Cinnamon Roll Murder

as part of the expansion project.

Ben was gaining on her and Hannah didn’t know what to do. It had been over ten years since she’d taken the tour of the hospital basement and she couldn’t remember how to get up to the ground floor. Even if she did manage to locate a stairway, he’d catch her going up the stairs. It would be smarter to hide down here and use her cell phone to let Mike know where she was.

As she rounded the next corner, she saw a another door. She skidded to a stop, tugged it open, and ran into a large room. Then she stood leaning against the closed door, catching her breath, and hoping he hadn’t spotted her. She couldn’t keep running like this forever. There was a limit to her endurance.

Someone ran past the door. It had to be Ben. She heard his footfalls fade into the distance, and gave a sigh of relief. She was safe, at least for a while. But she didn’t know where she was.

It was quite dark in the cavernous room, and it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. Low wattage bulbs were glowing in some ceiling fixtures, and Hannah could make out massive brushed steel cabinets with pull out drawers against the back wall. Perhaps this was a supply room?

A steel shelving unit sat against the wall, just to her left. It contained pairs of folded scrubs and plastic aprons. There were masks on the top shelf, along with booties, the type that operating room doctors wore, and there was a large sink on the opposite wall, the kind you’d find just outside an operating room.

A steel operating table was positioned in the center of the room. Next to it was a rolling cart that held a scale. A second steel cart was filled with various basins, beakers, and glass containers.

The tiled floor sloped down to a line of drains, the type you’d see in showers or locker rooms. It was clear that this room had been designed for easy cleaning. All you’d really have to do was hose it down. Any debris on the floor would wash down the drains.

Hannah spotted a microphone hanging from the ceiling over the operating table. There was also something that looked like a video recorder. What type of patient would give his doctor permission to record his surgery? And what type of operating room would be equipped this way?

She walked over to take a look as the two questions circled in her mind. She was stymied for a brief moment. and then she had the answer. A dead patient wouldn’t object if the doctor recorded his operation, and the pull-out drawers were built to contain dead bodies waiting for autopsies. She’d never seen this room before because it hadn’t been included in the tour she’d taken. She was hiding in the Lake Eden Hospital morgue!

Chapter Thirty-One

Hannah whirled as the door crashed open and the bright overhead lights flashed on, nearly blinding her. She blinked, and then, when she saw who was standing there, she gasped in fear. He’d found her! Ben had found her!

“Did you really think you could hide from me?” he asked.

“I ... yes! Yes, I did!” There was a button on the side of the autopsy table and Hannah surreptitiously reached out to press it. She hoped that it was the right button to turn on the microphone and the video camera. If Ben killed her, Mike would know who did it.

“I saw you duck in here. I would have come in right away, but I wanted to get a little something for you.” Ben held up his hand so she could see the syringe he carried. “I need to leave Lake Eden right now. And you’re trying to stop me.”

“No! No, I’m not. Go ahead. Leave!”

Ben laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I’ve got a little unfinished business first, and my unfinished business is you. I know you saw that photo, and I know you figured it out. Doc told me you were a good detective.”

“Figured what out” Hannah asked, stalling for time even though she hadn’t had the chance to call Mike to tell him where she was.

“That I killed Chaz. You put it all together when you saw that picture of Gene and Chaz, didn’t you?” Ben took a step closer, and Hannah backed up. “Come on now. I’ve got a nice injection for you. It won’t hurt a bit, I promise.”

“No!” Hannah shouted as loud as she could.

“Screaming won’t do you any good. Freddy’s already been down here to get supplies, and we don’t have any autopsies scheduled for today.”

Keep him talking, Hannah’s mind advised. So she asked, “Are you sure Buddy killed your stepbrother?”

“I’m sure. I was there at Jazzmen that night and they were arguing when I walked in.”

“What about?”

“They didn’t say anything in front of me, but I think it was about the dentist.”

“What dentist?”

“A dentist they both knew. Gene met her at the free clinic. He volunteered there one afternoon a week, and so did she. She told him she liked jazz, and he took her to Jazzmen. Ticket To Tulsa was playing, and Gene introduced her to Chaz. And a couple of weeks later, she dumped Gene and started going out with Chaz.”

A terrible suspicion crossed Hannah’s mind. “What was her name?” she asked.

“I don’t know. They never talked about her in front of me, and I never met her.”

“Then you didn’t hang out with Gene at Jazzmen?”

Ben shook his head. “I was in med school, and I didn’t have much free time. And I’ve never been a big jazz fan like Gene was. I just dropped in that night to have a quick drink with him, and then I left because I had to study for a chem test. Now I wish I’d stayed. Then everybody would still be alive.”

Hannah was silent, and so was Ben. They both stood there like statues, unmoving and barely breathing. Hannah was afraid to ask any more questions. She didn’t want to break the spell. And then Ben spoke again.

“I wish I hadn’t killed him. I wasn’t going to, you know. I just wanted him to tell me what happened. But then he said something about Gene that made me see red. And the next thing I knew, he was dead.”

“You snapped. That’s temporary insanity, and it’s your defense. Put the syringe down and let me call the best lawyer in town for you.”

“I can’t go to jail. It’ll kill me. I couldn’t stand to be locked up! My way’s better. I’ll get out of here and no one will ever find me.”

“Listen to me,” Hannah said, but she could tell it wouldn’t work. Ben’s eyes had turned hard and cold again, and he took another step closer.

“Noooo!” Hannah shouted. She tried to back up, but there was nowhere to go. She was up against the stationery autopsy table. Ben had her cornered. “Somebody! Help me!”

“What are you doing, Doctor Ben?”

Both Hannah and Ben turned toward the door. Freddy Sawyer was there, and he was pushing a gurney into the room.

“Get out of here, Freddy!” Ben ordered.

“No, Freddy. Don’t go!” Hannah contradicted him. “Doctor Ben is trying to hurt me.”

Freddy looked at Ben with a puzzled expression. “You can’t hurt people, Doctor Ben. Doctors are supposed to help people.”

“I am helping her, Freddy. She’s sick and I’m going to give her some medicine.”

“I’m not sick,” Hannah insisted.

“Isn’t that silly, Freddy? Hannah’s afraid to get an injection. I’m a doctor. All I want to do is help her.”

“He’s lying to you, Freddy. He’s going to hurt me. Doctor Ben is just like your cousin Jed.”

“Jed?!” Freddy began to frown. “I remember Jed. He was bad!”

“Get out of here, Freddy! I’m a doctor. You have to obey the doctor’s orders. Now leave or I’ll make sure Doc fires you!”

“I won’t leave. Not if you’re going to hurt Hannah. She said you’re like Jed. And Hannah doesn’t lie.”

Ben took another step toward Hannah, and that was when Freddy went into action. He shoved the gurney