Slidell gave him the long stare.
“We fought. The bitch bit me. I smacked her. She brought charges. She was seventeen. I was nineteen, so I took the heat.”
“Sounds like you got anger management issues, Ellis.”
“Oh, right. I’m the one with issues.” Yoder gave a mirthless snort. “Look. Bella and I were both jerks. I’ve been clean since. Check it out.”
“You can take that to the bank.”
“You guys never let up.”
“Do you remember a patient named Shelly Leal, came in last summer complaining of cramps?”
“Hell, yeah. She’s the one got murdered.”
“Tell me about her.”
“I don’t actually remember her.”
“You just said you did.”
“I mean when I heard her name later, you know, in the news, I remembered she was here.”
“You know the name of every patient comes in?”
“No.” Yoder crossed his arms and scratched the outer side of each with long, nervous strokes. His nails left white trails across the freckled landscape.
“But you remember her.”
“Holy shit. Are you thinking I had something to do with that?”
“Did you?”
“No.” A flush colored Yoder’s face.
“How about a patient named Colleen Donovan? Street kid brought in with a gash in her head.”
“When?”
“August 2012.”
“Maybe. I don’t know.” More scratching. “Wait. I think Doc Ajax sewed that one up. I didn’t assist.”
“You see either of these kids outside the ER?”
“ED.”
“What?”
“It’s called the ED. Emergency Department.”
“You trying to piss me off?”
“No!” The vehemence caused his nostrils to blanch at the edges.
“Answer the question.”
“The answer is no.”
“Talk about Hamet Ajax.”
“Doc Ajax?” Yoder’s nearly invisible brows rose in surprise. “What about him?”
“You tell me.”
“He’s Indian.”
Slidell offered an upturned palm.
“Not a talker, it’s hard to know.”
“He a good doctor?”
“Good enough.”
“Go on.”
“What do you want me to say? Patients seem to like him. He treats the staff okay. I don’t know anything about his personal life. The docs don’t hang with the drudges.”
“Ever hear any complaints? Rumors?”
“What are you getting at?” Yoder’s eyes hopped to me, back to Slidell. They were a peculiar avocado green.
“Just asking.”
“No.”
“Ever get any bad vibes?”
“From Doc Ajax? No.”
“What else?”
“Nothing else.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Is Alice Hamilton working today?”
Yoder’s fingers stopped. “Now I get it.”
“Yeah?”
“Her and the doc.”
“Go on.”
“I wouldn’t mind a piece of that myself.” His lips squashed up in a smarmy grin. “If you catch my meaning.”
Slidell looked at him coldly.
“Hey, I’m not casting stones.” Raising and splaying both hands. Which were peppered with tiny flakes of dry skin.
“You saying Ajax and Hamilton are doing the two-headed roll?”
Yoder hiked both shoulders and brows.
“Where is she?”
“Hell if I know.”
“When did you see her last?”
“Not for a while.”
“Is that unusual?”
Yoder considered the question. “Nah. She’s a part-timer.”
Slidell gave Yoder the usual mantra about calling if he thought of anything further. We left him scratching and staring at Slidell’s card.
Before leaving the hospital, Slidell asked a supervisor about Hamilton’s next scheduled shift. Learned she was off until Wednesday. Obtained contact information, a mobile.
Slidell dialed as we crossed the parking lot. Got a recorded voice. Next he phoned the surveillance team. Learned Ajax hadn’t left home since being deposited at six.
I glanced at my watch. Half past ten and we’d accomplished zip. The adrenaline fizz had long since faded.
Still smarting from Slidell’s speed-dial remark, I didn’t ask his plans.
I got into my car and headed home.