The Medical Murder Mystery Ch. 03

"Think Gloria Searles is involved in that?" asked Daniel. Cindy looked at me.

"I don't think so, at least I see no connections as of yet." I said. "But I agree with Cindy that we've stumbled onto a thread of something. Lockhart the pharmacist suddenly closed his pharmacy and bolted. He and his male employee cannot be found. His female employee was very angry and talked with us very willingly. She said that he physically shoved her out the door and wouldn't say why he closed the shop. She also said he got a phone call right before closing down, and that he drove off in an old brown car which he had parked in the parking lot next door, i.e. not the parking lot in front of his own place."

I continued "Then we have Dr. Paul Wicker. He was having sex with Darla Clifford and our officers almost got there in time to catch them in the act. I think Cindy kind of enjoyed that." I was needling my partner, and she smiled.

"I definitely enjoyed the look on Darla's face when she came flying out that door and almost ran headlong into me." Cindy replied.

"Anyway," I said, "Wicker pled the Fifth, clammed up. Charges against him are going to fall by the wayside unless something drug-related comes up, but what's he hiding?"

"We'll solve it tomorrow." said Cindy. "I'm going to to the gym before heading home, and get all the paperwork done, since my partner has traded in that paperwork for diaper work here at home."

"Which I suspect your partner wouldn't trade for anything." I said, seeing Melina's radiantly happy face as she held little Danny. Cindy agreed.

"I guess we should go too, honey." I said to Laura.

"Y'all stay a few more minutes." Daniel said. I realized he wanted to talk to me privately. After Cindy was gone excused ourselves to the kitchen while the women talked about the baby.

"Just wanted you to know, Don," Daniel said. "That prick Lynch did file formal complaints with the Council, and also with the State Ethics Board. The Council is meeting tonight, and plans to formally tell Lynch to fuck off. The Council is also filing a counter-claim on your behalf with the State Ethics Board and also with the State Bar."

"Sounds good, but that's not why you wanted to talk to me." I said.

"Damn, nothing really does get by you." Daniel said, his voice teasing in nature, then becoming serious as he said "The Council is also going to go into executive session tonight, with the purpose of discussing certain spots to fill. They're nowhere near ready for naming a new Chief yet, and neither am I... unless you change your mind... but they do think they need to bring in a Deputy Chief to handle the overhead and admin side of things."

"Any ideas who that might be?" I asked.

"No, but Chief Griswold was right. One of the Council members told me they're going to eliminate some names for the Chief position... and I expect one of those eliminated names will be the Deputy Chief by the end of this month. Brownlee's the lead candidate, according to my sources."

"Aw, geez. Captain Brown Nose can't lead a sheet of toilet paper off the roll." I said.

"Just giving you a heads-up." Daniel said.

"Thanks." I said. "Okay, I do need to go home and get some sleep. This is a big case, and I expect to make a move sooner rather than later, depending on what tomorrow's data brings."

"Ah, so you do have an idea of who it is?"

"Oh yes." I said. "Just not going to say who it is yet. I don't want leaks, and I don't have a case I can give to the D.A.'s office yet."

Laura and I made our goodbyes. As we left, I caught sight of Melina sitting on the couch, not getting up as the baby was feeding. A memory and a thought occurred to me.

Back home, we did the parenting things with our own babies, and I sat down with my mother and Laura on the sofa, my wife cuddling into my left side and my mother into my right side, my arms around their waists, pulling them into me.

"Laura," I said, "Melina can't take the pill, right?"

"That's right." Laura replied, her face looking surprised. My mother showed no reaction as Laura said "As you know, she damn near died that time her drink was poisoned with similar ingredients. Why?"

"Melina's something of an exception in the level of her allergic reaction, isn't she?" I asked. "But other women can be allergic to the pill, also, right?"

"Oh yes." Laura said. "And some can be all right at a certain dosage, but then add more dosage or some sort of steroid, and they become intolerant."

"Is that right?" I said. "And how in the world could the pill suddenly have different dosages?"

"You've got me there." Laura said. "Most brands are standardized, and pretty consistent across the board. I would say the only way would be if someone on the pill chose to take a morning-after pill, which would spike the dosage."

"That's true. And of course the FDA regulates the manufacture of these pharmaceuticals pretty well." I said.

"Sure, of course." Laura said. "I know you're going somewhere with this..."

I said "What would some of the allergic symptoms be, short of a life-threatening reaction like Melina had?"

"Oh gosh, anywhere from skin rashes to the hives, easy bruising, possible clotting in severe cases, swelling of the lips and tongue, and so forth."

"Ah, that helps." I said. I would say no more. "Time for bed, ladies..."

"I'll head up, and let you and your mother 'talk' for a few minutes." Laura said. "Good night, Phyllis. Enjoy yourself." Laura began turning off lights.

"Thank you, dear." said Phyllis, gratefully, knowing what Laura was offering her. "Goodnight."

After my wife left the room, my mother leaned over my chest, her hands opening my pants and fishing out my hardening cock. She was wasting no time, and I groaned as I felt my mother's mouth slide over my cockhead and down my shaft as she gave me head, both of us reveling in the fact that we were deliberately committing deeply sinful incest.

The room was quiet, and as the pleasure of my mother's mouth fellating my cock coursed through me, I remembered the sensations of my few moments with Gloria Searles, and how unlucky I was that I had not been able to consummate that liaison with that woman.

Then I changed my thought to gratitude that I was able to have this illicit sexual relationship with this beautiful woman that happened to be my mother. My fingers slid under her dress, to find that she was wearing no panties and that her pantyhose were crotchless. I slid my digits deep into my mother's sopping wet cunt, making her groan around my turgid meat.

After another moment of deeply sucking my cock, my mother stood up. I slid my pants and underwear down past my knees and my mother stepped out of her high heel slides and mounted me, facing me. She slammed her mouth into mine in a deep, tongue-twining kiss, the taste of her mouth and the sweet smell of her perfume arousing me. She reached down and grasped my cock that was between our bellies, and guided it into her as she lifted up. We groaned together as the warm wetness of her cunt engulfed my throbbing hard cock as I slid into her until our pelvises ground together. I was balls-deep inside my mother!

My mother wrapped her arms around my neck and began kissing me hard as she ground her cunt on my cock. Her elegant, shapely feet in the sheer stockings were resting on the tops of my hard things. My hands went to them, massaging them, and I made a point to enjoy the feeling of my mother's feet in my hands even as my cock was in her cunt as she fucked me with the intensity of a sex-starved teen girl.

Mom was still in her dress, and my hands worked the zipper down, then slid the garment up off her body and over her head. I threw it down as she resumed kissing me hard while we deeply fucked.

After a few moments, I had my mother stand up, and I got off the couch. I guided my mother to a blanket that I placed in the middle of the floor. She lay down and I grabbed her sexy legs as I mounted her, my cock unerringly finding her sopping honey hole. I felt her legs on my chest and her feet on my shoulders as I began fucking her with deep, hard strokes, making her groan and squirm around my plunging prick.

*Chock!* *Chock! *Chock! *Chock!*

The room was filled with the staccato slaps of flesh on motherly flesh as I copulated with my own mother, fucking my own mother. She looked so pretty, her face framed by her straight silver-gray-and-black hair, her eyes full of pleasure and lust as she was sexually invaded by her own son's iron-hard cock. I pumped relentlessly, and did not try to hold back as my climax built up rapidly and then overtook me with surprising speed and power.

"AAWWK!! UHHH!!" I cried out as jet after thick, ropy jet of hot semen blasted into my mother's clutching vagina. I leaned down to give my mother a gentle kiss, but she made it into another hot, hard tong-twiner as we settled into each other in the pleasing lassitude of post-coital pleasure...

Part 13 - Data Bombs

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" blared the lovely redhead reporter from the steps of City Hall at 7:00am, Wednesday January 7th. "Channel Two News has learned that Police have made several arrests over the last 24 hours, but will not confirm or deny if those arrests are related to the murder of popular Doctor Gloria Searles yesterday morning. Dr. Searles was the wife of esteemed cardiologist Dr. Richard Searles, who Police say is not a suspect in the death of his wife, as he was going into surgery even as someone was gunning down his wife in her office."

"Darla Clifford, wife of University Law professor John D. Clifford, was arrested yesterday afternoon on charges of evading police. She was released on bond last night. Dr. Paul Wicker was also arrested last night, and was given bail and released. Police have declined to say if either is a suspect in the Searles murder case."

Thankfully, Bettina did not mention that both had been required to wear ankle-monitoring and that I had both of them being observed by police patrols, I thought to myself.

Bettina continued: "In other news, the Town & County Council went into executive session last night to discuss the Police Department. They issued a statement saying that the search for a new Chief of Police is just beginning, and they set a goal of May 1st for filling the position. Additionally, sources tell Channel Two News that the Council expects to name a Deputy Chief more quickly, to give Commander Donald Troy the logistical support he needs as he works to solve the Searles murder and any other crimes in our County. This is Bettina Wurtzburg, bringing you the latest..."

"That's one way of putting it: 'logistical support'." I said. "Okay, Lieutenant Ross, let's get this day started. Meeting of MCD at 8:00am, and tell Captain Charles that I intend to send several patrols out today to make some arrests in the Searles murder case..."

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

Moments before the morning meeting, Myron gave me the news: "Sir, someone else has been tapping into our files, looking for the incident report from the restaurant altercation between Clifford and Lockhart. It looks like it was routed through the Campus Police. Now they often get into some of our routine files, especially if it involves students. But this one came to light because the file was flagged as sealed.

"Did they get the data on the Cliffords and Lockhart?" I asked.

"Possibly, sir." Myron said, which meant that they did.

"Okay, we'll talk better security in the near future." I replied. "Let's concentrate on this meeting for now." I ushered Myron into the room.

The 8:00am meeting was convened in Classroom 'E' behind the MCD room. I sat at the far end of the table, and Cindy sat to my left, where she could get up and work the whiteboard we were starting up. Also in the room were Lt. Tanya Perlman, Detectives Martin Nash, Diana Torres, Joanne Cummings, and Vice Detectives Christopher Purvis and Julie Newton. J.R. Barnes of the Crime Lab was there, as was Master Technician Myron Milton and Senior Technician 'Goth Girl' Mary Mahoney.

"J.R., let's start with you, so you can be on your way if you need to." I said.

Barnes reported: "Two .22 long rifle slugs were removed from Dr. Searles brain, on the right side near the skull. Ballistics show the likelihood of a semi-automatic pistol as opposed to a revolver. We can determine that from the twist of the rifling. There is some stippling, suggesting the shots were fired at a range of just a few inches, certainly no more than a foot away."

Barnes continued: "However, there is very little other forensic evidence. No bruising, no sign of a struggle at all, no damaged clothing. No fingerprints other than hers on her shoes, no fingerprints on any of the filing cabinets except hers, her receptionist and another receptionist that files the Specialists' cases away. That's really all we have right now."

"Okay, Myron," I said, "this should be a big report."

"It is, sir," said Myron, "and it's taken both me and Mary to get it all. First, there is a keycard entry to the building and to each doctor's office. Dr. Searles's card was used at 4:50am to enter her office. Her GPS in her car confirms that she left her home at 4:35 and arrived at 4:49am. The next person into the building was Jill, Dr. Searles's assistant, at about 7:40 am. She did not go into the office immediately, but instead went to the breakroom, where she might have been making coffee. Then others started entering in rapid succession."

"So no keycard entry from the time Gloria went in until her receptionist came in hours later." I said. "Now let me ask, could Gloria admit someone without having to use the keycard once she was inside?"

Martin Nash spoke up. "Theoretically, yes." he said. "I checked on this yesterday. The back lab areas give access to every Doctor's suite, and there is an emergency exit door on both ends to the outside. But they have alarms on them, which I guess Dr. Searles could have deactivated. As to the front door, Dr. Searles would have to prop open the outer door to her own suite of offices and then go open the front door to admit anyone that way and not use her card again. The Crime Lab checked and found no evidence any doors had been propped. The doors to the offices are heavy and would resist being propped easily."

"Is it recorded if the doors are opened at all?" I asked. "If someone managed to open them without using the keycard, is there a record of it?"

"No sir." said Myron. "Only the keycard swipe is recorded."

"At this time," I said, "I need to add that, having sold security systems in a past life, I know that this system is not particularly good, and can be defeated with a little bit of knowledge and a determined effort. In addition, doing something like putting tape in the space to keep the door latch from engaging would be easy and not detected by this keycard entry system. Okay, keep going."

Mary took up the story. "You were right, Commander, when you suggested to go back and look at John Clifford's legal cases. He-"

"Mary, you've learned how to kiss ass, that's for sure." I said, and everyone knew I was teasing the highly independent-minded Goth Girl. And with the Chief not here, it befell to me to point it out and make the joke.

"Thank you sir." said Mary, giving it right back. "If it gets me a raise, I might try to do it more often." That got a lot of laughter, and I conceded victory. Mary then continued: "When John D. Clifford was 25 years old, he went into a hospital in the City. He was supposed to have a tonsillectomy. When he woke up, he found he'd had his testicles removed as well as his tonsils." A slight gasp went through the room.

Mary continued: "What happened was that there was a John 'A' Clifford in the hospital at the same time, who was scheduled to have his testicles removed because of testicular cancer. They got the wrong man, and the mistake was discovered after our John Clifford's testicles were cut off, but he was still under anesthesia. So they completed the tonsillectomy, too. The other guy, John 'A', had the correct surgery done a few hours later."

"So they couldn't re-attach his testicles?" asked Cindy.

"No ma'am." said Mary. "They might could've, but the vasa deferentia had already been tied off, so the effect of sterility was permanent. He wasn't impotent, but he could not have children, and he was understandably very upset, of course. He began seeking a lawyer in order to sue the hospital. He found that the lawyers didn't want to pursue the case; they only wanted to settle, and for relatively small amounts.

"Clifford was embittered, saying he'd lost his chance to have children, and he really wanted to press the case and stick it to the hospital, but the lawyers did not give a damn and were equally adamant that he settle... to the point that he soon found no lawyer at all that was willing to take his case and work it through to a court case. In addition, in every settlement offer that was made, the hospital and their insurance company insisted on a gag order and a sealing of the records. I had to do some extracurricular stuff to get this."

Mary continued: "Clifford saw that he could not pursue the case much further, so he finally took a settlement in the mid-six-figures. He used that money to go to law school with a very intense purpose in mind. And after he got his law degree, he became a holy terror to doctors and their insurance companies. He went after doctors and hospitals as if they'd wronged him or his family personally on each case that he took. He wanted jury trials, large awards, of which he took very little for himself, and the publicity of the malpractice meant more to him than the money. There were allegedly several attempts to assassinate him, so adamant was he about no settlements and no gag orders."

"Wow." said Martin Nash. "That explains his passion for what he was doing."

"So how does this connect to Gloria Searles?" asked Joanne Cummings. "Did he ever sue her or her husband?"

"No mention of either Searles on the list of cases he filed that I've found so far." said Mary. "And no connection to any of the doctors in her group, that I can find."

"The connection, if any, is what we have to find out." I said. "But it's great information, all the same. Excellent work, Mary. Maybe you'll get a raise for kissing up to me, after all." More laughter.

"Okay, phone records." I said. "Please tell me I'm going to like what I hear."

"You're going to like what you hear!" came a chorus, led by one Cindy Ross.

"Yeah, I guess I asked for that one." I said, a wry grin crossing my face. "Myron, whaddya got?"

"Recently? Very little." said Myron. "First, Gloria Searles. Her personal phone calls were almost completely to and from her husband. Her professional phone had calls to and from her associate doctors, a few to patients. None recently to either of the Cliffords... but back in November, after her last doctor appointment Darla Clifford, she made three calls to Darla's number. Looks like she left messages, no calls from that number were called to hers."

"Dr. Richard Searles's personal phone had matching calls to and from his wife, and a few other calls to friends he was known to play golf with, a few to a pizza place, stuff like that. His professional phone had calls to and from the University Hospital switchboard, though which all calls are routed, so we're not totally sure who he was calling and was calling him."

"If I may..." said Martin Nash. "I talked to the nurses about calling Searles to give him updates on patients and such. He doesn't have a large number of patients at any given time, but I'm suspecting the calls will correspond to checks on patients."

"Good thought." I said. "Myron?"

"That's probably the case." Myron said. "Dr. Searles's office phone routed through the switchboard, also. Bottom line is that he did not have a lot of friends, just a few. Nothing out of the ordinary, vis-a-vis his wife's death, either."