lemon and lavender hit Tanya’s nose the second she pushed the door open.
The clinic’s waiting room had plush leather couches, fancy coffee tables, and a well-stocked beverage station. Next to this was a white dispensary for medication, and a long mahogany reception desk.
The place was spotless.
The clinic was empty except for Nurse Norma, who was on the phone behind the desk, her back to her.
Tanya stood by the door for a minute, wondering if she should clear her throat to announce her presence.
Nurse Norma was barking at a poor patient.
“It’s policy. You must still pay for the full hour if you cancel within twenty-four hours. We’ve already gone through this, Mrs. Boone. I can’t make exceptions.”
Tanya took a few steps in and peeked to her left. The physician’s room. She could see the examination table, a blood pressure monitor, and a table with swabs and gels and jars.
To her right was a large white door with a sign over it. SURGERY. Underneath were smaller letters that read STAFF ONLY.
Tanya turned toward that door, her pulse quickening.
That’s where Laura Fredrickson is getting cut up.
With a quick glance to make sure the nurse was still occupied, she tiptoed toward the surgery. She opened the door and slipped into a brightly lit anteroom. The smell of antiseptic was strong here.
In front of her was a double swing door, like those you’d find in a hospital.
The sound of a mechanical whir propelled Tanya closer. She pushed one door open an inch and peeked inside. A foul stench wafted through the opening, making her want to retch.
Swallowing hard, she focused her eyes.
She felt like she was looking into a futuristic movie set. That, or she had time traveled to the twenty-fifth century. Everything in here was white, bright, sleek, and shiny, like a computer-generated surgical theater.
Intense operating lights illuminated the body on the steel gurney. Laura Fredrickson lay cut open, her skin pallid and gray, a paper tag on one toe.
High-tech computer monitors surrounded her. Two tall white machines stood on either side of the gurney, their robotic arms extending toward Laura like a chilling scene from a sci-fi horror movie.
Most medical facilities Tanya had seen during her work had been severely under-equipped, but Dr. Miller seemed to be doing well.
Nurse Norma must charge his patients a fortune, she thought as she watched him work on the girl. Black Rock teemed with a well-heeled clientele, and he was the only physician for miles.
Dr. Miller stood by the steel table, gloved, masked, and aproned, and was peering at something in the dead girl’s open stomach. He reached in with a scalpel and moved something.
Unlike his awkward and jerky movements around people, he looked supremely confident examining the cadaver. A super genius. Wilma’s words echoed through Tanya’s head.
Dr. Miller reached toward a side console and pressed a button. A robot’s mechanical arm jolted awake, startling Tanya. It turned ninety degrees, and crawled toward the girl’s abdomen with a low, ominous hum.
Tanya’s own stomach churned. She would take on a battalion of well-armed terrorists any day rather than watch these unfeeling robots probe the dissected flesh of a human body.
“What are you doing here?”
Tanya whirled around.
It was Nurse Norma, looking even more like an angry hippo than ever.
“Following up on Laura Fredrickson’s case,” said Tanya, keeping her voice firm.
The nurse’s eyebrows shot up. “This is most unusual. No one comes in here during the autopsy.”
“Where I come from, we work closely with the medical examiner’s office. I’d like to find out what the doctor has discovered.”
Nurse Norma stepped up to her, her hands clenched into fists, so for one second Tanya wondered if she was going to punch her.
Tanya could subdue her, but Norma’s face told her she wouldn’t go down without a fight. Besides, fighting the town’s nurse was the last thing she wanted to do.
“What do you think you’ll learn in there, anyway?” Norma pursed her lips in contempt. “You know nothing. You’re just a street fighter for hire.”
Tanya raised her eyebrows.
That’s a cheap shot.
“I’ll give the chief the autopsy report once it’s finished,” snarled Norma. “That will be after Dr. Miller has completed his operation. You can wait like everyone else.”
Tanya wondered what made her this upset, but this wasn’t a hill she wanted to die on. She stepped around the angry woman.
“Fine with me,” said Tanya as she opened the door, feeling the nurse’s glare like knife stabs on her shoulders.
She closed the door behind her and was about to step away when she heard Norma call out.
“Harold? That new girl from the station was snooping around.”
Low, mumbling voices came from behind the doors. Tanya stopped in her tracks and strained her ears.
“Did she see it?” came Norma’s voice, low and guarded.
She couldn’t make out the doctor’s response.
What didn’t they want me to see?