The hospital stood at the foot of the hill that separated two distinct parts of the city. The poor one to the south and the wealthy one to the north. It was only from the top of that hill that one could understand just how obvious this divide was.
They hurried to the door, just as the sky began to darken and prepare for yet another night of rain. Myra wondered if such a thing meant another murder.
“We need to see your patient records from ten years ago,” said Ori to the pale-faced nurse at the front desk. Frightfully she finished the call she was on and waved at another, older nurse behind them. “I don’t think I can do that sir, not without proper permissions.”
As Ori prepared to invoke the power of the Bureau by sliding off his glove, Myra shoved him aside and leaned over the counter looking the nurse straight in the eyes. “This is an ongoing murder investigation. Could you please tell us who we can talk to?”
The nurse flinched and blinked several times, having no idea what was happening.
“Patient records are sealed. If you were police you would know that,” said the older nurse as she took her spot behind the desk.
“Not after the patient’s death. Or so the law states,” Myra returned. “Look for Marus Olif. He was admitted twenty-three years ago as a ten-year-old with a broken arm. I need to know how long he stayed here and who performed the surgery.”
“I’m afraid everything from back then was still kept on paper,” said the young nurse. “It could still be in the archive though.”
The old nurse gave the young one an angry look like she was about to be eaten alive, and the young one bowed her head in defeat, handing over the keys.
“Wait here,” the old nurse said as she threateningly pointed the biggest of the keys at Myra. As slowly as she was able she walked to the end of the hall and disappeared behind tall metal doors.
Myra smirked, doing the best she could to avoid reconciling with the fact she was in a hospital again. The coffee machine in the corner of the lobby called out to her with a sweet dose of caffeine and sugar. It only took three attempts and a kick to get it to work and when she finally managed to get what she wanted, she discovered that she’d been abandoned.
“Where did he go?” she asked placing the small plastic cups on the counter. The wide-eyed nurse lifted her finger and pointed the way to the stairwell on the other side.
“Seriously?” Myra growled and grabbed the phone behind the counter, but placed it back once she realized did not have Ori’s number. Even worse, she did not know if he had one at all. “I turn my back for a second,” she mumbled.
“Are you one of… them?” the nurse asked quietly. Her pale face was turning red, as she pointed to the way Ori went.
“Them who? Magic people?” Myra barked, forcing one of her nostrils to unclog.
The nurse smiled and nodded shyly.
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“No.” Myra returned as she took the first sip of the coffee. “Gods no. Why?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just you seem like-”
“Here,” said the old nurse presenting a yellowish paper envelope with the name of Marus Olif taped onto it. “I cannot let you take it outside the hospital though. I too know the law.”
Without another word, Myra grabbed the file and found the first available bench in the corner of the lobby, just beneath a large framed picture of its resident doctors.
The file was thinner than she’d expected. It was mostly made up of therapy notes and x-rays of the fracture. It was nothing she hadn’t seen before and nothing that would capture much attention. Still, she made sure to photograph every page and send it to Avva before writing down the names of doctors who’d treated Marus at the time. There happened to be two different names mentioned in the document. One at the beginning and the other at the end.
“This is all pretty straightforward,” said Avva over the phone. “The documents seem legitimate, so I don’t think anyone has tempered with it.”
“Can’t we get anything other than the doctor’s names out of it? No maltreatment, or medical injury?”
“No, nothing of the sort. Though there is one thing.”
“What?”
“I am not an orthopedist but I don’t think he needed surgery for this. The X-ray is pretty clean, there's no evidence of bone density issues, or bone shards in the tissue. He was pretty young so the bone would have healed with just the cast.”
“Do you mean to say he forced surgery on them? There must have been a reason for that,” whispered Myra.
“I can’t make claims beyond the evidence, but it’s quite clear all the victims received the surgeries at a young age. I ran some checks on the other victims and it all leads back to that hospital.”
“Thanks. I’ll call you back.” She hung up and turned to the long line of people in white coats standing in a perfect line in a silver frame. One by one she looked them in the eyes and then called the nurse from the front desk.
“Which one of them is Callus Jarven?” she said.
“Oh, that’s our chief orthopedist. This one.” she pointed to a mild-faced middle-aged man who stood at the very end of the line. His glasses covered a good portion of his face and he smiled to the camera as if it was his birthday.
“How long has he been here?”
“Umm, a long time I think. Thirty years or so, long before I came here.”
“What else do you know about him?”
Once again the old nurse shoved the younger one aside before she said anything. “Are you really police, because neither of you gave me that impression? Can I see some identification?”
“I... it doesn't matter," Myra upstared. "Just please tell me where I can find Dr.Jarven.”
"And why are you looking for him?"
"He's the primary suspect in five murders."
The woman did not so much as flinch at Myra's words. She remained perfectly calm and collected, then took a deep breath. “He is on the night shift today. He’ll be arriving soon. And when he gets here... make him suffer for all he'd done,” Her voice thinned out as she finished the sentence. Her face was no longer that of a mean head nurse but of a woman holding a deep concern behind the mask.
“What makes you say that?”
The old nurse took careful looks all around her, making sure no one was listening. “I’ve been here a long time, and from the day he appeared in this hospital, things have been happening. Terrible things. Late-night guests, unlisted patients, and that's just scraping the surface. We had to keep quiet about it, and so I stayed to protect the young ones, but I can’t do it any… ” She suddenly turned pale and without a warning crumbled to the floor, letting out a long gurgling sound.
Myra stood petrified against the wall, watching a crowd of medical staff gather around her and carry her away.
The shock kept Myra from noticing something rushing past her. With the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a long black coat gliding in the air. The hospital door spun around revealing a familiar smiling face through the glass.
“Callus Jorven,” yelled Ori. “By the authority of the BMI You are under arrest for the murder of Marus Olif and the use of unsanctioned magic with intent to repeat the said act. Come forward with hands away from one another or I will use lethal force.”
The smile on the doctor’s face vanished in a second, and he held his hands up like a deer in the headlights.