The Plague Doctor (10 page)

Poor Wallace. Poor patients! I thought perhaps I had found the reason for all the miscarriages. Even if Mother refused to come this time, Cassie and I would have to make a little return visit to Wallace's office at midnight. Invasion of privacy, or not, I needed to look at the records of his pregnant patients. I only hoped his handwriting was better than Doc Baxter's. Somehow, I doubted it.

Chapter Nineteen

Mother was righteously pissed. Not only had Wallace had the bad taste to inquire about her bowel habits, but he had also committed the unpardonable sin of asking her age. She had finally asked him if he had been raised in a barn, which was her ultimate insult, and stormed out when he looked merely befuddled.

“Well, I never! I cannot imagine what so-called medical school awarded that foolish young man a degree. Did you see a diploma anywhere in the office, Paisley?

“Well, I really didn't…”

“It certainly wasn't Vanderbilt, of that I am positive. And it couldn't have been Emory. You know how hard it was for our Cassandra to get into Emory. And she was at the top of her class.”

“Not exactly, Gran. I know you like to brag but….”

“Well, the likes of that young man would never make it at any prestigious university. The only place he would be truly welcome is in some village desperate for an idiot.”

“Like Rowan Springs,” I laughed.

“Wow, Gran, you're really mad. I don't think I've ever seen you so mad.”

“And do you know? I think I smelled something funny on his breath.”

“If you only knew,” I said softly.

“What, dear?”

“Nothing, Mother. Thanks for going, even if it was a dead end.”

Might as well start derailing her train of thought as soon as possible.

“And was it, dear? A dead end, I mean?”

“Mother, I can safely say that we never have to speak to Winston Wallace again. How much did he charge you, by the way?”

She opened her purse and pulled out the charge sheet.

“Miss Hunnicutt said she would file my insurance. It doesn't look like there's any specific amount mentioned here.”

She put on her little half glasses and looked closer.

“Why, I didn't have a blood test, or a urine culture. That's a mistake. I'll have to call when I get home. Remind me Paisley, please.”

“That is odd. Of course I'll remind you. I wonder if he's running a little insurance scam on the side. Oh, well, at least he gave you that food supplement.”

“On the contrary, dear. This little tin of powder with impossible claims to better health cost me sixty dollars”

“What? My God, that's highway robbery.”

“Not if it actually improves my stamina, my sex drive, my memory, and my waistline. Or if it also makes my hair thick and shiny and helps me grow liver cells.”

“Gran, does that can really say all that?”

“No, dear. But Miss Hunnicutt said all that when she asked for the sixty dollars. She said my insurance wouldn't pay for it, but the doctor wanted me to have it anyway. All of his
senior
patients use it.” She sighed. “I don't quite think I have ever left a doctor's office feeling so depressed.”

“I'm really sorry, Mother. I'll pay you back for the magic powder. Maybe we can feed it to Aggie. If it's all that great, it might do something for her disposition. Can I buy you an ice cream? That's what you used to do for me when I had to go to the doctor when I was little.”

She managed to pull such a pitiful face I almost laughed. My mother was the antithesis of the poor helpless senior citizen. She looked radiant and really quite young in her smart, pale grey linen suit. Her silver-white hair and dark brown eyes were accentuated by the light tan she had acquired on the tennis court that summer. The Sterling family pearls encircled her still taut and slender neck, and my father's small but perfect diamond stickpin sparkled in her lapel. She had been, and still was, a beauty. Winston Wallace had made a serious mistake. My chic little mother never forgave an enemy, and Dr. Wallace could now count himself among that fabled legion. I decided to keep the knowledge of his dirty little habit to myself. She had enough ammunition, no need to start a full-scale war. She would do quite nicely with what she had already.

When we got home, Cassie took Aggie for a walk. I hung up my jacket and joined them down in the orchard. Aggie was busy chasing a grasshopper, and Cass was leaning back against a cherry tree, looking very pensive indeed.

“A penny for your thoughts.”

“I always believed that was such a stupid thing to say, even when I was a child. Besides, you know what I'm thinking. Ethan's been in jail for five days now, that's almost a week.”

“Yes, dear, I know.” I tried not to laugh. She would never have forgiven me. But I was in a good mood. We might just be a few hours away from solving part of Ethan's problem. I had high hopes that the puzzle would soon fall into place.

“I think I might have some good news for you, Cass.”

She turned away from examining some dried amber-colored sap on the tree trunk.

“What news?” She frowned at me. “And don't try to make something up. I can tell, you know.”

“Of course, and I wouldn't dare. Don't think for a moment, Cassie, that I don't know how important this is to you. And Ethan is a fine young man. We will all do our very best to help him.”

“I know, Mom. I'm sorry.”

She smiled at me as a big fat tear rolled slowly down her perfect cheek. She sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve. Someday I would have to reprimand her for that, but not now.

“Okay, what's your good news?”

I told her about Wallace's ceiling stash and his conversation with Betty Lou. I finished with, “I really don't know for sure, but I have a hunch that we just might find what we're looking for if we sneak back there tonight.”

“My God, Mom. You're really suggesting another midnight outing with The Three Stooges?”

“Well, the truth is, I was thinking about keeping the number down to two. Since your grandmother had an attack of conscience after our last little escapade, I was actually considering keeping this between us chickens.”

“How can we possibly do that? You know how she is. We can't do anything without her finding out.”

“That's fine with me—after the fact. If we come home with the information I think we're going to find in Wallace's files, I'll tell her all about it myself.”

“Oh, Mom, I don't know. Last time got pretty hairy. I'm not sure I can…oh, what the hell! Sure! How do we do it?”

I had been mulling over that very problem for the last hour and I thought I had come up with a solution.

The first part of our plan worked famously. Cassandra announced at dinner that she was going to spend the night with a girlfriend in Morgantown. She asked permission to borrow Watson for the evening. I kept quiet because I knew Mother would not.

“Oh dear, do you really think we should take him out of hiding so soon?”

“I have no other way, unless…but I'm sure you wouldn't want me to use your Lincoln, Gran. Would you?”

“Why of course, my dear. You're an excellent driver. Just promise me you'll not go to any of those drive-in food places and eat in my car. You know how I hate the smell of onions and grease.”

Cassie laughed. “I know how you love the smell of leather!”

“Don't be cheeky, dear. I am, after all, the gift horse.”

“Yes, Gran, and thank you.”

My daughter, my partner in crime, stood up and kissed her grandmother on the cheek. She was as cool as a cucumber.

“I'd better go and get a few things together, for the overnight, I mean.”

Mother turned to me.

“What about you, Paisley? Do you have any plans for tonight or shall we have a nice game of gin rummy?”

I yawned hugely.

“Actually, Mother, I was thinking about going to bed a little early. But,” I hastened to add when her eyes widened in surprise, “we can play a few hands if you like.”

“Lovely! If you don't mind cleaning up here, I'll go find the cards and set up the game table in the library.”

“Terrific. Be there in a minute.”

Now was the time for the second phase of Operation Wallace. Cassie was supposed to pack my dark jeans, black sweater, and tennis shoes in her overnight bag. When she came through the kitchen to leave out the back door, I would slip the flashlight and some plastic bags into her duffle.

“Have you seen the flashlight, Paisley, dear?”

Mother came back into the kitchen and rummaged through the utility closet.

“Oh, here it is. The cards fell back behind the sofa and I can't see without a light. I do hope Aggie hasn't found them first and chewed them up. I'd better hurry. See you in a minute, dear.”

And just like that, she was gone with the most essential part of my gear.

“Drat!”

I opened the closet and looked for a second flashlight. There were at least five more, but I could tell by the weight of each as I picked them up that they had no batteries.

“Mom! I'm ready! I've got the plastic bags. Give me the light.”

I grabbed the nearest empty flashlight and ran to the kitchen “dump everything in” drawer. Sure enough, there was a lovely box of batteries.

“Here, take this. We'll put the batteries in later.”

“When should I come back to pick you up?”

“Shhhush! You know she has a bionic ear. She can hear across a football field.”

“Sorry,” she whispered. “When should I be at the bottom of the driveway?”

“I think about twelve midnight. What are you going to do until then?”

“There's a movie on I want to see. I'll be at the theater.”

“For five hours?”

“It's a Brad Pitt. I'll see it twice.”

“Gotcha!”

Chapter Twenty

Mother and I played cutthroat gin rummy until I dozed off and slumped over on the sofa. She shook me awake at about ten minutes after twelve.

“Oh, my gosh! I'm late!”

“Late for what, dear?”

“Er, why bed, of course.”

I yawned and stood up to stretch.

“Let's go to sleep, Mother.”

“I think I'll stay here awhile and read. I'm not really sleepy. Goodnight, dear.”

“Goodnight,” I answered dispiritedly.

It was almost impossible to sneak out of the house with her still awake and sitting in the library. I couldn't leave through the French doors as I had planned, and she would hear if I left out the front or the back door. I went to my room and sat on the bed to think. Cassie had been waiting for me at the bottom of the drive for fifteen minutes now. I hoped she wouldn't lose her cool. I hoped I didn't lose mine.

There was nothing else to do but open the window and go out that way. The only problem was that we would have to get back in the house the same way, and it was a good six foot drop.

I considered changing out of my favorite linen pantsuit but I was already late. Besides, Cassie had my jeans and sweater in the car. I could put them on in the back seat while she drove out to Wallace's sushi cathedral.

I opened the window as quietly as I could and slipped the hooks of the screen up. We still had the old fashioned kind that hung from the top. I got a wooden coat hanger, again, one of the old fashioned kind, and wedged the screen open so I wouldn't snag my clothes on a ragged piece of wire. I climbed onto the windowsill and prepared to jump.

“Arrfff!”

I had completely forgotten Aggie! She must have followed me to bed since Cassie wasn't here. Now I would either have to take her or find something to occupy her while I escaped. I climbed back down from my perch and looked around the room.

Suddenly I remembered my treasure trove of gourmet jelly beans. I kept them hidden in the back of my walnut chest for special occasions and truly rotten days when I couldn't get Rafe out of my mind, or when Cass was away and I was lonely. They would have to do. I opened the jar and poured out a handful. I grabbed a licorice, a root beer, and a cinnamon before she could lick them and piled the rest on the floor. Poor thing. I almost felt sorry for her. She would probably have a tummy ache tomorrow.

I climbed back up in the window while the dog was busy gobbling down the candy. She didn't give me a second look as I dropped down over the windowsill to the soft ground below. The coat hanger lifted out easily and allowed the screen to slide gently back into the frame.

I was free! I felt the same joy I had experienced when I was a child and my sister Velvet and I sneaked out of the house on summer nights to climb up on the sun-warmed roof. I would have to do this more often. I practically skipped around the side of the house and past the wing where the library was. I could see Mother reading on the sofa. As I watched, she got up and went to the French doors to look out at the night sky. She had turned some of the lights off in the room and would be able to see me clearly if I went down the driveway.

Again, I had no other options. I would have to go down the steep bank in front of the house. I walked out to the edge of the front yard and squeezed through the border of ornamental evergreens. I tried very hard not to think of the creepy crawlers that might decide to hitchhike in my hair and stepped carefully through to the other side. The first step was the hardest. There was nothing there. The bank was steeper than I remembered, and I went tumbling head over heels down the incline. I rolled all the way to the bottom before I came to an abrupt halt in the ditch next to the road. I sat up too quickly and had to wait for a moment until my head stopped spinning. I moved my arms and legs gingerly, but to my surprise, I discovered that I was completely unhurt. The soft, leafy undergrowth on the bank had kept me from serious injury. I got up, brushed myself off, and climbed up to the road. Cassie was parked just where she promised she would be. When I tapped on the window to get her attention, she jumped so high she banged her head on the roof. I was still trying to control my laughter when she finally got the window down.

“Mom! Where have you been?”

“Don't ask, just open the back door and let me in so we can scram. I hope nobody has seen you waiting here. They might call Mother to tell her someone's trying to steal her car and can't get it out of the driveway.”

“Don't worry. Only one car went by and I don't think it was anyone we know.”

I relaxed against the soft leather seat and took a deep breath. Miraculously, my lovely linen suit seemed to have survived my adventure unscathed.

“Where's the duffle bag? I want to change clothes.”

“Oh, my gosh! Your clothes!”

“Don't tell me you forgot!”

“Oh, Mom, I'm sorry! I was thinking that somehow Gran might look in my bag. I got sidetracked and ran around putting in a nightie and stuff that would look normal if I were really spending the night away from home. It slipped my mind that you needed your jeans.”

“And sweater and tennies!” I answered crossly.

“I said I was sorry. No need to be a fussbudget.”

I held my tongue. It was an argument that could have lasted until dawn. I asked a question instead.

“Where do you think we should park the car? It's a little conspicuous.”

“This morning when I was waiting for you and Gran, I noticed a delivery entrance. Maybe we could park in there and pull up as close to the building as possible. Unless somebody comes in the back parking lot, and I doubt that at this time of night, we won't be seen.

“Great! Good thinking, Cassie.”

Then I remembered something else I had forgotten.

“Damn! The lock-picking set.”

“It's in the bag.”

“Thank you, God.”

“How about, ‘thank you, Cass'?”

“You, too. But you forgot my jeans.”

“I thought we declared a moratorium on that subject. There's the driveway. What a weird design for a building. It almost looks like a bad dream.”

I had to agree with her. In the moonlight, it looked even more peculiar. The smoked glass reflected white celestial orbs in every window and the stepping stones became big, round, black jellyfish in a sea of pebbles. The place gave me the creeps.

Cass snaked the Lincoln into the single lane of the delivery entrance and turned off the engine.

“Here we are again, Mata Hari and Wonder Woman.”

“More like Abbott and Costello. Where's the lock-picking kit and the flashlight?”

“Here. I put the batteries in while I was waiting for you.”

She handed the flashlight back to me.

“You hold it for me while I pick the lock.”

“Cassie, that's my job.”

“Who did it last time? And in record time, I must say.”

“Okay. But let's hurry. I don't think we'll be disturbed at this time of night, but who knows where we'll have to look to find what we want. It could take us a few hours.”

We got out of the car as quickly as we could to minimize the time the interior light would be on. I had to figure out someday how to disengage that little sucker so it wouldn't be a problem on occasions like this. Maybe Leonard could find out for me.

The bright moonlight was all the light Cass needed to pick the lock. I had to admit she had a natural talent as a burglar. In less than two minutes flat we were inside.

We decided to keep the lights off. There was way too much glass in the front. Any passerby would be sure to see if even the smallest light were on. We didn't need the police investigating, and besides, Mother would never forgive us if we got caught and embarrassed her.

“I guess we don't need to whisper, but somehow I can't help it.”

“I know what you mean.”

I stopped in front of the room I had hidden in that morning.

“This is the room with Wallace's goodies in the ceiling. But I think we should leave that for last. Let's go for the records of his pregnant patients first. I hope we can find out that he did something to make them abort. At the very least we can get him for malpractice. Then they'll have to re-examine Ethan's part in this whole business.”

We found the records with only the light of the moon from the skylights overhead. They were in a little room behind the reception desk. There were four filing cabinets with three drawers each. I was right—this could take a while. We closed the door to the hall and turned on the flashlight.

“Mom, do you remember the names of any of the patients from Ethan's log?”

“That's another thing I forgot.”

I slapped myself in the forehead. Leonard would be disgusted with me. He would never forget anything that elementary.

“No, damn it, but I do think I'll recognize them if I see them. You hold the flashlight and I'll thumb through the files.”

We spent the next two hours bent uncomfortably over the file drawers in the cramped little room and found only two patients for our trouble. My back was killing me and my eyes were blurring.

“The flashlight is getting dim,” observed Cass.

“I thought it was my eyes.”

“No. It's the flashlight. But I don't understand. I just put in two new batteries.”

“Was the battery package open?”

“Yes, but no batteries were missing.”

“Then that's it.”

“What?”

“Mother probably took two brand new ones out and put two used ones back in the package. That's her idea of saving energy.”

“Well, hell! What'll we do now?”

“I say we put these files back. I can't see anything out of order. These women had nothing more serious than hay fever. The drugs and liquor are positive evidence of Wallace's malpractice. Let's go for his ceiling stash while we still have some battery light. We can grab a bottle of vodka and some of those drug samples. That's enough to show Chief Joiner.”

“Okay, Mom. I'm with you.”

We quickly replaced the files and found our way back down the hall to the examining room with the magic ceiling.

Cassie carefully climbed up on the table while I held the waning flashlight. Two seconds later everything went black. I laid the flashlight down on the table and steadied her legs.

“Damn and double damn! Hold still, Cassie. Don't fall.”

“I'm fine, Mom. Here, I've got some matches in my pocket.”

“You're not smoking again, are you?”

“For heavens sake, is this the time to go into that?”

“You'd better not be. Cigarettes will ruin your health.”

“And all this stress from committing burglaries won't?”

“Just light the match before you lose your balance in the dark and fall like a dummy. I'll tell you which ceiling tile to lift up.”

Cassie lit the match and held it up to the ceiling. She was standing a little farther from the wall than I had been this morning. I stood there puzzled for a moment as I tried to decided which tile I had moved. Just as I remembered which one it was, the heat from the match set off the sprinkler system. Suddenly we were drenched with a cold, stinging shower of water. Cassie screamed and stepped backwards on the examining table. Her foot rolled over on the useless flashlight, and she came tumbling down on top of me in a heap of whirling arms and legs. We were wallowing on the flooded floor trying to untangle ourselves when the bright overhead lights came on and Winston Wallace stepped into the room, pointing a vicious-looking shotgun at our wet little heads.