CHAPTER ONE
Vivi stepped out of her car and waved to old man Stewart, who was sweeping his front porch across the street. “Hey, it’s looking good over there.”
“Ms. Vivi, the clinic had some trouble last night. I heard a lot of noise, and I think they come stole your drugs again.”
“That alarm we had installed last month is worthless.” Lowering her head, she shook it slowly as she crossed the street. The scent of the early blooming camellias wafted across the breeze as she stepped over the cracked concrete. “Are you okay? They didn’t do anything to you—did they?”
“Oh, no, sweet girl. I’ve lived in this neighborhood my whole life. I learnt a long time ago that violence and silence go hand in hand. How do you think I’ve made it to the ripe old age of ninety?”
“Truer words were never said.” Patting his arm, she noticed that he appeared exhausted. “I don’t want my clinic to cause any trouble for you. I came here to help the neighborhood, not bring more problems and violence.”
Leaning against his broom, he curved his mouth into a smile. “Having your clinic here has done nothing but good for the folks of Algiers. It’s the only way for a lot of people around here to see a doctor.”
“Well, I hope so.” Lifting her long dark hair off her shoulders, she twisted it into a bun. It was already in the high seventies and the humidity was rising. A heat wave in the middle of January wasn’t something she enjoyed. “Don’t forget that Uncle Buck is coming this afternoon, and he hopes to whip you in pinochle.”
“That old man can dream, but it ain’t never going to happen.” He smiled gently and nodded. “I made a big pan of cornbread for you all. You girls are too skinny. It’s no wonder that you all are single. A man likes to have a woman with some meat on her bones.”
Throwing back her head, Vivi let out a big laugh. “I don’t think that’s the problem. But bring that cornbread over later on, and we can have it with some sweet tea.”
He tilted his chin in the direction of the clinic parking lot. “Here comes your girls. You better call that NOPD friend of yours and see what kind of trouble you have on your hands.”
Shrugging, she smoothed down her scrubs and then waved to Trinity and Ruby as they got out of their cars. “We’ll see you later. You and Uncle Buck may have to play at your house because we have the well-baby visits this afternoon.”
“All right. Go on now, and take care of your business.”
“Thanks for keeping an eye on us,” Vivi called over her shoulder as she ambled toward the clinic.
Having a clinic in the poorest neighborhood of New Orleans wasn’t easy, but having her two best friends work with her made it seem possible. “Hey there. It seems that we had visitors again last night. Let’s go in and see what they stole.”
Trinity and Ruby waited for her, and then the three of them strode toward the back. The door was ajar, and Vivi silently prayed the damage wasn’t as substantial as last time. It was the third time this month that they’d had the drugs stolen from the clinic. “Mr. Stewart gave me the heads-up when I got here. He also informed me that we’re all too skinny and that’s why we have no men around. He’s bringing over a pan of cornbread to fatten us up.”
Ruby took a tissue out of her purse and pulled the back door open. “Yeah, that must be it. It couldn’t have anything to do with the curse the three of us are under.”
Trinity pushed past Ruby and marched in. “Every man who has gotten close to any one of us has ended up dead. So I don’t think cornbread is going to cure what ails us. But hell, it’s worth a shot.”
“It’s not every man…just the ones we married,” Vivi replied. She dialed her old beau at NOPD and hoped he was going to be able to help them solve the problem of the break-ins. It made life for their patients difficult because this was the only place where many of them could get the medicine they needed. Moving through the back door, she waited for her call to connect.
As she stepped into the back corridor, she noticed that the clean antiseptic smell of the clinic was gone. It had been replaced by the smell of a corpse. The odor was unmistakable.
Three years abroad had burned the smell into her brain. It had been her first month in Syria when she’d first experienced the indescribably rank stench. It was the overlay of sweetness that always got to her.
What occurred in her clinic had just gone from inconvenient to tragic. Before she made it all the way down the hall, Gideon answered his phone. “G, we have a dead body at the clinic.” Peering around the corner, she spotted the corpse. “Okay, see you soon.”
Ruby covered her face with her sleeve as her eyes watered. “Seems they left us a present. It wasn’t enough to break in, they had to leave a body this time.”
Trinity handed Vivi a pair of gloves. “It’s a gunshot wound, and it doesn’t appear that it cleared his body. I’m guessing it happened in the early evening.”
Vivi slipped on the gloves and rolled the man over. “You’re right, Trin.” She checked the entry point and confirmed there was no exit wound. There was a pool of blood around the victim’s head, along with a lot of his brain matter. “Shit on a shingle.”
What a way to start the day, stolen drugs and dead bodies. Whoever said that being a doctor was boring had never tried to run a clinic in a poor neighborhood.
Ruby crossed herself and silently recited a litany of prayers. “I guess we’re going to be closed for the day.”
“Let’s see if Gideon can process the scene quickly. Perhaps we can still have our well-baby clinic this afternoon. We have a ton of appointments, and I don’t want to make those mamas wait if we don’t have to.” Vivi stripped off her gloves and silently said a prayer over the man. No matter what he’d done in his life, he deserved one last prayer over his dead body. She knew that Ruby had already said hers, and she figured that a few more couldn’t hurt. “Let’s make a sign for the front door, letting people know that we’ll be closed for the morning.”
Throwing her gloves into the bin, she glanced around and finally noticed the damage that had been done by the break-in. Several chairs in the waiting room had been smashed and two small tables had been wrecked. The last three times when the prescription drugs had been stolen, there hadn’t been as much damage.
“Well, it’s not another routine Friday, that’s for sure. I guess we’re having a Purple Jesus tonight along with our gumbo.” Ruby shook her head and moved over to her desk. “Nothing else will do.”
Trinity stepped around the blood that was covering the floor and crossed herself. “I don’t know what that says about us that we’ve chosen our drink before the body is cold.”
Vivi studied the two women who had been her best friends since kindergarten and grinned. “It says that we have our priorities in order. I don’t like having a dead body in the clinic, but I’m tired of the gang war. Maybe that sounds callous, but these men have chosen this life, and they can’t be surprised by what happens.”
“That’s what three years in war-torn countries does to a person,” Ruby called out.
Vivi waved her hand behind her head as she went into her office. “Probably true,” she muttered to herself. She had seen the worst of humanity across two continents and awfully little surprised her anymore. Including the gang war that was taking place outside their front doors.
There was no way to erase her memory, and her compassion was reserved for people who didn’t use guns to solve their arguments. Those who chose to live their lives violently were never going to get her pity.
***
Detective Gideon Brennan stood in the center of the activity and directed the collection of evidence. “Did you all touch anything else?”
Vivi stood behind the desk along with Trinity and Ruby and shook her head. “We opened the back door and then we wore gloves. You should be able to grab some fingerprints.”
“Okay, darling. I just wanted to check.” His face cracked with a big grin, and he winked at the women before he turned back to his men.
Trinity and Ruby elbowed her, and she glared at them both. “I rode that horse, and I see no need for a repeat performance.”
Trinity fiddled with a pen as she studied the man before her. “You were both twenty when that happened. That was fifteen years ago. I bet he’s learned a lot, and I think it’s time you found out what.”
“Shut up,” Vivi drawled in response. Giving her friends a side-eye, she wondered why they had decided that now was the time to start matchmaking. “I wonder about the sanity of you both.”
“No, you don’t,” Ruby replied. “You are the craziest one.”
“Be that as it may, I don’t know why you all are talking about Gideon when there’s a dead man in our waiting room.” She checked her watch and realized that they might not be able to open the clinic up until after lunch. “I’m going to my office. I may as well catch up on my paperwork.”
“The locksmith is coming by in a little bit to fix the back door,” Ruby called out to Vivi’s retreating figure. When she didn’t respond, she turned back to Trinity and shrugged. “I hope we can figure out a way to stop all of this.”
Peeling her eyes away from the dead body, she shook her head. “Me too. We are not doing the neighborhood much good if we remain at the center point of two gangs feuding.”
Gideon walked away from the CSI team and stepped up to the desk. “We should be done in about an hour, so you all should be able to open up after lunch.”
“Thanks,” Trinity replied. “Are you done with the prescription locker?”
“Yes. We collected all the prints we could.”
“I’ll start on the inventory and let you know what was stolen. I better make sure that we have enough for the immunizations that we’ve scheduled this afternoon.” Turning, Trinity strode down the hall and disappeared around the corner.
“Where did Vivi go?” Gideon asked.
Ruby studied the detective before responding. “She’s in her office. Doing paperwork and hiding from you.”
“From me?” Tipping back on his heels, he let out a snort. “If only that were true. She has no interest in rekindling our college affair. Believe me. I tried to relight the flame, and she definitely wasn’t interested.”
Patting his arm, she tilted her head and studied him. “She doesn’t believe that she has a fire left in her. Not after losing Matt.”
“That was three years ago. I hope that she gives herself a chance someday. Vivi deserves to have a full life, and I would hate to see her give up.”
“You and me both,” Ruby replied.
One of the techs called Gideon, and he excused himself and returned to the body. “Are we almost done here?”
Vivi stepped out of her office and studied her old friend as he conferred with the techs. He was six feet of gorgeous. And she felt nothing. If a decent man like Gideon couldn’t get her motor running, then it was probably broken for good. Squaring her shoulders, she shook off her thoughts and went to see how much longer the investigation was going to take. They had kids to take care of, and that was what she was going to focus on. Not her broken dreams. Or the dead man lying on the floor.
***
Vivi opened the front doors to the clinic and saw a line of patients wrapped around the building. “It seems that we’re going to be here late tonight,” she muttered to herself. Smiling at the crowd, she shouted a greeting. “Sorry about making you all wait. There was a bit of trouble last night, and we had to let the NOPD do their job before we could open. We’re going to take care of every single child today, so you all come on in and enjoy the air-conditioning.” After gathering her hair up in a ponytail, she then took the hand of a small girl who was the first in line with her mama. “Come on, Eva, let’s see how your heart sounds today.”
Eva’s mama Marie patted Vivi’s arm as they walked inside. “Dr. V, we’re so sorry to hear about your troubles.”
“Thank you. We’re not sure why we’ve become the target, but I expect we’ll find out soon enough.”
“What’s a target?” Eva asked.
Swinging the darling child up in her arms, Vivi tweaked the little girl’s nose. “It means that we have become really popular with the wrong people.”
The little girl scrunched her nose and let out a little breath. “Well, I suppose that there are a lot more nice people that like you than not-nice ones.”
“From your mouth to God’s ears,” Vivi replied. They walked into the first exam room, and Vivi settled the little girl on the bench. This was her favorite part of her job. Taking care of small children was what she loved best. As she waited for Marie to get her daughter ready for the exam, she felt a pinch of pain in her heart. The phone call that she had received this morning made her realize that a long-held dream might not be possible. Shaking off the gloomy thoughts, she pulled herself up straight and focused on the patient in front of her. It was the only way to get through any of this.
“Are we ready, ladies?” Eva sat up straight, crossed her legs, and saluted her. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She lowered herself in front of the small cherub and winked. “I have some new stickers, and I think you’re going to love them.” A solemn nod was the only response she received.
***
Three hours later, they still had a waiting room full of families. Ruby handed Vivi a water and then checked her sign-in sheet. “We have another twenty patients to see. Do you want me to reschedule some for tomorrow?”
Vivi glanced at her watch and then shook her head. “Let’s try to see them all today. I promised Nana Boo that I would go over tomorrow and help her with the garden.”
Ruby nodded in agreement. “Works for me. I have a lunch date, and I don’t want to put him off.”
Vivi raised her eyebrows and waited. “I can’t believe that you haven’t said anything yet. What’s with the secrecy?”
Waving her hand in dismissal, Ruby studied her row of pencils and carefully straightened them out. “I was saving it for tonight. I don’t think anything is going to come of it, but I figure I should at least try.”
Squeezing her friend’s shoulder, Vivi beamed. “I’m especially proud of you. Trinity and I would do well to follow your example.”
Ruby’s eyes crinkled up in amusement. “Yeah, being part of a widows’ club isn’t how I saw spending my thirties. I have to do something to shake things up.” Tilting her head, she laid her hand across her chest. “I miss how a man smells. Isn’t that sad?” Shoving a hand in her pocket, she sighed. “The other day when I was at the market, I followed a guy down two aisles just because he smelled good. I’ve gone crackers, and I need to do something about it.”
“Admitting it is the first step to recovery.” Vivi pulled the chart for her next patient and walked toward the waiting room.
“Feel free to join me,” Ruby called after her. All she got in response was Vivi waving her hand behind her head.
Trinity strolled up to the desk and laid the folder down for her last patient. “What was that all about?”
“Change,” Ruby said.
Picking up a patient folder, Trinity laughed. “That’s not something any of us are good at.”
“But we’re going to learn how. We can’t be widows forever.”
Before Trinity could respond, the phone started ringing, and Ruby’s attention was torn away. “I think we can be widows forever.” Checking the folder, she called out next patient’s name. She passed Vivi in the hall and high-fived her. “We’re almost done.”
Vivi glanced over her shoulder and made sure that the twins were following her. They were twelve, and their grandmother had brought them by today so that she could discuss the changes that they were about to experience. Granny Nell thought that Vivi could provide them with a much better picture than she could. Also, it would be less embarrassing for the girls to hear it from a doctor than from their grandmother. At least that was what Nell thought, and Vivi agreed to give them the talk. Though she was pretty much sure that they knew everything already. Hell, the new twelve was like the old twenty. “Come into my office, girls. I have some information to share with you.”
***
The waiting room was finally empty. Trinity glanced up at the big wall clock and rolled her shoulders. “It’s seven and time for a drink.”
Uncle Buck came in through the front door and called a resounding hallelujah. “I couldn’t agree more.” He slowly walked toward a chair, carefully lowered himself, and let out a huff. “I can’t believe that no one called me this morning. I missed out on all the excitement.”
Vivi walked down the hall and shook her finger at her favorite uncle. “Where have you been, old man?” She sat next to him and checked his pulse and then studied his eyes. “You and Mr. Stewart were doing a lot more than playing pinochle.”
“We had a drink at five just like every other red-blooded American. I’m not one to break with tradition and neither is he. We are civilized human beings.”
Smoothing her hand over her uncle’s bony arm, she grinned. “Having a bourbon at five does not make you civilized.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, young lady.” He patted her hand and winked. “I had to drown my sorrows after losing all my money to that old scallywag. He got me for two hundred today.”
Ruby came in and sat down next to Trinity and faced the two DuMonds. One was seventy and the other was thirty-five, and they couldn’t have been more alike. Uncle Buck came down to the clinic once or twice a week and hung around and offered his opinion on just about everything. He was too old to practice medicine anymore, but being around the clinic made him believe that he was still useful. “Are you having supper with us tonight, Buck?”
“No, young lady. I have dinner plans with an old friend, and I should be leaving. Fred called me a while ago and said he would be here to pick me up. I expect him anytime now.”
Vivi stood and stretched. “Let’s go to my house, ladies, and have a much-deserved drink. Gideon is going to come by later on and fill us in on what he’s found out so far.”
Fred poked his head in and waved to the group. “I’m ready to take him off your hands.”
“Thank you, Fred.” Vivi helped her uncle out of the chair and handed him his cane. “Have fun tonight.”
Uncle Buck waved to everyone and moved slowly toward the door. “I’ll see you girls next week.”
The three women stood together and watched Fred help Uncle Buck to the car. Trinity locked the front door and turned off the lights in the reception room. “I think it will be quiet this weekend. We have nothing left to steal.”
Ruby shut down the computers and made sure that the files were locked away. “I hope to God you’re right.”
Vivi flipped off the lights in the back and waited for her two friends. “Let’s go relax.” Holding the back door, she waited for them to come out. “And hear about Ruby’s hot date tomorrow.”
Ruby pulled out her car keys and tried to smooth her curls down. “It’s not going to be hot. I’ll settle for lukewarm. Anything to keep me from following men around in the market.”
Trinity stood in front of her car and shook her head. “I can see that I missed something today.”
“Don’t worry, all will be revealed after our first drink,” Vivi responded. Before she climbed into her car, she cast a cursory glance around and noticed how quiet it was. Quiet in this neighborhood was never a good thing, and she wondered what else was in store for the clinic.