AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He’s stable and out of the ICU,” the woman at reception said, handing me a visitor’s pass. “Second floor. The elevators are down the hall to the right.”
I grew up in the shadow of the hospital but for most of my life I only knew it from the outside. Now that I’m working for my cousin Vinnie in the bail bonds office, I’ve learned my way around the hospital innards. Mostly the prison ward and the ER.
I found my way to Dugan’s floor, bypassed the nurses’ station, and tracked down the room number I got at the downstairs desk. The door was open, and the room was empty. The bed was rumpled. An untouched breakfast tray was on the overbed table.
I retraced my steps to the nurses’ station and discovered Mary Jane Sokolowski at one of the computers. I went to high school with Mary Jane. She was now married and had two kids.
“Hey,” she said to me. “What’s up? Haven’t seen you since my sister’s baby shower.”
“I’m checking on Duncan Dugan. He’s not in his room.”
“Yeah, we made the same discovery about a half hour ago.He’s MIA. He left a note saying he felt better and he was going home.”
I went stupefied for a beat. “Excuse me?”
“I know,” she said. “He had a laundry list of injuries plus a compound fracture of the tibia and two cracked ribs. And he was zonked out on painkillers.”
“When was the last time someone saw him?”
“Not sure, but he was here at seven o’clock this morning. That was his last chart entry.”
“Do you think someone snatched him?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know. I can’t imagine him just walking out of here. We turned it over to security for follow-up.”
“No one saw him leave?”
“None of the nurses at this station saw him leave, and we checked all the other rooms on the floor. Security would know more.”
I went downstairs to security.
“I’m looking for Duncan Dugan,” I said to the uniform at the desk.
“Let me know if you find him,” he said. “We aren’t having any luck.”
I went back to my car and called the number Dugan had listed on his bond application. No answer. I banged my forehead against the steering wheel several times. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” I should have handcuffed him to the bed. I should have had him transferred to the prison ward.
My phone buzzed with a text message from my grandmother.
Bob just ate your father’s going to church shoes. Are you almost done at the hospital?
Ten minutes later, I was in my car, on my way to the office, with Bob sitting in the seat next to me.
“You shouldn’t have eaten the shoes,” I said to him. “That was really bad behavior.”
Truth is my father would probably be happy to have the shoes destroyed. The shoes were only worn at my mother’s insistence. Funerals, weddings, and Mass. My mother and grandmother went to Mass regularly. My father preferred to find God in places with more comfortable seating. Hence, the shoes were seldom out and about.
I parked behind Lula’s red Firebird, and Bob and I went into the office.
“Yo,” Lula said. “What’s the occasion with Bob?”
“I’m babysitting,” I said. “Morelli’s out of town for a couple days.”
“What’s the word on Plover? Did you go see him last night?”
“He wants me to find Andy Manley.”
“Nutsy?” Connie asked.
