Promise Me Eternity (26 page)

“Why not go in?” he said. “Maybe you’ll find
something nice to wear.”

“Why not?” Christine replied. “I’ve had my
eyes on some shoes, but they’re pretty expensive. Maybe I’ll get
them today.”

“Show them to me,” Carlo said, “so that I can
see if they’re worth it.”

When she put them on, he said, “They’re very
nice.” Then he turned to her friend. “And which do you like?”

She also chose some wonderful leather
sandals.

“They’re simply marvelous,” he said. “Quick,
let’s go to the checkout. I’d like to buy them for you.”

“Oh no, I can’t allow that,” she
objected.

Christine was also surprised. “No, no,
please. We have our own money.”

“Let it be a present. I like your company and
I’d like to give you something.”

They looked at each other again and
shrugged.

In the days that followed he bought them
leather bags, cashmere sweaters, umbrellas, and many smaller items.
At first they resisted, but then they stopped objecting. “He’s
obviously got too much money,” Christine said to her friend one
evening. “Let him spend it on us. For now he doesn’t seem to want
anything in return. Isn’t it wonderful?”

Some weeks later Carlo invited Christine to
his home. When she saw the house and he introduced all his staff,
she made her decision.

“I don’t want to work in that damn factory,”
she told her friend. “I can’t do it anymore.”

A month later, Christine’s friend was maid of
honor at a magnificent wedding.

Chapter 45

_______________________

Attorney Leonard Hopkins arrived at eleven in
the morning. He was not in a good mood. “I’m sorry to have to tell
you that the judge set bail extremely high, at two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars. I’m sorry—”

“What? Are they crazy? Where can I get that
kind of money?”

“I really am sorry, Simon, but it is a murder
we’re talking about and in such cases bail is always extremely
high.”

Simon ran his fingers through his hair. “No
one’s going to lend me that kind of money. It’s ridiculous.”

“It’s terrible, I know, but you’ll have to
stay in jail until we prove them wrong.”

“Never. I’m not staying here. There are some
dangerous people in here. Do you have a cell phone?”

“Yes, of course. What are you going to
do?”

“Please lend it to me, I must send a
text.”

The lawyer offered him his cell phone and
Simon grabbed it from him. In less than a minute he had typed a
message and sent it to Christine.

“Let’s wait,” he said, “maybe I’ll get a
reply right away.”

A minute or so later, the phone beeped. The
message said: “No problem. It’ll be done today.”

Simon confidently returned the phone to the
lawyer. “Everything’s OK. I’ll get the money.”

Hopkins said, “What? I thought you said—”

“Luckily, I have some good friends. Don’t
worry, Leonard. Go and find out how the bail has to be paid. I’m
not going to stay here a minute longer than necessary.”

With surprise written all over his face,
Leonard Hopkins nodded and left the room.

Two hours later, Simon Patterson was sitting
in a small car next to Edna Weiss, relieved to be going home. Edna
leaned forward, gripping the wheel as if she feared that someone
would jump out at the car at any moment. They drove extremely
slowly, but Simon didn’t care. The main thing was that he had been
released.

“Edna, I can’t begin to tell you how very
grateful I am that you were willing to pay over the bail
money.”

“Of course, Dr. Patterson, anytime.”

“And there were no problems?” Simon asked
cautiously. He was keen to know who had handed over the money.

Edna pouted in a funny way. “This man called
and said that he was an old friend of yours. And then guess what,
he rang the bell, put the bag with the money by the door, and left,
so that I didn’t even see him. I just heard him running up the
stairs. I had no idea then about the sum of money involved. My God,
I had to pay two hundred and fifty thousand dollars into the
special court account. You really do have some good friends if
they’re prepared to help you like that. But I don’t understand why
your friend couldn’t pay the money personally.”

“I’m very grateful for all you’ve done for
me. And I assure you that I didn’t kill Helen.”

“That’s what I wanted to tell the police. You
don’t need to tell me. I know that you didn’t kill her. But then,
who did?”

“I don’t know. However much I rack my brain,
I can’t think who it might have been. Of course, I’ll have to come
up with an answer. The killer can’t get away with it, that’s for
sure.”

Chapter 46

_______________________

“You called me, Dr. Horras?”

“Yes, Dr. Carter, please take a seat,” said
the director of the hospital. “I wanted to speak to you.”

Anita Carter crossed her legs and made
herself comfortable. “In connection with what?”

“How long have you been with us now?”

She looked concerned. “About eight years, I
think. Why?”

“The thing is this. You probably know what’s
happened to Dr. Patterson?”

“Yes, that’s all people are talking
about.”

“Of course, I suppose they are, dumb of me!”
He blinked a few times and then said, “I’m concerned about Dr.
Duncan. He’s completely on his own now, without Dr. Patterson to
supervise him.”

“Yes, and?”

“I’m worried about him. Is he up to it? These
are very demanding operations and I don’t want—”

She interrupted him with great confidence.
“I’m sure that Jerry Duncan is a very capable neurosurgeon. I’ve
worked with him for a long time and I don’t remember him ever—”

“That’s just what I wanted to hear. I am also
of the opinion that Dr. Duncan is a capable doctor, but Dr.
Patterson spoke about him very little. In fact, he hardly ever
mentioned him. I don’t know what that signifies.”

“Dr. Patterson was getting rather strange, or
at least that’s how it seemed to me.”

“What do you mean, Anita?”

“I don’t know if it’s right for me to say
this. The situation being what it is, it doesn’t seem very …”

“But of course, you must! How can I manage
this hospital if I’m not informed about what’s going on?”

She straightened her legs and sat more erect.
“You can ask others, but it seems to me that recently Dr. Patterson
has been pretty touchy. Quite a few times he has lost his temper
for no real reason. We’ve often asked ourselves what was wrong with
him.”

The director was shocked. “Is that so? Has it
affected his work at all?”

Anita Carter pretended to give it some
thought.
A little lie can’t do any harm, can it?
“Of course
it has. You know, as an anesthetist I see everything that goes on.
In fact I’ve handled the anesthesia at brain operations so many
times that I could do the operation myself.”

“That’s exactly why I wanted to talk to you.
You’ve worked with Dr. Patterson and Dr. Duncan for quite a few
years now and I’m sure you know them both well, isn’t that so?”

“I can only tell you what I think. You’ll
have to ask others for their views.” She was hoping he wouldn’t do
that. “Recently, Dr. Patterson has been leaving an increasing
number of operations to Dr. Duncan. In other words, Jerry Duncan
operated and Simon Patterson assisted.”

“That doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. After
all, the aim of a surgeon is to teach his assistant to be
independent.”

“Of course, but I’ve seen when he made the
decision to do so. He never said in advance that Dr. Duncan would
be operating. He always decided at the start of the operation. He
seemed tense, sometimes his hands were shaking.”

“Very strange. And why do you think that was?
Did he say anything?”

She rolled her eyes slightly. “Of course
there are rumors. You know how it is, people say different things
and you can’t believe everything you hear.”

“And what are people saying?”

“Everyone knows that Dr. Patterson has his
own laboratory at home.”

Brad Horras agreed. “That’s right.”

“People are saying strange things.”

“Come on now!”

“They say that Dr. Patterson was trying some
vaccine on himself. Of course, nobody knows exactly what he was
doing in his lab, but they say that the side effects were very bad.
You know, he became aggressive and found it increasingly difficult
to control himself. And then he turned on his wife ….”

“My God! Do you really think that he killed
her? It never entered my head.”

“I don’t know, but that’s what people are
saying.”

Dr. Horras covered his mouth with his hand
and stared at the floor for a few moments. “I can’t believe it. And
this has to happen in my hospital. What the hell am I going to
do?”

“Do you want to hear what I think?”

“Of course, Dr. Carter. I’d be grateful.”

“In my view, events involving Dr. Patterson
are doing a great deal of harm to the hospital.”

“That’s true. There have been calls from the
board demanding that I take action. But what can I do?”

“In your position, I’d fire him. You can’t
afford this.”

“But Dr. Patterson is a very skilled surgeon.
We can’t afford to lose him.”

“What use is he going to be to you if he’s in
jail? None. To me, the best thing would be to tell him that under
the circumstances, you have no choice but to terminate his contract
of employment. If he turns out to be innocent, you can always take
him back.”

Dr. Horras got up and paced across the room.
“I think you’re right, Anita, these events are causing the hospital
a great deal of harm and there’s simply too much talk. I must take
action. I’m very grateful for your advice. One of my weaknesses is
that I hesitate too much. I should have done this already.” He
walked her to the door.

“Have a nice day,” Dr. Carter said.

“Good-bye, Anita.”

When Dr. Carter had gone, the director gave
the matter some thought.
She’s a good doctor. I’m glad I talked
to her.
He wondered whether Simon Patterson really had poisoned
himself with some vaccine. “Terrible, absolutely terrible,” he said
aloud.

Chapter 47

_______________________

As soon as Simon Patterson got home, he
called the hospital. “Hello, Dr. Horras, I’m calling you about
taking some leave—”

The hospital director cut in: “Where are you,
Dr. Patterson?”

“At home, why?”

The director’s voice was deep and serious.
“You don’t realize the trouble you’ve caused us.”

“Me, causing trouble? Someone murdered my
wife and—”

“Listen, Dr. Patterson. The police have been
here. They told me that someone cut your wife’s throat with a
scalpel. When they showed it to me, I recognized it immediately as
the kind we use. I know that you and your wife were having
probl—”

“I didn’t kill Helen!” He was nearly
screaming into the phone. “It wasn’t me, damn it!”

There was silence.

Then Dr. Horras continued: “We’ve just had a
meeting of the hospital board and because of the bad publicity that
you are generating for the hospital, we’ve decided to suspend
you.”

At his wit’s end, Dr. Patterson said, “What!
How is that possible? You can’t just exclude me. Didn’t you
yourself say how essential I was?”

“Not so essential to let us suffer damage.
You don’t know how many people have called us, afraid that you are
going to operate on them. I wonder if you realize …”

“Fine, if that’s what you’ve decided.” Simon
sounded resigned to his fate.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Patterson, there’s no other
way. Good day.”

“Good day!” He slammed the phone down and
cursed out loud: “I never even liked the damn job!”

He poured himself a drink and sat in the
armchair. He’d had enough.

The phone rang. He looked at it wearily and
could barely reach out for it. “Yes.”

“It’s Christine. Simon, what’s happening? Are
you alright?”

Tears of gratitude welled up in his eyes.
“I’m good, Christine. I’m so grateful to you for paying the bail
money.”

“It’s the least I can do. Listen, I can’t
talk long. We must meet up to decide what to do next.”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

“I’ve reserved a room in the place we met
last time. I think it’s too dangerous to meet anywhere outside,
don’t you think?”

His head was full of thoughts. He didn’t
really care where they met. All that mattered was that they could
talk. “Of course, Christine. When shall we meet?”

“In two hours.” She put down the phone.

Chapter 48

_______________________

Dr. Jerry Duncan knocked on the door of the
director.

“Come in,” rang out a voice from inside.

“You wanted to speak to me?”

“Yes, please sit down.” Dr. Brad Horras
pointed to a comfortable chair. He gathered together some of the
papers on the desk in front of him and put them to one side. Then
he moved his lower jaw left and right as he always did when he was
about to say something important. “Dr. Patterson has been arrested.
You probably heard?”

“Yes, yes, very tragic.”

“He’s actually at home now, but nobody knows
how it’s all going to end. It’s hard to believe.” He picked up a
pencil and tapped his teeth with it. “How are things going in
neurosurgery?”

“Everything’s as it should be.”

“How long have you been with us?”

“About seven years.”