Castle on the Edge Read Online Free Page A

you, the rest of the staff, and to our six known residents. I expect him to orientate us about the new arrival when we meet him in his office at eleven.”
    “I hope so,” Miss Hathaway said.
    Then Mary looked at her watch and said, “It’s already ten fifteen, Doctor Ramsey. You’ve got to take Doctor Lederer around now to introduce him to our on-duty staff and all six of our guests if you can, as well as show him the interior of the Castle. Who knows? You and Doctor Lederer might stumble upon the whereabouts of the ‘shadow’ patient during your tour through the Castle. Remember, you only have forty-five minutes because we’re to meet Doctor Calloway in his office at eleven. I have some patient progress reports I have to review with Miss Hathaway so I’ll meet you and Doctor Lederer at Doctor Calloway’s office at eleven o’clock sharp, okay?”
    “See you then, Mary,” I said.
    I could see Doctor Lederer’s intense concentration on every word, Miss Hathaway, and I were exchanging, and the way he was looking at our facial expressions and bodily movements. I felt he was suspicious of a ruse. Whether he suspected any of us, Doctor Calloway, or the whole lot of us, for that matter, I didn’t know, but he suspected ‘something.’
    Since my time was limited, I thought I’d take Doctor Lederer to the fourth floor first and work down to the ground floor. The tour would terminate there and the fact that Doctor Calloway’s office was on the first level also, would be convenient.
    “As you know, this building has four stories, and there are four rooms up here. Two we use for therapy and treatment; one is a sitting room and the other is for staff conferences. The patients are housed on the second and third floors only,” I told Doctor Lederer as I showed him each one.
    “Alex, you said you currently have six patients…and now the phantom makes seven. How many patients is the Castle equipped to handle?” Doctor Lederer asked as we were making our way back down to the third floor.
    “We can hold a total of ten at a time. This is a private facility so it isn’t very big and we don’t have a large staff, but we’re well equipped with the latest technology. We have five residence rooms on both the second and third floors. We ought to be able to locate our sub rosa patient in one of the rooms not assigned to any of our six patients. Currently, we have Miss Hopkins and Mister Morgan on the second floor, both of whom you will meet when we get there. Mister Strutmire, Mister Lipton, Miss Gould, and Mister Duncan are on this floor.”
    As we stepped out of the elevator, Doctor Lederer said, “Most likely Doctor Calloway has the patient on the second floor because there are four vacant rooms whereas there’s only two on this one, yes, Alex?”
    “I can’t say, Doctor Lederer, because as of yet, I don’t know the reason for the admittance. I can only say we’ll both find out together. We normally put patients who don’t have hobby pastimes, or may require more therapy such as a more complex medication regimen for example, on the third floor because it is closer to the fourth floor treatment rooms. So it’s a question of proximity and convenience, you see.”
    “Of course, Alex,” he said, as I knocked on Mister Strutmire’s door.
    Mister Strutmire opened the door. He had a newspaper in his hand. He was fifty-five years old, short and portly, clean-shaven with a shiny bald pate and a horseshoe gray fringe around his head. He took off a pair of round horn-rimmed glasses, then looked at Doctor Lederer and me in an agitated manner. He didn’t say a word.
    “Good morning Professor Strutmire” I said. “This is Doctor Franz Lederer from Zurich, Switzerland. He’s visiting with us in order to observe the operations and care at our facility.”
    “Everyone around here is always observing,” he tersely responded. “Anyway, how do you do Doctor…Lederer, is it?” he said, while putting his glasses back