Perfect Poison by M. William Phelps

Author:M. William Phelps [Phelps, M. William]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2014-01-14T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 53

Security went around and checked the pay phones in the immediate vicinity of the hospital and instructed staff to pay extra special attention to the phones inside the hospital. There was a chance the caller had made the calls from the grounds of the VAMC, or from one of the pay phones inside one of the buildings.

Around seven o’clock, Northampton Police Officer John McCarthy was ordered by his superiors to close off all access to the hospital.

As the process of evacuating patients began, state troopers, VAMC security, officers from the neighboring towns of Easthampton and Northampton, along with fire personnel, kept everyone calm as they directed patients and staff to safe areas. Things were getting hectic by the minute. People were scared. No one could say with any certainty that there wasn’t a bomb in the building.

A small crowd had gathered by the main entrance on Route 9. Motorists driving by stopped to ask what was going on. Even if the threat turned out to be false, as almost everyone suspected, the caller had certainly done enough to make life at the VAMC, at least for this one night, a living hell—which was perhaps his only intention.

The parking lot of the Look Restaurant, a popular diner just fifty yards across the street from the VAMC’s main entrance on Route 9, filled with onlookers and rubberneckers—among them, Kristen Gilbert, who later told a friend she stood a few feet from the pay telephone booth in the parking lot watching everything.

Then, at 7:07, amid the chaos that had erupted both in and outside the hospital as word about the threats began to spread, the security phone rang.

“It’s your job to think about those patients,” the caller said.

It was, in one sense, a belated reaction to Perrault’s previous plea of “think about the patients.”

This time, however, Perrault noticed that the caller sounded hurt, almost as if he were—or had been—crying.

After a moment of silence, “I do care,” the caller said. “But the government needs a message.”

Perrault tried reasoning with him.

“Yes, I care about the patients, sir. But I need help with working with them.”

The caller abruptly hung up. It was obvious now that the calls had been pre-recorded. They were too one-sided. Too well planned. There was no interaction. The caller often talked right over Perrault’s voice. Plus, if Perrault said something, the caller never addressed it immediately. It wouldn’t be until the next call that he would make reference to the previous call. This led everyone to believe that the VA bomber was, in fact, recording his voice and playing it back.

By this time, staff were taking those patients who could walk on their own out of Building One. Patients confined to beds were rolled out. Those too weak or sick to walk were taken out on stretchers and wheelchairs. Some were extremely ill. Just moving them could be dangerous and life-threatening. The largest concern was for those patients with pneumonia and/or respiratory diseases and illnesses. Just exposing them to outside elements could worsen their conditions significantly.

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