Hideaway Hospital Murders (5 page)

“
Yeah. And she said she’d
be ready to move next weekend. I’ll go over two or three nights
this week and help her pack.”

“
I’ll go with
you.”

“
Great. Thanks.”

“
She said she would line up
a truck. Would you mind driving it?”

“
No problem.”

“
You’re wonderful.” She
leaned over and gave him quick kiss.

He wanted it to be longer, but that could
wait until later.

“
I’ll make us some
popcorn.” She walked into the kitchen.

“
Okay, Baby. I’ll get the
movie ready.”

Greg’s cell phone rang.

“
Hello?”

“
I’m glad you didn’t change
your phone number.”

Greg wished he had. It was his ex-wife. He
had not spoken to her since right after the divorce. And they had
been divorced for over five years. Before that, he had been a
full-time minister of music. Her cheating and the subsequent
divorce had put an end to that job. Fortunately, they never had
children.

“
Why are you calling me,
Susan?”

“
Just wanted to see how you
were doing. And I had a dream about you the other night. It was
crazy. We were in bed together and—“

“—
I don’t want to hear
about it. And I’m busy right now. If you really need to talk, I’ll
call you tomorrow.”

“
You’re with your
girlfriend, aren’t you? That cute redheaded banker?”

“
How did you—“

“—
I’ve got friends. They
tell me things.”

He didn’t know his ex had
any friends in town. He had moved from Longview to Coreyville to
get away from her and her backstabbing friends. It was hard to
believe that many of them had once been
his
friends too.

Cynthia walked into the living room with the
giant bowl of popcorn.

“
Whatever. Look I’ve gotta
go,” said Greg.

“
She’s right there, isn’t
she? Are y’all in bed? Is she on top of you?”

“
Goodbye!”

“
Your ex?” said
Cynthia.

“
Yes. Why did she have to
ruin my night?”

“
What did she
want?”

“
To harass me.”

“
Yeah, but that can’t be
the only reason she called you after all this time.”

“
Apparently, she has a
friend in Coreyville who told her about us.”

“
So now she’s
jealous?”

“
Maybe. But I don’t know
why. Of course, she’s always wanted what she couldn’t
have.”

“
Or maybe she just can’t
stand to see you happy.”

“
Maybe.”

“
So, just show her. Be
happy.”

Cynthia gave him a warm, luscious kiss. It
was short enough so they would still want to watch the movie, but
long enough to make him forget about Susan.

**********

It was only 9:00 PM, but Macy couldn’t wait
any longer. She had to see what was going on in the Media Room. She
prayed that Elmo and Carsie were just watching TV.

At 56, Dr. L.R. ‘Elmo’ Mobley was
practically a virgin. He hadn’t had been with a woman in years.
Macy had heard the full account from Mallie Mae years ago, when she
first moved in to care for her after she broke her leg. Macy was
her full-time nurse at first. But Mallie Mae enjoyed her company so
much that she asked Macy to stay on, even after the leg had
healed.

When he was 37, Elmo had
been giving every ounce of energy to his patients. But he finally
grew tired of having no personal life. So he started dating. She
was a nurse at Coreyville General Hospital—a very nice lady. And
eventually the two set a wedding date. But Mallie Mae did not
approve. And she did everything she could think of to destroy their
relationship. But Elmo knew his mother was trying her best to break
them up. So all
that
did was make him more
determined to go through with his marriage plans.

Then Mallie Mae crafted her most devious
scheme ever. She paid off a sleazy private detective to produce
porn pictures of Elmo’s fiancé. It was not that difficult to merge
shots of her head with graphic sex pictures he found on the
internet.

The doctor showed the photographs to his
fiancé and she denied she had ever posed for such lurid pictures.
He wanted so badly to believe her. But his mother had planted a
terrible seed of doubt. And it grew like Dandelions—every time you
pull one out of the ground to destroy it, you just scatter more
seeds.

Ultimately, the couple was doomed. He hated
Mallie Mae for it. She had made him miserable while he was in
medical school. Now she had destroyed his chance for love and
happiness. He swore he would never forgive her.

After that, whether consciously or not, he
closed himself off to any possibility of a romantic relationship.
Because Macy was aware of this, she had never pursued anything but
a friendship. But sometimes it was all she could do to keep from
telling him how she really felt.

Then, after so many years of loneliness,
Carsie had bumped into him at the grocery store and stolen his
heart. He had stopped by Kroger’s at lunchtime for a fix. Not many
people knew he was addicted to Brach’s Candy Corn. Couldn’t be any
other brand—had to be Brach’s. He kept a supply hidden in a desk
drawer. So he went straight to the candy aisle and there she
was—buying Brach’s Candy Corn. Supposedly, she was hooked on the
stuff too. What were the chances of that?

Macy went downstairs to the basement and
started to walk toward the open Media Room door. All she could hear
was the TV. What if that woman already had him down on the floor?
Macy had to admit that Carsie was hot. She could probably get him
to do anything if she really tried.

“
Macy,” spoke a voice from
the darkness.

Macy jumped.

“
Easy, it’s just me—Carnie.
I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Carnie moved in closer and now Macy could
see her—barely.

“
Well, you scared me to
death. Don’t do that.”

“
Sorry. But I wanted to ask
you something.”

“
What?” Macy wondered why
they needed to have this conversation in the dark. And couldn’t it
wait until tomorrow?

Carnie moved in closer.

“
What?” Macy asked
again.

Carnie grabbed her by the arms and kissed
her on the lips.

Macy pulled back. “What are you doing?”

“
Just wanted to see if you
were interested.”

“
No!” As soon as she had
said it, she regretted her mean tone. If Carnie was gay, she felt
sorry for her. Macy couldn’t understand a woman wanting to be with
another woman, but that was
thei
r business. She didn’t
care. As long as they left
her
alone. “I’m
sorry.”

“
No problem.”

Carnie turned and disappeared into the
darkness. Within minutes, she was in her car, driving toward
Coreyville.

**********

“
Hi. My name is Jake, and I
couldn’t help but notice that nobody’s offered to buy the pretty
lady a beer.”

“
I already have a beer,”
said Carnie.

“
Well, I can see that. But
you’re gonna finish that one off soon. So good ole Jake is here to
buy you another one.”

“
Oh, really. Well, you can
tell ‘good ole Jake’ that I don’t like drinking with guys who refer
to themselves in third person.”

“
Awe, come on. Have a drink
with me.”

“
Fine. Sit down. And take
off your cowboy hat. Have some manners.”

“
Okay. What’s your name,
Honey?”

“
Well it’s not
‘Honey.’”

“
I’m sorry.”

“
It’s Jennifer.”

“
Glad to meet you,
Jennifer. You’re not from around here, are you?”

Carnie judged Jake to be about 6’2”, 220
pounds. She was only 5’6”, weighing in at 120, but she knew she
could handle him.

“
Nope. Just traveling
through.”

“
So, what kind of work do
you do?”

“
I’m a nurse. Right now I’m
in between jobs.”

He took a swig of his Budweiser.

“
So, you like taking care
of folks.”

She took care of them, all right. But they
were sometimes in worse health after she took care of them.
Sometimes dead. “You could say that.”

“
A man must
love
being married
to a nurse.”

“
I wouldn’t know. Never
asked. Never been married.”

“
Well, that’s surprising.
Especially considering how beautiful you are.”

Normally, that line would have made Carnie
want to stab the guy in the heart. But Jake actually sounded
sincere. “Hey, you want to get out of here?”

“
Uh…sure. Wanna go for a
ride in my truck?”

“
Yeah. Let’s
go.”

Jake took a dark narrow road and drove for a
couple of miles. Carnie didn’t recognize the Country singer on the
radio. But then, she hated Country music.

He turned onto a dirt trail that led to
nowhere, parked and turned off the lights. They could see each
other in the moonlight.

“
I’d just love to hold you
in my arms,” he said.

Really? Is that all you want to do? she
thought.

He slid over, put his arm around her and
started kissing her.

He’s a good kisser, she thought. But she
pushed him away.

“
What’s the matter? I
thought you wanted to make out?”

“
Well, maybe I do and maybe
I don’t. I’ll let you know.” Her hand was already in her skirt
pocket. And
it
was in her hand. Just the flick of her thumb would pop up the
razor blade—ready to perform the deadly deed.

He backed away a little, and said, “Okay,
whatever you want, Honey.”

He had done it again. He had called her
‘Honey.’ But this time she didn’t mind.

“
You wanna go back to the
bar for a game of pool?” he said.

“
And a couple more
beers?”

“
Sure. Let’s
go.”

He started the truck.

Carnie liked this dumb cowboy. He was cute,
and would take orders. He might just come in handy, she
thought.

No need to kill him tonight.

Chapter
7

Monday mornings always went by fast for Greg
Tenorly. It was his only weekday morning off from his part-time job
as music minister at First Baptist Church, Coreyville. Afternoons
and three evenings were spent teaching private music lessons at his
little studio in a strip mall near town square.

Wednesday night he had church choir
rehearsal and Friday nights he was off. Nobody wanted to take music
lessons on Friday nights. And now that he and Cynthia were dating,
he was glad to have the night available.

His first lesson on Monday was at 1:30 PM,
so he had plenty of time for an easygoing lunch at Jane’s Diner,
which was just a few yards down the sidewalk from his studio. He
ordered the Chicken Fried Steak Special.

While waiting for his food, he surveyed the
lunch crowd. Same old faces. Coreyville didn’t get many tourists.
His cell rang. It was Cynthia.

“
Hi, Honey. What are you
doing—eating lunch at Jane’s?”

“
Am I
that
predictable?”

“
Yes, you are. But it’s one
of the things I like about you.”

“
I’m glad you think it’s a
plus.”

“
Well, I’m sure your lunch
will be tastier than mine. I’m eating a sandwich at my desk. I’ll
be leaving a little early so I can get over to Mom’s to help her
pack.”

“
Good. I’ll get there as
soon as I can. I should be done by 7:00 tonight.”

“
Sounds good. I’ll see you
there. Have a good afternoon.”

“
You too. Bye,
Sweetie.”

Jane brought Greg his food. He ate at her
restaurant nearly every day.

“
Looks delicious,
Jane.”

“
Thanks. Enjoy. By the way,
how’s it going with your banker girlfriend?”

“
Great. But you can quit
calling her my
banker
girlfriend
. Yeah, she’s a bank vice
president. Get over it.”

Jane laughed. “I’m sorry, Greg. But I just
never thought of you as the kind of guy who would be dating a
banker.”

“
Me either, I guess. And
I’m amazed every day when I get up in the morning and look in the
mirror. How could a beautiful woman like Cynthia go for a guy like
me?”

“
I shouldn’t say it,
because it’s just gonna make your head swell, but you’re a great
catch, Greg.”

“
But what about this?” He
pointed to his receding hairline. “I’m losing it fast. And this?”
He patted his protruding stomach.

“
Yeah, but you can
lose
that. That
extra weight doesn’t have to be permanent. And a full head of hair
is not that important to a lot of woman. Especially as they get
older. I can tell you it’s way low on
my
wish list.”