[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Entering through the garage, he went directly to his bedroom and removed his disguise.When he was finished he went downstairs to the kitchen.Fancying himself a gourmet cook, he opened the refrigerator and took out a large bowl of eggs.Devoid of any remorse regarding the morning’s events, he meticulously began preparation of a crabmeat omelet.Watching it cook, he became filled with a powerful sense of righteousness regarding his achievement.At the same moment he savored the first bite of the omelet, the paramedics were racing the stricken doctor across the street to Dade Presbyterian’s emergency room.He had no pulse or blood pressure and they were performing full CPR.By the time Gideon had finished cleaning up the kitchen, Charles Barnes, the ER physician on duty, had already pronounced Dr.Allen Hawkins dead.CHAPTER 8From her terrace, seven stories above the Intracoastal Water-way, Morgan gazed down at the myriad of unhurried pleasure boats making their way up and down the man-made inland passageway.Enjoying her first full day off in two weeks, she absently massaged her lower abdomen.When she looked down and realized what she was doing, it brought an immediate grin to her face.She imagined that most women facing the likelihood of a divorce wouldn’t embrace the news they were pregnant.But Morgan felt that irrespective of what the future held for her, she was overjoyed at the prospect of being a mother.After taking the last few sips of her cranberry juice, she stepped back from the railing and checked her watch.Annoyed at herself for losing track of the time and running the risk of being late for her first yoga class, she hurried back into her living room and grabbed her purse from a smoke glass coffee table.She was halfway to the front door when her pager went off.She glanced down at the digital display.It was the emergency room—the last place she wanted to hear from.After an aggravated groan, she picked up her cordless phone and dialed the number.A man answered on the third ring.“This is Dr.Barnes.”Barnes was the vice chief of Emergency Medicine.He was an accommodating and even-tempered man who had always been supportive of Morgan’s agenda as the department chief.“Hi, Charles, it’s Morgan.Somebody paged me.”“I paged you.Are you in the hospital?” he asked in an unusually serious tone.Fearing she was in peril of missing her yoga class, she said, “C’mon, Charles.This is my first day off in weeks.Whatever the catastrophe is, can’t it wait until tomorrow?”“I’m not calling about a departmental problem, Morgan.”With a measured amount of concern creeping into her voice, she asked, “You sound awful.What’s going on?”“I’m afraid it’s your father.”“My father?” she grumbled with relief.“Don’t tell me he yelled at one of the nurses again.I told him the next time he did that I wouldn’t be able to save his—”“Morgan, your father was attacked in his office a little while ago.The paramedics brought him straight here.”Her purse slipped from her hand.She fell into the couch.“Attacked?”“At first I thought he had had a heart attack or stroke.But when I saw the marks on his throat.”Morgan clamped down on the receiver, sending every muscle in her hand into spasm.Desperately trying to maintain her composure, she asked, “Is.is he okay? Have the trauma surgeons seen him? It doesn’t matter who’s on call today, he’d want Katz or Fairland called.”After a difficult pause, Barnes said, “When he arrived, he was in full cardiac arrest.We.we tried to.I’m so sorry, Morgan.We tried everything.We just couldn’t get him back.”With the finality of the words reverberating in her head, Morgan found herself helpless to move or speak.She heard what Charles had told her, but she couldn’t fully process it.Finally she uttered, “I.I don’t—”“May’s our charge nurse today.She said she’d come get you.”A few more seconds passed.Feeling as if everything was happening in slow motion, Morgan whispered, “No, I’d prefer to drive myself.”Her hand opened and the phone fell out
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]