Robin Cook - Fatal Cure

"Just a minute, Dr. Wilson," Kelley called. "Not so fast."

David whirled around and stormed back. Without warning he reached out and grabbed Kelley by the tie and the front of his shirt and roughly pushed him back. Kelley collapsed into the club chair behind him. David shook a clenched fist in Kelley's face.

"I want you to get the hell out of here," David snarled. "If you don't, I don't take responsibility for the consequences. It's as simple as that."

Kelley swallowed, but he didn't move.

David spun on his heels and marched out of the lounge. Just as he was about out the door, Kelley called out to him, "I'll be talking with my superiors."

David turned back. "You do that," he said. Then he continued into the ICU. Returning to the desk, he paused. His heart was pounding. He wondered what he really would have done if Kelley had stood up to him.

"Dr. Wilson," the unit clerk called out. "I have Dr. Mieslich on the phone. He's returning your call."

"My husband teaches at the college," Madeline Gannon explained. "He gives courses in drama and literature."

Calhoun had been eyeing the many shelves of books that lined the Gannons' library walls.

"I'd like to meet him sometime," Calhoun said. "I read a lot of plays. It's been my hobby since retiring. Especially Shakespeare."

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Madeline asked, diplomatically changing the subject. From Calhoun's appearance she doubted if Bernard would be terribly interested.

"I'm investigating Dr. Dennis Hodges' murder," Calhoun said. "As you know his body was recently found."

"That was distressing," Madeline said.

"I understand you worked for him for some time," Calhoun said.

"Over thirty years," Madeline said.

"Pleasant work?" Calhoun asked.

"It had its ups and downs," Madeline admitted. "He was a headstrong man who could be stubborn and cranky one minute and understanding and generous the next. I loved him and disliked him at the same time. But I was devastated by the news when they found his body. I'd secretly hoped he'd just had enough of everybody, and had gone to Florida. He used to talk about going to Florida every winter, particularly the last few."

"Do you know who killed him?" Calhoun asked. He glanced around for an ashtray but didn't see one.

"I haven't the slightest idea," Madeline said. "But with Dr. Hodges, there sure are a lot of candidates."

"Like who?" Calhoun asked.

"Well, let me take that back," Madeline said. "To be perfectly honest, I don't think that a single one of the people Dr. Hodges regularly infuriated would have actually done the man harm. In the same way Dr. Hodges would never had carried out any of the threats he voiced so frequently."

"Who did he threaten?" Calhoun asked.

Madeline laughed. "Just about everybody associated with the new administration at the hospital," she said. "Also the police chief, the head of the local bank, the Mobil station owner. The list goes on and on."

"Why was Hodges so angry with the new administration at the hospital?" Calhoun asked.

"Mostly on behalf of his patients," Madeline said. "Rather, his former patients. Dr. Hodges' practice fell off when he took over the directorship of the hospital, and then again when CMV came into the picture. He wasn't all that upset about it because he knew the hospital needed the HMO's business and he was ready to slow down. But then his former patients started coming back to him, complaining about their health care under CMV. They wanted him to be their doctor again, but it wasn't possible because their health care had to come through CMV."

"Sounds like Hodges should have been angry at CMV," Calhoun said. Before Madeline could respond, Calhoun asked if he could smoke. Madeline said no but offered to make him coffee. Calhoun accept her offer, so they adjourned to the kitchen.

"Where was I?" Madeline asked while she put water on the stove to boil.

"I was suggesting Hodges should have been angry with CMV," Calhoun said.

"I remember," Madeline said. "He was angry with CMV, but he was also angry with the hospital because the hospital was agreeing to everything CMV proposed. And Dr. Hodges felt he carried some weight at the hospital."

"Was he angry about anything specific?" Calhoun asked.

"It was a bunch of things," Madeline said. "He was angry about the treatment, or the lack of it, in the emergency room. People couldn't go to the emergency room any more unless they paid cash up front. Other people couldn't get into the hospital when they thought they needed to. The day he disappeared he was really upset by the death of one of his former patients. In fact, several of his former patients had recently died. I remember it specifically because Dr. Hodges used to yell and scream that CMV physicians couldn't keep his patients alive. He felt they were incompetent and that the hospital was abetting their incompetence."

"Can you remember the name of the patient Hodges was upset about the day he disappeared?" Calhoun asked.

"Now you're expecting miracles," Madeline said as she poured the coffee. She handed a cup to Calhoun who helped himself to three heaping teaspoons of sugar and a dollop of cream.

"Wait a minute! I do remember," Madeline said suddenly. "It was Clark Davenport. No doubt in my mind."

Calhoun fished out his set of the copies he and Angela had obtained in Burlington. "Here it is," he said after leafing through. "Clark Davenport, fractured hip."

"Yup, he's the one," Madeline said. "The poor man fell off a ladder trying to get a kitten out of a tree."

"Look at these other names," Calhoun said. He handed the papers to Madeline. "Any of them mean anything to you?"

Madeline took the papers and shuffled through them. "I can remember each and every one," she said. "In fact, these are the patients I mentioned: the ones Dr. Hodges was irritated about. They had all died."

"Hmmm," Calhoun said as he took the papers back. "I knew they had to be related somehow."

"Dr. Hodges was also upset at the hospital people because of the attacks in the parking lot," Madeline added.

"Why was that?" Calhoun asked.

"He felt the hospital administration should have been doing a lot more than they were," Madeline said. "They were more concerned about keeping the incidents out of the news than they were about catching the rapist. Dr. Hodges was convinced that the rapist was part of the hospital community."

"Did he have anybody specific in mind?"

"He indicated that he did," Madeline said. "But he didn't tell me who."

"Do you think he might have told his wife?" Calhoun asked.

"It's possible," Madeline said.

"Do you think he ever said anything to the person he suspected?" Calhoun asked.

"I haven't the slightest idea," Madeline said. "But I do know that he planned to discuss the problem with Wayne Robertson even though he and Wayne did not get along. In fact, he'd planned to go see Robertson the day he disappeared."

"Did he go?" Calhoun asked.

"No," Madeline said. "That same day Dr. Hodges learned that Clark Davenport had died. Instead of seeing Robertson, Dr. Hodges had me make a lunch date for him with Dr. Barry Holster, the radiotherapist. The reason I remembered Clark Davenport's name was because I remember making the lunch arrangements."

"Why was Hodges so eager to see Dr. Holster?" Calhoun asked.

"Dr. Holster had recently finished treating Clark Davenport," Madeline said.

Calhoun put down his coffee cup and stood up. "You've been wonderfully cooperative and most gracious," he said. "I'm appreciative of both your coffee and your excellent memory."

Madeline Gannon blushed.

Angela had finished her work and was leafing through a laboratory journal just prior to her lunch break when the chief medical examiner called.