* * *
Lenny sat up straighter in his car as he saw someone coming out of the apartment across from Meredith’s. Their neighbor maneuvered awkwardly on crutches and wore a backpack slung over his shoulders. Lenny relaxed and watched with amusement as the poor guy tried to totter down the concrete stairs without tripping over his own crutches.
At the bottom of the stairs, the man started to hobble toward his car when he stopped short, having forgotten something. He warred with himself as he debated whether to climb back up the stairs or forget about it. Finally, he turned and dragged himself back up to his apartment, backpack, crutches, and all.
The neighbor re-emerged a few moments later with a pair of pink flip flops tucked under his arm. He once again navigated down the stairs, though it was more difficult to do while carrying the sandals. At the bottom of the stairs, his backpack caught on the decorative handrail, yanking him backward and dumping its contents onto the concrete sidewalk.
Lenny guffawed at the guy’s misfortune, exclaiming out loud, “What a klutz!” He watched mirthfully as the man angrily began stuffing things back into the backpack. There was a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter, along with a bag of baby carrots and some pouches of fruit juice. Lenny’s eyebrows knit together as the strangeness of the backpack contents dawned on him. “Why is this guy packing food?” he asked himself, chewing on a hangnail.
The neighbor had finished re-packing the backpack and threw it onto his back impatiently. He balanced on one crutch while he bent down and picked up the pink flip-flops, finally making his way over to his car. It was an older model Nissan 300ZX that had been painted a deep plum color. He yanked the door open and tossed the backpack onto the passenger seat.
Lenny thought furiously as he watched the guy fold himself into the low sports car and finagle his crutches into the passenger side. What is a guy doing packing food and pink flip-flops? It was weird, to say the least. He wondered if the neighbor was a friend of the girls’. Was it possible that he was going to meet them? Were the pink sandals for Meredith? He yanked on his hangnail with his teeth, ripping it down his finger and drawing blood. He sucked on the wound, debating whether to stay and wait or to follow the weird neighbor. He couldn’t decide what to do, and as the guy pulled out of his parking spot, Lenny was running out of time.
Lenny started his car and scanned the parking lot again for any sign of the girls. He’d been sitting there for a couple hours with no luck, but for all he knew, they could turn up the second he left. The neighbor was now driving between the rows of cars toward the exit to the apartment complex. If Lenny waited any longer, he would lose him.
Cursing loudly, Lenny pulled out and followed the neighbor, hoping that his gut feeling was right. He gunned the engine to catch up with the purple 300ZX, turning left onto 48th St. toward Ray Rd. He got into the left hand turn lane a few cars behind the neighbor, where they both waited at the red light. Lenny glanced down at his cell phone in the cup holder and debated calling Nate. He decided to wait until he had more information to share.
The light changed and several cars made it through before having the yield to oncoming traffic. While Lenny waited his turn, he watched his target turn into a gas station and pull up to the convenience store. Almost immediately, two women came out of the store and headed for the vehicle. The morning sunlight gleamed off of Meredith’s red hair like a beacon, and Lenny broke into a grin. “Yes!” he cried, excitedly pounding a fist on the steering wheel. The light changed, and behind him, a car leaned on the horn. Lenny flipped him the bird before making the turn, pulling into the driveway before the gas station to wait until the other car left again.
The girls loaded themselves into the car and were soon back on the road. Lenny followed them onto the freeway headed toward downtown Phoenix, feeling mildly curious as to where they were headed. Traffic was light, making it easy to follow them at a discreet distance. After about fifteen minutes, they exited the freeway and made their way through the city center, finally turning into the large hospital that took up an entire city block of downtown real estate.
Confused, Lenny punched Nate’s number on his cell phone.
“Hey, Len,” Nate answered.
“I got the girls. I just followed them to Phoenix Mercy Hospital.” As he spoke, Lenny parked his car and got out, jogging into the main entrance lobby ahead of the girls and their neighbor. The waiting area was situated to his right, with rows of chairs and a large bank of windows that looked out onto the parking lot. He stepped to the side and stood next to the closest row of chairs, which were mostly empty.
“Hmm, I wonder what they’re doing there,” Nate mused.
“Visiting a sick grandmother?” Lenny guessed sarcastically. “Okay, I gotta go. They’re coming in now.” He quickly ended the call and pocketed his phone, keeping his back turned and pretending to look out the window. From his spot near the entrance, it was easy for Lenny to overhear their conversation even though they kept their voices low.
“Okay, where do you want to start looking?” The voice belonged to the black haired friend. It was low and gravelly, full of sarcasm and sex appeal. Lenny wondered if she was single.
“Well, they probably admitted him, like they did with me, so... Upper floors?” This voice belonged to Meredith. It was brighter and more cheerful than her friend’s.
“Wait a sec, you don’t even know who you’re here to see?” the neighbor demanded incredulously.
Meredith’s friend said, “Josh, trust me when I say the less you know about this, the better, okay? Look, just go over there and relax. We’ll be back soon.”
“Right. What use could I be?” Josh asked in a sarcastically cheerful tone. “I’m a gimp!” He went to sit in one of the lobby chairs, disgruntled at being dismissed. He rested his crutches across the chair next to him and scowled at them.
Once Josh was out of earshot, the girls stuck their heads closer together to talk. Lenny had to strain to hear their conversation. Slowly, he shifted his weight toward them to try to hear more.
“--split up?” Vi was asking.
“We can cover more area that way,” Meredith explained.
“Can’t you just use your spidey sense to find him?”
“I don’t know,” Meredith said tentatively.
There was a prolonged silence, and Lenny fought the urge to turn around and look at their faces.
“I think I feel something. Come on.” Their footsteps receded and Lenny looked in their direction just as they were going down a hallway on the opposite side of the room.
Lenny waited a few beats before casually strolling in the same direction as the girls. The neighbor, Josh, had buried his nose in his phone, so Lenny was able to follow unnoticed.
Lenny rounded the corner and quickened his step as he saw Meredith and Vi disappear into the stairwell. He opened the door quietly after them, listening to their footsteps reverberate down the walls of the concrete shaft. He waited at the foot of the stairs until they went through the door leading to the second floor, then he quickly jogged up to keep from losing them.
On the second floor he eased the door open slowly and casually, putting on an indifferent air in case anyone should notice him. He glanced both ways down the hallway, turning to the right as he saw Meredith’s red ponytail disappear around a corner down a side hallway. “Damn, they’re fast,” he muttered, taking long strides to catch up.
A passing nurse raised her eyebrows at his pace, but he flashed her a confident smile and kept walking. As he approached the hallway that Meredith and Vi had taken, he slowed a bit and walked past, glancing down the hallway as he did. The girls had stopped in front of one of the first doors and were whispering to each other.
Lenny stopped walking and pretended to take a call on his cell phone. He leaned against the wall and peeked around the corner, making sure to look bored and uninterested as he held his phone up to his ear.
He watched out of the corner of his eye as Meredith reached out and turned
the knob on the door, opening it inward. As the girls looked into the room, Lenny saw the color drain from their faces.
Vi’s mouth parted in surprise. “Holy shit.”
Meredith turned to her friend and gave her a pleading look. Vi nodded and leaned against the wall, planning to wait outside. Then Meredith stepped into the room, and as she closed the door behind her, Lenny heard her ask, “What are you doing here?”