Murder at St. Mary's
Chapter 12
12.1
Robert Ironside looked out the window of his hospital room. He had just gotten off the phone with Dr. Peter Witt. Mark was stable and doing as well as could be expected. How many times had one of his people been shot over the course of the years they had worked for him? Some of the bullets and the injuries they suffered were meant for him. He should have gotten that shot off faster than he did. He had given the shooter just enough time to shoot at him. The bullet had been meant for him but Mark paid the price.
Katherine suspected that Robert was brooding. Since she had met him, she had learned enough about him to know there was sensitive, caring man behind that rough exterior. She wanted so much to be closer to him but knew he needed time to heal from his breakup with Barbara Jones. She could wait. Robert was a man worth waiting for. She walked over to the window. "Penny for your thoughts."
He smiled. "What makes you think my thoughts come that cheap?"
Katherine laughed. "What makes you think I would pay more?"
Amused, Ironside reached for her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. "Thank you for staying. I appreciate the company."
"You are worried about Mark?"
"Yes and Sister Agatha."
"They both are going to be fine, Robert." She moved around in front of him, blocking his view out the window. "Are you any closer to finding out who this man is?"
"Should be shortly. Eve should have him identified, either through known hit men or through the mug files. Probably a hit man."
"At least you have stopped the killings. He cannot come in here and kill anyone else. This hospital is on high alert. The nurses and doctors are all nervous and suspect every visitor that walks in the building."
"He has to come back. He has to eliminate at least two more; three if he finds out Mark is still alive. He still does not know if Sister Agatha saw him when he pushed her off that shelf. It does not matter anymore that she knows those people were murdered. He knows that we are on to that. Right now he wants to eliminate witnesses."
"Then you will be able to arrest him soon for the murder of those patients?" she asked.
Ironside shook his head. "I can't prove it. We will have to try to tie him to Billy Carson's murder. Right now the only thing we have him on is shooting Mark and attempting to shoot me."
"That is why you are willing to risk your life in order to catch him?"
"If he attempts to kill me in the same way he killed the others and if he can be identified by medical personnel in the hospital, we may just get him on those murders. There will not be much risk to me. I will be covered by police and Otto is being brought in," Ironside told her.
"There better not be and the police better protect you because I will hold them personally responsible," Katherine said.
Ironside smiled, amused at her forcefulness regarding his safety. "I am sure once they get to know you they would rather displease me than you." His smile turned into a big wide dimpled grin.
Katherine smiled back at him. "Are you thoroughly entertained, Robert?"
Before he could answer her, Dr. Peter Witt entered his room. "Chief Ironside, I thought you would like to know right away. Sister Agatha is awake."
12.2
Eve had faxed out so many copies of the sketch of the man that posed as a doctor and shot Mark, she had lost count. She was afraid it was time to hit the mug files. She really hated to give up on identifying this man as a hit man but really… how many more police departments around the country could she contact and ask if they knew who the man was?
Eve stared at the large stack of mug files that she had an officer downstairs bring up. She could not help but feel if she could not identify him as a hit man then there would be no way she would find him in those mug files. If he were good at his job as a hired killer that they could not find out who he was than he certainly would know how to stay under the police's radar. Eve opened one of the mug books and began looking from picture to picture. The chief had given her an impossible job. Then most of the jobs that came to Robert Ironside's office were impossible jobs. They only reached this level because no one else could solve them.
What bothered Eve was one of them always seemed to pay a price. This time it was Mark. She looked at the phone. Why hadn't the chief called to let her know that Mark was going to be all right? The fax machine behind her whistled and another response to her sketch was coming in.
She got up and walked over to the fax machine. Taking it off the machine, Eve glanced down at a reply from the Dallas Police Department. They had no record that matched the sketch. If anything came up, they would contact Chief Ironside.
Eve knew that the responses she had received were probably far better than any other police department could expect. When other departments saw that the request was coming from the famous San Francisco detective, they bent over backwards to accommodate him. Yet the chief's notoriety just had not paid off this time. No one seemed to know who this man was.
The phone rang. Eve reached over and picked up the receiver. "Chief Ironside's office.
"Officer Whitfield, this is Robert Duvalier. Is my father in?"
"Hello, Robert. No, I am afraid the chief is in the hospital…"
Before Eve had a chance to explain, Robert said anxiously, "My father is in the hospital and no one called to tell me. What happened? Is he alright?"
"Calm down, Robert. The chief is fine. He checked himself into the hospital in order to catch a man who has been committing murders of patients there. There is nothing wrong with him." Eve explained to Ironside's son what had been going on.
"Eve, fax the sketch to the police, here in Montreal. I will have Frank check it out. Maybe we can help identify the man for you. Is Mark going to be alright?"
"I don't know yet. I have not heard from the chief."
"Please tell my father I called. I wanted to let him know that I will be working for the police department while I am going to school and the police academy. Frank made the offer and I decided to take it," Robert explained.
"I will tell him. He will be pleased to hear it," Eve said.
"Tell him my mother is doing… well... okay. And tell him I said for him to be careful. Do not forget to fax that sketch over. Goodbye, Eve."
"Goodbye, Robert." Eve picked up the sketch. She did not really think it would do any good to send it to Montreal. None of the police departments in the States had been able to identify the man. She wondered why Robert thought the Montreal police could do what none of them here could. She threw the sketch back down on the table and went back to her mug files.
12.3
Ironside wheeled into Sister Agatha's room with Katherine at his side. She turned her head and smiled at them both. "What are you doing in pajamas and a bathrobe, Robert?"
"Trying to catch the man that attacked you," he answered.
"So you are serving yourself up as bait," she said with obvious disapproval.
"It is the only way. He has been elusive so far."
"Do you know who he is?" Sister Agatha asked.
Ironside shook his head. "Not yet. Did you get a look at him?"
She nodded. It turned out to be an effort to do so. "Through the shelving. I saw his face. He grabbed my ankle. It threw me off balance enough for him to shove me backwards."
Ironside pulled out the sketch. "This is the man that posed as a doctor to get into your room. He was interrupted before he could harm you. He shot at me, missed and shot Mark."
"Is Mr. Sanger alright?" she asked.
"He is serious but stable. Is that the man that attacked you?"
Sister Agatha studied the sketch. "It is a very good likeness of the man that attacked me."
"But is it the same man?" Ironside insisted on an answer.
"Yes, I believe it is. I only saw him for a moment but that is the face I saw through the shelf." She handed the sketch back to Ironside. "What happened to me?"
"You took quite a blow to the head. They had to do surgery to relieve the pressure on your brain."
"You authorized it?" Agatha asked.
"Of course. I have your medical power of attorney."
"And you looked out for me," she said emotionally.
"Of course. Who else would I terrorize the next time I have to be admitted to this hospital, if something happened to you?" Ironside asked with a straight face but his eyes danced with amusement. Katherine smiled as she watched the playful exchange.
"Robert, Robert. What am I going to do with you?" She asked with a smile. She looked away from him and then inquired, "Has he killed anyone else?"
"Billy Carson and Janice Lipton."
"Dear God!"
"I suspect they were trying to get Carson to do the killing and he simply would not do it. So, they killed him to keep him from talking to me. They killed Janice Lipton to use her security badge to gain entrance into your room."
"You keep saying they, Robert. Is there more than one man?"
"I believe so. The man that did the killing and the man who was arranging them."
"Could Doctor Prentis be involved?" Sister Agatha asked.
"I believe he is but I don't know to what extent yet. It had to be someone who could squash any hospital investigation into what was going on."
"Could Prentis do that?" Katherine wondered.
"No, Prentis could not stop an investigation," Sister Agatha told her.
"Dr. Peter Witt?" Ironside asked.
"Peter is a good chief of medicine and an excellent administrator. Heaven knows, he was not the best doctor but I can't believe he is capable of murder." She looked up at the detective. "Robert, you did not let that butcher do the surgery on me, did you?"
Ironside grinned and said nothing.
"You didn't!"
"No, he didn't," Dr. Peter Witt said as he entered the room. "He waived a legal medical power of attorney in front of my face." He turned to Sister Agatha and said, "Looks like I owe you an apology. You were right and I was wrong."
Agatha smiled. "The important thing is Chief Ironside has put a stop to it. Now he just has to find the man."
"Am I still on the suspect list?" Witt asked.
"Sister Agatha says you are not capable of murder," Ironside said.
"I am not. I would like to help catch this maniac," Witt offered.
"You already are by letting me check into the hospital and keeping my cover." Ironside turned his chair toward the doctor.
"Chief, I am going to have to ask you to leave. Sister Agatha needs to rest. And with the way you two can go at it, it is not what I consider therapy."
Ironside took her hand in his and kissed it. "Don't you worry. I will get this man. He is not going to get anywhere near you again."
"It is not me I am worried about. You don't suppose I could talk you out of using yourself as bait?"
"Now, you know better than to tell me how to do my job," Ironside scolded.
"Then be careful, Robert. You can at least promise me that."
He smiled. "I promise. Now get some rest." He turned and wheeled out of her room.
12.4
Sergeant Ed Brown entered the hospital at Saint Mary's. He went directly to Ironside's room. As he opened the door, Otto stood up and growled.
"Easy boy. It's just Ed," Ironside calmed the Shepherd. "What have you got for me?"
"Eve got a court order and checked the bank accounts of Billy Carson. She should be in any minute now," Ed replied.
Before he could say anything further, Ironside interrupted him. "I did not ask what Eve has, Sergeant. I asked what you have for me."
Ed suppressed a smile. He could see that lying around in the hospital had not done much to improve the chief's mood. "What I was going to say is that she got a court order for Doctor Prentis' records while she was at it." He pulled a paper out of his suit coat pocket. "Both Prentis and Carson were receiving large sums of money on a regular basis in accounts in their names. Prentis started receiving the money when he arrived at San Francisco General. He has been getting it ever since. A deposit of ten thousand dollars has been going into his account…"
Again, Ironside interrupted him. "Do the deposits coincide with the heart attack deaths of the patients?"
"Yes. Every time a seemly healthy-heart patient died, shortly after money was deposited into his account."
"That is a beginning of tying him to those murders," Ironside said.
"Well, no Chief, not exactly," Ed responded immediately.
"What is that supposed to mean?" the chief demanded.
"I had the signature cards at the bank checked," Ed told him.
"And?"
"And, although it is a very good forgery of his signature, it is exactly that… a forgery."
"You checked with a handwriting expert?"
"I checked," Ed confirmed.
"Did you talk to the bank employee that opened the account?" Ironside asked.
"I did. He gave a description that matches that man that shot Mark and shot at you, except that he was supporting a beard and a mustache. There is a bit of interesting information on this man, Chief. He would not allow them to put his driver's license into the system."
"And the bank allowed that?" Ironside snarled.
"The man set ten thousand dollars in cash on the table to be deposited. The employee obtained the bank manager's permission to allow his request."
"That is just great. When will these people ever learn that when someone doesn't want to follow identification procedures that there is a reason and it is never legitimate," Ironside complained.
The door to his room opened and Eve walked in. "Good morning, Chief," she said cheerfully.
"It might be if you have something positive to report on Carson," Ironside complained.
"Depends on what you consider positive. Carson was receiving regular payments to his account and every one of them coincided with all of the suspicious deaths that we have been investigating. I checked his signature on his bank card and…"
"The signature was forged and he did not allow the bank to put his driver's license into the system. His description matched the man that shot Mark, only he had a beard and a mustache," Ironside finished for her.
Eve looked at him in surprise. "How did you know?" Ed told her what he had found out about Prentis' account. "Then we are dealing with the same man. It clears Carson and Prentis."
"I think we can safely rule out Carson. Even though he was in debt because of his son's condition, he does not match the description of the man that Ed chased in the hospital, although it was not much of a description. We know that the man that shot at Mark and me was in the hospital at the time Jody Dent was murdered," Ironside said.
"How do we know that?" Ed inquired.
"Sister Agatha identified the man that attacked her as the same man that shot at us," Ironside informed him.
Ed and Eve looked at each other in surprise. "Then she is awake?" Ed asked.
Ironside grunted. "Obviously, she is if she told me that. People in a coma don't carry on conversations"
"I am glad to hear it, Chief." Eve smiled at him.
"Any luck on identifying the man?" Ironside asked Eve.
"I am afraid not." She did not like telling him the bad news. She knew he wanted the man's identity. "Almost every police department has responded and none of them know who the man is."
"What about the mug files?" Ironside demanded.
"No luck there either," she responded.
Ironside looked over at Ed. "And I suppose you did not find any fingerprints at Janice Lipton's house?"
Ed nodded. "You suppose right."
Ironside became quiet and he sank into thought. Eve and Ed knew the best thing to do was to remain silent until he gathered his thoughts. "The money that was placed in those accounts was put there to keep Carson and Prentis in line. The killer probably thought that the police would not have looked any further than those bank accounts. He figured he could use the accounts against them… threaten to reveal them to the police to force them to do what he wanted."
"But why? If they were doing what he wanted them to do, then why kill them?" Eve asked.
"You are forgetting, Officer Whitfield, that Billy Carson is dead," Ironside pointed out.
"Yes, but Todd Prentis is not," Ed said.
"Then can we assume that Prentis was doing what the killer wanted him to do?" Eve asked.
"We cannot assume anything," Ironside said. "However, we are going to go on that assumption anyway for the time being. If Prentis was doing what the killer wanted him to do then what was it?" He already knew the answer to that question. He waited to see if his detectives came up with the same conclusion.
"He was the attending physician on duty when each of the deaths occurred and every time he ruled them as natural causes… a heart attack," Ed said.
"Exactly," Ironside agreed. "That is probably all he was doing. He did not do the actual killing. Billy Carson was supposed to do that but he refused. He probably was going to blow the whistle on the entire operation when he came to my office. That decision cost him his life."
"Todd Prentis did do what he was told, so he is still alive," Eve observed. "But the killer cannot afford to allow him to stay alive."
"Which is exactly why Carl is guarding Prentis right now," Ironside added. "He has been with him all night. Carl is going to have to get some sleep. Ed, do we have Duffy covering Sister Agatha?"
"Yes, sir. Do you want me to take over for Carl?"
"No, I want you to find the other money trail," Ironside ordered.
"Other money trail?" Ed inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"The money put in the accounts with the forged signatures was not their payment. We agree on that, right?" Eve and Ed nodded.
"Then payment for services rendered must have been going somewhere else. Find it!"
"Yes sir," Ed replied. "I'll get right on it. Chief, there is one thing bothering me."
Ironside knew what his sergeant was about to say. "One guard outside my room is all I am going to allow, Ed."
"I would feel better if it were Carl or Duffy," Brown said with a sigh.
"Carl needs sleep and Duffy is guarding Sister Agatha. Besides, we want him to get through to me."
"That is the part that scares me," Eve admitted.
"Otto is here to prevent anything from happening to me. So stop worrying and get going," Ironside ordered Sergeant Brown. Brown nodded and left the room.
"Chief, Robert called last night," Eve said.
"I hope you told him what was going on so he did not worry about me being in here."
"I did. He told me to tell you to be careful and he would have Frank Rousseau check to see if they have anything in their files about our killer. Rousseau offered Robert a job working at the police department while he is going through the academy."
Ironside smiled. "That is good to hear." He hesitated and then asked, "Did he say how his mother is doing?"
"Yes, he said she was doing okay."
Ironside said nothing further on the subject. "Eve, I want you to keep checking with police departments around the country. Expand it to ones we have worked with in other countries. I still think this guy is a hit man."
"Something bothers me about that. Why would a hit man bother with a scheme like this?" Eve wondered.
"I don't know the answer to that. Maybe he wants out of the business and is looking for another profitable venture. That just might be a good thing for you to find out," he said with a grin.
"Yes, sir. Well, I will get going." She looked at her grinning boss and left the room.
Otto placed his head on Ironside's bed and whined. He reached down and petted the Shepherd's head. "Not yet, boy. He won't show up in the daytime."
12.5
Dr. Todd Prentis got into his Jaguar, started the vehicle and drove out of the hospital parking lot. Glancing in his review mirror, he watched the unmarked police car pull in behind him. For the first time in his life, he was scared. He knew Ironside was not going to let go of this. Why did they not just kill that nosy nun from the beginning? She was the cause of all of their problems now. They could have killed her in the same way Haynes had been killing the patients and Ironside would have just thought that she had died of a heart attack. It had been stupid of Haynes to go ahead with killing Jody Dent. He should have known Commissioner Randall would panic and call in Ironside.
He headed out into the country to his lavish home located on a secluded piece of property, several hundred feet from the road.
He turned into his driveway and began heading to his house when he heard the crack of a rifle.