The Doctor is Out

Part Two

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle, stat! Rating: T Time: After Season Eight

Kate sighed. "Can you send Josie Anderson in?"

Anderson came in and sat down. "Before you ask, both my parents were military brats. My dad is half African-American and half Korean. My mom is half Chicano and half Filipino."

"Interesting, but not relevant to the case." Kate replied. "You and Sergeant Kane were talking. What did you and Kane talk about?"

"The military. I was a Navy nurse. We'd been some of the same places, even knew some of the same people."

"Did Dr. Davidson ever hit on you?"

Anderson laughed. "Davidson hit on anything that was female and had a temperature. For that matter so did Dr. Gregg."

That was news to Kate. "Did anyone object? Or not object?"

Anderson shrugged. "Not object? Hayes I imagine. I've caught her with a couple of other men and she's very friendly to both doctors. But she likes sex without any commitment. I doubt if she fell in love with Gregg and killed him when he didn't reciprocate. It's just not her style. I can think of no other reason for her to kill him."

"Can you think of anything that might point to who killed Gregg?"

Anderson shrugged again. "Neither Davidson nor Dr. Semmes got along with Gregg. Gregg seemed to feel the same way about the two of them. Something apparently happened in Africa with Gregg and Davidson, I'm not sure about Dr. Semmes. He seems like a competent doctor and a nice guy."

"Where did you go when you left?"

"Back to see Mr. Pierce, but I could see a doctor was with him. Then I made a quick check around, but I didn't see anything."

"A doctor?" Kate asked.

"I just saw his legs under the curtain, but I'm pretty sure it was Dr. Gregg. I could be wrong, though."

"Anything else you want to tell me?" Anderson shook her head. "Can you send in Dr. Semmes, please?"

Dr. Semmes sat down and immediately said, "I'm an alcoholic. I've been sober now for two years."

"And this is relevant because?" Kate asked.

"Because I know more about medicine than any of the doctors in this hospital. I certainly know more about medicine than that asshole Gregg, but he rode me constantly. Wanted to know if I felt I needed a drink. Second guessed every damned thing I did. Checked my work like I was some damned intern. Acted like he was surprised when I did things right. Not that Davidson was any better. Talked about his trips to Third World countries like he was God's gift to medicine. Holier than thou Josh Davidson. If he spent as much time on medicine as he does on getting into women's pants he'd be about half as good as he thinks he is."

"What I'm hearing, Doctor Semmes, is that you had motive and opportunity."

Semmes smiled nastily at her. "And you're ignoring someone else who had motive and opportunity, your former boyfriend Josh Davidson. Perhaps you still have the hots for him? He seems to think so."

Kate held up her left hand. "I'm married, to Mr. Castle, my partner."

"That hasn't stopped Davidson before. Last year he was caught with a married woman, but her husband is a generous donor to causes that benefit this hospital greatly. It was all hushed up. The husband never found out."

"Do you have any information that might point me to the guilty party? Actual evidence?"

"No." Semmes said angrily.

"And where exactly were you between 4:39 and 5:09?"

"I was asleep in Room B. I'm not as young as I used to be. I laid down to take a nap at about 4:30 and woke up when I heard the commotion when Gregg was found."

"There are no partitions between the rooms, are there? Just cloth curtains."

"If you're suggesting I could have snuck up on Gregg and killed him without anyone seeing me, you're wrong. I didn't kill him."

"I never said you did." Kate said evenly. "I just made an observation."

"Bullshit."

"Thank you. Can you ask Grom, the orderly, to come in?"

"I didn't do anything." Grom whined as soon as he came in. "I was in X-ray with that old dude. People saw me."

"I know, Todd. In addition to people seeing you, the security cameras showed that you spent fifteen minutes drinking coffee and talking to some nurses when you should have come straight back here."

"I did not!" He wailed.

"Mr. Grom, do not lie to me." Kate said coldly.

"They weren't nurses. They're X-ray techs." Grom mumbled.

"How long have you worked here?"

"Seven months. My mom got me the job. She works in medical records."

"And you don't like the job?' Kate guessed.

"I want to be an artist. I'm working on a graphic novel." He tapped a folder he was carrying.

"Let me see it." Kate held out her hand.

"No! It's private."

"Do you want to me to take you to the precinct and put you in a holding cell until I can get a warrant?" Kate knew she could never get a warrant, but Todd Grom didn't know that. He handed the folder over.

Kate as shocked by what Grom had drawn. She had seen a lot, but this sort of thing still could shock her. The graphic novel depicted the violent rape of a young woman by four men. All of the men had Todd's face and very muscular bodies that Todd seriously lacked. The woman was Josie Anderson, but with much larger boobs. Kate kept it on the desk. "Do you think I should show it to Mr. Brecon, or Nurse Anderson?"

"Christ, no."

"Then tell me everything you know about Dr. Gregg and the other people in the ER."

"Gregg was cool. He and Davidson and Breen had a contest going. To see how many women they could bang in the hospital. You had to have pictures to make it official. Breen showed me some of his."

"Anyone from the ER?"

"Just Hayes. Anyone can bang her. I did her as well." He said proudly.

"What about the rest?"

Grom shrugged. "Semmes is a stuck up old prick. Thinks he's better than anyone. Anderson is just as bad. I've only seen Brecon down here once, but he's an asshat." He grinned. "Sergeant Kane is cool. He's a Green Beret. The other chicks…." He shrugged. "I don't know."

"Any reason any of them might want to kill Gregg?"

Grom shrugged. "No idea."

She tossed the folder back to him. "You keep up with that and you'll be in trouble. Now send Hayes in here."

Hayes came in and gave Kate a long, appraising look. "Did Todd show you his porno comic? You'll be in the next one he does."

"Were you in any?"

"Of course. But we're even. I took photos. Care to see?" Without waiting for an answer, she slid her phone across the desk. The phone had photos of Hayes having sex with Grom, then with Gregg, and Breen and with Josh. The rest were with men and women that Kate didn't know, although some were wearing scrubs.

"There's a nice room and a bed not far from here. How about you and your partner joining me?" She licked her lips.

"We're married and I don't share. Neither does he."

Hayes laughed. "I wouldn't share a hunk like that either. Although men can usually be talked into it."

"Let's get back to why I'm here. The murder. Where were you between 4:39 and 5:09?"

"Taking care of Jerry Hinman, the kid who fell off of the motorcycle. He wasn't wearing a helmet and he had on shorts and a tee shirt. He wasn't in bad shape considering what could have happened to him. The little horndog tried to put some moves on me. Grabbed my boobs. But he's way too young."

"I'll have one of my detectives check your story with Jerry. Can you think of anyone who had any reason to kill Dr. Gregg?"

Hayes shrugged. "I liked him. He had real stamina. Semmes didn't like him, but I can't see the old soak having the balls to kill anyone. Grom? No idea. Davidson? If anyone, he would have killed Breen. Breen was well ahead of the other doctors in the pussy sweepstakes."

"The contest to see who could bed the most women?"

"Grom talked, didn't he? Yeah. That one."

"What about Anderson?"

Hayes laughed. "It wouldn't surprise me to find out that the bitch is still cherry. She wouldn't kill anyone. She'd just ignore them, just like she ignores the rest of us."

"Okay, send in Breen."

Breen came in, smiled at Kate and pulled his chair as close to her as he could get. "You are gorgeous, Kate."

"And married." She said coldly.

"It doesn't bother me." He said with a smirk.

"It bothers my husband and it bothers me. And I'm carrying a gun and investigating you as a possible murder suspect. I suggest you be polite."

Breen assumed a neutral expression. "Okay."

"Where were you between 4:39 and 5:09?"

"I was in the empty bay next to where Hayes was taking care of that kid. And she was taking care of the kid all right."

"What do you mean?"

"She was letting him feel her up and grope her, and she was playing with his dick. It was a lot of fun listening to them. Not as much fun as what I had in mind with Hayes, but fun."

"Can you prove that?"

Breen smirked again and passed Kate his phone with photos on the screen. They were pictures of Hayes, with her top pulled up and her pants pulled down and Jerry Hinman with his pants around his knees.

"You can see the date/time stamp on the photos. That's my alibi."

She handed the phone back. She made a mental note to never come to this ER if she could help it. "Do you know anything that might point to Dr. Gregg's killer?"

Breen actually laughed. "Sure. My money is on your ex, Josh Davidson."

"Why?"

"You've heard about our little contest? Seeing who can screw the most women?" Kate nodded. "There's this blonde in purchasing. Really a hottie. Long blonde hair, great legs, great ass, big boobs, the whole package. Well, Josh had been trying to get into her pants for a month or more, but she has a boyfriend and she's not interested. But Josh won't give up. But when we came on shift at midnight, Ed shows us pictures on his phone of him and the blonde. He had totally had her and he laughs at Josh, telling him that he just doesn't have it anymore. He was really pushing Josh. So Josh gets pissed off and swings at old Ed. Now Josh is a big boy, but I don't think he's ever been in a fight in his life. Ed blocks the punch, hooks his leg behind Josh and pushes him down on his butt. Just as Josh swings, both Hayes and Anderson walk in and see Josh knocked on his butt and start laughing their heads off. Josh says he wants to kill Ed, but I pulled him back and Ed walked away. But Josh was really angry. And he said he'd kill Ed. I'll bet he did."

"But you have no evidence?"

"Not a bit." Breen replied.

"Send in nurse Knowles."

Knowles said she'd been at a filing cabinet just out of view of the security cameras, filing reports, but visible to anyone at the nurses station. A quick check with Sergeant Kane and Nurse Anderson confirmed that. And she had transferred to the ER two days before and really knew none of the people. She had no idea why someone would kill Ed Gregg.

"Send in Nurse Davies, please."

Nurse Davies came into the office with a scowl on her face and sat down. "They're all assholes."

"Pardon?" Kate said, a bit surprised.

"All of them are assholes. The three doctors are always giving me a hard time about my weight. Saying they'd all fuck me if I'd just loose fifty pounds. Like I'd want them. Semmes is one of those doctors who think the word God is spelled MD. Hayes is a slut. I don't know if she ever gets any work done. All she does is spread her legs. Grom is a pervert. There was a girl in here, twelve years old. I checked her records for her age. He was doing drawings of her to put in his filthy comic book. Anderson thinks she's so much better than everyone else because she was in the damned Navy. And Brecon is…"

"Can you tell me where you were at the time of the murder?" Kate cut her off.

"I was doing an inventory of the crash cart. If anything was low, I was restocking it. If anything is past its use date, I replace it. What I do is important, even if I don't have a degree from some fancy college. I went to school nights and…"

"Did anyone see you?"

Davies stopped and thought. "Dr. Davidson walked past me and that soldier could see me from the desk. What do we need some soldier in here for, I ask you? It's not like I don't have enough work to do. I have to…"

"Do you have any idea who might have killed Dr. Gregg?" Kate interrupted again.

"They're all assholes. Any one of them might have done it." She replied defensively.

Kate sighed. "Can you send in Dr. Davidson?"

TBC