Alisio said promptly, "We got there about two o'clock and I think it was just after four we left, wasn't it, Amy?"
She nodded. "We were having some friends in for dinner. I'd left the roast on but there were still things to do. Ruby and Arthur came just after we got there. That's my nephew and his wife, and their daughter and her husband came just a while later. Then Randy and Rosa and Bill came-"
"That's my sister Rosa, Randy's mother-the Nicollettis-and then I think about three o'clock my brother Dan and his wife, Selma, and their two girls dropped by. It's a little drive for them from Long Beach, but we're a pretty close family-we thought a lot of Carl." Alisio took off his glasses to polish them with a handkerchief. "My God. A thing like this. Some lunatic-and in the hospital-it's just senseless. Dan and Selma hadn't got up the Sunday before, Carl was so glad to see them-and Randy. Randy was his favorite nephew. That's our sister Rosa's son. She's our youngest sister-baby of the family-and later on some old friends of Carl's came by, Jeanette and Paul De Angelo."
"You were all in and out of his room most of the afternoon?" asked Hackett.
"Yes, that's right. Just as usual. There wasn't space for more than three of four visitors at once. We'd go down to sit in the little lounge and then take turns going in to Carl."
"Did either of the other two patients ever have any visitors?"
"No, they never seem to. I guess they're so far gone they wouldn't realize if anyone was there or not. I don't know if they've got any families."
"But the other patients in the wing had visitors," said J Higgins.
"Oh, yes. There were people coming and going most of the time, but of course we didn't know any of them. There were people we'd seen there before, I suppose seeing patients who'd been there as long as Carl had, but we wouldn't know their names. But who in God's name would want to do a thing like that? I can't take it in. It's just insane. Just insane."
There had been nurses going around, naturally, and a couple of doctors, all the nurses and aides at the station in the hall. But Alisio was firm that the family were the only ones who had been in Carlo Alisio's room until they left.
"Who was the last to leave? Do you remember?" asked Hackett.
He said at once, "I think it would be either Randy or Rosa and Bill. They were still there when Amy and I left. Everybody else had gone. But, my God-how such a thing could've happened-it must've been some lunatic, doing a thing like that, but in a hospital with so many people around like Amy says-" He supplied names readily. Randy Nicolletti and his parents. His niece Ruby and her husband, Arthur Overman. The De Angelos-his brother Dan and his daughter, Kathy Penner.
"And we'll have to look at all the employees," said Higgins back in the car. "What a hell of a job, Art. We'll have to talk to all the family."
When they got back to the office to parcel out the names and addresses, Grace and Galeano had gone over to the hospital to start talking to the staff. This was going to pose some legwork with a vengeance. They would have to get the names of all the patients on that floor, try to find out who in their visitors had been, when they'd been there, and talk to everybody on the hospital staff with any reason to be in that wing. And this looked like the irrational thing, but a good many people with some mental quirk were walking around looking as sane as anybody else. That kind of thing wasn't always plain to see.
Landers looked at the list of names and addresses and sighed. "Have to talk to all the family. Somebody may have noticed something. The last ones to leave." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "The time seems a little tight. That doctor thought he'd probably been killed between four and four-thirty- "
"And just about then," said Higgins, "all the visitors were leaving and the nurses getting the patients ready to have dinner in an hour or so. Hell, anybody could've wandered into that room without being noticed, and it wouldn't have taken two minutes to kill the old man-"
"Well, you know, George," said Glasser ruminatively, "hospitals these days-there aren't the same standards there used to be. They hire a lot of their lower-echelon people from the immigrants coming in, people who don't know English-willing to take menial jobs at lower pay. Besides all the nurses and aides and orderlies, there'll be the cleanup people and kitchen staff-all sorts of people. I know the immigrants are supposed to be screened, but who knows what could slip through?"
"Lunatics," said Hackett. "Well, we'll sort out who saw him last, if they noticed anything. Anybody coming into the room or just outside when they left."
They divided up the names and started out. Hackett drew the Nicollettis and went down the hall to the men's room before he headed for the elevator. When he passed the door to Robbery-Homicide again, Sergeant Lake called his name and he turned in. "Iady asking to see you," said Lake.
Alongside the switchboard was a girl about twenty-two, a very pretty blond girl with a beautiful figure. She was smartly dressed in a blue sundress and high-heeled white sandals, with a big white handbag. She said, "I wanted to talk to the officer who arrested my husband. Is that you? I'm Stella Davies."
"That's right, Mrs. Davies. I'm Sergeant Hackett." He took her into the office and gave her the chair beside his desk.
She said drearily, "I wanted to ask you, you'd know about it, I guess. What Ricky might get."
"Well, it's a first count on him and he's got a good record. I don't know, but it's probable the D.A. would accept a plea bargain. He might get sent up for a year and get probation."
"I see," she said. "Thanks for telling me. Of course he was an awful fool for doing that, but I've got a sort of feeling it was partly my fault, too. I should've been alot more careful about expenses. Neither of us had ever had to budget very tight, if you see what I mean. I'd been giving Mother forty a week to help pay for groceries, but she owns the house and I wasn't used to paying rent, and neither was Ricky. And I guess we just thought we could go out and get whatever we wanted. I didn't have any idea those credit cards had gone so high, but it's just too easy to say charge it and give the account number." She accepted a cigarette I and a light apathetically. "I really didn't have to pay forty dollars for this dress."
"He told you how worried he'd been," said Hackett.
"I let him keep track of everything. I just hadn't any idea."
"Well, maybe it's been a lesson for both of you."
She said, emphatically, "It sure has been, Sergeant. And I guess I'll feel guilty the rest of my life. It's partly my fault Ricky'll be getting a prison record-but maybe it won't be so bad at that. I talked to his boss this morning, Mr. Willard, and he's always liked Ricky and he said he'll let him have the job back afterward. We'll both just try to use more sense and do better." She stood up. "Thanks, Sergeant. I'll be moving back in with Mother and try to save up all I can so we'll have a little backlog when he gets out, and we'll both watch it. And I'm going to get rid of those credit cards," she added vigorously. "They just make it too easy."
Hackett grinned to himself, following her out. Maybe it had been the necessary lesson for both of them. Sometimes the stupid kids grew up a little and got some sense.
MENDOZA AND LANDERS had talked to the Overmans in Pasadena and Dan Alisio and his family in Long Beach, stopped for lunch on the way back and found Mrs. Rosa Nicolletti at home in West Hollywood. They had some idea now who had been at the hospital at what time. Mrs. Nicolletti said her husband was at work, he owned a sporting goods store in Santa Monica. Joe had called to tell her what the police said about Carl and she just couldn't believe it, it must have been a crazy person. She was better-looking then her brothers, with graying black hair and a figure slightly too plump.