Murder at Saint Mary's

Chapter 18

Epilogue...

18.1

Ironside wheeled his chair into Sister Agatha's room. As soon as she saw him come through the door, a big smile appeared on her face. "Robert! I am happy to see you and even happier to know that you are not going to be a patient. After I heard you rolled your van, I feared the worst."

"I didn't roll the van, I just turned it on its side and slid it down the road," he said with a grin.

"Dr. Witt tells me that you have caught the killer."

"Yes, we got him. He will face several counts of murder and attempted murder. I am afraid Mr. Morgan Haynes will be a guest in this country for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, the tax payers will have to pay for his housing."

Sister Agatha smiled. "That will be one individual I will gladly pay taxes to keep behind bars." She looked at her friend in the wheelchair. She thought back to the day he had been brought into Saint Mary's with a bullet in his spine. She had grown very fond of him. She hoped that she had played an important part in his life, helping him to accept his disability and moving on with his life. She could not be sure it was her help or his sheer determination not to allow his disability to slow him down. Either way, Sister Agatha had come to love the grumpy detective.

"I can't thank you enough, Robert, for dropping everything to find this man and put him behind bars. It was very upsetting to have people I was taking care of murdered and not being able to stop it."

Ironside took her hand and smiled. "Nonsense. You did plenty. If it weren't for your sharp detection of the unusual deaths, they may have gone on indefinitely. We lost a few but it could have been a lot more."

"Were you able to determine why Haynes was murdering those people?" Sister Agatha asked.

"Yes, he was hired. The insurance company that was paying the bill for those patients were face with what could have been long-term care or at the least very expensive care for individuals that were terminally ill. They decided they did not want to pay those policies. They indirectly hired Haynes who was supposed to set up the murders. Unfortunately, Billy Carson would not cooperate. He would not kill the patients. Haynes had to deliver so he stepped in and killed them himself.

"When Carson decided to talk to me, Haynes had to eliminate him. He began making mistakes, which led to our being able to identify him with the help of my son in Montreal. For whatever the reason, he decided to come after me. Once he made it personal, it was all over for him. That is when we had him. It was only a matter of time before we caught him. Ed and I sat down and decided what was the best way to protect Eve and take him down at the same time. We came up with a plan and executed it. It was that simple."

"Simple… Robert, if there is one thing I have learned about you, is that nothing is simple. Anyway, I am touched that you came to my aide and help bring this man in."

"I had to. Who would I spar with at therapy? And who else can I argue with when I land myself in the hospital? All the rest of your nurses are scared of me."

Agatha laughed. "That is because they don't realize you are just a softy, a big teddy bear."

"Don't go spreading that rumor around. You will destroy my image," Ironside grumbled.

"Your secret is safe with me, Robert," she smiled. She changed the subject. "Are you going to go see her?"

"See who?" Ironside asked gruffly.

Agatha frowned. "Are you really that blind, Robert?"

"Sister, I don't have the faintest idea what you are talking about."

"I am not surprised. It makes me wonder how you can be so successful as a detective when you cannot see what is right under your nose."

"Will you make sense? See what?" Ironside growled.

"You figure it out, Robert. I can't do everything for you."

Ironside shook his head. "Obviously that bump on the head has not healed yet. I better get out of here and let you get some rest." Ironside kissed her hand and then turned to go.

"Robert."

He turned his chair slightly back to her. "Yes."

"It would be the best thing that ever happened to you."

"What would?" he asked.

"Figure it out, Robert. Figure it out. Now get out of here and let me rest."

Ironside frowned at her, turned his chair and wheeled out of her room.

18.2

Mark pulled the van up in front of San Francisco General Hospital. "Where in the blazes are Ed and Eve? They were supposed to meet us here."

"Chief, you told them to meet us here at one o'clock. It is only twelve-thirty. If you meant twelve-thirty then why did you tell them one o'clock?"

"I told them twelve-thirty," Ironside growled.

"No you didn't. I was there remember and you said one o'clock."

"Do you always eavesdrop on other people's conversations, Mr. Sanger?"

Mark smiled. He knew he had scored against the chief. "Only when it is said directly in front of me." He grinned at Ironside.

Ed's Ford pulled into the parking spot beside Ironside's van. The doors on both sides of the vehicle opened and he and Eve got out. They walked over to the van. Ed opened the passenger side of the vehicle and Eve entered the back of the van.

"Well, did you get the search warrant?" Ironside asked them.

"We got it," Ed replied. "We took Carl with us. Searched the place from top to bottom."

Ironside waited, as Ed said nothing more. "Well? Do I have to guess what you found?"

"We got the goods on him, Chief," Eve said. "We stopped by the Hall of Justice and got a warrant for his arrest." She handed Ironside a summary of what they had found.

"Then let's go arrest him," Ironside said. Eve backed up as Ironside wheeled backwards toward her. He wheeled onto the tray of the van's lift and pushed the button. His chair was lowered to the ground.

Mark, Eve and Ed met him on the lift side of the van. Mark stepped behind Ironside and began pushing him toward the main entrance of the hospital. Ed and Eve followed him. When they arrived at the elevator, Ed pushed the button to the administration offices and all four of them entered. After the elevator stopped on their floor, they headed for the Chief of Medicine's office.

"Can I help you folks?" the secretary asked them.

"We are here to see Dr. Warren Carmody," Ed told her.

"I am sorry but Dr. Carmody doesn't see anyone without an appointment."

Ironside pulled his badge out of his suit coat pocket and presented it to her. "My name is Robert Ironside, San Francisco police. Tell him we are here. He will see us."

"Yes, sir." She pressed the intercom, waited and said, "Dr. Carmody, the police are here to see you… Yes, sir, I will send them right in." She turned to Chief Ironside and said, "Right this way, sir." She led them to the door marked Dr. Warren Carmody.

She opened the door and Mark wheeled Ironside into Carmody's office. He stood up and offered his hand to Ironside. "Chief, how nice to see you again. When was the last time?"

"The Saint Mary's charity event," Ironside answered.

"Yes, that's right. It was very successful, I understand."

"Yes, it was."

"I was happy to help out Sister Agatha. She certainly had gone out of her way to help this hospital. How is she doing?" Carmody asked.

"She is going to be fine, Doctor," Ironside responded.

"Good, good. Now what can I do for you?"

"We arrested Morgan Haynes last night," Eve said.

Carmody's jaw tighten. "Haynes, I don't know anyone by that name."

"Really?" Ironside said with what sounded like surprise, although he was not surprised at Carmody's reaction at all.

"No, I don't recall meeting anyone by that name."

"Dr. Carmody, why did you not investigate the mysterious deaths that occurred here in this hospital?" Ed asked.

"What? I don't know what you are talking about. We have had no mysterious deaths in this hospital. Where did you get that idea?"

"One of your staff members. A young lady by the name of Roberta Foley. She expressed her concerns over several deaths that were listed as fatal heart attacks," Ironside said.

"That is exactly what they were. Dr. Todd Prentis was on duty for each of the cases she questioned and he is the one that pronounced the cause of death in each one of them."

"Dr. Todd Prentis was involved in the same type of deaths at Saint Mary's," Eve said.

Dr. Carmody got up and walked around to the front of his desk. He sat down on the edge of it. "Well, what he did there had nothing to do with this hospital. Those deaths were natural causes."

"All of those people had the same insurance company, the Epic Health Insurance Company. All of them were terminal patients who would have cost the insurance company a great deal of money," the chief told him.

"What are you saying, Ironside? What exactly are you accusing me of?"

"Murder," Ironside responded. "Several counts of it, in fact, as well as several counts of attempted murder."

"That's ridiculous! You have no proof!"

"We think we do," Eve said.

"What? Mysterious deaths? Every one of those deaths was natural. You could exhume the bodies and that is exactly what would show in an autopsy," Carmody shouted.

"Of course that is what would show up. Air injected into the IV of the patient would cause that. But then you already know that," Ironside growled.

"I only know what Dr. Prentis told me."

"That is not entirely true, Doctor," Ed disagreed. "You see Chief Ironside ordered us to get a search warrant of your home."

"You what? You had no right!"

"Murder and a search warrant gave us the right, Doctor," Eve said.

"Good luck trying to prove that Ironside."

"Actually, we don't need luck, Dr. Carmody," Ed said. "Can you explain this?" Ed handed him a sheet of paper.

Carmody looked at it. It was a copy of the overseas bank account he maintained. The expression on his face changed. Ironside could read worry into it. "So I have an overseas account, so what?"

"So, where did all the money come from?" Mark asked.

"You are not a cop, Sanger. I don't have to talk to you."

"No, but you do have to talk to the police," Ironside snarled. "Where did the money come from?"

"It… it is… part of my hospital salary."

Ed handed him another paper. "Not according to your bank account here at Wells Fargo. Your entire salary has been going into that account and no funds have been transferred to the overseas account." Carmody said nothing.

"You have been taking money from the insurance company to end the lives of terminal patients to save the insurance companies thousands of dollars," Ironside said.

"Prove it. So far all I have heard is a lot of fantasy," Dr. Carmody snapped.

"The insurance company is close to being bankrupted. You are acquainted with a man by the name of Donavan Travis. He is one of the owners of the insurance company but then you know that," Ironside said.

"Never heard of the man."

"That is not what Travis says," Ed said. "He says you were being paid to end the lives of the patients that were insured by them."

"He's a liar. I never did any such thing. It is his word against mine."

"Not exactly, Dr. Carmody. The money in your overseas account has been traced back to the an account held by the insurance company."

"I don't have an overseas account," Carmody said.

"That is not what you said a few minutes ago," Mark pointed out.

"You must have misunderstood me. You will find no account in my name overseas."

"It might not be in your name but it can be traced to you," Ed said.

"If that is all you have Ironside… natural deaths, overseas accounts in someone else's name… you can just wheel that go-cart out of here."

"Can you explain Morgan Haynes fingerprints in your kitchen?" Ironside asked.

"What?"

"We found his prints all over your kitchen table as well as blood soaked bandages in your wastebasket," Eve informed him.

"Which just happen to be the same blood type as Morgan Haynes," Ironside said. "You treated him after I shot him at the hospital."

Dr. Warren Carmody walked around the desk and dropped into the chair. "I want a lawyer."

"You'll get one. Read him his rights and book him," Ironside said. He turned his wheelchair around and wheeled out of Carmody's office.

18.3

"Mark! We're hungry! What's taking so long?"

"Coming right up." Mark called out. He took the pot of chili off the stove and carried it to the table. After setting it down in the middle, he sat down.

Ironside began dishing up a bowl when the office door opened. Commissioner Randall came down the ramp. "Bob, you better explain this!" He set a bill down in front of Ironside. "The city is going to be billed for three thousand dollars' worth of repairs. What in blazes happened to the van?"

"I had an accident," the chief responded.

"Accident? According to this, it looks like you were driving on the side of the van."

"That is just about right," Ironside said.

"Then it was not an accident."

"Well not exactly," the detective said.

"You mean you purposely tipped that van on its side?" Randall asked.

"I did. That is why the insurance company will not cover the repairs to the van so the city is going to have to repair it."

"How am I supposed to explain this to the city council?" Randall groaned.

"You'll find a way," Ironside grinned. "Now sign it so Mark can take the van in for repair."

"Bob… one of these days…"

"Relax, Dennis. Sit down and have a bowl of chili."

"Oh please! You already have my stomach churning. I could not take your chili too." Randall turned to leave.

"Dennis, sign the authorization," Ironside insisted.

Randall turned back as his top detective handed him a pen. He signed the authorization and said, "Try to keep it on all four wheels, will you?" He left the office as Mark, Eve and Ed chuckled. They had watched their boss get the better of the Commissioner time and again.

As the city's elite detective unit ate their dinner, Eve spoke up. "Chief, I want to thank you for coming after me. You risked your life to..."

"Officer Whitfield, I am a cop and I simply did my job. It is as simple as that."

Eve smiled. Ironside had never been very good at accepting thanks. She had to let him know she appreciated him risking his life to protect hers. She had done that. She knew it was not to be spoken of again. She only wished the chief could understand how much what he did meant to her.

The door opened and Katherine walked in. "I hope I am not intruding."

Ironside smiled. "Nonsense. Come in, Katherine." She walked down the ramp and joined them at the table. "Would you like some chili?"

"No thank you, Robert. I just had dinner. I would not mind a cup of coffee, though."

"Mark, get Katherine a cup of coffee, will you please?"

Sanger headed for the kitchen. Ed and Eve stood up at the same time. "We better get going. We will see you in the morning," Ed said. "Goodnight, Chief.

"Goodnight, Chief," Eve said.

"Goodnight. See you in the morning... nine o'clock sharp," Ironside told them.

Katherine smiled as she watched Eve and Ed hurry out of the office.

Mark returned with a cup of coffee and set it down in front of her. "I am going to hit the books, Chief. I will clean up in the morning." Mark disappeared into his bedroom.

"I am happy to see you are alright, Robert." She smiled and touched his hand.

Ironside looked down at her hand in his. "It is just part of the job."

"I suppose so but I am still happy you are alright."

"So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" he asked.

"I came to see for myself that you were okay and to tell you that I went to see Sister Agatha and she had asked me to be in charge of next year's charity event. I was wondering if you would handle the security again?"

"Of course. I would be happy to," he said, smiling at her.

"You know more people in San Francisco. I could use your help lining up donations for the expenses for the event."

"I can think of a few arms I can twist."

Katherine smiled. "I was hoping you would say that."

He looked down at her coffee mug. "You have not touched your coffee. Would you rather have a glass of wine?"

"Thank you, Robert. That would be nice."

He wheeled to the kitchen and took a bottle of wine out of the cupboard. He grabbed two wine glasses and placed them along with the bottle beside his leg and wheeled back to the table. "I can't think of a better way to top off the day then a glass of wine from your vineyards." He poured the wine in the glasses and handed one to Katherine. What shall we drink to?"

"Let's drink to us. We worked well together."

"To us then," Ironside agreed. He touched his glass to hers and they took a sip of wine.

"What is next on your schedule?"

"I am taking a vacation with my brother to the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. I am flying out next week."

"You deserve a vacation and a rest. That sounds like just what you need. Will I see you before you leave?"

"I'll tell you what. Why don't you come here for dinner this Friday and we will get started on next year's event. I'll cook dinner for you."

"I would like that," Robert.

"Then it is settled."

"I better get out of here and let you get some much needed rest." She stood up as he took her hand. Katherine bent down and kissed his cheek. "Til Friday."

She left Ironside's office already thinking about Friday. She looked forward to seeing Robert again and if she had her way, it would be the first of many evenings spent with him.

The End

I do not own the Ironside characters. They are the creation of Collier Young. All other characters were created in my mind to tell this story.

Thank you to Lemonpig for her excellent work as my beta!