Crescent City Chronicles (Books 1-3) Read online

  Crescent City Chronicles

  The Alex Destephano Novels

  Books 1-3

  Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center

  The Imposter

  Viral Intent: Terror in New Orleans

  Novels by

  Judith Lucci

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  The characters, events, and locations in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2017 by Judith Lucci

  ISBN-10: 0-9892425-4-4

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9892425-4-7

  Crescent City Chronicles

  Alex Destephano Medical Thrillers

  (Books 1-3)

  Judith Lucci (Author)

  * * *

  A multi-dimensional medical thriller series featuring Virginia-born nurse/attorney Alexandra Lee Destephano, Commander Jack Francoise of the New Orleans Police Department, and Dr. Robert Bonnet, Alex’s former husband and a prominent New Orleans surgeon. Books center on the characters as they encounter murder, malpractice, the supernatural and a serial killer in The Big Easy’s most famous hospital. Crescent City Chronicles, Alex Destephano Medical Thriller series, blends hospital drama, murder, romance, political intrigue, terrorism, and the grisly work of a serial killer.

  Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center (Book 1)

  It's Mardi Gras in post-Katrina New Orleans. Thousands of tourists have flocked the city, paralyzed traffic and jammed the French Quarter with drunken crowds and garbage. City officials expect record crowds and the biggest boost to the Crescent City economy since the big storm. Alexandra Lee Destephano, legal counsel for Crescent City Medical Center, anticipates her third Mardi Gras Ball with her date, dashing art historian Mitch Landry. Things change quickly. Alex is stat-paged to the hospital and learns the wife of the Governor of Louisiana has been found unconscious and covered in blood in her hospital room. By the end of the day, murder and mayhem are the only things on Alex’s mind.

  The Imposter (Book 2)

  It’s hotter than hell in New Orleans and Police Commander Jack Francoise is battling horrific crime in the Vieux Carre. At the Psychiatric Pavilion, nurses are doling out Thorazine Slurpees to the criminally insane and viciously psychotic patients in the South. Alexandra Destephano, legal counsel for the hospital, is troubled by safety issues and is working hard to protect patients and staff. The violence escalates and brutal beatings and murder become the order of the day as life in the Big Easy becomes uneasy.

  Viral Intent: Terror in New Orleans (Book 3)

  With POTUS and members of Congress in the Big Easy for a political convention, an unidentified killer virus in the Crescent City emergency room has physicians baffled, hospital staff frightened, and the CDC on their way to assist. When the first death from the virus is a Secret Service agent guarding the President, a terrorist attack is feared. Matters get worse with the murder of a prominent politician in the French Quarter. Alex and Jack join the CDC, FBI, and Secret Service to save the streets of New Orleans from disaster.

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  Contents

  Book 1 – Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center

  Book 2 – The Imposter

  Book 3 – Viral Intent

  Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center

  Chaos At

  Crescent City Medical Center

  A NOVEL BY

  JUDITH LUCCI

  Also by Judith Lucci

  Alex Destephano Novels

  The Imposter

  Viral Intent

  Toxic New Year

  Michaela McPherson Mysteries

  The Case of Dr. Dude

  The Case of the Dead Dowager

  Others Books

  Ebola: What You Must Know to Stay Safe

  Meandering, Musing & Inspiration for the Soul

  Copyright © 2012 by Judith Lucci

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  ISBN-13: 978-1512271638

  ISBN-10: 1512271632

  Acknowledgements

  Seeing this novel in print is the culmination of many years of dreaming and hard work. I could write 300 pages simply listing and thanking the people who have helped me pursue this dream. First of all, I would like to thank my huge circle of family, friends and former and current students for their support of my writing and their reassurances that Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center was a great novel and would be published. I would like to thank Dr. Sherry Sandkam of Richmond, VA who encouraged me to pursue my dream of writing. Many thanks to Dr. Anne Horrigan and Dr. Julie Strunk who assisted me with technical editing of the novel. Thanks also to Captain Bill Lange (ret) of the Henrico County Fire Department who consulted with me about electrical fires. I would also like to thank my good friend Eric Blumensen for his encouragement.

  About the Author

  Judith Lucci is from Virginia and holds graduate and doctoral degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia. She has been a practicing clinical nurse for over 25 years and is currently a professor of Nursing at a Virginia University. She is the author of numerous academic and health-related articles and documents. When not teaching or writing, Judith is an avid silk painter and multi-media artist. She divides her time between the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

  Chapter 1

  The pungent smell of Cajun spices permeated the February New Orleans air. With only one week before Carnival, the French Quarter was blazing with activity. Ornate iron balconies bowed under the weight of dozens of people, pressed together tightly for a better look at the street below. Being "up" on a balcony during Mardi Gras was prestigious, giving one an immense sense of power and control over the crowd below. You could get people in the streets to do just about anything for a Mardi Gras throw—a string of plastic beads or an aluminum doubloon.

  Raoul Dupree, a waiter at Tujague's Restaurant, was smoking outside the door of the European-styled bistro. His eyes riveted on a gorgeous man hanging over a balcony a few doors down. The man was teasing a lovely, but drunken young woman in the street. The man fingered a string of cheap gold beads in front of her and repeated, "show your tits" continuously. The crowd repeated the chant, until it became deafening.

  The young woman kept reaching for the gold beads, just to have them snatched from her grasp each time. She looked around and smiled drunkenly at the large crowds gathered nearby and above on the balconies.

  The man was smiling at her, taunting her and luring her to the beads. The chant was loud and frenzied. Crowds on the street were wildly excited and hollered, clapped, and stamped their feet.

  Finally, in the flick of an instant, the young woman pulled up her white T-shirt exposing her young breasts. The crowd went wild, clapping, and shouting with approval. The woman grabbed her beads held them up for the crowd and quickly disappeared into an alley.

  Raoul smiled and shook his head. Mardi Gras still amazed him.
After a lifetime of Carnival seasons, he still wasn't used to the heavy partying, drunken and lewd behavior so common during the season. People would do anything for a Mardi Gras trinket. He shrugged his frail shoulders as his eyes again found the handsome man just as a hand reached out and roughly grabbed Raoul’s blond hair. Startled, Raoul looked around quickly and saw the flushed face of the frowning Tujague’s maitre d' come bouncer.

  "Your boys in the private booth are getting anxious, Raoul. Better get your skinny ass up there and keep ‘em happy. We don't want any of those bastards on our bad side," said the burly maitre d', gesturing toward the door.

  Raoul stamped out his cigarette butt, grimaced, and ran up two flights of stairs to a private dining room where three men sat smoking after a long lunch. Tujague’s, the oldest restaurant in the French Quarter, had a reputation for privacy and discretion, and was a meeting place for prominent New Orleanians engaged in all sorts of legal and illegal business. Privacy, good food, and service made the restaurant a favorite.

  The men were talking quietly as Raoul waited outside the dining room. One glance at the group convinced him not to interrupt. He recognized one man, but he'd never seen the others and wondered how they were connected. From what he'd observed, he didn’t think they knew each other and doubted they'd ever been together before. They didn't mix well. After cocktails and several bottles of wine, their conversation had moved from strained politeness to menacing anger. Each time he'd entered the private dining room, conversation stopped.

  The man Raoul recognized was Frederico Petrelli, reputedly a mob boss from Chicago, who'd recently moved to New Orleans to oversee the Dixie Mafia's activities in the Riverboat and land gambling operations. Raoul knew Rico because he often dined at Tujague’s and had his special waiter, Matthew. Unfortunately, Matthew was off today due to illness.

  Raoul kept his distance as he eyed the group and decided he never wanted to run up against Frederico. He was in his mid-fifties, balding, and at least 40 pounds overweight. He had a long irregular scar on his right forearm, and dark beady eyes. He glared at his companions with distrust and impatience. His thick-pursed lips moved back and forth over a wet cigar in his mouth. Frederico was a classic picture of a vicious Chicago mafia boss.

  The second man was distinctive differently than the gangster. This man was tall, with a swarthy complexion and dark oiled hair, pulled back into a ponytail. His face was long and he had an aquiline nose. His thin lips curled in a permanent smirk. His eyes were strange, the color a blackish-yellow, and they gave the man a sinister appearance. It was impossible to tell his age. He could be anywhere between 30 and 60. His body was big, well proportioned, and in perfect shape.

  Raoul was sure about this because he spent most of his time visually undressing men and he could easily imagine the man’s six-pack abs. His clothes were expensive, as was the gold medallion hanging around his neck. He wore dark trousers and a custom-designed dark shirt opened at the neck. He caressed a leather strap in his lap as if it were his lover as he alternately tapped his well-manicured nails against the hand-rubbed walnut table. His dark eyes moved side to side as he followed the conversation between the other two men. His eyes were unreadable and gave him a menacing and evil appearance.

  The leather strap in the ponytailed man's lap captured Raoul’s attention. The man stroked the strap constantly. The ponytailed stranger said little, instead following the conversation between Frederico and the third man. He gave Raoul the creeps, and Raoul rubbed away the chill bumps that had appeared on his arms. Raoul shuddered, thinking the man looked like the devil with those yellow-black eyes and dubbed him “the evil one.”

  The third man was not distinctive. Raoul wouldn't have paid much attention to him had his companions not been so macabre. The third man was about 40 years old with brown hair and an honest face. He spoke with a Midwest accent and seemed ordinary. The ordinary man was speaking when Frederico called Raoul into the dining room. Frederico rudely interrupted him.

  "Give us sambukas and a pot of coffee and get the hell outta here,” Frederico barked at Raoul.

  Raoul left quickly but overheard something that made him freeze.

  The ordinary man said, “Don’t care what you do. I want Robert Bonnet ruined and dead. I don't know what your interests are in the Bonnets and the medical center, but I want the man dead. He killed my wife and baby three years ago. Kill him.”

  Raoul's ears picked up at the mention of Robert Bonnet. He knew Dr. Bonnet from the medical center where he worked as a volunteer on the AIDS floor. Dr. Bonnet had operated on his lover last year when other surgeons had declined. Dr. Bonnet hadn't cared that Josh had AIDS and would probably die anyway. He’d pulled strings to give Josh a chance to get a new liver and live longer and given Josh comfort before he died. Hearing threats against Dr. Bonnet encouraged Raoul to take a risk, and he paused for a moment longer, eavesdropping outside the room.

  Frederico glared at the third man with a bored expression and said harshly, "Shut up, choir boy. No time for emotions. They get in the way of business and cause mistakes. No mistakes, you hear?" The gangster’s voice had become low and threatening as he glared at the ordinary man. "You make a mistake, you pay."

  The ordinary man, frantic, stared at him.

  The evil one with the ponytail simply nodded his head and said, "Salute," and raised his cup in a toast.

  Rico continued to glare at the ordinary man and said, "Get it choir boy, no mistakes. You know what to do."

  The ordinary man nodded.

  Raoul returned to the serving area, his heart thudding heavily in his chest.

  Chapter 2

  "You’ve got to handle this, dammit, Alex. You treat Robert Bonnet differently from the other staff physicians. This is the third complaint we've received against him in less than six months. You must do something,” Don Montgomery whined. “That, as lawyer for this medical center, is your responsibility."

  Alexandra Lee Destephano sat on the edge of the sofa as she listened to her boss rant and rage. Don Montgomery was the chief executive officer at Crescent City Medical Center. Dissociating herself from his tirade, she glanced around the executive office. The office was stiff, formal, and uncomfortable and the décor mirrored the pretentious nature of Crescent City Medical Center’s haughty CEO. In fact, there was a likeness between the man and the office. Overdone and pretentious. Don Montgomery was tall and stiff in his Versace suit and Louis Vuitton watch. His thinning brown hair framed his cold unsmiling face.

  He looks like a fish Alex thought, but she returned to reality as he closed the distance between them and entered her personal space. Alex rose from the sofa and backed away from him. She overlooked the sarcasm in her boss's voice and prayed for patience as she remembered the advice of her maternal grandmother, Kathryn Rosseau Lee of Virginia.

  Alex struggled for control and responded, "Let’s review these claims and see if there is anything serious against the hospital. I don’t think there is." Alex watched the frown flicker across Don's impassive face.

  The CEO stood up, walked to his office door, and opened it. “I don’t have time and it’s not my job. I’m up to my ass in Obamacare regulations that are going to cost us millions, millions, and I don’t have time to discuss your ex-husband’s lack of competence to practice safe medicine. If you're going to with the big boys, you'll just have to figure it out on your own.”

  Alex could feel anger seeping through her brain and tried hard not to roll her eyes as Don continued his self-aggrandizing.

  “Don’t forget that I run this hospital. The financial success, image, and future of this place are my responsibility. I have to second-guess our competition and keep our market edge. No one here has any of the skills needed to assist me. My leadership has saved this hospital time and time again. If not for me, the board of trustees would have voted for that HealthTrust merger six months ago."

  Alex was sick to death of Don’s proclaimed ‘savior behavior’ and wondered if he lived in a vacuum. S
he doubted he that realized the efforts of the physicians, staff, and volunteers were part of the success of the world-class and prestigious Crescent City Medical Center. Don consistently took credit for all accomplishments at CCMC and cast blame on others when things went wrong. She sighed as the CEO continued praising himself.

  "If I didn't have a handle on internal and external sabotage we face daily, we'd be history. Only the best hospitals and medical centers with strong leadership will survive these times, but I can't do it all." Don paused for a moment and then shook his finger in her face. "Now, take care of this problem immediately, dammit. I expect a report from you within twenty-four hours about how you're going to handle the malpractice claims against Robert Bonnet."

  Alex shook her head at the CEO's disrespect and patronizing superiority but held her temper. "I'll meet with Dr. Bonnet and the staff involved this week."

  As she left the office, her self-control intact, Alex wondered how many executives she’d have to train. Don Montgomery was already the second CEO in her two-year tenure as in-house legal counsel for Crescent City Medical Center. She didn’t know she'd be able to last. Alex often wondered if she'd made the right decision moving to New Orleans to practice hospital law. In all honesty, she wondered if she treated Robert Bonnet, her ex-husband, differently from other CCMC physicians. Sometimes feelings of uncertainty and guilt clouded her mind, and she hoped it didn't cloud her professional judgment as well. Alex’s thoughts returned to Robert as she left the executive offices and headed toward her own.

  Robert Henri Bonnet, M.D., was the chief of surgery at CCMC and a favored son of New Orleans. Alex knew that Robert was a skillful physician. They'd met over ten years ago at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, when Robert was a resident in general surgery, and she was a doctoral student in clinical nursing. The couple had dated less than a year before they’d married in a small ceremony at the UVA Chapel. Their union melded two of the most powerful families in the South—the aristocratic Bonnets of Louisiana and the powerful Lees of Virginia.