I drop onto the couch. “Ugh. You don't actually mean that. Right?”
“I don't know. Anyway, I have more information about the donation.”
I roll my eyes and lay my head back. “Just forget I asked.”
I should have known better than to involve Silvia. She's as useful as a bag of ice on a sinking ship, and now she's apparently deemed researching the donation our quality time.
“I'm almost to your house,” she says.
I groan. “Why don't you ever give me more than a five minute warning on anything?”
“Fifteen,” she says, unbothered. “Can you be presentable this time?”
“I'll pick up my suit from the dry cleaner,” I say and then hang up. My hand falls to the couch, clutching the phone.
I'm still sitting on the couch when a vehicle pulls into my carport. A car door slams, and footsteps thud on the porch.
I make no effort to get up, but raise my voice before she hits the doorbell. “It's unlocked!”
Silvia pushes open the door and peers inside, then steps over the threshold. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to spontaneously combust.”
She shuts the door like she's late for church and takes a seat in the chair across from me.
I don't know what she's expecting. Probably for me to be angry. I would be, but it's not worth the energy. Besides, I just want her gone before Syd shows up unannounced.
Silvia has her knees together and places her hands on them. “I talked to Glenn.”
“I had coffee.”
She scowls.
“Oh, I thought we were sharing random things about our day.” I sit forward. “Who the hell is Glenn?”
“The infirmary doctor.”
“It's not talking if he's sticking an eight-inch tongue depressor down your throat, Silv.”
She purses her lips. “I asked him about the donation. He said he didn't know anything about it, but then Mattie overheard us. You remember Mattie, right? She's been there since we were kids.”
“I don't think I was ever on first name bases with any of the infirmary, but continue.”
“Mattie said the doctor before Glenn, she had gotten in a fight with my dad. Bad enough to have her escorted out.” Silvia looks down at her hands and frowns. “Mattie said the infirmary has been scared of Daddy since.”
“Hate to break it to you, Princess,” I say, “but everyone is scared of your dad. I don't see what this has to do with the price of rice.”
“Think, Dimitri. Doctors work at hospitals.”
“No shit? So, what's this doctor's name?”
She frowns, still not looking at me. “Glenn didn't know, and Mattie wouldn't tell me.”
“Alright.” I shove to my feet. “We'll just check the Internet and call everyone in Arizona with an M.D. after their name.”
“I think it was bad, Dim.” Her voice is small. “They seemed really scared.”
“It wasn't that bad, or I would have been sent to whack her already.”
She looks up at me. “How do you know you haven't?”
I halt—she has a valid point—then I shrug. “If that's the case, then the doctor is useless. I'm pretty thorough with the making-dead thing.”
I head toward the kitchen.
She follows behind me. “What's it like killing someone?”
My stomach plummets. She becomes a little more strange every day.
I pull open the fridge door and pass her a root beer.
She takes it, sliding onto the stool at the breakfast bar, and watches me as I uncap a water bottle.
“It's nothing like the movies.” I take a drink to give me a chance to figure out what to tell her. “It's messy and smells terrible.”
She continues to stare up at me, hand on her soda. “Do you ever think about them afterward?”
My insides churn. “Can we talk about something else?”
She shrugs and opens the can.
“I got an idea.” I sit the water bottle on the counter on my way to my bedroom.
The file Silvia had brought during our last encounter is on my computer desk. I grab it and bring it back to the kitchen. Her eyes trail me as I round the bar opposite of her, lay down the folder, and lean over it to sort through the papers.
Since the names are organized by department, and then by date of employment, finding what I need takes all of about two minutes.
Doctor Patricia Kerr had been employed by the mansion for nearly a year before being replaced by Doctor Glenn Flounder.
Silvia props herself up on the counter, head near mine, and reads down the list.
I tap my finger on Kerr's name. “That's her. Too bad it doesn't say the cause of termination.”
“I can try to find out,” Silvia says.
I pick up my water bottle and step back, loosening the lid. “Doesn't really matter. We don't know if she's even connected to this donation, or the hospital.”
“Can't you look online to see if she ever worked for that hospital?”
“Probably only if she's still employed there.” I down the water then shrug. “I'll go check.”