Hideaway Hospital Murders by Robert Burton Robinson Page A

pistol
and the medical bag. Nancie Jo flung the skillet down and scrambled
for the gun. Carnie tried to shake off the dizziness and run toward
her. But Nancie Jo picked up the pistol and pointed at Carnie.
    “ Get back!” said Nancie
Jo.
    Carnie stumbled backward. Her vision was
getting clearer. Out of the corner of her eye she noted the knife
block, to her right, on the counter. It held eight or ten knives of
various types and sizes. “Look, Lady, I was taking you to a
hospital for clinical trials—for your Alzheimer’s.”
    “ Yeah, right. I may have
Alzheimer’s, but I’m not stupid.”
    “ I’m telling the truth. You
would be treated by Dr. Elmo Mobley.”
    “ The pediatrician ?”
    “ Yes. He just found out his
mother has Alzheimer’s and he’s desperate to find a
cure.”
    Nancie Jo had heard that Mallie Mae Mobley
had Alzheimer’s and that Elmo had taken a leave of absence from
his practice.
    “ There is no cure for Alzheimer’s,”
said Nancie Jo.
    “ That’s what I’m saying. He
wants to find a cure.”
    “ I see. So, Elmo told you
to come to my house and pull a gun on me and force me to
participate in his clinical trial. Yeah, that sounds like Elmo
alright,” said Nancie Jo, with all the sarcasm she could muster.
She inched her way toward the wall phone on her right.
    “ You know, you kind of
remind me of my grandma,” said Carnie.
    “ Really? So, your
grandmother points a gun at you sometimes?”
    Nancie Joe took the receiver off the hook
and was about to dial.
    “ No. But if she did, she’d
be smart enough to release the safety,” said Carnie.
    In the split second it took Nancie Jo to
look down at the gun, Carnie grabbed a butcher knife from the knife
block and launched it. When Nancie Jo looked up, it was too late.
The handle of the knife hit her squarely in the forehead and
bounced off.
    Nancie Jo’s glasses flew off her face as she
fell backward and collapsed onto the floor. The gun fell out of her
hand, but it was only a few inches away. As she focused every ounce
of her willpower, rolling to her stomach and reaching for the
pistol, Carnie leaped at her.
    Nancie Jo picked up the gun and was about to
roll back to shoot Carnie. But Carnie snatched the knife off the
floor and thrust it into Nancie Jo’s back. And as always, once her
anger had been triggered, it quickly escalated into blind rage. She
twisted the knife and ripped it out sideways. Then she gripped it
with both hands and chopped at the corpse repeatedly with all her
might.
    **********
    “ Here’s your BLT and
Fritos.” Greg handed Cynthia the flimsy white cardboard box and
gave her a quick kiss. “And your diet Coke.”
    “ Thanks. And I
suppose you got the turkey.”
    “ That’s right. How’d you
guess?”
    It was the only kind of sandwich he ever
ordered at Jane’s. Cynthia had come to realize that Greg was a
creature of habit. And he took comfort in his habits. Fortunately,
most of them were good ones.
    “ I’m sorry we have to
rush,” said Cynthia.
    “ That’s okay. It’s worth it
just to see my baby for a few minutes.”
    “ Thanks. You too,
Sweetie.”
    Greg said a blessing and they began to
eat.
    “ Oh, yeah, you had a
funeral this morning, didn’t you? How’d it go?” said
Cynthia.
    “ Fine—for a funeral. It
wasn’t so bad, really. But I would hate it if I had to do the
pastor’s job. Talking about how wonderful the person
was—especially if they weren’t. And you have to stand up the in
front of the family and try to convince them that it was for the
best—which is not so hard if the person was old and sick. But what
if they were young? What if it was little girl who got hit by a
car? I’m just glad I don’t have to do
it.”
    “ I couldn’t do it,” said
Cynthia.
    “ I couldn’t do banking . Loaning
poor unsuspecting souls a bunch of money and then foreclosing on
their house.” Greg frowned playfully.
    “ I don’t do that. If they
can’t pay, I just politely suggest that