"Is there anything that you are sure is missing. Anything at all?" Roden persisted.
Manda studied harder, then said, "I think maybe her winter coat is missing. It's usually in the back of the closet until the cold really sets in. I don't see it."
"Well," Roden added it up, "The suitcase is gone and her winter coat has been taken though it's only mid-September. I think it may be possible that he was planning on being away for awhile?"
"Maybe he is planning to hole up somewhere for the winter." Martin suggested with a somewhat joking tinge to his voice.
"I don't know," Roden replied, "but perhaps you can use your handy lock-picking talent to get into Max's apartment. Then I could check it out like Manda did here."
"Sure, sure," Martin answered. He jumped up from the seat he had taken on the bed and headed back towards the living room. Roden and Manda left the room a moment after and almost ran into him as he stopped short of the door.
"Oh, yeah," Manda exclaimed. "What are we going to do about him?" She pointed to the unconscious man still sprawled on the floor in front of the apartment's entrance.
"What if we just dump him in an alley somewhere?"
"Martin!" Manda looked shocked at such an idea.
"He needs medical attention." Roden added.
"Sorry," Martin looked apologetic.
"We need to get him to a hospital." Roden explained, displeased at this delay.
"How can we do that without raising the wrong attention?" Manda voiced the same concern that Roden felt.
"Raising attention would take a lot of time away from us," Martin expounded on their train of thought. "We'd have to register and give some kind of explanation. With the guy in this condition, a report would most likely have to be written. It would give Max plenty of time to get away."
"Yeah," Manda added, exasperated. "We can't let that happen." She became more visibly anxious.
Martin once again had an idea. "We can't dump him off in an ally and he needs a hospital, so lets just dump him off at the hospital. Anonymously."
"How will we manage that?" Roden replied skeptically. "I think dumping him there will only draw attention." The very idea sounded completely unethical.
"Just leave it to me." Martin had a rather devilish smile on his face. "Let's just get him in the car and drive him there, and I'll take care of the rest."
Roden hesitated, but finally resigned himself to this idea. They couldn't afford to lose the time. "Fine. Let me do something first." Roden grabbed a small pillow from the couch and used Martin's tie to secure it around the man's neck.
"This should give his neck a little more support in case there is some spinal injury. Now, let's get him up. But be extremely careful. He could have more internal damage than we're aware of." Knowing the possibility of this, Roden began to move the man against his better judgment.
Roden and Martin bent over the body and heaved him into a standing position. Supporting him on either side, they waited as Manda opened the door, then they dragged him down the hall towards the elevator, where they waited in silence. When the elevator doors finally opened, an older gentleman exited. Roden looked self-conscious and Manda's nervousness showed clear on her face.
Martin, however, just smiled and addressed the old man who eyed them warily, "Poor guy's already wasted," he nodded to the man hanging from his shoulder, "and it's not even nine-thirty yet. Quite a party down the hall!"
The old man sniffed and looked distastefully at the unconscious body as he continued to pass. The excuse seemed to work, despite the bandaged head and the pillow. Martin smiled self-indulgently as they pulled the body into the elevator. Manda did not appear impressed this time.
"Are you enjoying this?" She demanded of him.
As he looked at her, his smile changed to a smirk. "Well, you have to admit, it is sort of exciting." Manda's jaw dropped in disgusted awe. Roden looked at him with disappointed wonder. Could this guy be serious?
"Or not." Martin then amended with a frown and an almost inperceptively roll of his eye, as the elevator doors shut behind them.
* * *
Roden, Manda and Martin continued down to the building's lobby in silence. When they reached the entrance, they slipped out the door and made slow but steady progress to the car. Once there, they slid the man into the front seat. Roden noticed that his breathing had improved to the point that the rise and fall of his chest had actually become discernable. The pillow brace probably alleviated some constriction from his airway.
Manda and Martin squeezed into the back of the car, while Roden fastened their new passenger in. In next to no time they set off towards the hospital. Silence still ensued. Roden was surprised at Manda's restraint, but when he glanced at her through the rearview mirror, he saw the serious worry on her face. The situation, it seemed, was really starting to get to her.
Looking for a little distraction himself, he decided to press Martin for his plan on getting this man beside him some medical attention.
"It's simple, really." Martin obliged. "We get to St. Tom's and you pull to the east side of the building near the emergency room. I'll get out and drag this guy close to the door, maybe prop him up against the wall. Then, I'll go to the desk and let them know that I noticed an injured man outside. I'll just be some innocent passerby pulling a Good Samaritan deed. Then, I'll walk out and meet you on the other side of the building where you will have stationed yourself while I perform my task. That way, we'll be near the exit, and can get back out before we draw any suspicions."
When no one commented on this plan, Martin probed for approval. "Well, what do you think?"
Roden nodded. "Simple. Sounds like it will do the job." Manda didn't say anything. She just heaved a sigh, obviously too preoccupied to listen to the conversation.
When they pulled into the hospital drive, Roden made his way to the side of the building and parked along the fire lane. He got out and opened the door for Martin. The building was well lit, so they scanned the area to make sure no witnesses were present. Then, they hauled the body out of the car. Roden secured him to Martin's agile frame, and watched as he dragged the limp fellow off towards the emergency entrance.
He got back in the car and shifted into gear. The trip to the other side of the building continued in silence. When he stopped the car, he looked at Manda in the mirror once again. Her worried expression hadn't changed. He shifted in his seat to get a better look at her.
"Manda, tell me what you're thinking." The gentle demand came right out. It seemed that his occupation always came into play, even in a situation when he was not exactly emotionally stable himself.
Manda took a moment to answer. When she did, her subject of thought was not what Roden had been expecting. "Ess is my best friend. She would tell me if she was seeing someone." He couldn't tell if it was a statement or a question.
"I – I'm afraid I don't know Ess, but there might be more to this than we're aware of. We don't know who this guy is that was laying on her floor – "
"Then what was he doing there?"
"Are you sure she never mentioned a date or a crush?" Roden asked. A thought entered his head that Manda probably never let Ess get a word in edgewise about her own life. However, he kept up his well-practiced 'serious face', which he often used with his patients.
"A crush?" Manda was indignant . . . yet again. "She's not fifteen, for cryin' out loud!" She took a breath and paused for a minute. "Agh, sorry. I don't know why it upsets me. It's just that she hardly ever had a date to talk about. I mean, she did talk about guys – of course she talked about guys, but dating – that was rare; and I could never even get her to go on blind dates . . ."