Hideaway Hospital Murders (29 page)

Greg thought this was his best chance—while
Sylvia’s back was to him and the two women were arguing. He quietly
flipped the latch and released the bedrail his handcuffs were
attached to.

“
But, Honey, we’re a team.
And you don’t break up a great team,” said Sylvia.

“
I don’t want to be on your
team anymore,” screamed Carnie.

Greg eased the bedrail up and out of its
slots, rushed up behind Sylvia and wrapped his right arm around her
throat. The he slammed the bedrail across the front of her body,
knocking the pistol out of her hand.

Macy jumped forward to reach for the gun,
but Sylvia kicked it across the room.

“
Looks like we have a
change in plans.
This
one wants to go first. Let
go of me right now!” said Sylvia. “Or Carnie will start shooting
people!”

But Greg tightened his grip
around her neck. It looked like they were all going to die anyway.
He had to try
something
.

Carnie seemed ambivalent.

“
Kill them, Carnie! Start
with Macy or Elmo.”

Carnie stood frozen.

“
Do it, Carnie!
Now!”

“
Only if you go along with
what
I
want,”
said Carnie coldly.

“
Are you
crazy
? Shoot
somebody!”

“
No! I’m tired of following
your orders. The woman in that bed right there is Marcia Cleggmore.
Her family is very wealthy. We can get a huge ransom for
her.”

“
I don’t care about the
money, Carnie. It’s all about making Mallie Mae suffer—for what she
did to me.”

“
That was 50 years ago, Old
Woman! Why can’t you just get over it?” said Carnie.

“
I’m not going to bargain
with you—just do what I say!”

“
No! I’m sick of it! You
made me murder all those innocent people. And you made me kill
Jake. I really liked him.”

“
Quit being a baby,
Carnie.”

“
And
you abused me.”

“
No, I didn’t.”

“
You started having sex
with me when I was just a little girl.”

“
You wanted it too.
You
know
you
did.”

“
I didn’t know
what
I wanted. I was
just a kid! You’re the one who turned me into a monster.” Carnie
pointed the gun at Sylvia and walked toward her, getting angrier
with each step.

“
Just settle down, Sweetie.
I love you.”

“
Let go of her, or I’ll
shoot…somebody,” said Carnie. From the look in her eyes, she just
might have been ready to kill everybody.

Greg released her and stepped back.

Sylvia turned around and glared at Greg.
“Mister, you’ve just earned yourself a bullet in the head for that
foolhardy—”

Sylvia’s expression of glee turned to
surprise and fear when she felt the bullet rip into her back. She
stumbled and turned around to face Carnie. “What are you doing? I’m
the only one who’s ever loved you.”

“
Lady, because of you, I
don’t even know what love is,” said Carnie in monotone.

Sylvia collapsed to the floor. “You can kill
me, but you’ll never be free of your demons.” Even as she was
dying, Sylvia found the strength for one last dirty, evil
smile.

Carnie stood over her and looked down in
disgust as she said her final goodbye. “You’re the Satan in my
soul.”

She pulled the trigger without
flinching.

Sylvia was gone, but her eyes stared at
Carnie as though she could still see her.

Carnie stepped back and
picked up the other gun. “Now,
I’m
in charge.”

Chapter
37

The wound was not as serious as he had first
thought. The dizziness, he had decided, was caused by running like
a maniac to get away from Carnie—not by the bullet that hit his
left side. If her aim had been three or four inches to the right,
Hadley might have already been dead. As it was, he had minor
bleeding and a sharp pain in his ribs.

He was familiar with the sensation of a
cracked rib. But this pain was worse—she must have taken a little
chunk out with that bullet, he thought. Still, he knew he was very
fortunate. He pulled off his shirt, rolled it up and tied it around
his ribcage to slow the bleeding.

As he walked quickly and painfully toward
the Buick, he remembered his cell phone was on the front seat. The
Coreyville cops could be there in five minutes. And if he hadn’t
thought he could handle the situation himself, he would have called
them.

What would happen if the
police came charging in? Carnie might start shooting everyone in
sight. He couldn’t take that chance. The crazy woman thought he was
dead. He would use
that
to his
advantage.

He quietly opened the trunk, took out his
shotgun and loaded it. He hadn’t killed anybody since Korea, but he
wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever it took to protect his family.

He crept up the stairs and into the house.
Then he stopped to listen.

It was very faint, but he could hear a
woman’s voice coming from downstairs.

He went down to the basement, and could hear
the voice more clearly now. It was Carnie. Good, he thought. Right
now she was too far away to see or hear him.

He peeked into the media room. It was dark.
Then he determined Carnie’s location. Her door was closed, but he
knew she was not in there. He cracked the door and confirmed his
suspicion that the sub-basement had been breached.

He would have to call the
police
before
he went down there—or not at all. His cell phone barely had a
signal in the basement. It would be
worthless
in the
sub-basement.

**********

Now Carnie had two pistols—Elmo’s .22 and
the .38 she snatched out of the car dealer’s dying hand. She set
the small pistol on the table with the medical supplies while
keeping the .38 pointed at her prisoners. “Well, I’m looking
forward to calling in a ransom demand as soon as our Mrs.
Cleggmore wakes up. But it looks like we’ve got some time to kill.
Come here, Macy.”

Macy walked toward her slowly, not knowing
what to expect.

“
Untie your
robe.”

“
Why?”

Carnie glared at her and pointed the gun at
her head.

Macy untied it.

“
Good. Now, unbutton your
gown.”

“
Carnie, what are you
doing?” said Elmo.

Carnie ignored him. “Now!” she said to
Macy.

The buttons on Macy’s gown went from neck to
waist. She struggled to unbutton them with shaky hands. Carnie
didn’t seem to mind waiting—and watching.

“
Now, come
closer.”

When Macy was within two feet, Carnie
stepped in and cupped her left hand around the back of Macy’s head,
and began to kiss her on the lips.

Macy could feel the gun in Carnie’s right
hand when she ran it up Macy’s left side and quickly found her
nipple—the same nipple Elmo had lovingly caressed a couple of hours
earlier.

She knew Carnie might push her away and
shoot her at any second. The bullet would pierce her exposed chest,
punching a hole through her heart. She would be dead almost
immediately.

Just as Macy’s dreams were
coming to life, they would die—as would she. Why had she waited so
long to let Elmo know how she felt? Even that very night on the
dance floor it had been an accident. She hadn’t
told him
how she felt. He had
seen it in her eyes.

But if she had made a move
on him when she first started to work there, she would have been
fired. Elmo would not have felt comfortable dating a 22
year-old—not when he was 41. But how about when she was 30 and he
was 49? He might have been okay with
that
.

She could have grabbed him
and kissed him. Or tried to seduce him. But she knew nothing about
seduction—except what she had read in hundreds of romance novels.
On second thought, maybe she knew
a
lot
about seduction. But reading it and
doing it are not the same thing.

She should have at least tried, though. If
she had, maybe Elmo wouldn’t have been available for Carsie’s scam.
Maybe he would have already been married to Macy. Then, she
thought, none of these lives would be in peril right now.

Macy was relieved when Carnie stopped
kissing her. But then Carnie moved her mouth down to Macy’s breast.
Macy cringed at the realization that her body was responding to
Carnie’s touch. And now her nipple was getting even harder as
Carnie encircled it with her warm, slippery tongue. Macy was not
gay. It was just a natural reaction to the stimulation. And in
fact, after what she had seen and heard tonight, she figured Carnie
was probably not gay either.

Not that any of it matters
now, she thought. They were all about to die—unless somebody made a
courageous sacrifice for the sake of the others. Could she wrestle
the gun away from Carnie? And even if she did—what about the
other gun
on the
table?

Carnie pushed Macy back forcefully, nearly
knocking her down. “We could have been great together, Honey.” She
studied the faces across from her. “Now, who do I want to mess with
next?”

“
Hold it right there,
Carnie.” The voice boomed from the long corridor.

Carnie’s mind had been so preoccupied with
Macy’s shapely body that she hadn’t noticed when the lights in the
corridor went out. She recognized the voice as Hadley’s, but
couldn’t see him. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“
I was
supposed
to be dead in 1952.
Now, put your gun down on the floor and kick it toward
me.”

“
You’re good, Hadley. I’ll
say that.” Carnie squatted and appeared to be following Hadley’s
instructions. Then she rolled to the floor and started shooting
blindly into the dark corridor. She fired all six rounds. Hadley
did not return fire.

The room was silent, except for the
diminishing echoes of the gunshots.

“
You missed,” said Hadley.
As he had figured, she had assumed he was standing, not lying down.
“Now, just stay right there on the floor.”

But she didn’t. She scrambled to the table,
picked up the .22 and fired into the corridor, emptying the
gun.

“
Are you done?” said
Hadley.

“
I
know
I shot you in the front
yard.”

Hadley stepped into the light of the
hospital ward, holding his shotgun. The rolled-up shirt he had tied
around himself was bloody in one spot. “Yes, you did. But it’s not
the first time I’ve ever been shot.”

Carnie stood up.

“
Just stay right there,”
said Hadley.

She reached behind her back and pulled out
the knife.

“
Don’t make me do it,” said
Hadley.

She looked directly at Elmo and raised the
knife above her head. “Everybody say ‘goodbye’ to Elmo.”

She pulled her arm back, ready to throw the
knife, but before she could release it, Hadley fired the
shotgun.

The knife few against the wall, along with
two of Carnie’s fingers. The rest of her bloody hand was scattered
across the table and on the floor. She lay on the floor, screaming
in agony. Her former prisoners looked on in horror.

“
Somebody go upstairs and
call 911,” said Hadley.

But nobody reacted. All eyes were on
Carnie.

She felt across the floor with her left hand
and found the knife.

“
No—put it down,” said
Hadley.

“
I’m sorry for the horrible
things I’ve done,” she said, holding the blade at her
throat.

Hadley was surprised by the look in her
eyes—her remorse seemed real.

“
But I’m not going to
prison.” And with a quick jerk of the knife the blood began to gush
from her neck.

Hadley knew there was nothing he could do to
save her. He knelt and watched her sad eyes quickly fade.

After a few moment of complete silence,
Cynthia said, “Could somebody please get these handcuffs off of
us?”

Hadley found the key on the table and took
it to Cynthia. She took off her cuffs and Beverly’s, and gave the
key back to Hadley, who went to the next bed.

Cynthia prayed that the drug Carnie had
given her mom and the other women had not done any permanent
damage. But they were lucky to have slept through most of the
ordeal.

Greg was still carrying around the bedrail
he was handcuffed to. He put his arm around Cynthia. “Sweetie, are
you okay?”

“
Yes. I just hope Mom’s
going to be alright.

Even before Elmo’s handcuffs had been
removed, Macy ran to him and hugged him.

Mallie Mae smiled. “I refuse to let you two
waste any more time. We need to start planning the wedding.”

Macy wrenched her head around in shock,
popping her neck. “What?”

“
I said we need to start
planning your wedding,” said Mallie Mae.

“
But…Elmo hasn’t
proposed…”