“In fact,” Torchy said, scratching his bald head,
“how
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Mary Daheim
“
have tripped the code somehow and opened the outer
doors.”
“Is that what happened?” Torchy asked, looking
stumped.
“Something like that,” Renie answered. “Look, as
long as we’re here, couldn’t Hatchet-Face at least point
out to Mrs. Flynn where her husband is in the ICU?”
The nurse fingered her glasses, scowled at Torchy,
then looked down at her charts. “If I do, will you leave
right away?”
“Yes,” Judith promised. “Just point him out and tell
me how he’s doing.”
The nurse turned to her computer screen. “What was
the name again?”
“Joe Flynn,” Judith said with emphasis.
There was a long pause. The nurse scrolled the
screen up and then down. She slowly shuffled through
the charts on her desk. “Sorry,” she said with an expression of supreme satisfaction, “you must be mistaken. There’s no Joe Flynn here.”
SIXTEEN
JUDITH WILLED HERSELF not to faint twice in one day,
but she definitely felt light-headed. She couldn’t
find her voice. The words formed in her brain but
wouldn’t come out.
“You’re crazy,” Renie yelled at the nurse, banging
her left fist on the desk. “Joe Flynn had surgery this
afternoon and was moved to the intensive care unit.
Dr. Garnett operated on him. Look again.”
“Look for yourself,” the nurse smirked, turning the
computer monitor so that Renie could view the
screen. “Do you see any Flynn?”
“No,” Renie gulped after carefully eyeballing the
patient list, which included a Kyota, a Fairbanks, a
Diaz, a Gustafson, a Littlejohn, and a McNamara—
but no Flynn. “When did you come on duty?” she
demanded with a lowering stare.
“Tonight.” The nurse still seemed smug. “Ten
o’clock.”
“You mean you just got here?” Renie asked.
“That’s right,” the nurse replied. “About fifteen
minutes before you two showed up.” She leaned
past Renie to look at Torchy Magee. “Can you get
these pests out of here? I’ve got patients to monitor.”
“I’ll see these ladies home,” Torchy said with a
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