Chapter 17 - Looking In The Wrong Place (1/2)

A stack of pancakes arrived in front of Halia and she immediately started digging into it.

”Victim number four's body was found near PUH and she worked near PUH. Then, Sara died after working in the emergency ward of PUH and I saw the hospital's logo in her memory. Because of these clues, we've been focusing on the emergency doctors in PUH. But, you know what, after working in the emergency ward for just two days, I've already noticed that none of the doctors leave the hospital for lunch. I spoke to the doctors and they said it's impossible to leave because they are always on-call.”

”Look at the opening hours for this place. They are only open between 10am and 2pm. If none of the doctors leave for lunch, how could they come to this cafe and meet the victim?”

”The killer definitely knew the victim. He knew what time she was heading to work, he knew the route she walked. If he drugged her with GHB like you said, he would have slipped it into something she drank on the way. He was meticulous and he planned everything out perfectly. He even knew that the cafe closed at 2pm, so he dumped the body in the alleyway around the corner after 2pm, knowing no one would walk past until the next day. It wasn't a random killing,” Halia explained.

”Does that mean we've been looking in the wrong place?” Eric asked.

”I'm not sure. All I know is, when we call the five doctors in for questioning in 2 days, the rest of the hospital will quickly find out. If the killer isn't amongst these five, I don't know how the real killer will react.”

Halia finished her pancake at that moment and got up to pay. As she stood at the counter, she started to chat to the waiter, ”You guys get very busy here, don't you?”

”Oh yes, we get a lot of customers from the hospital,” the waiter replied.

”Do a lot of doctors come here?” she asked casually.

”We get a few regulars, but you know, doctors are busy. We actually get more nurses,” he winked. ”A bit of eye candy for me,” he laughed.

Halia laughed along, ”So what's your verdict, which hospital ward has it the easiest?”

The waiter chuckled, ”The gastrointestinal ward has it quite easy, I see the doctors and nurses from there almost everyday. Even if it's just for a coffee. On the other hand, I've never met any of the doctors from the emergency ward, those guys are so hardworking.”

Halia glanced at Eric. She had a bad feeling about this.

”What should we do?” Eric asked.

”I'm going to call the police chief and ask him to question victim number one's mother again. We didn't have any clues when we questioned her, but we know a lot more now. Perhaps, she'd be able to tell us something.”

...

Later that afternoon, a senior detective arrived outside an apartment.