Hour Game

Wasting no time, the person slightly moved the camera bolted to the wall across from the bed such that the live feed wouldn't show the area to the left of the bed. Then the masked figure hurried across to the IV stand next to the bed, removed the hypodermic needle from a coat pocket and stabbed one of the medication bags above the fluid line with the needle, shooting the entire contents of the hypo into it. The person glanced once at Battle lying there, features peaceful, even with a tube down his throat. The intruder picked up his hand, placed the wristwatch on it and set it to five. Finally, the person pulled the object from another coat pocket and laid it carefully on Battle 's chest.

It was a single white bird's feather.

Moments later the person had shot out the rear entrance, clambered down the stairs, slipped out into the parking lot and climbed in a car. The vehicle sped from the hospital.

The driver had a letter to write and mail.

Barely ten minutes after the car had driven off, a warning bell sounded on one of the machines in Bobby Battle's room, followed by another. Within seconds all were screaming their collective and ominous warnings.

The nurses rushed en masse to the room. A minute later a code blue was broadcast over the P.A., and a highly experienced medical crash team dashed into the room. It was all for naught. At 10:23P.M. Robert E. Lee Battle was pronounced dead.

CHAPTER 29

AT FIRST IT WAS ASSUMED THAT Battle had simply succumbed to the aftereffects of his stroke. The white feather left on his chest by his killer had fallen to the floor unnoticed as the medical team attempted to resuscitate him. When the feather was later discovered by a hospital technician, he placed it on the table next to the dead man's bed, perhaps assuming it might have come from a pillow. The watch the killer had placed on Battle 's wrist was covered under IV lines and also obscured by Battle 's ID and medication wristbands. An anguished and angry Remmy Battle came and went and didn't take note of the watch or the feather. It wasn't until a nurse called into question the feather that people began to wonder. It hadn't come from a hospital pillow, since they didn't contain feathers. In addition, the swift and unanticipated change in Battle 's condition was puzzling and certainly not above scrutiny.

However, it wasn't until around three in the morning, when they were about to move Battle 's body to the hospital morgue, that the watch was finally observed on the dead man's wrist, prompting a much closer examination of the body and subsequently the IV bags. That's when the attending physician saw the puncture in the bag where the hypodermic had plunged through.

"Dear God," was all he could manage to say.

Todd Williams was roused from his bed, and on the way in he called King, who in turn called Michelle. All three arrived at the hospital at about the same time. They were surprised to see Chip Bailey there. Williams quickly introduced King and Michelle to the FBI agent.

"I was staying at a local motel, had my police scanner on," Bailey explained. "Damn, Todd, you must have your whole force here at the hospital."

"This is Bobby Battle," Williams shot back. "A leading citizen of the area."

King silently finished the man's unspoken thought. And now you're going to receive the full wrath of the widow.

The hospital personnel escorted them to Battle 's room. The dead man was lying there with the IV lines still in him and the ventilator tube down his throat, although all the life support machines and monitors had been turned off, their squawks and digital readouts no longer needed. Michelle found herself constantly looking over at Battle, someone she'd heard much about but had never met. For some reason, and not simply the manner of his death, he seemed as fascinating dead as he had been in life.

The head nurse and attending physician gave a brief overview of what they'd discovered regarding the feather, watch and the hole in the IV bag.

"This is all highly unusual," said the doctor in the understatement of the year.

"We were pretty sure it didn't happen every night," King said.

Williams examined the watch. "Not a Zodiac," he said quietly to Michelle and King. "But it's set to exactly five and the stem is pulled out."

When Chip Bailey was shown the bird feather by Todd Williams, the agent's reaction was palpable, but he said nothing until the doctor and nurse had left the room.

"Mary Martin Speck," he told them when they were alone. "A nurse; she was nicknamed Florence Nightinghell. The lady killed twenty-three patients in six states over a ten-year period. Speck's currently serving a life sentence in a fed penitentiary in Georgia. Her calling card was a white bird's feather; she claimed she was doing the Lord's work."

"So we can expect another letter," said King.