Malpractice Makes Perfect

Chapter 12

          "I have no idea how to do that."

          "The same way you usually run backgrounds." When my face remained perplexed, he explained. "Okay. Say you look up Bob Smith but there's no info except his sister Jane Smith. So, you look her up and it says she has a brother named Bob Smithson born the same day and same city as Bob Smith. What does that tell you?"

          "That Smith and Smithson are probably the same person."

          "Right."

          "So, then I just crosscheck?"

          "Exactly."

          I pursed my lips; another thought on the tip of my tongue. "Follow up question. How hard is it to get a body exhumed for autopsy?"

          His eyebrows shot up. "It's petition the courts hard."

          "So, that's not happening then."

          "No." He confirmed it with a decisive shake of his head. "Not unless you can prove it's necessary."

          "Damn. That would have made this much easier."

           "For the record, I think you're doing great even without the ability to exhume bodies."

           "Really?"

          "Yeah! You're doing everything I would do but with way less resources. I'm impressed."

          Suddenly I was having trouble meeting his gaze. "Well, you know...I try."

          "Look at you getting all embarrassed. That's cute, Scooby." He reached out and stroked my cheek with a tender finger. "Did you have a chance to look at that link I sent you?"

          It took me a moment to remember the website with the upgraded surveillance gear he'd passed my way after calling the cheap recording device I'd bought trash. "Yeah! Everything looked good so I went ahead and ordered another recording device and a GPS tracker." The recorder had automated voice activator, seventy-hour lifespan, and USB compatibility. "Won't be here for about three weeks though."

          "You toss the old one."

          "Nah. I know I should but it's hard to throw away money. Even when you know what you bought is shit."

          He cackled. "You can always use it as a paper weight."

           "Okay, you know what..." I was interrupted when his laughing turned into a coughing fit. "You alright?"

          He cleared his throat and wheezed, "I'm gonna get some water. Want something to drink?"

          "No, thanks."

          "Okay." He stood and cough-laughed his way to the kitchen.

          Discovering an alias of our shady nurse could be the breakthrough I needed. If she was working under a different name that would help me find her employment history, which could in turn reveal if she was a nurse or not—

          Manny's phone vibrated hard against the coffee table. I looked over expecting to see the screen light up and realized for the first time that he'd left the phone screen-side down.

          What the hell? Is he hiding something? Should I check it? No. Manny doesn't lie. What would he even lie about? I'm sure its fine.

          Now the matter at hand was Corrine. The where, what, and why of it was paramount to the case...my eyes drifted back to the coffee table. The phone called to me.