It was impossible to see her face, backlit by the light, but even in urgency her voice was sultry, and I could feel my blood thicken as she started to speak.
“I can’t…”
She looked up and back toward the light; the large bird-like creature continued to draw closer. Her hand deftly released mine, caught my chin, and threaded its way into my beard. Her eyes locked on mine. I could see the lips moving, but the voice seemed to come from very far away. “Gero arte.”
“Are you all right, Daddy?” I looked up with both eyes at my daughter, who was standing in front of me in the same, full-length coat she’d arrived in. I watched the width of the coat fall open as she placed her hands on my shoulders, the length of it spreading like wings.
I yawned and glanced around at the assembled group. “Just a little tired.” I took one of Cady’s hands and turned to look at Lana. “How did the meeting go?” It was a modified turban now, and the absence of the silk robe and bunny slippers made me long for resort wear. She didn’t say anything, just folded her hands in her lap. “Well, at least you had good representation.” I looked up at Vic and got the ball rolling. “Fax that photograph of Leo Gaskell out to DCI, the HPs, and everybody else on the high plains. Get Bill Wiltse over in Fremont County; tell him I need everything they’ve got on Gaskell. I want to know where he came from, where he’s been, and why. Have Ruby run a check through the NCIC and then get over to the home and get some background on Anna Walks Over Ice. I want to know everything they have on her.”
She smiled, and I caught a glimpse of that slightly overgrown canine tooth. “You bet.” I watched as she man-walked out the double swinging doors.
“Santiago?”
He left McDermott and came over. “Sir?”
You had to love it. “I need you to go to registration and records over at the courthouse. Hurry because they will close right at 5:00.” He nodded. “And find whatever you can on Ellen Runs Horse and Anna Walks Over Ice.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hey, Sancho?”
“Yes, sir?” He stopped, but only his head turned.
“What does gero arte mean?”
His eyes narrowed. “It’s Basque for see you later.” He stood there for a second longer and, when he was sure I wasn’t going to stop him again, he disappeared, too.
I turned back and met Cady’s gray eyes, the ones that had been certain of every situation and had realized how all things were since she was nine. “Would you escort Ms. Baroja back to her room while I have a brief technical conversation with Sweeny Todd and the boys?”
She gathered her purse and pulled her coat around her. “Yes, sir.”
Smartass. I turned and looked at Henry. His look told me he was in for the long haul. With the addition of the murder of Anna and with the disappearance of Ellen, the situation had also gotten personal for him.
I turned to Isaac Bloomfield and Bill McDermott, who were continuing their discussion at the nurse’s desk across the hall. “Gentlemen?” They both turned and looked at me. “I need your help.”
Things had gotten complicated since we had decided to bring Anna Walks Over Ice back from the dead. Henry had been cast in the lead role as he was the only Indian. The Bear had wanted the room directly below us, but I figured we had a better chance of isolating Leo on the second floor.
“Were they able to get it out this afternoon?”
“The paper came out late, kind of like a special edition.” I handed him the paper I was holding with Anna Walk Over Ice’s photograph on the front page. In bold type it read, LOCAL WOMAN STILL ALIVE AFTER TERRIFYING ORDEAL. “If this works, I owe Ernie Brown, Man About Town, a beer.”
Vic came in from the hallway and stood at the foot of the bed as the Bear read about his pseudo-self in the Courant. She looked strange in the scrubs, her disguise complete with a mask, matching cap, and stethoscope. “How’s the patient?”
He didn’t look up. “Resting comfortably.”
I glanced back at the Bear. “You want to keep the paper?”
“Yes, it might be a long night.” He pulled his Vietnam tomahawk from behind his pillow and placed it in the fold of his sheets, just under his right hand. It was a wicked little beast with an adze end in one direction and a hatchet blade in the other, and Henry could throw the thing with a frightening accuracy.
“You do know we want him alive, right?”
I met with the rest of our little troop out by the second floor nurse’s station. We were a motley bunch with Dr. Moretti, Saizarbitoria in his North Face cap with a blanket in a wheelchair, and the Ferg in street clothes with a shopping bag. I looked around at our assortment of hidden firepower and almost wished Leo Gaskell wouldn’t come; somebody was sure to get killed.
“There are only two ways he can get to the room, either past the nurse’s station here or the end of the hallway. “Ferg, I want you seated in the waiting area with a clear view down the hall. Santiago, I want you at the doorway near the stairwell as if you’re getting ready to go into or have just come out of your room and get rid of those tactical boots. You look like a cop from a mile off.” I turned to Dr. Moretti. “Vic, you can wander. Everybody ready?”
They all nodded.
“This character doesn’t show a lot of patience, and he’s desperate, so I’m expecting him tonight. It’s still relatively early but that doesn’t mean he won’t come waltzing in here in the next five minutes, so stay sharp. He’s big, he’s mean, and he’s probably self-medicated, so don’t be a hero. If you spot him, sing out.”
They all nodded again.
I checked all the hallways on my way to the elevator and ran into Leonard Goes Far, the Crow gentleman that made sure the floors of the hospital glowed like thin ice. He nodded, which was all you usually got out of Leonard, so I continued into the elevator and felt the drop of my internal organs match my descent.
There was no third floor on Durant Memorial and there were no patients on two that weren’t in on our deception, so there was only one floor and one direction we’d have to worry about. When I got to the front desk, Ruby was waiting, straightening her wig, her eyes a little wider than usual. “You sure he’s not going to recognize you?”
“I am.” Ruby relaxed just a little. “Vic caught him at the door and ushered him back to her office. I doubt he even remembers I was there.”
I nodded. “All the other doors are locked, so the only way he can get in is through here. If he comes in and asks, you just tell him that she’s on the second floor and then get busy with something else. “When you’re sure he’s gone…” I waited a moment until she looked back up at me. “When you’re sure he’s gone, use this.” I pointed to the two-way that was under the counter. “Just hit the red button once, that’s all it’ll take. Nobody else is going to use that red button, so I’ll know it’s you, and then I’ll know he’s in.” We were all wearing the walkie-talkies set on vibrate.
I had moved Lana to Room 132, one of the inside corridor rooms where there was a thick, metal-core door that could be locked from the inside. She was in there with Cady. I could have taken them both back to the jail, but I figured it was more prudent and safer to keep all the eggs in one basket. I knocked three times, then once. Cady asked who it was, then opened the door enough to look up at me. “C’mere.” She followed me just outside the doorway where I tried to hand her a snub-nosed detective’s special. “Still remember how to use this?”
She looked at the gun in my hand. “Yes.”
I extended it a little toward her. “Just in case everything goes wrong. Whether it was an accident or not, it looks like he tried to kill her before, he may try again.” I placed the revolver in her hand. “There’s no safety. It’s resting on an empty chamber, double-action, all you have to do is pull the trigger.”
“I remember.” She glanced up at me. “Anyway, I belong to a gun club back in Philadelphia.”