Page 144 of The Newcomer
IT WAS LATE AFTERNOON BYthe time they reached the hospital.
They found Shauna Arthur sitting outside a cubicle in the recovery room, leafing through a magazine. “Hey,” she said, greeting them. “Your boy’s awake.”
Vikki and Joe peered through the glass window into Declan Rooney’s room. The head of the bed was raised, and Rooney’s head lolled back against a pillow.
The patient’s head was swathed in bandages, and his jaw had a gruesome-looking metal appliance affixed to it. One eye was blackened, the other was only visible through a tiny slit cut in a thick gauze pad. “Looks like he got run over by a train,” Vikki said cheerfully.
“Or sideswiped by a walker,” Joe agreed. He turned to his partner. “Thanks again, Shauna. We’ll take it from here.”
Rooney’s head moved slightly, and when they opened the door his groan was audible through the layers of bandages.
“Hey, Rooney,” Joe said. He held out a box of chocolate-covered caramels he’d picked up in the hospital gift shop. “Brought you a little get-well present.”
The patient’s lips moved and his response was vehement. “Fuck you.”
“Oh good,” Vikki said, pulling up a vinyl-covered chair and seating herself. “He’s conscious and talking.” She opened the box of candy and popped one into her mouth. “Since he won’t be able to chew for a while, I’m sure he won’t mind sharing.”
Joe set the caramels on the nightstand, and then he took his phone from his pocket, swiped it over to record, and set it beside the candy. “Since you’re awake, we thought you might like to answer some questions.”
Rooney turned his head to face a wall with a bland framed pastel print of flowers in a pink vase. “Go away.”
“Now, don’t be like that,” Joe said. “You know, if you cooperate, I can talk to the district attorney about maybe getting your sentence reduced. You’re facing kidnapping and assault charges here, as well as breaking and entering, and theft by taking. Not to mention possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. And then there are the old fraud charges dating back to five years ago.”
Vikki leaned closer to the bed. “Joe! Don’t forget that little incident down in Immokalee.”
DeCurtis smacked his forehead. “Oh yeah. I should catch you up on that. The cops down there found a body way out in the swamp. Somebody shot a guy and then set the car on fire. The corpse was in pretty bad shape by the time they found it, but fortunately they were able to lift your late buddy Chuck’s fingerprint and identify him that way.”
Rooney’s shoulders lifted in a barely perceptible shrug. “Too bad.”
“Yeah, it was too bad,” Joe said. “He’d only been out of prison, what? A day or so?”
“Don’t know,” Rooney said. It sounded like he had a mouth full of marbles.
“We think you do know,” Vikki said. “After Joe mentioned that you and Chuck liked to gamble at Indian casinos, the sheriff down there told us there happens to be a Seminole casino right there in Immokalee. They checked the casino’s security cameras, and sure enough, they’ve got you and Chuck, on camera, at adjoining slot machines.”
“You know what else?” Joe asked. “They’ve even got security cameras out in the parking lot there. Because sometimes, unsavory criminals like you take advantage of gamblers who’ve been playingpoker and slots and drinking cheap booze for hours and hours. Anyway, it’s a good thing, because the cameras show you getting into a vehicle and driving away with Chuck. And that’s the last time anyone saw the poor dumb bastard.”
Vikki crossed her legs and looked around the hospital room. “You know I think the jails and hospitals down here in Florida are probably way nicer than the ones in New York City, don’t you? I’ve heard some bad stuff happens at Rikers Island.”
“Probably so,” Joe said. “Although I myself hate New York like the plague.”
“New York?” Rooney shook his head slightly, looking confused.
“Yeah. That’s where your girlfriend Tanya was living with her little girl, Maya. The same little girl you tried to snatch this morning,” Joe said. “And don’t try to tell us you haven’t been to New York, or that you haven’t seen Tanya, because we have video of that, too.”
“No way,” Rooney said. His words seemed to run together. “Neverbeenthere.”
“Way,” Vikki assured him. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’ll jog your memory. This was back in late February. You visited Tanya in her town house. She seemed pretty surprised to see you, but you told her you’d tracked her down through her agent. Any of this ringing a bell with you?”
Rooney was silent.
“I’ll bet it was a shock, seeing her after what, five years?” Joe said. “But the biggest shock must have been seeing that little girl, Maya. I’m guessing you didn’t even know Tanya was knocked up when you and Chuck left her behind at the motel. Right? What happened? Did she call you that night and tell you we were arresting her and looking for you two?”
Rooney reached out his hand, groping for the foam cup of water sitting on the nightstand. Vikki handed him the cup. “I love these bendy straws they give you in the hospital, don’t you, Rooney? I hope they give you a nice supply of them when they transfer you over to the jail.”
“Did the doctors tell you how long your jaw will be wired up like that, Rooney?” Joe asked. “I bet it’s gonna hurt like hell, riding in the back seat of a squad car all the way to New York. Those cruisers aren’t exactly built for a smooth ride.”
“I didn’t do anything in New York,” Rooney said, suddenly animated. “I went to see Tanya, that’s all. You can ask the kid. I didn’t kill Tanya.”
