Hideaway Hospital Murders (23 page)

But how could the real thing compare to her
fantasies? What if it was a disappointment? Or worse yet, what if
it was much better than her fantasies, but led nowhere? One
exciting kiss wouldn’t guarantee a happy ever after.

Quit thinking and just kiss him, Macy told
herself.

She was surprised at how natural it felt—as
though their lips had been created by God as a complemental set.
She was kissing the only man she had ever loved. And now she knew
her fantasies had been but a superficial portrayal of this
exquisite reality.

When he gently pulled away and she came out
of her trance, she had no idea how long it had lasted. But it was
not long enough.

“
Better get Mom to bed,”
said Elmo.

“
Okay.”

Macy turned to open the back door.

“
And after you get her
settled in, why don’t you come down for a while? I’ll be in my
study,” said Elmo, smiling.

“
Okay, I will.” Macy
wondered just how fast she could get Mallie Mae to bed.

**********

“
Why are we going to see a
nurse?” said Cynthia.

“
It’s just a hunch,” said
Greg. “Wednesday morning I was at the hospital sitting with a
church member whose husband was having back surgery.”

“
Yeah, I
remember.”

“
And we were talking about
the Mobleys, and how Elmo was taking a leave from his medical
practice because he had just discovered his mother had Alzheimer’s.
And there was a nurse over at the computer who seemed to be taking
quite an interest in the conversation. I felt guilty when I started
to feel that we were gossiping. So, I went over to the nurse and
apologized.”

“
Why did you apologize
to
her
?”

“
I don’t know. I just had
the impression she might be a close friend of the Mobley family,
and that she might have been offended by what was being
said.”

“
So, what did
she
say?”

“
She told me it was okay.
And she acted as though she was no more than a casual acquaintance.
But I didn’t buy it. She definitely knew more than she was saying,”
said Greg.

He parked the Bonneville in the hospital
parking lot and they got out and walked toward the main
entrance.

“
What’s her name?” said
Cynthia.

“
I don’t
remember.”

“
Well, then how are we
going to find her?”

“
I
do
remember that it sounded
Biblical. Her name sounded like a character from the
Bible.”

“
Okay, this could take a
while. Where do we start? Mary?”

“
Mary… I think it
is
Mary.”

“
Mary who? Is her last name
also Biblical?”

“
Actually…I don’t know.
Maybe,” said Greg.

“
Mary Magdalene? Surely
not.”

“
Wait—that’s
close
.”

Cynthia looked at Greg in disbelief as they
walked through the glass doors and into the lobby.

“
May I help you,” said the
elderly woman at the information desk.

“
Yes,” said Greg. “I need
to find a particular nurse, but I’m not sure about her
name.”

“
Uh…” The woman had no idea
how to respond.

Cynthia knew what Greg was about to say. The
poor woman would think they were both crazy.

“
It sounds Biblical. Mary
something. Like Mary Magdalene,” said Greg.

When the woman began to smile, Cynthia
thought she looked a little scary. But it maybe it was because of
the fact that the woman didn’t have any teeth.

“
Oh. I think I know who
you’re looking for: Mary Magdely,” said the woman.

“
Yeah, that’s it,” said
Greg.

“
She usually works days.
But she
could
be pulling a double. If so, she’d be on the second
floor.”

“
Thank you so much,” said
Greg.

He and Cynthia walked to the elevator.

When the doors opened at the second floor
Greg spotted her immediately. She was in the nurse’s station.

“
Mary?” said
Greg.

“
Yes?” she said as she
looked up. She seemed to remember him. “May I help you?”

“
I’m Greg Tenorly. I was
here on Wednesday during a surgery and talked to you
briefly.”

“
Yes, I remember
you.”

“
Oh, and this is Cynthia
Blockerman.”

The two women exchanged hellos.

“
We were wondering if we
could talk to you in private for just a minute,” said
Greg.

“
Well, I’m pretty busy
tonight…”

Cynthia stepped forward. “It’s a matter of
life or death.”

The pain she saw in Cynthia’s eyes was more
convincing than her words. She told one of the other nurses she was
taking her break. Then she led them into an unoccupied room and
closed the door.

Greg told her about the murder and the
kidnappings, and Cynthia’s mother. Then he explained how he thought
the killer was the same one who had murdered Nancie Jo Gristel. He
told her about the crazy neighbor and the bumper sticker and the
copy shop and the clinical trial document. Then he explained his
theory that it was all somehow connected to the Mobley family.

“
You’re not implying that
Elmo is a kidnapper and a murderer, are you?” said
Mary.

“
No. Not at all,” said
Greg.

“
I’m sorry, but I don’t
know anything that will help you,” said Mary as she turned to
leave.

“
Wait,” said Greg. “You
know
something
. I could see it in your eyes the other day.”

“
Look, we don’t have a clue
where to look next,” said Cynthia. “You never know what might help
us.”

“
Okay. But I don’t see how
this will help. And I’ve never told
anybody
,” she said. “In the
early ‘80s I worked in the Emergency Room. And Morford Mobley,
Elmo’s father, was an Emergency Room doc. We had worked together
for several years.

“
One night two men came in.
They were fairly new in town, and had moved here from San
Francisco. I don’t really know why they moved to Coreyville. I
think they chose our town at random. But one of the men looked
terrible. He was coughing uncontrollably and spitting up blood. The
other man was not in much better shape.

“
So, Morford spent an
unusually long time examining the men and asking them questions.
Then he prescribed some drugs and sent them on their way.
Afterwards, he told me in private that he believed the man and his
friend both had a new disease called AIDS. Back then, some people
were calling it ‘Gay Cancer.’ Everybody was scared to death of it.
They thought you could get it just by being in the room with
somebody who had it.

“
But Morford was the most
compassionate doctor I’ve ever known. He wanted to help the men
somehow. And in the days and weeks that followed it was on his mind
constantly. Finally, he decided to build his own little clinic to
care for them. And he would try to develop better medicines and
other types of treatment for their disease.

“
But as he listened to
other doctors and nurses talking about AIDS, he knew it would be
extremely difficult to do such a thing. Nobody would want a clinic
like that near their home or business. So, he came up with the idea
of building the clinic on his own property.”

“
But it didn’t work out,”
said Greg.

“
Actually, it
did
,” said
Mary.

Greg and Cynthia looked at each other.

Cynthia said, “I’ve never heard anything
about it.”

“
That’s because it’s
underground
,” said
Mary. “I can see by the look on your faces you think I’m a nut. But
it’s true. He waited until Mallie Mae was away on a tour of Europe
with her sister. They were gone for over a month. And Elmo was
practicing medicine in Dallas. The black men who built it were
sworn to secrecy.”

“
Wow. I can’t believe
nobody ever told
that
secret,” said
Greg.

“
Mallie Mae knew about the
lab. But she didn’t know about the secret door to the clinic. And
there was a long hallway that led to the barn.

“
Morford quit his job at
the hospital to do experiments and run the clinic. They had plenty
of money, so he didn’t need the income. Mallie Mae thought it was a
little weird, but she didn’t mind as long as he was
happy.

“
He offered me a job, and I
gladly took his offer. I was very much in love with him, but I
never told him. He was always faithful to Mallie Mae.

“
After a couple of months,
the first two men told us about another couple they knew who also
had AIDS. Morford agreed to take them as well. So then, all four of
the beds in his little clinic were occupied. Most days Hadley,
Morford’s manservant, would help me walk them through the long
passageway and out behind the barn to sit for a while in the open
air. And Hadley prepared meals for them. I don’t know how he did
without Mallie Mae finding out, but as far as I could tell, she
never knew about the clinic.

“
We worked so hard to save
them. And the thing I remember most is how much those men
appreciated what we were trying to do for them. They would break
down in tears just talking about it. And that would make
m
e start
crying.

“
But it really got tough
when they began to give up, and just wanted to die. They were happy
that somebody in this world had cared enough to work so hard to
save their lives. But they knew the end was near, and they were
ready to go.

“
But Morford didn’t want
to
let
them
go. He kept working frantically for a breakthrough. He was only
sleeping about two hours a night. Mallie Mae begged him to get more
rest.

“
Finally one day, he told
me to go back to work at the hospital. And when I refused, he
became angry, and told me he could no longer stand to have me
around.”

“
Oh, no,” said
Cynthia.

“
I was deeply hurt. And
then two days later he died in a car crash,” said Mary.

“
I heard about that,” said
Greg.

“
Well, what happened to the
AIDS patients?” said Cynthia.

“
I don’t know. I assume
they died, but I never heard a thing about them after I left,” said
Mary. “Maybe their families finally came to get them, although I
doubt it. They had basically been disowned by their parents for
being gay. Then, once they came down with AIDS,
nobody
wanted anything to do
with them.”

“
Except you and Morford,”
said Cynthia. “What y’all did was amazing.”

“
Thank you. But that’s all
I know about the Mobleys,” said Mary. “But I doubt these
kidnappings and murders have anything to do with Elmo. I can’t
imagine him doing anything unethical or illegal.”

But Mary could see the determination on
their faces. There was no doubt where they were headed next: the
Mobley estate.

Chapter
30

Macy was in a hurry to get downstairs to
Elmo. And fortunately, getting Mallie Mae ready for bed had taken
less time than usual. Mallie Mae always wanted her to hang around
and talk for a while once she was in bed. But not on this
night.

Elmo’s mother had heard enough of the
conversation in the car to know what was going on between her
caretaker and her son. And for the first time ever, she saw a match
she could be happy with. She and Macy had spent untold hours
together over the past 15 years—more than enough time for Mallie
Mae to understand the true character of the 37 year-old.

Macy had not dated at all
during those years. She had spent much of her free time with Elmo.
And Mallie Mae knew the two had a wonderful platonic relationship.
But she had wondered how
that
had been enough to sustain
the lovelorn beauty.

Macy had been out of college just one year
when Elmo had hired her away from the hospital to be his mother’s
nurse. The lovely young lady had taken the job with the
understanding that once his mother had completely recovered from
her broken leg, Macy would go back to her job at the hospital.

But by that time, Mallie Mae had taken such
a liking to her that she begged her to stay on and be her personal
aide. And Macy had agreed, primarily because she had fallen in love
with Elmo and didn’t want to give up their time together.

Elmo had always looked
forward to his evenings with Macy. He had been crazy about her from
day one, but quickly taught himself to hide his romantic feelings
and limit their relationship to the joy of being best friends. Back
then, as a 41 year-old, he couldn’t imagine
dating
such a young
woman.

But the age gap didn’t seem
to matter as much, now that she was 37. Macy was not a kid
anymore—she was a grown woman. And she was old enough to know what
she wanted. And what she wanted with all her heart was love—to love
and
be
loved
by Elmo Mobley for the rest of her life.