McCarthy nodded One of the males is Rick Elam, a shipping clerk who was reported missing in September. Elam and Pierre were missing kidneys. Now, here is the interesting part. Scott, Elam and Pierre were patients at St. Francis within months of their disappearances.
No shit! Were any of them a patient of Cardoni?
No, but they didn't have to be. All you need to do to find a donor for a heart is to find a person whose blood type is compatible with the recipient's and who is within twenty percent of the recipient's body weight. The heart of a person with type O blood can be given to anyone. All Cardoni or Grant had to do was look at their files.
Were any of the other victims missing organs?
McCarthy shook his head sadly. It looks like Cardoni was just having fun with some of those poor bastards and mixing business with pleasure with the others.
Chapter 19
Amanda was half an hour late for her date with Tony Fiori when she finally arrived at the YMCA. On the ride over she had worried that he would think she' d stood him up, but he smiled when he saw her.
I' m sorry, Amanda apologized. I had a jury out and they came back just before five.
Did you win?
Amanda let her grin answer the question.
It was so great, Tony. Dad put me on the court appointment list so I could get more trial experience, and they appointed me to help this poor woman, Maria Lopez. She's a single mother and she's got these three maniac kids. So she's at Kmart and JosT, her two-year-old, streaks down the aisle toward these toys, so she stuffs a roll of Scotch tape and a bottle of aspirin in her coat pocket and goes after him. JosT knows how to run, but he hasn't figured out stopping yet. Bam, he goes headfirst into this display counter. Maria is holding JosT, who is screaming his head off, and trying to comfort Teresa, who's three and is screaming to keep JosT company, and trying to keep an eye on Miguel, who's four. Naturally she forgets about the tape and the aspirin, and some idiot security officer arrests her for shoplifting.
How did you get her off?
I slam-dunked the security officer. He testified that Maria was looking around ' stealthily' when she ' slipped' the stuff in her pocket. And he said that JosT didn't take off for a second or so after she ' secreted the goods on her person.' He made Maria sound like some master thief. Then I showed him the videotape from the store's security camera. You should have heard him stammer and stutter after that. Maria was so grateful. She just manages to get by, and she was scared to death of what would happen to her kids if she went to jail.
Sounds like you did a super job.
Bet your ass I did, Amanda said, puffing up like a peacock.
Then you deserve an amazing dinner as a reward.
Oh? Where are we going?
It's a surprise. I'll tell you when we're finished working out.
They swam hard for an hour, and Amanda found that the time went quickly with Tony as her workout partner. She showered, toweled her hair dry and emerged from the locker room moments before Tony came out.
Tell me where we're going to dinner, she demanded. I' m famished.
Great, because it's a very exclusive Italian place I know. Did you drive?
Amanda nodded.
Then follow me.
Tony took the freeway, then exited onto the winding streets of a residential neighborhood with which she was unfamiliar. Finally Tony pulled into the driveway of a blue two-story Victorian with white gingerbread trim. A high hedge enclosed a small backyard, and a shaded porch fronted the street.
Welcome to Papa Fiori' s, home of the finest Italian food in Portland, Tony said when Amanda got out of her car.
You're cooking?
S8, signorina.
Tony opened the front door and flipped on the lights.
This is lovely, Amanda said as she admired the stained-glass windows above the front door.
It was the windows that sold me. The place was built in 1912, and those are original.
There was a television, a VCR and a stereo in the living room, but most of the furnishings in the house were in keeping with its age. Tony led Amanda through the dining room. The dining table was polished mahogany, ornate molding created a border for the high ceiling and the cherrywood mantel over the fireplace was decorated with intricately carved cherubs, dragons and devils.
Is all this original, too?
Mostly, yeah. It's all from the general period.
Tony flipped on the kitchen light and pointed to a table near the stove. Why don't you sit over there while I prepare spaghetti and meatballs alla Fiori. Do you like garlic bread?
I love it.
Then you're in for a treat.
This was as good as advertised, Amanda said after finishing a second piece of garlic bread. She felt fat and drowsy after consuming too much pasta and two glasses of Chianti.
Some more wine?
Just a little. I've got to drive home.
Tony topped off her glass and watched as Amanda took a sip. She caught him looking and smiled to let him know that she didn't mind. Amanda could not remember spending a more relaxing evening with a man.
They carried their wineglasses into the living room.
How's work coming? Tony asked as he lit the logs in the fireplace.
I' m pretty busy.
You seem to like what you're doing.
Yeah, for the most part, she answered wistfully. I' d like more responsibility.
You're working on the Cardoni case, aren't you?
A little. The motion to suppress is set for Monday, and Dad's got me researching it. And I've gone out with Herb Cross, our investigator, the guy you met at the hospital.
How's it going? Tony asked when they were settled on the couch.
I think we're going to get clobbered at the motion.
How come?
Do you understand what happens at a motion to suppress?
I watch The Practice when I get a chance.
Amanda took another sip of wine. Her stocking feet were up on Tony's coffee table and she could feel the heat from the fire on her soles. She decided that she wouldn't mind staying like this for a long time.
Police usually need a warrant when they search a house, but there are exceptions. One of them comes into play when an officer doesn't have time to get a warrant because the evidence he's looking for might be destroyed or moved while he goes to a judge. That's what the cop who searched the cabin is claiming, and we can't find a way of getting around that.
Tony was curled up on the couch beside Amanda. His hair was mussed, and the wine had put a glow in his cheeks. Amanda had a hard time keeping her eyes off him.
What happens if you lose? Tony asked.
The state gets to introduce all of the evidence it took from the mountain cabin and Cardoni's house in Portland, and our case is in big trouble.
If Cardoni killed all of those people, maybe that isn't such a bad thing.
That's one way to look at it.
But really, if he's that cold, that cruel, wouldn't you want him locked away someplace where he couldn't hurt people?
That's a question of punishment. It's for a judge to decide. You don't ask for the personal history of everyone
