"I thought the doctor said she was going to be fine in a few weeks?" Ethan asked
"She was..." Patty says "According to the blood toxicology report we got, she died from morphine overdose. Someone must have added that to her drip while we looked away."
Ethan sighs, "the chief is on our neck - rightfully so- says this is the second person that died on our watch."
"What i don't get is that Jennifer was alright when I left the hospital." Ethan started, "Outside of the police only Deborah knew she was alive but i was with Deborah throughout the time —" he stopped
"Come on," Ethan says as he turned away "we are going to the hospital."
...
Patty turned to Ethan as he speeds through the traffic to get to the hospital, "How did things go with Miss Sinclair?" She asked
"Apparently her uncle and his wife were the first victims of the Patrician Killer"
"Yeah, i tried to warn you."
"Is that why you think she didn't do it?"
"Kinda..."
"You do know that most serial killers first victims are a family member right?"
"Is that an actual fact?"
"Wendy Lewis?"
"Pretty sure the murderer wasn't a serial killer."
"I guess. How are things going with your investigation of the transport guy. What was his name again?"
"Jamie Williams? Well his company has successfully completed the acquisition of it's rival company,"
"Strange that the deal moved so fast."
"I know right? He was also in town for the last three days"
Ethan nods "Interesting... The woman who got killed at the party, did she or any of the other victims of the Patrician Killer had any tie in with Mr. Williams?"
"Most of them had done business with the company. Sinclair Corporation owned the joint most shares at the shipping company. A year ago, Williams tried to buy the shares from them but they rejected. When her uncle passed, Deborah approved the sale of the shipping company's shares,"
"Anyone else?"
"One of the victims was also the CEO of the company. Jamie took over the role when he passed. The victim was shot at his vacation home along with his father. Initially, we didn't count their death among the crimes committed by the Patrician Killer because it was outside Golden Hill..."
"But then more residents of Golden Hill were shot outside the city?"
"Precisely."
Ethan pulled up at the hospital.
"I saw a surveillance camera in the corridor where Jennifer was. Figured we check the footage" he explain. The two of them exit the car to go watch the footage.
Hours after repeatedly watching footage from the corridor camera, Patty sighs, running her hand through her hair "Aargh!" She shouted
"I think you need some rest" Ethan said
"I just don't get it" Patty said "Jennifer was our only way of knowing who the killer was, so whoever killed her must be the killer"
"Yeah..."
"...But we've been going through this image for hours now and there's nothing out of the ordinary here, it's like she was killed by an invisible ghost!" she said
A bulb lits up in Ethan's brain "That's it!" He beamed "all this while we've been looking for something 'out of the ordinary'" he said "but what if the killer was right there, hidden in plain sight"
"What do you mean?"
"There's no way someone suspicious would enter the hospital, especially with all the guards we have stationed almost everywhere, including in front of Jennifer's room." He stated, "No one could have possibly made it into the room"
Patty smiles, "No one but the nurses," she said.
They check the footage again and found out they were four nurses and two doctors who entered Jennifer's room. As it was getting late, they take a copy of the footage with them back to the police station and print out close-up images of nurses and doctors who entered the room.
"Here's all the images of all those who went into the building." Officer McKernan said to the two detective in front of him. He sets the papers on the desk in front of him, "I checked the images with those of the employees at the hospital."
"And?" Patty asked,
"All of them are workers at the hospital" the officer replied
Ethan picked the images and goes through them, "why does this one look familiar?" He said handing out one of the pictures to Patty.
"That's because..." Patty looks closely at the picture "this is Dr. Rayleigh Cooper, Deborah's friend"
....