brain thief

[holli]

So Sam's secret was safe, for now. He just had to figure out the right way of telling the truth to Meg. Maybe once he'd solved his case, the answer would come to him.

As for his case, Sam wasn't having much luck at the hospital. The trouble was that he was still trying to keep the case out of the papers, so he couldn't exactly pick a doctor and say "So, suspect any of your colleagues of stealing body parts? Had any brains go missing?"


Meg was a help, there: she kept her eyes and ears open at the hospital, and Sam didn’t have to worry that she was a suspect because she’d moved to Ankh-Morpork after the bodies started turning up. She was the one who found out that a morgue attendant had been fired, but Sam was the one who found out why.

“Bodies with parts missing? And why is this the first the Watch has heard of it, Mr. Coppersmith?” Sam asked.

The dwarf scowled up at him. “That’s the hospital’s business, not mine. I was fired, remember? And I’m well shut of it, too. They just wanted someone to blame.”

“So you don’t know what happened to the missing parts?” Sam asked.

“Know what happened to them? I didn’t even know they were missing ‘til some family opened the casket and saw their poor auntie was short an arm. And I got the blame for it.” He frowned at Sam. “Anyway, why d’you need to hear it from me? Ought to ask the hospital, if you want to know what’s been going on.”

“They’ve not been very forthcoming,” Sam said. And in fact, none of the administrators Sam had tried to interview had been willing to admit that body parts had gone missing at all, much less that someone in their employ might be responsible for the loss. “Can you remember who any of the, er, victims were? Who had parts missing, and what they were?”

“I might,” said Mr. Coppersmith. “If you catch the bastard, you think I might get my job back?”

“I can’t make any promises there, sir,” Sam said. “But it certainly couldn’t hurt.”

“Right,” the dwarf said gruffly, and sat down to make Sam a list.

The list was helpful, up to a point. The parts had been stolen from women, mostly young, mostly dead from accidents rather than illnesses. Arni Coppersmith had mostly only been able to spot missing arms and legs, obvious things, though he’d noticed one corpse was too light and found her lungs were gone. It didn’t add up to a whole person, at any rate, so Arni hadn’t caught every theft.

But it told Sam that the Rag-and-Bone Man had access to the morgue, and access to the hospital at times when the morgue attendants were gone. That meant he worked there, almost certainly.

The next step was to keep a close eye on the morgue, and see what else went missing. It didn’t take long. A man without a foot; other with chunks of flesh or organs gone; one fellow who’d had a particularly nasty accident wound up in fewer pieces than he ought to have been. But Sam heard of all this secondhand, in rumors relayed by Meg, because the hospital still wouldn’t admit there was a problem.

“There is nothing to investigate, Corporal Vimes,” the head of surgery told Sam. He was a thin, prim man, neat as a pin, with spidery hands that moved restlessly on his desk. Sam wondered if he shouldn’t be looking closer at the man-- could he be the culprit? But Sam had followed him home the same night a set of kidneys went missing, and he hadn’t gone near the morgue.

“If Doctor Lawn knew this was going on--” Sam began, but the man cut him off.

“Yes, Corporal Vimes,” and there was a nasty little inflection there on Sam’s last name, “I’m sure you have Doctor Lawn round for dinner with your parents all the time. But he is retired, and the running of this hospital is no longer his business. Nor is it yours. Please see yourself out; I have a meeting.” And he swept out, in a huff od white coat and antiseptic fumes.

Sam stormed out after him, and nearly knocked over a doctor hurrying the other way. “Sorry, sorry,” Sam said, and helped the poor man to his feet. It was the blond doctor Sam had met, that first day he’d taken Meg to lunch.

“Quite all right,” Dr. Dussel said, brushing himself off. He looked, Sam thought, like he hadn’t been sleeping enough. “You’re Miss Garlick’s young man, aren’t you? I’m afraid I’ve forgotten the name, if I ever knew it.”

“Call me Sam,” Sam said, and they shook hands. “So you work with Meg, then? She’s quite brilliant, isn’t she?”

“She’s very talented,” Dr. Dussel admitted. “And you can call me Henry. Meg’s doing some quite fascinating work with Dr. Igorina. I’ve been following it with some interest.”

“Me, too-- what I understand of it, anyway,” Sam said. He remembered the girl who Henry had been escorting, the last time they met. “How’s your patient? Sophronia, wasn’t it?”

The pleasant smile dropped off Henry’s face. “She’s dead,” he said shortly, and turned on his heel and walked off.

“Huh,” said Sam. He went to go and look for Meg.

***

"I've been scooped, Sam."

The newspaper Penny thunked down in front of him wasn't opened to the front page, which Sam was grateful for. "WATCH SILENT ON MYSTERY JUMPER," the headline announced, and Sam flicked his eyes across the short article covering the shrouded woman who'd thrown herself off the Brass Bridge.

"Wait," Sam said. "How d'you even know this has anything to do with the Rag-and-Bone Man? Who've you been talking to?"

Penny scowled. "Hettie told me. I ought to have heard it from you, though-- you promised."

"I've been a bit busy."

“And I’ve been scooped. This was going to be my breakout story, Sam!”

“Once I’ve solved it, you can breakout all you like,” Sam promised. “But not until then. Anyway, there’s no sign in the article that this is linked to the grave robbings or the other bodies. The Times doesn’t even know about the grave robbings or the other bodies, thank goodness.”

“And how much longer will that last?” Penny demanded. “Anyway, don’t you think you’d have an easier time catching the Rag-and-Bone Man if people outside the Watch knew what you were looking for?”

“I think that causing a panic is probably not a good idea,” Sam said. “And a panic is just what this story will cause, if it hits the papers before I’ve caught the culprit.”

Penny threw herself down in the chair opposite Sam. “You’re no fun at all, Sam.”

“Yes, I know,” said Sam. “It’s awful of me, isn’t it?”

She pulled a face. “Fine, fine,” she said. “If you won’t let me at the actual news, I’ll just have to settle for gossip. Aggie tells me you’re dating this girl from Lancre?”

Sam wished he didn’t blush so easily. “Well, we’ve been on a few dates. And I quite like her. But I don’t know if I’d say we’re dating yet. And tell Aggie to keep her mouth shut, will you?”

“I have a nose for news, Sam, I would have known she had something juicy to tell me even if he had kept shut about it. Now, I want to hear everything. What’s she like? Why’d she come to the city? Is she terribly intimidated by your lofty stature?”

Sam groaned. “Shove off, Penny.”

“Ooh, have I hit a nerve. Sam, are you embarrassed? Really, you shouldn’t be, there’s no shame in being Ankh’s Most Eligible--”

“I said shove off!” Sam said, a little too loudly. The rest of the squadroom grew quiet, coppers being nosy buggers who probably wanted to know what the fuss was about. Something on his face must have told Penny he meant it, at least, because her mocking smile disappeared, replaced with a gentler expression.

“Sorry, Sam. I know it’s a sore spot. Didn’t realize it was that much of one, though.”

“Yeah, well.” Sam sighed. “It’s all right, Penny. I think this case is getting to me. It’s frustrating, to know where the bastard must be working, know he’s still stealing bits of people, and not be able to do anything about it because the hospital’s got its head in the sand.”

“Well, maybe a fresh set of eyes will help. Show me what you’ve got since the last time I got an update, and maybe I can find something you didn’t.”

“You just want to be back in the loop.”

“Well, maybe a bit. But I do want to help, if I can.”

“All right, “ said Sam. “All right. Let me show you what I’ve got.”

Comments

[petra]

I <3 Penny. And Sam. And all of them. Still cheering you on!