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Forty-five minutes later, they still had nothing.
There were a total of five doctors in the building’s lobby directory who had the initials D.K. but none of them matched the photo. It was possible that D.K. was someone other than a doctor but that seemed less likely, considering the cost of Michaela’s services.
After going through the list, Ryan suggested that maybe the building was simply slow to add recent doctor names to the board. As a result, they’d been reduced to checking the list of doctor names outside each office individually in the hope that they’d come across one who hadn’t been listed in the lobby directory. When they reached the sixth and final floor, Ryan showed Jessie a text he’d just gotten from Captain Decker. It read:
We have passed insubordination. Your phone shows that you are in Beverly Hills. You were supposed to be at the station fifteen minutes ago. Captain Laird is demanding your arrest. I am en route to your location. Turn yourselves in to avoid additional penalties.
“Well,” she said. “We’re on the top floor. If we don’t have luck here, we may as well turn ourselves in. At least we can cut through traffic if we’re in a squad car with sirens, right?”
“You are a ray of light, Jessie Hunt,” Ryan said, smiling through his anxiety.
“Remember that when they’re slapping the cuffs on you,” she replied.
They took opposite sides of the hallway, checking the names on placards for a match. Jessie looked at the four doctors listed outside Wilshire Plastic Surgery Associates. When she got to the third name, she stopped in her tracks. After a moment, she quickly typed it into Google. When the image came up, she stared at it for several seconds.
“Ryan,” she called out as she checked additional images for the doctor, “can you come over here?”
He walked over and she showed him the photo on her phone. Then she pulled out the picture of the sleeping guy from Michaela’s picture.
“Hard to be sure,” Ryan said. “But they definitely look similar. What’s his name?”
“Dr. Richard Kallas,” Jessie said. “I wonder if he goes by the nickname Dick.”
Ryan’s eyes lit up.
“D.K,” he breathed. “I’m thinking maybe we should have a chat with the good doctor.”
“Me too,” Jessie said.
Ryan started to open the door but Jessie stopped him for a moment so she could get out her phone. She typed a message to Decker and before Ryan could stop her she hit “send.”
“Why did you do that?” he demanded.
“Gut feeling,” she said and gave him a wink.
Shaking his head, he opened the door and followed her in.
The receptionist looked up, startled.
“Oh, I’m sorry. We’re closed for the day. I guess I forgot to lock the door. But you can make an appointment online. We have openings in about four months.”
Jessie looked at the clock. It read 5:11 p.m.
“We’re not here for a consultation,” she said. “We need to speak to Dr. Kallas.”
“I’m afraid Dr. Kallas isn’t available,” she said impatiently. “But as I said, you can…”
“We’re with the LAPD,” Ryan interrupted. “Is he in his office?”
The receptionist glanced down the hall uncertainly.
“Yes,” she said. “He’s finishing patient charts.”
“Why don’t you take us to him?” Ryan asked, though it wasn’t really a request.
The receptionist nodded and led the way down the hall. As he had on the way to Aaron Rose’s office, Ryan gave Jessie a friendly reminder.
