Ming shrugged. “I guess stranger things have been known to happen.” From over her partner’s shoulder she spotted a six-foot-six brick house of a man approaching with tears in his eyes.
Whatever Tyrese was saying he stopped in midsentence and turned to see what had caught her attention.
“Hi, I’m Detective Delaney,” she said, moving toward the man. “Did you know the victim?”
The giant nodded as his kind brown eyes continued to swim through shallow films of tears. “I’m Theodore Watts, lead nurse on third shift. I believe I might have been one of the last people to see Dr. Bancroft before she was killed.” Ming’s brows stretched upward while simultaneously flipping her notepad open again. “When was the last time you saw her?” “Early this morning. I-I think it as sometime around 2: 00 a.m.” He wiped at a stray tear. Surprised at the large man’s waterworks, Ming cast a quick glance back at her partner, only to be rewarded with another shrug. “And your relationship with Dr. Bancroft was strictly...professional?” Sniffing, he nodded but continued to scrutinize the man while he relayed the events of his last encounter with Dr. Bancroft. “Did you notice anything odd about her behavior? Was she nervous or jumpy?” Theo thought the question over before he responded. “No. She seemed normal.”
He seemed genuine, but in murder cases, Ming had discovered that there was a world of great actors outside of Hollywood. “If we have any further question is there an address and phone number where we can contact you?”
Theo, as he liked to be called, gave them his contact information and, before he left the two officers, he stole a glance to the yellow crime tape around Bancroft’s BMW. “It’s a real shame. I hope you catch whoever did this.” Ming studied him again. “We’ll do what we can.” Theo nodded as his eyes glazed over, but he spared the partners more tears as he turned and walked away. “That was interesting,” Tyrese said. “Do you think that he was lying?” “About what part?” “The strictly professional colleagues part. He seemed awfully torn up about this.”
Ming’s gaze remained locked on the departing giant as she mulled over her answer. “I’m not quite sure what I think. Right now I’m focused on finding Michelle Andrews, preferably alive.”
Josephine Ferrell held her temper in check as she was escorted into Marcus Hines’s office, but as her eyes met the practice administrator’s, she actually felt her skin crawl with irritation.
“Ms. Ferrell,” he began with an unsure smile. “What a surprise. I was just about to call…”
“Spare me,” she said, sliding open her mid-length, coffee and cream chinchilla to settle her gloved hands against her hips. “The first thing I want to know is how your reputable that was the word you used last week, wasn’t it?”
Mr. Hines cleared his throat and gave her a slow nod.
“Good. I didn’t want to get it wrong. How is it that your reputable institution failed, not only to provide the possible care for my sister, but also manage to lose her in the process?”
Once again, Hines cleared his throat and squirmed beneath her hard gaze. “Ms. Ferrell, I know that you’re upset.”
“Pissed.”
“Very well. I know you’re pissed. But I want to assure you that we’re doing everything we can to get to the bottom of what happened here last night.”
Josephine’s lips curled as utter loathing for the short balding man hit her like a whip. “And what about finding my sister?”
Hines paled to the point of looking ghostly. “Of course, we’re working closely with the authorities in locating Michelle.”
Josephine’s sneer turned into a wicked smile. “Are you now?” She glided over to a vacant chair in front of his desk and took her time settling into its soft cushions. “May I ask when exactly were you going to tell me about all of this?”
He hesitated a second too long.
“After discussing your position with your attorneys?” she guessed, and waited to scrutinize his reaction. “Maybe you’re worried that I’ll sue the hell out of this two-bit organization?”
“Now, Josephine—“
“Ms. Ferrell.”
Hines plopped into his own chair, seemingly unprepared to handle this sort of dilemma. “Ms. Ferrell, the practice was first trying to ascertain the full scope of the situation. We wanted to first make sure that Michelle wasn’t somewhere else on the fifteenth floor before we informed you that she was indeed missing.” “So you thought that you simply misplaced her?” A flash of annoyance flickered across his features. “We didn’t misplace her.” “As far as you know,” she countered, without missing a beat.
He paused as if needing to do a mental count to ten before continuing. “Ms. Ferrell, I understand that you’re angry...” He caught her daggered stare. “Pissed,” he corrected. “But there is a certain protocol that we must adhere to—” “Meaning that this has happened before?” He hesitated again, and Josephine waited patiently for his answer. “Years ago, we had a patient who wandered from the facility.”
One delicate eyebrow arched as she measured the nervous man before her. “Wandered off?” She suffered through another bout of his clearing his throat before he got around to clarifying his statement.
“It was a good ten years ago. Since then we’ve implemented security measures to prevent something like that from ever happening again.” “And yet my sister is missing.” “But she didn’t wander off,” he countered. “And how did you come to that conclusion?”
“You need an ID badge to scan in and out of the fifteenth floor. Period. So, whoever took your sister knew exactly what they were doing.”
“Took her?” Josephine blinked, then leaned forward in her chair. “Why would anyone want to take my sister?”
Hines patiently braided his fingers on his desk. “I don’t have an answer to that.”
Fire lit her eyes. “It doesn’t seem like you know much of anything, if you asked me.”
“The likely answer might have something to do with Michelle’s personal life,” he boldly added. “The unfortunate thing is that it may have cost the life of one of our doctors as well.” “That’s crazy,” she retorted indignantly. “Maybe Michelle stole a badge and left on her own. Did you ever think of that?” “Given her condition, I doubt that.” “But you don’t know for sure, do you?” she asked evenly.
“No.” Hines held her heated gaze as he continued. “But I suspect otherwise. The police have here several times and wanted to question Michelle about an ex-boyfriend. A drug dealer, if I remember correctly. Given her current medical condition, we were able to decline the request until a court order of some kind was obtained.
“When in the hell did all of this happen?”
The room sweltered from the woman’s intensity and Hines adjusted his tie in a vain attempt to get comfortable. “The early part of last week.”
She straightened her shoulders. “And why wasn’t I informed?”
“With all due respect, Ms. Ferrell, but until you present a power of attorney naming you executor of medical decision for Michelle, this facility has no legal obligation to inform you of anything. Given her propensity to violence whenever you visit, it’s clear to me that there is some bad blood between the two of you.” “How dare you,” Josephine snapped, smashing her hand on his desk. Hines jumped in his seat. “Ms. Ferrell, I’m going to have to ask you to contain yourself.” She stood. “Go screw yourself.”
Her venom struck him hard, but he maintained his professionalism. “Please sit down, Ms. Ferrell. While I understand your position—”
“I highly doubt that.” Josephine headed toward the door. “I’ll be back with my lawyers and your damn power of attorney.” She jerked opened the office door and promptly collided with a tall Asian woman. “Excuse you,” Josephine snapped. “Ms. Andrews?” Ming asked astounded, and then cut a questioning look across the room at Marcus Hines. “What?” Josephine stepped back and rubbed her hand along her temple.