The nurse stormed out of the ICU, sweating. The doctor who was standing along with the police folks was surprised.
"What happened sister?"
"D..occ....to.....rrr"
She stammered and because of the deep breathe, the words struggled to come out.
"Any problems inside ICU?"
The nurse was able to hear but couldn't speak out. Looking at her, commissioner Vinayak couldn't wait and looked uneasy.
"Doctor... I think there should be a shocking incident inside the ICU. Let us go in"
Vinayak, Richard, Arun and the doctor rushed inside ICU. Couple of chairs were thrown to the wall and the patient Gopinath was on the floor fallen on his tummy. The doctor went near him, bent down and turned him on his back.
The eyes were wide open and frozen. Blood started to drip down from his nose. The doctor picked up his hand to check the pulse. He stood up slowly scratching his forehead and the commissioner looked at him waiting for him to speak.
"He is dead"
"But doctor... How?"
The doctor looked around for the nurse. The nurse was standing near the door with her head down.
"Doctor"
"Tell me exactly what happened here"
"Until ten minutes his health charts were normal. I went to the rest room and when I came back, the patient has fallen down from the bed. I don't know what happened in between"
The answer made the doctor mad.
"You are employed here to monitor the patient continuously. Why the hell did you leave him alone?'
"Sorry Doctor... I am unwell after lunch... Had a disturbed tummy...so went to rest room"
"If you have told this earlier, I would had got someone else to take care of the patient"
"Sorry again doctor"
"This is too late for a sorry. The patient has fallen from the bed, got injured and dead too. If you would have been near him, this wouldn't have happened"
At the doctor outburst, the nurse started to weep. The AC walked over to the doctor.
"Hold on Doctor... I have my own doubts here"
"What is that?"
"Did you say that the patient died of the injury caused after falling from the bed?"
"That is my assumption"
"I differ from what you think"
"If not that, what do you think?"
"This could be a murder"
"What? Murder? How do you say that?"
"I don't see anyone in the hospital has a motive to kill him"
"But might be for someone outside"
Commissioner Vinayak interrupted their conversation.
"Richard... What are you trying to prove here?"
"Sir... If my assumption is correct, someone has waited for the nurse to move away from the patient, entered into the ICU and killed him. To cover this, after killing him, they have pushed him from the bed to make others believe this as an accident"
"But... we need reasons on what made you believe so"
"The patient is almost close to six feet tall, who is resting on a cot which is six feet. The patient was in a frozen position. If the theory of accident is true, the patient would have regained his conscious and would have fallen down along with the oxygen cylinders. Looking at the position of where the patient is lying now, the cylinder should have hit him hard on his right shoulder while falling and causing a bit of injury. You don't see any injuries on him and also the cylinder is in the same place as where it is. "
Richard paused for a moment and continued.
"So the killer killed him and dropped him to the ground to make us believe this as an accident"
Vinayak, who was listening to Richard's version, nodded his head in agreement.
"Doctor... He may be right. Can you please check the patient completely before we come to any conclusion? If you can find out how the patient died, we can decide whether it is a murder or an accident"
While the discussion was on, a mobile ring interrupted their conversion. It was inspector Arun's mobile. He picked up his phone and the display identified the called as SI Moorthy.
"Yes Moorthy?"
"Doctor, we have been cheated"
"Cheated? What do you mean?"
"Sir... When you informed me that the Naturopathy doctor hasn't reached the GH yet, I checked with another friend of mine who runs a Naturopathy clinic in Chennai. I gave the information about doctor Abilash and also about the 'Naturo Cure' clinic in Adyar. "
"Did he give any information?"
"He said there is no 'Naturo Cure' or a Naturopathy hospital in Adyar. Not just Adyar, there is none in Chennai with that name. There is one in South Chennai with a different name and the chief doctor is Mr. Babu"
"Oh my goodness. So who are those guys?"
"Sir... I believe those guys would have used a bogus name to get some information on the 'Not Again' guy. So, we will have to be careful in providing enough security to the patient"
"Sorry Moorthy... That will not be required anymore"
"Why sir?"
"Our enemies have won this contest already"
YOU ARE READING
Not Again
Mystery / ThrillerThis story is a science fiction and a thriller written by Crime Novelist Rajesh Kumar in Tamil.