Grievous Sin (28 page)

Grasping at straws.

Decker checked his watch and stood: McKay should be back by now. But when he went to the front desk, the receptionist informed him that Leek had just left a moment ago. He wasn’t feeling well.

The nurse was still explaining McKay’s symptoms, but Decker didn’t wait to hear the full medical report. He dashed out the front door and spied a navy Cressida pulling out of its parking space. Sprinting, Decker jumped on the hood just as the car slipped from Reverse to Drive. Immediately, the driver slammed on the brakes, almost throwing Decker to the ground. But he managed to hold on. The motor fell dead; the driver’s door opened and slammed shut. The man who emerged was medium height but as solid as a concrete divider. He had thin chestnut hair and coarse-looking skin, which at this moment was beet red.

“Are you out of your fucking
mind
!” he screamed. “What the hell are you doing? Trying to get yourself
killed
?”

Decker scrambled down from the hood of the Cressida and dusted off his pants. “Nah, not at all. Just trying to catch you before you left, Leek.”

“You scared the shit out of me. Who the hell are you?”

“I think you know,” Decker said. “I think that’s why you made a mad dash out of here.”

“I left because I’m sick, mister.”

“It’s Sergeant, Leek.”

McKay became quiet, his eyes guarded. “So that’s what they teach you in the Academy? How to scare innocent citizens?”

“Nah, I learned that on the streets.” Decker pulled out his shield and showed it to him. “I need a few minutes of your time.”

“There’s a thing called the phone.”

“Sometimes people get squirrelly about answering it.” Decker pocketed his I.D. “Man, you left in a hurry.”

“I’m sick as a dog. Anything illegal about that?”

Decker said, “Cut the crap. I need to speak with you. Anyplace is okay, including a parking lot. But you may want to choose a place that offers a little more privacy. We may get into some personal stuff.”

McKay covered his face, then dropped his hands to his side. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I really don’t feel well.”

“A baby’s missing, Mr. McKay.”

“I swear to God I don’t know a
thing
about that. I haven’t seen Marie Bellson at the home in over a week. I told your partner I’d call if I heard from Marie. I haven’t. I’m useless for information, Sergeant. You’ve got to believe me.”

“What about Tandy Roberts?”

“Your partner told me to stay away from her. I’ve been staying away.”

Decker thought about that. If McKay had warned Tandy she might be in trouble and she was guilty of something, would she still be hanging around, working out at Silver’s?

“Listen, if you’re as virginal as you say you are, you’re going to want to help, right?”

“I really don’t feel well, Sergeant.” Abruptly, McKay’s face whitened. “Really. I’m sick to my stomach….” He seemed to teeter on his feet. “I’m real dizzy.”

Suddenly, he lurched forward. Decker got him before he hit the ground, but not without feeling a sharp pull in his bad shoulder. He bit back pain that shot through his arm and
steadied the weight lifter until he was stable on his feet. McKay leaned against the Cressida and tried to breathe rhythmically. His face was ashen, his lips devoid of color. He looked genuinely sick, but at this point Decker didn’t care.

“You shouldn’t be driving, Leek.” Decker shook his head. “Not safe for you or other motorists. Tell you what I’m going to do for you. It’s an off-hour right now for lunch. Let’s find a quiet place where you can sit and catch your breath. And to show you what a sport cops can be, I’ll buy you some herbal tea.”

Since Decker was
feeling benevolent, he let McKay pick the place. The muscleman directed him to a health-food grocery with nature’s wholesome goodness stenciled on the front window. The interior reminded Decker of a general store of yore—bins of whole grains, dried fruits, and unprocessed sugar and flour. It also had a good-sized produce section, many of the fruits and vegetables untrimmed or uncut. The lettuce looked freshly yanked from a garden, clumps of dirt still clinging to the large green leaves. The only nod to modern times was a back-wall dairy case. On the opposite side of the entrance stood a bakery—sweet smells emanating from the back. In front of the bread counter were a few sets of tables and chairs. McKay took a seat and lowered his head in his hands.

Decker sat beside him. “Place smells good, Leek, but it’s not very private.”

McKay looked at Decker, then covered his face again.

“Place have waitresses?” Decker asked.

“You order at the counter,” McKay mumbled.

“What’s your pleasure, Lawrence?”

“How about some solitude and a bed?”

“How about some peppermint tea?”

McKay dropped his hands to his lap and smiled sickly. “Chamomile.”

Decker stood and came back a minute later, carrying two cups of tea and a cinnamon bun. He sat back down. “I brought you some munch food. It smelled good.”

“You eat it.” McKay took the tea. “I’m sick to my stomach. I woke up feeling that way. Thought I could beat it. I was wrong.”

“So your illness has nothing to do with my visit?”

“Your visit isn’t a boon to my health. What do you guys
want
from me?”

“How about we start with your investment-counseling sideline. Did you promise all the old ladies trips to Hawaii? Or did you individualize, with a different scam for each one?”

McKay stared at Decker, a gray pallor washing over his cheeks. Decker reached into his pockets and took out a small tape recorder. “Sometimes I use a notebook. But sometimes I use this. Do you mind?”

The bodybuilder’s eyes drifted to the cassette player. “Do I need a lawyer?”

“That’s up to you.”

“Are you charging me with anything?”

“Not yet. But if you say something incriminating, I can use it against you.”

Again McKay was quiet.

“Up to you, Leek. Call your lawyer if it’ll make you feel better. We can make the questioning as formal as you want.”

Leek sipped tea. “If I call some lawyer, it becomes like a serious thing, huh?”

“You break the law, it’s serious,” Decker said.

“I’ll talk to you if you use a notebook instead of that thing. It makes me nervous.”

Decker looked at the recorder, then placed it in his pocket. He pulled out his notebook and wrote down the date, time, and place of the interview.

“So talk to me, Mr. McKay. Tell me about your investment strategy. I’m always interested in tips from the experts.”

McKay said nothing.

Decker said, “Just get the first sentence out. It’s easier after that.”

McKay sighed. Softly, he said, “If you’re looking to find big time on me, forget it.”

“What’s big time, Leek?”

“Not me, that’s for sure. All I ever did was penny-ante stuff—nickels and dimes.”

“Lita was talking more like hundreds.”

“Lita talks too much, period! Doesn’t make a difference to her—nickels versus hundreds. She’d have never seen the money anyway. It’d just line the pockets of the board of directors at the home.”

“Embezzling is illegal, Leek.”

“I didn’t
embezzle
anything, Sergeant. If some of the folks asked me to hold some pocket change for them, how’s that embezzling?”

“Okay. Then show me the paperwork, Leek. All the accounts you’ve opened for your old folks. All the transactions you made in
their
names.”

The nurse closed his eyes and didn’t answer.

“Not to mention that as a contingency for staying in the home, occupants are required to sign documents surrendering all their assets.”

McKay’s eyes snapped open. “And you think that’s fair?”

“I think some homes do take advantage of the fact that no one wants the burden of caring for the aged. But they work within legal bounds. If I don’t like their rules, I don’t have to choose them. But they’re a far cry from people who use charm to cheat the elderly out of their savings.”

“Cheat the elderly?”
McKay whispered fiercely. “Let me ask you something, Sergeant Self-righteous. Do you deal with the
elderly
on a day-to-day basis? Do you act like a
jackass
just to get them to smile? Do you sneak them extra food or even sometimes buy them candy out of your measly salary, because food’s the only thing these people got now? Do you wipe their spittle? Change their diapers? Bathe their decrepit bodies after they’ve vomited over themselves?”

“I’ve been vomited on by drunks, Leek. I’ve been cursed at, spit at, punched, clawed, and I’ve even been shot. It’s part of my job.”

“Yeah, it’s my
job
,” McKay retorted. “But there’re a lot of ways for nurses to make a living. I do it ’cause the elderly are the garbage of society. I do it ’cause I took care of my own grandparents and understand the pain. So maybe I do pocket a twenty now and then. I know a ton of private nurses who’ve built nest eggs by kypping a little here and there over the years. Think the folks don’t know about it? Sure they do. But they don’t
care
! Long as
someone
’s caring for them. What I get from them is nothing more than a tip for my services.”

“It’s illegal, Leek.”

“So
arrest
me! Then you go to the home and tell them you locked up Leek McKay and see what the old folks say.”

Decker sipped his tea and waited.

“Good old Lita.” McKay shook his head. “Can’t keep her mouth shut. I should have come down on her, but I didn’t want to screw her out of her only fantasy.”

“You’re a regular white knight.”

Again the bodybuilder started to say something, but stopped. “What’s the use? I’m just wasting my breath.”

“Who else knows about your extracurricular investment activities besides the folks you take tips from?”

“No one. Well, that’s not true. You do.”

“What about Tandy Roberts?”

“What about Tandy?” McKay shrugged.

“How long has she known about it?”

The nurse was silent.

“Protecting her?” Decker said. “Or is she protecting you?”

A spark passed through McKay’s ailing, dull eyes. Decker studied his face closely.

“You knew Tandy had a terrible crush on you. As long as you played interested in her, you knew she wouldn’t drop your secret. Unfortunately, you had to do more than just
play
interested in her.”

The nurse whitened.

Decker said, “How long were you two lovers?”

“God, do we really have to get into this?”

“How long?”

“About a year.” McKay bit back a gag. “It was disgusting. Like going to bed with a hog.”

Decker said, “When did it stop? Or did it?”

“Nah, it’s all over. It stopped when she started buffing out. Actually, it stopped before that. Too bad. I wouldn’t mind now.”

Decker looked up from his notebook. “What do you mean, stopped before she started buffing out?”

McKay hesitated. “It’s not important. The main thing is, her interest in me stopped. She doesn’t care about me or what I do—legal or otherwise. I’m irrelevant to her now that she looks good and acts normal. Just my luck.”

“Leek, why did you stop sleeping with her?”

“You mean why did
she
stop sleeping with
me.
She initiated everything. For your information, it has nothing to do with my extracurricular activities.”

“Tell me about it anyway.”

The nurse sighed. “Can you get me another tea first?”

Decker bought him another tea, noticing Leek had also finished the cinnamon bun. “Are you hungry?”

“How about a whole-wheat roll and some jam, if you don’t mind.”

Decker said, “Talking’s good for your complexion, Leek. You look a whole lot better.”

“I hate to say this, but I feel a whole lot better.”

Decker bought him a roll. “Confession’s good for the soul. Tell me why you and Tandy stopped your affair.”

“She stopped it when it was clear to her that no matter
what
the circumstances were, I wasn’t going to
marry
her.”

“What the circumstances were…” Decker repeated. “Meaning you knocked her up?”

McKay slapped some strawberry jam onto his wheat roll and took a big bite. “I don’t know how it happened. I was
careful. I mean real, real
careful
! Nothing without a rubber—two rubbers. It was the last thing on earth I wanted. We didn’t even
do
it that much. And half of the times when we did do it, I couldn’t even come. I don’t know
how
she became pregnant.”

“All it takes is one time.”

“Yep.”

“What happened to the baby?”

“I don’t know. I assumed she got an abortion. I gave her money. I don’t ever remember seeing her pregnant. But she was so fat, she could have been and I wouldn’t have noticed. If she did have the baby, she must have given it up for adoption. I know she doesn’t have kids now.”

Decker tapped his pencil against his notebook. “Let me ask you this, Leek. She stopped sleeping with you after you made it clear you wouldn’t marry her even if she had the baby, right?”

“Right.”

“So what did she say? I don’t want to sleep with you anymore?”

“It wasn’t that honest a thing. She just started avoiding me…stopped inviting me over to her apartment. That’s where we did it. I certainly wasn’t going to have her over to my place.”

“And weren’t you worried?”

“Worried? Are you kidding, I was
relieved
!”

Decker said, “You weren’t concerned that she’d reveal your investment scheme when you turned her down matrimonially?”

McKay stopped eating. Once again, his complexion took on a sickly shade of pewter.

Decker said, “As a matter of fact, Leek, I see Tandy getting very angry and threatening to
expose
you—which she obviously didn’t do. Now I
have
to ask myself why.”

“Maybe she felt loyal to me,” the nurse whispered. “Old feelings die hard.”

“Maybe you offered her another incentive to keep her
mouth shut. Like you knew she was in trouble because she was misrepresenting herself as an RN when she was only an LVN.”

“Shit—”

“Or maybe Tandy wasn’t even an LVN,” Decker said. “Maybe she faked
everything.
Maybe the home found out about it and was going to fire her. But you talked them into laying her off. And then you stole Tandy’s records so no one would ever be able to trace her problems back to the home.”

McKay covered his face.

“But you know hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” Decker said. “Burying her problems still wasn’t enough for her. So you made her a final offer that would help her tremendously in her career as a ‘nurse.’”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” McKay said. “Excuse me.”

Decker watched McKay race to the back of the grocery store. He followed him to the outside of the bathroom, hearing the nurse retch. After a minute or so, McKay stepped out of the men’s room, his eyes slits oozing tears at the corners.

“You don’t look well,” Decker said.

“Can you take me back to my car now?”

“Let’s sit for a moment longer. Give you a chance to catch your breath.” Decker led him back to the bakery and sat him on a chair. “How long have you been letting Tandy use your license number?”

McKay looked defeated. He whispered, “’Bout a year and a half.”

“Why didn’t Tandy just make up a license number?”

“Because they’re specifically coded. If she accidentally used someone else’s by mistake and that someone caught on and exposed her, she’d be in trouble. Why take chances?”

“Don’t employers check the numbers on nurses’ applications with the board?”

“They’re supposed to, but they usually don’t unless there’s a reason to do it. I never complained, so the number was clean. And just for your information, Tandy
is
an LVN. It’s pretty hard faking nursing without
any
training.”

“Are you kidding?” Decker said. “People have faked being doctors, even
surgeons.
That’s a hell of a lot trickier than being a nurse. I can’t understand how an institution wouldn’t at least cross-reference the license number with the Board of Examiners.”

“Why bother unless the nurse was problematic? So far as I know, Tandy never created any problems.”

“So far as you know,” Decker said.

McKay sighed. “So far as I know.”

Marge was sitting on the living-room sofa, reading the morning paper, when Decker walked into his house. She lowered the newsprint to her lap.

“The baby nurse has informed me that Rina and Hannah went down for a nap about…” Marge checked her watch. “About an hour ago. What is it, three? You’re late.”

“Good interviewing takes time. Where is Nora?”

“In the kitchen preparing tonight’s dinner—eggplant Parmesan, garlic bread, salad, and baked apples with raisins and sour cream for dessert. Makes my mouth water just repeating the menu.”

“Would you like to join us for dinner?”

“Nah, that’s okay. I’m sure you’d like a little privacy.”

“Privacy?” Decker let out an incredulous laugh. “Under one roof, I’ve got a wife, two daughters, two sons, a baby nurse, a mother-in-law, a father-in-law, a dog, and a new kitten. To me, privacy is a word in the dictionary. You’re welcome to stay if the mood hits.”

“You’ve twisted my arm.”

“I take it Hollander found you without a hitch?”

“Smooth as silk.”

“Where is Ms. Roberts at the moment?” Decker asked.

“She left directly from the gym to Tujunga Memorial—presumably she’s working the three-to-eleven shift. Don’t worry, Mike’s playacting the janitor at the hospital. He’s keeping watch on her in case she decides to filch something—human or otherwise.”