Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
“What are you two doing, coming here?” Emma demanded as soon as they were shut up in an exam room. Furrows etched her brow, and her jaw jutted forward. She hated that they were here? Interesting.
“We came to see—” Jane began, but the door opened back up and Dr. Garcia strode inside.
A stethoscope hung over the lapels of his lab coat. His narrowed eyes really highlighted the permanent bump on the bridge of his nose. A bump she’d caused after punching him in the face a few months ago. What? He’d startled her.
He peered at his nurse, his expression strained, and motioned to the door. “I’ve got this, Emma. You may go.”
After the nurse’s reluctant departure, Dr. Garcia crossed his arms over his chest and glanced between potential patients. “Are either one of you ill?”
Jane cleared her throat. “Define ill.”
Without missing a beat, Lucy said, “Does a broken heart count?”
The fact that she hadn’t lied right off the bat… maybe she was innocent of murder, after all.
Dr. Garcia compressed his lips into a thin line. He’d been Jane’s primary care physician for the past decade. Though, after she’d proved his assistant had killed the other doctor who worked in this very clinic, he’d pretty much avoided contact with her. Until the night of her party. Either he’d opted to put the past behind them…or he’d pretended to do so in order to kill someone at her event.
“I don’t know what you’ve heard, but I didn’t kill Tony Miller,” he grated. “And I didn’t steal opioids from Pinetum Regional. It must have been Reggie Belfry. An excuse to get into the hospital. I knew there was something more to his fight with Tony.”
Um… “What fight?” Jane asked. And between Tony and Belfry?
Dr. Garcia massaged the back of his neck. “I can’t say more without violating my oath.”
Which meant, what? He’d once treated Belfry at the hospital for injuries sustained during an altercation with Tony…and he’d done it the day the opioids went missing?
Okay, so, Conrad was right, and the circumstantial evidence was stacking up. Jane remained unconvinced, however. The doctor’s behavior struck her as super suspicious. Who offered up information so casually without any real prompting? Maybe he’d worked with Belfry and now the two were turning on each other.
Her best course of action was to keep Dr. Garcia talking while she asked questions wrapped up in suspicion for another suspect. “Did Emma visit Belfry during his hospital stay?” Did the nurse have a connection to the stolen drugs as well?
“She wasn’t there while I was, only his lawyer,” he said, grabbing a blood pressure cuff. Now that he’d imparted his maybe false, maybe true lead, he was back to business.
Lucy raised her hand like a kid in class. “Why did he need a lawyer? Did Tony threaten him with legal action?”
The doctor’s mouth curled with distaste. “Yes. Though I was surprised Belfry hired Tony’s partner, considering Tony’s the one who punched him.”
Okay, now they were getting somewhere. Talk about a solid lead! Why would Tony’s business partner represent said business partner’s ex-wife’s current date a mere week before Tony’s death? And on the same day drugs were stolen no less?
Might be time to stop by the law office of Hagger, Hagger and Miller again.
A task for the bottom of her list. With Lucy at her side, Jane would be better served speaking with some of the booth attendees to gather as much evidence against the attorney as possible. Surely someone had overheard Hagger’s argument with Tony. Hopefully, someone had overheard his conversation with Belfry in the hospital, too. An orderly. Another patient. A visitor.
“I believe you’re innocent, Dr. Garcia,” Lucy assured him, seeming genuinely sympathetic. “Help us prove it. Did you overhear anything the two men said to each other? Because conversation isn’t included in your medical oath.”
“I did not,” was the staunch reply. “But then, I didn’t know I’d be part of another criminal investigation and every detail of the encounter would matter.”
A good lesson for all of them—be more observant, always. “Well. That’s enough for now. We’ve taken up plenty of your time. Good day, Dr. Garcia.” Hoping to run into Emma again, Jane steered her companion out of the room. Nope. No sign of the nurse. Whatever. Jane would come back tomorrow, maybe, and question her without a sidekick.
“I gotta admit, that was more fun than I expected,” Lucy whispered with a grin.
“That,” Jane said, with a grin of her own, “was only the beginning.” As they made their way outside, she linked their arms. And dang it, it felt right. They strolled along the sidewalk, toward the shops on Vermeil Street. “Pop quiz time. Did Dr. Garcia seem guilty to you? Keep in mind, there’s only one correct answer.” Teasing, only teasing. Kind of.
Lucy thought for a moment. “I believe I detected fear, but not guilt. Like he’s secretly afraid he’s been set up. I sort of wanted to hug him.”