Obsession

Suspect: Chapter 46

The hospital in Shaw was his first stop.

Duncan pulled into the parking lot of the town's general hospital and made his way inside, stopping by the reception desk to query the whereabouts of his cousin within the compound.

His cousin, Ayesha Boyer, was an intern at the hospital, in her final year of getting her nursing degree. Since the beginning of the academic year, she had been in the field, gaining experience with what she would face once her degree was completed and she settled into her job at the local hospital.

Up on the third floor, in the same wing of the hospital that Nico Hoffman was kept – still unconscious from the extent of his injuries and in so much pain that the doctors had medicated him and put him a medically-induced coma – Duncan bumped into his cousin as soon as he stepped off the elevator and walked down the corridor.

"Ayesha," he called, following her to the reception desk where she took a seat and set down a few patient files.

"Duncan? What're you doing here? Wait," she said, her initial surprise at his spontaneous visit melting away to give away to a look of suspicion and distrust as she narrowed her eyes at him and the sheepish grin on his face. "Are you playing detective, again?"

"That's exactly it and I need your help."

"No way. Are you mad? I'm only an intern here. If I get caught doing anything I shouldn't be doing, I could get kicked off the programme."

Duncan leaned closer to his cousin, over the top of the reception desk. He spied the top folder and the patient's name: NICO HOFFMAN.

"I thought you wanted to be a nurse to help people."

"Yes, people who need medical attention. Not nosey, wannabe detectives."

Duncan feigned offence, gasping melodramatically. "How dare you? I'm studying to become a police officer, you know. Anyway," he continued, dropping his voice when a nurse passed by the reception desk, the woman inclining her head to Ayesha and Duncan in acknowledgement before going on her way. "What if I told you that the lead I'm chasing can help your patient, Nico Hoffman?" Duncan reached out his hand and tapped his finger against the file with the boy's name on it.

"And how are you going to that?"

"I've got a possible angle. The police are trying to find out who attacked Nico. They think it's the same person who killed those two women. I might be a step closer to helping the cops figure this thing out. I just need access to medical files of three people. Well," he paused, shaking his head, "it's really only one person, but I'm trying not to be biased."

Ayesha paused and thought about it for a moment, her gaze lingering on Nico's name type-written on the rectangular piece of paper stuck to the front of the file. She shook her head. "No way. I can't risk my internship like that. I'm so close to finishing my degree, Duncan."

"Ayesha," he tried again, "this case is a messy one. And it does deeper than you think."

"What's in for me? If I'm going to risk my internship, it better be worth it."

Duncan smirked. "I won't tell Aunty about your secret boyfriend. You know, the one Aunty and Uncle told you to stay away from because he's bad news but you're still dating him?"

"Asshole."

"Do we have an accord, cousin?"

Ayesha scoffed and muttered heatedly under her breath. She glanced back to Nico's file. She did want to help Nico and his parents. The boy's mother had been by the hospital at least three times since he had been admitted. She couldn't blame her. The woman's son was lying in a hospital bed in a medically-indued coma. And her husband had received blow after blow from an outraged man who was the father of the boy Richard Hoffman had attacked with a length of lead piping.