Depth of Deception (A Titanic Murder Mystery) (22 page)

"
Let’s go Mary,
"
snapped Ian.
"
We got a long drive ahead of us, eh.
"

Mary managed a smile to Natalie and left with Ian. Natalie stood there for a long time watching her disappear out the front door.
Something’s wrong.
Natalie couldn’t put her finger on it, but something wasn’t right.

_ _ _

Something‘s wrong.

Detective Chief Inspector de Kirkhaugh had tried to get his mind on to other matters but something that blasted private investigator said kept nagging at him.
Prove me wrong!

Naturally he had said it to bait him. To annoy him. It had worked. Callum Toughill was as crazy as those conspiracy nuts who think the Loch Ness Monster is a military weapon, hidden by the British Government. He wasn’t going to buy into that rubbish.

On the other hand, he had determined that Ruth McArthur, an old lady who lived in the same house since the Agatha Gilcrest murder, was killed by a hitman. The bullets that were used were made up of an odd mixture of gallium, indium and gelatin coating. Upon impact
,
they would disintegrate from the body
's
temperature, making the bullets untraceable. The cost of a single 100-grain bullet was estimated to be
£
75. In addition, the gun used to fire such a bullet would have to be modified and the bullets transported in a cooler of some sort.

He had seen it before. This was the method of a hitman known only as ‘Jack Frost’. But why? Why such a specialized and expensive assassin for a little old lady?

DCI de Kirkhaugh had hoped that Callum Toughill was ‘Jack Frost’ but he’d had no cooler for transporting such a bullet, and ballistics had determined that a modified weapon would be needed to fire that kind of bullet—the heat generated from the igniting gunpowder would melt the bullet before it left the chamber in a traditional firearm.

Callum’s weapon was quite traditional—a Walther P38—and had no traces of gallium in it. Not to mention the fact that his pathetic story checked out.

Lost in thought, de Kirkhaugh found himself in the ‘other morgue’, known outside the department as the records file room. What was he doing here? It was ludicrous. He wasn’t going to give Toughill that satisfaction. He was going to go back upstairs and forget he ever met Toughill or heard of Agatha Gilcrest…

"
What can I do for you, sir?
"
asked the cheery voice of the records clerk.

De Kirkhaugh couldn’t help himself, and found himself saying,
"
I would like to get the file on the Agatha Gilcrest murder.
"

. . .

Ian’s gold-colored sports car sped northward along Interstate 95, as Myra stared out the window at the world passing by. Nervously, she gripped onto the door handle for dear life. She was suddenly jolted by an odd ringing sound. Ian turned down the music from his 8-Track player and picked up the receiver of his car telephone.

"
Yeah,
"
Ian answered the phone ungraciously.

The voice on the end snarled,
"
Do you have her?’

He glanced over at her,
"
Yep. She’s with me now.
"

"
Can she hear me?
"
the voice asked.

Ian looked over at his passenger who continued to stare intently out the window,
"
No.
"

"
Good. Do you have the directions?
"

"
Yup. We should be there soon,
"
Ian replied.

"
Remember, she can never be seen again.
"

Ian smiled,
"
Don’t worry, I’ll make sure of that.
"

Chapter
XXVII

Natalie found it very difficult to concentrate for th
e rest of the day. By lunchtime
she was ready to go hom
e
and decided to cancel the rest of her appointments and blame it on the impending storm. As she was on her way out, one of the nurses pointed her out to a woman at the front desk. As she approached, Natalie could see a hospital nurse’s uniform peeking out from under her winter coat.

"
Dr. Lindsay?
"
the woman asked.
"
I’m Denise Tosia. I’ve been trying to reach you all morning.
"

"
Sorry, I didn’t return your call,
"
Natalie said bluntly.
"
I was busy.
"

"
I see, but please understand that I have taken some professional risks to contact you.
"

"
Look, I don’t mean to be rude,
"
Natalie interrupted,
"
But I’m not feeling well. Can I call you tomorrow?
"

Before Denise could reply Natalie turned towards the front doors.

"
It’s about Myra!
"
Denise called after her.
"
It took some doing to track down that she had been brought here.
"

Natalie stopped and turned back towards her,
"
What about Myra?
"

Denise pulled a hospital record file from her large shoulder bag
.
"
I was her attending nurse at the hospital when she was brought in.
"

"
Well, Miss Tosia. You’re too late. I had been requesting her medical records for days and now Myra… or whatever her name is… is no longer a patient of mine,
"
said Natalie. Then quickly added,
"
Or yours for that matter.
"

"
I think someone’s trying to kill her.
"

_ _ _

Ian is an idiot,
Myra thought.

He obviously didn’t know how loud his telephone receiver was. She could clearly hear the voice on the other end of the line. While he talked she turned her head and looked out the window at wind gusts blowing through the passing trees, pretending she couldn’t hear. There was something familiar about the other voice but it was too tinny for her to identify it. One thing she knew for certain was that the man claiming to be her husband was going to kill her unless she thought of something quickly.

Myra had seen the pistol he was carrying as they got into the automobile. She decided, for her own safety, to act as if she hadn’t.

She was suddenly jolted in her seat as Ian abruptly steered to the shoulder of the road, then slammed on the breaks. The automobile skidded to a stop.

Was this it?
Was this the place where he was going to shoot her?

. . .

"
We can speak freely here, Miss Tosia,
"
said Natalie as she led her into the empty lounge. Most of the staff had gone home early to avoid the snow.

"
Call me Denise.
"

"
Ok, Denise,
"
Natalie said as she set her purse down on the nearest table. She didn’t bother taking off her coat, as she didn’t plan on staying very long.
"
What can you tell me about Myra?
"

"
First of all, I’d like to mention that I’ve never taken a risk or followed up on a patient like this before, but this one’s special,
"
began Denise as she sat at the table. She took a moment to gather her thoughts.
"
I see death every night. I’ve often been the one to have to tell families that there is no medical miracle. I believed that… until Myra was brought in. By all rights she should have been dead twice over. I saw her come back to life… twice. She personifies medical miracle.
"

Natalie understood firsthand how Myra had a way of indelibly imprinting herself on someone, but was reluctant to believe that there was anything miraculous or supernatural about her. She decided to cut to the chase.
"
You said someone was trying to kill her. What makes you say that?
"

"
I wanted to go to the police but since Myra’s identity was unknown, I tracked her down here,
"
began Denise. Natalie nodded as Denise opened up the folder she had with her,
"
Myra’s toxicology revealed traces of what appeared to be opium.
"

"
Opium?
"
Natalie was confused.
"
The withdrawal symptoms of opium addiction are quite physical…sometimes violent. She didn’t exhibit any of the signs. In fact our nurses here discovered she had low blood pressure.
"

"
Our staff had the same findings,
"
continued Denise.
"
Myra should have been having increased blood pressure from the withdrawals. So our on-call doctor ordered a new blood test to be run.
"

"
And?
"

Denise flipped the page in the folder,
"
They were able to determine that it was actually Laudanum in her system.
"

"
Laudanum?
"
exclaimed Natalie.
"
I didn’t know
you could still get that
.
"

"
You can’t. Well, there are variations of it known as Tincture of Opium for medicinal purposes. And from what the lab determined she’s been ingesting it over a long period of time.
"

"
After a long period of time, it would have the internal effects as opium: Dysphoria, respiratory depression, liver damage…
"
recited Natalie.

"
The FDA deems it unproven treatment and potentially fatal after prolonged use. It’s been tightly regulated since the 1971 Uniform Controlled Substanc
es Act. Our hospital pharmacist
tells me that because it’s so regulated, it costs about $150 per ounce.
"

"
There are cheaper ways of poisoning someone,
"
remarked Natalie as she was trying to process it all.

"
However, that’s not the puzzling part,
"
said Denise as she pointed to a section on the toxicology report.
"
The type found in Myra’s blood stream had a higher percentage of the weight per volume of accepted levels of anhydrous morphine. And from what I’m told, that tincture of opium hasn’t been available since the 1920’s.
"

"
Miss… Denise... I sincerely hope you aren’t giving credence to Mary’s delusion.
"

"
Mary?
"

"
That’s her real name. Her husband arrived this morning to take her home.
"

"
To where?
"
asked Denise in surprise.

"
It’s in her file upstairs in my office… look
,
it doesn’t matter. She created this
Titanic
fantasy as a coping mechanism after she discovered she could never have children.
"

"
What?
"
Denise’s one eyebrow arched.
"
Who said she could never have children?
"

"
Her husband.
"

Denise flipped some pages in the file, then handed her a photograph. Natalie looked at it for a moment, confused.
What am I
supposed to be looking for
?
Then, she saw it at the same time Denise said it aloud,
"
A Caesarian scar…a nasty one too. As a registered nurse who once worked in a maternity ward, I can say with certainty, she did bear a child!
"

_ _ _

"
Wait here,
dear!
"
said Ian as he opened the car door. The way he said ‘dear’ made Myra’s skin crawl, and she was hit with a wave of nausea.

She heard him undo the zipper on his pants, and then heard the stream of urine on the ground outside.
How vulgar!
She considered opening her car door and running, but there was nowhere to run… he would simply shoot her in the back. Then she noticed the automobile’s phone between her and the driver
's
seat.