????ABIGAIL
INOCENCIO????
(The Murderer….)
By, Precious Pinky
Copyright ©️(Don’t copy this story if you don’t want to see madness!)
CHAPTER 41????42
NOT_EDITED
•••••
{ MR. HART’S REQUEST }
Sandra returned home after the long night walk.
She entered the house and dropped her car keys on the bowl at the center of the table.
She attempted to go upstairs to her bedroom when she heard chattering from the dining room.
Sandra pinched her brows together in confusion as she quietly approached the area.
She peeked her head throu-ghthe doorway and was surprised to see her son and Marshall having a conversation while laughing.
They were yet to notice her presence so the chattering did not stop until she stepped further inside the large room and cleared her throat loud enough for them to hear.
David looked up at his mother and a huge grin appeared on his face.
“Mummy!” He ran towards her and jumped right into her arms.
“Baby, how are you?” She smiled, pressing a delicate kis-s on his forehead.
“I’m fine. Where have you been?”
“Uhm, out… somewhere?” She nervously stated.
David narrowed his eyes at her, tilting his head to the side.
“You look like one who is caught doing something evil.” He smirked.
Sandra let out a chuckle and ruffled his hair, earning a whine from him as he quickly stepped back and started rearranging his hair.
“Very funny.” She looked around and her gaze met with the wall clock. It was half past nine in the night. “Why are you still awake, son? You should be sleeping in your room. Where is Margaret?”
“She is somewhere around the house. I wanted to go to bed actually but your friend,” He pointed at Marshall. “came by to see you. Margaret told him you weren’t around but he insisted on waiting for your return. I couldn’t just leave him alone to wait up for you because I know he might get lonely. So I decided to stay back and chat with him.” David explained, grinning widely.
“I see.” Sandra gave Marshall an annoyed look but feigned to be okay with all her son had told her. “You can go to bed now, baby. Mummy will entertain…her friend.”
“Okay.”
“Margaret,” Sandra called out and the elderly woman instantly appeared in front of the doorway.
“Good evening ma’am. Welcome back home.” She bowed her head.
“Thank you. Take David to bed. He is supposed to be asleep by now.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. But he insisted on staying with Mr. Marshall.”
“Is that an excuse?”
“Ma?”
Sandra let out a breath and shooed the woman away as if chasing off a housefly.
“We will have the conversation…in private. You can go now.”
“Okay, ma. Come on, David. Let’s go to bed.” Margaret smiled warmly at the little boy.
“Goodnight, mummy. Goodnight, Marshall.”
“Goodnight, baby.” Sandra answered with a gentle smile on her face and kis-sed David once again on his forehead.
“Goodnight, son.” Marshall replied.
David and Margaret left the dining room afterward.
Sandra huffed out an angry breath as soon as they were gone and turned to glare at Marshall.
“What are you doing here?” She asked throu-ghclenched teeth.
“Babe, we need to talk.”
“Talk?” She scoffed, shaking her head. “We have absolutely nothing to talk about. I’m quite busy right_”
“I know you are pissed off at me,” He cut her off, stepping close to her. “You have every damn right to be but believe me, giving the detective a clue wasn’t my intention. The initial plan was for Thelma to lie that she saw Dr. Abby that night dressed in all-black attire. But the fuc-k ing nurse chickened out and did the opposite. I swear it wasn’t my fault.”
“It was my fault then.”
“No, it isn’t. I_”
She cut him off again. “Listen Marshall, I know it is unwise of me to be mad at you about this but…I’m scared, you know.”
“Scared of what?”
“Is that even a question?” She gave him the ‘don’t be stupid’ look. “I was the doctor who dropped by that night. If the cops investigate on it, I might get caught. Dammit!” She sunk into one of the dinning chairs.
Marshall sat down on the next chair beside her.
“We can figure a plan out, you know. Besides, no one saw you that night aside from Thelma, right?”
She slowly nodded her head, biting her lower li-p.
“Then it is settled. Thelma won’t say anything and_”
“The CCTV.” Sandra cut him off, her eyes widening.
Marshall let out strained gro-an, balling his fist.
Why did they forget about the most important thing here?
Thelma might be able to keep her mouth shut but the CCTV would do the job of exposing Sandra if they don’t delete the footage of that night immediately before the detectives goes throu-ghit.
“Oh, God.” She sighed.
“I will take care of it, darling.” He told her.
She frowned at him. “Do you still think that I trust you to do a good job?”
“Huh?”
“We are in this mess now because of you. Thelma didn’t have to tell them that she saw a suspicious person that night but she did because you told her to. You made her give the detective a fuc-k ing clue. And you know Thelma is the main witness to this case. Her words will be taken very seriously.”
“Sandra, I’m sorry about that. I was wrong, I admit.” He paused. “However, I won’t let you go throu-ghthis mess alone. It is my fault that all this is happening. You wanted to help me but…but…”
“And I blame myself. I should never have done anything stupid. I should have minded my damn business!” She grunted.
Marshall furrowed his eyebrows. “Do you regret helping me, Sandra?”
Sandra glanced at him and then slowly reached out to hold his hands.
“Marshall, I love you. Believe me. But I love my son more. If anything should go wrong…you and I won’t be the only ones to suffer for it. David will also partake in it and I don’t want that for my baby. It would kill me to see him suffer for my stupidity.” She cried.
“I’m sorry…” Marshall wrapped his arms around her shoulder and brou-ght her closer to himself. She dropped her head over his chest, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. “I will do everything within my power to make sure you don’t get caught. Dr. Abby will be the one to take your fall. I promise you that. Even if it will be the last thing that I do…then so be it.” He dropped a kis-s on top of her head.
••••
“Are you going to blame me for it now!?” Jersey shouted.
“When I was in charge, nothing like this happened. Why is your own case different!?” His father asked, matching his tone as well.
“Do not compare me with you, father. You might have been able to avoid serious cases like this but that doesn’t mean you didn’t go throu-ghcertain scandals.”
“Yes, I did. But none of the scandals involved murder. Do you know how serious a murder case is, huh?”
“No, I don’t. Please enlighten me.” Jersey sarcastically replied, rolling his eyes.
“I should never have given the director position to you. Your sister’s husband would have definitely done a better job than this.” Mr. Hart huffed, pouring himself a glas-sof whiskey.
“Really? Why didn’t you give it to him then? What stopped you?”
Mr. Hart took a sip of whiskey and cleared his throat. “You know what stopped me. You are my son and it is your inheritance. I can’t take it away from you and give it to someone else.”
“Ah, so you know that. I thought you’ve forgotten.”
“Don’t you dare speak to me in that manners.” He warned, glaring at Jersey.
The door to the study office opened and Mrs. Hart walked in alongside Felicia, their daughter.
Felicia was married and blessed with two kids. She is one year younger than her brother.
Felicia and Jersey are not really in good terms. And that’s all thanks to Felicia’s husband who has a problem with Jersey for obvious reasons.
He wanted the director’s position so badly but the position was given to Jersey and that created an enmity between them.
Felicia being the faithful and loyal wife decided to support her husband against her blood brother. Life can be tricky sometimes.
“What is wrong with the both of you?” Mrs. Hart gro-aned, stepping between the two men.
“Ask your husband what he has against me exactly. It is not my fault that a stupid murderer is on the loose and killing patients.”
“Jersey, calm down.” Mrs. Hart stated and turned to face her husband. A frown plastered on her face and she narrowed her eyes. “Wait, are you…are you drinking?”
“Uhm…”
“Hart!” She yelled, snatching the glas-sof whiskey from his grasp. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“The situation of the hospital is making me lose my sanity and alcohol have a way of soothing me.” He said.
“The situation of the hospital is enough for us to worry about. I don’t want your health crisis to add to it.” She turned to her son. “Why didn’t you stop him?”
Jersey simply shrugged.
“Listen, let’s all go to bed tonight and continue the conversation tomorrow.” She suggested.
“I second the motion,” Felicia said from where she remained standing with her arms crossed over her chest.
”Goodnight, everyone.” Jersey muttered and left the office without sparing his sister a glance.
“Go and converse with him, Felicia. Your brother need soothing words right now.”
“I am the last person he will want to talk to, mother.” Felicia rolled her eyes.
“Please, my daughter. Try.” Mrs. Hart pleaded.
“Fine.” Felicia gave out a defeated sigh and left the study room.
••••
Jersey was just entering his bedroom.
He unbutto-ned his shirt and shrugged it off his body, gro-aning at the back of his throat.
Why was all these happening to him?
On a serious note, there was no murder case during the time of his father, grandfather and even great-grandfather.
Why was his own term different?
He sat down on the edge of the king sized bed, propping his elbows on his knees and placed his chin on his open palm, su-cking in a de-ep breath.
He can’t even sleep because his mind and head are occupied with the shit going on.
Who is this murderer exactly? And why is the psychopath killing innocent patients in the hospital?
He can’t even pin down one person as a suspect.
Ward 302 was a good kid and Dr. Abby really loved that child…
Speaking of Dr. Abby, he hope she is okay and isn’t crying her eyes out wherever she was right now.
He gro-aned again, biting his lower li-p.
There was a knock on the door, startling him a little bit.
He stared intently at the door as if he would be able to see the person knocking throu-ghit.
Another knock came in, followed by another, and another…
“Come in,” He announced.
The door opened and his sister, the least person he expected to see walked in.
“What…are you doing here?” He asked.
She shrugged. “Mother was worried about you.”
“And?”
“She pleaded with me to come and see if you are okay.”
“Well, I am. You can go now.”
Instead of listening to him, she stepped further into the room and sat down beside him on the bed.
“You are not.”
“Do you care?” He retorted.
“You are my brother,” She reminded him of the obvious.
“So? After all, I come last in your life.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t give a shit about anybody but your fuc-k ing husband, Felicia. I don’t care. But please don’t act like you care about me right now. Because I’m sure you are one person who is so happy about what is going on!” He stood up from the bed and went to the couch organized at the corner of the room.
“Santos Hospital is not only your hospital, Jersey. How can I be happy about the disaster going on over there?”
“I don’t know. You tell me. Besides, if anything goes wrong, your husband will have the chance of taking me out of the line and becoming the new director. That has been his greatest desire, isn’t it?”
Felicia rose to her feet. “I know you are going throu-ghshit but I will be careful of what I say if I were you.”
“Just leave me alone, Felicia. Get out of my room!”
“Jersey_”
”Don’t do that.” He cut her off. “Don’t give me that pity look. You have no fuc-k ing right to pity me. And,” He pointed a finger at her. “I hope your husband has nothing to do with this catastrophe. Because if he does…I will make sure he rot in jail.”
“JERSEY!” Felicia called out angrily. “How dare you? Are you indirectly accusing my husband of the murders happening in the hospital?”
“I don’t trust him, you can’t blame me. We all know how much he wanted the director position. Who knows? Maybe he married you because of your wealth.”
Felicia face hardened in anger as she shot daggers at her brother throu-ghher eyes.
“Stop it. My husband loves me. He might not be the director of the hospital but he worked so ha-rd as a doctor in the hospital. He would never hurt a patient not when he treats them as well.”
“Let me be the judge of that. After all, he works under me.”
“I should never have come here to have a conversation with you. I don’t blame you.” She turned around and walked towards the door but stopped on her track as she grabbed the doorknob. “You know what, I think the murders happening is for my husband and I good…soon, father will have no choice than to take the position away from you and give it to a more capable person. My husband. Hold on to whatever hope you have left because you are at the verge of losing every damn thing, dear brother.” With that said, she left the room, closing the door hard.
Jersey balled his fist very tight, his knuckles turning white but he didn’t care.
••••
Abby descended the stairs, already dressed up for work.
Emma was in the living room, going throu-ghsome paper works while drinking from a mug of steaming coffee.
“Good morning,” Abigail greeted.
“Good morning, babes.”
“What are you doing?”
“Preparing for the day ahead.” Emma answered and then, eyed her friend from the head to toe. “Are you going to work?”
“As you can see.”
“Abby, I think you should take a day off from work. You still need to recuperate from Tara’s departure.”
“I can’t sit back at home, Emma. It is normal for patients to die in a hospital. Tara’s death is not an excuse for me to stay back at home.” Abby explained. “Besides, I will like to help you and your team on this case. And if I want to do that, I will have to go back to work.”
“What? No, you can’t do that, Abby. You are a doctor and not a detective.”
“I don’t care.”
“Well, I care.”
“Emma, you can’t stop me from investigating about what happened to Tara.”
“But…”
“Please let me help. I beg of you. If I can’t cry for her, at least let me catch the criminal who murdered her and justify her innocent soul. Please.” She pleaded.
Emma hesitated before saying, “Alright. But no one must know that you are working hand-in-hand with my team and I. You hear me?”
Abigail frantically nodded her head. “Yes. So what do you intend on doing?”
“I will go throu-ghthe event of that day from the CCTV. I’m sure we will be able to find out something.”
“I’m sure of that too. What about my analysis?”
“You could be right.”
“Didn’t you run an autopsy on Tara before she was buried?”
“We tried to but her mother refused.”
“Why?”
“She said and I quote, ‘That silly daughter of mine can’t cause me trouble alive and still want to cause more trouble after being dead.’ The woman is crazy, trust me. I tried to persuade her but she wouldn’t budge. And she said someone asked her not to perform autopsy on her dead child.”
“What? Who?”
“She didn’t say.” Emma sighed. “You do know everyone is a suspect in the hospital…including you.”
Abby nodded her head. “Yes.”
“But you have a witness and an alibi, right?”
“You are my witness and Mr. Jersey is my alibi. Honestly, I wished I had dropped by the hospital that night. Maybe I would have been able to defend Tara.”
“Everything happens for a reason.” That was all Emma could say. “Anyway,” She handed one paperwork to Abigail. “we could use the other cases of two years ago to solve this one.”
“How?”
“We performed autopsy on them. Although we didn’t find anything strange in their system. There was no sign of poisoning or drugs.”
“Really?”
”Hmm. But I’m sure if we keep looking…we might find something strange.”
“While you guys investigate, what do you want me to do?” Abby asked.
“Keep a close watch on all of your colleagues. Because one of them is the murderer.”
•••••
“Abby is right. Poisoning and over-drugged could be another means to kill a human being without inflicting any injuries on them.” Robert reasoned.
“Yes…” Emma agreed. “these are the photos of two years ago cases,” She dropped many pictures of the five patients that died two years ago. One body was taken from different angles. “We didn’t run an autopsy on the last victim neither did we take a photograph because her mother refused. But we can use this photos to_”
“I took a photo,” Ginny interrupted.
Emma and Robert glanced at her in shock.
“You took a photo?” They asked in sync.
“Yes. you all know that I love taking pictures and_”
“Where is it?” Emma cut her off.
Ginny hesitantly pulled out her phone from her pocket, she went throu-ghher gallery and cli-cked on one particular picture and then gave it to Emma.
Emma and Robert studied the image. Tara was lying down lifelessly on a long table. The photo wasn’t really clear but they can manage it.
“We could use this.” Emma stated. “All we just need to do is print out the image.”
“But isn’t this wrong? Her mother refused…”
“No one will know about it. It is only between you, me and the spoilt brat. For once in your life,” She was talking to Ginny. “you’ve contributed to something and I must say, you did a good job.”
“Are you encouraging me to keep taking pictures of every crime scene?”
“Uh, maybe. As long as you do it discreetly.” Emma replied.
“Now that we have the last victim’s photo, what is our next step?” Robert questioned.
“We will go over to the hospital, go throu-ghthe CCTV footage of that day, and interrogate the minor staffs.”
“Minors staffs, you are talking about the janitors, right?” Ginny asked.
“Yes. Wow, you are now paying attention. Good job.” Emma smiled.
Ginny simply rolled her eyes.
‘Robert will only notice and like me if I pay attention to work.’ She thought to herself.
“Nothing can ever bypas-sthe eyes of a janitor in a place of work. They are the ones with the juicy gist.” Emma said.
Robert nodded his head in agreement. “Concerning the CCTV footage, the murderer must have tampered with it.”
“I know. And that is why we have a second option and that is to interrogate the minor staffs.
Desmond walked in.
“Boss,” They greeted.
“How is the case going?” He asked.
“Great. I have a good feelings about this.” Emma beamed.
“Hmm…Well, I brou-ght bad news,” He cleared his throat. “Mr. Hart made a request.”
“Mr. Hart?” Robert repeated.
“He is the father of the director of Santos Hospital.” Desmond explained. “He requested that I withdraw your team from the investigation and give the case to another team.”
“What?”
TBC.