Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Hey Susan" Steve smiled at the pretty blond nurse by the admin desk, "have you seen dad?"

"Sure, you just missed him, he and Jesse were headed to the cafeteria a couple of minutes ago"

"Thanks, I'll catch them up."

Susan made her way back to the ward as Steve headed the cafeteria. As he entered through the double doors he spotted the table where his father and Jesse sat. He began across the room just as Amanda approached him carrying a tray of food.

"Steve", her voice startled him.

"Hey Amanda", he stepped back, allowing her to lead the way, weaving amongst the other diners.

"Steve I'm sorry if you thought I was being funny with you last night it's just you know"

"A case like this" he finished and she nodded. He pulled a chair out for her and pushed it back in gently as she sat down.

"Thought you were progressing in your investigation and narrowing things down" Jesse mocked dryly as he took a bite from his sandwich.

"I am, which is why I'm here" Steve's statement peaked their attention. "Would you like to guess where Dr Robins was working between 1943 and 1950?"

Mark thought a moment then pressed a finger down on the table "Here at Community General."

"A prize to the man in the white coat with ketchup stains."

Mark tutted and wiped at the red smudge on his coat with a napkin.

"OK" Steve continued "Would anybody else like to guess where Mrs Annie Oxley worked as a nurse from 1944 until 1946?"

Jesse forced his finger to the table, desperately trying to speak through a mouthful of sandwich.

"Yeah" Steve put him out of his misery "Also here at Community General. And coincidentally" he rolled his eyes, "and you know how much I love a good old coincidence, she bought the property on Garrett Drive from Dr Robins suggesting they may have know each other outside of work."

"Is that a lead?" Amanda asked.

Steve shrugged "I'll take anything at the moment, now correct me if I'm mistaken" he aimed the question at his father "but wouldn't it be odd for a young married woman in the forties to buy a place herself? She was definitely a Mrs but no sign of a husband yet."

Mark thought for a moment "Slightly unusual, but her husband could have still been off at war or she could have been widowed."

"Well, given the fact Dr and Mrs Robins have both passed away and I'm having trouble tracking down Mrs Oxley, I thought I'd give the personnel records here a go. They should go back that far right?"

Amanda nodded "but lord knows how many inches of dust they'll be under or how well indexed they'd be" she warned him.

Steve paused, eyes darting around the table "Ah, y'see the thing is I'm a bit tied up with another investigation at the moment so I was wondering if one of you?" he didn't need to finish. As vehemently as Amanda was shaking her head, Jesse was nodding his.

"Thanks Jess"

"No problem, like Amanda said yesterday, this deserves all our efforts". He cringed realising how pious, not to mention accusing of Steve and Amanda's reluctance to spend the day in the basement filing rooms he sounded.

His remark appeared to go unnoticed as Amanda continued with her lunch and Steve looked towards the door.

"What is it?" Mark asked after his son had been quiet a few minutes.

"I'd do the ground work myself" he explained "but technically" he sighed "unless forensics give us definite murder or bit more recent than 50 years, the boss wants this as low priority. I mean helping old ladies across the road, handing out parking tickets low priority." He saw the fury on Amanda's face but hoped it was directed towards the bureaucracy of the system in the same way his own was.

"In that case" Mark chirped, sensing his son's frustration "it looks like you're going to need some willing helpers."

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Jesse sat up straight in his chair at BBQ Bobs as Susan nibbled at the plate of ribs beside him and Amanda sipped an iced tea though a straw. A neat stack of folders sat next to his left hand. He cleared his throat, patted the folders then assumed the pose of 'the thinker'. Everyone smiled, realising how much Jesse loved playing detective.

"In the course of my investigations this afternoon" he began dramatically, Steve and Susan tried hard to subdue their giggles as Amanda blew bubbles into her glass. He waited for quiet before beginning again in a more regular tone of voice "I found little unexpected about Dr Henry Robins, he was married to Sarah, they had three children and he left the hospital in 1950 to enter general practice. Impeccable record, and er, well, yeah that's about it. Personnel wasn't up to much in those days" he added apologetically. He took a breath before beginning again "Mrs Annie Oxley was a nurse, and it's probable that she and Robins worked together though it's not mentioned specifically in her file." He paused "but there's something that might interest you if you're still having trouble locating her" he offered and Steve lent across the table slightly, listening intently to Jesse as he continued. "In 1946 Annie resigned, she gave her reason as the fact her husband had a new job in Canada so they were moving up there." Steve nodded for him to carry on "She asked for a letter of reference, a copy of it is still in here" he patted the files again "The letter was written by her Staff Nurse, Daisy Baxter, and co-signed by Henry Robins"

Steve thought about the information he'd just received "Does anybody else think it's strange Robins sold Oxley a house and then authorised a, I presume glowing reference for her?" Jesse confirmed his assumption with a nod. "No mention of her husband?" Steve asked.

"When she first registered with personnel he was listed as her next of kin, his name was Donald. But when her file was last reviewed she'd switched her next of kin to her younger sister, Harriet Reid."

"If life with Donald was so rosy she'd planned on moving up to Canada with him, why list the sister as next of kin?" Amanda asked.

"Donald could have gone ahead for a number of reasons. While he was sorting things out in Canada Annie worked her notice at the hospital. Listing a local relative maybe seemed more practical in terms of an emergency contact.

Everybody mulled over the facts and their possibly hints for a moment. Recognising the expectant look on Jesse's face Steve acknowledged "Thanks for that Jess, you've been a great help" Jesse beamed at Susan who tried to hide her evident pride behind a smirk.

"Daisy Baxter" Mark added cryptically

"You're slowing down in your old age dad, we past her a while back" Steve joked

"Daisy Baxter, she was in the staff news letter last month" he added and Susan nodded slowly in recognition.

"Surely she's a little old to still be practising medicine?" Steve quipped but his remark was ignored.

"She's in that nursing home by the coast, Oak something" Susan explained "Oak View or Oak Park, it said she was their oldest resident celebrating her, what was it 90th, 95th birthday?" Mark nodded and together they smiled at Steve.

"I'll go with Donald Oxley's details from the files first thanks" he began. Susan and Mark raised their eyebrows as Jesse and Amanda joined in the silent bullying tactics. Steve raised his hands "I won't rule her out but I've got my hands full already, I'd rather concentrate on the major players first. Anyhow, it's a bit of a long shot, I can't expect to get results by asking a ninety five year old ex-hospital worker if she remembers a nurse and a doctor from the 40's!"

"Quite right" Mark agreed to Steve's amazement "You need a certain demeanour, a knack or a talent to talk to the frail or infirm. What you need is somebody who's good with old people, knows how somebody in the nursing profession would remember people or situations and let's say, gets off shift tomorrow at around" he looked at Jesse, nodding in Susan's direction

"One o'clock" Jesse chirped

"Say around one o'clock. I wonder if we could find such a person who'd be happy to help me chat to an elderly lady about the good old days?" Steve, Mark and Jesse all smiled at Susan who simply raised her palms in compliance.

"Welcome aboard" Steve laughed as he got up to leave "If I don't want to lose my job to you lot I'd better try and do some of this detective work for a change. Good luck for tomorrow, I guess I'll hear about it at?"

"Dinner at our place 8 o'clock" Mark answered.

"You're the boss so you buy" Amanda added.

"That's buy, not cook" Jesse emphasised as Steve stepped out into the darkness.

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Susan and Mark followed the young orderly as he guided them swiftly through the halls of the Oaks Court nursing home. They entered the large airy day room to find the French doors were wide open, inviting in the warm afternoon breeze. The orderly crossed the open floor before he crouched by one of the high winged, floral upholstered chairs.

"Daisy, you've got some visitors, more people from the hospital" he hollered "you must be famous down there," he shouted and the old woman chuckled. The orderly stood and addressed Mark and Susan "Deaf as a door-post but she's still got all her buttons on" he smiled. "She's a good one Daisy can bark a bit 'til you get to know her but never any real bother, always says please and thank you, not like some of the other old bats shouting orders like you're their personal slave."

"She's probably been on the receiving end in her time" Susan observed, thinking of how poorly respected nurses would have been when Daisy was practicing. She and Mark moved towards the old woman's chair, Mark positioning himself between the chair and the French doors.

"Mrs Baxter" he shouted, the plump white haired woman raised a frail puffy hand to him and he squeezed it gently "I'm Dr Mark Sloan, from Community General and this is Nurse Susan Hilliard."

Daisy smiled, "pleased to meet you both" she replied, oblivious to the volume at which she spoke "are you here about the news letter?" she shouted.

"Not exactly" Mark continued, increasingly conscious of the level of his voice "we were wondering if you'd take the time to talk to us about the hospital in the old days?"

"Are you writing a book?" she hollered.

"Not exactly" Mark thought for a moment about how best to bring the subject up, glancing at Susan as he did so.

"Typical doctor" Daisy attempted to whisper at Susan who smiled down at her. "Why don't you sit down and tell me what's on his mind missy, I ain't senile and I think the cat's got his tongue."

Susan pulled a chair up beside Daisy who instantly took one of her hands in her own.

"Well" Susan began slowly "we're trying to find out some information about a nurse who worked at the hospital when you were there."

"Lots a nurses at a hospital, wanna narrow it down for me or should I just name 'em all?" Susan smiled at her abrupt but warm manner.

"Her name was Annie Oxley, she worked there from 1944 until 1946. She left to join her husband in"

"Canada" Daisy whispered at the same time as Susan "Nice girl Annie, good nurse too, shame to lose her."

"Do you remember a Dr Robins who was there at the same time?" Susan asked and Daisy nodded.

"Thought this was about a nurse so how comes you're asking about Henry Robins?"

"Do you know if Mrs Oxley had any special connection to Dr Robins?" Mark asked without answering her question.

"Special connection, what does that mean?" she asked Susan, scrunching up her button nose as she did so. When she again received no reply she looked back to Marks, and on his expression she added "Men, minds in the gutter! Yes she and Henry worked together and they were friends too, kind of. He helped her out but no funny business. Why do doctors always think nurses are falling at their feet?" Susan blushed slightly and Daisy laughed "Oh not you too girlie, well I hope yours is a bit younger than this one!"

"How did Dr Robins help Annie out" Mark asked, then repeated himself more loudly when the old woman failed to hear him.

"Annie had family problems, Henry was understanding with stuff like that. She was good at her job but she had a lot on her mind, he appreciated her situation."

"The situation with her husband?" Susan asked, aware that a few of the other residents were by now listening in on their conversation as if it were the daily soap opera.

"Her husband and her sister, she was a bit of a tear away by all accounts."

"What was the problem with Donald?" Mark asked.

Daisy shuffled in her chair "What's all this about, prying into the poor woman's private life?"

"I'm trying to help my son, he's a police detective and he's trying to locate Mrs Oxley."

"Tell your boy to look in Canada, that's where she was heading last time I saw her. Past that I really can't tell you much. Except you're barking up the wrong tree with Henry Robins, he was happily married and a nice guy to boot. He sold Annie his house when it got too small for his family, Donald was up north already, her and her sister needed a place for a while. When she left I wrote her a letter of reference and Henry signed it, but he'd have done the same for any of the nurses he believed in".

Mark thought for a moment then extending his hand to the old lady shouted "Thanks for you're time."

Daisy smiled, let go of Susan's hand on her lap and shook Mark's. As Susan stood up Daisy caught her by the arm and beckoned for Susan to lean down to her "remind your young doctor who's in charge" she whispered, though half the room heard. Susan smiled as she and Mark made their way across the open floor to the door.