“Who’s your source?”
“That’s what’s complicated.”
“Dumped at a hospital,” he said. “Some doctor bud of yours who doesn’t want to get involved.”
Ace detective.
As I considered my answer, he said, “Jesus, Alex. Would it help if I swore on a stack of Bibles not to screw them over?”
“Knowing more isn’t going to help you.”
“Why not?”
I said, “The info was secondhand and nothing about the case suggests anyone who’d contract a hit.”
“Because?”
“The main thing is we know O’Brien was responsible for at least two O.D.’s so there could be more.”
He said, “You didn’t answer the question. What, this victim’s family is a bunch of pacifist vegan saints?”
“Can’t say more.”
“You can but you won’t.”
“Trust me on this.”
“So far that’s worked out,” he said. “But.”
I laughed.
He said, “I guess that could be construed as humorous. So what do we have here…Moe couldn’t find anything but you did. Meaningthe case never got logged as criminal. Meaning a civil lawsuit. Big bucks, non-disclosure. Gotta be malpractice. What, they didn’t treat her fast enough or some other screwup?”
Gold badge earned.
I said, “You’re going to nose around.”
“Would it help me find who shot O’Brien and, more important, Whitney?”
“Not that I can see.”
“If that changes, you’ll let me know.”
“Of course.”
“Even if it causes problems for your doc buddy?…Hold on, it’s Buxby again.”
This time he was off the line for several minutes.
“He didn’t want an update, he found something. Now I have to decide if I should tell you about it, seeing as it’ll put you way short in the equity department.”
“Whatever works for you.”
“Oh my,” he said. “SooooZen. Guess that helps with your real job. Okay, I’ll blink first. Buck went looking for the lyrics to that rap Parmenter posted online. Here’s the interesting part: ‘You gotta Keitch? Gonna pick yo peach. Gonna bend her over slip her the snake. Gonna be more than she can take.’ Who said romance was dead?”
“Direct threat to Keisha Boykins.”
“Damn thing was posted a month before Parmenter got shot, talk about firming up a motive. If this isn’t enough for a bank warrant on Boykins, I don’t know what is. And if I can figure out who Boykins hired, everything else will fall into place. So tell your doc pal not to worry. At least for the time being.”
