tossed it before we did, but I couldn't say for sure.
The cops?
No, the place was too neat.
The partner?
Maybe.
Who is he, Arty?
Prochaska answered hesitantly. He always hated to tell Breach bad news. I got one possible lead. My friend at the phone company gave me Grant's records. He made a few calls to a number in the West Hills. The phone belongs to Dr. Vincent Cardoni.
Is he a surgeon?
Yeah, and he works at St. Francis Medical Center.
Breach's eyes narrowed. Clifford Grant had privileges at St. Francis.
The lady across the way from his apartment said that Grant didn't get many visitors, but she saw a woman up there and a man, maybe two. Anyway, the woman was a knockout, so the neighbor kidded Grant about her. She says he got all nervous. He said she was an associate from work named Justine Castle.
So what?
She's a doctor, Arty, a surgeon, and that ain't all. Castle is married to Vincent Cardoni.
Breach thought for a moment while Prochaska shifted nervously in his seat.
Do you think the cops have Grant? Breach asked.
Our people in the Bureau say no.
Do a background check on those two, Arty.
I' m doin' it already.
I want Grant, I want his partner and I want my money back. And once I've got all three, I' m going to get me a replacement for the heart I lost.
Chapter 5
Dr. Carleton Swindell, the hospital administrator for St. Francis Medical Center, won his bid on the computer bridge game, then checked his watch. He' d kept his appointment waiting for twenty minutes. Swindell's thin lips drew into a satisfied smile. Stewing was probably more accurate, if he knew Dr. Cardoni. Well, that was too bad. It would do Cardoni good to learn a little humility.
Swindell clicked his mouse. The bridge game disappeared and was replaced by a screen saver showing Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci playing tennis another game at which Swindell excelled. The hospital administrator went into his private washroom and adjusted his bow tie in the mirror. He believed himself to be a handsome man, still as dapper at forty-five in his tweed sports jacket, blue Oxford shirt and sharply creased slacks as he had been at Yale. His blond hair was growing a bit thin in places and he needed his gold wire-rimmed glasses for reading, but he sculled every morning on the Willamette, so his weight was the same as it had been during his university days.
Carleton returned to his office and glanced at his watch again. Twenty-five minutes. Cardoni would be boiling, he thought with satisfaction. Oh, well, no need to overdo it. He leaned forward and buzzed his secretary.
Please send in Dr. Cardoni, Charlotte.
Swindell composed himself and waited for the explosion. He was not disappointed. Charlotte opened his office door wide and pressed against it. Cardoni charged in. The scene reminded Swindell of a bullfight he' d seen in Barcelona. Charlotte was the matador, the door her cape, and the bull... He had to fight to suppress a smile.
I've been out there half an hour, Cardoni said.
I' m sorry, Vincent. I was on an important long-distance call, the administrator replied calmly. If Cardoni had seen the unlit lines on Charlotte's phone, he' d know that Swindell was lying, but Swindell bet he wouldn't call him on it. Have a seat.
What's this about? Cardoni demanded.
Swindell leaned back and made a steeple of his fingers. I've had a disturbing report about you.
Cardoni glared. The administrator noted the surgeon's flushed pallor, his disheveled hair and unkempt clothes. Cardoni was clearly on the edge. Maybe the rumors of drug use were true.
Did you accost a nurse in a public corridor yesterday?
Accost? Cardoni mocked. What does that mean, Carleton?
You know very well, Vincent, Swindell answered evenly. Did you accost Mary Sandowski?
Who told you that?
That's confidential. Well?
Cardoni smirked. No, Carleton, I did not accost her. What I did was ream her out.
I see. And you, um, reamed her out in front of patients and staff at this hospital?
I have no idea who was around. The dumb bitch fucked up during an operation. I should have gotten her fired.
I' d appreciate a little less profanity, Vincent. Also, you should know that more than one person has informed me that you were responsible for the mistake in the OR. Injecting your patient with hydrogen peroxide instead of lidocaine, I believe.
After that moron switched the cups.
Carleton tapped his fingertips together and studied Cardoni before replying.
You know, Vincent, this isn't the first complaint of... well, to put it bluntly, incompetence that's been made against you.
Every muscle in the surgeon's body went rigid.
I want to be frank, Swindell continued. If Mrs. Manion were to file a malpractice case against you, it would make three complaints. Swindell shook his head sadly. I don't want to take action, but I have a duty to this hospital.
None of those charges has any foundation. I've consulted my attorney.
That may be, but there's a lot of talk. Rumors of drug use, for instance.
So you've been chatting with Justine.
I can't reveal my sources. Swindell looked at Cardoni sympathetically. You know, there are wonderful programs for doctors in trouble, he said in a man-to-man tone. They're all confidential. Charlotte can give you a list when you leave.
She really got to you, didn't she, Carleton? Did you know that Justine's filed for divorce? She' d do anything to blacken my reputation.
You seem to have a number of court cases going on. Wasn't there something last year involving an assault?
Where is this going?
Going? Well, that depends on what I find out after my investigation is complete. I invited you here so you could tell me your side of the story.
Cardoni stood. You've heard it. If there's nothing more, I've got things to do.
There's nothing more for now. Thank you for dropping by.
Cardoni turned his back on the administrator and stalked out without shutting the door. Swindell sat motionless.
Did you want this closed? Charlotte asked.
Swindell nodded, then swiveled his chair until he was looking out at the lights of Portland. Cardoni was crude and disrespectful, but the problem he presented could be dealt with. Swindell's lips twisted into a smile of anticipation. It would be a pleasure taking the arrogant surgeon down a peg or two.
Vincent Cardoni waited for his connection beneath a freeway off-ramp. Thick concrete pilings straddled the narrow street. There was a vacant lot across the way, and a plumbing supply warehouse was the nearest building. At ten in the evening the area was deserted.
Cardoni was still in a rage as a result of his meeting with Carleton Swindell. Cardoni never called the administrator Doctor. The wimp may have trained as a surgeon, but he couldn't cut it. Now he was an administrator who got his rocks off by making life difficult for the real doctors. What really burned Cardoni was the prick's refusal to say whether it was Sandowski or Justine who had informed on him. Cardoni was leaning toward Justine. The nurse was too afraid of him, and it would be just like his bitch wife to use Swindell to put on the pressure so that
