Murder at the Clinic: A Midwest Cozy Mystery Page 6

She told him about the conversation she’d had with Mitzi regarding Dr. Warren, Dr. Nguyen, and also Mitzi’s conversation with Rex regarding his ex-fiancée saying she hoped Mitzi would have an accident.

  “Do you know the name of the ex-fiancée?”

  “No. I don’t know if Mitzi even knows her name.”

  “Why don’t you call Mitzi? I’d like to talk to her.”

  “Of course.” She picked up her phone from the table and pressed in Mitzi’s number. A moment later it was answered by Mitzi, who was sobbing. “Mitzi, it’s Kat. What’s wrong?”

  CHAPTER 12

  “Oh Kat, it was horrrriiibbble,” Mitzi sobbed.

  “Mitzi, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please, tell me what’s going on.”

  “It was the police. They were just here along with that detective we talked to earlier today. They searched my house and my car. Can you believe it? I felt like a criminal, and then they took my computer, after I agreed to let them take it.”

  “Why would they take your computer?”

  “They told me they wanted to see if there was anything on it that might relate to Sandy’s death. Oh, Kat, I think they suspect me of killing Sandy. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she wailed.

  “Mitzi, calm down. I have someone here who is going to help us. It’s Blaine’s brother, and he’s a private investigator. Blaine called him this afternoon when Blaine found out that it looked like the woman was poisoned. He told his brother to come over, so he could get started with an investigation right away. He needs to ask you some questions. Believe me, he was a huge help when I was involved in that murder case a couple of months ago. Trust me, he can help.”

  Mitzi stopped crying and said, “What does he need to know? I’m not sure I can help, but I’ll try.”

  “I’m going to let you talk to him. His name’s Nick.” She handed the phone to Nick and covered it with her hand. “Nick, she’s pretty emotional right now. The police were at her house searching it and questioning her. They took her computer.”

  “That’s pretty standard. I rather imagine they’ll be here for yours pretty soon as well.” He took the phone from her. “Hi, Mitzi, this is Nick Evans. There are a few questions I’d like to ask you, so I can get started with this investigation. First of all, what can you tell me about Sandy Hendrick?”

  Mitzi told him what she knew including the fact that her husband’s name was Matt. She said she thought he was an engineer, but she didn’t know where he worked.

  “Can you tell me why Sandy came to you? What were you treating her for?” he asked.

  There was silence on the other end of the phone, and then Mitzi said, “Nick, when I became a doctor I took an oath not to reveal what I was treating a patient for. There is a caveat to that. When the patient is deceased, in acupuncture, as opposed to some other forms of medicine, an acupuncture doctor is no longer bound by that oath. The police asked me the same question, and I told them I was treating her for depression, and that’s the truth.”

  “Do you know if her depression was chronic or situational?” Nick asked.

  “I know her marriage wasn’t a happy one. It was a second marriage for both she and her husband, and she told me it was as if they were circling the drain, waiting to be sucked down it. She said this wasn’t the first time she’d been depressed, as she’d suffered bouts of depression all her life. I’m not a psychologist and make no pretense of being one, but it was obvious to me Sandy was clinically depressed.”

  “Mitzi, I’m a little unclear how acupuncture can help something like depression. I kind of get it when it comes to helping cure physical ailments by unblocking things, as I understand it, but depression?”

  “Actually, it’s quite common for acupuncturists to treat people for depression. There are certain lines in the human body we call meridians. You’d probably call them channels. When they’re blocked, or the chi, called the energy in oriental medicine, is blocked, they can cause depression in a person. When they become unblocked the physical sense of depression is gone, however, that doesn’t mean that the underlying causes of the depression aren’t still there.”

  “Okay, I see what you mean. Did she ever mention they were going to get divorced?”

  “No, once she told me her husband kept telling her he didn’t want a divorce, because he loved her. Another time she mentioned she suspected he was having an affair because she smelled perfume on him. I think she said it was Amerige. She recognized it, because it was the same one she liked to wear.”

  “Maybe I’m being thick here, but if she wore the same perfume couldn’t she have smelled her own perfume on him?”

  “I asked her the same question,” Mitzi answered. “She told me it wasn’t her perfume because for a long time they hadn’t been intimate enough for her perfume to be on him.”

  “All right, I get the picture. Let me ask you a couple of other questions. Do you know where your receptionist, Rochelle Salazar, lives?”

  “Yes. Let me walk into my study. I keep her personnel file at home in my desk. Here it is. She lives at 473 East Mesa Drive here in town. Does that help?”

  “Very much. What can you tell me about Dr. Nguyen? I understand you both are being considered for an appointment to the same position.”

  “Yes we are, although I think I can kiss it off after this incident.” She proceeded to tell Nick everything she knew about Dr. Nguyen. “That’s about it. Anything else?”

  “Yes, one more thing. I understand your fiancé, Dr. Brown, and you had a conversation yesterday relating to his ex-fiancée. What do you know about her?”

  “Not much. I believe she’s a paralegal, and that her name is Dina. I don’t know who she works for or where she lives. I could ask Rex, but I’m a little reluctant to do that, although he was wonderful when I spoke with him a few minutes ago.”

  “I understand. Since Blaine’s in the legal field, maybe he can find something out about her. I think that’s all I need from you for now. I may have some more questions when I get a little deeper into this.”

  “Good,” Mitzi said. “I have to teach tomorrow morning, and in the afternoon I’ll be with my interns. If I can help, please call. I really am desperate to clear my name. Please do whatever you need to do.”

  “Dr. Green, I’m sure you understand I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do my best. I have a number of people working for me who can find out almost anything about someone. I’m going to go home now and get started on this. Get a good night’s sleep.”

  “Thanks for your help, Nick. I feel a lot better than I did when this conversation started.”

  He put down the phone and turned to Blaine. “Since I had her on speakerphone, I’m sure you heard everything. I’d like you to see if you can find out who Dina, the paralegal, is. As I told Dr. Green, I want to get started on this right away. Kat, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  He was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Rudy ran to the front door and started growling. Jazz took refuge under the sofa. She was terrified when Rudy growled, knowing there had to be a reason for it, and it usually wasn’t something good.

  “Rudy, stay! Who is it?” Kat asked as she looked through the peephole. She heard the words, “It’s the police,” but as soon as she saw the uniforms she knew that the police who had been at Mitzi’s house earlier were now standing on her doorstep. She recognized Detective Shafer as the man who had led the investigation in Mitzi’s office.

  “Let them in,” Blaine said walking over to the door. He opened it, and for a moment there was an awkward silence as Detective Shafer tried to figure out what the district attorney was doing at the home of the woman he was going to interrogate in a possible murder case and could, in fact, be a suspect.

  “Please come in. My fiancée and I were discussing our wedding plans with my brother. Actually we became engaged today, so there’s a lot to talk about. How can we help you?” Blaine asked.

  “Congratulations, sir. We’re here to talk to Mrs. Denham,” De
tective Shafer said, having recovered from his surprise at seeing Blaine at Kat’s home. “She was at an acupuncture clinic this morning when another patient died. Unfortunately, there’s a good chance the woman didn’t die from natural causes. We need to do an in-depth interview.”

  “Certainly. I see no reason why, as her husband-to-be, I can’t sit in on the conversation, do you?”

  “Of course not, sir. This shouldn’t take too long,” Detective Shafer said.

  “I need to get home,” Nick said. “Talk to you soon and congratulations to both of you.” He shook Blaine’s hand and kissed Kat on the cheek.

  Detective Shafer recognized him, but given the fact that Kat was wearing a diamond on her finger that hadn’t been there this morning, and Nick was the district attorney’s brother, he decided to let it slide that Nick might be there for a reason other than celebrating the engagement.

  “Let’s go into the great room, Detective,” Kat said. “There’s a large table in there we can sit at, and I’ll be happy to tell you what I know, although I think I told you everything this morning.”

  “You probably did, but I’d like you to try and recall if there is anything else. Did you hear something odd? Were there unexplained footsteps in the hall or doors opening?”

  “I’m sorry, but as I said, I don’t think I know any more now than I did then. What makes you think she didn’t die from natural causes?” Kat asked.

  The detective looked at Blaine and then back to Kat. It was apparent to both of them that the detective was wondering how much they knew about the coroner’s report. He decided he’d better be honest, or there could be a problem in the future.

  “The coroner issued a preliminary report stating he’d found a substance in her body which appeared to be a poison. Naturally, when information like that is discovered, we go back to square one. One of the reasons we took DNA evidence and dusted the treatment room for fingerprints this morning was because there’s always a possibility the coroner’s report will show something other than what was thought to be death from natural causes. That seems to be the case here.”

  “I find it hard to believe that a woman goes to an acupuncture treatment and then dies from a poison. Surely it must have been something she was exposed to or ingested earlier in the day,” Kat said.

  “One would think so, but then again you never know. Since you don’t seem to have any more information, I think we’ll be leaving. Oh,” he said turning back to her, “I’d like permission to take your computer and have one of our experts look at it. In this age of technology, it’s become a very important part of our investigations.”

  “Wait a minute,” Blaine said with an edge in his raised voice, “Why do you want to see Kat’s computer? What in the devil do you expect to find? A confession? Of course if she confesses to murder, I’ll have to recuse myself from prosecuting her since she’s my fiancée.”

  “I’m sure we’ll be returning it by noon tomorrow. It’s simply procedure, sir. You know how the court and police systems work. Everything has to be done properly and by the book.”

  “It’s in my office down the hall, the second door on the left. You’re welcome to take it,” Kat said. “Detective, will all the information on it remain intact? The reason I ask is because I’m an author, and although I’ve backed up all my books on the Cloud, I’d be panicked if anything was lost, because I have everything regarding them on it.”

  “That depends on what we find. More than likely, someone will bring it back to you by noon tomorrow. I’m assuming there’s nothing on it that would present a problem to you.”

  “Of course not.”

  “Okay, I’ll be in touch if there’s anything else I need. Time is of the essence in murder cases, so we’re already working on it. Hopefully, it won’t take long. Have a nice rest of your evening, although there isn’t much left of it, and again, congratulations on your engagement,” he said as he and the other policeman left.

  CHAPTER 13

  “Kat, this has been a very long day for you,” Blaine said once the policemen had left. “I’d love to stay for a while, but given everything that’s happened today, I think I’ll table the thought of celebrating our engagement for some other time. You need to get some sleep.”

  “Thanks for being so understanding. It’s hard to take it all in. I’ve gotten engaged, and a woman died in the treatment room next to mine. While I haven’t been named as a suspect, I’m getting the distinct impression that the detective thinks I may have had something to do with it.”

  “No, don’t worry, they always act like that. Trust me. Once they see there’s nothing on your computer that could be a problem for you, they’ll forget about you. They’re just following routine police procedure. Kat, what’s wrong?” Blaine asked. “You’ve turned pale, and you look like you’re going to faint.”

  Suddenly she collapsed onto a nearby couch and put her face in her hands, emitting a mournful “Oh, no.”

  “Kat, what is it? Please, tell me,” Blaine said as he stooped down in front of her.

  She took her hands away from her face and said, “Blaine, I just know they’re going to arrest me for Sandy’s death.”

  “That’s crazy talk. What makes you say something like that? We don’t even know for sure how she died.”

  “After my lunch with Mitzi yesterday, as I told you, I got to thinking that her life would make a great subject for a book. You know, fat girl loses weight, has a whole new successful career, finds love in mid-life with a handsome doctor, that type of thing. Sort of like the ugly duckling turns into a beautiful swan theme. What I thought the story needed was some meat.”

  “You’re going to have to spell it out for me, Kat. I’m not connecting the dots here,” Blaine said.

  “I thought a story like that was kind of dull. It needed some intrigue, what I call meat, if you will. I created a file on my computer about the book and entered all of my thoughts in that file.”

  “Kat, that doesn’t seem like the least bit unusual or anything the police would really be interested in unless they’re fans of your books.”

  She took a deep breath and said, “There’s more. After I came back from lunch with Mitzi I not only came up with some ideas for the book, I did some research. That’s what has me worried.”

  “I still don’t understand why that’s a concern.”

  “You will when I tell you this. Since Mitzi’s an acupuncturist I thought a murder that took place in an acupuncture clinic would provide the intrigue or meat I thought the book needed.”

  “That’s a concern.”

  “Blaine, it gets worse. I spent a couple of hours looking up ways to kill people as well as all about acupuncture clinics and how acupuncture works.”

  “You looked up ways to murder someone, Kat?” he asked incredulously.

  “Yes, I decided if I was going to write about a murder the book had to have a ring of truth to it.”

  “Knowing you, I can understand why you did everything you say you did, but I have to agree with you. The police may find all of this quite interesting.”

  “You’re the one who knows about law. Do you think I could be considered a suspect?” she asked as her lower lip began to quiver.

  “Unfortunately, yes. That’s the bad news. The good news is they can’t put the smoking gun in your hand.”

  “Blaine, now it’s my turn, because I have no idea what you’re talking about. What do you mean?”

  “It means, that yes, they will probably copy all of the sites you visited and the notes you made about your book. They may look at you as a possible suspect, but in order to charge you or anyone else with murder there has to be a nexus. In other words, they have to prove you did something which resulted in Sandy’s death. I don’t see how they could possibly charge you with murder, other than if you admitted to it, which we both know you won’t do, since you weren’t responsible for her death.”

  “Blaine, I’m so sorry for involving you in all of this. How could I possibly know s
omeone would die at Mitzi’s clinic?”

  “There’s a word for people who can tell what’s going to happen in the future before it actually does. It’s called being ‘prescient.’ Has this ever happened to you before?”

  “No, I know that people who work in law don’t believe in coincidences, but honestly, Blaine, that’s all this was. Simply a coincidence.”

  “I’m sure it was, but you have to admit the timing is lousy. I imagine they’re taking a long look at you right now.”

  She twisted the ring Blaine had put on her finger only hours before and said, “Maybe it would be better for you if we put this engagement on hold. I think I’m more of a liability than I am an asset to you at this point.”

  “Absolutely not. We’re getting married, and that’s final. What I need to do is get home, call Nick, and tell him what’s happened. I want him to help solve this crime and put it at the top of his priority list, but there’s something else that concerns me.”

  “What’s that?” Kat asked as she walked him to the door.

  “We both know you didn’t kill Sandy, but it looks like someone did. That person may know you were present when Sandy died and might think you know something that would help identify the killer. Until the murder is solved, I’d like Rudy to be with you all the time. He may be a gentle giant, but I know you well remember how invaluable he was in saving your life when you became involved in your editor’s murder. Can you promise me that?”

  “Yes, quite frankly the whole thing creeps me out. I do feel better knowing Rudy is here. Thanks again for getting him for me.”

  “You’re welcome. Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, I think it’s only fair that I get a proper kiss from my bride-to-be.”

  Several minutes later she closed the door behind him and locked it. “Okay, Jazz, Rudy, time to go outside one last time and then off to bed, but first I really need to call Lacie. She needs to hear about this from me before it’s on the news. That could really play havoc with her final exams.”