20th Victim (Women's Murder Club #20) - James Patterson Page 0,65
me if I killed Ray ever again.”
Joe got up, walked around the wheelchair, and put his arms around Dave’s chest, hugging him from behind. Dave nodded his head and held Joe’s arms. They stayed this way for a long time, until Joe spoke.
“I’m going to cook up some more eggs, and then let’s go to work.”
CHAPTER 82
DAVE AND JOE moved into the sitting room, where Dave had laid out papers on the coffee table.
“I pulled these from funeral home websites,” he said. “I’ve got five question marks and four suspicious deaths, all of them patients of Doc Murray.”
“Playing devil’s advocate for a minute.”
“Oh, jeez. I thought we were done with that.”
“People die, Dave. Older people with heart conditions die all the time. Murray’s a cardiac surgeon. His patients all have heart disease.”
“Correct, Joe. And their deaths aren’t investigated because of that. Old person is brought into the hospital with heart issues and dies overnight. End of story. What if Murray is ending the story a little early?”
“Humor me, Dave. If it wasn’t Murray, who could be the angel of death? Who had the means, the opportunity, and the motive?”
They kicked it around as cars pulled up to the winery. And they made a list of nurses, aides, orderlies, other doctors, and a couple of laundry workers Dave knew by name.
They quickly, almost arbitrarily, cut the long list of possible killers into a manageable short list: A charge nurse who manned the ICU and cardiac station at night. An EMT who’d brought in 60 percent of the patients who had died. There was Murray’s favorite anesthesiologist, Dr. Quo, who checked in on post-op patients.
But Dave’s opinion didn’t waver. Murray still held the number one spot.
“Ray had a roommate when I was there with you. Abe somebody.”
“Horowitz. Abe Horowitz. He was scheduled for a triple bypass the day after Dad died.”
“You think he has checked out of the hospital?” Joe asked.
“Or did he, you know—check out?”
“Was Murray his doctor?”
“I’m not sure.”
Joe got on his phone, called Saint John’s, and asked to speak with a patient, Abe Horowitz. The front desk put the call through.
Joe reintroduced himself to the man he’d met casually the other week and said that he’d like to drop by for a visit.
“Wonderful,” Horowitz said over the phone. “Ray said a lot of good things about you.”
“Can I bring you anything?”
“Nope, but I might have something interesting to tell you.”
CHAPTER 83
AN HOUR LATER Joe walked into room 419 in the recovery wing.
“Abe, hi. How are you feeling?”
“Ha. Like my rib cage was wrenched open and my sternum was cracked. Oh, yeah, and my arteries were rearranged, but I’m still breathing. Watch your cholesterol is my advice to you. Please have a seat, Joe.”
Joe said, “I have a little gift for you. I think it’s going to have to wait until they let you out of here.”
“Hey,” said Horowitz, examining the bottle. “Channing Winery Private Reserve Cab. I’m going to save that for a special occasion. Like the first night I’m home. My wife and I are going to drink to poor Ray.”
Joe pulled up the offered seat and told Horowitz that he felt terrible that Ray had died, that Ray’s son was inconsolable.
He said, “Dr. Alex Murray was your surgeon?”
“Sure. One of a couple or so in the operating room. You know, what I wanted to tell you is that I had an out-of-body experience.”
Joe said, “Really. I want to hear all about it.”
“Okay, because it was amazing. I’m in the operating room, I guess unconscious. And then I was up above the operating table, my back to the ceiling, and I was watching the operation. You’ve heard these stories before, haven’t you? Patient dies and he hears what the people in the operating room are saying?”
Joe leaned in, said, “Abe, you’re saying you died?”
“I’m not just saying it. Dr. Murray told me. My heart stopped. I was officially dead. Yeah, believe it. I watched the heart-lung bypass machine squeeze my heart. They were listening to classical music, talking over the violins.
“I was in a state of … I don’t know what else to call it but wonder. Or grace. I could see and hear everything, including the flat line on the monitor. Then here they come, regular beeps. My heart beating in my chest. A nurse says, ‘He’s back.’ I wake up in the recovery room. What do you think of that?”