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Jason slid the car into one of the guest spots. “How does she afford to live here?”
“How does she afford to have multiple apartments?” Cassie peered through the windshield to get a better look at the building. “The other place wasn’t as nice as this, but we know she worked part time at a bar and volunteered at the hospital. She wasn’t making a ton of money on her own.”
“It must’ve been for appearances then. Or just extra pocket change.”
Cassie’s eyes lit up. “That was probably the money she used to pay rent and anything else she wanted to use cash for. I bet she still has access to her parents’ bank accounts to afford a place like this. Either that or she’s using a college fund.”
“You think her parents would let her do that?”
“Her mom definitely would. She wouldn’t want Heather to be on her own with nothing.”
“True.” Jason turned to her. “So what’s the plan?”
“We knock on her door.”
“That much I figured.”
“We ask her what she knows.”
“What if we spook her?” Jason gestured toward the building. “She’s already met us once. She’ll know we figured out her multiple identities.”
“We’ll tell her the truth, then.” Cassie unbuckled her seatbelt but didn’t move to open the door. “We tell her about Jasmine and say we think something is going on. Maybe we can put our heads together and figure out how much these different hospitals are covering up. If she’s volunteering at two or more of them, she’s probably putting together proof about what she’s seen.”
Jason’s voice was quiet. “How big do you think this is?”
Cassie shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t know. I still can’t wrap my head around it. Is it one doctor or nurse moving from hospital to hospital?” Cassie thought back to Langford and how long he’d gotten away with ripping hearts out of people. Then again, he hadn’t done it while he was at work. It had been an after-hours activity. “Or have the bigwigs at these hospitals started working together to avoid malpractice lawsuits?”
“That’s the thing, though,” Jason said. “They’re not avoiding it. They’re settling out of court, which means they’re paying more.”
“So, it’s not about the money.” Cassie tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “It’s about reputation. They don’t want to lose public support or government funding. Maybe they don’t know what’s going on either and instead of looking into it themselves, they’re willing to hush it up to protect their own asses.”
“I think that’d make me even angrier than if one specific person was behind all this.” Jason hooked a couple of fingers around his doorhandle but didn’t push it open. “I can understand murder. Evil. Impulse. But I can’t understand laziness if you’re dealing in people’s lives.”
Cassie got out of the car and met him around front. She wasn’t sure what to say. She’d seen evil up close. Locked eyes with it. Survived it twice. But she’d never understand it. And she didn’t want to. How could she ever want to understand why one person chose to kill another?
Silence hung between them as they each were lost in their own thoughts. They approached the building. Each apartment was like a miniature home. It had its own front gate, driveway, and garage. They slipped through the gate and approached Heather’s door. Cassie wasn’t sure how Jason was feeling, but her heart was pounding in her chest. They were so close to the answers they’d been looking for all this time. All she had to do was knock.
Jason beat her to it.
They both waited, holding their breaths. Time crept along. They exchanged a look. There was no sound from within. Jason knocked again. More silence. More looks.
“Maybe she’s not home?”
The twisting of a doorknob and the sound of keys jangling caught their attention. A woman emerged from the apartment next door. She had dyed black hair, pale freckled skin, and wore yoga pants, a sports bra, and a loose zip-up hoodie. The front of her apartment looked exactly like Heather’s, except the woman had a summer wreath hanging from her front door. She caught them staring at her.
“Are you looking for Heather?”
“Yeah.” Cassie put on her most innocent and cheerful voice. “We’re in town on a whim and wanted to surprise her. I guess she’s not home.”
“She usually leaves for work about this time.” The woman locked up her house and walked around to the driver’s side door of her car. But she didn’t get in. “You probably just missed her.”
“Darn.” Cassie smiled. “Does she still work at the hospital? I forget which one. Tulane?”
“UMC.”
“Right! That’s the name of it. Thank you so much.”
“No problem.” She opened her door. “Have a good day.”
