Ha, now I've learned to write long chapters... Sorry that it took me that
long to continue the story. Thanks very much for your reviews. So you're
still enjoying my story? Then I won't let you keep you away from reading!
All disclaimers apply, who's new? Ah yes, Mister Anthony Twain, Misses Murrow, Eleanor & Mathew Wells are mine.
Chapter 5: Letters and Husbands
Investigating was one thing. Interrogating ex-husbands another, Amanda thought, when she drove her car in front of the piggy pink mansion that rose large to the sides. The last time she had had a word with hers had ended in a clear catastrophe. Although he had agreed in taking both boys over the weekend, she had found out that he wasn't alone with the children but a woman was with them. A young woman. A very young woman. If she hadn't known better she would have estimated her at no more than nineteen. Whereas him, he kept persuading her that this girl was already an adult. As if these two years would mean anything! No, he had assured her, she was twenty-four years, seven months and two days old and was taking good care of him. Well, at least he had remembered that girl's birthday which he never had been able to during their mariage, Amanda had remarked. And before he could shoot back, she had taken her boys and had left.
Now that she got out of her car and studied the main building, she was reminded at the mansion of some dead basketball star, of an annoying kind of people. She couldn't help but smile at the idea of Jesse showing her a signed diaper! What a way to die for Magda, she thought, walking up the stairs. Now she really wanted to find out why a woman who had money and goods was found murdered in a stinky old place. By now having arrived at the door, she rang the bell. A man in casual clothes opened her. It was not the kind of wearing Amanda expected to see for a valet, nevertheless she asked him friendly, "Hello, Sir, my name is Doctor Amanda Bentley. May I talk to Mister Anthony Twain?"
"How can I help you, Doctor Bentley?"
Raising an eyebrow in surprise she reached out her hand with an elegance that showed what her passion beside pathology and mothership was. "Oh, you are Mister Twain, Magda's husband?" It had more of a statement than of a question.
"Yes, I am. Why is it so important?"
"My problem is", she started her tale, "she stole some medicine from me, and now…" She blinked at him. "I think we should better discuss this further when…"
His shocked expression in his face spoke volumes. Yet he was polite enough to ask her in. "I… um… please." Mister Twain gestured her in.
Jesse was sitting in the doctor's lounge playing Scrabble with himself as it was a quiet morning in ER and he had nothing else to do than inventing new words that grew between 'sheets' and 'claw'. And as if he wasn't the only one who had nothing else to do, it was Mark who entered, poured himself a mug of coffee and was amused by his younger colleague and friend cowering over the table.
"Boring?"
Instead of an answer the blonde hair was shaken.
Mark walked over to him and peeked over his shoulder. "Qhsrekw. That's not a word, is it?"
"Yes, it is," replied Jesse without turning around.
"Oh, is it." Mark repeated. "Should I know it?"
The pair of eyes that were now glancing at him sparkled in mocking surprise. "You don't know what a qhsrekw is? That does astonish me. Everyone knows what a qhsrekw is!"
"Me not! And therefore it doesn't exist."
"You bet! Just 'cause you don't know it doesn't necessarily mean it's non-existant."
"Then tell me. Or else you're betraying."
"I don't betray, but if you try to look it up in a dictionary, it won't be there, 'cause it's got a very special meaning."
"Oh, good. And which meaning?"
"Well, um… a qhsrekw… uh…"
"Admit it, you're betraying."
"No! Qhsrekw is originally um… a Thai word and means 'good afternoon'. We often said it at home, I learned it from a Thai who was a classmate of mine." With that, he turned to his table.
At that Mark didn't know what to object. He simply left it at that and looked at the letters Jesse had taken out of the black bag next to him. "K-M-I-E-Y-G-L", he whispered hardly audible.
"No good letters in these."
"No good let… hey, and what about 'Emily'?"
"Sorry, no proper names allowed."
"And why is there an 'Elvis'?"
"He's no proper name, he's the King of rock'n'roll, that's an exception."
"Uhum…"
"Great, Mark, why aren't you doing any useful to your patients than arguing about Scrabble, like doing rounds or something?"
"I'd better take a magazine and read it in my office", Mark giggled.
"Yeah, you'd better."
"Fine. And, please, let me know if Emily is knocking on your brain again so that I can hide somewhere in secure distance."
"Yeah", Jesse answered absent-minded to the hospital ghost as Mark had already left without awaiting an answer.
When Mark entered the hospital room and threw a look at the person lying in the bed, he was relieved to see her smile.
"You've had a good night, I suppose, Misses Murrow?"
"Yes, I have. Only that my head's aching a bit. Ah, tell me, when can I go home, doctor?"
"With your kind of injuries you ought to stay in hospital for a week at least."
"My husband knows it?"
"Yes, he was informed yesterday." He paused, wondering how to ask her what he'd wanted to know. "You said you knew Magda and Ernest Barnabas?"
"Not Ernest. Not him. Just Magda. We were kinda friends." And on Mark's curious look, "Well, she was down after her divorce and needed someone to talk to. And, well, you know, my husband… he… one day, when it had been very bad, I… she just stepped in, like you did, and threw him out. Yes, she really grabbed him and threw him into the staircase." She laughed abruptly. "He didn't come back the whole afternoon, and Magda and I, we talked long into the night, about husbands, hers who had left her 'cause of her brother, mine… She was there once in two weeks, each time they had done a burglary, they hid for a night, the nights I was looking forward to. It was the only night my husband didn't… well, her divorce was kinda dirty, he didn't leave her anything except a one hundred dollar bill."
"Did she tell you that someone wanted to kill her?"
"No, never."
"Or do you know someone who would do so? Or her brother? Anybody who hated them?"
"Hm, well, those whose drugs were stolen, maybe they got a special drug dealer. Hating them? Not in our house. Except-"
"Except your husband."
"He wouldn't do that. He's not that kinda man." Her voice sounded rather angry. "He's… caring for anybody's life," she added, now in a sad tone.
"Like he's caring for you."
"Doctor Sloan, I love my husband and he loves me. If it comes out that… I'll deny everything!"
Mark wondered how a beaten wife was still able to such a loyalty towards her maltreator. Nevertheless he prefered to quit this conversation at this point if he wanted to get further information from her later. "Okay. I understand that, Misses Murrow. I just asked you to help us with the murder. You've told us more we could have ever known without you. Thank you very much." She relaxed visibly. "Just one little question: they've been in the house for long?"
"Think it's… hm, their divorce was last February. Since the end of January, I think."
Mark smiled reassured. "Thank you, Misses Murrow. Now have a rest!"
If there had been a slight chance of forgiveness the other day, the following day there had been less, and one week after, all good intentions had vanished.
The telephone had rung once, an invitation from Mark for dinner at which she had made acquaintance with the pathologist and Coroner Doctor Amanda Bentley and her two sons CJ and Dion. Jesse had been missing. Amanda had told them there had been an emergency call just when he was about to come here. That was the last time the ER doctor being mentioned in Emily's presence that evening.
Now, as she put on her coat to become pediatrist Doctor Emily Wells, she wondered how her first day would go… and how she'd avoid to cross Jesse's path.
She stepped outside into the corridor and headed for the elevators to start work in the pediatry.
Eight hours later, Emily slipped tired into the doctor's lounge which, contrary to her hope, wasn't empty.
"Had a nice day at CG?" Jesse asked.
No answer. Instead, Emily poured herself a cup of coffee and hurried out of the room.
Jesse shook his head. "Kids!"
Emily returned half an hour later to the doctor's lounge where she was alone now. She took a notepad out of her wallet and began to write.
Hi Mum, hi Dad!
How are you? I hope, well!
Just got some minutes free and it came to my mind spontaneously to write to you, for I tried hard to catch you on the phone. Business is rough these days, isn't it?
How's Grandma? Still trying to persuade the video recorder to tape the latest ER episodes?
Some doctors here in CG are great, especially this Doctor Sloan who keeps solving crimes in his free time.
Some other doctors are and stay a plague!
Hope you'll visit me soon!
Love
Emily
Short and nice, simply a quick note that she was still alive. The rest could be discussed on the phone. She put the letter into an envelope, wrote the addresses on it and was about to leave when Mark entered the doctor's lounge.
"Good evening, Emily! How was your first day?"
"Great! Two flus and one measles, one broken arm from a fight with her brother, that's all!"
"Sounds awfully boring, doesn't it!"
By now, Emily had finished enveloping her letter and stood up.
"So, I'm gonna hurry to the post office and then have a nice long bath this evening!"
Mark glanced at the letter Emily had in her hand and was able to read 'to Eleanore & Mathew Wells' from what he concluded, it was her parents who should receive the letter. Emily smiled at the elder doctor and went.
Around midnight a more than normal mess was running through ER, and Emily was back.
"What happened?" she asked Jesse. "Why have I been phoned?"
"Gas explosion in a hotel…"
Two gurneys were wheeled in and Jesse hurried over to them.
"Two blacks. Get them to the pathology!"
"Five-year-old, third-degree burns", a paramedic shouted.
"My job", Emily stated at once.
"Maybe you've already noticed that this is not pediatry but ER. So it's everybody's job!"
"This is a child and I am a pediatrist so it oughta be clear that I'd be a great help for him!"
Jesse rubbed his forehead, tired.. "Okay, okay. Have you any experience in pediatric emergencies?"
"Of course I have! Else I wouldn't have been able to become pediatrist."
"With such burns, too?"
Emily hesitated. "No."
"See?"
But before the doctor could speak further, the medic meddled. "Damned, doctors, this kid is gonna die and you're just discussing about who isn't allowed to treat him?"
The doctors looked at the paramedic, then at each other. Finally Emily said, "Yeah, he's right, perhaps we both should treat him."
"Now that you got it… there are some more waiting outside, you'd better hurry!" the paramedic said turning to go.
It went on till the next morning. Then Mark had the time to have a last look at Misses Murrow before she was being discharged.
"Good morning, Misses Murrow!"
"G'morning, doctor! Feeling much better today."
"That's fine."
"Doctor, I've still got something to tell you."
He took a chair and seated himself.
"When Magda and I talked to each other about a week before she… She gave me this." She gave him a ring which he observed thoroughly at once. Having spotted the engraved letters on the inside he asked, "Who is EW?"
"I don't know. She gave it to me and said, it wouldn't be of any good to know the name, it was just a gift from someone who she knew and who would visit her soon."
"Her murderer?"
"Perhaps."
Mark frowned. He recalled Emily being in that house pretending to look for an apartment. No, he tried to convince his mind, she didn't pretend, she couldn't be the killer. She was a young fine enthusiastic doctor. Although… he had already found out that doctors sometimes were murderers. "Have a rest", he advised. "I'm going to find out whom this ring belongs to."
With that he left the room rather excitedly.
Hello darling!
I'm very sorry that we have been too busy to phone you back. At Daddy's office there has been much work, many projects to be prepared.
Nevertheless, Daddy and I are looking forward to visit you in a few weeks.
I hope the weather down there is better than here, we have already had the first snowstorm this winter! And the city and the sea are looking so peaceful now!
Love
Mum
All disclaimers apply, who's new? Ah yes, Mister Anthony Twain, Misses Murrow, Eleanor & Mathew Wells are mine.
Chapter 5: Letters and Husbands
Investigating was one thing. Interrogating ex-husbands another, Amanda thought, when she drove her car in front of the piggy pink mansion that rose large to the sides. The last time she had had a word with hers had ended in a clear catastrophe. Although he had agreed in taking both boys over the weekend, she had found out that he wasn't alone with the children but a woman was with them. A young woman. A very young woman. If she hadn't known better she would have estimated her at no more than nineteen. Whereas him, he kept persuading her that this girl was already an adult. As if these two years would mean anything! No, he had assured her, she was twenty-four years, seven months and two days old and was taking good care of him. Well, at least he had remembered that girl's birthday which he never had been able to during their mariage, Amanda had remarked. And before he could shoot back, she had taken her boys and had left.
Now that she got out of her car and studied the main building, she was reminded at the mansion of some dead basketball star, of an annoying kind of people. She couldn't help but smile at the idea of Jesse showing her a signed diaper! What a way to die for Magda, she thought, walking up the stairs. Now she really wanted to find out why a woman who had money and goods was found murdered in a stinky old place. By now having arrived at the door, she rang the bell. A man in casual clothes opened her. It was not the kind of wearing Amanda expected to see for a valet, nevertheless she asked him friendly, "Hello, Sir, my name is Doctor Amanda Bentley. May I talk to Mister Anthony Twain?"
"How can I help you, Doctor Bentley?"
Raising an eyebrow in surprise she reached out her hand with an elegance that showed what her passion beside pathology and mothership was. "Oh, you are Mister Twain, Magda's husband?" It had more of a statement than of a question.
"Yes, I am. Why is it so important?"
"My problem is", she started her tale, "she stole some medicine from me, and now…" She blinked at him. "I think we should better discuss this further when…"
His shocked expression in his face spoke volumes. Yet he was polite enough to ask her in. "I… um… please." Mister Twain gestured her in.
Jesse was sitting in the doctor's lounge playing Scrabble with himself as it was a quiet morning in ER and he had nothing else to do than inventing new words that grew between 'sheets' and 'claw'. And as if he wasn't the only one who had nothing else to do, it was Mark who entered, poured himself a mug of coffee and was amused by his younger colleague and friend cowering over the table.
"Boring?"
Instead of an answer the blonde hair was shaken.
Mark walked over to him and peeked over his shoulder. "Qhsrekw. That's not a word, is it?"
"Yes, it is," replied Jesse without turning around.
"Oh, is it." Mark repeated. "Should I know it?"
The pair of eyes that were now glancing at him sparkled in mocking surprise. "You don't know what a qhsrekw is? That does astonish me. Everyone knows what a qhsrekw is!"
"Me not! And therefore it doesn't exist."
"You bet! Just 'cause you don't know it doesn't necessarily mean it's non-existant."
"Then tell me. Or else you're betraying."
"I don't betray, but if you try to look it up in a dictionary, it won't be there, 'cause it's got a very special meaning."
"Oh, good. And which meaning?"
"Well, um… a qhsrekw… uh…"
"Admit it, you're betraying."
"No! Qhsrekw is originally um… a Thai word and means 'good afternoon'. We often said it at home, I learned it from a Thai who was a classmate of mine." With that, he turned to his table.
At that Mark didn't know what to object. He simply left it at that and looked at the letters Jesse had taken out of the black bag next to him. "K-M-I-E-Y-G-L", he whispered hardly audible.
"No good letters in these."
"No good let… hey, and what about 'Emily'?"
"Sorry, no proper names allowed."
"And why is there an 'Elvis'?"
"He's no proper name, he's the King of rock'n'roll, that's an exception."
"Uhum…"
"Great, Mark, why aren't you doing any useful to your patients than arguing about Scrabble, like doing rounds or something?"
"I'd better take a magazine and read it in my office", Mark giggled.
"Yeah, you'd better."
"Fine. And, please, let me know if Emily is knocking on your brain again so that I can hide somewhere in secure distance."
"Yeah", Jesse answered absent-minded to the hospital ghost as Mark had already left without awaiting an answer.
When Mark entered the hospital room and threw a look at the person lying in the bed, he was relieved to see her smile.
"You've had a good night, I suppose, Misses Murrow?"
"Yes, I have. Only that my head's aching a bit. Ah, tell me, when can I go home, doctor?"
"With your kind of injuries you ought to stay in hospital for a week at least."
"My husband knows it?"
"Yes, he was informed yesterday." He paused, wondering how to ask her what he'd wanted to know. "You said you knew Magda and Ernest Barnabas?"
"Not Ernest. Not him. Just Magda. We were kinda friends." And on Mark's curious look, "Well, she was down after her divorce and needed someone to talk to. And, well, you know, my husband… he… one day, when it had been very bad, I… she just stepped in, like you did, and threw him out. Yes, she really grabbed him and threw him into the staircase." She laughed abruptly. "He didn't come back the whole afternoon, and Magda and I, we talked long into the night, about husbands, hers who had left her 'cause of her brother, mine… She was there once in two weeks, each time they had done a burglary, they hid for a night, the nights I was looking forward to. It was the only night my husband didn't… well, her divorce was kinda dirty, he didn't leave her anything except a one hundred dollar bill."
"Did she tell you that someone wanted to kill her?"
"No, never."
"Or do you know someone who would do so? Or her brother? Anybody who hated them?"
"Hm, well, those whose drugs were stolen, maybe they got a special drug dealer. Hating them? Not in our house. Except-"
"Except your husband."
"He wouldn't do that. He's not that kinda man." Her voice sounded rather angry. "He's… caring for anybody's life," she added, now in a sad tone.
"Like he's caring for you."
"Doctor Sloan, I love my husband and he loves me. If it comes out that… I'll deny everything!"
Mark wondered how a beaten wife was still able to such a loyalty towards her maltreator. Nevertheless he prefered to quit this conversation at this point if he wanted to get further information from her later. "Okay. I understand that, Misses Murrow. I just asked you to help us with the murder. You've told us more we could have ever known without you. Thank you very much." She relaxed visibly. "Just one little question: they've been in the house for long?"
"Think it's… hm, their divorce was last February. Since the end of January, I think."
Mark smiled reassured. "Thank you, Misses Murrow. Now have a rest!"
If there had been a slight chance of forgiveness the other day, the following day there had been less, and one week after, all good intentions had vanished.
The telephone had rung once, an invitation from Mark for dinner at which she had made acquaintance with the pathologist and Coroner Doctor Amanda Bentley and her two sons CJ and Dion. Jesse had been missing. Amanda had told them there had been an emergency call just when he was about to come here. That was the last time the ER doctor being mentioned in Emily's presence that evening.
Now, as she put on her coat to become pediatrist Doctor Emily Wells, she wondered how her first day would go… and how she'd avoid to cross Jesse's path.
She stepped outside into the corridor and headed for the elevators to start work in the pediatry.
Eight hours later, Emily slipped tired into the doctor's lounge which, contrary to her hope, wasn't empty.
"Had a nice day at CG?" Jesse asked.
No answer. Instead, Emily poured herself a cup of coffee and hurried out of the room.
Jesse shook his head. "Kids!"
Emily returned half an hour later to the doctor's lounge where she was alone now. She took a notepad out of her wallet and began to write.
Hi Mum, hi Dad!
How are you? I hope, well!
Just got some minutes free and it came to my mind spontaneously to write to you, for I tried hard to catch you on the phone. Business is rough these days, isn't it?
How's Grandma? Still trying to persuade the video recorder to tape the latest ER episodes?
Some doctors here in CG are great, especially this Doctor Sloan who keeps solving crimes in his free time.
Some other doctors are and stay a plague!
Hope you'll visit me soon!
Love
Emily
Short and nice, simply a quick note that she was still alive. The rest could be discussed on the phone. She put the letter into an envelope, wrote the addresses on it and was about to leave when Mark entered the doctor's lounge.
"Good evening, Emily! How was your first day?"
"Great! Two flus and one measles, one broken arm from a fight with her brother, that's all!"
"Sounds awfully boring, doesn't it!"
By now, Emily had finished enveloping her letter and stood up.
"So, I'm gonna hurry to the post office and then have a nice long bath this evening!"
Mark glanced at the letter Emily had in her hand and was able to read 'to Eleanore & Mathew Wells' from what he concluded, it was her parents who should receive the letter. Emily smiled at the elder doctor and went.
Around midnight a more than normal mess was running through ER, and Emily was back.
"What happened?" she asked Jesse. "Why have I been phoned?"
"Gas explosion in a hotel…"
Two gurneys were wheeled in and Jesse hurried over to them.
"Two blacks. Get them to the pathology!"
"Five-year-old, third-degree burns", a paramedic shouted.
"My job", Emily stated at once.
"Maybe you've already noticed that this is not pediatry but ER. So it's everybody's job!"
"This is a child and I am a pediatrist so it oughta be clear that I'd be a great help for him!"
Jesse rubbed his forehead, tired.. "Okay, okay. Have you any experience in pediatric emergencies?"
"Of course I have! Else I wouldn't have been able to become pediatrist."
"With such burns, too?"
Emily hesitated. "No."
"See?"
But before the doctor could speak further, the medic meddled. "Damned, doctors, this kid is gonna die and you're just discussing about who isn't allowed to treat him?"
The doctors looked at the paramedic, then at each other. Finally Emily said, "Yeah, he's right, perhaps we both should treat him."
"Now that you got it… there are some more waiting outside, you'd better hurry!" the paramedic said turning to go.
It went on till the next morning. Then Mark had the time to have a last look at Misses Murrow before she was being discharged.
"Good morning, Misses Murrow!"
"G'morning, doctor! Feeling much better today."
"That's fine."
"Doctor, I've still got something to tell you."
He took a chair and seated himself.
"When Magda and I talked to each other about a week before she… She gave me this." She gave him a ring which he observed thoroughly at once. Having spotted the engraved letters on the inside he asked, "Who is EW?"
"I don't know. She gave it to me and said, it wouldn't be of any good to know the name, it was just a gift from someone who she knew and who would visit her soon."
"Her murderer?"
"Perhaps."
Mark frowned. He recalled Emily being in that house pretending to look for an apartment. No, he tried to convince his mind, she didn't pretend, she couldn't be the killer. She was a young fine enthusiastic doctor. Although… he had already found out that doctors sometimes were murderers. "Have a rest", he advised. "I'm going to find out whom this ring belongs to."
With that he left the room rather excitedly.
Hello darling!
I'm very sorry that we have been too busy to phone you back. At Daddy's office there has been much work, many projects to be prepared.
Nevertheless, Daddy and I are looking forward to visit you in a few weeks.
I hope the weather down there is better than here, we have already had the first snowstorm this winter! And the city and the sea are looking so peaceful now!
Love
Mum