There was no way in heck I was touching it.
We walked Bob, and then got into Morelli’s SUV to pick up my car at the Mexicana Grill.
“Have you heard any more about Geoffrey Cubbin?” I asked Morelli when he stopped for a light.
“Only that he hasn’t surfaced. I don’t think he’s a priority with Schmidt. He’s counting on you to find him.”
“That’s not a good plan. I’m at a total dead end. I know there’s something wrong at the hospital but I haven’t a clue what it is. Four people have gone missing in the last three years. Dr. Fish operated on three of them. All mysteriously disappeared in the early morning. All had a reason to want to disappear. Geoffrey Cubbin, Floyd Dugan, and a guy named Hernandez. It’s been suggested someone at the hospital might be helping with the disappearance process for a bag of money.”
“Not a big payday in medicine anymore,” Morelli said. “I could see where that might lead to entrepreneurial activities.”
“And there’s a giant albino involved. Lula and I went to talk to Cubbin’s wife, and this guy jumped out of a closet at us. Lula thought it was a Yeti.”
“What did Cubbin’s wife say about it?”
“She wasn’t home.”
“I don’t want to hear this. You did B&E on Cubbin’s house, didn’t you?”
“Actually I just did ‘E.’ The door was unlocked.”
“That makes all the difference,” Morelli said.
“Are you being sarcastic?”
“Yes!”
“Anyway, it looks to me like Susan Cubbin took off with a bunch of newly purchased surveillance equipment. And this big guy with white hair and one blue eye and one brown eye was snooping in her house.”
“What happened after he jumped out of the closet?”
“He tagged Lula and me with a stun gun and that was the last we saw of him.”
“You got stunned?”
“Yeah. This wasn’t one of my better weeks.”
Morelli swung into the Mexicana Grill lot and parked next to the Buick. “Do you suppose we could spend some time exploring other employment options for you?”
“Such as?”
“An office job. Retail. Housewife.”
“Is that a proposal?”
“Not entirely. Thought I’d throw it out there to see how it sounded.”
I looked at Morelli. “Well?”
“It sounded scary.”
“Kind of took my breath away,” I said.
“I’ll test drive it again next week and see if it gets more comfortable.”
“Do you have plans for today? Do you want to go to the beach?”
“The beach would be good,” Morelli said. “I’ll pick you up in an hour.”