Sympathy Between Humans Part 4

What I was doing needed to be done. Whoever Cisco was- a med-school washout or a con artist faking it from having worked in a medical office- he was clearly fooling enough people to have a small clientele, which meant he was bleeding money off the poor and uneducated just when they were at their most vulnerable. If he hadn't screwed up badly enough to cause permanent injury or death yet, well, it was probably just a matter of time. This guy needed to be taken off the playing field, and Prewitt had trusted me to get the job started. I couldn't go back to my lieutenant now and tell him I wanted backup to go see a suspect armed only with a stethoscope.

The elevator in the north tower took a long time to come. There were no lighted numbers above the doors to mark its progress downward, and I whistled quietly as I waited. Such behaviors were Method acting for cops, keeping the nerves at bay. in the north tower took a long time to come. There were no lighted numbers above the doors to mark its progress downward, and I whistled quietly as I waited. Such behaviors were Method acting for cops, keeping the nerves at bay.

A faint ping ping sounded, but for a moment nothing happened. A long moment. Then the single-panel door slid to the side. I stepped into the car and pressed number 26, for the top floor. After a moment the door slid shut, and again, nothing happened. sounded, but for a moment nothing happened. A long moment. Then the single-panel door slid to the side. I stepped into the car and pressed number 26, for the top floor. After a moment the door slid shut, and again, nothing happened.

I pressed the 26 again. The car lurched upward. From above me, the other side of the elevator's roof, came an odd groaning sound I'd never heard an elevator make, and underneath that sound, a squeak of cables working: screek, screek, screek. screek, screek, screek. Inside the car, there were lighted numbers to allow pa.s.sengers to watch their progress. For an inordinately long time the 2 stayed lit. Then 3. More rumbling from above; 4... 5... 6... Inside the car, there were lighted numbers to allow pa.s.sengers to watch their progress. For an inordinately long time the 2 stayed lit. Then 3. More rumbling from above; 4... 5... 6...

If I'd known it was going to take this long, I'd have brought something to read, I thought. The mental complaint was bravado. I rode elevators all the time at work, but this one was bothering me. I thought. The mental complaint was bravado. I rode elevators all the time at work, but this one was bothering me.

At 26, the car lurched to a halt. But for a moment, nothing happened. The door stayed closed.

"Come on," I said under my breath. The elevator's balky performance seemed like a bad omen for my whole visit here.

The door slid open and I stepped out into the hallway, walked down to the second door, and knocked.

What if Ghislaine misremembered which apartment this guy lives in? I thought, in the wait that followed. I thought, in the wait that followed.

The door opened about two inches, just to the end of a security chain. A slice of masculine face appeared in the gap, but about two feet lower than where I expected it. When I understood why, I found myself momentarily at a loss for words.

"Can I help you?" the man said, finally.

"Are you"- I coughed to clear phlegm from my throat-"Cisco? Ghislaine Morris gave me your name. I need to get looked at."

Cisco closed the door in my face. Behind the wall the chain sc.r.a.ped, and the door swung wide. As he let me in, Cisco rolled backward in his wheelchair to give me s.p.a.ce.

Height was hard to gauge, but he was a long, lean form in the chair, dressed in a dark-gray sweats.h.i.+rt that revealed a little bit of white from the collar of the T-s.h.i.+rt he wore underneath. The same white T-s.h.i.+rt peeked out from under the sweats.h.i.+rt at his hips, over his dark-blue workman's trousers. His feet were bare. He had a lean face, with black hair that brushed his shoulders, feathery at the ends.

He certainly wasn't hiding what he did. Beyond him, I saw low shelves lined with texts on medicine and anatomy. On the wall was a framed diploma, and where most people would have put the couch stood a long table lined with a sheet of tissue paper. It looked almost like a doctor's examining table, except that it was lower, reflecting the level from which Cisco had to approach the world. The table was positioned just under a hanging light fixture. At the foot of the table was a chest, like a footlocker, and a little beyond that was a two-drawer filing cabinet.

"What's troubling you?" Cisco said.

"I have a bad cold," I said, "or the flu."

"Mmm," Cisco said noncommittally.

"How much do you charge?" I asked him.

"Let's not get to that just yet," Cisco said. "Most colds run their course within a week," he said, "even without any kind of treatment. I'm not sure why you're seeking help."

Maybe this guy had the most sensitively tuned radar for cops I'd ever run across. Still, it was hard to be scared of him, given the situation. Unless he had a gun tucked under that fringe of T-s.h.i.+rt.

I sniffled again. "I'm never sick. That's why this is tripping me out. I want to be sure nothing's behind it."

"Did your friend Ghislaine suggest I could prescribe something for you, something stronger than over-the-counter meds?" Cisco asked.

"No," I said honestly.

"Because I can't," Cisco went on. "I expect Ghislaine didn't pa.s.s along what I told her when she came to see me, so I'm going to tell you what I tell everyone. I don't know what brought you to me in a city full of doctors' offices; I don't ask people that," Cisco continued. "But this is not the ideal situation in which to get your medical care. If you have another option, you should seriously think about taking it."

If he thinks that little speech is a disclaimer that'll protect him from criminal charges, he's got another thing coming.

"Understood. How much do you charge?" I said flatly.

"To look at you?" he said. "Forty."

That's all? I thought. It surprised me that he'd put himself at risk by doing something this illegal, and then charge relatively little for it. On the other hand, his clientele probably didn't have much money to spare. I thought. It surprised me that he'd put himself at risk by doing something this illegal, and then charge relatively little for it. On the other hand, his clientele probably didn't have much money to spare.

"Do you want me to look at you?" he asked.

"I didn't come this far to just go away," I told him, thinking of Prewitt.

"All right," Cisco said. "I take the money up front. Why don't you set it on my bookshelf over there, then take your s.h.i.+rt off and get on my exam table. I'll be with you in a minute." He rolled backward, turning the wheelchair toward his kitchen.

The money first. Cisco might be reasonably priced, but he certainly wasn't naive. I laid two twenties on the top of the bookshelf as I'd been directed. Water ran in Cisco's kitchen. He was at the sink, his back turned to me.

It was the first moment I'd had to regain my mental footing. The fact that he was a paraplegic had thrown me, but only momentarily. It was his behavior that I continued to find unusual. Normally, criminals, particularly con artists, are hyperalert when meeting strangers. They hide it well, but you can sense it, a kind of power-line hum that radiates off them. But Cisco didn't seem so much alert as aware. He wasn't nervous, and he wasn't drunk or on anything, either. He was simply relaxed, relaxed, and that was the thing that didn't add up. and that was the thing that didn't add up.

I turned to study the living room. Virtually nowhere were any personal touches. I drifted over to look at the framed diploma on the wall.

C. Agustin Ruiz, the name read. Above it, in larger letters, were the words Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons.

"Holy s.h.i.+t," I said, unable to censor myself in time. The heavy paper clearly marked the certificate as nothing you could make with a home-computer word-processing program. This guy was bona fide.

"Something wrong?" Cisco said.

"That's a good school, isn't it?" I asked.

He turned to see me looking at his diploma. "Most people would say so," he said. "Didn't I tell you to take off your s.h.i.+rt?"

I pulled my s.h.i.+ny pink sleeveless top over my head and sat down on the table, feeling self-conscious in a black half-cup bra. With my hands at my sides, resting on the edge of the exam table, I noticed something about the material underneath. It was cloth-covered, rounded, and cream-colored.

"Is this a ma.s.sage table ma.s.sage table?" I asked Cisco, who'd come near to take a few objects from his footlocker.

"You must have made a wrong turn on the way to Cedars-Sinai," he said dryly.

Some bedside manner, I thought. But he was right. I thought. But he was right.

Cisco rolled to the side of the exam table and turned on the overhead light with an in-line switch in the cord. A stethoscope was draped around his neck, a blood pressure cuff in his lap. He held a yellow legal pad on his lap.

"Are you going to take notes?" I asked.

"All doctors do," Cisco said. "What's your name?"

I tensed. Cisco noticed it. "We can do this AA style, if you like," he said. "First name and last initial."

"Sarah P.," I said.

"What do you do for a living?" he asked.

I gave him a dry stare ringed heavily with black eyeliner.

Cisco licked his teeth speculatively. "Right," he said. "Are you taking any medications currently?"

"No," I said.

"Do you use?"

"Use what?" I knew what he meant, but felt like giving him a hard time, like Sarah P. the hooker would have.

"Drugs."

"No," I said.

"Date of your last menstrual period?"

"I don't remember," I said, "but I'm regular."

"Any chance you could be pregnant now?"

"If I were, could you fix it for me?" I asked.

"We're going in circles. Do you think you might be pregnant?"

I shook my head. When he didn't move on, I said, "No. I'm sure."

"Okay," Cisco said. "Let's get started."

He laid the cool surface of the stethoscope against my sternum. He nodded. "Breathe deeply for me," he said. I did, closing my eyes. "Again."

A shredding sound made me open my eyes. Cisco was unwrapping the blood-pressure cuff.

"You've got all the equipment," I said.

"Not nearly what I'd like to have," he said.

Obediently I held out my arm, and he pumped air into the cuff, then let it hiss out, watching his stethoscope.

"Hundred and four over seventy," Cisco noted. "Nice."

He'd surprised me. On my rare visits to doctors, I'd always had high readings. White-coat hypertension, they called it, blood pressure that was only high in medical settings.

But Cisco's place was different. He acted like a doctor, and this was an exam, yet I was clearly in someone's home. There was a faint scent of cooking in the air, instead of that disturbing antiseptic smell of a doctor's office.

He took my temperature, read the thermometer in silence, and shook it out. He looked in each ear with an otoscope, felt the glands at the side of my neck.

"When did you first notice the symptoms?" he asked.

"Two days ago."

"Any reason to think you might be immunosuppressed?"

"No," I said.

"Are you p.r.o.ne to ear infections?"

"No."

"Are either of your ears bothering you?"

"No," I said again.

Cisco rolled backward slightly. "You can put your s.h.i.+rt back on," he said, giving the s.h.i.+ny pink thing the honor of being called a s.h.i.+rt, something I wouldn't have done. I pulled the top over my head, straightened my hair with my fingers.

"Here's the deal," he said. "You seem to be a person in good health, with a bad cold. It's not the end of the world. Get plenty of fluids and rest, take some vitamin C, and treat the symptoms with some over-the-counter remedies."

"All right."

"There is one other thing." Cisco's tone had changed, sharpening my attention. "I'm not real happy with the way your left ear looks. We usually see infections in children, not adults, and you say it's not bothering you, so I'm not going to worry about it too much. But if it starts to hurt you, go to a clinic. You may need antibiotics, and I can't prescribe for you."

"Okay," I said.

He rolled back a few paces and retrieved something else from his chest. A red leaflet, which he came back to hand to me. It was an informational pamphlet from a walk-in s.e.xual health clinic.

"I'm not making judgments here," Cisco said. "But if you're trading s.e.x for money or drugs, then you need to get tested for HIV and other diseases. And if you test negative for everything, you need to talk to someone about how you can stay negative."

The skin on my face felt warm and sensitized, the way it sometimes does when someone is kind to me for no good reason. I took the flyer.

"By the way, in answer to your earlier question," he said, "I don't do abortions."

"Did that offend you?" I asked.

"No," Cisco said. He did not elaborate.

I was free to go, but now that the hard part was over, my curiosity was rising. I said, "So, you went to medical school and everything?"

"Yes," he said. He was putting away his instruments in the chest.

"But you don't have a license?"

"I used to," he said.

"What happened?"

"That's a longer story than we probably have time for," Cisco said, his tone measured. He was at his filing cabinet now, tearing the top sheet of paper off his legal pad, finding a place for it in the top drawer.

Dear G.o.d, the man kept files. files. When I made my report to Prewitt and we got a warrant, an extensive search wasn't going to be necessary. Cisco was carefully doc.u.menting and organizing everything we needed to hang him. When I made my report to Prewitt and we got a warrant, an extensive search wasn't going to be necessary. Cisco was carefully doc.u.menting and organizing everything we needed to hang him.