Murder at the Clinic: A Midwest Cozy Mystery Read online

  “Put that on your list of things to do, but what interests me more than anything else is that for the first time we have a nexus. Matt is married to Sandy. Sandy goes to the acupuncture clinic to be treated. Matt is presumably either a very good friend or is having an affair with Rochelle, who works at the acupuncture clinic. We can all figure that out, but the problem is how was Sandy poisoned? Even if we can put all of them at the clinic, not one thing, from what I understand from you, Kat, and from Mitzi, leads to the Digoxin trail. Am I right?” Nick asked.

  “Yes, if it was either one of them, how did they do it? That’s the million-dollar question,” Kat said. “I’ll call Mitzi after we eat and see if she can think of anything, given this new information. As always, Nick, thanks. Talk to you later.”

  As she hung up, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it, Kat. Stay where you are.” Jazz and Rudy accompanied Blaine to the door wagging their tails.

  “From the looks of the dogs’ tails, I think it must be Lacie,” Kat said. “She wanted to stop by, see my ring, and talk to you.”

  He opened the door and gave Lacie a big hug. “I seriously thought about calling you and asking for your permission before I proposed to your mother, but I didn’t get around to it. Things happened a little faster than I expected. I hope you don’t mind.”

  She pushed Blaine away and looked up at him, “Are you kidding? I couldn’t be happier, but there is one problem,” she said laughing. “Mom comes with some baggage in the form of me.”

  He hugged her again and said, “Actually I don’t consider you to be baggage, I consider you a plus. Your mom’s in the kitchen, but I think you better stop where you are for a minute, because you have two dogs clamoring for special attention from you.”

  “Hi guys, here’s pats for both of you, now I really want to see this ring Mom told me about.” She walked toward the kitchen followed by Blaine and the dogs.

  When she got to the kitchen she found Kat hamming it up and moving her ring finger back and forth so the rays from the setting sun would catch the ring and send colorful prisms of light throughout the kitchen. She paused, so Lacie could get the full effect and then began moving her finger around again. “Mom, that is a serious knuckle duster!” She turned to Blaine and said, “You done good, Blaine, you done real good!” She walked over and kissed him.

  “Seriously, I am so happy for both of you,” she said. “I would love to stay, but I’m down to one more exam, and I think there’s a good chance I can make the dean’s list this semester. Anyway, for that to happen I need to get back to the sorority house and study. I’ll call you tomorrow after I finish my test, and we can start planning what you’re going to do to the house to get ready to host Mitzi’s wedding.”

  “Kat, it just occurred to me we’ve never really discussed where we’re going to live when we’re married. I know I said I would move in with you and help you and Lacie with the things you were going to get to spruce the house up before Mitzi’s wedding, but that was before we got engaged. Have you given it any thought?” Blaine asked after he closed the door behind Lacie.

  “I haven’t, but Lacie has. She thinks we should live here, because she’s insisting I get new appliances and some other things for the house. Somehow I have a feeling before this is over a lot of things are going to be redone. She also mentioned that since the house has four bedrooms, we could make one of them into a study for you. How does that sound?”

  “Perfect, but as I mentioned before, I do have one request.”

  “What?”

  “Since I’m going to be living here, I really do want to go shopping with the two of you, if you wouldn’t mind my input,” he said.

  “I remember you said you’d like to go with us, and I think that’s perfectly reasonable. You definitely should have a say in this.”

  “Think I also need to bring my checkbook as well. At some point we’re going to have to have the financial talk,” Blaine said.

  “Yes. I know you have a large trust fund. I agree. I have no problem with a prenuptial agreement.”

  “Kat, I don’t recall ever saying anything about a prenuptial agreement. I’m thinking whatever is mine is yours and vice-versa.”

  “Blaine, that doesn’t sound fair to you. You’re the one with the money. What if, heaven forbid, something happened to you not long after we were married. I shouldn’t get all that money.”

  “Kat, there are some things I’m kind of old-fashioned about. Not niggling over money is one of them. And if something happens to me, oh well. And if something happens to both of us, then Lacie won’t have to worry about her future. Won’t be saying this very often, but this is one subject I’d like to consider closed. The only other relative I have is Nick, and he inherited as much as I did. He certainly doesn’t need my money. Now, I’m starving, let’s eat.”

  CHAPTER 24

  “Kat, that was fantastic. I’ve never had a chilled trout salad before. In fact, the only trout I’ve had always tasted a whole lot stronger than what was in that salad, plus it had to be super healthy.”

  “And low calorie. Since everyone I know is watching their calories, me included, I’m always on the lookout for tasty low-calorie meals. I’ll definitely make it for you again. If you’ll give me a hand with the dishes, we can sit down afterwards and start making some wedding plans. I think I’m brain dead on this whole murder thing.”

  “Sure,” he said pushing his chair back from the table and stacking their plates to take them to the sink. “I’ve been thinking about the country club and our wedding. You know I’m past president of the Men’s Golf group there, and I have a lot of friends in it. I’d like to invite quite a few of them, and if I do that this wedding may be a little larger than we’d originally thought. I’m planning on having Nick as my best man and that’s it. Thought we could keep the wedding party somewhat small since other than Lacie and Nick and his family, we really don’t have any close relatives.”

  “Sounds good to me. I think I mentioned Lacie has already asked if she could be my maid-of-honor. Naturally, I said yes. You’re much more active in the club than I’ve been, so I assume you’ll have a lot more people at our wedding than I will. Don’t forget, now that you’re the district attorney, you’re probably also going to have to ask some people just for political reasons.”

  He grimaced and said, “I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re probably right. Maybe we should just elope to Las Vegas and have Elvis marry us.”

  “Somehow I don’t think either Lacie or Nick would be very happy with that decision. No, we’ll do it the old-fashioned way, but even though you’ve never been married before, I’m not wearing some wedding gown with a trail and a veil that you have to raise to kiss me. We’re a little long in the tooth for that.”

  “Agreed. I think I hear your phone. Can you get it, or do you want me to get it?”

  “I’ve got it,” she said wiping her hands on a dish towel. A moment later she said, “Mitzi, I think we’ve talked more today than we have in months. What’s new?” She listened for a moment and said, “Of course. Come on over. Blaine’s here, and I’m very curious to look at what it is you want to show me. See you in a few minutes.”

  *****

  “Jazz, Rudy, on your beds,” Kat said when the doorbell rang. She opened the door. “Come in, come in. You must be Rex. I’m Kat, and I’m so glad to finally have the opportunity to meet you.”

  Blaine walked across the room and shook Rex’s hand and kissed Mitzi on the cheek. “So what brings you two over here?” Blaine asked.

  A grim-faced Mitzi answered, “Kat, can the four of us go to your office? I want to show you something, but first I need to tell you how I came to get it.”

  “Sure, and I have to say, you’ve certainly whetted my curiosity,” Kat said as she led the way to her office. “Blaine, help me get a couple of chairs from the kitchen, and then we can all have a place to sit down.”

  When they’d brought in the chairs she said, “Okay, Mitzi, now that we’re al
l here, want to tell Blaine and me what’s going on?”

  Mitzi took a deep breath and began to speak, “When I talked to you a few hours ago, I mentioned I had a lot of paperwork to catch up on at the clinic. I think I told you I was going to meet Rex for dinner. A half hour before it was time for me to meet him I decided I’d done enough for today and thought I’d get to the restaurant a little early, so I could freshen up. Because I was the last person to leave the clinic, it was my responsibility to lock the front door. I keep the key for the door in a special place in my purse, but I couldn’t find it. I turned my purse upside down trying to find the key, but it was nowhere to be found.” She turned to Kat and said, “I’m sorry, but is there any chance you could get me a glass of water?”

  “Sure, I’ll be right back. Hold whatever you were going to say until I return.” A few minutes later she returned with the water.

  Mitzi took a big swallow from the glass and said, “I knew I couldn’t leave the clinic unlocked for the night with things like our computers in there, and I didn’t know what to do. I was on the verge of calling Rex and asking him to go to my house and see if he could find the key to the clinic when I remembered we keep a spare key in the reception desk, just for this type of an emergency.” Clearly agitated, she took another sip of water from the glass.

  “Mitzi, take your time. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not critical to the case, so you don’t need to hurry.”

  “Hate to say you’re wrong, Kat, but in this case you are. What I’m going to tell you is absolutely critical to the case.”

  Kat, Blaine, and Rex all leaned forward in anticipation of what Mitzi was going to say. “I looked in the bottom drawer at the back where we kept the key under a stack of papers and in what looked like a box of pens. I’d made the decision a long time ago that I didn’t want the emergency office key very visible in case someone tried to find it. No one would think to look inside a box of pens. When I reached for the box, I noticed something under it. I pulled the thing out, and it was a flash drive. The last time I’d used the emergency key to the office several months ago the flash drive had not been there. I’m absolutely certain of that. I was curious what was on it and why it was even there.”

  “Mitzi, who has access to the reception desk?” Blaine asked.

  “Dr. Nguyen, Rochelle, and me. Since the desk drawers were never locked, theoretically, anyone could have opened that drawer and put the flash drive in there.”

  “But from the way you’re saying this, it sounds like you think it was put there by one of them, is that right?” Kat asked.

  “Yes, and I want you all to see what’s on it. Rex hasn’t even seen it. I called him at the restaurant and told him to meet me at your house. Here goes,” she said inserting the flash drive into the computer.

  There was absolute silence in the room as they watched the computer screen for approximately four minutes. When it was over, Mitzi removed the flash drive and said, “Well, what do you think?”

  Rex was the first to speak. “Obviously someone was doing research on poisons and with the amount of research done on Digoxin, it seems that’s the one they were most interested in. I know a little about the drug, and if it’s not administered properly, it can result in death. The other stuff seemed to be about certain acupuncture points, but that’s your area, Mitzi.”

  “Rex, I haven’t had a chance to tell you this, because you were in surgery this afternoon, but I had a conversation with Detective Shafer this afternoon…” Mitzi told him about the coroner’s finding and how the detective had questioned her regarding the drug known as Digoxin.

  “Okay, Mitzi, it definitely seems that someone was researching Digoxin, but what does that have to do with the acupuncture research on the flash drive?”

  “Believe me, that’s all I’ve been thinking about since I saw it, and I have a theory. For the first time I think I know how Sandy was murdered.”

  “Mitzi, before you begin, I think Detective Shafer needs to be informed of this, particularly if you have a theory. Could you hold off telling us until he gets here, assuming I can reach him?” Kat asked.

  Blaine spoke up. “I think Kat’s right. This is his case, and it seems to be going into some areas that are a far cry from the usual murders that are committed by using a knife or a gun. Kat, I definitely think you should give him a call and see if he can come over here right away.”

  “I hadn’t thought about it, Kat, but yes, please call him,” Mitzi said. Kat went down the hall, and they heard her talking on her phone. A few minutes later she walked back into the office and said, “He’s on his way. Blaine, would you mind answering the door when he gets here? He respects you more than he does me.”

  *****

  “Dr. Green, Dr. Brown, Mr. Evans, Mrs. Denham, thanks for including me in this meeting, although I don’t really know what it’s all about,” Detective Shafer said after he’d taken a seat in Kat’s office.

  “Mitzi, why don’t you tell him everything you’ve told us?” Kat said. They listened as Mitzi recounted the events of the evening.

  “Before I go any further, Detective, I’d like to show you what was on the flash drive. The others have already seen it, but I’d like you to be on the same page as them.”

  They were quiet while the detective watched the computer screen as the research sites on Digoxin and acupuncture flashed up. When it was finished, he turned to Mitzi and said, “I know what I just saw, but I don’t understand the connection between Digoxin, acupuncture, and the case at hand.”

  “I have a theory, Detective, and it is strictly that. I haven’t figured a lot of it out, but this is what I’m thinking. What if someone put Digoxin on the tips of the needles I used on Sandy Hendrick? If Digoxin was on them, and I used the electrode machine to stimulate the needles, it seems to me the poison would go into the body faster. Secondly, a couple of the charts on the flash drive deal with the acupuncture points that are the most susceptible to immediate entry into the blood stream and the heart.

  “Unfortunately, I was treating Sandy, as I’ve already told you, for depression, and the acupuncture points on the meridians an acupuncturist uses to treat that disorder would be the very ones that would act the fastest and pretty much go directly to the heart. In other words, if someone put Digoxin on the needles I used to treat Sandy and they were stimulated and put into those specific points, it could result in death.” She sat back and took a deep breath.

  Everyone started to speak at once. Rex held his hand up. “Mitzi is absolutely correct on her assessment of Digoxin. It definitely could be responsible for Sandy’s death, but what I don’t understand is how it could be put on the needles.”

  “I think I can answer that question,” Kat said. “One time when I was having a treatment I was watching Mitzi open the packets of needles. They come in individual packets which are sealed with something like an adhesive. I noticed that she opened them very easily. I’m sure they’re packaged that way in order to make it easy for the acupuncturist to get them out and not waste a lot of time. Since recycling is such a big deal these days I was curious if the packets could be resealed and reused. It seemed kind of like a waste to throw all that paper away. After my treatment I took one out of the waste basket, and I was able to easily reseal it.”

  “Kat, that doesn’t seem very smart, I mean you could have really hurt yourself if you jammed a needle into your finger,” Blaine said.

  “No, all the used needles go into a special hazardous waste container designed just for them, and I’m assuming they’re gotten rid of when the container is full. Would that be right, Mitzi?”

  “Absolutely. Each needle is only used once, and then it’s safely disposed of.”

  Detective Shafer took his glasses off, got a handkerchief from his pocket, and cleaned them. “Dr. Green, let me be clear about this. You’re saying that digoxin could have been put on the needles you inserted into special points on the decedent, and because of where you inserted the needles with the poison on them,
it could have resulted in death. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, and based on what Kat just said, with the needles in sealed packets, I would never have suspected they’d been tampered with.”

  “All right,” Detective Shafer said, “Theoretically, that could explain how she died and why there were no signs of foul play. Doctor, correct me if I’m wrong, since I’ve never had an acupuncture treatment, but I’m assuming the needles are so thin it would be very hard to determine even where they’d been inserted into the body.”

  “You’re absolutely right,” Mitzi said. “After an acupuncture treatment there are almost no signs on the body of where the needles have been placed during the treatment. In the past, before the needles became so thin, patients were advised not to shower for two hours after the treatment or until the microscopic holes in the skin closed, but now it’s really not an issue.”

  “Well, if your theory is correct, and I have to say it’s very plausible, there are two things to consider. Who put the poison on the needles, and who put the needles in the room where you treated Mrs. Hendrick?”

  Kat spoke up. “I think we can use a process of elimination here. I don’t think there’s any way that Dina or Matt Hendrick could have done it, given the fact they’d have to have been physically present at the clinic, and I’m sure you would have found that strange, Mitzi.”

  “Definitely,” she answered.

  “So if we eliminate them, and we have to eliminate me, because I was never in her treatment room, then it leaves two suspects who would have had the knowledge and the ability to get into the treatment room.”

  “And those are?” Blaine asked.

  “Dr. Nguyen and Rochelle, but there’s something else that’s critical in this scenario. Mitzi, how is it determined which patient goes into which room? Here’s why I think it’s critical. Someone had to put those needles into the room where Mrs. Hendrick was going to be treated.” She turned to Mitzi and said, “Do you schedule, say the night before, who will go in what room or is it just whatever room is available when someone comes into the clinic for their treatment?”