035 Bad Medicine (6 page)

“A few years.” The boy plucked at his sheets. “I won’t play this year.”

“Oh, you never know. You’ve got six months until fall season. You’ll be as good as new by then.” He glanced over his shoulder, spying Nancy and Ned in the doorway. “Be back later,” he told the boy with a wink.

“What’s up?” he asked, joining them in the corridor.

Trevor listened attentively while Nancy told him about her theory regarding the altered charts. “Nancy, you’re fantastic! So
that’s
how it was done!”

“We don’t know for certain,” Nancy reminded him. “It’s just a theory.”

“I’m going straight to the chief of staff to straighten this out,” Trevor said, already in motion.

“Trevor, I—”

“Catch you later,” he yelled, running through the closing doors of the elevator.

“Now what?” Ned asked.

Nancy pushed back a strand of hair from her face. The way Trevor jumped to conclusions made her uneasy. “How about food?” she suggested.

“You read my mind. But let’s get out of this place, okay?”

“Okay.”

They rode the elevator down to the first floor and headed for the exit. Ned held the door, and the cool evening air stirred Nancy’s hair.

“You know, I should talk to April before we leave,” Nancy said. “I want to know more about David Baines.”

Ned clutched his stomach as if he might die of starvation,

Nancy laughed. “Bring the car around to the front of the hospital. I’ll be right back. I promise.”

“Okay.”

Nancy walked quickly down the corridor toward the front desk. It was quite possible April had already left for the day, and if so, Nancy was going to have to call her dorm room.

“Could you page Dr. April Shaw?” she asked the woman wearing the headset.

Recognizing Nancy, the woman smiled and complied. Within moments a call came back through. “Dr. Shaw’s in the cafeteria, Ms. Drew. She asked you to join her.”

When Nancy entered the cafeteria, she found April seated in the corner, an untouched plate of food pushed aside. She was holding a photograph in her hands as Nancy sat down beside her.

“Hi,” Nancy said, looking at the photograph. “How’re you doing?”

“This is a picture of my dad.” She handed it to Nancy. Tears suddenly filled her blue eyes. “It’s all so terrible,” she said, her voice cracking. Suddenly she covered her face with both hands and sobbed. All the emotion she’d been bottling up came pouring out. “I feel so guilty!”

“April, I’m really sorry about your father,” Nancy murmured softly.

“No. No.” She shook her head, sniffing. “I miss him, but his death was a blessing. Now it’s Trevor I’m worried about.”

“Listen, don’t worry about Trevor. Everything will be fine as soon as I—”

“You don’t understand.” April dropped her hands, staring at Nancy through scared, tear-drenched eyes. “I think—I think . . .” She stopped, as if she couldn’t go on.

“You think what?” Nancy probed gently.

“Nancy, I think Trevor’s got serious problems. It
is
his fault that my father’s body is missing! He’s the one making the mistakes!”

Nancy stared at April in disbelief. “What do you mean?”

“These things that have happened—they’re not coincidences. There’s only one explanation that makes sense: Trevor arranged everything!
We only have his word that he didn’t.” April’s eyes swam with fresh tears.

She’s really distressed and not thinking clearly, Nancy thought. “April, listen to me. I think I know how Trevor’s patients’ charts were tampered with.” Quietly and calmly she explained her theory.

But April shook her head. “Nancy, there’s more.” With a supreme effort, April collected herself. People at other tables were starting to stare, and she pulled a tissue from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. “Nancy, the CCU nurse reported a conversation she overheard between Trevor and my father. My father was depressed, and he told Trevor it would be better if he just died. Nancy, he even suggested
ways
Trevor could arrange it.”

“The CCU nurse told you this?” Nancy asked quickly.

April nodded. “Uh-huh. She reported it to Dr. Rayburn, too. What if Trevor did kill my father?” she asked in a low, shaky voice. “Oh, Nancy, what if Trevor thought he was doing me and my dad a favor?”

N
ANCY WANTED
to cover her ears. She’d just seen what a wonderful doctor Trevor was. Could what April was suggesting be true?

“Maybe that’s why he’s hidden the body,” April said, clapping her hand over her mouth in distress. “He’s afraid an autopsy will reveal the truth!”

“You’re talking murder, April,” Nancy warned quietly. “A mercy killing is still murder.”

“I know,” she murmured miserably. “Why do you think I’m scared to death?”

Ten minutes later Nancy walked April through the cool spring evening to her dorm. She signaled
to Ned, indicating through hand motions where she was headed. Ned turned on his lights and drove ahead of them toward the dorm.

April was like a zombie. “You don’t have to baby-sit with me, Nancy.”

“You’re in no condition to be alone tonight. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”

“No, there’re a lot of people in the dorm. And Trevor will stop by later.” She sighed heavily. “I don’t know what I’m going to say to him.”

Realizing April had half convinced herself of Trevor’s guilt, Nancy saw it was becoming even more important to find out who had tampered with the files. I’ve just got to find them, figure out who did it, and
why,
she thought. Then Nancy remembered something she had wanted to ask April. “I ran into David Baines today,” she said. “Does he drive a Porsche?”

“Umm. I don’t know. No, wait a minute. Somebody said something about a red sports car. I think he does drive a Porsche.” She stared blankly at Nancy. “Why?”

“Well, how can he afford one on an orderly’s salary? Does he have another job?”

“I don’t know.”

Nancy tried another tack. “I overheard him say something about Saint Louis to Dr. Rayburn this afternoon. Didn’t you say your father was from Saint Louis?”

“Oh, I know what that’s about,” April answered. “Saint Louis is where David flunked out of med school. He told one of the staff he got thrown out by mistake, but knowing David, I doubt it.”

“Is that how he knew your father was a doctor?” Nancy was fishing, but she thought there might be some connection. “Could that be why David was so bitter toward him? Because your father taught at the med school that tossed him out?”

“Maybe.”

They stopped in front of the door to the dorm. “Thanks, Nancy,” April said with a small smile. “See you tomorrow.”

• • •

On Thursday morning Nancy smiled as she parked her car near the emergency room entrance. The now familiar buildings of Westmoor University Medical School looked solid and secure, not like the home of the mad killers who had filled Nancy’s dreams.

Spotting the reflection of her pink and white uniform in the hospital’s glass door, Nancy made a face. She had to find time away from her candy striper duties to do some investigating.

She’d barely begun recording new patient information when Trevor appeared. He was in
jeans and an open collared shirt. “Nancy,” he said. “Could I talk to you?”

“Sure.” She gave him a quick look. His voice was strained, and he looked as though he hadn’t shaved that morning. “You’re here awfully early.”

“I didn’t sleep at all last night. What’s wrong with April? She would hardly talk to me.”

Nancy sighed. “Trevor, I need to ask you some questions,” she said delicately, realizing he could easily take what she was about to say the wrong way.

“Ask away.”

“Well, I was talking to April, and apparently one of the CCU nurses overheard a conversation between you and April’s father.”

“What kind of conversation?”

Nancy explained to Trevor what April had told her, finishing with “The nurse apparently reported the conversation to Dr. Rayburn.”

At Nancy’s abrupt silence, Trevor glanced away. “I remember. Lots of patients talk like that, Nancy. They get depressed. You have to encourage them, and as they get better, they get over their depression.”

“But, Trevor, we’re talking about a patient who suggested a mercy killing!”

A dark flush moved up Trevor’s neck. “It
wasn’t like that.” His gray eyes fixed on Nancy’s for the first time since she had made her suggestion. “You don’t seriously believe I would perform a mercy killing, do you?”

“No. I don’t.”

“But someone else does, right? Who?” Trevor demanded, growing angry. “Who said that? Dr. Rayburn? He knows I’d never do anything like that!”

Nancy hardly knew what to say.

“No, wait. I get it. You talked to Suzanne yesterday, didn’t you? She somehow found out about that conversation. She won’t leave me alone.”

“It wasn’t Suzanne,” Nancy admitted reluctantly, “although I do need to talk to you about her.”

“Then who was it?” Trevor demanded, ignoring Nancy’s attempts to divert the conversation. At Nancy’s continued silence his face slowly changed. “Oh, no. Not April.” He looked shocked.

“April’s upset about her father,” Nancy said hurriedly. “I think she’s been hiding her feelings, trying to bury them. It didn’t work and now she’s a wreck. She said she even feels guilty.”

“Nancy.” Trevor’s eyes were full of pain and disbelief. “Does April believe I killed her father? Is that why she was so distant last night?”

How do I get myself into these things? Nancy wondered unhappily. “She knows you love her, and she thought maybe, because you knew how much it hurt her to see her father suffer . . .” She trailed off, not wanting to hurt Trevor further.

Trevor stared at Nancy for several moments, then slowly climbed to his feet. He left without saying goodbye. Nancy felt terrible. She went back to work, but could hardly concentrate. When Glen Waters called from the morgue, she listened only halfheartedly.

“Hey, look, security really tore this place apart from top to bottom. Dr. Shaw’s body just isn’t here,” Glen said. “But there is something kind of strange.”

“What?” Nancy asked.

“Well, Sam Hughes, the night man at the morgue, remembered that his keys were missing for a while the other night. He couldn’t find them the whole shift. Then just as he was about to leave—bingo—they were on the floor beneath the counter. Sam says he’s positive they weren’t there earlier. He looked.”

“Thank you, Glen,” Nancy said, excited. “You just solved one mystery for me!”

At lunchtime Nancy met Ned in the cafeteria. She told him about Glen’s message. “I’m sure that’s how the body snatcher got into the morgue. He lifted Sam’s keys, made duplicates, then
replaced them. He waited until the morgue was deserted, then let himself in and stole Dr. Shaw’s body.”

Ned bit into his hamburger. “But why?”

“Maybe an autopsy would reveal something he doesn’t want known,” Nancy guessed. Recalling her conversation with Trevor, she sighed. “I really feel bad for Trevor.”

“So do I,” admitted Ned.

“The only thing to do is wrap this investigation up as soon as possible and prove his innocence.”

As they left the cafeteria a few minutes later, a familiar feminine voice sounded somewhere ahead of them in the corridor. Nancy looked up, listening. “Ned,” she whispered. “I think that’s Suzanne Welles.”

Before Ned could respond, Suzanne sauntered around the corner. Gone was the serious woman of yesterday. She looked happy and bright.

To Nancy’s amazement Trevor appeared right behind Suzanne. Before either Nancy or Ned could react, Suzanne slipped her arms around Trevor and planted a long kiss on his lips. And Trevor didn’t fight back a bit!

N
ED MURMURED
in Nancy’s ear, “Talk about a lip lock.”

Nancy was so surprised she didn’t answer. Trevor finally surfaced from the kiss. When he saw Nancy and Ned, his face reddened. “Oh, hello. What are you two doing?” he asked, embarrassed.

“We just ate lunch,” Nancy murmured.

The starry-eyed look on Suzanne’s face made Nancy uneasy. What was going on? she wondered. The last she’d heard, Trevor didn’t want Suzanne anywhere near him. But that kiss told a different story!