Murders at Hollings General

'You mean you're running interference for me?' Nick nudged Kathy with his shoulder. 'She said I'd better or she'd make my life miserable.'

'Who's the supervisor here?' David asked, his smile improvised.

'I just arrived, so she is until I get the lay of the land. Eventually, I get brutal.'

They sat in a corner of the cafeteria, their meals on trays before them. Elongated planters defined rows of tables. They deaden the noise, David had once been told. Here and there, young men coated in white and collared with stethoscopes either gobbled down food or fiddled with their pagers. Nurses in multicolored uniforms picked at salads. Recognizing the Chief of Surgery who sat with his associate several tables away, David spread out his fingers to gesture he would visit them in twenty minutes. They ate in silence, avoiding each other's look. Even from a distance, David could see splotches of black blood on the scrub suits beneath their unbuttoned lab coats.

He addressed Nick. 'Shall we compare notes?'

'Compare with Kathy,' Nick answered, winking.

'I'm observing.'

Kathy, who had dug into a sandwich, looked up at Nick and said, 'You know, you're one heck of a boss.' David gathered she was finally able to insert the comment she hesitated making earlier.

'Like I said, give me time, I'll get worse.'

David pitched in: 'I find that hard to believe.' He waited for a response and, hearing none, said, 'I haven't found much except the obvious. You saw the stains, I take it?'

'They tracked to Pathology,' Kathy said.

'Or through Pathology.'

'There are stains on the other side of Pathology?'

'What I mean is,' David said, 'the killer may have gone through the department. That is, he didn't stop there. No, I don't think there's any blood on the other side.'

'`Think'? Did you check?' Kathy asked.

'Well … no.'

There was an awkward silence before David said, 'See, I'm learning.'

Kathy said gently, 'We found no stains there.' She buttered a roll. 'Did you see the Chairman's body up close?'

'Unfortunately, yes, and it's hard to believe Mr. Killer did what he did. Right under our noses, too. He sure had…block your ears, Kath…balls.' He watched her for a moment and then added, 'You should be blushing.'

'David, my darling, after years with you, I'm beyond that.'

'You sure you didn't stop blushing before you met me?'

Kathy crimped her mouth in annoyance.

Nick said, 'Now what do you see in a guy like that?'

'Oh,' Kathy replied, 'blond hair, blue eyes, gorgeous physique-but who's bragging? I don't know about that mustache though-it might have to go after the wedding this summer. That, and the little house.'

'Samson's strength was in his hair, you know. I'm not Samson, but I am David.'

'Don't shave it off,' Kathy countered. They chuckled.

'And I like my small house,' David said.

'Un huh.'

They had dated on and off in college and then veered apart not only vocationally but romantically. It was a decision of David's choosing, colored by a fierce determination to train hard for a medical career, unencumbered by any serious personal relationships. They continued to exchange more than Christmas greetings but, by the time he was discharged from the Navy, Kathy had been married and widowed. Her husband and fellow police academy graduate had been shot and killed in a drug raid. And though he shared her grief, in the decade since her husband's death, David came to believe fate had gradually emboldened his love for her. Over half that interval, he had become a one-woman man. Plus now they worked together in police investigations.

Near the end of his meal, Nick removed his glasses and gesticulated with them as he spoke. 'Dr. Brooks, in twenty-four years of detective work, I never came across an M.O. like this, so we can't round up the usual suspects. Besides, it's most likely an inside job, don't you think?'

'It seems that way, but we'll see'

'Do you know of anyone in this hospital who would kill so dramatically?' Nick continued. 'Especially the surgery bit. He seemed to be making a point, not to mention thumbing his nose.'

'Or revealing a machismo complex,' David said. 'There are lots of guys here with that. But driven to murder? I can't say that.'

'Now, here's where you can top us, David,' Kathy said. 'Those were slices through those organs? Liver and-what-the spleen?'

'That's part of what killed him. Blood loss from there plus the arteries to the kidneys were cut clean. So he bled to death.'

'Hold it, you guys,' Nick said, 'I'm having calve's liver here, remember?' He stared at his plate, then pushed it aside. 'Think I've had enough. I'm going back for some coffee. You want some?' They both nodded.

David answered more of Kathy's anatomy questions and when Nick returned, he said, 'Dr. Brooks, I've been wondering-how can you fit in criminal investigations with your practice?'

'What practice? That's gone, finis. I didn't like it so it didn't last long-maybe four years.'

'I still don't understand the house calls.'

'I make them full time. For other doctors. Well, not exactly full time-afternoons. But it's all I do. Except for today, and that's only because I had recommended Cortez.'

'And except for karate, guns, communing with nature, the theater,' Kathy said. There was a touch of resignation to her voice.

'Wait a minute, you go with me to the theater. And you probably know more about handling a gun than I do.' 'Maybe, but I don't collect them. You should see his basement, Nick.'

'Almost every gun there was given over to me by Dad.'

She stirred her coffee and said, 'I've never thought of it this way before, David, but, you know, you're a series of contradictions.'

'Meaning?'

'It's nothing really earth shattering: you drive a Mercedes but you've got a tiny house up in splinter village. There's karate but you like opera. My heavens, you read mythology! What else? Oh, the gun collection but you adore animals. And how about the business of talking to your trees?'

'Kathy, don't! What is this? We've got dead bodies here and you're talking mythology?'

Kathy reached across the table, grabbed his hand, rose up and kissed it. 'Don't be hurt. It's part of what I love about you.' She sat back in her chair but still stroked his hand with the tips of her fingers.

'You two want me to leave?' Nick asked.

'Sorry, Nick,' Kathy said. She drew back her hands and explored David's face. 'You look tired,' she said, 'and when you're tired, you get effusive. Why not give him the whole spiel?'

'You mean effuse it to him? And I'm not tired.'

'Effuse the spiel?' Nick said. They giggled like teenagers over a raunchy joke. David sensed most heads turning their way.

He shrugged and whispered, 'We'd better cool it, folks.' They shifted in their chairs. Kathy swept away some crumbs.

'Okay, Nick,' David said, 'the background, quick and simple. After the Navy, I tried private practice but it wasn't for me. They were looking for a full-time doctor here, working on the administrative side of things in conjunction with Dr. Tanarkle. So I signed on.'

'The pathologist?' Nick interrupted.

'The pathologist. Terrific guy. He taught me a lot-especially forensics. Shipped cases to me or recommended me because he knew I was interested.'

'And he's now a suspect.'

'Now a suspect. God, I pray it doesn't pan out.' David crossed his fingers in the air. 'Anyway, despite Ted, the challenge was never there and I did miss patient contact, so I quit after being assured by enough of my colleagues that they'd use me for house calls. I latched onto Belle who works out of the