Logan shoved open the metal door to the stairwell and headed down the steps. “No. But we found the man who appears to have been the last person to handle those three missing bodies.”
Dane wasn’t sure what any of that meant for Lexi, but right then, he was willing to take what he could get.
When they reached the basement level, they found two uniformed officers standing beside a nervous-looking hospital employee in a white uniform. The guy was slim with a mustache and beard and curly dark hair.
“This is Jacob Taper,” one of the officers said as they approached. “He an orderly who works in the hospital morgue. He’s responsible for bringing down the bodies from the upper floors and managing them until the attending physician signs off on the necessary paperwork. He also handles most of the transfer paperwork and occasionally transports the bodies to funeral homes or the ME’s office if they can’t pick the bodies up themselves.”
The other officer slanted Taper a hard look. “He also seemed damn eager to leave when he realized what we wanted to talk to him about.”
“I wasn’t eager to leave,” the man protested. “I was heading to dinner, that’s all.”
Logan ignored the man. “Did you read him his rights?”
When the two officers nodded, Logan turned to regard Taper.
“You’re completely within your rights to stand there and say absolutely nothing, Mr. Taper. You may call a lawyer as soon as we’re done booking you.”
The man’s eyes widened. “You’re arresting me? For what? I haven’t done anything!”
Logan continued as if he hadn’t interrupted. “But if you remain silent, or you invoke the right to counsel, then we’ll have no choice but to charge you as an accessory to the doctor’s crimes. Forget all the stuff related to the desecration of a corpse, abuse and illegal transport of a corpse, and black market organ harvesting. That’s chump change compared to the three counts of accessory to murder you’re looking at. Those charges by themselves will put you in prison for life. And if we find out you were involved in the disappearance of a paramedic and a doctor, you might be looking at the death penalty.”
Taper had gone pale before Logan was halfway through the list of charges. By the time the detective brought up accessory to murder, the orderly was hyperventilating. When Logan mentioned the deathpenalty, Dane thought the man was going to keel over.
“Whoa, wait a minute! I didn’t do any of those things,” Taper said, holding up his hands like he was trying to keep Logan and the rest of them at bay. “The doc said the bodies were being donated to medical schools for education and research. He said that since those three people didn’t have any family or insurance that their bodies would get cremated and interned in a potter’s field somewhere. It seemed like such a waste, so when he asked me to help him, I agreed. He slipped me a few bucks, but all I did was fudge the paperwork then look the other way while he took the bodies.” He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “I swear I don’t know anything about a missing doctor or paramedic. I came into work a couple hours ago. No one tells me shit down here in the basement. I don’t even know who’s missing.”
Dane felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach. He was half a second from slamming this jackass up against the wall and threatening to send him to the morgue he worked in. “You’re saying Patton trusted you enough to help him get rid of three bodies, but when it came time to get rid of two more people, he asked someone else? I’m not buying that shit.”
Taper looked at him in confusion. “Um… What are you talking about, dude? Patton’s a dick weed and wouldn’t be caught dead down here. He’s not the guy who wanted those bodies for research.”
Logan frowned. “If Patton isn’t the doctor who paid you, who is?”
Taper looked even more confused. “Dr. Lambert.”
Logan had his phone out before he reached the stairs. “This is Maxwell. I need everything you have on a doctor here at county named Arthur Lambert, and I need it yesterday. Then I want a BOLO put out on him, but advise caution. The man may have a hostage with him, a DF&R paramedic named Lexi Fletcher. I’m heading to Lambert’s house as soon as you get me the address.”
“I’m going with you,” Dane announced, following him.
“Me, too,” Trent added.
Logan didn’t even look at them as he ran up the stairs. “Fine. Don’t get in the way when we reach Lambert’s place. If things go to shit, I can’t be worrying about you two and Lexi at the same time.”
Dane nodded even though he had no plan to do anything Logan suggested. If Lexi was in danger when they found her, he was going to get her out of it. No matter what he had to do.
