The Stolen - Jason Pinter [55]
glimmer of recognition. "The name does sound familiar,
yes. What has happened that you are investigating?"
This surprised me a little. The Linwood disappearance
was major news in Hobbs County. Petrovsky had worked
here dating back years. Either his memory had slipped, or
he was being obstinate for a reason.
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Jason Pinter
"A week ago, Daniel Linwood returned to his family
after being kidnapped nearly five years ago. I'm looking
into who kidnapped him and why."
"But you say Daniel was found, yes? He is with his
family?"
"Yes, he is."
"Then all should be happy, no?"
"Not if you want a sense of justice. And I think Daniel's
disappearance is related in some way to Michelle Oliveira.
You know both children were born at Yardley," I said.
"And they're both from Hobbs County."
"I did not know this, and I do not know this Michelle
person you speak of."
Petrovsky reached into his pocket and took out a handkerchief, mopping a few beads from his brow. He put it back
in, laughed slightly, then held his hands to his stomach.
"My wife," he said. "Says I should lose about fifty
pounds to stay healthy. Perhaps, she says, this is the reason
I have a titanium knee. I think she may be right, but she
cannot tell me how to lose that weight."
"Doctor," I said, "Daniel Linwood has no recollection
of his missing years. I need to know what could happen
to a child that could do that to their brain, to their memory.
If you know anything about Daniel, or what happened, that
could explain it."
"Please, Mr. Parker, I am just here to do my job. I have
delivered many hundreds of children in my career, and
now you ask me to remember two as if they were delivered this morning? You have lied to me, and now you
expect me to answer you like a man at a cocktail party who
has medical questions? If you have medical questions, I
would be happy to refer you to another physician in this
clinic. Or if you prefer to continue down this path, I would
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157
be happy to refer you to hospital security, who will refer
you to a good lawyer. That is all I have to say. Now I
suggest you leave. Right away."
The look Petrovsky gave us confirmed that he was not
bluffing. I had no intention of calling his bluff. I merely
thanked him for his time, apologized again for the ruse,
and we left.
We exited Yardley in silence. When we got to the
parking lot, Amanda said, "Goddamn, that guy knows
something."
I nodded, picked up the pace and headed toward our
Hyundai, hoping a strong wind hadn't caused it to blow
away.
"I agree," I said. "He'd heard the name Michelle
Oliveira before. And I don't buy that he didn't know about
Danny Linwood." I stood in front of our car, thinking
about what to do next.
"Think we should head back?" Amanda asked.
"No," I said.
"Why not?"
"I'm going to wait for him. Petrovsky. I'm going to
follow him when he gets off work and see where he goes.
If necessary, confront him off hospital grounds. Where
there's no security, nobody but us."
Amanda sighed.
"The least you could have done was tell me that
upstairs. I would have grabbed a magazine from the
waiting room."
She smiled at me, and we both piled into the car,
waiting for the good doctor to emerge.
19
The phone call was not unexpected, but it rattled
Raymond Benjamin nonetheless. He'd been sitting in his
loft, sipping a glass of pinot noir, from the Argyle wineries,
2005 vintage. There were few things that beat a glass of
red and a cigarette at night. Perhaps a little Coltrane.
Getting a phone call from this number ruined all of it.
He recognized the area code and extension immediately, and as soon as they appeared in the caller-ID
display, Benjamin knew there was a problem. Petrovsky
was only supposed to call if there was an emergency. And
Benjamin made it very clear about what constituted an
emergency.
He answered the phone. "Doctor," Ray said. "There'd
better be a fucking good reason for this."
Raymond Benjamin listened as Dmitri Petrovsky filled
him in on what had occurred at the hospital that day. He
ended