Read Online Another Word for Murder by Nero Blanc - Free Book Online

your nose around here—”
    â€œI don’t suspect you of anything. I’m simply asking if you’ve noticed anything unusual. I’m trying to locate a missing person. That’s it.”
    â€œDan does his work; I do mine. End of story. If he’s missing, I’m sorry. It doubles my case load, all right? He’ll turn up. But when he does, he won’t be getting any red carpet treatment from yours truly.”
    â€œWhat can you tell me about his work at the Bay Clinic?”
    â€œI never go down there.”
    Rosco waited for Wagner to continue, but instead he stared belligerently ahead. “I take it you didn’t approve of his donating his time?”
    â€œLook, Polycrates, we’re a small but busy practice—just the two of us. If Dan gets stuck helping a bunch of ne’er-do-wells and leaves me hanging, then what am I supposed to feel? Pride that he’s such a terrific and generous guy? Or ticked off because the folks who pay our rent—and who let Dan indulge his taste for expensive cars—are breathing fire down my neck? This is a profession, not a charity. And, for the record, I didn’t approve of his bringing those undesirables into our office here. This is a nice place, and I’ve worked hard to establish it within a certain social strata of the city…. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to prepare for my first patient.” Jack Wagner didn’t stand and walk Rosco to the door; instead, he depressed a button on his intercom and leaned into the speaker. “Bonnie, cancel Dan’s patients for today, will you? Try to set them up for next week sometime. And try to squeeze in any emergency cases there might be into my schedule.”
    Bonnie O’Connell’s eyes were huge and anxious when Rosco reappeared at her reception counter. “Is Doctor Dan okay?” she asked in a near-whisper. “When his wife called yesterday to ask if he’d left yet, I had a feeling she was upset about something. And not just the usual work-related stuff.” Although Bonnie’s voice was full of worry, Rosco detected an underpinning of strength. Looking at her face, he noted the same traces of determination and resolve. He imagined she was a person who’d weathered a good many difficulties in her short life.
    â€œDoctor Tacete never returned home; no one’s heard from him since he left here yesterday.”
    Bonnie drew in a rapid breath. “Oh … but … I mean, where could he have gone?” She seemed far more upset over the news than Jack Wagner had been.
    â€œWe have no idea. Did he have any relationships with patients that seemed odd to you? Either overly hostile, or overly friendly? Or did he seemed depressed at all?”
    â€œWell … I mean,” she said uneasily, “we’re not all that close. I mean, he’s always pleasant when he arrives here, but he usually goes straight to the back and gets to work. I’m not saying he’s not a nice guy to work for and everything, because he is. But he is my boss; well, he and Jack are both my bosses…. ” A tear formed in her eye. “This is horrible. Doctor Tacete can’t just disappear. I mean, where could he be?”
    â€œThat’s what I’m trying to find out.” Rosco placed his card on the counter. “If he there’s anything you think I should know, give me a call, okay?”
    Father Thomas Witwicki was in his fifties, stood six-feet-five, and weighed close to three hundred pounds. His short-cropped hair was a fiery red, and he had a slight limp and a nose that had been broken three times. Rosco always felt that Father Tom, as he was affectionately called by the men residing at the Saint Augustine Mission, looked more like a former pugilist than a man of the cloth.
    The mission itself was housed in what once had been a boot factory in the section of Newcastle that had formerly been strictly