The Medical Murder Mystery Ch. 02

"Am I free to go?" Jill asked in the manner of an automaton, continuing her defiance.

"You are not free to go." I said. "You're a material witness to a murder."

"I want a lawyer. I demand to be furnished with legal representation right now, as I am being held against my will." said Jill.

"Oh, you want to play it that way?" I snarled. "Detective Torres, place this suspect under arrest. Read her her rights, making sure you are videotaped doing so. Have female uniformed officers transport her to County Jail, have her booked. Process her fully. She's about to be charged with crimes that will insure she is never, ever, able to work in a medical facility again in any capacity. Once she's fully processed, she can be given the means to contact a lawyer to represent her. See ya, Jill, and I wouldn't wanna be ya."

Torres handcuffed the girl and led her out. Jill had shown no emotion at all, even when I said she'd never work in the medical profession again.

"Wow, that was interesting." Nash said. "She clammed up immediately when you mentioned Darla's name."

"Yes." I said. "But it's far, far more interesting to me that she called a lawyer as soon as we got here, which had the effect of alerting Chase, Lynch & Berry to go work the judge to not give us what we needed. Now why in the hell do they want to do that?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dr. Richard Searles had gone into surgery at 6:00am, and was not out by 10:00am, when I got to the Hospital with Martin Nash and Joanne Cummings. I had told both of them to let me lead the interview, that we were dealing with one of the pre-eminent cardiologists in the nation, and unless he confessed to the crime on the spot, we were to treat him with the utmost respect.

At 10:20am, Dr. Searles finally came up to us. "The nurse told me you needed to talk to me. I'm sorry it took so long, but I had to wrap up all the odds-and-ends of the surgery."

"I understand, Doctor." I said. "Are you at a point where we can go talk privately somewhere?"

"Uh, sure." said Dr. Searles. "I just need to get some water." Just then a nurse brought him two bottles of water. "Well, never mind, then. Let's go into this room here." It was a side room with tables and a TV; I couldn't tell if it was a breakroom or a study room.

Once we were inside, Joanne closed the door as I had Dr. Searles sit down. "So, Don, what can I help you with? Nothing serious, I hope?"

"I'm afraid it is, Doctor." I said. "Let me ask you this: you came in early this morning. I suspect you went to bed pretty early?"

"Er, yes, right after we got back home from the party. We left at, what, 10:00pm at the latest?"

"Give or take." I said. "Did Gloria go home with you?"

"Of course!" said Dr. Searles, looking confused. "Why wouldn't she?"

"I meant that to mean: did she stop by her office on the way home, or did she go by her office while you went on home alone?"

"No, we went straight home together." Searles said. "I went on up to bed, and she said she was going to do some reading. She's been doing some medical research on the computer off-and-on for a couple of months, but never said what it was about."

"Did she do that often?" I asked, then realized my mistake in the tense of my question. But Richard Searles missed it.

"Uh, whenever a patient comes in with something with which she's unfamiliar, she'll research it. She's good about doing that, she loves studying medicine and learning whatever she can, whenever she can." Searles said.

"Has she mentioned anything about Darla Clifford, about the reasons for the incident at the party? Could that have been what she was researching?"

"She didn't say." said Searles. "And she doesn't generally discuss her patients, unless it's to talk about a medical situation that might interest me or get my advice upon. I didn't ask about what happened at the party; I knew she would tell me when she was ready to."

"I see." I said. "So she stayed downstairs while you went up to bed? What time did you wake up this morning?"

"About 4:15am." said Searles. "I left for the Hospital at 4:30am to prepare for the morning surgery."

"And your wife was at home when you left?" I asked, peering at the cardiologist.

"Why yes, of course. She was in bed, sleeping soundly." said Searles. "She didn't have to go into work until much later that morning... why, what's going on?"

"One more question, Doctor." I said. "Do you or your wife own a gun, particularly a small caliber gun?"

"No. I don't. I hate guns, I think they ought to be outlawed and confiscated. Only the police should have them. I don't know if Gloria owns a gun or not, but I don't think so, I've certainly never seen her with one. Now why are you asking me these questions, Commander? Is something wrong? Is Gloria all right?"

I knew it was time to answer. "Doctor, while you were in surgery this morning, we got a call to come to your wife's office. I'm sorry to tell you that your wife was found dead in her office this morning."

"Oh my God!" Searles gasped, his face a look of total shock. "Gloria?... What happened?!? Why- why didn't someone tell me? Why didn't someone come get me out of surgery?" His voice had a tinge of anger towards the end.

"Because we didn't tell anyone at the Hospital, Dr. Searles." I said. "And that was my call. Your wife was already dead, you could do nothing for her, and you were in surgery saving someone."

"Oh... oh, yeah, well... yeah, that's true." Searles said, still in shock over the news.

"Doctor," I said, "I'm truly very sorry for your loss, but I am going to have to ask you some more questions now, and I won't sugarcoat it: they'll be tough."

"Uh, sure, yeah." said Searles, "but let me ask first.. what happened to her? How did she die? Was she shot? Is that why you were asking about guns?"

"Yes sir," I said, realizing that Dr. Searles had put two and two together, so there was no point in hiding it. "She was found shot with a small-caliber weapon, likely at close range. She was in her office. So you have no idea why she might have gone to her office at a time so much earlier than normal?"

"No, I didn't even know that she had gone there." Searles said.

"Do you have any idea who might want to harm your wife?" I asked.

"No, nobody that I can think of."

"Any issues at work, with any of her professional colleagues?"

"No...wait... she said that one of the doctors was talking about leaving and starting a new practice... but she didn't seem upset about it. She also said that one of the doctors was badly underperforming, and she was concerned about the company being sued. But she didn't say who it was."

"Do you remember any particular time, especially in the last few months, that she seemed upset or distracted, or mentioned a problem with any patient? Anything last night?"

"Well... I think you were still at the party when she tried to talk to John Clifford." said Searles. "On the way home, she didn't say anything, but seemed to be muttering to herself. Like I said a moment ago, I didn't say anything, she knew she could confide in me if she wanted to. And over the last couple of months, well, I told you how she'll start looking into something if she hadn't seen it before, but I don't remember anything totally unusual in that regard."

"Doctor, would you mind if my people look at her computer at your home, and try to see what research she was doing?"

"Sure, that'll be fine." Searles said. I asked if I could borrow his house key, and handed it to Detective Cummings, telling her to just get computers and leave the rest of the house alone.

"Thank you, Doctor." I said. "Now I have to ask this: how was your relationship with your wife?"

"Good." said Searles. "In fact, in the past few days things were getting better... really better. She had always been pretty cold about sex, we didn't have very much of it, certainly not as much as I would've liked. And she had not wanted to have children, but in the last few days and weeks, she really began opening up to the idea of starting a family, and things got better in bed, too."

I did not let on as to what my role in that might have been as I asked the next questions. "So you and your wife did not have arguments, have problems over money? Anything like that?"

"No." Searles said. "It was a marriage of two professionals that worked long hours, and sometimes sacrifices were made in some areas to achieve goals in others. But we loved each other, I'm sure of that."

"No sexual affairs by either of you?"

"Well..." Searles said, "... I'm not going to lie to you and say I've never had an affair. Gloria was very prudish about sex. But like I said, lately things were much better between Gloria and I, including in the affection and sex categories. As to her cheating on me, I doubt it. She wasn't of a sexual temperament. If she did, she hid it very, very well."

"I see." I said. "Again, Doctor, I'm sorry for your loss. We'll have to do an autopsy, and then we'll let you know when you can claim her body and begin final preparations. I must also ask you to not leave the County without notifying the Police Department."

"Sure, sure." said Searles. We left behind a very dazed doctor.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Think he had anything to do with it?" Martin Nash asked me after hanging up his cell phone. Diana Torres had called, saying she'd gotten the computers from Joanne Cummings, and was taking them to Myron at Headquarters.

"I don't know." I said. "His alibi is thin, but that doesn't mean he's not telling the truth. So how did he seem to you? Genuine? Faking it?"

"If he's faking, he deserves an Oscar for the performance." said Nash. "I can't read people like you do yet, though I'm working on it. I was watching him, and I didn't see anything that suggested he knew already or was telling a story. I did wonder if him talking about his better relationship with his wife was just a dodge, though."

"I agree with you." I said. "And you're right about his bringing up the better relations with his wife, which might suggest they weren't all that good before. But I also observed them at the party last night, and also the one New Year's Eve. He might well be telling the truth; he and his wife gave no signs of problems between them."

"Commander," Nash said, "that brings up a point: we're going to have to hear what you know, also, especially since there was an incident yesterday. I know there are certain protocols on this we have to go through."

"You're absolutely correct, Nash, and I'm going to inform our new Sheriff of those and ask him to take the correct measures." I said. "Okay, let's go back to Headquarters, we need to have a meeting."

Part 8 - Processing Data

At 11:30am I convened a meeting in Classroom 'E'. Present were me, Cindy Ross, Tanya Perlman, Martin Nash, Diana Torres, and Myron Milton.

There were two others, as well: the first was Sheriff Daniel Allgood, wearing khaki pants, a Western white shirt with a bolo tie, carrying a large light brown cowboy hat with a replica of his badge and a single gold star on it, the star denoting the Sheriff's rank. His badge was on his belt.

Also present was the lovely Fire Marshal, Zoe Singer. She had come into the room with the Sheriff, dressed in civilian clothes, a black dress and high heel black pumps that showed off her nice legs. Daniel said he'd explain her presence later, and that he would speak later, but at the moment just wanted to keep abreast of the tactical situation. Zoe gave me a warm smile, which I returned.

After we all congratulated Daniel on his new baby, which had him blushing and smiling with happiness, we got started. I sat at the far end of the table from the door, and we asked Sheriff Allgood to join us at the table and sit at the end nearest the door.

"That's where the Chief always sat, Sheriff." said Cindy. "You might as well start filling in for him now." Daniel moved into the chair. I then asked Zoe to sit with us, also. I think everyone but me and the Sheriff were confused about why Zoe was really there.

((Author's note: quickly now, can you figure out why Zoe's at the meeting? Keep reading...))

"Okay," I said, "let's start from the top. Let me hear what you've found out, then I'll go last with some information I have. Myron, whaddya got?"

"First the general background." said Myron. "Dr. Gloria Searles was age 36, married to Dr. Richard Searles, who is in his upper 40s but looks older, and they had no children. Dr. Searles was the majority owner of the medical practice Searles, Hartwell, Dembo & Muncey, P.C. The Searles's are well-off, their home is paid for, and the only debt either had was Gloria's debt from opening the practice, which she was paying off in a timely manner. The business itself was doing fine, always a bit of debt when buying new equipment, it'd get paid off, they'd buy another piece of equipment, and so on. Nothing out of the ordinary for any medical practice of this size."

"The background checks of the doctors didn't show much. Dr. Hartwell is a virtual Boy Scout, belongs to the Kiwanis Club, donates to several charities for underprivileged children. His wife is a doctor also, and does a lot of charity work. Dr. Dembo is a European, and I don't have a lot on him, but no prior arrests or troubles of record. He does have quite a bit of medical school debt, and my data gives the possibility that he is struggling to meet those obligations. Dr. Yelena also has school debt, but it's manageable. Dr. Muncey has no medical issues, but she has had hits on her credit reports... by that I mean that people are hard-checking her credit."

"How is that significant?" asked Diana Torres.

I said "It means that she's been applying for loans and is being checked out. In the absence of further data, such as trying to buy a house or something, I'd suggest this gives some credence to the idea that she was preparing to start her own practice. Anything else, Myron?"

"Yes sir." said Myron. "Dr. Richard Searles is a preeminent cardiologist, not only around here but one of the nation's best and most widely celebrated such doctors. He has no financial problems now, but that was not always the case. He took out a loan for $200,000 about four years ago, but I can find no record of major purchases or what he spent the money on, and it did not stay in his accounts. He repaid the money over the next two years, though."

"Any idea what that's about?" Sheriff Allgood asked, directing his question at me.

"Yes, but let me hold off on that pour le moment." I replied. "But let me ask Myron this: did that money come from a joint account with his wife, or his own accounts?"

"His own." said Myron. "In fact, he and his wife have no joint financial accounts, though they co-own the house. She did the private practice in her name. Neither seem to have made major purchases like second homes or big boats or cars, etc. They both are self-incorporated, and expense everything they can in the name of those corporations."

"Kills the idea of financial motive for Dr. Searles to kill his wife." said Martin Nash. There was a murmur of agreement, and I nodded my head.

"By the way, Commander, do you want me to talk about this other stuff you asked me to look up?" Myron asked.

"Not quite yet. Thanks Myron." I said. "Detective Torres, report on the files, please."

"Yes sir." said Torres. She recounted the information about the files and how the receptionist entered them into the computers, then said "Only one file was not in the pile that corresponded to yesterday's appointments, and that was one Darla Clifford." Cindy's eyes cut to me at the mention of the name.

"It was in stored in the main cabinets, is that right?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Diana. "It had been stored away in the cabinets again... or was never brought out."

"Darla apparently showed up for the appointment, so I would imagine it had been brought out." I said. "For some reason, that was the only file that had been returned to the cabinets. That's a strangeness, there." Everyone knew what it meant when I said that... it was a cluuuue. Even Zoe realized that.

"Okay," I said, "I think this is the time and place to save the Sheriff the time of explaining his and Commander Singer's presences here, as I have some information to share with you. Commander Singer is essentially Internal Affairs for the Fire Department, and she is the equivalent rank of me. Therefore, she is the I.A. presence for the Inspector General, and it doesn't hurt that the Sheriff himself, who might have spent a few hours in the Police I.A. Department himself, is here to listen to my story. Shall I continue, Sheriff?"

"Not much gets by the Iron Crowbar." said Daniel with a grin, making everyone laugh. "But yes, we're going to record your statement here as you give it. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you're aware that this is just routine procedure, but it's essential for the protection of evidence if we get a culprit to bring to trial. As you're probably aware, the receptionist called Chase, Lynch & Berry, who virulently hate the Police, early this morning, almost as soon as she found the body... and the Commander took her into custody. He also was present at a potential incident last night that might have bearing on this crime. Okay, Commander, go ahead, and please remember that this is a statement for our records."

"Thank you Sheriff." I said. "Last night, that being Monday night, January 5th, my wife and I attended a reception given by University President Wellman and his wife. It was for the new doctors and lawyers that had joined the University and/or the Hospital Staff as of the beginning of this semester. Dr. Richard Searles and his wife Dr. Gloria Searles, who is the deceased victim in this case, attended that reception also.

"During the reception, I observed that Dr. Gloria Searles, who I will just call 'Gloria' to avoid confusion with her husband, was attempting to talk to one Dr. John D. Clifford, who is a Professor of Law at the University. In fact, I overheard Gloria's husband come to find her to tell her the Cliffords were at the reception, which suggests she already had mentioned that she wanted to talk to either him or both of the Cliffords.

"However, Mrs. Clifford avoided talking to Gloria, and I personally observed that Dr. Clifford also pulled away from her and refused to talk to her, and the Cliffords left very shortly after that. I have no idea at this time what that was about.

"I do not believe in coincidences, as my Detectives have heard me say many times. We now have Darla Clifford having had an appointment with Gloria Searles, which she kept, and whose file was the only one returned to the cabinets after her appointment. And the second coincidence, which makes believe that there is no coincidence at all, is that the Cliffords' name came up last week. Lieutenant Ross, would you please give the details of the incident at Veccio's Ristorante?"

Cindy gave the details of her encounter with the Cliffords and Lockhart, as well as the reasons for putting the police report under seal. Sheriff Allgood said "We'll need a copy of that sealed police report." and I said I'd send it to him and to the Inspector General.

"Do either of you have questions for me before we continue with Myron's information on these people?" I asked Daniel and Zoe.

"Just to confirm this." said Zoe, probably just to justify her presence. "Gloria Searles never mentioned to you nor to her husband what the specific medical issue with Mrs. Clifford was?"

"Not to me, and I can't speak for what was told to her husband, though he told me that she didn't tell him what it was about." I said, "Also, I'm not yet assuming that it was a medical-related issue, either, even though Gloria was a doctor and all this happened after a doctor's appointment."