Finally, an update. I'm so sorry for the delay - once again a story got a bit out of control and it's taken a while to work it all out. That'll teach me to follow a new idea once I've started posting. (Although it probably won't - seeing where the characters want to take a story is all part of the fun!)

Chapter Nine

Shortly before a policewoman was dispatched to inform Suzanne that the fire was no accident, Dr Hart had been given the same information by a couple of detectives, called in by the fire chief once it became clear that there was a more sinister element to Dr Ulrich's death.

"I can't believe it!" Hart muttered for what had to be the twentieth time.

"Nevertheless, Dr Hart, that appears to be the case. Now then, what we need to know is who had access to that part of the clinic - and who might have had a motive for killing your colleague."

The doctor had been pacing the room, but now he sank into a chair, his head in his hands. "You mean it wasn't an accident? I mean, I know the fire was started on purpose, but you really think someone intended for Henry to die?"

"There are indications, yes."

"Indications?"

The detective refused to be drawn. "Perhaps we should wait for the post mortem to confirm our suspicions, Dr Hart."

"I see. Who...?"

"That's what we're here to find out. Now, if we could have access to your security cameras and the late doctor's schedule for yesterday we can make a start."

"Henry's schedule? You surely don't think a patient did this? Surely it was some local crook? A drug addict, perhaps - we hold all sorts of medication here. I assure you all our patients are closely watched."

"Like the pair who managed to hide themselves in the building?"

Irwin Hart had no answer to that and the detective continued.

"The cameras will show any intruders, but I'd say it's highly unlikely. Your perimeter security is pretty impressive, doctor. Do you really believe a random stranger managed to gain access to the clinic? No, I think the answer lies closer to home. For a start, you have a number of unstable people here, some of whom are capable of violence. I know of two occasions when your staff had to call us to assist in restraining someone."

"Well, yes, but that's par for the course with this type of patient. But I assure you, we have procedures in place to ensure that no member of staff is left vulnerable. There would have been a nurse or an orderly in with Henry all the time."

"We'll need to speak to the nurses, then. In fact, all the staff will need to be interviewed. Although it's unlikely, we can't discount them, doctor."

Hart sprang to his feet, spluttering his indignation. "That's even more ridiculous than the idea that a patient did this terrible thing! My staff are carefully vetted before they take up their employment. I'll vouch for all of them."

"I'm sure you will, sir, but you'll understand we need to follow procedure. Maybe one of them had a grudge against the late doctor?"

Hart laughed. "That's ridiculous. You couldn't hold a grudge against Henry. The man was a saint."

The detectives didn't bother to debate this, instead repeating their request for the information they needed. Hart reached for his telephone and called his security guard. A quick conversation followed and he assured the detectives they'd have the camera footage shortly. He could hardly call Dr Ulrich's secretary at four in the morning but if the police couldn't access the computer records, he'd make sure the woman was brought in as soon as was reasonable.

"Though I should warn you that Henry was an appalling record keeper." Dr Hart smiled ruefully. "It's more than likely he had a sudden brainwave and pulled a patient in without making a note of it in his diary."

"It would be in the patient's records, though?"

"Oh yes. Henry was meticulous in that respect."

"If he had time to make any notes," the second detective muttered grimly.

Once the detectives were settled in his office with the security camera footage and the clinic's personnel records, Dr Hart made his way over to the apartment that his friend had shared with his daughter, tapping softly on the door in case the girl was asleep. He waited a few moments and was just raising his hand to knock again when the door opened.

"Suzanne, I - oh." He actually took a step backwards, an expression of complete surprise on his face as the person on the other side of the door was revealed as none other than John Tracy.

"Doctor Hart. Come on in." John couldn't be bothered with any explanations. Anyway, the doctor was intelligent enough to work it out for himself - if he could spare a thought for anything other than the fire and the death of his friend and colleague. The night's events had clearly shaken him. As they should, John thought, if one of his patients had been able to commit such a heinous act. Security clearly wasn't as good as he and his family had been led to believe - after all, his grandmother had been able to wander freely around a building which should have been evacuated. If it hadn't been for Will, then he might have been as grief-stricken as Suzanne was right now.

Stepping aside to allow the man in and answering his query as to Suzanne's state of mind with a noncommittal shrug, John followed him to the living room, watching as he sat beside the girl and took her hand.

"I'm so sorry," he told her. "I'll do whatever I can to help"

"I'll look after her," John told him.

Dr Hart looked up at him. "Am I to understand that the two of you are..."

"We're together, yes."

"Ah. I see." He looked at Suzanne with an expression John couldn't fathom. "Yes, I see..."

"They said it must have been one of the patients," John said, changing the subject in case the doctor wanted to start discussing Suzanne's involvement with the grandson of a patient.

"Yes. Yes, that's what they believe."

"You don't think so?" Something about the man's hesitant response bothered John. Still, he supposed, it wouldn't do the Hart Institute's reputation any good once word got out that this kind of thing could happen. Then again, with the clinic's most brilliant practitioner dead, the place was going to be a less desirable option, anyway.

"I don't suppose there can be any other explanation, can there?"

"He saw Earl Reed last," Suzanne said slowly. "After his regular sessions. He asked me to get him. He didn't say why. I know in the past Earl's been aggressive but he hasn't had an episode since his treatment started. He was fine when I took him down."

"Mr Reed..." Dr Hart sighed. "Yes, I suppose that makes sense."

"It does?" John asked.

"Yes. The last conversation I had with Henry was late this afternoon. He'd just received Mr Reed's test results back. The news wasn't good."

"The treatment didn't seem to work as well on him as it did on Grandma," John agreed.

"Oh, no, Mr Tracy, not those kinds of tests. Mr Reed is a very sick man. Cancer. Of course we checked him over thoroughly before we took him on - one of Henry's special cases, you know - and he had as clean a bill of health as someone who'd been living on the streets and drinking far too much could possibly have, but we've suspected recently that something wasn't right. Such a shame - one of those dreadful cases where by the time the symptoms emerge it's too late to treat. Weeks, not months, I believe."

"I left them alone," Suzanne said, clearly stricken at the thought. "Mr Loxley had one of his turns and an emergency call went out. Dad said he'd be fine so I left him. By the time I came back Will was escorting Earl back to his room. He looked upset, I remember that now. But before I could say anything the new nurse asked me to help her find something and by the time I'd done that Earl was gone."

"You didn't go back to your father's office?" Dr Hart asked.

"No. I had no reason to. I try to stay professional when I'm on duty so I didn't go in to see Dad, I just went back to my station. If I had maybe I could have saved him."

She burst into tears. Dr Hart watched her, uncertain of what to do, clearly relieved when John stood next to him and readily ceding his position beside the girl to the man who had the best chance of consoling her. He watched as John put his arms around the girl and whispered something to her.

"I should be getting back," he said. "There's a lot to do. Don't you worry about a thing, Suzanne. And if there's anything I can do..."

Suzanne murmured her thanks and John got up to escort Dr Hart out of the apartment.

"I had no idea you two were together," the doctor said.

"No one knew," John told him. "Well, except one of my brothers. My father only found out a few hours ago."

"I see."

"Is there a problem?" John asked. "Suzanne's been nothing but professional around Grandma and she certainly doesn't talk about any of the other patients."

"Oh no, I'm sure her conduct has been exemplary. I just wondered how Henry would have taken the news, that's all."

"You don't think I'm good enough?" John asked with some amusement. Not that he was vain, but it was purely a statement of fact to say that he was handsome, rich, intelligent...

"Oh, that's not it. No, it's just that Henry was very protective of Suzanne."

"It can't have been easy bringing her up by himself."

Dr Hart sighed. "No."

"But she's got me to take care of her now."

"Indeed." He hesitated then seemed to think better of whatever he'd been about to say. Instead he turned to the door. "I suppose I should see what's happening with Mr Reed. Goodnight, Mr Tracy."

When a visibly upset nurse brought him the news - along with a very welcome coffee - that the police and Dr Hart were in Earl's room, Jeff did his best to appear surprised. Of course, John had already told him all about it.

"It's awful," the nurse said softly, not wanting to disturb Grandma who was still sleeping peacefully. "I'd never have believed it of poor Earl. We've not had any trouble with him since the early days of his treatment."

"I suppose hearing that he was dying when he thought life was finally getting better might have pushed him over the edge," Jeff said.

"I just don't understand it. I mean, he was fine when I settled him back in his room once we were allowed back into the building. Shaken, naturally, but there was nothing to suggest he knew any more about it than the rest of us did."

"Maybe he didn't remember," Jeff suggested.

"Maybe. Still, it's stopped the police pestering poor Will. Do you know, they saw him wandering the corridors on that camera footage and they gave the boy such a hard time. I really think they believed he might have had something to do with it."

That reminded Jeff of the mission he'd entrusted to Virgil and he wondered how his son was progressing.

The nurse started as her pager beeped. "Excuse me, Mr Tracy, I'm needed."

Jeff watched her leave then turned back to his mother. Stretching - the hours he'd spent in the chair next to her bed had been decidedly uncomfortable - he reached for his coffee.

"Jeff?"

"Hi Mom." Jeff leaned over and smiled at the old lady. He still got a real sense of pleasure from the fact that she remembered who he was. Dr Ulrich had been a great doctor, he thought. It was such a pity the world was now denied his genius.

"What's wrong?" Grandma struggled to sit up. "Something's happened. You look upset. Is it the boys?"

"No, no." Jeff did his best to settle his mother. "Everyone's fine. Well, all the family. Do you remember what happened last night?"

"Last night?"

"The fire? Your little adventure?"

Grandma screwed up her face, the very picture of intense concentration. "I tried to help..."

"That you did. But luckily Will stopped you doing anything silly. You could have been hurt, you know."

Grandma looked crestfallen. "I didn't know what to do."

"Well you certainly knew how to channel Houdini. How did you give the nurses the slip?"

Grandma explained how she'd hidden behind the door. "I won't get anyone into trouble, will I?"

"No. But I'm going to be having a few words with Dr Hart."

"Now don't go troubling that man, Jeff. He's got this whole place to run. Anyway, it's Dr Ulrich who takes care of me."

"Yes." Jeff debated whether to break the news to his mother, then decided it could wait. But when, twenty minutes later, a nurse came in to see if Grandma was awake and ready for breakfast, he had to explain why the woman had clearly been crying. As he'd expected, Grandma was distraught.

"That poor, poor man. Oh, Jeff. He did so much to help me. All of us. Ida, Earl - even that awful Evelyn woman - none of us would be getting well if it wasn't for him."

Which of course meant Jeff had to break the news about Earl.

Grandma was appalled. "Nonsense! Honestly, Jeff, the idea that Earl Reed would do such a thing."

"Now, Mother, don't upset yourself."

"I'm not upsetting myself. You're upsetting me. You and those police officers. Let me talk to them!"

"Sit down, Mother. Please."

John came in as Jeff was trying to keep Grandma in her chair.

"John! Tell your father he's an imbecile!"

John was lost for words. He rarely disobeyed his grandmother, and the look his father was giving him was so full of outrage that he was tempted to do as he was told just to see what the reaction would be. But then the gravity of the night's events took hold and he simply asked what the problem was.

"She's refusing to believe Earl had anything to do with it," Jeff told him.

John sat down beside his grandmother and took her hand. "Grandma, I know he was your friend, but there's no other explanation."

"The police suspected Will at one point," Jeff said.

Earl was forgotten as Grandma erupted in fury at that suggestion. She was working herself up into such a state that John could think of only one way to divert her attention.

"Grandma, I'm thinking about getting married."