Fracture(17)
This all sounds like something that would go down in New York or Chicago to me; I open up my pudding, spooning some into my mouth. “I don’t really wanna think about any of that. I wanna think happy thoughts,” I tell him, grinning. “When’s your wedding again?” I received an invite months ago and mentally filed the event away under the heading happening too far in the future to worry about. But now that date is creeping up and half the hospital’s buzzing with gossip about it.
“Two weeks,” Suresh tells me, winking. “A married man. It’s just unfair really. I’m in my prime. The world’s women shouldn’t be denied this.” He gestures with his fork down his own body, waggling his eyebrows. He isn’t what you could term classically handsome, but he has something about him that women really do go crazy for. I laugh off his silliness and shrug.
“You’re gonna love it. Rebecca’s so excited.”
“I know,” he says, his voice turning serious. “She told me to tell you that you have to bring a plus one. Mandatory, I’m afraid.”
I haven’t even thought about a plus one. I cower into my seat, eyes down on my pudding. Maybe I could bring Pip as my plus one. People do that, right? Bring friends as dates to weddings? I ask Suresh this and he just gives me a look.
“No. It has to be someone you’re sleeping with.”
Ha! Yeah, right. Like Zeth Mayfair is plus one material.
“Or someone you intend on sleeping with after you get shitfaced at my wedding,” Suresh continues, winking again, just as one of my colleagues, another resident, Oliver Massey, hurries into the canteen. He looks harassed. He spots me and my stomach sinks when he hurries in my direction.
“Need you upstairs, Sloane. The cops are demanding a play-by-play with the doctors working on the Monterello guy.”
Great. I throw my plastic spoon back into my pudding cup. Lunch break over.
“Remember, Sloane,” Suresh calls after me. “Someone you’re fucking!”
The entire canteen, full of people, turns to watch me scurry away, red-faced.
*****
“This patient is witness to a murder. He’s under protective custody. It’s incredibly fucking important that this guy doesn’t get shot to death while in this hospital. You people know what that means?” The fat detective in the bad suit is talking down to us like we’re degenerates of the highest order. He’s short and bald and walks like an angry Rottweiler. The slender female detective—his partner, I assume—is patiently waiting for him to shut up so she can speak. Finally she gets her chance.
“I’m Detective Cooper. I’ll be here nights, so I’ll be your point of contact. If you see anyone you don’t recognize walking the halls, then you can come to either myself or any of the duty officers and report it. This is a big place and a lot of people come and go, so we understand that it might be hard to gauge whether you think someone is out of place here. Especially when you’re trying to do your jobs as well.”
The nursing team, who were previously standing, arms folded, glaring at the fat detective, nod their heads, their expressions softening. The three doctors who are treating Archie Monterello—myself, Hendry, and Oliver—stand at the back of the ICU family room, taking everything in. “What exactly are we looking for here, Detective? I mean, is this some Italian mob thing or what?” Oliver sounds as incredulous as I felt downstairs in the cafeteria. This just isn’t something that happens here.
“No, not Italian. We’ve been investigating a high-level crime boss for some time now. He runs a lot of rackets in the city. Drugs, guns, gambling, counterfeit money. Word has it Frankie Monterello dropped the ball on a business deal this guy had in the works and he paid the price. We know that our P.O.I ordered the hit; we just need to pin it on him. Frankie’s brother, Archie, is the key to doing that. We have mug shots of people known to associate with our P.O.I. There are only a few faces on here that you really need to be worried about. I strongly doubt any of them will be stupid enough to come down here.” Detective Cooper nods to an armed, uniformed officer who begins to hand out sheets of paper bearing the mug shots to the nursing team.
“Can you give us a better indication of how dangerous this situation is please, Detective?” Hendry asks. “Are we likely to get shot trying to do our job is what I’m asking.”
“No. We’re here to ensure that doesn’t happen. At this stage we’re banking on the fact that our POI doesn’t even realize he’s being investigated. He thinks he’s an untouchable, but he’s very wrong. We’re gonna make sure he goes away for a long time.”