The 5th Horseman - James Patterson [97]
“Do tell,” Cindy said. “Enquiring minds and all that.”
Yuki’s smile blazed. She paused, holding on to her news for a last few moments before she finally told all.
“I’ve quit my job at Duffy and Rogers—and I have a new job.”
A barrage of overlapping questions came at her, and Yuki laughed her rolling chortle, a lovely sound I hadn’t heard in a very long time.
“I’m switching sides. I want to prosecute criminals,” she said. “Put the bad guys away. I’m going to work on Monday in the district attorney’s office. It’s official. I’m an ADA. Want to see my card?”
We clapped and whistled, took turns hugging Yuki and congratulating her.
I was so happy for my friend. This was a great life change for Yuki, and I knew she wouldn’t regret working for less money and more satisfaction. She’d be a terrific addition to the office of the DA. An instant star, I’d bet.
“To Yuki,” I said, raising my coffee cup, the others doing the same. “And to putting bad guys away.”
Music floated up from the piano, and a lovely young chanteuse began singing “Sentimental Journey.”
As I sat back in the banquette, basking in so many good feelings, my thoughts skipped a couple of grooves. And I found myself thinking again about Dennis Garza.
I wondered at the complex nature of the man.
Could his personality be so divided that he could kill as savagely as he’d done Martin Sweet? And on the other hand kill so stealthily we weren’t even sure that those patients at Municipal had been murdered?
I wondered if I’d ever know. But I did have one good lead. Maybe it would work out.
“Where are you, Lindsay?” Claire asked me.
“Right here, Butterfly.”
She pressed my hand. “No, really,” she said.
“I was thinking about Garza and his dark, crazy eyes,” I said. “He’s fifty years old. He’ll die in prison. He’ll never hurt anyone ever again.”
Yuki put her arms around me and hugged me really hard.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Yuki said. “Thank you for taking my mom’s death to heart, Lindsay. Thank you for chasing Garza down.”
Yuki took a breath, then slowly let it out. “When my dad came home from the war, he was changed in many ways. He told my mom about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—Famine, Death, Pestilence, and War—you know. But he said the Fifth Horseman was Man, and that Man was the most dangerous of all. You got Garza, Lindsay. You got the Fifth Horseman.”
Epilogue
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Chapter 139
IT WAS THE START of the midnight-to-8:00 shift at Peachtree General, the largest hospital in the metropolitan Atlanta area.
The nurse stepped into a single room in the crowded cardiac wing and approached a patient who was lying restless and awake in the dark. She turned on the lamp at her bedside.
“How’re you doing tonight, sweetheart?”
“Just like I told you yesterday. I’m depressed as hell,” said Mrs. Melinda Cane. She was a middle-aged white woman with gold hair extensions, looking at Botox or a face lift pretty soon. “With Frankie dead and gone, and my kids living God knows where, I might as well be dead myself.” She twisted her heavy gold wedding band as if that might bring her husband back.
“Look around,” she continued. “See any flowers in the room? Any happy helium ballons? No one cares about me.”
“Now, I don’t want you to be so worried,” said the nurse. “I’ve brought you something to help you sleep through the night.”
“Luz, keep me company while I drift off,” said Mrs. Cane.
“Tell you what,” Luz said. “Take your meds. I’ll see to my other patients and come back.”
Melinda Cane smiled, took the cup of pills, the glass of water, and, being a good girl for Luz, swallowed all her medicine.
The Night Walker tucked the blankets up to the woman’s chin, thinking how much she liked her new identity. Wondering at how easy it had been to get all that new ID for only $175. Not that anyone ever did much of a background check on a nurse.
She walked down the hall with her rolling cart, stopping in every room, checking beds, dispensing medication, saying good night. Then she returned to