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Mingus held up his hand to stall the rant he knew was coming. He winked an eye at her. “Vaughan packed clothes for you. I’m sure you’re good.”
Relief flooded Simone’s expression. “You talked to my sister?”
“She had the spare key to your town house.”
Simone nodded. “Excuse me, please, while I go freshen up.”
Mingus dropped to the chair, his clasped hands resting in his lap as he gave Paul a look. “Don’t rush,” he said.
Simone looked from one man to the other and back, then rolled her eyes skyward. “Don’t hurt him, Mingus.”
Mingus narrowed his gaze and pushed his shoulders skyward. “No promises.”
Paul chuckled, dropping his large frame to the bedside. He clasped his own hands together in front of his face as he rested his elbows on his thighs.
She gave them both another look, then moved into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. “You two work it out,” she muttered under her breath. “Not my problem.” The pipes rattled loudly as the shower was turned on in the other room. When the rain of water sounded steadily on the other side of the door, both men shifted forward to stare at each other.
“I talked to your brother. He packed that other bag for you. He said to tell you he’s headed north to lie low for a few days. That you would know where to find him. He doesn’t like how folks are looking at him. He also said he has enough equipment there if you need it. He said you knew what that meant, too.”
Paul nodded. “Did he tell you where north was?”
“No, and I don’t want to know. And, if that’s where you’re planning to go, you don’t need to tell Simone until after you get there.”
“I don’t know if I can keep her safe, Mingus.”
“You better,” the other man said with conviction. “She’s already a target. They know she’s connected to you. If they can’t get to you through regular channels, they’ll get to you through her. I know I would.”
Like all the members of the Black family, Mingus was just as dedicated to the municipality. But he usually worked alone, sometimes in the dregs of the community, beneath the cover of darkness, getting his hands dirty. He sometimes did what others weren’t willing to do and he did it exceptionally well. Paul had no doubts he knew what he was talking about.
“I need to go to the hospital. I have patients there I need to check on. I also need to get my hands on some of my files and maybe a new sample or two.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I don’t have a choice. I have to go, but I’m not taking Simone with me. She can stay here until I get back.”
“If you get back.”
“Such faith!”
“In my line of business, we deal in facts, not faith. And the fact is someone is gunning for you. And maybe it’s because you know something about that pharmaceutical company that they don’t want you to know. Or maybe not. For all I know, it could be a spurned lover out for revenge.”
“Your sister had an alibi. She was with me, so she didn’t have a reason to try and kill me.”
Mingus chuckled. “Touché!”
Paul sighed. “I need to print the emails my brother sent me so I can study the results from the tests he was able to run. I’ll swing by a FedEx office first and then head over to the hospital. I’ll be in and out in thirty minutes. Forty-five max. Then Simone and I’ll get on the road.”
“The print shop is going to want a credit card. Go here,” Mingus said, jotting an address down on the hotel notepad that rested on the desk. “Ask for Liza. Tell her I sent you. She’ll print whatever you need. You can also use her computers. She can back-door you into any system you need to get into. Tell her what you need, and she’ll find it for you.”
“And she can be trusted?”
Mingus shot him a narrowed look but didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he passed him a set of keys. “I’ll take Simone’s car,” he said. “There’s a black BMW parked outside beside it. The registration won’t come back to either of you. If you get stopped, the car belongs to Black Investigative Services. Tell them to call and I’ll confirm you’re authorized to be driving it. But don’t get stopped. I did a little digging last night and the men at the restaurant were a professional team. They didn’t miss by accident. They wanted to scare you, not kill you. But if they had wanted you dead, you would be.”
The sound of the shower suddenly came to an abrupt halt, Simone cursing loudly about there being no more hot water. The two men exchanged a look and shook their heads.
Mingus continued, “Lender Pharmaceuticals has deep pockets. They can afford to pay well to silence you. If you keep digging and they get pissed off enough, whomever comes next might not miss.”
Paul rose from his seat and Mingus stood with him. Both stole glances at their wristwatches.
“One hour,” Mingus said. “Go to the hospital. Get in, get what you need and get out. Simone and I’ll meet you at that address I gave you in one hour. Then you two need to put some distance between you and Chicago.”
Paul nodded and the two men shook hands. “Thank you,” he said. “I really appreciate your help.”
Mingus chuckled. “Don’t thank me. Thank the nuisance in there. If she didn’t love you, I’d kick your ass for getting her in this mess. I still might. No telling about me!”
Paul hesitated as he pondered Mingus’s comment, wondering if it were possible that Simone did still love him. If they might be more than old friends. If when all of this was finished, Simone would still find favor with him. He suddenly wanted it more than he’d ever admitted to himself previously. He felt a mist of saline press hard against his lashes and he swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand.
Paul gave Mingus a wry smile and then he turned to leave, his hand on the doorknob. For a split second he thought about telling Simone goodbye. Just in case they didn’t make it back to each other. Then he reasoned there was no point in tempting fate.
He turned back to face Simone’s brother. “I really love your sister. I hope you know that. I never meant for any of this to happen,” he said.
“Yeah, I know,” Mingus replied. “We all do.”
Paul spun back toward the exit, then he stepped out into the early morning chill, closing the door behind him.
Chapter 4 (#u53550e63-0e07-5640-a9a5-b9bf91df715e)
It was the new day shift change, the hospital employees focused on updates about patients and not on him. Paul managed to enter the building and make his way to his office with only two nods of his head and one good morning to an elderly man rolling his way down the corridor in a wheelchair. Paul stole a quick glance out the glass partition before closing the blinds.
There were manila folders resting on the center of his desk and a boatload of pink message slips. He didn’t bother to look at either pile, instead reaching to unlock the bottom drawer with the smallest key on his key ring. At first glance, it appeared that the drawer held indexed files and nothing more. What Paul was after was duct-taped to the underside of the inner drawer. He pulled the flash drive from its hiding spot and slid it into the back pocket of his denim jeans.
Just as he relocked the drawer, after pausing to grab his calendar from the desktop and sliding it into his briefcase, there was a knock on the door. Paul froze, his eyes skating from side to side. There was a second knock, someone calling his name. He took a deep breath and held it as he considered his options.
Paul secured the zipper on the briefcase and rested it in the seat of the chair. He moved from behind the desk to the door and pulled it open. The voice that greeted him was overly exuberant for such an early morning hour.
“Dr. Reilly! You’re back!” The nurse standing before him looked relieved. “Kelly said she thought someone was in here, but she wasn’t sure. I wanted to make sure we didn’t have another intruder.”
“Good morning, Grace. Another intruder?”
She nodded. “Someone was in here yesterday, rifling through the files on top of your desk. We called security but by the time they got here, the men were gone.”
“Men? There were more than one?”
“There were two men actually. Both white, dark hair, wearing dark suits,” she said.
Paul nodded his head slowly. “Do you know what they were looking for?”
“No, sir. I checked everything afterward and nothing was missing. All the files there for you were exactly as you left them. They made a mess, but they didn’t take anything. At least I don’t think they did.”
Paul paused in reflection. He had a good idea who’d been there and what they were after. He also knew that the flash drive was now in his possession and he needed to ensure it stayed with him. He gave his nurse a slight smile. “Well, I’m glad it wasn’t more serious, and I appreciate you looking out for me, Grace. Actually, I was just headed out the door. I only stopped in to check on a few of my patients. I’m not officially back for another week.”
“Well, we can’t wait to have you back with us.”
“How are you doing?”
“I’m good. It’s been busy around here. We’ve been short staffed, so you’ve really been missed. You’re one of the only doctors who’ll roll up his sleeves to pitch in and help out.”
Paul smiled. “I appreciate that.”
Grace took a deep inhale of air. “Did you hear about the Lukas kid?”
“David Lukas?”
She nodded. “Poor little thing died last week. We were all heartbroken. Parents brought him into the emergency room suffering from seizures. He didn’t recover.”
There was a moment of pause as Paul took a deep breath and held it, his eyes closed as he recalled the youngster who had touched the hearts of everyone who knew him. The child had been six years old when he’d first been admitted. His symptoms had mimicked those of influenza, hepatitis and yellow fever. Weeks of testing hadn’t been able to find a cause for his symptoms until Paul and his medical team discovered the child had been away on a tropical holiday twelve months earlier. Paul had ordered another round of tests and little David had been diagnosed with malaria. The rashes, high fevers, anemia and subsequent seizures had been consistent with the disease, but the parasites had been missed in the initial testing due to malaria’s rarity in the United States.
The treatment plan and prescribed drugs Paul had ordered should have had him back to climbing trees and playing games with his little friends. Learning that the child had died felt like a punch to his gut. The antimalarial drugs sold by Lender Pharmaceuticals were used worldwide and Paul had been confident about their capabilities before he’d learned of Lender’s duplicity. Now, that baby was dead, and the guilt was suddenly consuming. Paul no longer had any confidence in any product with the Lender name attached to it.
He opened his eyes and took a second breath. “Did they do an autopsy?”
“The official ruling was complications from pneumonia. I can get you a copy of the autopsy report if you’d like me to.”
“I’d really appreciate that. He was doing better when I left. I need to know what happened.”
“I understand completely. Dr. Hayes was attending when he was admitted. He may be able to answer some of your questions, as well. Would you like me to see if he’s in yet?”
Paul shook his head. “Don’t worry yourself. I’ll run down to the morgue and see what I can find out myself. I appreciate your help, though.”
The iPhone that rested on the woman’s hip suddenly chimed. “Duty calls,” she said as she reached for the device.
Paul smiled. “Don’t let me keep you from your rounds.”
“It was good to see you, Dr. Reilly,” she said as she exited the room to answer the call.
“It was good to see you, too, Grace.”
Paul moved back to the desk to claim his briefcase. He exited the office, locked it behind him and headed down the corridor. Grace had been called into a patient’s room and she waved one last time as he passed by the door.
As he neared the nurses’ station Paul saw them before they saw him. The two men from the night before stood with a hospital administrator, questioning one of the staff members. He made an abrupt turn as he heard them speak his name, asking about his whereabouts. As he made it to the opposite end of the hallway and turned toward the stairs, they spied him, the administrator pointing in his direction.
Without giving it an ounce of thought, Paul took off running, descending three flights of stairs and tearing out a side door, through the emergency room bay, to the car parked in the back lot. As he pulled the vehicle onto the main road, the two men stood outside the hospital building, spinning in circles as they tried to figure out where he’d disappeared to. Paul kept driving, not bothering to give a second look behind him.
Simone stepped out of the bathroom. She was drying her damp hair with a thin white towel. Her brother was on his phone, texting intently as he sat waiting for her.
“Where’s Paul?” she questioned as she moved to the window. She pushed the drapes aside to peer out at the parking lot.
“Hospital,” Mingus answered, never lifting his eyes from his cell phone screen.
She blinked. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
“Why didn’t you?”
She winced, her hands falling to her hips. “If I’d known he planned to leave, I would have.”
Her brother shrugged his broad shoulders, his gaze still focused on his phone. “He said he had patients to see.”
“And you didn’t think that might be a problem?”
“Should it be?”
“Uhhh, maybe? Or did you forget someone was shooting at us last night?” she quipped.
Mingus finally lifted his eyes to give her a quick look. “It’s doubtful anyone will take a shot at him in broad daylight,” he said.
“And you know this how?”
“I don’t really. It’s just a hunch,” Mingus said as he slid his cell phone into the inside pocket of his leather jacket. He changed the subject. “You need to finish getting dressed. We need to meet your boyfriend in forty-five minutes.”
“Meet him where?”
“You sure do ask a lot of questions, Simone! Can you just get ready to leave, please?”
“I ask questions because I need answers and you’re not telling me anything.”
Mingus blew air past his full lips. “You two need to get out of Chicago. I don’t know where you’re going, and it’s best no one knows, but I trust Paul is going to keep you safe. Now, let’s get moving, please. You need to call your job so they’re not looking for you. And, you need to call our mother. Tell her Paul is taking you away for a few days to reconcile. I’m sure she’ll be very excited! Throw something in there about grandbabies and she won’t worry about you for at least a month!”
A wave of panic hit Simone like a gut punch to her midsection. She and Paul were leaving Chicago and the uncertainty of what lay ahead for them suddenly felt daunting. She had a lengthy list of what-ifs and no sustainable answers about the future filling her head and she knew it showed in the angst-filled expression on her face. Her brother picking at her didn’t help the situation.
“Talk about planning a wedding and that might buy you two months of freedom from parental interference,” Mingus was saying.
Simone’s lips twisted and turned, her face burning hot with annoyance. She shook her index finger at her brother. “I really don’t like you,” she said as she shuffled back in the direction of the bathroom.
Mingus laughed. “I love you, too, Simone. You’re the best little sister in the whole wide world.”
“And don’t you forget it,” Simone muttered as she slammed the bathroom door closed after her.
Paul’s mind was racing as he searched out a parking space in the West Loop neighborhood. His anxiety level was at an all-time high and he took two deep breaths to calm his nerves. After shutting down the engine of the luxury vehicle, he checked and then double-checked the address Mingus had given him before stepping out of the car.
Paul paused at the chain-link fence that bordered the property. He looked left and then right, assessing his surroundings before he stepped through the latched gate, then reclosed it behind him. He took the steps two at a time and depressed the doorbell. As he waited, he paced, his eyes darting back and forth across the landscape.
The elderly woman who answered the door eyed him with reservation. “What’cha want, baby?”
“Good morning, ma’am. I’m here to see Liza? My name’s Paul Reilly. Mingus Black sent me.”
The woman didn’t respond, still staring at him intently. She was petite in stature, wearing a floral housecoat and a full-length apron that stopped below her knees. There was a dishcloth in her hand and a light brush of white flour dusting her chubby cheek. Her gaze swept over him, running the length of his body from head to toe. After sizing him up she finally unlocked the door and pushed it open to allow him entry.
“Come on in, baby. I’m Pearl Hill but e’erybody calls me Mama. You want somethin’ to eat? I got a pan of biscuits ’bout to come out the oven. I got some fatback and bacon, too, but Liza don’t eat no meat. You ain’t one of them vegans, too, are you?” she asked, her words laced with a Southern drawl and coming in what sounded like one long, drawn-out sentence before she took another breath.
