Page 64 of Every Last One
“So we have a bunch of broke and desperate people in there.” Kreiger pounced to his feet. “None of this has me feeling warm and fuzzy. That woman’s a loose cannon just like the rest of them.”
“We can’t judge the entire lot based on that man on the fourth floor,” Brice pointed out.
“While we’re on the subject…” Sandra returned to Luis. “Is Dr. Maddox still…?” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the question.
One corner of Luis’s laptop screen showed Jordon Maddox lying on the floor. Luis expanded that window to full-size.
The blood pool around Maddox wasn’t getting any bigger, so the tourniquet must be doing its job. That wasn’t enough to ease Sandra’s concern.
Please hang in there a little bit longer…
THIRTY-FIVE
3:45 PM
Eric knocked after ringing the doorbell hadn’t worked. That brought a man in his late thirties to the door. Eric held up his badge. “Detective Birch. Are you Colton?”
“I am.”
“And your last name?”
“McGill. What’s this about?” Colton’s brows pressed downward.
“Carmen Feeney is your girlfriend, right?”
“Correct, and now you’re scaring me.”
Eric would wager by this guy’s reaction and rigid demeanor he had no clue what Carmen was involved with. “Mr. McGill, could I come in for a moment, please?”
“Ah, sure.” The guy backed up, allowing room for Eric to join him in the house’s entry. “Did you want to sit down or is here fine?” Colton asked him.
“Sitting down would probably be best.” It wasn’t for Eric’s comfort but for Colton’s. Eric suspected when he heard his girlfriend was of interest to the police, it might take the strength from his legs.
Colton took Eric to the living room, where they sat down.
Eric broke the silence. “Carmen is involved with an ongoing situation at Founders Hospital.” He paused there to let that sink in. Then, he added, “She went in there with a gun and three other people, who are armed as well.”
“She did…what?” Colton’s eyes became round.
“I see this comes as a shock to you. We don’t understand all of it yet either, but Carmen was identified from video inside the hospital, and we’re trying to figure out what she’s after. I conducted a legal search of her residence and found that she owes the hospital a lot of money. Do you know anything about that?”
“Ah”—Colton wrung his hands as he spoke—“I know about the debt, and that she tried to work out a payment arrangement with them. She told me they wouldn’t work with her. They didn’t believe that she didn’t have more money to pull from. But she was already spread thin. I gave her props for even trying to make good on the debt. But that’s Carmen. She never liked to be outstanding with anything, and the hospital put her in a very tough spot.”
His statement backed up the overdue bills and collection notices. “You two must be close for you to know so much about her finances. Do you know why she owes the hospital money?”
“Her mother came down with horrible pneumonia and required a hospital stay. That would have been fine except she contracted a bacterial infection while she was there. Doctors couldn’t figure out the strain or how to effectively treat it. She ended up dying soon after.”
The mother’s fate was as Eric had suspected. “So the bill racked up because of an extended stay and different tests?”
“That’s right. And the mother’s medical insurance wasn’t that great. It was pretty much useless, honestly. Carmen wanted to sue the hospital, but she was so distraught. She and her mother were close, so I took it upon myself to speak to alawyer on her behalf. They told me the case against the hospital wouldn’t go anywhere. But clearly, their protocols or whatever weren’t up to snuff.”
People always wanted someone to blame after losing a loved one. Was today about Carmen holding Founders Hospital accountable? “When did she lose her mother?”
“Ten months ago. When Carmen realized she’d have to pay her mother’s bill, she had a massive panic attack, and her mental state and outlook haven’t improved much since.”
“That’s why you sent her flowers recently?”
Colton smiled. “I wanted to cheer her up, if only a little. I still can’t believe she got a gun and is in that hospital. Does she really expect them to respond to that? To wipe out her debt?”
