Murder at St. Mary's
Chapter 02
2.1
"Who have you decided will be in charge of the security detail during the event?" Katherine asked Ironside.
"Sgt. Brown will gladly donate his time for a good cause," he responded.
Katherine smiled. Ironside had to look away momentarily. He could not resist that smile. It was so genuine and it lit up an already beautiful face. He told himself to keep his mind on the business at hand. He was sure what he was feeling was because he was missing Barbara so much. Maybe Katherine just reminded him of how much.
"How do you know Sgt. Brown will donate his time?" she asked.
"I know," was all Ironside offered.
"How do you know? Have you asked him?"
"No. I don't have to ask. He'll do it and so will Officer Whitfield and Lt. Reese and if we need her, so will Officer Belding."
"You aren't going to order them to do it, I hope," Katherine said.
"No. That will not be necessary. You just leave that to me."
"Robert, I wanted you to know I really appreciate your help with security. It looks like we are going to have nearly eight hundred people for this event." She placed her hand over his.
Ironside looked down at the feminine hand touching his. It stirred something within him that should not exist right now. After all, Barbara had only been gone a short time. What was it about this woman that made him feel completely comfortable and completely uncomfortable at the same time?
"It is nothing. Sister Agatha would have roped me into helping anyway." Ironside laughed. "Ever since I was a patient in her hospital, Sister Agatha thinks she is my guardian angel and that seems to include torturing me once a month and working the charity event every year."
Katherine smiled at him, helping set him at ease with her. "She loves you, Robert. That is why she pushes you and looks after you." She touched his hand again, making him uncomfortable yet not wanting her to withdraw it.
They talked more about the charity event security and then conversation turned to other interests they both seemed to share. Finally, when Ironside noticed the time, he knew he had to end their lunch and return to the office.
"Would you mind dropping me off at headquarters?" Ironside asked her.
"Of course not." Katherine knew she wanted to see him again and soon but she was unsure how to arrange it without being obvious. "Do you think security is all set up or do we need to meet on it again?
They had already met on it more than Ironside had done in the past five years but he heard himself say, "We better meet and finalize everything. Since you insisted on paying for this lunch despite my attempts to pass on the expense to the good sister, we will hold the next one at my office on Friday. You can come for dinner."
That had worked out better than she could have hoped. "Only if you let me cook."
"Not a chance. My place. I will handle the cooking," Ironside insisted.
Katherine drove him back to his office. She said goodbye and drove away from police headquarters. She wondered why he had chosen Friday night. She would have thought he would spend Friday night with Barbara.
At least she knew the charity event security could not be in better hands. How could anything possibly go wrong?
2.2
Billy Carson had been sitting in the office for over two hours. No one had come out to speak to him. He could not believe these people. His son's life was on the line and they could not even find the time to discuss his insurance. He looked around the room. He seemed to be the only one that was not being waited on. What was wrong with these people?
Billy thought about earlier. How in the world could that man think he would murder somebody? He really should report him to the authorities. But he had his son to worry about. He could not take the chance that Haynes might make good on his threat. His son was everything to him, he would not take a chance with his life.
Billy was getting tired of waiting. He got out of his seat and headed to the desk. The woman at the desk did not even look up at him when he arrived. "Excuse me, could you help me please?"
"I am sorry sir, but you are going to have to wait your turn." Her voice was short and her tone was nasty.
"I have been waiting my turn. People have gone in ahead of me that were only here after I came in."
"They have to take them according to the type of insurance that they have. There is only one man that handles the type of insurance that you have. You will have to wait until he is available. Now, please sit down, sir, and wait."
"I have been waiting. I've been waiting for two hours. How much longer is it going to be?" Billy's frustration had him raising his voice.
A man walked up to the gate that separated the customers from the employees. "Mr. Carson, I can see you now."
Billy walked through the gate and followed the man to a desk in the corner of the room. He gestured to Billy to sit down in the chair in front of the desk. "I am sorry for the wait, Mr Carson, but it could not be helped. There were many people ahead of you and I am the only one that handles your type of case."
"What about my case? Are you going to be able to help me?"
"Your insurance policy carries very little catastrophic care. You have already used up all of the help that we can give you."
"Just a minute, are you telling me that you will not pay any of the bone marrow transplant cost?" Billy asked in disbelief.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Carson, but there's nothing we can do for you."
"But there must be something you can do. My son needs a bone marrow transplants. I don't have the money for it." Billy's voice was full of desperation.
"Since this is a life-threatening condition, the hospital has to do the surgery."
"I am aware of that, sir. However, I can lose my job if I don't pay the hospital. I won't have the money to pay the hospital. Without a job, I will lose everything... my house, my car. I can't pay my bills as it is. They have already shut off the cable. They are threatening to shut off the electricity. Just what in the hell am I expected to do?"
"I am sorry. There's nothing else I can do to help you." The man stood up in dismissal.
Billy just sat there stunned for a moment. What was he going to do? Why did no one care about his son? Of course, he would see to it that he had the bone marrow transplant but how would he pay for it? He stood up and looked at the man in front of him. "I hope you never have to face the day when your son has a life-threatening condition and nobody will help you." Billy walked away with tears in his eyes.
2.3
Morgan Haynes picked up the phone and dialed his boss. He waited for him to answer.
"You better have some good news for me."
"I just got a call from our insurance contact. Billy Carson was turned down just as we paid the guy to do. He will receive no more insurance money for his kid."
"Excellent! Alright, Morgan, he is ripe for the picking. Now reel him in."
"Yes, sir. I'll take care of it right away." Morgan hung up the phone. He smiled to himself. Everything was right on schedule. Billy Carson would cooperate. He would do anything for that kid. It was time to call upon Mr. Carson.
2.4
Sister Agatha walked into Carlton Holcomb's hospital room. "Good afternoon, Mr. Holcomb. I am sorry I was unable to get in earlier today. How are you feeling?"
"Not very well, I'm afraid," he answered her. "Sister, do you believe in God?"
"Under the circumstances, I would think you would know the answer to that question," Sister Agatha replied.
"Well, I guess I do know the answer to it. I guess what I'm really asking is do you ever lose faith in God?"
Agatha picked her words carefully. "I sometimes do not understand him. But no, I never lose faith in God."
"I have been sitting here for a few days with nothing to do but think. I cannot understand why he would allow something like this to happen to me."
"The Lord moves..." Sister Agatha began.
He waved his hand at her. "Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before."
It broke the sister's heart to see people lose faith. And yet it was something she saw all the time in the hospital when people were dying. She had known Carlton Holcomb all of his life. He was a good man, a good husband and a very good father. He would be leaving behind three children and a wife who all loved him very much. Like her, he was of the Catholic religion. He attended Mass regularly and believed in the Almighty. How hard it was for some people to accept God's path for them.
When their lives were in danger some people gave up and others like Robert T. Ironside fought with everything within them to live. She knew this man had terminal cancer. God had selected his path. Nothing could change that now. But Agatha knew she had to find some way to help him find peace. She sat down on the side of the bed beside him. The sister took his hand in hers. "We cannot always understand his plan for us," she said. "None of us were ever intended to live on this earth forever. While we are here, we live the life he wants us to. We follow his path and one day he calls us home. He is calling you home, Carlton. It is natural to be scared. But you have to believe that he has a higher purpose for you. You have to have faith that it will be a better life than you have here."
With tears in his eyes, he squeezed her hand. "You always know what to say, don't you?"
"No, I do not. I only know that my faith is strong and I believe in the Almighty's plan for all of us." She squeezed his hand back. "You are a good man. You have lived a spiritual life. You have provided for your family both in life and after death. If anyone is prepared to meet their maker, it is you, Carlton."
"Thank you, Sister." She smiled at him.
"Well, I have other patients to see. I will stop in and see you later." Sister Agatha looked back at Carlton and smiled before she left the room.
She walked back to the front desk. "Please give me Carlton Holcomb's chart," she said to the nurse at the station. She read all of the latest entries including the doctor's notes and comments. She handed the chart back to the nurse and then went on her way.
2.5
Robert Ironside read the report in front of him. As a sitting member of the Board of Trustees of St. Mary's Hospital, it was his obligation to make sure the hospital was running smoothly. With all of the work he had to do right here in his own office, he could not understand how he allowed Sister Agatha to talk him into becoming a trustee.
He smiled to himself when he thought about the sister. She was one of the few people that he knew could speak to him in the manner she did. The only other one that got away with it was Eve. And even then, Eve knew when she could do it and when she could not. Agatha could do it at any time. Someday he would have to learn how to say no to the woman.
As usual the reports were in order. Ironside could see nothing that needed to be questioned. Agatha did her usual efficient job. He thought back to those few years ago when he was lying in a hospital bed at St. Mary's. If it hadn't been for the medical staff at the hospital he would not be here at this moment. He remembered all of the agonizing hours he laid in that bed thinking about never being able to walk again. He did not believe it then but of course they were right. Agatha had spent countless hours with him, talking to him... trying to prepare him for what was ahead and to convince him to accept it and move on. Ironside believed in the Almighty but he spent little time in any church in San Francisco. His job never allowed him to be a regular worshiper anywhere or even think about it very much. He had depended on his faith, his raw determination and Sister Agatha, to recover and accept his newfound limitations and make something of the rest of his life. Between the sister and his staff Ironside eventually did except those limitations and make the best of them.
Over the years Sister Agatha and Ironside had become very close friends. Neither one of them would have admitted it to the other but both know it to be true.
"Chief, are you listening to me?" Eve asked, bringing Ironside out of his thoughts.
"What? Oh, I am sorry, Eve. What did you say?"
"Did you want to answer the City Council's questions regarding why you opened every single entry into the tunnels under San Francisco to find Pierre Fougère or shall I?"
Ironside's blood began to boil. How could the City Council even question his methods in stopping a nuclear bomb from exploding in the city? Before he lost control of his temper he knew that Eve was the one to answer the inquiry. "I think your reply would be much more polite than mine, don't you?"
Eve smiled. She could not understand after all the years the City Council had known Robert Ironside why they would even send the inquiry. They had to know him well enough to know what his response would be. "I will answer the inquiry for you, Chief. At least that way it will be able to be read to the City Council without a few ears turning blue."
"I don't care what color they turn as long as I don't have to address these stupid questions. Mark! Would you get me another cup of coffee, please?"
Mark Sanger came out of the kitchen with the coffee pot. He walked over to Chief Ironside and poured fresh hot coffee into his cup. "Chief, Ed, Eve and I were thinking of going to the show this Friday. There is a new police drama out and this time I think it is one that you will be interested in."
"Thank you, Mark. I appreciate the invitation but I cannot go. Katherine DeNureve is coming here to the office Friday for dinner to finalize all of the plans for the charity event at St. Mary's."
"She's coming for dinner?" Eve asked with a smile.
Ironside looked up at his police woman. "I believe that is what I said. Is there something wrong with that?" he asked gruffly.
"Of course not, Chief," Eve answered. "It's just that you have spent more time on security for this event than all events before it put together."
"Then I take it," Ironside said, "that you feel the extra time is a waste of time?" He knew what she was thinking and he was not about to discuss it with a member of his staff. So he decided to head her off.
"Why no, of course not. It is just that..."
"It is just what?" Ironside snarled.
"Nothing," Eve muttered. She picked up her report, took it to the file cabinet and filed it, dropping the subject.
The door to the office opened and Sergeant Ed Brown entered. He walked down the ramp and joined Ironside at the table. "I have rounded up thirty-two off-duty officers to help with the charity event. Is that enough, Chief?"
"Ed, how come you didn't ask me?" Eve inquired.
Without looking up from his paperwork, Ironside said, "That number includes you... Both of you."
"Oh," Eve remarked, realizing she wasn't being given a choice in the matter.
"That includes you too, Mark," Ironside informed him.
"But I am NOT a cop, off duty or otherwise."
Ironside finally looked up from his paperwork. "No, but we'll find something for you to do." He smirked, knowing fully well not one member of his staff would turn him down.
"Did you ask the chief about Friday night, Eve?"
"He's not going," Eve informed Ed.
"Well, why not? This movie is about an honest cop. There will be no breaking of rules in this movie," Ed said.
Eve smiled. "The chief can't go because he has a date."
Ed looked at Ironside. "You have a date?"
The chief scowled at Eve. "I do not have a date. Katherine is coming to the office to finalize the plans for security for the charity event. That is all."
"He is serving her dinner," Eve said with a smile.
"Dinner?" Ed looked to the chief for an explanation.
"Both of us have to eat. I don't know how long it will take to finish up the security. Since she is coming here at dinner time it is only polite to have dinner on the table. Or don't you people have any manners?"
"Chief, do you want me to stick around and fix dinner?" Mark asked with a playful look in his eyes.
"You are going to the show. I will take care of dinner."
"But I can stay if you need me," Mark said, grinning.
"I wouldn't think of depriving you of seeing such an academy award-winning film," Ironside snarled.
Ed, Eve and Mark smiled at one another. But they knew when to quit teasing the chief. Ed changed the subject. "Did you get the reports from St. Mary's Hospital?"
"Yes," Ironside answered. "Everything is in order as usual. Sister Agatha is very efficient."
"There is nothing you want us to look into?" Ed asked.
"Why would I have you look into anything? You are a policeman, not an auditor."
"I don't know..." Ed stammered. " I guess I just thought I'd offer."
"What is going on around here?" Ironside growled.
"Nothing," Ed answered.
"Nothing," Eve repeated.
Mark just shrugged his shoulders.
"Then is it too much to ask that we get some work done?" Ironside clamored.
Ed and Eve went back to their respective assignments. Mark headed into the kitchen to plan dinner.
Ironside knew he had been hard to live with in the weeks since Barbara's departure. He had been pretty rough on his staff. They knew he had been hurting and he knew that they were only trying to cheer him up with a little good old-fashioned ribbing. He hoped they understood that he was just not able to share his pain yet.
2.6
"Well, Billy, what will it be? Will you let us help you? The system obviously doesn't give a damn about you or your kid but we can help you."
"Am I supposed to believe that you care about me or my kid?" Billy asked.
"Life's a bitch, Billy. No one cares about anybody but themselves these days. But you already know that. Or if you didn't you are certainly finding it out. What I am offering you is a chance to get out of the hole you have been dug into. None of the people we are talking about are healthy. They are all going to die shortly anyway. So why not help your kid live? All you have to do is cooperate with us. We will tell you who you are to eliminate. You take care of it and make sure it looks like natural causes. You will be paid for each individual that we have to remove. And Billy, you will be paid extremely well. You won't have to worry about where the money is coming from for your kid's bone marrow transplant. You won't be worrying about how you're going to pay your mortgage. You will be able to catch it up and keep it up. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut and do as we tell you to do. Your troubles will be over. Not just your current troubles but also any that you might have in the future. You will make enough money to take care of everything. Now, what do you say?"
Billy looked at Morgan. The sight of him made him sick. He was about to turn him down and then he thought better of it. What about his kid? What about his wife? How was he going to take care of them? The money was gone and there was none forthcoming from the insurance company. Nobody would help him. Was this his way out? Possibly, but could he do it? Could he end someone's life? Could he murder another living human being? Because that's what it would be, murder.
Billy thought about all of this and then finally gave Morgan Haynes his answer.