A serial killer.
Christine reached for her phone, hurried out of the stall, and flew out of the restroom.
Chapter Forty-seven
Christine called Griff, praying that he answered the phone, as she hurried down the hallway. She wanted to keep track of Dink and Amy, but the hallway was already empty. They couldn’t be far ahead of her. She had to catch them.
“What now?” Griff asked, picking up the phone. “I saw it was you on caller ID. I answered anyway.”
“Griff, this is important.” Christine hustled down the hallway. “Gail had a married boyfriend, one of the higher-ups at the hospital. She was about to break up with him or she may have, because he kept saying he would leave his wife but he wouldn’t-”
“What is it with the romance-”
“-Griff, it’s relevant-”
“-this one’s girlfriend, that one’s boyfriend-”
“If she were going to break up with him, maybe he killed her to stop her, or out of anger. What can we do with that information? Can’t we call the police and tell them that he could be a suspect?” Christine reached the end of the hallway and entered the lobby, which was bustling with more hospital employees and patients arriving for physical therapy. She assumed the vigil had ended.
“Who could be a suspect?”
“The married boyfriend.” Christine lowered her voice, so she couldn’t be overheard. She didn’t see Dink and Amy, but she didn’t know what they looked like. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to see their shoes. She looked for a woman who looked as if she’d been crying, but didn’t see one as she headed for the exit.
“What’s the boyfriend’s name?”
“I don’t know. He’s one of three speakers at the vigil. If we tell the police all three names, they can investigate, can’t they?”
“Who told you about this boyfriend?”
“I heard it in the ladies’ room.”
“Gossip.” Griff scoffed.
“Trust me, it’s true.” Christine figured that only a woman would know that a ladies’ room could be a goldmine of information.
“What’s the best friend’s name?”
“Dink.” Christine left the building and looked ahead for Dink and Amy as she hurried across the parking lot, careful of the cars pulling out of spaces, having used the lot to park during the vigil. Still no luck.
“Dink is a name?”
“It’s a nickname.”
Griff sighed heavily. “What’s the real name?”
“I don’t know, but I bet I can find her.” Christine reached the grass and made her way toward the South Lawn, where the crowd was dispersing. People scattered toward the various parking garages, and others flowed into the hospital entrances, returning to work. Some remained behind, standing, talking, and wiping their eyes in somber groups, clinging to each other for comfort. She spotted the group of Gail’s neighbors leaving together, and Kimberly was crying, being comforted by her sister Lainey and Dom, trailed by Jerri and Rachel. Phil, the handsome WCU student, spotted Christine and gave her a friendly wave, and she waved back, preoccupied. She scanned nurses who looked like they’d just come off a crying jag, but none of them seemed as upset as Dink had been.
“What’s her last name?” Griff was asking.
“I don’t know that either, but I can find out. She works at the hospital in the same unit as Gail.”
“How do you know it’s true?”
“Because I overheard it, and it makes sense. That’s who Gail must’ve been seeing. She was trying to break up with him. She was trying to get her life back on track to meet somebody new. That’s probably why she hooked up with Zachary.” Christine passed the back of the dais behind the green curtain, where the hospital officials gathered, and she eyed the group hard. She didn’t see Dink or Amy but she did spot the three male speakers: Dr. Verbena, with the shaved head and the glasses, who was talking to a township official; Dr. Hallstead, the tall ginger with the preppy accent, who was talking with the priest; and Dr. Cohen, the tall one with the graying temples, who was talking with a group of women in pastel suits.
“Is that all you got?” Griff was saying.
“That’s a lot! Can’t we call the police and tell them? He could be the person who killed Linda Kent, too. He would’ve worried that Linda Kent had seen him. If he was Gail’s married boyfriend, he was probably at her house plenty of times.” Christine hurried past the stage, where folding chairs were being put away by workmen. She scanned the crowd for the orthopedic surgery nurses because that was the likeliest place Dink and Amy would be.
“No. It’s not enough to call the D.A. with.”
“Why not? Why don’t you try?” Christine remembered what Detective Wallace had told her earlier. “I heard you’re a big contributor. They told me they’d do anything for you.”
“Who told you that?”
“Does it matter? Call them.” Christine threaded her way through the crowd, looking for the orthopedic surgery nurses.
“They don’t investigate leads as a favor. But if you get the best friend’s name and get her to come forward…” Griff’s tone changed, taking on an earnestness it hadn’t had before. “I could take that to the D.A. I would, too. Right away.”
“On it.” Christine kept moving toward the back of the crowd. Ahead she caught a glimpse of the older nurse and the young Asian nurse from the orthopedic surgery unit, standing in the middle of a group that clustered around a crying woman.
“Then call me when-”
“Bye.” Christine hung up and beelined for the nurses, joined the back of the cluster, wedged her way next to the older nurse, and got her attention. “Hello,” she said, with a smile. “Remember we met at Gail’s, at the memorial in front of her house?”
“Oh, yes, I do.” The older nurse smiled back at her, her hooded eyes glistening. “From the other day.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss.” Christine glanced over the older nurse’s shoulder toward the center of the cluster, where a short nurse with a head of short blond curls stood out because of the brightness of her hair. She was comforting Gail’s parents, their lined faces downcast and their narrow shoulders slumped together, a heartbreaking sight. Christine assumed the nurse was Dink and she had to get to her. It had started to drizzle, and Christine couldn’t lose her chance.
The older nurse was saying, “Thank you, it was a wonderful service, wasn’t it? I really felt as if Gail got her due.”
“Yes, it was.” Christine spotted the Asian nurse, looking over with teary eyes, and extended a hand. “Again, my condolences.”
“Thanks,” the young nurse nodded, then glanced up at the sky, which had clouded over, a dark pewter. “Looks like it’s going to rain. The vigil ended just in time. It’s so great to see such a large turnout, all for Gail.”
“Yes.” Christine pointed at the curly blond nurse. “That poor woman who’s so upset, is that Dink, her best friend? Remember you told me about her?”
“Yes, that’s her, with Gail’s parents.” The older nurse looked at Dink and Gail’s parents, shaking her head sadly, and as they watched, it appeared that two township officials were trying to make their way toward Gail’s parents, touching her father on the shoulder and waiting for him to turn around, which Christine saw as her opening.
“I feel so bad for Dink, and like I said, girlfriends are so important. I think I’ll take a moment to pay my respects.”
“Oh, okay,” the older nurse said, blinking in puzzlement, but Christine wasn’t waiting for permission. She waded into the cluster of orthopedic surgery nurses, and just when the township officials managed to get the attention of Gail’s parents, she reached Dink and touched her forearm.