Long Shadows (Amos Decker, #7)(27)

Andrews said, “It’s a private facility and not cheap.”

White said, “You can say that again. This place has a restaurant and a spa.” She pointed to the electronic marquee in the lobby.

They approached the reception area, where a young woman in a sleek blue pantsuit and white blouse greeted them from behind a console outfitted with black granite and zebrawood. Decker felt like he was in a five-star resort, instead of a place for sick and injured people.

“May I help you?” the woman asked.

Andrews flashed his badge. “We’re here to see Alice Lancer. She was just admitted.”

“Yes, of course. Let me check on that.”

She sat down in front of her computer and hit some keys. She looked at the screen and said, “She arrived here and has been processed, but apparently they haven’t put her room number in the system yet. If you’ll have a seat, I’ll let you know as soon as they do.”

Decker stared at the woman for a long moment before walking over and sitting down in one of the waiting area chairs. White and Andrews joined him there.

“I’m sure it won’t be too long,” said Andrews.

“It’s already been too long,” Decker pointed out. “And getting longer by the second.”

White studied him as he kept glancing at the front desk looking agitated. “What’s on your mind, Decker?”

“One word.”

“Which is?” said White.

“‘Apparently.’”

Decker rose and went over to the front desk. The woman glanced up at him. “Yes? I haven’t heard anything yet.”

“Why did you say they ‘apparently’ hadn’t assigned her a room number yet?”

“Excuse me?”

“You used the word ‘apparently.’ That suggests some confusion or uncertainty.”

The woman looked embarrassed. “Oh, well, it’s just that we have quite a few empty rooms, and once you’re processed, a room is assigned.”

“Would the process rule out her being given a room? Like triage? Maybe they just let her leave.”

“No, the record on the system didn’t indicate that.”

White and Andrews joined Decker, who asked the woman, “What does the record indicate?”

“That she was processed and admitted, but no room was assigned.”

“Has that ever happened before?” asked White.

“Um, no, I mean, not very often.”

“And when it did happen, what was the reason?” asked Decker.

“That the person refused the admission for some reason. In other words, that they left AMA, against medical advice.”

Decker said, “Where is the admitting done? We need to go there right now.”

“But you can’t, it’s only for—”

White, who was obviously as out of patience as Decker, held up her badge and barked, “This says that you take us there now or you will be arrested for obstruction of justice.”

The woman looked near tears. “Oh my God.” She jumped up and said, “It’s this way.”

They followed her through a secure door, which she opened by holding a security card to the reader port on the wall.

They hurried down a long corridor and through another secure door. Laid out in front of them were a series of cubicles where people were inputting information into computers as other people sat in chairs next to them. Some folks were on gurneys parked against the wall. EMTs were standing next to some of them, apparently waiting for confirmation of their patient’s status.

“This is the Admissions Office,” she said.

Decker glanced around and then hustled over to a woman who was just getting up from her desk.

“We’re looking for an Alice Lancer. She was just admitted here.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

Another woman, sitting in the next cubicle, said, “She’s gone.”

Decker looked over at her. “Gone? Did she refuse admission?”

“No. Two police detectives came and took her away.”





Chapter 18



I’VE GOT AN APB OUT,” said Andrews. “And I’ve spoken to the Coral Gables Police. They have no information about a woman being taken from Harden Hospital by their people.”

They were in the car outside the hospital.

White said, “So the detectives were bogus? The hospital staff said their badges looked real and Lancer went with them.”

“At this point it doesn’t look like they were legit,” said Andrews. “What the hell is going on?” He eyed Decker, who was in the rear seat staring moodily out the window. “Any thoughts, Decker?” he asked.

“Clearly the lady didn’t want to meet with us.”

“You mean she faked the faint and then escaped from the hospital with the help of a couple of buddies?” said White.

Decker continued to look out the window. “It wasn’t just her and a couple of buddies. It’s not easy to pull something like this together that fast. You’d need resources that can act on the fly. And contingency plans.”

Andrews said, “You don’t think Gamma is involved in this, do you?”

“We didn’t get to talk to apparently the only woman at Gamma who can tell us anything. And now we’re out here and they’re safely back in their little cocoon.”