The Burying Place

'Strained,' Ellen said.

'How so? Do they fight?'

'No fights, at least not at the hospital. They're distant. She tries to get inside his head, but he doesn’t want anyone else in there.'

'Do you know their daughter Callie?'

'Sure, Mrs Glenn brings her in sometimes. Cute girl.'

'What's Dr Glenn like as a father?'

Ellen blew out a cloud of smoke and regarded Serena coolly. 'You mean, would he do something to Callie? No, I don't believe that. If Marcus Glenn is one thing in this world, he's a doctor. He'd never harm another human being.'

'That's not what I asked.'

'Well, that's what everyone's saying. Would I call him a loving, doting father? No. He's not going to get down on the floor and play games or make baby talk with a stupid grin on his face. That's not who he is. But a monster? I don't think so. Although you'd probably find people in the hospital who disagree with me.'

'Is there anyone who hates him enough to want to harm him? Or his family?'

Ellen's brow furrowed. 'That's a difficult question. A lot of people dislike him because he's a perfectionist. He has no patience for mistakes. But would someone hurt him by taking his daughter? That's hard to imagine.'

'You said nurses have been fired because of him.'

'Yes, that's true.' is there anyone who would hold a grudge?'

Ellen shrugged. 'Most were reassigned elsewhere. A couple wanted to get out of nursing anyway. It chews people up.'

'What about the personal side?' Serena asked. 'I've heard rumors about Glenn having affairs with women on the hospital staff.'

Ellen cocked her head and stubbed out her cigarette on the concrete of the bench. She brushed ash on to the pavement. 'Yes, Marcus has a weakness for pretty young things. In his defense, nurses join the staff, and they see a tall, rich, handsome surgeon, and they make a play for him. It's not like he's going to leave Valerie for any of them.'

'Maybe someone thought he would.'

'Hey, you fool around with a married man, you take your chances. Don't look to me for sympathy if you get hurt.'

'I heard there was one affair that was more serious,' Serena said.

Ellen glanced at her watch. 'I should be getting back. I've already said too much.'

'Come on, Ellen. Who was it? Do you know the woman?'

'Oh, yeah. Everyone knows Regan.'

'Regan?'

'Regan Conrad. She's a nurse. I never saw them together, but I heard people talking about the affair. It was hot and heavy for a while, although you wouldn't believe it to look at her.'

'Why?'

'Well, Regan is no Valerie. Hell, she's almost anorexic, lots of tattoos, hoy breasts, lip ring. All I can figure is she must be dynamite in bed.'

'Are they still seeing each other?'

'No, I heard that Marcus wised up and dumped her earlier this year. I think he figured out she's crazy.'

'Crazy?' Serena asked.

'Volatile,' Ellen said. 'She's a good nurse, but man, she can go off on you. And she plays dirty, too. A few years ago, she had a run-in with a young lab tech. Not long after, they found hundreds of hardcore porn images on the guy's computer, so they fired him. And hello, who was Regan sleeping with at the time? Some geek in IT.'

'She sounds like someone who carries a grudge.'

'Oh, yeah, but if you're thinking she had something to do with Callie's disappearance, you can forget that. She didn't do it.'

'How do you know?'

'She worked the graveyard shift on Thursday night. So did I. I remember seeing her in the cafeteria, because she got into a shouting match with the cook over a hair she said she found in her pasta.'

Serena didn't care if Regan had an alibi. 'How do I find her?' she asked. 'Does she work in the orthopedics area with you and Marcus Glenn?'

Ellen shook her head. 'Regan is an obstetrics nurse in the maternity ward. She works with mothers and babies.'

Chapter Eleven

Maggie Bei ripped open the latest letter from the lawyer at the adoption agency in Minneapolis. She unfolded it and read it carefully, then tore the letter into pieces. The paper scraps fluttered to the floor around her. She pushed her black bangs out of her eyes and slapped the dinette table with her palm.

'Fuck it,' she announced.

She stomped into the kitchen and swung open the doors of the liquor cabinet. She extracted a half-empty bottle of Brazilian cachaça, then grabbed a lime from a basket near the refrigerator. After slicing the lime and squeezing it into a lowball glass, she added sugar and ice and filled the rest of the glass with Brazilian rum. Out of deference to the remnants of her head cold, she also dropped in a couple tablets of vitamin C and watched them fizz. She swirled the concoction around, drank it down in two swallows, and made another.

'That's better,' she said.

Maggie carried her drink into the living room of her condominium. She lived on the upper floor of condo units built over the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Duluth, with a view toward Lake Superior. There were still unpacked boxes scattered around the apartment. She had moved in a month earlier, and since then, most of her time had been taken up with the murder investigation in the north farmlands. She'd barely had time to do anything in her new place except sleep.

Maggie sipped her caipirinha and stared at the lake. She knew she shouldn't be drinking, but she didn't care. It was Saturday afternoon, and she needed to pick up Kasey Kennedy in a few hours. The two of them were going to visit Troy Grange, whose wife Trisha had disappeared on Halloween night more than two weeks earlier. She could sugar-coat it however she wanted, but after the discovery of the fourth victim, Troy knew the truth. He was now a single father to two young girls.

The intercom near her front door buzzed. Maggie put down her glass and walked over and pushed the button. 'Yes?'

'You've got a visitor downstairs,' the lobby guard told her. 'Her name's Serena Dial.'

'Tell her you need to do a strip-search.'

Maggie heard an expletive in the background.

'She's coming up,' the guard said, laughing.

'Thanks.'

Maggie retrieved her drink and waited. Two minutes later, she heard a knock on the door.

'Hey, stranger,' she told Serena.

'Hey, yourself.'

Serena nodded her head in approval as she cast an eye around the apartment. 'Very nice. I love the place.'

'One day I'll actually move in,' Maggie said, nodding at the boxes. She swirled the ice in her drink. 'You want something? I can do nonalcoholic beverages under duress.'

'No thanks.'

Maggie slumped sideways into an oversized chair and dangled her feet over the cushion. 'Have a seat. Talk to me. The diet's working; you look great.'

'The last five pounds are the hardest,' Serena said. She took a seat on the sofa opposite Maggie and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. 'You look good, too.'

'Yeah? How do you think I'd look with red hair?' Maggie asked.

'Red? You?'

'There's this cop named Kasey Kennedy with this amazing red hair. Makes me want to try it. I'm bored with black.' She added, 'I hear you're back on the job.'

Serena nodded. 'I'm official.'

'Good for you. Are you in town because of Callie Glenn?'

'Yeah, I was asking questions over at St Mary's,' Serena told her.

'Tonight I'm seeing a nurse who lives on the north side of Duluth. She was having an affair with Marcus Glenn.'

'The media has been hitting the doc pretty hard,' Maggie said. 'Do you think he was involved?'

'We haven't crossed him off the list.'

'How's Stride?' Maggie asked. 'Is he still coming back next week?'

'I guess.'