NYPD Red 6 - James Patterson Page 0,42
with Detectives Moss and Devereaux on the phonyambulance home invasions.
“We could use some good news,” Kylie said.
“The governor, the mayor, and the PC all think you’re the lead dogs on this investigation,” Corcoran said, “and so far they have no idea that you haven’t done jackshit.”
“Anything else?”
“For one thing, I’m cleaning up on overtime. Also, we might have found a connection between the two cases, but we have nothing solid as of yet.”
“Walk us through it.”
“The MO is identical for both robberies, so we’ve been looking for the nexus between them,” Corcoran said. “Find a common thread, and we might be able to tie it to the perps.
“We started with the two buildings, one on the East Side, one on the West. Different owners, different management companies, different staff. No connection. Then we looked at who from the outside was getting inside—exterminators, window washers, dog walkers, cable guys—but there’s no overlap. In fact, with these two old ladies, not many people gain entry at all. The staff intercepts all deliveries, and they’re happy to do it because the families take good care of them, not just at Christmas but all year round.”
“How about the nurses?” I asked.
“Same thing,” Corcoran said. “They come from two different agencies that aren’t connected to each other. Neither woman has worked for the other one’s agency, they’ve never worked together, don’t live in the same neighborhood, weren’t born in the same country, and don’t go to the same church.”
“Get to the part where you may have found a connection.”
“You know the old saying ‘Follow the money’?” Corcoran said. “These private agencies are staffed with people who are trained to vet the nurses, interface with the clients, plus do a whole bunch of other crap related to the day-to-day operation. What the agencies hate doing is medical billing, so most of them farm it out. The accounts for both of our victims are handled by the same company: ZSK Medical Billing on East Seventy-Ninth Street.”
“What does ZSK know about Mrs. Lowenthal and Aunt Bunny?” Kylie said.
“I can’t answer that just yet, but I can tell you what they know in general. They handle the billing for twenty-six different nursing agencies, so they have records for tens of thousands of clients. They know which ones are covered by insurance, because those companies cover part of the bill and the clients are only responsible for the balance. But in some cases, the clients pay it all out of pocket, and let me tell you, those pockets have to be deep. Bunny Ogden’s family is shelling out over a quarter of a million dollars a year for nurses, and Mrs. Lowenthal has more medical issues, so her family pays even more.”
“You think someone at the billing company is targeting the obviously wealthy victims?” I asked.
“Look, Zach,” Danny said, “these guys didn’t come racing up to random buildings and ask the doormen who’s old, rich, and sick. They knew exactly where to hit, and they made off with a fortune both times. That takes planning. That takes insider information. And right now, ZSK feels like their most likely source.”
“How many people work at ZSK?”
“A hundred and forty-three. I got that from the COO, but that’s all I’m going to get without a court order. He won’t give me a list of the employees’ names or tell me which ones have access to the client database unless I get a subpoena. And he definitely won’t tell me what information they have on the two victims without written consent from the families that pay the freight.”
“It sounds promising,” Kylie said. “What about the bogus ambulances?”
“It’s probably the same ambulance. None have been reported missing, but it’s not hard to get your hands on one that’s been retired. We think they dress it up with a new name and a new logo each time they go on a run. We could alert doormen in the city to look out for NYCC Senior Care and Morningside Medical, but they’re more likely to just slap on another decal.”
“What about alerting the doormen to be suspicious of any ambulance that shows up?” Kylie said.
“Fat chance getting that past zone captain St. Claire. He made it clear that we are forbidden to tip off a single building employee to the possibility that an ambulance that shows up at their door might not be legitimate. Ninety-nine point nine, nine, nine percent of these emergency calls will be real emergencies, and St. Claire said if one doorman stops one