The Fever Cabinet, page 7
part #9 of Professor Molly Mysteries Series
Things did go a bit pear-shaped when Mrs. Masterman invited Fiona and her husband to dinner. But it wasn’t unusual for one’s husband to be traveling, was it? Surely Mrs. Masterman didn’t suspect anything was amiss.
Molly stopped at the front door to put her shoes back on.
“Sorry,” Molly said when she straightened back up, “were you going to say something?”
“Ah. I suppose I was wondering, were we expected to remove our shoes?” Fiona asked.
“A lot of people do here. I’ve just gotten into the habit. Okay, ready to run?”
It was starting to rain. Molly sprinted back out to the car and held open the passenger door for Fiona. Fiona hurried into the car as quickly as she could manage.
“So, what did you think?” Molly asked as she climbed into the driver’s seat.
“It was lovely, thanks.” Fiona buckled the seatbelt.
“Was Maureen the same person you were asking about at the school? St. Aelred?” Molly asked.
“Yes. She’s the headmaster’s secretary.”
“Ah. I figured a parent’s meeting had something to do with school business, and how many Maureens could they have working there? Well, that works out then. I hope you were able to talk to her about whatever it was. Unless you managed to get a hold of her in the meantime...I mean, I’m not trying to pry or anything...”
Molly trailed off and concentrated on starting the car. It was an elaborate dance of ignition key and accelerator that seemed to require all her attention.
Fiona thought of a way to steer the conversation away from Emmett.
“Poor Maureen,” Fiona said. “She’s been marvellous, really. Considering all she’s been through.”
“I heard her son committed suicide?” Molly said as she twisted the key and tapped the pedal.
“Yes. You heard?”
“Hard to keep a secret in Mahina,” Molly said. “I can’t even imagine. Poor woman.”
The engine finally engaged, and Molly pulled away from the kerb. They drove in silence down Russian Road, past expansive lawns and well-preserved houses.
“I think you really impressed Mrs. Masterman,” Molly said, finally. “How do you know so much about orchid viruses?”
“A magician doesn’t give away her secrets. That’s the saying, isn’t it?”
“I mean, not to imply that somehow you shouldn’t know about orchid viruses,” Molly said, “but I would’ve bet money Emma was the only person in the room besides Mrs. Masterman who could diagnose a sick plant on sight. What was the name of the virus again? Something like ceramic?”
Fiona let out a little snort of laughter. Molly glanced over, startled.
“I don’t remember the name of it at all,” she said.
“Really? But how...”
“Emma Nakamura brought it up on her phone. She held it under the glass table for me to read. I should probably tell Mrs. Masterman. I do hope she won’t be cross.”
“Mrs. Masterman? No, I think she’d appreciate the effort.”
Molly braked, causing the car’s front end to plunge dangerously. She hand-over-handed the steering wheel to the right, making wide arc uphill, onto the narrow road that led to the hospital. “Sorry, I just remembered something. Do you mind if we stop at Broadmoor? It’ll just take a minute.”
“I’m sorry, Broadmoor?” Fiona asked.
“That’s what we’ve been calling our new building.”
“Have we?”
“Well, not officially,” Molly explained, “I think it was Pat Flanagan who started it, before he left, and it’s kind of caught on. Pat taught English here at Mahina State, but he got a better offer in Honolulu, so he’s there now.”
“Broadmoor’s a psychiatric hospital in Berkshire,” Fiona said.
“Exactly,” Molly said. “That’s why we...you know, because our building used to be an inebriates’ asylum. I mean of course you’d get the reference, you’re from there. Not Broadmoor, I mean, you’re from England. But you already know that.”
Molly cleared her throat and focused on the road.
“I guess it’s not really that funny,” she said.
Fiona did not, in fact, find it funny. It was the sort of joke her mother might make.
“We’re stopping by the office, then,” Fiona said.
“Just for a second. You can wait in the car if you want, I’ll just run up and I’ll take you home right afterwards.”
“I’ll come with you,” Fiona said, “I have loads of papers to mark and I’ve just remembered I left a stack of them in my office.”
“Oh, that works out,” Molly said. “Speaking of your office, any progress on getting the construction junk moved out?”
“No.”
“What? Dangit.”
“It might be my imagination, but it looks to me like the pile’s getting bigger.”
Molly sighed.
“I’m so sorry about that. Okay. When we go to campus I’ll log in and submit another work order. They’re not going to see it until Monday, but at least you’ll be first in line.” Molly slowed and guided the car around a narrow turn. “Boy, every time I drive up here, I’m amazed this is our one road to the hospital. Can you imagine trying to get an ambulance up here? If we ever have any kind of mass emergency we’re done for.”
“Do you mean the new hospital’s up this road?” Fiona asked. “I assumed the signs were for the old hospital. Where our offices are.”
Fiona remembered Mr. Ferman, the science teacher, was in hospital.
“Yup, the Mahina Medical Center’s just about half a mile up the road,” Molly said. “You’ve never been? Ever since we had the baby it seems like we’re there every week. Tell you what, I can drive by so you can see where it is. I’ve just been through all the prenatal tests and birthing classes and everything, so go ahead and ask me anything you want to know.”
Did Molly think Fiona had a baby on the way? No chance of that, she thought bitterly.
“It’s nothing to do with babies,” Fiona said. “Do you remember Mr. Ferman, the science teacher St. Aelred School?”
“The older gentleman? He seemed not to be feeling well? Yes, I do. Is he okay?”
“Ah. Well, he’s in hospital, actually, and he doesn’t have family. I thought I might look in on him.”
“We can go now,” Molly said. “And stop in the office on the way back down. Then we don’t have to leave our stuff in the car.”
A moment later, Molly turned into the hospital car park.
“Here we are,” Molly said. “Totally normal hospital. Not haunted at all, unlike where our offices are.”
Molly was right. The Mahina Medical Centre was modern and perfectly unmemorable.
“I suppose I should have brought a card,” Fiona said to Molly as they headed to the main entrance. She realized she was holding the orchid Mrs. Masterman had given her. Perhaps Mr. Ferman needed it more than she did.
“I’m sure you can find a nice card in the gift shop,” Molly said. “Would you like me to come in with you to see him? Do you think he’d appreciate an extra visitor? If not, I can wait in the lobby.”
“It’s best you come with me,” Fiona said, “otherwise I may never find my way back. My sense of direction is pants, as my husband never fails to remind me.”
Fiona was glad Molly was offering to join her in her visit to Mr. Ferman. She had no idea what she would say to him. She barely knew his Christian name. Was it Anthony? Anton? Anatole, that was it. She only ever called him Mr. Ferman.
But as she followed Molly into the tiny gift shop, Fiona wondered whether this visit was as pure an act of charity as she had originally thought. She had to admit to herself that her motives might not be entirely selfless. Mr. Ferman, after all, might know where Emmett was.
Molly: Not Eavesdropping
FIONA SPENCER AND I ended up making an unplanned detour to the Mahina Medical Center, locally known as the “new” hospital. It was just up the road from the “old” hospital where our offices were. It seems Mr. Ferman, the elderly science teacher at St. Aelred’s, was there and she wanted to visit him. I don’t know where this sudden compassion of hers came from. The last time the topic of Mr. Ferman came up, Fiona had sniffily dismissed him as an old alcoholic who raided the supply cabinet for solvents to drink.
I wondered how well she even knew him. She didn’t seem to know his first name. In the gift shop, she bought the first get-well card she grabbed off the rack, something with a cartoon dog with an ice bag on his head and a plaid blanket across his lap.
Maybe the fact he was in the hospital had made her realize he wasn’t going to be around forever. Who knows? I was probably better off not trying to explain or predict Fiona’s moods.
At least I was helping to brighten Mr. Ferman’s day. Or so I hoped.
We hadn’t planned our appointment ahead of time, so we were outside of regular visiting hours, but a sympathetic nurse led us to Mr. Ferman’s room anyway. She told us we were the first visitors he’d had, aside from the police.
“If he’s resting, let him be,” the nurse advised as we stopped outside his door. “But if he’s awake I think he’ll be happy to see you. And he’ll appreciate the flowers. So pretty, the color.”
I realized Fiona was holding the potted plant Mrs. Masterman had given her. It was a pale-pink orchid, with three perfect blooms. Pink foil covered the small pot.
“Mrs. Masterman told me to keep it or give it so someone who needed it more than I did,” she said, a little defensively. The nurse looked at me as if my opinion were somehow important.
“That’s very kind,” I said. “I think Mrs. Masterman would approve. In fact, I know she would.”
“You don’t think the flowers are a bit garish?” Fiona asked us.
“I think Nature is allowed to be garish,” I said. “Things like orchids and sunsets should be colorful. I mean, who wants a tasteful rainbow, right? What would that even look like?”
“I agree,” the nurse said. “If it was me in the hospital, I’d appreciate someone bringing me flowers. No one else got him anything, you know.”
She turned and left us to cheer up Mr. Ferman.
Mr. Ferman had one arm in a sling resting atop the brown hospital blanket. A number of tubes and wires connected him to beeping machines. A crumpled IV bag hung on a pole. His thick white hair was pressed crooked by the pillow.
His eyelids fluttered, and he turned his head toward us.
“Ah, Mrs. Spencer,” he rasped. “Do my eyes deceive me, or did you bring me flowers?”
“Hullo, Mr. Ferman.” Fiona set the pot down on the small rolling table next to the headboard. “Yes, this is for you. Isn’t it lovely? It’s an orchid. I’ve no idea what kind.”
“It’s a moth orchid,” I added. I’m no flower expert, but I have picked up a few scraps of information from the Pua Kala Flower Society meetings.
“And who’s this delightful young lady?” Mr. Ferman tried to raise his head from the pillow. The effort was unsuccessful, and he sank back.
I introduced myself. He grasped my hand with his free hand. His skin felt dry and papery.
“How did you know I was here, Mrs. Spencer? I haven’t told anyone.”
“The police came round to my house to tell me about your accident.” Fiona’s tone was mostly stern but had a touch of compassion. “My goodness, you have been in the wars, haven’t you? What on earth happened?”
“It seems I made a miscalculation,” he said matter-of-factly. “Not a wise thing to do, where moving buses are concerned. It seems I’m lucky to be here and not downstairs in the morgue. That’s what they tell me. Might’ve been better that way, come to think of it.”
“I’ll wait outside,” I said. It sounded like the conversation was about to get personal and having a nosy stranger (me) lurking around wouldn’t be comfortable for anyone. “It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Ferman. I hope you feel better soon.”
I suppose I should have kept going down the hallway to give them some privacy. But I paused when I heard Fiona exclaim,
“Mr. Ferman, what in heaven’s name is going on at the school?”
“My dear, as much as I’d like to lay the blame on anyone but myself—”
“First the boy Trevor, now you?” She retorted. “Who’s next?”
I folded my arms and leaned against the wall, trying my best to look like I was relaxing and not eavesdropping.
“Oh, my dear. You are asking me for a rational explanation of things. I’m afraid I have no answers. Only many questions of my own. I can’t remember a thing, you see. No, that’s not quite right. I should say what I can remember makes no sense at all.”
“It seems bad things are happening to people at St. Aelred’s, Mr. Ferman. And now Emmett’s gone.”
Gone! That explained the odd exchange between Fiona and Maureen. Maureen had said the headmaster had missed an important parents’ meeting, but Fiona had brushed it off as if it were normal for her husband to disappear without warning.
“Yes, he is, isn’t he,” Mr. Ferman wheezed. “Emmett, as you say, is gone. I remember now. Mrs. Spencer, you’re making me nervous standing there like that.”
The voices lowered, and I strained to hear what was going on.
“It’s only that I’m worried about him,” Fiona said, at a perfectly audible volume.
“Oh no, worry doesn’t help, Mrs. Spencer. It won’t change a thing.”
“How can I not worry? A student kills himself, my husband’s missing, now you’ve gone and stepped in front of a motor coach.”
“I assure you, it wasn’t on purpose. All I can recall is...no, not even that.”
“It’s quite a coincidence, though, you must agree,” Fiona said.
“The boy’s suicide isn’t exactly a mystery,” Mr. Ferman said. “It’s the same old newsreel. I’ve seen it play through many times. A fellow’s worried his son’s not manly enough, not interested in girls, that kind of thing. But for some reason dear old dad thinks the answer is to stick the boy into an all-male boarding school. Don’t know what the thinking is exactly. It’d be like me trying to get sober by moving into Hagiwara’s Specialty Liquors. I mean, I’d enjoy myself, don’t get me wrong, but it wouldn’t change—”
“Yes, I get your point, Mr. Ferman,” Fiona interrupted. “You’re saying there is no connection between the events at St. Aelred. The circumstances of the boy’s suicide had nothing to do with your accident, and neither has anything to do with my husband’s disappearance. Have you any idea at all where he is?”
I strained to hear Mr. Ferman’s answer. Just to be on the safe side, I had my e-reader out. If anyone asked, I wasn’t listening in on a patient’s private conversation. I was just hanging out in a hospital hallway catching up on my favorite mystery series.
“I am terribly sorry for any unpleasantness between you and Emmett, Mr. Ferman,” Fiona said. “He’s only done what he feels is best for the school. But that’s all in the past, and everyone’s moved on, and we...” and again, Fiona’s voice became too quiet for me to hear what she was saying.
They kept talking, but at such a low volume that for all I knew they could have been muttering nonsense syllables at each other.
The conversation stopped and I heard a chair scraping on the floor. Fiona was getting up. I jumped away from the wall, sped down the hallway to a bench underneath a window, and feigned great interest in whatever was on the page of my e-reader. That’s where Fiona Spencer found me waiting.
“Ready to go?” I dropped my e-reader into my purse and stood up, my face a mask of innocence. Or so I hoped. I also hoped Fiona hadn’t noticed I’d been holding the device upside-down.
“Yes. All done.” Fiona seemed impatient and unhappy. In other words, things were back to normal.
“That was nice of you to pay Mr. Ferman a visit,” I said as we started down the hallway. “I’m sure he appreciated it.”
We walked in silence back out to the parking lot. Fiona seemed like she wanted to say something. Finally, when we were getting into the car, Fiona said,
“Molly, would you mind terribly if we went back to St. Aelred?”
“Right now?” I asked. “Didn’t you want to stop by the office—”
“Yes. But I really want to go round to the school first. I’m sorry. I’ll pay for petrol. And I understand if it’s all too inconvenient.”
“It’s no problem at all,” I pulled out of the hospital lot and onto the road. I wondered what Fiona was trying to find out. “The main office?”
“The parsonage, actually,” Fiona said.
“There’s a parsonage?”
“Originally they had a minister serve as the school’s headmaster. The headmaster’s quarters are still referred to as the parsonage.”
“Oh. But you’re not living there? Even though your husband is the headmaster?”
“There was severe termite damage so it’s under repair. I do hope I’m not putting you out.”
“No, not at all. It’s not far.”
It actually was kind of far, but I felt bad for Fiona. If my husband and car were missing (I assumed the car had disappeared along with the husband, which was why she was having me drive her around), I’d want someone to help me out. Also, I was curious. What had Mr. Ferman said to make Fiona decide to rush back to St. Aelred’s? What did she think she’d find there?
Fiona: The Last Place You Look
THE VISIT TO THE PARSONAGE site turned out to be an utter waste of time.
There had been no sign of Emmett at the site. Fiona and Molly had found only a wooden work bench, a pile of lumber with a wet tarp draped over it, and a few nails scattered on the concrete pad.
Mr. Ferman had told Fiona he had seen Emmett at the parsonage when he was out walking. But he didn’t remember what day of the week it had been. Even at his best, Mr. Ferman tended to ramble. A fellow teacher had quipped that Mr. Ferman’s brain had been “programmed with too many go-tos,” which Fiona thought was a spot-on way to describe the man’s meandering conversational style. Emmett (who, unlike Fiona, had never taken a course in History of Computing) didn’t understand the reference and had refused to find it amusing.
