C.: Man! That was my favorite Christmas movie I watched with Mom, Dad, and my human brothers last night! Die Hard must have swept the Academy Awards the year it came out! It has everything: suspense, excitement, and lots of gory details! Now, what was I supposed to be doing? Oh, yes, I was reviewing d.c.’s latest manuscript “The Magruder Mysteries Murder 8; The Inert Ingredient.”
INCEPTION
The instructor stopped at the eighth cadaver. “This man died of smoking. Since the Houston Police Department has ruled out the possibility that his death was caused by tobacco, tar, or nicotine, his death is a mystery. That is especially true since cardio-obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer were also ruled out as potential causes of death. In fact, the only possibility that I can think of for a thirty-year-old man to die from smoking would be to have inhaled an inert ingredient that he was allergic to.” The middle-aged clinical instructor paused for effect.
Everyone in his class knew this man’s views on smoking. It added up to one word: “ D on’t.” It wasn’t surprising for a medical professional to hold this view of smoking. As Magruder listened to his older friend from his hometown teach his clinical students, though , he knew there was more to this story than just a warning against the long-term effects that smoking ha d on one’s body. Magruder was one of only two people in the world who knew how the man on the table had died. Magruder burst through the door just in time to stop Mr. James from expounding on his theory.
***
As he entered the morgue, he was focused on only one thing. He desperately wanted to keep anyone — other than the two people who were involved with the death of this man — from discovering the whole truth. The truth would be detrimental to both his and his young friend’s life, if discovered by the wrong people.
***
Mr. James paused, and Magruder followed him closely to obscure the view of the corpse Mr. James had chose n to ask about. All but the students in the front row had their view obstructed, but Magruder was too intent on his mission to notice that these students were staring intently at the corpse.
“Mr. Magruder, what can you tell me about this man?” Mr. James turned to the young cop and asked him a pointed question.
Magruder was more than a little perturbed. Why must Mr. James ask about this particular cadaver? Weren’t there other bodies in the morgue whose stories would be at least as relevant to the topic he was pursuing? Magruder decided that the only way to placate his friend was to put the matter to rest authoritatively. “This corpse is from an open case and is, therefore, not open to discussion, Mr. James. I’m sorry to have to do this, but if this conversation is pursued further, I will need to ask you all to leave. ” He turned, muttering under his breath, “ O r kill you all, ” as he exited the room.
Magruder remembered stories his friend from his hometown had shared with him. He was now sharing those stories with his clinical class to distract from the previous conversation, since he wanted to honor Magruder’s wish.
These were stories from his career as both a hospice nurse and a nurse at a Texas correctional facility. He ’d seen patients who were allergic to very unusual things. One had declared that he was allergic to Benadryl. Since diphenhydramine —the main ingredient in the medication—was an antihistamine, it was highly unlikely that the patient would have been allergic to the active ingredient. Instead, it was more likely that he was allergic to the inert ingredients in this very
useful and versatile drug. One poor lady, Mr. Jones shared, said that she was allergic to Ivory
soap. This was a highly unusual and bothersome allergy, since Ivory soap was almost devoid of inert ingredients. Being allergic to pure soap would have put this poor lady (literally) in a class by herself.
Magruder knew it wasn’t an allergy that had killed the man in question, but he didn’t mind his friend leading his students down this path of reasoning. It would distract from the unrevealed truth that Magruder was desperately trying to protect.
After the clinical class was dismissed, a young female nursing student approached the detective. His interest was piqued, but he reiterated his stance. The student was persistent, and Jay liked her moxie. He tried very hard to change the subject, but she was insistent. She procured a future coffee date with the eligible young cop and left the room. It seemed s he was intent on learning the truth about the cadaver in question.
Magruder obliged her request for a coffee date because he ’d been infatuated with the nursing profession since he was a young child. He also recognized Alice Jones as the older daughter of the man who had trained him when he was a rookie with the Houston police Department.
Alice had grown into quite a young lady, in Magruder’s opinion, and he knew that the straight-laced cop and his daughter were as close as any two family members could be. He suspected Alice had inherited her father’s trait of digging for the truth until it revealed itself. He was determined, though, to keep his secret at all costs, even though he was a lonely, lonely man.
After Alice left the room, Jay Magruder was left alone with his thoughts.
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