Murder at St. Mary's
Chapter 04
4.1
Sergeant Ed Brown entered San Francisco General Hospital. He stopped a nurse in the hall. "Can you tell me where I can find the doctor in charge of the hospital?"
The nurse laughed at him. "At this hour? You are kidding, right?" Ed pulled out his badge and showed it to the nurse. "Oh, you are not kidding. Well, Sergeant, he is not here in the evening. You will have to come back during the day."
"Maybe you can help me. Has there been any talk regarding people, terminal patients, that is, dying before the actual disease takes them?"
"People die for a lot of various reasons, Sergeant Brown."
"Yes, I know that but I am asking about only the terminal patients dying before the disease would have been the cause of their deaths."
"I will be honest with you if you will not tell the bosses here that I have talked to you."
"You have a deal, Miss?"
"Foley, Roberta Foley."
"Alright, Nurse Foley. What can you tell me?" Ed asked.
"There has been a lot of that happening here. The disease that some people have had was not far enough along to kill them."
Ed frowned. "Had there been any investigations into any of the deaths?"
"That is the weird part. No, there has not. Every time someone suggests that there be an investigation, they are transferred to another department. I am one of them in fact. I used to work in the cancer unit but when I went to the chief of medicine, he would not listen to me. He just insisted that they all were dying and that it was to be expected. But some of them were not at the point that cancer could have killed them. Not long after I went to see him, I was transferred here to emergency. I started in emergency. So as far as I am concerned, this was a demotion."
"I think I would like to see the reports of the doctors on some of those patients," Ed said.
"Good luck with that. They don't let anyone see them. They even have the families on their side."
"But they don't have my boss on their side."
"You mean Chief Ironside." She smiled.
"That's right." Ed smiled back at her.
"And he is on the advisory board of this hospital and that of St. Mary's. So he would have automatic access to all records in the hospital." She grinned.
"Not exactly. But he will be able to get access," Ed told her.
"Good. If Chief Ironside needs any help, you tell him I was on duty a lot of those nights and I would like to blow the whistle on these people. Something very wrong is going on here and they are trying to make sure anyone that knows anything is kept quiet."
"Thank you, Nurse Foley. I am sure the chief is going to want to talk to you himself."
"I will be happy to. Just tell Chief Ironside to call anytime."
"Thank you, I will." Ed smiled and moved on.
4.2
"Sister Agatha! Come quick!" Nurse Bloomington shouted.
Sister Agatha ran after the young nurse. "What is it?" she said on the run.
"It's Mr. Bauer. He's dead!"
"What? He was just fine the last time I checked on him!" Sister Agatha hurried into the man's room. She immediately checked his pulse. She could not find one. "Call Dr. Prentis in here right away."
The woman left the room as quickly as the two of them had entered. Within a minute she returned with Dr Prentis.
"We will have to shock his heart. Are there restrictions on resuscitation?" Prentis asked.
"I am having that checked now but I am quite certain that it is not allowed," Sister Agatha responded.
The nurse's aide entered the room. "It is prohibited."
"Well, that is it then. Record the time of death as two a.m.," Dr. Prentis ordered.
"And the cause of death?" Sister Agatha asked in a tone that told Prentis that she was already questioning the cause.
"Heart attack," Prentis said.
"Another unexplained heart attack, Doctor?" Sister Agatha asked raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, for God's sake! This is a hospital, Sister. People die, especially terminal patients. Stop making such a big deal of it!"
"Three times in the last two days? None of these patients had heart problems and their afflictions could not have taken them yet."
"I don't have time for this nonsense and neither do you so get back to work."
Sister Agatha watched as Dr. Prentis stormed out of the room. She turned to the nurse and said, "Call the morgue." She then left the room as well.
She had to talk to Robert. She was convinced that something was going on. These people had not died of natural causes. She was convinced of it. If it was not incompetence, then it only left one thing... murder.
4.3
Ironside took a sip of coffee. He made a face and looked at Mark. "Do you think you will ever learn how to make coffee?"
"It's going to be one of those days, huh?" Market responded, grinning at his boss.
The door to the office opened and Sergeant Brown walked in. As he came down the ramp, Ironside growled, "I stayed up half the night waiting for you to call, Sergeant."
"Yeah and I'll bet Mark's coffee is lousy this morning too." Ed walked into the kitchen, poured a cup and then joined the chief at the table.
"Well, I assume you learned something last night," Ironside prompted his sergeant.
"It seems there is something strange going on at San Francisco General as well." Ed repeated his conversation with Nurse Roberta Foley.
"That's a start. I would like to talk to her, Ed, but I don't want anyone to know about it. Arrange to bring her in but make sure you are not followed. Now what about the others you talked to?"
"She was the only one willing to talk to me. I approached ten people and all of them quickly brushed me off as soon as they found out what I wanted to talk to them about."
"They are scared, Chief," Mark suggested. "If Roberta Foley was transferred out of the cancer unit questioning unexplained deaths then they are probably worried about their own jobs."
"It's more than that, Mark," Ed said. "It is as if they are just plain scared and not because of the job."
"Do you think they suspect foul play?" Ironside inquired.
"Well, Nurse Foley sure does and she is not shy about saying so. If she does, you can bet some of the others do as well."
"But why would they not take their concerns to someone who could do something about it?" Mark questioned.
"If somebody is actually killing patients in that hospital and some of the medical staff suspects it, they may not have enough evidence to take it any higher up," Ironside explained.
"And getting that evidence could be dangerous," Ed added.
"It could be fatal if they were to talk to the wrong person," Ironside surmised.
"That would certainly explain why they did not want to talk to Ed," Mark agreed.
The chief looked around the room and then at his watch. "It's nine thirty. Where is Eve?" As if on cue the door opened and Eve entered the office. She came down the ramp and sat down at the table.
"Good morning, everyone," she said cheerfully.
"You are late, Officer Whitfield," Ironside said, his voice gruff.
"I think you will overlook it when you find out what I have been doing." Eve smiled and looked from Mark to Ed and finally to Ironside.
The chief waited a moment until the silence got to him. "Well?"
"I checked to see what doctor was on duty at San Francisco General when the deaths occurred and do you know who it was?"
Ironside waited for her to continue and when she did not, he growled in frustration, "This is not twenty questions, Officer Whitfield!"
Deflated but not deterred, Eve said, "You are not going to believe it."
The chief shook his head. "I'll decide whether or not I believe it if you ever tell us."
Eve grinned. "It was the same doctor on duty every time a death of a terminal patient occurred. The doctor's name is Doctor Todd Prentis."
"There is a doctor at Saint Mary's by the same name," Ironside said to no one in particular. "Ed, call Sister Agatha and find out the first name of the Doctor Prentis that she works with."
The door opened and Sister Agatha called out as she entered, "Todd Prentis. He came over to us from San Francisco General Hospital." The sister came down the ramp and sat down beside Chief Ironside.
Ironside looked into her tired face. "You look like you were up all night, Sister," Ironside observed.
"So do you," she snarled. "At least I have an excuse. I was up all night. What's your excuse, Robert?" That drew smiles from Ed, Eve, and Mark as the battle of wits was on.
"Your damn charity event," he responded. "As if I don't have enough to do."
She looked down at the uneaten eggs and bacon in front of the detectives and snapped, "The bullet did not kill you so you are trying to do yourself in with that cholesterol-infested meal."
"Blame Mr. Sanger. He made breakfast. Besides I don't even like eggs."
"You should be eating oatmeal for breakfast or are you determined to add to your waistline?" Mark, Ed, and Eve had begun snickering. The smiles on their faces were threatening to turn into grins.
"Oh, I can't gain any weight as long as you continue to torture me in therapy... sending me up and down those parallel bars a hundred times," he complained.
"It was twenty times and you would not have to do it so many times if you would show up more often."
His staff was straining to keep from all out laughter. "I might show up more often if you didn't torture me every damn time I came in."
"Robert, one more damn and you're going to hell," she scolded. They could not contain themselves any longer. Mark, Eve and Ed burst into laughter.
"Did you come in here to annoy me or did you have another reason?" Ironside barked.
In her German accent she answered, "I came in here for another reason. Annoying you just turned out to be one of the perks." Ironside's staff began laughing again.
Ironside could not hold back the smile. "You are still as sharp as ever."
She smiled back at him. "You, however, are getting a might rusty."
"Oh, I don't know, I got in my licks." He grinned. "Well, Sister, this is not just a social visit. You have been trying to reach me. What is it you wanted to discuss with me?"
"Robert, I believe someone is killing patients at Saint Mary's." She waited for that to sink in.
"We think it is going on at San Francisco General as well," Ed told the nun.
Sister Agatha told them about Carlton Holcomb and William Bauer and the reaction of Dr. Prentis. "There was simply no reason for either of them to die when they did. Neither man had heart problems. It just does not make sense."
"Was an autopsy requested?" Ironside asked.
"Dr. Witt authorized me to contact the family since Dr. Prentis ruled it a heart attack. I contacted Holcomb's wife and she has authorized it. It will be done today," Agatha told him.
"Eve, I want the result of that autopsy as soon as it is available," Ironside ordered.
"Yes, sir," Eve responded.
"Robert, I am convinced that someone killed those two men." Agatha reached out and put her hand over his. "Will you find out what happened to them?"
"We will find out what is going on. Now what have you done so far?" Ironside asked her.
"I went to talk to Dr. Witt regarding investigating Billy Carson," she told him.
"Billy Carson?" Ironside asked. Agatha explained how she found him in Holcomb's room and then went on to tell him about his son. "How was he going to pay for this surgery? Would he have insurance to cover a bone marrow transplant?"
"The hospital has insurance that covers the employee but it doesn't extend to the members of the family unless the employee pays for the family plan."
"Does he have the family plan?" Ed asked.
"I checked personnel," Sister Agatha told them. "He does have the family plan and it would cover a good deal of the operation but he would still be left with a very large sum to pay."
"What do we know about his finances?" Eve asked. "Is he in debt?"
"I am not in the habit of getting into the personal lives of the staff," the nun said.
"No, only the patients," Ironside grumbled.
"Let's not start that again," Mark interrupted. "We won't get anything done."
Sister Agatha looked back at Ironside. "They don't understand us, do they, Robert?"
Ironside smiled but said nothing. "If he was deeply in debt, he could have been taking money to eliminate those two men."
"Why not just file bankruptcy?" Ed asked.
"Because," Sister Agatha answered, "if he included the hospital in the bankruptcy, he would lose his job. All employees sign a statement to that effect."
"Ed, I want you to do some checking into Mr. Carson's finances. Eve, you check with the insurance company. Find out how much they have paid on behalf of Carson's son and what Carson's portion of the hospital bills is." Eve and Ed acknowledged his orders.
"Robert, what can I do to help?" Agatha asked.
"Nothing. If someone is indeed killing patients, you may already have alerted the killer by your suspicions. Keep your eyes open but make no more waves, is that clear?" Ironside looked at her, waiting for reassurance she would obey him.
"But there is so much more I could do. I could..."
"You could get yourself killed. You will do nothing except keep your eyes and ears open. Leave the police work to the professionals. I don't tell you how to do your job."
"Huh... that will be the day," she corrected.
"Sister, if you were going to kill a patient and make it look like natural causes, how would you do it?" Ironside asked.
"Well, there are drugs that could be added to his IV that would cause a heart attack but not show up in an autopsy but I don't think I would do it that way." He wrinkled her forehead.
"How would you do it then?" Eve asked.
"I would pull back an empty syringe so that it filled with air and then insert it into the IV causing an air embolism, therefore causing a heart attack."
"And I will bet that is exactly the way they did it," Ironside agreed. "No missing drugs to be discovered later. Nothing in the autopsy. It would be quick... less chance of being discovered. Nice neat package. Makes it easy for a doctor to rule it death by natural causes... heart attack."
"But then how do we prove it?" Mark asked.
"There's a way," Ironside responded. "But first things first. Sister, can you inventory the drug supply to see if anything is missing? I don't believe there will be but I don't want us taking anything for granted."
"Yes, but it will draw attention."
"Not if no one knows you are doing it. Could you do it during the charity event? Most of your people will be at the event. It will leave the staff on duty very busy. It should give you the time you need to get the job done. Eve will cover you and make sure no one interrupts you."
"I should do it during your speech. The staff at St. Mary's is very fond of you. They will all want to hear your speech," Agatha said.
"How much time do you need to complete the inventory?" Ed asked.
"About an hour," the sister responded. "Robert, can you talk that long?"
"Are you kidding?" Mark asked sarcastically.
Ironside shot him a look and then said, "I will keep them busy. You just do the inventory."
Sister Agatha stood up. "It is settled then. I will see all of you at the charity event." She looked down at Robert Ironside and smiled. "Thank you, Robert. I knew I could depend on you." She kissed his cheek and left the office.
4.4
"So far so good. We have another one who needs to be eliminated," he said.
Morgan Haynes shook his head. "I don't think this is such a good idea. We have taken care of two of them very close together. We should wait a while to do the next one."
He did not like hearing about any delays. "Terminal patients don't plan on terminal illnesses. We can't be sure when the next one will happen along and this one is just too much money to turn down. So you see to it that Billy Carson takes care of him. The man's name is Jody Dent. He has stomach cancer but he is taking far too long to depart this world so we are going to help him along."
"Jody Dent? Please tell me he is not the same Jody Dent that is on city council."
"One and the same," he answered.
"Are you out of your mind? You were the one that told me to stay below Ironside's radar and you want to kill a city council member. That damn nosy nun is already suspicious and you want to kill a city council member? What if Ironside gets curious? He probably knows the condition of this man. What if he gets suspicious and talks to that nun about it?"
He was starting to lose his temper. "You just do as you are told and let me worry about Ironside and that nun. This one is to be done while that charity event is going on. That way the nun will not be there. The hospital always runs a skeleton crew during that event... at least for part of the event. Some of those that are on duty will slip over to the event leaving very few on duty. It will be a perfect time to take care of Jody Dent. You see to it that he takes care of it. Is that clear?"
Haynes didn't like it. "I still think we should cool it for a while."
"Well, I don't and I am calling the shots. You just take care of business."
"Alright, but I am going on record that this is the mother of all mistakes. It could be the cause of our downfall. I can't believe after what you have said that you would chance Ironside's wrath."
Morgan Haynes got up and left. Ironside... he did not want a run in with that man.