did he get . . . for God’s sake, he’s a patient. He couldn’t have been out. What car? Why . . .” Rhett’s voice trailed off.
“Mr. Mercury did have on a hospital bracelet. I checked with them and discovered he walked out around eight-thirty tonight. The floor nurse said he was belligerent and argumentative and insisted he was leaving. She couldn’t stop him.”
The policeman paused. “I’m sorry to break this kind of news to you, sir. The autopsy will be in the next forty-eight hours. If it’s fine with you, I’ll give them this number to contact you when it’s over but you might want to go ahead and make some arrangements with a local funeral home before then.”
He had trouble finding a response. “Uh, okay. Yes. I will.”
“Sorry for your loss, Mr. Corrigan.”
Rhett heard the officer break the connection but he froze, the phone still to his ear.
What the hell had happened to Zak?
◆◆◆
“The limo’s here.”
Cassie handed Rhett his jacket. She watched him put it on absently, almost as if he were sleep walking. She was worried about him. He’d spent the last three days in a stupor, leaning on her heavily as he met with Zak’s lawyer, made arrangements for the memorial service, and tried without luck to track down anyone remotely related to Zak other than a second cousin living in Sacramento. The cousin told Rhett he might try to make it if his car would start.
She greeted Johnny, glad she’d thought to request him from the car service. He nodded politely and opened the door. Rhett followed her into the car and sat quietly in his own world.
He was taking Zak’s death hard. Cassie would’ve strangled Zak if he weren’t already dead. The comedian’s blood alcohol content was at .26. How he’d been able to drive at all was beyond her comprehension.
Zak had been driving his own car. Police traced his steps, from the Lyft that picked him up in front of the hospital and delivered him to his apartment. The driver said he’d taken his fare straight home with no stops so Zak must’ve gotten plastered at home. The cops found several empty vodka bottles strewn around his apartment and another one inside the wrecked vehicle.
What possessed him to get out and drive was what she couldn’t understand. The two witnesses that came forth were quoted in the media as saying they thought Zak deliberately crashed his car into the median.
Why would someone with such a bright future ahead of him do something so destructive?
Cassie supposed it was the upcoming rehab stay that threw Zak into a panic, though he should have known with good, loyal friends such as Rhett, he would have been supported.
Paparazzi loitered outside the gate. She knew after her short time around Rhett that they were vultures who made money off others’ pain. She didn’t know how Rhett dealt with them on a daily basis. He couldn’t walk into a store to shop for a new pair of shoes or a birthday present, much less go into McDonald’s for a Quarter Pounder. It made Cassie understand how Michael Jackson went a little crazy, renting out movie theaters after midnight and living a trapped life in a fishbowl as the media sharks circled him 24/7.
She dreaded the memorial service that lay ahead. She hated the thought of death. Her dad had died of lung cancer on her seventh birthday. He was the lighthearted one, always making a joke, whistling, pulling her into his lap for a story or to read the newspaper aloud to her.
After his death, things changed. She had understood her family didn’t have much money or material possessions before he died but she’d never felt poor. Things grew increasingly difficult in the aftermath. Her mom always yelling at her, working dead-end, part-time jobs. Cassie wound up taking care of the house, doing all the cooking as best as she could, but it was never enough to please her remaining parent. Her mom grew increasingly bitter, with no joy in her life. Their relationship had deteriorated so badly that Cassie doubted either would attend the other’s funeral.
More photographers waited outside the funeral home, kept out by the security team Rhett hired for the occasion. He’d had a few photos of Zak on his phone and they’d gone to Zak’s apartment to find a few more to display in a slideshow. It was important to Rhett that people remember Zak as he was in the prime of his life. She