Hideaway Hospital Murders by Robert Burton Robinson Read Free Book Online Page A

staircase through a long hallway,
and then to the left through a doorway.
    “ You’re kidding me,” she
said to herself.
    It was a laboratory, complete with Bunsen
burners, test tubes, etc. There was a blackboard with some formulas
written on it, and a few journals. Carnie picked one up, and
thumbed through it, but couldn’t make sense of the scientific
jargon. She hadn’t been in a room like this since high school
chemistry, which she had flunked.
    Across the room was a closed door. One of
those large doors like they use on exterior walls. She twisted the
knob, and pushed the door open with her foot. It was just a
bathroom. A very large bathroom. She flipped on the light and stuck
her head in the door. But when she looked to the right, she saw a
woman looking back at her. She gasped and yanked her head out of
the room.
    “ Hello?”
    No answer.
    Somebody was living down there, doing who
knows what—underneath her as she slept. She should have brought her
gun down with her, she thought.
    She peeked in—and felt silly when she
realized she had been scared by her own reflection. There was a
full-length mirror on the wall. It was huge—she figured about six
or seven feet tall and three feet wide.
    So, why did the good doctor have a secret
laboratory in his house? She couldn’t wait to show it to Carsie. It
was just weird.
    She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket
and dialed.
    “ You’re not gonna believe
what I found under the basement.”
    “ Dead bodies?”
    “ What? No. It’s another
basement. There’s a lower basement under the regular basement.
Weird huh?”
    “ What’s down
there?”
    “ Some kind of science lab
and a big bathroom with a huge mirror.”
    “ Is Carsie with
you?”
    “ No, she’s gone to the
mall. There was a secret passageway underneath my bed. I had to
work like crazy to get it open.”
    “ That’s strange. But don’t
get distracted. It’s just a few more days until the
wedding.”
    “ Yes, Ma’am. And our plan
is working out perfectly. Nothing can stop us now.”
    **********
    Dr. Mobley’s office hours were 8:30 AM to
5:00 PM. At least that’s what it said on the door. But there was
usually a frantic parent or two, calling about their Johnny or
Susie and a high fever, and could the doctor please work them in
today. And, of course, Elmo would never turn them away. On a
typical day, he got home at around 7:00 PM.
    So, Carsie had been surprised when he had
called her to set up an early dinner. They had agreed to meet at
Johnny Caces Seafood & Steakhouse in Longview at 6:00 PM.
    “ How did you get away so
early?”
    “ Dr. Edwards took my last
couple of appointments.”
    “ Oh, yeah—your new
partner.”
    Once the waiter had taken their order,
Carsie said, “Why couldn’t I invite Carnie? She loves this
place.”
    “ Because we need to talk
about something important—just the two of us.”
    “ Okay.” She was concerned
about the tone of Elmo’s voice. This could only be bad news, she
thought.
    “ Did you notice that Mallie
Mae and Macy were gone today?”
    “ Well, I didn’t notice. But Carnie saw
them getting into a limo this morning.”
    “ I sent them to Dallas.
Mother needed to see a specialist.”
    “ What’s wrong with
her?”
    “ I think she has
Alzheimer’s. We’ll know after we get the test results.”
    “ So, what does that
mean—that she’s losing her memory? At least it’s not cancer. It’s
not so horrible if you just forget a name occasionally. Or forget
where you put your keys. After all, she is getting old.”
    “ No. It’s much worse than
that. Yesterday she was trying to brush her teeth with a hairbrush.
She couldn’t even think of the word ‘teeth.’”
    “ Oh. That’s not
good.”
    “ Yeah. And that’s just the
beginning. Eventually, you forget how to get into bed, how to put
on your clothes, how to go to the bathroom. Then you can’t walk or
even speak. Eventually, your entire body quits functioning and you
die.”
    “ I