Page 23 of The Drowned Woman
“Sure that was wise?” he asked Ruby.
“Don’t know, don’t care. It sure felt good, putting her in her place.”
Luka’s phone buzzed and they paused just inside the doors, at the safety officer’s desk. He glanced at his text. “Sorry, I have to get back to work.”
“No problem. Kids, go get your coats and we’ll head home.” The safety officer glanced up at that. Ruby tapped his notebook with her purple-painted fingernail. “I’m on the list. The grandmother. So don’t you even try to stop me.”
Nate was already almost all the way back to their classroom where all their stuff was. Emily ran hard to catch up. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you tell them the truth?”
“Either way they’ll think I’m too much trouble. I told you to leave it be,” he muttered out of the side of his mouth like he didn’t even want to talk to her. “Besides, don’t ya know? Snitches get stitches.”
Emily wasn’t sure what he meant—her mom gave people stitches all the time when they got cuts. Maybe it was a Baltimore thing or a foster thing. “What I know is friends don’t let friends get bullied. Or get in trouble when they haven’t done anything wrong.”
Nate stopped outside the classroom door and went silent, staring down at his shoes.
“Besides,” she continued. “You know they’re never going to give your great-great-grandad’s medal back.”
“Yeah.” Nate glanced down the hall to where Luka and Ruby waited. “But I can’t ask Luka to fight my fights for me.”
“Then it’s up to us.” Emily wrapped her arm in his. “We just have to be brave and strong.”
Fourteen
When Leah emerged from Risa’s apartment, she was struck by how quiet the top floor of the Falconer had become. A bright orange evidence sticker had been fastened over Walt and Trudy’s apartment door and the only police presence on this floor was a crime scene tech taking photos of silver-dusted fingerprints on the railing. Cliff, the building manager, stood behind him, waiting to pounce with his mop and cleaning rag.
Cliff perked up when he spotted Leah, tucked a rag in his back pocket, and abandoned his cleaning cart to join her. “Is Miss Risa okay? Does she need anything? Maybe I should check on her.”
“No. She’s fine. Resting.” Leah wasn’t sure why, but she felt the need to protect Risa’s privacy.
“Good thing there was a doctor here to check her out.” He followed Leah as she made her way to the elevators. “Most days she never even leaves her apartment anymore. I have to bring her mail up for her.”
Leah glanced over the railing, bracing herself for the sight of Trudy’s blood. But the marble floor below was immaculate, gleaming even. The only sign of this morning’s trauma was the bright yellow caution signs warning of the wet floor. Cliff clearly did a good job caring for his building—and the people in it.
“You know,” he said without her asking. “I don’t believe Walt did it. I mean, sure, he’s been acting all sorts of crazy these past few weeks. I found him riding the elevator up and down wearing only his jockey shorts just the other day. But he loved Trudy.”
“When was this?” Leah asked as she waited for the elevator. It arrived and she stepped inside, Cliff followed.
“Last month. That’s when Miss Trudy had me put all those childproof locks on the doors. So he couldn’t wander out of the apartment no more. He was so furious. Wouldn’t talk to Miss Trudy for a week after, kept begging Miss Risa to set him free.” They arrived at the lobby. “But no way did he kill her. He loved her. He really loved her.”
Leah started to leave but then turned back. “You said he asked Risa to help him?”
“Oh yeah. He’s kinda fixated on her. Some days she’s his little sister—she’s dead though, his real sister, car crash a few years back. Other times, Risa is his nurse or housekeeper or, I don’t know, his guardian angel?”
“Why didn’t he ask you for help? Was it because he knew you installed the locks?”
He shook his head, his hair falling into his face. But he didn’t bother to brush it back, content to hide behind it. “No, ma’am. Like most folks around here, Walt just stopped seeing me. Especially after he got sick. Trudy and Risa, they were his life—like it took all his energy he had left to remember who they were. Well, kinda remember, best he could.” He shrugged. “Me? I’m nobody, the invisible man.” Before Leah could ask anything else, he stepped back onto the elevator, pushed the button, and the doors slid shut between them.
Leah skirted the wet patch on the marble floor and left the Falconer. Outside the rain had turned to a dreary sleet, thick, wet blobs that fell half-heartedly from the sky. On the street, normal traffic had resumed now that the police barricades were gone and the few pedestrians passing by kept their heads lowered, hoods and umbrellas up, taking no notice of her or the building that had so recently become a crime scene.
Preoccupied with thoughts of her conversation with Risa, Leah arrived at Good Samaritan barely noticing her drive there. She parked the Subaru and walked in through the emergency department’s entrance, waving to the security guard. As she passed the triage desk, she felt a pang of regret: only three days in on her new job at the CIC and she already missed the ER. An ambulance crew rushed a patient into the resuscitation bay down the hall, and Leah ached to join in on the excitement.
Instead, she continued past the nursing station and through the secure doors leading into the Crisis Intervention Center and her new office. As medical director, she had an assistant, Monique, who did most of the administrative work necessary to keep the CIC running. Both Leah and Monique were in their mid-thirties, but Monique had been working at Good Sam for almost fifteen years, giving her an air of authority that Leah couldn’t compete with.
“Veronica is with an assault victim in Interview One,” Monique announced as she handed Leah a sheaf of paperwork. “Dr. Chaudhari called, said his patient responded nicely to medication and he’s willing to allow you and the police to interview him in an hour or so, but only in the interview room on the neuro-psych ward. A Detective Harper has stopped by twice—something about needing a witness report from your call-out this morning?” She arched an over-plucked eyebrow at Leah.
“Yeah, sorry, I should’ve called, given you an update.”
“Don’t worry, I covered for you with Dr. Toussaint.”
