same as the diagram. There was a small waiting area and a hallway led to the back between two offices. In the back was a sterile area behind vinyl curtains where there was a hospital bed/surgical table with a body laying on it. Wire opened the zipper of the vinyl curtains and went inside and took one look at the man. “That’s him.”
“No question?” McRyan asked.
“No question, Mac. No question at all.”
Mac walked over to Lupo who was standing against the back wall, his hands cuffed behind his back. “Unhook him,” he said to Rock who did so. Lupo rubbed his wrists. “Sit down.” The doctor did as instructed. Mac pulled up a chair in front of Lupo, turned it backwards and sat down and handed him the search warrant. “That covers everything in here and your home.”
Lupo read through it and then looked up and Mac flashed his shield. “I’m Detective McRyan with the St. Paul Police Department. Right now, you want to start thinking about how you can help yourself because, Doc, you are in a world of hurt. And I’m pretty sure we’ll call our good friends with the NYPD. I imagine they’d like to catch up with you as well. Of course, if you help us, then we can forget that New York is looking for you and we’ll deal with your issues here in the friendly confines of Minnesota.”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Lupo cowered, putting his hands up. “I’ll help. I’ll help. What do you need?” Lupo asked.
“The man you’ve operated on killed two people tonight and we think perhaps a third two days ago. So for starters, I need to know this man’s name.”
The doctor rubbed his face and shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t know his name, Detective,” Lupo replied. “I was contacted about my services around 10:40 p.m. and that the patient needed immediate surgery for gunshot wounds. I quoted my price and the money was in my account within five minutes. Two men dropped him off here at the back door around 11:30 p.m. and I went to work. Obviously I don’t operate like a normal clinic. I don’t have medical records for this kind of work.”
“Did he have a wallet?”
“Not that I found when I went through his clothes.”
Wire had slipped on rubber gloves and was going through the killer’s clothing, which consisted of blue jeans, a bloody black mock turtleneck, and a black leather coat. But as was the case when Wire shot him, he didn’t have a wallet or anything to identify him.
“What’s his medical status?” Mac asked.
Lupo looked over at his patient, “To state it simply, he’s in critical condition. He was shot three times in the chest. It’s touch and go right now as he’s been out of surgery for only a few hours.”
“What are you supposed to do with him?” Riley asked.
“I’m supposed to get a phone call soon to provide an update on his condition. All they wanted me to do was patch him up good enough so he could travel but he’s not close to ready for that yet. We have to get him out of the woods first and he’s nowhere near there.”
“Travel to where?” Wire asked.
Lupo shook his head, “Hell if I know. The two guys who dropped him off were scary as hell, kind of like you two,” he pointed to Rock and Riley. “So I didn’t ask where they were going to. I don’t know and I didn’t care. I minded my business and got my two hundred grand.”
“Well, you’re going to need every last dollar of it to get yourself out of this jam,” Mac said as he walked away and nodded towards Wire, Riley and Rock to follow him to the front reception area.
“So what do you guys think?”
Riles and Rock shrugged their shoulders. “We’ll go through this place to see if there is any record of who this guy is but I got the feeling he was telling the truth.”
“Yeah, the Hippocratic Oath doesn’t seem to matter much to him but I get the vibe that he’s telling the truth about the guy,” Wire said. “He doesn’t know who he is. Lupo got his money, patched him up as best he could and was going to be happy to send him on his way when he was good to be moved. That’s how these doctors roll.” Wire’s phone started vibrating. “It’s the Judge. I should take this,” she said as she moved into one of the offices