A Killing in China Basin - Kirk Russell [97]
He was in his car when his phone rang, figured it was probably Bates. But it was the nurse he’d given his card to at the hospital where Stoltz was. A decision had gotten made yesterday that Stoltz didn’t need a police officer guarding his door and on the off chance someone might show and want to get in to see him, Raveneau had written his cell number on the back of his card and asked the nurse to call if there was anything unusual. As he listened to her explanation he guessed it was Erin Quinn who’d showed up.
‘She said she knew him and needed to make sure he really was paralyzed and wouldn’t be coming after her any more.’
The nurse thought that was very strange, but more than that she was outraged they’d found the woman in the room leaning over him.
‘She sneaked in. No one saw her and she didn’t check in with us.’
‘But she said call me?’
‘She did say that, she said call Inspector Raveneau. I don’t know what she was up to but I didn’t get a good feeling.’
‘Describe her again.’
As she did, he realized his guess that it was Quinn was wrong.
‘Thank you. I think I know who it is.’
He called la Rosa.
‘Stoltz had a visitor sneak into his room this morning. A woman who told the head nurse that she just wanted to make sure he was paralyzed.’
‘Geez, you’d think she’d had enough of him.’
‘It was Lafaye. I think we go see her this morning. When are you getting in?’
‘I’m just parking, I’m here.’
He signed in and then left again with la Rosa, drove to Lafaye’s house on Fulton Street. They went up the stairs and Lafaye opened the door like she’d seen them coming for fourteen blocks.
She said, ‘I love the way you follow up. Come in, both of you.’
SIXTY-TWO
Lafaye led them into a high-ceilinged room with paintings hanging from picture moldings and tall double-hung windows that looked out across Fulton Street into the trees of Golden Gate Park. A curved sofa arrangement faced the windows and she urged them to sit down and have tea with her. A silver teapot she said she brought home from Thailand sat on the thick glass of the coffee table. Lafaye lit a cigarette and when la Rosa frowned, blew a stream of smoke her direction.
‘This is my house and as far as I know they haven’t banned smoking at home yet.’
‘You visited Cody Stoltz in the hospital,’ Raveneau said. ‘Let’s talk about that.’
‘Well, if you’re here to confront me about it, it’s true. They discharged me early this morning and I drove straight to the hospital where he is. Then I lied my way in. I told them downstairs that I was his half-sister from Indiana and I’d flown all night to get here. Then they were kind enough to tell me what floor and room he was in.’
‘The nurse said that when she walked in you were messing with the equipment they’ve got him hooked up to.’
‘You’re really loaded for bear this morning, Ben. You’d think you’d take the day off and get down on your knees in a chapel and thank God you got him.’
She took a long pull on the cigarette but this time exhaled away from la Rosa. She turned back to Raveneau.
‘I was leaning over him hoping he was awake and conscious enough to recognize me.’
‘She heard you talking to him.’
‘I was talking to him. Did he hear me? I have no idea. I hope he did. I told him what they probably haven’t told him yet, that if he lives, and I made sure he understood that’s a big medical “if” right now, but if he does live the only thing he’ll ever be able to move will be his eyes. Now here’s the good part, he opened his eyes as I was saying that. I said it twice and slowly, and then added, but no one really expects you to live. Pretty awful of me, isn’t it?’ She stared hard at la Rosa. ‘He tried to run me over with a boat. On TV they’re saying he’s the one that shot at you. How do you feel about him?’
‘I think making a trip to the hospital to do that is disgusting,’ la Rosa answered.
‘That’s what you’re trained to feel, but what do you really feel?’ She tried to stare la Rosa down but that wasn