Midnight Caller

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Erin blinked hard to hold back tears. “I can’t. I want to but…I just can’t.”

After several minutes, Carol said, “Sometimes that baggage you carry around gets pretty heavy, doesn’t it?”

“Baggage? It wasn’t me who broke my marriage vows and cheated with every cute skirt in town. I’m not the one who deserted my son when he was born less than perfect. And it won’t be me who lets another man hurt me again—or my son. I just can’t take the chance.” Erin ducked her head.

Silence stretched between them.

“Well, if you can’t, you can’t. Come on.” Carol jumped up and pulled Erin from her seat. “No ambulance sirens. The board’s cleared. Ride up to the fourth floor with me. Sue Branson’s babysitting Amy and they stopped to see the clown. Maybe we’ll meet Mr. Right in the elevator. Who knows?”

“Wait a minute.” Erin followed Carol onto the elevator. “I thought you said Mr. Cop was my Mr. Right.”

“He is,” Carol said. The elevator doors slid shut. “Just not Mr. Right Now.”

“Since when does the hospital pay for entertainment for the pediatric floor?” she asked as they exited the elevator and elbowed their way through the crowd.

“Since they can get two for the price of one,” Carol said. “That’s Jim Peters. Sanitation engineer by day. Clown on the side. He loves the kids. He used to come and entertain them after work. The parents and kids loved him so much that Dottie, in Personnel, told me they decided to throw him a couple of extra bucks to do it officially once a month.”

A white-faced clown with orange hair, a big nose, a red outlined mouth and a single black tear painted beneath his left eye scooted among the children. He pulled coins from behind their ears. He made tiny action figures mysteriously appear in the pockets of their pajamas.

The clown selected one child, sitting in a wheelchair, and crouched beside him. Pointing to the tear on his cheek, the clown pretended to be sad, bent down closer still, and squirted water at the boy from a flower on his lapel. The boy hit the clown with his balloon. Both child and clown laughed and the clown fell back on the floor. Within moments all the children jumped on the clown, hitting him with their balloons, laughing and rolling over his flattened body.

Erin joined in the laughter. “He is great with the kids.”

“I know. Amy and I found out about him accidentally. You know how hard it is to get a doctor on weekends. A couple of months ago, Amy had an ear infection. Robert Stone promised he’d take a look after his rounds if I brought her here. We discovered the clown while we were waiting.”

“That sounds like something Robert might do.”

Carol raised an eyebrow. “I thought it was over between the two of you.” She tilted her head. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Of course, it’s been over for ages.”

“That’s what I thought you told me. Why did you dump him, anyway?” Carol grinned. “He’s not a cop.”

Erin shook her head from side to side in mock exasperation at her friend’s teasing. “No, he’s not a cop. Truthfully, he’s really a nice guy.”

“I’m beginning to think nice guys don’t stand a chance with you, O’Malley.”

Erin ignored her.

“So? What did the nice guy do to get dumped?”

Erin shrugged. “I was looking for light and casual. He wasn’t. So, I broke it off. When I realized how much I hurt him, I decided to stop dating period. I’m not interested in a relationship with any man. I only dated him to get out and have a little fun with someone I liked and respected. It hadn’t dawned on me that it had the potential to turn into something deeper for the other person. I hated that I hurt him. I won’t do that again to somebody else.”

“Mama.”

Carol scooped three-year-old Amy up into her arms and hugged her tight.

Sue Branson followed closely on Amy’s heels, whispered a few words in Carol’s ear and stepped away.

“Don’t know what I’d do without Sue,” Carol said. “She babysat Amy for the last three Friday nights for me.”

Erin glanced at her friend. “Are you dating again? Why didn’t you tell me? I’d watch Amy for you. Who’s the lucky guy?”

Carol’s face flushed. Before she could reply, a male voice interrupted.

“I thought I saw the three of you over here.”

“Hello, Robert.” Erin smiled at the six-foot-tall man and watched in amusement as Amy reached out her arms to him. He lifted the child, held her in the crook of his arm and didn’t offer a word of protest as she tousled his hair with her hands, laughed and did it again, entertaining herself as if she had invented the game.

“Good to see you, Erin. How have you been?” he asked.

“Just fine, Robert, and you?”

“Good.” His eyes no longer held the traces of hurt and anger she had seen after their breakup. With a sense of relief, she realized something else, a sparkle, a genuine happiness seemed to reside there now.

“We’re watching the clown show,” Carol said. “Or, at least, we were.”

The show was over and the clown gone.

Erin glanced at her watch. “No wonder. Look at the time. I have to get back downstairs. It’s almost time for shift report. I want to get home before Tess puts Jack to bed.”

“I’ll be down in a minute,” Carol said. “I have to wait for Sue to come back from the restroom.”

Erin nodded and slipped away from the group. The elevator was packed to capacity and a second group waited to board. Not wanting to wait, Erin slipped into the stairwell and took the steps two at a time. She had just cleared the second landing when she heard the heavy metal door slam behind her. She smiled. She wasn’t the only one too impatient to wait.

Erin exited on the ground floor. A quick glance at her watch made her increase her pace. Her fifteen-minute break had quickly stretched into twenty minutes. Erin needed to hustle and get back to the ER.

The hospital was in the process of building a new facility out near the interstate. The grand opening was set for this summer, but some offices had already been moved and a couple wings of this building already closed. Erin rushed past a door leading to one of the empty wings and then turned around and went back. This wing cut right across the middle of the ground floor. If she took this shortcut, it could save her valuable time she would otherwise spend racing like a rat in a maze through the other corridors. She’d end up in the same place anyway, but this route would get her there in half the time.

Erin warred with herself. She was the kind of person who followed the rules. She didn’t claim to be sick when she wasn’t. She didn’t cheat on her taxes. She stopped at red lights. She did her best to live a good, clean, socially obedient life.

Except for her love of speed. Erin could almost feel an accelerator pedal beneath her foot and grinned.

Ignoring the Caution—Do Not Enter sign, she glanced both ways to make sure she wouldn’t be observed breaking the rules and slipped inside. It took her eyes a second to adjust. Instead of the bright fluorescent bulbs throughout the hospital, this area was lit by single bulbs placed strategically along the way. Erin began walking down the dimly lit corridor.

Furniture, file cabinets and medical equipment waiting for transfer to the new facility loomed on all sides of a small walkway and cast monstrous shadows on the floor. The silence made Erin uneasy. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. She increased her pace. A rustling sound behind her made Erin pause. Was someone else in this deserted part of the hospital? She stood still and listened.

Nothing.

She continued moving toward the exit.

Bang. The sound of metal hitting the concrete floor echoed through the room. Erin’s heart slammed against her chest. Someone was in here with her.

“Hello. Is anybody there?”

Silence.

Why didn’t they show themselves? Her breathing quickened and her pulse raced.

Rooted to the spot, she stared into the darkness. She thought she saw a furtive movement in the shadows.

“Hello?”

Ice-cold fingers of fear crept up her spine. Erin wasn’t stupid enough to stand around in the darkness waiting for answers that didn’t come. She sprinted toward the exit and burst through the door. Never before had she been so happy to see the ebb and flow of people moving through the corridor.

What was the matter with her? Since when was she afraid of the dark? That’ll teach her to break the rules. She collapsed against the wall, leaned her head back and tried to catch her breath.

“Miss Erin? Are you okay?”

Erin glanced up. Lenny stood beside her, holding blood specimen tubes housed in plastic bags in both hands.

Erin’s chest heaved from the exertion of the last few minutes but she managed to smile.

“I’m fine, Lenny.” She pushed off the wall, grateful to see the entrance to the ER straight ahead. “Just getting a little exercise on my break.” She nodded and hurried past him.

The rest of her shift passed without incident. After report she waved at Carol and said goodbye to her peers. Erin hurried to the lobby. Her nerves were still on edge and she’d be glad when she was home. She rummaged around the bottom of her purse for her keys and stepped outside. Pausing for a moment in the entranceway, she glanced up.

God, it’s so beautiful tonight. Look at those stars. I’m constantly in awe of Your breathtaking creations.

The breeze ruffled her hair. She shoved her hands into her jacket pocket but couldn’t find her scarf. She fumbled in her purse, admonishing herself for the hundredth time for owning a purse without separate compartments, and came up empty. Where is it? She chewed her bottom lip. Think. When was the last time you had your scarf?

She shuffled the purse contents. Cell phone. Wallet. Lipstick. Tissues. Paperback.

This color looks good on you, brings out the color of your eyes.

Tony. The silk scarf slipping ever so slowly through his fingers. She stared into her purse. The scarf was gone.

Lost in thought, she walked to her car and almost missed the item tucked beneath her windshield wiper. Erin pulled out the dead, withered rose and opened the small white note wrapped around the stem. She held it under the lamp light and read it. Then, read it again. Her fingers trembled and the note slipped to the ground.

FOUR

Sergeant Greene stood in the front of the room. “Okay, men. What do we have?”

“The autopsy report is back on Cynthia Mayors,” Tony said. “Same findings as Anne Morton and Leigh Porter with one difference. She fought back hard enough to provide DNA material for testing.”

“Yeah, if we come up with someone to test,” Spence grumbled.

“Official cause of death,” Tony continued, “in all three cases was exsanguination.”

Brad Winters spoke up. “Let me get this straight. He did what he wanted with these women and then what? Did he just pull up a chair and watch them bleed to death? I don’t get it.”

“Let’s hope none of us ever understand that kind of rage,” Tony said.

“Where are we with suspects?” Sarge asked.

Spence cleared his throat. “None, Sarge. Zip. Nada.”

“Spence and I are going to take another run at the convenience store where Anne Morton worked,” Winters said. “Most of us have the habit of frequenting the store closest to our home. You know, the wife calls and you run in to get milk or bread on the way home. Maybe this guy was a regular customer. One night he goes in there and she says or does something that sets him off. Something made her a victim.”

“Yeah, Sarge. And if he does live in the area, then the other clerks might recognize him as a regular. We’re hoping now that some time has passed and they’ve gotten over the initial shock of the murder they might remember something.”

“All we got out of the manager last time was that Morton was dependable,” Winters said. “Never missed a day of work. Even brought her kid to work with her once when her babysitter was a no-show.”

“Husband? Family? Friends?” Sarge asked.

“None we could find,” Spence replied. “The lady went to work and went home to her kid. Period.” He leaned back in his chair and sighed audibly.

“Three women. Three different lifestyles with no visible connection,” Tony said. “One worked as an assistant manager at a convenience store. One worked as an administrative assistant for a local contracting company. Our third victim was a nurse. Two white, one black. One single, one married and one going through a divorce. Three different neighborhoods, three different economic situations. The only obvious connection is that all three victims have children. Lord help us if that is the only criterion this nutcase uses. Imagine trying to protect all the moms in this world.”

Sergeant Greene clamped his teeth down hard on a yellow pencil. After a moment of contemplation, he barked, “Are you suggesting these are random killings? That there’s no connection between these victims?” He shook his head. “Don’t buy it. There’s got to be a common link. Something ties these women together. You’re missing it, fellows. Dig deeper.”

“That’s why we’re going back to the convenience store,” Winters said. “Maybe we can jog somebody’s memory. Maybe a customer who hung around too much. Or Morton complained to a coworker about a rude comment. Something.”

“I might have something,” Tony said. “Leigh Porter’s pastor called. Something’s been nagging at him. He doesn’t think it’s important, but obviously, whatever it is, he wants to get it off his chest. I made an appointment rather than have him tell me over the phone so I’d have the opportunity to probe a little. Maybe it’ll lead somewhere.”

“Good. See what you can turn up.” The sergeant gathered the papers in front of him and stood. “Let’s not waste time. We’ve got a serial killer to catch.”

Tony slid out of his car, arched his back and removed his jacket. He reached into the backseat, withdrew a small bag and hung his jacket on the inside hook above the side window. Before walking up to Erin’s front door, he stretched again. It had been a grueling day.