“I never pretend to guess how rich people behave or how they think,” Burke said. “They can do some crazy shit. Gerrigan was adamant that you still work the case. He likes that you’re unorthodox with less restrictions and protocol. Thinks you might be able to get some answers faster.”
“Piling these accolades on me is gonna make me blush.”
“Don’t fuck me on this one, AC,” Burke said. “Your legion of haters is just waiting for you to make a wrong move. The last thing I need is the Fifth Floor crawling up my ass.”
And just like that the master of manners was gone.
14
GERTIE COLLINS SAT ACROSS my desk, the wing chair dwarfing her tiny frame. Her silver-white hair had been neatly tucked back into a bun, and her translucent eyes looked watery and tired. The Morgans’ housekeeper had the resilient countenance of a woman who had seen a lot in her years. The sunlight coming through the window made her dark skin appear blue.
“I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to help find her, but I want to do everything I can,” Gertie said. “That’s why I asked to see you.”
“How long have you known Tinsley?”
“Since she was nothing but a little girl. Those families been friends forever.”
“Do you think something bad happened to her?”
“Dear God, I hope not,” Gertie said, shaking her head. “That young lady has a heart of gold.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I never seen nothing like it,” Gertie said. “She’s not like the rest of them. She has an innocence and purity about her that’s a special blessing. She don’t care about the money or all the other stuff. She cares about people and what’s right.”
“Have you ever known her to get into any trouble?”
“None I ever heard about.”
“Did you know she had a boyfriend?”
“Course I did.”
“Did you know he was a black kid from the South Side?”
“Course I did. Everyone knew.”
“What do you mean by everyone?”
“Her parents. The Morgans. Everyone knew. Tinsley was not shy or embarrassed that she was dating Chopper. She would never hide that. She was her own person and proud of it.”
“Her parents weren’t exactly overjoyed she was dating him.”
“None of them were. But the more they tried to push her away from him, the tighter she held on.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“What I came to tell you was about an argument they had the night before Tinsley went missing.”
“Argument?”
“You will keep my name out of this, right?” Gertie said. “I’ve been with the family for thirty years, and I have three grandchildren in high school I need to help support. I need my job.”
“I never talked to you,” I said, winking.
Gertie nodded. “That night the Gerrigans came over for dinner. They were using the formal dining room in the back of the house. I’m usually not there that late on account of my grandchildren. I need to get home to make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to do. Anyway, Margaret, who works at night, couldn’t be there because her older child was in the hospital, so they asked me if I could stay late and help out with the dinner. All seemed to be going well, but by the time they were halfway through with the entrées, a big fight broke out. I was between the kitchen and the dining room, so I didn’t catch all of it, but I caught enough of it to know it was really upsetting to Tinsley. It seemed like it was her against everyone else. Except for Hunter. She stayed quiet.”
“What were they arguing about?” I said.
“I don’t know for sure,” she said. “Like I said, I only caught part of it. But it had something to do with a real estate deal and some charity. I didn’t understand the specifics, but they was really ganging up on poor Tinsley.”
“Did you catch the name of the charity?”
“I didn’t.”
“Did you hear what real estate they were talking about?”
“All I heard them say was ‘the mall.’”
“The name of the mall?”
“Didn’t hear that neither,” she said, nodding. “There was a lot of yelling and fist pounding. All I know is something wasn’t right.”
“How did the evening end?”
“They usually have drinks in the front salon after dinner,” she said. “But everyone was so upset they skipped it, and the Gerrigans went home.”
“Did they leave together?”
“Tinsley left first. Her parents left a few minutes after.”
This was a problem. A big argument like this happened the night before Tinsley disappeared and absolutely no one who was there had come forward with the information. It wasn’t a coincidence. What was it they didn’t want me to know? They were hiding something. And nothing spoke louder than the unspoken.
15
THANKS TO A TIP from a gorgeous raven-haired nurse who could take my blood pressure any time she wanted, I was waiting in the hallway directly outside of the doctors’ lounge at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Dr. Bradford Weems’s last case for the day was a hernia repair scheduled to begin in operating room eight at ten thirty that morning. Nurse Veronica had informed me that as surgeries go, this was as easy as they come. She predicted that barring any complications, they would be wheeling the patient into recovery by eleven thirty at the latest. Not too long after that, he should be walking out of the doctors’ lounge.
Just before the clock struck noon, the lounge door swung open and out walked Dr. Bradford Weems. Tall and handsome with honey-colored skin and close-cropped black hair and a little gray starting to make its presence known around the temples, he was buttoning his stiff white coat and walking at a pace that made it clear there were places he needed to be. He carried himself like a man of importance.
“Dr. Weems,” I said, stepping in front of him.
For a second, I thought he was going to run
