Hideaway Hospital Murders Read online

  Carnie was ready to check out of her room—not because of any fear of getting caught—just from boredom. She hadn’t sold the old lady’s jewelry, but had plenty of cash anyway.

  Carnie flipped open her cell phone and dialed.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Sis, how are you doing?”

  “Fine. What’s going on?”

  “How about if I come stay with you guys for a few days before the wedding?”

  “You mean now?”

  “Yeah. If you don’t mind.”

  “Uh…sure, that’ll be fine.”

  “Great. It’ll be like old times.”

  “No, no. I can’t party all night and get drunk.” Carsie laughed.

  “Okay. Maybe not exactlylike old times. But we’ll have fun. See you in thirty minutes.”

  “Thirty minutes? Where are you?”

  But Carnie had already hung up.

  It was hard to believe that her sister, Carsie, had wormed her way into the heart of the wealthy doctor. Sis had a lot more patience than she did. She would have just slit his throat and skipped town with his fortune. Surely Carsie hadn’t actually fallen in love with the nerd. Maybe her biological clock had started ticking too loud to ignore.

  Carsie was about to turn 31, and Carnie was only a year behind her. But unlike her sister, Carnie didn’t need a man to support her and give her babies. Anything sheneeded she would get for herself, thank you very much.

  But it would be hysterical to watch Carsie go through the whole ‘until death do we part’ shtick. Would she actually have the balls to wear a white dress? If the color of the dress indicates the purity of the bride, maybe she should go with midnight black.

  The two sisters had been quite a handful for their grandmother. She had taken them in after their parents died. Grandma felt so sorry about the girls losing their parents that she let them get away with murder—literally.

  Carsie had cried herself to sleep one night after discovering that her boyfriend was cheating on her. The next morning the boy’s father found him dead on the sidewalk in front of his house. He had been stabbed in the chest and his genitals had been amputated.

  The doctor would treat Carsie right, or little sis would make him sorry. She wouldn’t necessarily have to kill him. She could just cut something off. Something not vital. Maybe an ear or two. She knew she shouldn’t think about it doing those kinds of things though. The more she thought about it, the more she’d want to do it. And eventually she would not be able to restrain herself.

  But Carsie shouldn’t even marry the guy if he’s unworthy, she thought. Would be a bachelor party for the fine doctor? If so, she should be there to observe his behavior. Maybe she could pay off the jump-out-of-the-cake girl, and do it herself. She could pull it off with a good disguise. If the Doc got fresh with her she could just take care of him right there. One quick twist of the head, lay him down like he’s passed out from the booze, and walk away.

  Yes, she would protect her sister. And have fun doing it.

  Chapter3

  Carnie was on her way to Carsie’s new home at the Mobley estate. Of course, it wouldn’t become her sister’s permanent residence until after she married Dr. Mobley. But the wedding was only a week away. Carnie knew very little about the doctor. But she knew all she neededto know—he was rich.

  She drove into Coreyville on FM-2208 and then went south on Highway 450. The Mobley property was three miles outside of town. The Georgian style home sat in the center of a 1,200-acre plot that was inhabited mostly by pine trees.

  There was a security gate near the front end of the long, winding driveway that led to the house. The gate was hidden by a couple of strategically placed hairpin turns. It was almost impossible to make the 120-degree turn onto the driveway from the north.

  Carnie was five miles out of Coreyville when she realized she must have missed the entrance. She made a U-turn and headed back north. This time it was easy to spot the driveway. However, it seemed to dead-end into the tall trees. But she turned onto it anyway. When she reached the end of the road, she saw that it was not really the end. The road actually turned sharp to the left. Then sharp to the right. The gate was closed, but she saw the intercom on the left side of the road.

  Fancy, she thought.

  She drove up close and pushed the button. After about thirty seconds, she heard a man’s voice.

  “May I help you?”

  “Yes. I’m here to visit Carsie Slitherstone.”

  “And may I please have your name, Ma’am?”

  “Yes. My name is CarnieSlitherstone. I am Carsie’s sister.”

  “Thank you, Ma’am. I will connect you.”

  Veryfancy. After a few seconds, she heard her sister’s voice.

  “Carnie?”

  “Yeah. I’m here.”

  “Okay. I’ll open the gate for you. And I’ll be waiting out in front of the house.”

  “See you in a minute.”

  The half-mile drive from the gate to the house had many curves, hills and valleys. Carnie could only imagine that whoever put in the driveway had taken the path of least resistance through the trees. Finally the road straightened out, and she could see the house. The ground sloped upward as she approached her sister, who was standing out front.

  It was a two-story house, with a walk-out basement. It had been built by the doctor’s grandfather, Milstead Mobley, in 1923 and had been renovated in 1976. With its huge pillars, it reminded Carnie of a courthouse.

  “Sure didn’t take you long to get here. Where were you?”

  “Oh, just down the road a ways.”

  “Why is everything always a secret with you?”

  “It’s just the way I am, Sis. What difference does it make—I’m here. Now let’s have some fun.”

  Carsie got into her sister’s car and directed her to the left side of the house. They drove past the three-car garage, and then took another left, around to a little parking lot concealed behind the trees. The two walked across the parking lot and along the walkway between the trees to the house. Carsie led her sister across the terrace and into the recreation room. There was a billiard table in the center of the room.

  “Nice. How about a game of pool, Sis?” said Carnie.

  “How about a beer?”

  Carnie grinned. “Even better.”

  Carsie led her into the adjoining room.

  “You’ve got your own bar?”

  “Yep. Take a seat, Young Lady.”

  “Alright.”

  “What’ll it be?”

  “Let’s see, Barkeep. I think I’ll have a Bud Light.”

  “Coming up, Ma’am.”

  Carsie grabbed a couple of beers out of the fridge.

  “Come on. I want to show you my favorite room.”

  “Let me guess—the bedroom?”

  “Not yet. We’re waiting until the honeymoon.”

  “You’re kidding me.”

  Carsie led her through a short hallway into the Media Room. There were two levels of theater seats facing a wall at the far end that acted as a screen for the projector mounted on the ceiling. Carsie pick up a remote and turned it on. The picture was huge and incredibly clear.

  “Wow. No need to go out to the movies.”

  “That’s right. Elmo and I watch a lot of TV and movies down here.”

  “Elmo?”

  “Yeah. That’s his nickname.”

  “A doctor named Elmo? That’s pretty lame, Sis.”

  “No, not really. His real name is Lilman Raster Mobley.”

  “Ouch. His parents must have been cruel.”

  “Lilman and Raster were old family names. But Elmo hated them, so he always went by L. Mobley—even in first grade. For the first couple of years, schoolteachers called him Mr. Mobley. The kids didn’t know whatto call him. They kind of avoided him—thought he was weird.”

  “I can understand why.”

  “But then in high school he got real tall—six-foot-seven. The coach begged him
to play basketball. And he got pretty good at it. So the kids started to like him. But they still didn’t know what to call him. Then one of the players came up with ‘Elmo’—from L. Mobley and from the Sesame Street character. And it stuck. That’s what everybody calls him now—except his mother. She still calls him Lilman. But it worked out great since he became a pediatrician. Kids usually hate going to the doctor. But not if it’s Dr. Elmo.”

  “Dr. Elmo. That’s hilarious.”

  “Okay, let me show you your room.”

  Carsie took Carnie to the bedroom that was just off the Pub Room.

  “This is handy,” said Carnie.

  “Please go easy on the booze while you’re here.”

  “What do you mean—‘while I’m here?’ I don’t plan to ever leave.”

  Carsie laughed. “Funny.”

  But Carnie was not joking.

  **********

  Macy peeked in, expecting to see Mallie Mae in her favorite chair. Instead, she was standing at a front window, staring at the sky. The matriarch spent most of her time in her bedroom these days. She had everything she needed right there. The room was spacious and beautifully furnished. And Macy was ready to jump at her command.

  “Did you finish your lunch, Mallie Mae?”

  The 75-year-old Mallie Mae Mobley loved Macy like the daughter she never had.

  “Yes, I’m finished. But tell Hadley the ham was dry.”

  “You know that will hurt his feelings.”

  “I don’t care. I won’t eat dry ham. I’ve told him over and over, but he keeps sending me dry ham.”

  “Yes, Ma’am. I’ll tell him.

  Macy walked over to pick up the tray.

  “What do you think about Lilman’s fiancé?

  “She a nice young lady, I suppose.”

  “Macy—tell me what you reallythink.”

  Macy studied Mallie Mae’s face to make sure she really wanted to hear her opinion. “I’m not crazy about her.”

  “I think she’s awful—a crude money-hungry tramp.”

  Macy tried not to smile.

  Mallie Mae went on. “If there was any way I could stop this wedding without alienated my son, I would do it in a heartbeat.”

  “Just tell him how you feel.”

  “No, no, no. Then he’ll be determinedto marry her—and he’ll be mad at me. I wanted him to be a surgeon, you know. I had planned it since he was a little boy. He could have been a world-class surgeon.”

  Macy had heard this story nearly every day since she took the job as a personal aide fifteen years earlier, after Mallie Mae had taken a fall and broken her leg.

  Macy had grown up in Kilgore, graduated from the two-year nursing program at Kilgore College, and joined the staff at Coreyville General Hospital as a Licensed Vocational Nurse. Two years later, she had doubled her salary by going to work for the Mobleys.

  She fell in love with Elmo early on, and dreamed that her life would turn out just like the lives of the women in her favorite romance novels. Eventually he would fall for her, and they would get married and live happily ever after. But it was taking much longer than she had expected. Then Carsie Slitherstone came into the picture.

  Macy started listening to Mallie Mae again.

  “…so he decided to become a pediatrician. And there was nothing I could do about it. Maybe if I hadn’t pushed him so hard to be a surgeon, things would have turned out differently. He despised me all the way through medical school. I’m not sure he ever completely forgave me. And I don’t want to do anything to make him hate me like that again. I don’t think I could survive it.”

  “So, what can you do to change his mind?”

  “Nothing. It’s hopeless. Unless that woman does something to rub him the wrong way. Maybe this sister of hers will accidentally tip him off to what he’s getting himself into. From what I understand she’s even worse than Carsie.”

  “Really?”

  “That’s what I’ve heard. We’ll see. He stayed single for all these years. At first I thought he was just being very picky. And I thought that was good. But now he’s 56 years old. It’s no wonder a lot of people started thinking he was gay.”

  Macy had heard this speech many times. But it didn’t bother her before, since she always thought Elmo would marry hersome day.

  Mallie Mae continued. “Maybe the sister will blurt out something horrible about the lovely bride’s past. I just hope she does it beforethe wedding.”

  Chapter4

  “What did you get?” said Cynthia.

  “Groundhog Day. It’s one of my favorite movies.”

  Greg closed and locked Cynthia’s front door. Then he walked over and sat down on the couch next to Cynthia.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.”

  “You’re gonna love it.”

  “Who’s in it? What’s it about?”

  “It’s about this egotistical weatherman, played by Bill Murray. He gets stuck in a time warp. Then he finally realizes he’s gonna keep reliving the same day over and over again until he gets it right. And it’s got Andie MacDowell. I love her. I can’t believe you’ve never seen it. It’s a classic.”

  “Well, it sounds good.”

  Greg loaded the DVD and started up the movie.

  Cynthia had the popcorn ready to go.

  They laughed as Phil did everything he could think of to win Rita’s heart. By the end of the film, they both had watery eyes.

  “That’s a wonderful movie,” said Cynthia.

  “I told you.”

  “Hey, I’ll be your Rita and you can be my Phil.” She was ready for a kiss.

  Greg started to kiss her, and then stopped. “But what if I’d rather be Ned Ryerson?”

  “Shut up and kiss me, Stupid.”

  “But first, Ned wants to sell you some insurance.”

  “Ned can go step in a mud puddle. This is for Phil,” said Cynthia.

  She grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him hard on the lips. “Still want to be Ned?” she said with a grin.

  Greg pulled her close and started a kiss. After a few seconds, he was about to pull away when Cynthia took over for a while. Then Greg again. It went back and forth. He hoped Cynthia would keep him in check, because he was feeling more out of control by the second.

  It would be different if Cynthia’s mother were living in the house, he thought. Could they still make out on the couch like this? Not likely. Beverly could walk in on them at any moment if she lived there. Greg was committed to having no sex outside of marriage, but Cynthia’s amazing body and passionate kissing were tempting him to the limit. He was in danger of going on autopilot. His body could explain it all to his brain later.

  Oh, by the way, Brain, earlier tonight I took over for you, and made wild, crazy love to Cynthia. She was on autopilot too. It was great. Hope you didn’t mind. Signed, Your Body. P.S. I forgot to ask if you wanted to use protection.

  Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing for Cynthia’s mother to move in with her sexy daughter. But what if he and Cynthia were making out at hishouse?

  **********

  Macy Golong peeked into Mallie Mae’s room and was not surprised to see her sleeping. Elmo’s mother rarely stayed up past 10:00 PM, and it was nearly 11:00. She closed the door and started to go back to her room across the hall. She was halfway through a romance novel. But Hadley’s delicious oatmeal raisin cookies were calling to her.

  She walked down the stairs to the kitchen and put a few cookies on a plate. Then she poured a glass of milk. She wondered what Elmo was doing. Was he in the Media Room with Carsie? TheirMedia Room? Before Elmo and Carsie got together, Elmo and Macy used to spend hours almost every night in that room. Some nights he had almost kissed her.

  She left her milk and cookies on the kitchen counter and went down another flight of stairs, which came out in the Recreation Room. Macy could hear the sound of the TV coming from Media Room. She tiptoed to the open doorway and peeked in. There she was—that conniving slut—
sitting where Macy should have been. How could Elmo have replaced her like that? She thought he had been falling in love with her. How could she have been so wrong? But it could still happen—if that woman would just go away.

  Elmo said, “Yeah. So, beginning Monday there will be twodoctors in the office. That should take a little pressure off. If I need to be out for a day or two, Dr. Edwards can fill in for me.”

  “Yeah, or if you need to take off a week for a trip to Hawaii with your beautiful new wife.” Carsie gave him a sexy smile.

  “That’s right. Dr. Ernie will take care of everything while I’m gone.”

  “Dr. Ernie?”

  “Yeah. I asked if he would mind being called ‘Dr. Ernie’. His name is Ernest, but I thought ‘Dr. Ernie’ would fit in well with the Sesame Street theme of my office.”

  “So the two of you are Drs. Elmo and Ernie?”

  “Yep.”

  “That’s cute, Honeypie.”

  “The kids will like it.”

  “The only thing better would have been Bertand Ernie.”

  “Yeah. But unfortunately, Baby, my name is not Bert.”

  “No problem. I don’t want Bert anyway. I want Elmo.”

  Carsie threw her leg over Elmo’s lap and straddled him. She placed her hands on the sides of his head and snuggled it in between her breasts. Then she began to slide her body slowly toward and then away from his crotch. And again. And again.

  “Oh, yeah. I want some Elmo. And I want it right now.”

  Macy had seen more than enough. She would try to erase that last few seconds from her memory. She and Elmo would still get together. Somehow.

  She had been so busy watching the doctor and his bride-to-be, that she had not even noticed Carnie, who was sitting across from her in the dark Pub Room, sipping her Vodka Tonic. The light from the TV shown through Macy’s flimsy gown. Carnie had been enjoying the silhouette of her firm, shapely body standing in the doorway.

  Carnie admired a well-toned body—male or female. She loved the feel of the smooth, tight skin. Sometimes it made her want to rip off her clothes and have sex. Other times she just wanted to slash that beautiful skin with a razor blade. Once she got a taste, her lust for the flesh was ravenous, whether making love to it…or mutilating it.