Animal Instinct by Rosenfelt, David (novels for students TXT) 📕

in the head by either Aaron Judge swinging a baseball bat as hard as he can, or Marcus.”

“Wow, a young guy like that, cut down in the prime of life … it really puts things into perspective. Here’s another piece of wisdom, Pete. Live every day to the fullest because you never know.”

“Yeah. But, you see, now I do give a shit about your interest in Gardener because he was killed right here in Paterson, the same city in which I am captain in charge of the Homicide Division. You understand?”

“I do, and I admire your dedication. I have full confidence you will solve the crime, despite your track record. Now, are we done here?”

“We will be done when you tell me what happened to Jake Gardener.”

“Pete, have I ever lied to you?”

“Constantly.”

“And I regret that, deeply. But this time I’m going to tell you the truth. I don’t have the slightest idea what happened to Jake Gardener.” Laurie cringed at the obvious lie, but didn’t say anything. “And I’m sure that Marcus, if you could understand a word he said, would tell you the same thing.”

“Maybe you’d like to tell it to me under questioning down here at the precinct.”

“It would be my pleasure. I should have said this the last time I was down there, but I love what you’ve done with the place.”

“This is not a game, Andy. A human being … I will admit, a piece-of-garbage human being … was killed last night. I am going to get to the bottom of it. So if you have any information, and I have no doubt that you do, you need to share it with me.”

“Okay; point taken. I will tell you what I know, and it is all that I know. However, I will not tell you how I know it; that is privileged.”

“Are you going to tell me before I’m too old to deal with it?”

“Here goes. Jake Gardener killed Lisa Yates and Gerald Kline. He was paid a large sum of money to do it, but I do not know the source of that money. When I do know, you will be the first person I share it with. Well, maybe not the first, but in the first or second tier.”

“So you’re telling me that Gardener is the real killer in a murder case for which your client has been accused. There’s another one of those coincidences.”

“Maybe I was wrong that there’s no such thing as a coincidence. I’m wise, but I’m not infallible.”

“ANDY Carpenter and associate to see Jason Musgrove.”

“Does your associate have a name?” the receptionist asks.

“That’s his name: Harry Associate. Don’t feel bad, everybody makes that mistake. Harry’s used to it.”

The receptionist just frowns and picks up the phone, telling someone that Andy Carpenter and associate are here to see Jason Musgrove. As I’ve previously mentioned, I’ve always considered Andy a pain in the ass; but when he’s doing it on my behalf, he doesn’t seem quite as irritating.

Moments later a young woman who could be the receptionist’s twin sister comes out to lead us back into the executive offices of Ardmore Medical Systems. They have the top eight floors of a modern Paramus office building off Route 17, and based on the expensive furnishings and appointments, medicals systems are good systems to be involved in.

Jason Musgrove, since he’s the Ardmore CEO, is in the legendary corner office, with glass walls overlooking the highway. I guess this is as good a view as one could have if you’re on a highway, since the other side sort of has to be your parking lot.

I checked out Musgrove before we got here. He’s only thirty-eight, but looks older in person because he’s clearly losing the battle of the bald. He’s got an MBA from Stanford, so it is likely he is not a dummy, or at least he’s smarter than me. Until recently I thought Stanford was a city in Connecticut.

Musgrove is peering down at his glass desk, pretending to work as we come in. Only three sheets of paper and a phone are on his desk, but he’s devouring them. It’s a technique I’ve seen before; feigning being weighted down with work gives him an excuse to rush the meeting to a quick conclusion.

“Mr. Musgrove…,” the young woman says, causing him to look up as if he’s surprised to be interrupted.

He says, “Mr. Carpenter?”—then notices there are two of us. That look of surprise is quickly replaced by a look of greater surprise when he recognizes me. He composes himself. “You brought your client.”

“I did,” Andy says.

“I agreed to meet with you alone.”

“Actually, it never came up. But you are welcome to have someone else join us if you feel outnumbered.”

“I could also call this off right now.”

“And as I mentioned, the alternative is to undergo a pretrial deposition, for which you should bring all business and personal records. And Mr. Douglas would be in the room for that as well. So if you’ll just bear with us for a few minutes, it shouldn’t be too painful. I promise to protect you if Mr. Douglas seems inclined to get violent.”

Musgrove frowns. “Let’s get this over with.”

Andy and I agreed that I would not contribute to the interview unless I saw something important that he was missing. So he starts it off.

“Great. What exactly do you do?”

“Me or my company?”

“Your company.”

“Medical information comes in to us, we catalog it, preserve it in our computers. Then we supply it to medical providers and insurance companies who require it. That’s the simple version.”

“Whose information?”

“Almost everyone’s. Even yours, I would bet.”

“Don’t I have to authorize that?” Andy asks.

“Of course. But you very likely did when you visited your doctor. It was a lengthy form. It’s unlikely you read it, more likely it was summarized for you.”

“Why would I sign?”

“To take a drastic example, let’s say you are allergic to a number of drugs. You are in Ohio on business, and you get in a car accident. You arrive at