Hideaway Hospital Murders (28 page)

“
It doesn’t matter anymore,
Carsie,” said Sylvia. “I have a
new
plan. A much better plan.
We’re all gonna stay right here until Monday morning. Then Elmo’s
going to the bank to liquidate all his and Mallie Mae’s assets.
Then he’ll wire the money to my bank account in Grand Cayman. And
if he contacts the police or tells anybody what’s really going on,
he’ll never see his mother or any of the rest of you again. At
least, not in your current state, with heads attached.”

Cynthia listened in silence. She was a vice
president First State Bank where the Mobleys had their accounts.
She knew there was no way Elmo could go into the bank and wire all
their money to an offshore account without arousing suspicion. She
could offer to go to the bank with Elmo. But that would still leave
her mom and Greg and everybody else in jeopardy. Should she speak
up?

Carsie pointed at Cynthia. “And that woman
should go to the bank with Elmo.”

“
Why?” said
Sylvia.

“
Because she works there. I
went to the bank with Elmo one time and I remember her. She’s some
kind of loan officer or something.”

“
Is that true,” said Sylvia
to Cynthia.

Before she could speak,
Mallie Mae said, “It doesn’t matter. We don’t have any money. At
least, not the kind of money
you’re
talking
about.”

“
Don’t lie to me, Mallie
Mae. Carnie, would you like to come over here and shoot Elmo in the
leg?”

“
Wait a minute. Let me
explain,” said Mallie Mae. “We
used
to have money. Until
Morford quit his practice and built this underground
hospital.”

Sylvia studied Mallie Mae’s
face. “I don’t believe you, Mallie Mae. But it’s a long time ‘til
Monday morning and I
am
curious. Why
did
Morford build
this place?”

“
It was the early 1980s and
Morford was trying to help some men who had AIDS. And everybody was
so afraid of the disease back then. People didn’t even want you
driving through their town if you had it.

“
So, Morford knew the
family name would forever be spoken with disgust if the
townspeople found out he was treating those men. But he was
determined to help them. So he built this underground lab and
clinic to treat them. And he spent a lot of money doing it. Before
long, his patients’ friends in San Francisco found out about
Morford’s clinic and wanted to come here. But all he could handle
was four patients. So, he sent donations—enormous sums of money, to
help pay for their medical care. After a couple of years, we were
down to a few thousand dollars.”

“
But you still have this
magnificent acreage and this wonderful house,” said
Sylvia.

“
Yes. Thanks to Elmo. After
Morford died in the car accident, Elmo moved back home to support
me and keep me from losing the house. He was so wonderful.” She
smiled at her son and he smiled back.

Carnie stepped forward. “But what about the
murders?”

“
What murders?” said Mallie
Mae.

“
You thought nobody would
ever find them. But you were wrong.”

Mallie Mae squirmed. “Find what?”

“
The skeletons.”

Everybody in the room seemed
surprised—except Greg, Cynthia, and Mallie Mae.

“
Skeletons?” said
Sylvia.

“
Yes,” said Carnie. “I
found four skeletons in a wooden box, buried under the floor in a
room off that hallway.”

Sylvia stared at Mallie Mae. “Let’s hear
it.”

“
Those were Morford’s
patients.”

“
He
murdered
them?”

“
They begged him to. He had
done all he could for them, but they were all dying a slow death.
Two of them were in worse shape than the others, but they all
wanted to die together.”

Carnie was enjoying this part of the story.
“So, what did he do? Blow their brains out? Cut their throats?”

“
No. Of course not. He just
upped their Morphine until they faded away.”

“
Oh, that’s no fun,” said
Carnie.

“
What about their
families?” said Carsie. “And what about the police? Didn’t somebody
come looking for them?”

“
No,” said Mallie Mae.
“Sadly, nobody cared what happened to them except some friends in
California. But most of them were dying too.”

Sylvia jumped in. “But it
was still murder. Morford
deserved
to die in a car
accident.”

“
Actually, it wasn’t an
accident,” said Mallie Mae. “I wanted everybody to think it was an
accident because I didn’t want to have to tell the whole story.
Somehow while he was treating those men he must have stuck himself
with a needle. By the time he killed them, he had discovered that
he had the disease too.

“
So, he filled up two big
gas cans and put them in the front seat of his car and then drove
into a concrete wall at 90 miles per hour. It was suicide. Either
he couldn’t live with the fact that he had killed those men, or he
couldn’t bear the thought of putting his family through the torture
of watching him die a slow, excruciating death.”

Elmo spoke softly to his mother. “Why didn’t
you tell me?”

“
Well, isn’t that a sad
story,” said Sylvia with a smirk. “I wish I had known about your
suffering, Mallie Mae—so I could have
enjoyed
it. I could have basked
in the glow of your agony. This is just another pleasure you denied
me.”

“
What a cruel, bitter old
woman you’ve become, Sylvia,” said Mallie Mae. “I feel sorry for
you.”

“
Well, I can
change
that
.” Sylvia turned around to
face Carnie. “I think it’s time to start killing some people,
Carnie.”

While Sylvia had her back to Elmo, he got
Greg’s attention and pointed to the mechanism that locked the bed
guardrail in place. Sylvia was obscuring Carnie’s view of Elmo. And
Carsie was watching the exchange between her sister and her
grandmother.

Greg understood Elmo’s message. The bedrail
to which he was handcuffed could be released by flipping a
latch.

Sylvia continued, “We’ll start with…Macy.
Yes, let’s kill Macy first. That will devastate Elmo. Then we’ll do
Elmo. After that, Mallie Mae will be begging us to put her out of
her misery.” She laughed.

**********

Hadley was just a few miles from home when
the Buick began to sputter. He knew his car better than he knew his
own body, and diagnosed the problem instantly as a clogged fuel
filter. He had installed a new one just two months early. Must have
picked up some dirty gas, he thought.

Fuel filters are great for protecting the
carburetor by catching little bits of trash in the line. But after
a while the trash buildup begins to choke off the flow of
gasoline.

Hadley didn’t have a spare fuel filter in
the trunk. He hoped he wouldn’t have to leave the car on the side
of the road and walk the rest of the way—although, he was capable
of making the walk. But it would take too long. He sensed his
family needed him right now.

He was almost there. So, he would continue
to push his old Roadmaster. It had always served him well.

Surely it wouldn’t fail him now.

Chapter
36

It was just after 2:00 AM, but nobody was
sleeping in the Hideaway Hospital—except the drugged women in the
four beds.

Sylvia was pacing the floor, having the time
of her life. “Go ahead, Carnie. Do whatever you want with
Macy.”

Carnie handed the pistol to Sylvia and
walked slowly toward Macy. The fear in Macy’s eyes excited her. She
wanted to stab her in the chest fifty times. Or rip her clothes off
and have sex with her—right there in front of everybody.

“
No, Carnie—please,” said
Elmo.

Cynthia, Greg, and Mallie Mae joined Elmo,
begging Carnie not to harm Macy.

Carnie reached behind her back and whipped
out the knife and held it up. “Quiet!”

Dead silence.

Carnie turned her head toward the bathroom.
“I heard something upstairs. Elmo, do you have own a gun?”

He didn’t respond quickly enough.

Carnie raised the knife over her head, ready
to throw it at Macy’s heart. “I’m sure you have a gun. Where is
it?”

“
In my desk in the
study—bottom left drawer. But it’s locked. My keys are—“

“—
I don’t need the keys.
But you’d better not be lying.”

Carnie ran through the bathroom and the lab,
picking up a screwdriver she had noticed earlier. She ran up the
stairs, through her bedroom and into the media room. Through the
high window she saw the black ’56 Buick in the driveway.

She flew up the stairs to the main floor and
ran through the living room, which was barely illuminated, by light
from the foyer. She flipped the light switch in Elmo’s study and
hurried to his desk. It was more solid than others she had
encountered, but she still managed to pry open the drawer with the
screwdriver. Elmo better not have lied, she thought. She found it
under some papers at the back of the drawer—a .22 caliber
pistol.

She looked up and saw Hadley standing in the
doorway staring at her. She pointed and fired. But he was gone.

He’s a dead man, she thought. Hadley was
thin, and in good shape for a 77-year-old, but there was no way he
could outrun her.

She ran into the living room and went toward
the foyer. She would nail him on his way out the front door. But he
wasn’t in the foyer. And the front door was closed. She darted into
the dining room and flipped on the light. Then she checked the
kitchen. He must have gone downstairs, she thought. She hurried
downstairs to find him.

But when she reached the bottom of the
stairs, she heard the front door opening. He tricked me, she
thought. That old man tricked me! She ran up the stairs, through
the kitchen, the dining room, and the foyer, and out the front
door.

She expected to see Hadley driving away in
his car. Where was he? She strained to find him out in the
darkness. There was plenty of moonlight—but her eyes had not
adjusted from the brightness of the foyer chandelier.

Then she thought she saw movement. Yes,
there he was—running toward the woods. She took aim and fired. He
went down. She watched carefully—he was not moving.

She was about to walk out to him and make
sure he was dead, when she heard Sylvia calling to her. She ran
back into the house.

**********

Hadley had underestimated Carnie’s shooting
skills. He had figured he’d be safe at that distance in the dark.
Otherwise, he would have tried going for his shotgun in the trunk.
But he thought it would take too long to get it out and load it. By
then, she would have been close enough to hit him with her eyes
closed.

He felt the blood oozing from his side. How
long before he would fade to unconsciousness? Could he make it to
the car? And even if he managed to get to the car, would Carnie be
watching and waiting just inside—ready to finish him off?

Mallie Mae and Elmo were not just his
employers. They were as much his family as his Horatio was. And
Macy had become family too.

Now his family was apparently in grave
danger. For all he knew, some or all of them were already dead. He
prayed not. But if there was any way he could help them, he
would.

But first he had to find out if he could
stand up.

**********

All eyes were on Carnie and the gun in her
hand when she walked back into the hospital ward.

“
Who’d you shoot?” said
Sylvia.

“
Hadley.”

“
No,” said Mallie Mae,
looking as though her
husband
had just been
murdered.

Elmo hung his head.

“
Why did you have to
kill
him?” said
Macy.

“
I thought he wasn’t coming
home until tomorrow afternoon,” said Sylvia.

“
He wasn’t
supposed
to,” said
Carnie. She walked to where Sylvia was, across the room. Carsie was
still standing with the prisoners, as though she wasn’t sure whose
side she was on.

Sylvia walked up to Macy and gave her an
evil grin. “So, where were we, Carnie? I believe you were about to
start with this one. What’ll it be first—a shot in the leg? Or chop
off a finger? What do you think, Carnie?”

“
What about the
money
?” said
Carnie.

“
You heard Mallie Mae.
There
is
no
money. But that’s okay. We can still enjoy torturing her and her
clan. Anyway, that
was
my number one
goal.”

“
That might have
been
your
number one goal,” said Carnie, seething.

Sylvia spun around. “What do you mean?”

“
The most important thing
to
me
is
the
money
.
I’m getting tired of running your scams. I want enough cash so I
can get away from you—once and for all!”