“Coffee or tea?” Angela asked when Calhoun came into the kitchen.
“Whatever you’re having,” Calhoun said.
Angela got out the teapot and busied herself getting the tea and the honey.
“You’re off kinda early,” Calhoun said.
Having reined in her emotions ever since she’d fled Wadley’s office, Angela’s response to Calhoun’s innocent comment was overwhelming. She covered her face and sobbed. At a loss for what he had said or what to do, Calhoun stood helpless.
When Angela’s tears reduced to intermittent choking sobs, Calhoun apologized. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry.”
Angela stepped over to him and put her arms around him and her head on his woolly shoulder. He hugged her back. When she’d finally stopped crying he told her that she better tell him what happened.
“I think I’ll have some wine instead of tea,” Angela said.
“I’ll have a beer,” Calhoun said.
Sitting at the kitchen table Angela told Calhoun about getting fired. She explained how dire the consequences could be for her family.
Calhoun turned out to be a good listener, and he had the intuitive sense of what to say. He made Angela feel better. They even discussed her concerns about Nikki.
When Angela had talked herself out, Calhoun told her that he’d made some progress in the investigation.
“Maybe you’re not interested anymore,” Calhoun said.
“I’m still interested,” Angela assured him. She dried her eyes with a dish towel. “Tell me.”
“First of all, I discovered how the eight patients whose admission summaries Hodges was carrying around are related,” he said. “All of them were former patients of Hodges’ who had been shifted to CMV and had subsequently died in the months preceding Hodges’ murder. Apparently each death came as a surprise for Hodges. That’s why he was so furious.”
“Did he blame the hospital or CMV?” Angela asked.
“Good question,” Calhoun said. “As far as I could find out from his secretary he blamed both, but his main beef was with the hospital. It makes sense: he still thought of the hospital as his baby. So he was more disappointed with its perceived faults.”
“Does this help us find out who killed him?” Angela asked.
“Probably not,” Calhoun admitted. “But it’s another piece to the puzzle. I also discovered another one: Hodges believed he knew the identity of the parking lot rapist. What’s more, he thought the perp was connected to the hospital.”
“I see where you are going,” Angela said. “If the rapist knew Hodges suspected him, then he might have killed Hodges. In other words, the rapist and Hodges’ murderer could be the same person.”
“Exactly,” Calhoun said. “The same person who tried to kill you the other night.”
Angela shuddered. “Don’t remind me,” she said. Then she added: “I learned something specific about this person today, something that could make finding him a bit easier: he has a tattoo.”
“How do you know that?” Calhoun asked.
Angela explained why she had gone to Burlington. She told Calhoun that Walter Dunsmore was absolutely convinced that Hodges had scraped off part of his killer’s tattoo.
“Hell’s bells,” Calhoun said. “I love it.”
When yet another nurse from the second floor called and asked to be seen for the flu, David was eager to see her. When she arrived, she was surprised that she didn’t have to describe her symptoms; David described them for her. They were the same as his, only more pronounced. Her gastrointestinal problems had not responded well to the usual medications. Her temperature was one hundred and one.
“Have you had increased salivation?” David asked.
“I have,” the nurse said, “and I’ve never had anything like it before.”
“Nor have I,” David said.
Seeing how uncomfortable this nurse was, David was thankful his own symptoms had waned during the day. He sent the nurse home for bed rest and told her to drink plenty of fluids and take whatever antipyretic medication she preferred.
After the last office patient had been seen, David started off to the hospital to see his patients. He’d been back and forth all day, checking on both Nikki and Sandra, so he expected no surprises.
When he entered the ICU, Nikki saw him immediately and beamed. She was doing remarkably well. She’d responded to the IV antibiotics and ministrations of the respiratory therapist. She hadn’t even minded the hustle and bustle of the ICU. Still David was happy to learn that she was scheduled to be transferred out of the unit the following morning.