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Tuesday, November 8, 4:10 p.m.
Sam’s steps felt heavier the closer he came to the nursing ward where nursing assistant Devon Jones was on duty. “I cannot believe she’s involved in this,” he murmured.
“For your sake, I hope not,” Detective Goddard said gently. “Maybe you should sit this one out, Doc. You’re pretty close to this nursing assistant.”
Sam shook his head. “I deal with criminals and liars nearly every day as a police profiler and I also counsel various offenders as a condition of their parole or probation, Detective. I’m pretty good at reading people, and Devon is not a criminal. She is a young, single mother, though, making it mostly on her own.”
“Vulnerable for someone greedy?” Goddard asked.
“Maybe.” Sam sighed. “I didn’t know that Frankie had paid for her daughter’s doctor bills. I offered to help and she always said she had it taken care of.”
“Did everyone here know that Mr. Flynn was wealthy?”
“If they’d been around more than five minutes,” Sam said wryly. “This place is gossip central. It’s one of the few vices most of the residents have left.”
“Where should we question the girl?”
Sam winced. “Let’s not question her, okay? Let’s interview her instead.”
“Okay, fine.” To his credit, Goddard didn’t sound impatient. “Miss Shearer said that Devon was smart.”
“She is. She got pregnant when she was a junior in high school. The father ran away and sent a postcard from New York. So she had the baby, put in the work to graduate a year early, then took the CNA exam when she was seventeen. She’s been here for a year and she’s only eighteen.”
“Some forty-year-olds I know aren’t that responsible.”
“I know.” They came to the nurses’ desk in the nursing ward and Sam braced himself. Even if Devon was innocent, that they were asking her questions would quickly get around the facility. Tongues would wag and Sam regretted that the residents and staff would be openly speculating about Devon’s involvement.
Let her be innocent. Please.
“Hi, Janice,” Sam said. “We’re looking for Devon. Can you page her to the desk?”
Janice’s answering smile disappeared, her eyes narrowing. “Why, Dr. Sam?”
“I’m Detective Goddard, robbery division,” the man said before Sam could get any words out. “We need to ask her some questions. Can you please call her?”
Sam met Janice’s gaze. She was a good nurse and he liked her. “Just to talk,” he said quietly.
Janice’s lips pursed as she typed a command on her keyboard. “I’ve paged her. She’ll be here shortly. What’s this about?” She frowned at Goddard. “Robbery division? What’s been stolen?” Then she sucked in a breath. “Those damn coins. I knew they were trouble from the moment I saw them. Commemorative coins, my ass. They’ve been stolen?”
Goddard said nothing and Sam followed his lead.
Janice huffed, frustrated. “Devon didn’t steal them. You know this, Sam.”
“She had access to his room,” Sam said gently. “We have to ask everyone who had access.”
Janice’s chin lifted. “Then ask me, too. I’ve tended to Benny for years.”
Sam smiled, because Janice was like a mama bear. The nurses and nursing assistants were her cubs. “I know you have. So you didn’t believe that they were commemorative coins?”
“I did at first, but then Devon told me otherwise. She’d looked up the coins he showed her and was worried that something so valuable might become a problem for Mr. Benny. I spoke to the Dreyfus family about it, but they were stubborn. Said it was better for Benny if he had his things about him, and normally that’s true. So if you’re going to question her, best question me, too.”
“We will,” Goddard said and somehow made it sound like it wasn’t a threat. “Where were you between midnight and eight a.m. Saturday?”
“At Disneyland with my husband and grandchildren. I’m sure the hotel will remember me. I gave CPR to another guest when he keeled over with a heart attack.”
Goddard managed to look impressed, relieved, and disappointed all at once. Sam wasn’t sure how the man did it.
“Thank you, Nurse,” Goddard said. “To your knowledge, did anyone else know about the collection?”
