“I’m sorry, Dr. Pilsner,” David said. “I’ll have to explain later. It would take too long right now.”
At that moment Helen Beaton arrived. She, too, had been called by the nurses. She was incensed. “If you take that child out of here against medical advice I’ll get a court order,” she sputtered.
“Just try,” Angela said.
When they had Nikki fully dressed, they led her down the hall. The commotion had drawn a flock of gawking patients and staff.
Once outside they all climbed into the truck. Calhoun drove with Nikki and Angela in the cab. David had to sit in the truck bed.
The whole way home Nikki questioned her sudden discharge. She was happy to be out, but puzzled by her parents’ odd behavior. But by the time she got in the house she was too excited to see Rusty to persist in her questioning. After she played with Rusty for a bit, David and Angela set her up in the family room and restarted her IV. They wanted to continue her antibiotics.
Calhoun stayed and participated as best he could. Following Nikki’s request he brought wood upstairs from the basement and made a fire. But it wasn’t his nature to stay silent. Before long he got into an argument with David over the motive for Hodges’ murder. Calhoun strongly favored the rapist, whereas David favored the deranged “Angel of Mercy.”
“Hell!” Calhoun exclaimed. “Your whole theory is based on pure supposition. Your daughter is fine, thank the Lord, so there’s no proof there. At least with my theory there’s Hodges’ ranting about knowing who the rapist was before a roomful of people the very day he got knocked off. How’s that for cause and effect? And Clara thinks Hodges might have had the nerve to speak to the man. I’m so sure the rapist and the murderer are one and the same, I’ll wager on it. What kind of odds will you give me?”
“I’m not a betting man,” David said. “But I think I’m right. Hodges was beaten to death holding the names of his patients. That couldn’t have been a coincidence.”
“What if it is the same person?” Angela suggested. “What if the rapist is the same person behind the patient deaths and Hodges’ murder?”
The idea shocked David and Calhoun into silence.
“It’s possible,” David said at last. “It sounds sort of crazy, but at this point I’m prepared to believe almost anything.”
“I suppose,” Calhoun added. “Anyway, I’m going after the tattoo clue. That’s the key.”
“I’m going to medical records,” David said. “And maybe I’ll visit Dr. Holster. Hodges might have said something to him about his suspicions regarding his patients.”
“Okay,” Calhoun said agreeably. “I’ll go do my thing, you go ahead and do yours. How’s about if I come back later so we can compare notes?”
“Sounds good,” David said. He looked over at Angela.
“It’s fine by me,” she said. “What about having dinner together?”
“I never turn down dinner invitations,” Calhoun said.
“Then be here by seven,” Angela said.
After Calhoun left, David got the shotgun and proceeded to load it with as many shells as it would hold. He leaned it against the newel post in the front hall.
“Have you changed your mind about the gun?” Angela asked.
“Let’s just say I’m glad it’s here,” David said. “Have you talked to Nikki about it?”
“Absolutely,” Angela said. “She even shot it. She said it hurt her shoulder.”
“Don’t let anyone in the house while I’m gone,” David said. “And keep all the doors locked.”
“Hey, I’m the one who wanted the doors locked,” Angela said. “Remember?”
David took his bike. He didn’t want to leave Angela without a car. He rode quickly, oblivious to the sights. His mind kept going over the idea of someone having killed his patients. It horrified and infuriated him. But as Calhoun said, he didn’t have any proof.
When David arrived at the hospital, the day shift was being replaced by the evening shift. There was a lot of commotion and traffic. No one paid the slightest attention to David as he made his way to medical records.
Sitting down at a terminal, David set out Calhoun’s copies of the pages that had been interred with Hodges. He’d held onto them since their visit to Clara Hodges. He called up each patient’s name and read the history. All eight had had serious terminal illnesses as Clara Hodges had said.