Hideaway Hospital Murders (27 page)

Elmo led her into the room and showed her
the stairs. “It goes down to the sub-basement.”

“
How could I have been
living here for 15 years and not know about this?”

“
We wanted to forget about
it, so we closed it off.”

“
Forget about
what?”

“
There’s a laboratory down
there. My dad built it so he could do his experiments.”

“
Underground?”

“
Yeah. It’s a long story.
Look, I’ve gotta go down and find out what Carnie’s up to. You stay
here. Okay?”

“
Okay.”

Elmo went down the stairs, through the
hallway and into the lab. He didn’t see anybody, but he heard a
woman’s voice. It sounded as though it was coming from the
bathroom, so he went over to check it out.

The bathroom was empty, but the voice was
louder. He noticed that the mirror had been pulled away from the
wall on one side. He moved closer and discovered that the mirror
was also a door. The house had secrets even Elmo wasn’t aware
of.

He opened the mirror door and stepped into
the hospital ward. “What’s going on here?”

Sylvia had been harassing Greg. She spun
around and smiled. “Oh, Elmo. I was wondering how long it would be
before you joined us.”

“
Who are you and what are
you doing in my house?”

“
My name is Sylvia
Slitherstone. I went to college with Mallie Mae. We were suite
mates.”

“
That doesn’t explain why
you’re in my basement. Slitherstone? Are you related to Carsie and
Carnie?”

Cynthia shouted, “We’ve all been kidnapped.
She’s planning to kill us.”

Sylvia’s smile disappeared.

Elmo turned to run upstairs and call
911.

But then he saw Carnie. She was pointing a
gun at him. “What are you doing, Carnie?”

“
If you had just gone ahead
and married my sister, this wouldn’t be happening. Move over there
by that table.”

“
You mean
Carsie’s
in on
this?”

“
Yes. Well, sort of. She
was supposed to seduce you into marrying her so we could get our
hands on your money.”

“
I can’t believe
this.”

“
But in the process, she
fell in love with you.”

Sylvia chimed in. “A fairy tale love story,
huh, Doc?” She laughed.

Carnie kept her gun pointed at Elmo as she
walked to Ellen’s bed and removed the handcuff from her right
wrist. Then she moved away from the bed and ordered Elmo to walk
over and handcuff himself.

Elmo looked at Sylvia.
“You
couldn’t
be a friend of my mother’s.”

“
Oh, I never said we
were
friends
. I said we went to college together. I suppose we were
friends at first. But that ended when she stole your father away
from me.”

“
So, my dad dumped you way
back in college, and now you want
money
? Is that what this is all
about?”

“
No, not really. It’s more
about getting even. About getting what’s mine. Morford should have
been
my
husband. You should have been
my
son.”

“
Are you really that petty?
To hold a grudge for over 50 years?”

Sylvia stopped smiling. “I want what’s mine.
And I’m gonna take it.”

**********

Mallie Mae was still standing near the
bottom of the stairs watching Macy in Carnie’s room, when she heard
somebody come in the front door. Then she heard footsteps coming
down behind her. She knew that at any moment Macy would hear too,
and turn around. But there was nowhere to go but down.

“
Mallie Mae?” said Macy.
She rushed to her. “What are you doing up? Are you
okay?”

“
I’m fine. I
just—“

“—
what’s going on around
here?” Carsie said as she stepped off the bottom stair. “Why is
everybody up in the middle of the night?”

Macy and Mallie Mae looked at each other,
but said nothing.

“
And I think my grandmother
is over here too. Where’s Elmo?”

Before they could answer, Carsie saw that
Carnie’s bedroom door was open and the light was on. “And where’s
Carnie?”

Carsie ran to her sister’s
bedroom and saw the hole in the floor. “What’s
this
?” Then she heard somebody
below. “Hello?”

“
It’s me, Sis.” Carnie
walked up the stairs and into the room.

“
Carnie, what’s going on
here?”

“
We’re having a little
party down in the basement.”

“
I thought
this
was the
basement.”

Carnie looked at Mallie Mae and Macy. “Come
on, Ladies. Elmo wants you to come down too.”

As they were approaching Carnie’s room, she
reached into her suitcase, pulled out a little plastic bag and put
it in her skirt pocket. “Follow me.”

When they entered the lab, Macy looked
around and said, “Where’s Elmo?”

“
He’s in here.” Carnie led
them into the big bathroom and sent them through the mirrored
doorway.

Sylvia was standing at the far side of the
room holding the pistol. “Welcome, Ladies. Now the fun begins.”

“
Who are you, and how dare
you break into our home?” said Mallie Mae.

“
Don’t you recognize me,
Mallie Mae?”

“
No. Should I?”

“
We went to college
together. I was one of your suite mates.”

“
Sylvia?
”

Sylvia’s grin scared Macy.

“
Yes. So, I’m sure you know
why I’m doing this.”

“
I have no
idea.”

“
You stole my boyfriend,
Mallie Mae! I’ll never forgive you for that!”

“
Stole your
boyfriend?
Morford
?”

“
Yes, of course, Morford.
When your roommate dumped him, I was there to pick up the pieces.
But then she decided to play matchmaker, and introduced him
to
you
. She
was determined that
I
didn’t get him. She hated me.”

“
Martha didn’t
hate
you.”

“
Yes, she did. Bring it
over here, Carnie.”

Carnie reached into her pocket and took out
the little plastic bag as she walked to her grandmother. Sylvia
exchanged the gun in her hand for the bag in Carnie’s hand. Then
she reached into the bag and pulled out a silver bracelet. “But I
finally took my revenge on Martha.” She held up the bracelet and
walked over to Mallie Mae.

“
What’s that,” said Mallie
Mae.

“
I’m surprised you don’t
recognize it.”

“
It can’t be the bracelet
Morford gave her.”

Sylvia turned it over and held it close to
Mallie Mae’s eyes so she could read the inscription.

“
How did you get that?” The
horrible truth sunk in. “Somebody murdered her last week. It
was
you
!”

Sylvia started laughing. “She had it
coming.”

“
Just because she got me
and Morford together—over 50 years ago? Because of that you
murdered her
?”

Carnie spoke up. “Actually, I killed her.
And her nurse.”

“
And you’ve been living
in
my house
?” said Mallie Mae.

“
That’s right, Old Lady.”
Carnie pointed the gun at her. “Now get over there against the wall
and sit down! You too, Macy!”

Carsie was dizzy with confusion. “Carnie,
why did you have to ruin everything? Elmo and were going to get
married.”

“
Wrong,” said Carnie. “Elmo
wasn’t going to marry you.”

“
Yes, he was. He just
needed a little time to work things out for Mallie Mae and her
Alzheimer’s.”

“
I don’t believe Mallie Mae
even
has
Alzheimer’s disease,” said Carnie. “I think she was faking it
to break up you and Elmo.”

“
That’s not true, is it
Mallie Mae?”

Mallie Mae didn’t answer.

“
Besides,” said Carnie,
“tonight I caught Elmo making out with
Macy
.”

Carsie looked at Macy. “They’re great
friends. I’m sure Elmo was just giving her a friendly hug.”

“
Well, let me see if I can
paint the picture for you, Sis. They were in his study. And her
blouse was unbuttoned, her bra was flipped up and he was kissing
her on the boobs. And if I hadn’t walked in when I did—“

“—
Elmo, how could you?”
said Carsie.

She looked at Macy. “And I trusted you.” She
began to cry.

“
Quit being a baby,
Carsie,” said Sylvia. “Can’t you see that the Mobleys are all
alike?”

**********

Horatio jerked from his sleep when Hadley
tapped him on the shoulder.

“
What’s the matter, Ben?”
said Horatio.

“
I’m going
home.”

Horatio put on his glasses and looked at the
alarm clock. “But it’s 1:45 in the morning.”

“
I know. I’m sorry, but
I’ve got to get home. Something’s just not right. I called the
house phone and nobody answered.”

“
They’re
sleeping
.”

“
Yeah, but then I tried all
their cell phones, and nobody answered. And I know Elmo and Macy
would answer their cell phones at night.”

“
Well, maybe you should
call the police.”

“
No, I want to check it out
myself first.”

“
Goodbye, Ben,” said Alma
from the other side of the bed.

“
Sorry, Alma. Didn’t mean
to wake you,” said Hadley.

“
Well, call me if you need
anything,” said Horatio.

“
Okay, thanks. I really
enjoyed our day together, and I hope we can—”

Horatio was already snoring.

Chapter
35

The four women in the hospital beds were
still asleep. Greg, Cynthia, and Elmo were standing, handcuffed to
the bed guardrails. Macy, Mallie Mae, and Carsie were standing near
the doorway to the bathroom. Carnie and Sylvia were across the
room.

“
I’m sorry you were hurt
when Morford and I started dating,” said Mallie Mae to Sylvia. “I
had no idea.”

“
That’s hard to believe. I
would have still had a chance when he got tired of you—if you
hadn’t pulled him into bed and got yourself pregnant.”

“
I didn’t mean to get
pregnant. It was an accident.”

“
No, it wasn’t. It was your
way of stealing him away from me—forever.”

“
But he never went out with
you. I’ll bet he didn’t even know you were interested in
him.”

“
He
would
have gone out with me. But
then he had to
do the right
thing
and marry you.”

“
So, what do you want from
me?”

“
I had a beautiful plan.
Carsie would seduce Elmo, make him fall in love with her and they
would get married.”

“
I really do love you,
Elmo,” said Carsie.

“
Shut up, Carsie,” said
Sylvia.

But Carsie went on. “I was acting at
first—but then I really feel in love with you. And I tried to get
my grandmother to forget about her plan, but—”

“—
I said
shut up!
” Sylvia
paused for a moment to regain her composure. “And of course, Elmo
would love Carsie so much that he wouldn’t bother with a prenup.
But then, after a few months, Carsie would turn into an unlovable
witch and make him miserable.

“
In the meantime, Carnie
would take a nursing job at Coreyville General under one of her
many assumed names. She would bump into Elmo at the hospital and go
after him with her incredible sex appeal, and eventually make him
cheat on Carsie.”

“
You don’t know Elmo—he
would never do that,” said Mallie Mae.

“
Really? He was about to
marry Carsie. We were
so
close
. Anyway, after Elmo had cheated
on his new wife and she had found out, she would have divorced him
and bled him dry. Then my granddaughters and I would have enjoyed
the dividends of our success.

“
So, you see, my plan was
to make your son miserable and poor, and thereby, make you
miserable, Mallie Mae.”

“
You should have left Elmo
out of this.
I’m
the one you hate.”

“
Yes, but
he’s
the one
you love
.”

“
But your plan failed,”
said Mallie Mae. “Elmo was about to break up with Carsie. He’s in
love with Macy.”

“
No, he’s not—he loves me!
Don’t you, Elmo?” said Carsie.