The Mystery of Cliffview

Cindy Garrison, interrupted and asked, “Did you hear the news this morning. The newsman said that Administrator Davis was found in his garage by his neighbor, and it looked like someone had strangled him.”

Everyone turned to her and someone asked, “You’re kidding, aren’t you? Who would do anything like that to him? I know he looks like a ferret with that tall skinny frame and that little flat crooked nose, but what else was wrong with him.”

Diana said, “Yes, it’s true. I heard it on WNTY on the six o’clock news. You’re right though; it is getting down right spooky working here. We all need to watch our backs, just in case someone wants to try to kill one of us.”

Nancy, who’d been on vacation the previous two weeks and hadn’t heard about anything that had gone on, asked, “What’s going on? You all sound like doomsday is around the corner, and I don’t understand what the panic is all about.”

Linda spoke up and said, “First, Nurse Ditweller was found strangled in her own home, then Nurse Andrews was found by her son, stabbed to death, and now Administrator Davis is strangled also. I think we all have a reason to be in a little bit of a panic. It’s getting right down gruesome around here.”

Nancy asked, “What is going on? It really does sound weird; Administrator Davis was strange, as we all know. He was always looking over someone’s shoulder, especially when you were passing medicines. He also was looking in the med rooms and supply closets, and linen closets.”

“Oh, my, look at the time, we’d all better get to our floors, said, Cathy Weaver, a nurse on the forth floor. It sounds like we might have a great exodus today. If a lot of the family members hear about Administrator Davis being killed after Nurse Ditweller and Nurse Andrews, it will be mayhem around here. Also they could think that their parents, or uncles or aunts might be murdered. See you all later.”

When Linda got off the employee elevator, she went to the DOA’s office where she saw Nurse Sternum waiting for her. Nurse Sternum looked a little upset, so Linda asked, “What’s wrong Nurse Sternum?”

Nurse Sternum said, “You didn’t know that Arnold was my brother, did you?”

Linda said, “No, I didn’t. I’m sorry to hear about his death. It really is weird about three people getting murdered that work at the same place.”

Nurse Sternum, ignoring what Linda said, said, “We weren’t very close, but we have always worked together. He was seventy-five, but always tried to keep up with what was going on here. He was starting to show his age, he has been forgetting what meetings he’s suppose to be at or he’d forget where he put things. He was also forgetting people’s names, but almost anyone does that at our age, sometimes younger people forget names also.”

Linda said, “Since you’re upset, why don’t you give me report and go home for a while.”

Nurse Sternum said, “I think I will, but I will be back later because I have some work to get caught up on.”

Linda listened while Nurse Sternum gave report, then she got busy with the work she had to do. She saw Nurse Sternum around noon, and asked, “Are you feeling any better?
Nurse Sternum said, “No, but I’ve got some work to do, and I’ve got to get it done today.”

Around two o’clock Linda was talking to Brenda Gleason, who was the charge nurse on the fifth floor when she saw Nurse Sternum go into Robert Crabtree’s room. She was only in there for a few minutes, but she wondered why she was in there.

It was about two-fifteen when one of the nurse aides told Linda that Mr. Crabtree wasn’t breathing. She went in and found out that he had died. There wasn’t any notes left in the chart as to which funeral home to send him to, so she had to call his family and inform them of his death, and ask where to send him. She read the chart and found out he didn’t have any family, because he had never been married and he didn’t have any brothers or sisters. She called Nurse Sternum and asked, “What shall I do? He doesn’t have any funeral home listed on his chart.

Nurse Sternum said, “You’ll have to send his body to the Cliffview Funeral Home. They have the burial instructions.”

Linda said, “O.K.”

She hung up the phone, it rang and she picked it up and talked for a minute and then said to the charge nurse on the floor, “You give the afternoon shift report and go home, I’ve got to run down to the second floor for a minute, Mrs. Tessie Taylor has died, and I have to confirm her death, but I be back to clean up and get Mr. Crabtree’s body ready for burial.”

The charge nurse, Brenda Gleason asked, “Are you sure? I can do it.”

Linda said, “Yes, I’ll clean him up.”

Linda went down to the second floor and confirmed that Mrs. Taylor was indeed dead.

After she went back to the fifth floor, Jane Patterson, the evening nurse said, “Hi, good luck cleaning his room, he sure has a lot of wood pieces in there, and he has some patterns also with a couple of sharp craft knives.”

Linda said, “Thanks, but I bet everything is pretty well organized, so it aught to be easy to sort out.” She went in Mr. Crabtree’s room and cleaned him up. She went back out when Jane said over the intercom, “The undertakers are here.”

On of the undertakers said, “I hear you have another body for us to take. We can put them both in our body wagon. The city is dying off. We’ve picked up four other bodies today. Both hearses are in use this afternoon. Can you believe it, people are dying to get in?”

Linda said, “Yes, I can believe it. We’ve all got to die someday and we’ll be dying to get into the funeral home.”

After the undertakers left, Linda went back into Mr. Crabtree’s room and started sorting his possessions. He had several boxes in his room that had labels on them; she walked over to the boxes and read the labels. He’d been a chemistry professor, but his hobby was making dollhouses and the furniture to go into it, and he’d loved her visits after work when she’d go in and help him put the houses and furniture together. She was really going to miss him. One of the boxes was labeled, dollhouse patterns, and another was labe