Brayburn? They were following an ambulance, and I was supposed to meet them here.”
“Through those doors, second trauma room to the right.” Suzanne pointed.
Andrew bolted in the direction Suzanne indicated.
“Shit Coates! You look worse than your fifth victim.” Lucia Mendoza was not with her partner; she had been pacing the hall floor.
“Clarence is in there. And now that you’re here I’m going home.” Detective Mendoza headed for the doors that Andrew had just walked through.
Behind the curtain that covered the glass door of the trauma cubical, Clarence delivered the blunt news the instant Andrew pushed open the frosted glass to TU-2A.
“She died three minutes ago.”
Andrew didn’t move. He felt like he wore bricks on his feet, but his legs were limp as rubber.
Dr. Lopez came in directly behind Andrew. “Here son, you need to sit down.” He pointed to an armless chair in the corner.
A nurse removed an oxygen mask and airway tubes from the face of a young woman in the bed before them. “Should I cover her face doctor?”
Dr. Lopez shook his head. “I’ll do that. I need to see her for a few minutes first.”
After tossing out disposable syringes, tape, bandages and drip bags into specialized trash bins, the nurse left the room.
Lifting the lower half of the sheet first, Dr. Lopez checked the young woman’s abdomen, shook his head and replaced the sheet. Then he moved to her head and examined the wound behind her left ear. “Do you have her name, Clarence?”
Detective Brayburn tapped his phone then scrolled to his notes. “Rosa Chavez, twenty-seven. According to the landlord she had just moved into her studio apartment three months ago.”
The senior detective turned to Andrew. “Neighbors were disturbed by a loud crashing sound that came from her apartment around 2AM – then it was quiet – then neighbors heard groaning about twenty minutes later.”
The pragmatic doctor looked directly at both officers. “My quick preliminary assessment of Rosa Chavez is that she is indeed the fifth victim of the same killer who attacked Carol Huntington and three other women before her.”
Andrew was stunned. Shaky, he made himself stand and walk to Rosa Chavez’s bedside. Color was already fading from the youthful round face, making her skin resemble Irish porcelain.
“You need some food young man.” Dr, Lopez looked from Andrew to Clarence. “Will you join us, I’m buying.”
Detective Brayburn checked his watch. “Thanks doc, but I’m off duty an hour ago and I’m going to bed.”
Andrew came out of his fog. “The captain? Does he know everything that’s happened?”
Brayburn shrugged. “He should, he gave strict orders after he was left out of the loop with Huntington.”
“Lucia sent him a text just before she called you and I sent him another after we got here. But so far, he hasn’t responded, which isn’t like him. But my guess is that the police chief and the mayor know too, and Fleming’s trapped putting out some administration fires.”
Dr. Lopez pulled the sheet over the face of Rosa Chavez then called his assistant to sign her body out with a formal transfer to the morgue.
“Let’s go Andrew. The breakfast menu here is really pretty good and the coffee is above average.”
Andrew felt drained. He didn’t remember taking the elevator to the cafeteria floor, nor ordering the waffles and scrambled eggs that appeared in front of him.
“Down this orange juice first,” Dr. Lopez held a glass in front of Andrew’s face, “then have some coffee. Fruit sugar is what your body needs, and caffeine is what your brain needs - now.”
Coates emptied the small glass and almost immediately felt himself come-to. “Thanks Doc. orange juice huh?”
Dr. Lopez attacked his own plate of waffles. “Best upper that nature ever made.” He grinned taking a bite that filled his mouth.
The two men finished their breakfast in silence then just as Dr. Lopez was returning with a coffee refill his pager tone sounded.
“Darn. Gotta go son. Rosa’s family has arrived at the morgue.” He stood and rested a fatherly hand on Andrew’s shoulder. “I had hoped to spend a few minutes helping you through the shock. That process is important even though I know you saw some pretty tough traffic accidents.”
“Since I need to run, my immediate advice is to call in sick. Take the rest of this day off. Give your mind and your nerves a break. Go to a toy store and buy some Lego or go to a park and play in the sand with some kids but do something else entirely removed from the last five weeks.”
With respect and deepening gratitude, Detective Coates watched Dr. Lopez hurry away.
“Do you mind if I join you?”
For the second time in less than two hours Suzanne Fleming’s voice came out of nowhere from directly behind him. He didn’t know why, but he almost felt ambushed.
“Not at all,” he recovered. “I’m just working my way through a second coffee, doctor’s orders.”
She sat in the chair Lopez had left only minutes before. “Simon Lopez is so revered around here there isn’t one staff member who wouldn’t throw themselves on top of a bomb to save him.”
A gold Arizona sunrise spread a soft glow across the upper floor windows of the hospital. Outside, the plants and benches in the outdoor courtyard took on a painted look.
Andrew nodded, feeling the warmth of the coffee slide down to his stomach that had thankfully stopped lurching.
“I heard about Ms. Chavez. I’m sure her survival could have made a huge difference to your investigation.” Suzanne’s voice was low, but it struck Andrew as if she was choosing her words.
She took a sip of her coffee from a tall travel mug. “Does her death set some of your investigation back?”
Coates was tempted to unload, but Suzanne Fleming was his captain’s wife, a civilian and he didn’t know her well enough to confide about his revolving panic.
“It’s too soon to tell. We may discover info we didn’t have before, or find another bit that was also present at one of the previous murders…” He stopped himself before he said something he couldn’t take back.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry. Arthur never talks about his work. He has a deep line-in-the-sand behind his personal life,”
Mrs. Fleming moved a paper napkin to her right. “There’s homicide and robbery over here.” She moved a plastic spoon to her left. “And me about here.” She waved her mug in the air between the napkin and the spoon.
Andrew didn’t want Suzanne Fleming to share any more.
“I’ve never been able to get Arthur to talk about his work, not even when we were dating. I see the end result of crime in Emergency but must get any details of a case from the Tucson Star like everyone else.”
“I think it’s fascinating what you’ve managed to do so far. Taking three cold-cases and linking them to the death of that woman pastor, or whatever she was.
I saw Ms. Chavez’s chart and caught Lucia Mendoza before she left. I’m so sorry that this looks like victim number five.”
“Well, nothing’s been released to the press yet, so for the sake of my job and this open case Mrs. Fleming, I need to ask you to keep what you discovered confidential.”
“Oh, absolutely. I know how Arthur can get about confidentiality; his middle name is secret. Don’t worry, all nurses and doctors are taught confidentiality and privacy right along with biology and chemistry.” She smiled.
Suzanne looked away for a moment but made no move to leave. “I can’t reveal the names of patients on my shift and Arthur won’t even hint about any of his investigations – so what are we to do?”
“Guess we need to find a mutual interest – maybe rock-climbing, or pottery…or puzzles!” Her voice broke suddenly into a high-pitched laugh.
Andrew realized the conversation was still continuing in a direction he really didn’t want it going. “You, always worked in the Emergency Ward?” The question was a feeble attempt to distract Mrs. Fleming.
She looked surprised by the question. “No. No, I started out in delivery rooms then switched to OR cases about the time I met Arthur.”
“But four years ago, I decided I needed another change. Emergency is never routine. I work a twelve-hour shift, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday every week.”
“Oh, hell it’s almost six.” She checked her watch. “My morning break is over. I still have five hours to go.”
She stood then leaned toward Andrew. “Don’t worry Detective Coates I won’t tell Arthur that we talked. If he can keep secrets, we can too.”
……………………………
[Amazon Books or Barnes & Noble]