Author’s Note: Please don’t make fun of the detective’s name. I put it in there for a valid reason that I will explain in a little challenge I’m going to put in a later chapter.
Murder in the Clinic
Chapter 3: Inspections

    As he drove into work the next day, House couldn’t help but notice how cramped Princeton Plainsborough’s parking lot was. News vans and police cars were scattered over the property, and House was particularly thankful for having a reserved spot. Despite this luxury however, a few unfortunate members of the staff seemed to have lost their places to the overwhelming media.
    Entering the lobby, he saw Cuddy fending off a couple of reporters and their cameramen, attempting to assure them that they had things under control. When the reporters were satisfied, they scampered off, leaving House with a chance to ask Cuddy what happened.
    “Don’t tell me someone beat Kutner’s crawling record!” House gasped sarcastically. “He’ll be absolutely devastated!” Cuddy rolled her eyes.
    “House, this is serious.” She said to him stressfully. “A patient was found dead in the clinic yesterday.” This obviously grabbed House’s attention. “Brenda found him yesterday stuffed in a cabinet.”
    “What patient was it?” He was serious now. Cuddy thinks for a moment.
    “Umm…Andrew Stone.” She said. “He was in Exam room two.”

* * *
    Young, rather inexperienced detective Sean Condon inspected the crime scene with a false look of confidence, aided by his mentor, Bailee Gray, a name that suited the woman well with her iron colored hair and stern features. Condon could never help but fell intimidated in Gray’s presence, seeing as despite his daring attitude, he became nervous very easily. Shuffling around the crime scene, Condon examined the corpse of Andrew Stone.
Carefully scrutinizing the body, Condon noticed a thick, ugly bruise on Stone’s neck. The mark was a perfectly straight line on the front of the neck, and was quite obviously the lethal blow. He figured that it would have had to be an insanely powerful hit to actually kill the man, so the killer must have pinned Stone down somehow and used some kind of pole or rod to strangle him. After checking the rest of the room for clues, and finding none, Condon went to share his discoveries with Detective Gray. Gray was talking to an anxious looking, petite woman with dark curly hair at the nurse’s station.
“Detective Condon, meet Dr. Lisa Cuddy.” Gray announced. “She is the Dean of Medicine at this hospital.” They shake hands. Gray assures Dr. Cuddy that she and Detective Condon will solve the case as quickly as possible so that the hospital can return to its normal pace as soon as it can.
“If there’s any way I can help…” Dr. Cuddy started to say.
“There’s no need.” Gray interrupted calmly. At this, Dr. Cuddy bid the two detectives goodbye and returned to her office. As soon as she left, Condon began to fill Gray in on his discoveries.

“Judging by the bruise on his neck, I’d say that the poor man was strangled with a rod of some sort. Could’ve been anything from an IV pole to a broom handle.” He began. “The culprit stuffed Stone in the cabinet as a temporary hiding place. He probably wanted to dispose of the body later in the day, when the clinic was closed and empty.” He paused for a moment. “Stone’s getting brought into the lab for closer inspection.” Condon finished, hoping Gray was satisfied.
“Now to figure out the culprit.” Gray sighed. “According to about half the nurses on staff, apparently everyone’s fixed on the idea that our killer is a certain Dr. House.”
“Who’s Dr. House?” Condon asks curiously.
“Hospital’s head of Diagnostics is what any polite person would say, but in the nurse’s opinion he is apparently the biggest ass in the state of New Jersey.” Condon snickers.
“Biased much?” He mutters.
“We should keep that in mind, but let’s look at our evidence.” Condon perks up. The jokes are over. “Now, the first thing we should do is to try to figure out the guy’s doctor.” Gray begins.
“You think it could be his physician?” Condon asks.
“No matter how depressing that may seem Condon, it is most likely.” She says with a rock hard glare.
“I know that.” He says defending himself.
“However we do need more evidence. It could also be a variety of other people.” Gray said.
“Like who?”
“Perhaps a janitor…or another doctor pretending to take over if the man’s primary physician was to leave the room…” She said quickly.
“Or possibly a man impersonating a doctor, or there could have been more than one person involved.” Condon suggests to his boss.
“Okay Condon, you keep those in mind, but right now we should focus our attention on the main physician unless we have evidence that proves otherwise.” Condon nods.
“So let’s go find the dead guy’s doctor!” He said enthusiastically. Approaching the nurse’s station, Condon taps his fingers on the hardwood reception desk. He sees a women clad in pink scrubs feverishly tapping away at a keyboard.
“Excuse me miss.” He says politely.
“What?” the nurse asks rudely, not taking her eyes off the computer screen.
“I need to see the sign in log for the clinic yesterday.” Condon said with a smile. The nurse wordlessly hands him a packet of papers, and obnoxiously takes a rather large bite out of an apple, not even hearing Condon’s ‘Thank you’.
Walking over to Gray, Condon opens the packet, and flips through the pages until he finds what time Stone stopped by for a visit. At where the log was roughly at 4:30 PM, Condon found Stone’s name. He steadies it so that he and Detective Gray can read it.
“Patient…Andrew Stone…Physician…” He pauses.
“Dr. Gregory House.”