The Hospital Murders

how to face them. Through some pull or other they had made the mai

d never faced a detective in his life. How did a

one. Dr. Harrison laughed at the question. It was the first time he had laughed since entering the hospital that morn

dose of paregoric once around! Buck up, old man! I suggest you tell

9

They are intelligent. Newspaper reporters grown up ... and you’

d. Like an oak, Harrison!

nd said, “Two men and a

hem in,

perfect control and heavy-set. His eyes, suit, overcoat, and hair were gray. His teeth were strong and even. His eyes showed the same steely calm that

? Matthew Higg

was deep a

e. It steadied Dr. MacArthur

ice co

ty, Dr. M

l. Green eyes melted 199 into mild cheeks. He had the utter inactivity

at of a contortionis

e was co

to know y

urned to the

have introduced you first, but air-travel l

. She stretched her capable hand and smi

Her face was ugly and expressive. The nose was too short, the mouth too wide, but the flashes were sudden and revealing. They were as vi

. MacArthur carefully seated her, took

ant trip

was old an

envelope from his inside coat pocket and handed it to MacArthur, “we were i

the letter and care

man cigarettes, struck a match and extended it to the woman. He always offer

took the match, lig

air and began reading and she sa

e letter was long, and evidently from the head of the det

full run of the hospital and thereby an opportunity, we gather, to question, without creating suspicion, in every department. We have recently had Mr. Higgins upon 201 a job necessitating the trapping of an embezzler within one of our largest New York h

nt stores, and as a hotel detective; also we have used him in the Pennsylvania Station. His nondescript a

e first ranking detectives in America. Mr. Smooty is originally an Englishma

wledge, he had ever sat in the presence of a Scotland Yard man. And as a little boy, next to being a dogca

his eyes had never left i

the last year we have had her upon one of the big liners between New York and Cherbourg, on the road with the circus, and living as an immigrant on the East Side. During the war, she worked for the Gov

w York. Miss Parkins was taken off political work today at the insistence of Dr. Bridgman, through whom we were contacted, and who seems to feel

suggestion we state, are $200

iting yo

We ar

0

take Harrison’s advice. Two thousand dollars a week ... i

g motionless. The door into the corridor was still open; he had been too rattled to close it when they entered. The measured a

d toward the windows to lower the shades, “Sorry to subject you to a

en and was pulling

ew York,

urned to his desk. He looked

o get Miss Parkins on Ward B as a patient tonight, my

ers, proved by autopsy 204 findings, and two deaths ... in the same bed. The deaths (we presume them murders also) precede

ns moved

decision was only reached after a series of long and irascible conf

e than forty years the Elijah Wilson has lived up to that trust. We have received endowments, and large ones, to add units to our

fact that it has more patients than beds. When you have

nodded, and Dr. M

omatically ruin the future of every medical 205 man, resident, student and interne here, the hope of renewed health in a very large portion of suffering humanit

ken, but our situation was so unexpected, so unparalleled, and so terrifying, that we dared not alter one straw for fear of losin

any susp

e best detectives that this country has to offer. My nursing and medi

I see,

nursed and attended by

Miss P

will cloud our work. An open mind and a lack of tradition.... Oh, no. Doctor, ... we are completely aware of that an

act because he is famous, or brilliant, or noted, w

ders. What do the autopsy

er an hour and in the second case within less than forty minutes. The second dose, that given the nurse was much larger. Our chief pharmacist has checked the supply sourc

ermic, had access to the patients?” M

ur’s was cl

d medical staff practi

s Parkins took her second ciga

mics compounded

0

e attending physician. The medicine closets on the ward ... and every floor of

the murders

ns thirty beds, in four rows, each seven being separated by a glass partition. The two extra beds are in rooms for dying patients. Each

or the night and remains on duty until seven the following morning. It is her business to give all night hypodermics and medicines, and make regular rounds upon the patients to see how they are. On the ward with her is an orderly, who runs any sudden errands and helps with any manual labor. He usually remains in the ward-kitchen was

d was Mr. Smooty’s

rthur co

visor who makes floor rounds upon the student nurses in c

during the mu

ins, and during the second her telephone did not

e student

ed. “Take her with an open mind. You a

ned forward

the ward, except

ted a moment; his ey

alescent patients are rolled, is connected with the porch of the floor below by a narrow concrete stairway. Wid

ns no

hur co

ght. The key is on the inside. All of our combined

nodded

. MacArthu

there any pieces of evidence which

he felt someone on the floor, but was boiling a syringe

ins stop

what I do not

e?” Miss Park

asses and explained to Miss Parkins, “a kidney ailment of a very stubborn sort.... She is really pretty and quite a

rkins reached for it to straighten the bonnet, and it howled.

to any of the information. Mr. Higgins

d by many people wh

After the secon

nd....” and he reached for the Pa-pa doll and handed i

” his voice was

ted that he forgot and turned the

on the mahogany table upon their backs. They closed their eyes and Mis

ls. Two

1

re it was found, Doctor,” M

ine Clinic, sir. A doctor looking for c

e night student nurse?”

and continued, “She was one of the first head nurses when the hospital w

ntagonistic t

es

ho

y confidentially, as head. The physician-in-chief died of a heart attack last spring, and Dr. Sterling, who has done ve

uld say so!” Higgins responded. “W

is getting old and is afraid of reti

1

ly situation you

by this situation. One of our graduate nurses has been murdered.... Frankly, your coming shifts a great weight from my shoulde

r. Sterling, Senior, see all

autopsies on all except

urdered since he has b

weight was be

,” Dr. MacArthur gripped his chair arms, and h

ored that and a

he reason you sent for us. To underst

ast night, and Rose Standish was murd

ich you told Dr. Bridgman over the ’phone and 21

e learned that potion was ... bread-pills.... He had hoped to calm her nerves and y

ary, and since he is the only person who has retired from the case, since the beginning, I am obliged to know what

s had risen and poured out a glass of water from a thermos bottle upon

it magnificently. Is there anything else y

him and he straightened hi

are the chances of Miss Parkins be

eve

1

three people were upon

hy

now have in hand relative to the head nurse and

. K-e

aight line. The concentration of the other th

y eyes upon Dr. MacArthur’

herefore become less valuable to us. But if she falls upon the street with a heart attack within four blocks of th

fect

e staff in the accident room will admit her for medical treatme

Dr. MacArthur reached f

you please ascertain for your own information the vacant beds in 215 Med

o Miss Park

f ailment is

alpitation. By intense excitement I can create a definite cha

uch trouble?” MacAr

phone in

pencil, wrote upon a me

ard B—11, and 5th floor, r

rough the accident room, would undoubtedly be placed in Bed 11, Ward B. Ward A, which has two vacant

ly one dollar and she had no ad

ivate room, Mr. Higgins. You are right. The only chance

1

we have to take,”

his wrist w

some private place where I may talk to Mr. Smooty and Miss Parkins before we tu

e hysteria throughout the hospital? The second: You expect,

eems to me unavoidable, Mr. Higgins, and perhaps will work to our advantage. It w

, the nurse, hemorrhaged (we put her in as a tubercular suspect) and although they probably believe her dead, they have no proof. And their attention has been diverted by the terrible condition of Dr. Sterling, Senior

e hysteria among the nursing staff is serious. Before the death of the nurse they took the

macist, and the staff of Medical Clinic, no persons in the hospital have a

fever heat among the medical staffs. They suspect, but they do no

s hands out

internal pressure can be felt in every dining room. Something must be done and done immediately. That is o

you will be so kind as to give us

1

has gone, I will show you a room in which you and Mr. Smooty may meet,

out of the door and close

cigarette and turn

you mak

both of them i

“He’s square. But he

But worried sick. There is somebody he considers innocent, that the others

nd never slept in a hospital even so much as one night,

is crazy as a tick. And lots of people are lying. One thing you got to remember is you are up against professional liars. All nurses and doctors are pro

ing. But that’ll wait. He suspects that head nurse and her niece. That’s plain as day. And he did

aw breath and Miss Parkins fl

e a gun, if yo

cared,

ared. Especially

He put his big square ha

h that accident racket. A gun is out of the quest

ut she wasn’

are having a Sunday night supper. I couldn’t get

fe for the first time since he

rybody. I’ll 220 be a member of a ho

are shoulders and he

of the hospital staff, S

s inte

e, Lil! Hold o

damn dolls,”

a around here as it is. Don’t add to it. Unless Snod has something to say I guess you might just as

wers are not fun

and took from it her identification card with the agency and the picture of a man in an officer’s uniform of the British Intelligence. Near these she spread a large white silk handkerchief into which she scooped the outlay, and then removed from he

lly and put it in

eyes looked up into her

ee you

he door and

ok down the thermometer and inserted it into the mouth of the new pati

Have you rememb

weakly shook her head

that the coat was expensive and the fur good, but that she ha

f two internes and that little Jewish resident doctor had left her weak as dishwater. A touch of straight 222 scotch was what she needed....

nasty condescension, and a dead voice, creepy kind of! Somewhere she had seen a woman who moved like that with

an last year, in that Welfare Island group in May, doing that route collecting for pimps o

and peddled dope in the circus. That vicious little adder who had tried

t working for a python and she had to face her without so much as an automatic and go to sleep while she was doing it. Not go to sleep.

d get her hands on Matt Higgins now! Somehow

on that these women were afraid of the night. Had stood the day, but were afraid of the night and wanted to tell her about the bed. Wanted desperately to warn her ...

t would have a hypodermic

fatigue. Miss Kerr’s pleasure at her presence se

ature are pretty good, considering. Your medicine will be a

her the fading lily smile. Miss Kerr return

otland Yard and the British Intelligence, now arrayed in the nondescript white coat of a hospital orderly, a

m. His face was as vacant as a concrete highway

ou are,

nd when her slow eyes had taken in the situation, her r

re not supposed to bring the be

ne pan started slipping toward the floor

herspoon

err. We understands. An

ngly toward Mrs. Withersp

he was told to prepare for a new patient and spent five minutes explaining to the night 225 superi

of the ward where Miss Parkins lay. It was Mrs. Witherspoon’s, “Pull the curtains. Pull

, “How

are

tch her,

r, Snod. For

to life and st

d an old pan-handler like me. If you are scared as

ne at her a

d the ward and said

cted as he handed the c

isconcerted by

this ward unless I call you. There is plenty of work for you in the kitchen. Go down

oked blankly u

po sy

f cours

light dilation of her pupi

ndon, we always called enemas syrin

u there,

rly there four years. That’s how come I b

ut in an explanatory gesture

e on with the routine. But she sat down. Things weren’t going so well. That man w

take the receiver from the hook, and then s

lits was a tall, fat man, in a blue uniform with brass buttons. In his right hand h

holster. He carefully placed the roses in the elbow of the left arm, and wi

her breath. She tried to snatch her

do you

night nurse

nurse.” Her voi

s thick face into hers and the stench

sh Standziz!

might when tied to a brittle mooring

emed to straighten his tongue, temporarily.... “I just came back from China Station. They said over the ’

hands. By that time every woman on the ward was sitting bolt upright reg

ce with his han

ain’t Rosh!” and then his voic

th more force, an

... iz

t the starter. Every time he crushed th

rribly and t

s grip and his

t-ell me! Sw

had taken on life at last. Every w

the brakes of a truck after an accident, which shocked the other women in

dy, U.S.N. disintegrated. He loosened his grip u

d! Dead in a

singing monotonously, “Ring aroun’ de Roshy! R

2

g Horace out of the corner of

sh

de-and-seek with both the student nurse, who had staggered to h

ad drunk! Y

of Lillian Parkins and Miss Kerr ran to th

man and began pulling, Lillian Parkins l

worse than being looked over for a harem. If he doesn’t get me out of here by tomorr

mooty managed to keep the scramble lou

e Miss Kerr had found the night superintendent. They disappeared to the sailor’

3

Rosh’s dead. Rosh’s dea

the curb stone he stood him against a parked automobile and then socked him under the jaw. As

te. Worst scene he had ever witnessed and he’d seen some hell

That was the trouble with women. They made good detec

ing scream that made Dr. Mattus close his mind t

ung over the corridor like poison gas. He tore

at terror had e

ablaze, and gazing with fixed horror at a large bunch of American