Where Did the Patient in the Ambulance Go

1: 1

I'm an ambulance driver.

I picked up a patient, raced to the hospital, and somewhere along the way the patient vanished inside my own ambulance.

The attending nurse pointed at me, her face twisted with rage. Halfway there, Driver Finch dumped us on the road and drove off with the patient!

Thirty minutes later, the police found the patient's body in my home. Cause of death: poisoning.

In the end I was named the killer, sentenced to death, and two years later I dropped dead in prison from heart failure.

Even after I died, I couldn't make sense of it. I watched that patient get loaded onto the gurney with my own eyes, and the nurse was with him the whole time.

So how did the patient disappear into thin air? When did the nurse get out of the vehicle? And how did the body end up in my house?

Then I opened my eyes again. I'd been reborn.

The dispatcher in front of me spoke, all business. "Prosperity Gardens on the South Side, Building 7, Unit 3, apartment 301. Elderly man, acute attack, needs emergency transport."

I didn't hesitate. I was already getting ready to fake being sick and beg off, when

Stanley Mason, one of the orderlies, came hurrying over. "Evan, man, you're the fastest and the steadiest behind the wheel. You have to be the one to go get my dad."

Stanley Mason. I looked at the man in front of me.

A hospital orderly. The old man on the other end of that call, the one needing emergency care, was Stanley's father.

In my last life, Stanley had come rushing over just like this, crying, shouting that I had to be the one to fetch his father.

"My mom said before she died, if my dad ever got seriously ill, it had to be a driver named Finch or he'd never pull through. Otherwise his life's on the line!"

Saving lives, hauling the sick, getting people to treatmentthat's my job.

Last life, I thumped my chest and swore I'd have the old man picked up faster than anyone.

But this time, looking at Stanley, a chill crawled up my spine.

There were plenty of drivers on shift, and yet he singled me out by name, insisting it had to be me.

And he used his mother's dying words, so I couldn't say no.

"Stanley, I'm not feeling too good. Send someone else."

Beside me, Kent Lambert got up right away, ready to take the wheel.

But Stanley panicked. "Evan, what's that supposed to mean? You holding a grudge over what happened last time?"

"I really did misjudge you then. I thought you'd been slipping cash from the families on the side. But I apologized to you, right in front of the bosses."

I couldn't help the cold laugh that slipped out.

Stanley was a hospital orderly, and he'd been angling to take over my ambulance driver job for a long time.

He used to run to management over nothing, smearing me, claiming I took bribes from patients' families behind their backs. Fine by meI stood straight, so a crooked shadow didn't scare me.

Last life, I let all of it go and threw everything I had into getting his father.

It wasn't until right before I died that I pieced together how strange Stanley had been.

First: Stanley, who couldn't stand me, was the one who insisted last life that only I could pick up his father, or he wouldn't rest easy.

Second: last life, when I told him to come along with me, he flat-out refused.

My gut told me one thing. I absolutely could not go.

I pressed a hand to my forehead.

"Stanley, I really don't feel right at the moment. There are plenty of drivers on duty, and everyone's good behind the wheel."

But Stanley wouldn't let it drop. "Evan Finch, so you've decided you're dragging our personal grudge into the job, is that it?"

"Don't forget, you're an ambulance driver!"

"You treat other people's lives like they don't matter, and who's ever going to trust your ambulance again?"

Beside us, the nurse was pushing us to hurry.

"With all the time you two are wasting flapping your mouths, we'd already be there. This patient's critical."

Thenthud. Stanley dropped straight to his knees.

"Evan, I'm begging you. Please, just go, now."

"You go get my dad, and I'll do anything you want. Anything."

"Evan, my mom said before she passed, if my dad ever fell seriously ill, it had to be a Finch driving the ambulance."

My heart clenched. The exact same line again.

The moment he finished, more people started pressing me.

"Quit playing sick, old Finch. You're built like an oxI've never once seen you with so much as a headache."

"Get going, don't waste the window on him."

I looked at Stanley. "Then are you coming along?"

Stanley shook his head. "I'll stay behind. The patient I'm caring for is still waiting on me. I trust you, and I trust our hospital's people."

Seeing me give in, he started shoving me toward the vehicle.

"Evan, I'll be waiting at the hospital for you to bring my dad in. Don't you dare let me down."

At the door of the vehicle, looking at this old workhorse I'd driven for more than ten years, a guess flashed through my mind.

I think I finally knew why Stanley's father had vanished without a trace in my last life.

2: 2

My hand, already reaching for the door, stopped.

I walked straight over to the driver's car, the one that belonged to old Zhou.

"Mine's out of gas. I'll take Zhou's car."

Sure enough, a flicker of panic crossed Stanley's eyes, so faint you'd miss it if you blinked.

"You know the rule at the ambulance station. We don't drive each other's rigs. And I already checked yours, the tank's more than full."

"Just take your own car."

My stomach tightened. So it was the car after all.

"Stanley, you insisted I be the one to go, and I agreed."

"So why won't you let me switch to a different car now?"

"Unless there's something wrong with this one?"

Stanley didn't flinch. He gave a soft little laugh.

"Evan, a man's life is on the line here. You drive a rig you're not used to, waste precious time, and then who takes the blame? You?"

"And another thing, Evan. Are you stalling on purpose?"

The nurse grabbed my arm and shoved me straight up into the ambulance.

"Enough, enough, just go already."

I glanced at the crowd gathering to watch the show. Drag this out any longer and something really would go wrong.

I stopped refusing. I got behind the wheel and drove straight for the destination, exactly like last time.

Even knowing I was about to walk right back into the same trap, I wasn't worried in the least.

Ten minutes later, just like last time, I picked up the old man without a hitch and watched with my own eyes as the nurse helped him into the back of the ambulance.

And every second of it, I recorded on my phone, clear as day.

Eight minutes later I pulled up at the hospital again. Stanley was already waiting outside the ambulance bay with a crowd of coworkers.

But the moment the back doors swung open, everyone sucked in a sharp breath.

"Where is he?"

"There's nobody on the stretcher!"

Stanley pushed his way forward, his face draining in an instant.

"Evan, where's my dad?"

Behind him, the nurse climbed out of a taxi, out of breath, and came running over.

"Everybody, I think there's something wrong with Driver Finch. Halfway through picking up the patient, he threw me out of the ambulance."

I stood there watching the same deadlock close in around me, exactly like last time, and I didn't react at all.

Instead I folded my arms across my chest, calm as anything.

"Where's my dad?"

"Evan? Whatever grudge is between us, you didn't have to drag an old man into it, a man who never did a thing to you."

Stanley had me by the collar, but I saw it plainly.

There wasn't a trace of grief in his eyes. If anything, there was a glint of delight.

"Stanley, your father did get into that ambulance. I swear it."

My expression stayed calm.

"Evan, are you lying straight to my face?"

"There's nobody in this car."

Stanley pulled out his phone. "I just called my dad. Nobody picked up."

"Evan! Something has definitely happened to my father now."

"Call the police! Call the police! This is deliberate assault."

The nurse jabbed a finger at me.

"Evan, I never would've guessed. I didn't know you were this kind of man."

In the middle of the crowd, I kept my voice level, spelling it out word by word. "You're right, I didn't bring Stanley's father here."

"That's because I already called an ambulance from another hospital and had them carry Stanley's father off."

My mind went back to it. Halfway through the drive, I'd put the nurse out of the ambulance.

On the road, I'd dialed the state hospital's emergency line, and when they arrived, I'd watched with my own eyes as Stanley's father was loaded into their ambulance.

If the problem really was with the car, then there was no way Stanley's father could stay in mine.

"If you don't believe me, call the state hospital right now. Your father's resuscitation should have gone through by now."

"After all, with their doctors..."

"What? On whose authority did you send my father to..."

The delight I'd expected wasn't on Stanley's face.

His phone rang. He answered it, and his expression changed. His eyes turned dark as he looked at me. "That was an officer. He says my father vanished from the ambulance you called too."

3: 3

Five minutes later.

Inside the police station, the officer's face was grim.

"We just got a call from an ambulance driver at the state hospital."

"He says he drove a patient to the hospital, and then the patient vanished off the ambulance out of nowhere."

"And the ambulance's surveillance was somehow broken by then."

The officer's eyes turned on me, weighing me. "This driver says you're the one who called the ambulance, and that you watched the old man get loaded onto it yourself."

I nodded.

"I've got video that proves it."

He took the phone and studied the footage.

"The nurse who was riding along says that halfway there, the driver ordered her and the others off."

"And going by the usual travel time, the driver arrived thirty minutes late."

"We also pulled the route the ambulance took."

"We found the driver went out of his way to stop at his own house."

"We've already sent officers over there."

A cold breath caught in my chest. The exact same situation as my last life.

The driver was denying everything, frantic.

"Officer, I swear I never went home!"

"And I never made the nurse get off. I picked the patient up normally and drove him straight to the hospital."

"I don't know why there was no one in the vehicle by the time I got there either!"

Then the driver suddenly turned and looked at me. "Officer, I think he's the suspicious one."

"He got the emergency call, he came to pick the patient up. So why did he turn around and call our hospital's emergency line?"

The officer's look at me carried more suspicion now too.

"Evan Finch, Saul Mason called your hospital's ambulance line, and there was nothing wrong with your vehicle."

"So why did you order the nurse off partway there, and then, once you reached Old Mr. Mason's house, call a different hospital's ambulance?"

"If you can't explain that clearly, we'll be investigating you as well."

My heart was pounding fast. I'd assumed the problem was the vehicle.

But now, different driver, different vehicle.

And the exact same thing had happened.

I glanced at the driver still babbling his explanations, and it was like watching myself in the last life, drowning in panic.

"The officers who went to your house say Saul Mason's body was hidden in the bedroom cabinet at your place. Preliminary examination points to poisoning as the cause of death."

Beside me, the driver stumbled back in terror, shaking his head wildly. "No! Impossible! How could he be at my house?"

"And I never even went home. My family has never bought any poison."

"Most of all, I don't even know that old man. Why would I hurt him?"

Stanley Mason charged forward and grabbed the man by the collar.

"Why? Why would you kill my father?!"

Then he whipped around and lunged at me, his eyes bloodshot.

"And you, Evan Finch, why did you call another hospital's ambulance for my father behind everyone's back?"

"My father's dead now. Did the two of you plan this together, on purpose?"

"Evan Finch, can't you let go of the old grudge?"

The officer gave me no room to breathe and ordered me to explain at once.

"Explain, right now. If you hesitate"

"Then every statement you make after this, we have the right to treat as a lie."

I felt my heart slamming like it wanted out of my chest.

Part of me was working out how to explain, and part of me was combing through this whole thing for what didn't add up.

"Evan Finch. Five more seconds."

At last I let out a breath and spoke, and the moment the words landed, the officer's suspicion of me vanished on the spot.

"Because..."

4: 4

Because I was worried about the bad blood between me and Stanley. If I went to pick up his father and something happened along the way, I knew I'd never be able to explain myself.

I cut Stanley off before he could finish.

You can't pin all of this on me. I said from the start I didn't want to go get Old Mr. Mason, but Stanley insisted on me by name.

Plenty of people at the ambulance station can back that up.

Everything I said was the truth, and there wasn't a flicker of guilt in my eyes.

I made the nurse get off because I was afraid she wouldn't let me call an ambulance from another hospital.

The officer beside him nodded. We have confirmed there's a grudge between Stanley Mason and Evan Finch, so that part's plausible.

But the other driver had no connection to Stanley at all. If he's the killer, what's his motive?

The other driver suddenly lunged forward and grabbed me by the collar.

Tell me, does this have something to do with you or not?

Or did you already know what was going to happen, so you set me up to take the fall on purpose?

My eyes wavered. I had known in advance, yes. But I never meant to make him the fall guy.

Seeing me hesitate, Stanley frowned at me again.

Evan, don't tell me you pulled some dirty trick to have someone else kill my father, so I'd be the one to answer for it!

Stanley turned to the officer. Officer, just to be safe, maybe you should send someone to Evan's place and take a look. What if there's a clue at his house?

The officer nodded. Half an hour later, the officer sent to my home called in.

We searched Evan Finch's residence and found poison of the same type that was in the victim's stomach. The bottle was already empty.

Talk. Why is there poison in your home? And where did the empty bottle's contents go?

What?

I staggered. Why would there be poison in my house?

Before I could deny it, the officer pressed me again. That footage you took of the old man boarding the ambulance.

We found that his lips were already purple when he got on. He was showing signs of poisoning.

And we went back over the surveillance at the gate of Kent Lambert's complex and outside his building.

When Kent pulled the old man out of the vehicle, the old man had already lost consciousness, with blood at the corner of his mouth.

So by that point the old man may already have been dead from the poison.

At that, Kent suddenly shouted. I remember now. Before I drove off, Evan handed me a bottle of water. The nurses can testify to it!

Could there have been something wrong with that water?

Thirty minutes later, the test results on the water came back. The liquid contained a large amount of a hallucinogenic drug that would cause hallucinations once ingested.

The officer's face went hard as he looked at me. So you're the one who spiked the water, right?

We now have grounds to suspect that you poisoned the old man before he ever got into the ambulance.

Then you got the driver to drink the hallucinogen, made him force his coworker off the vehicle partway, and hauled Old Mr. Mason's body to your own home.

The surveillance outside the driver's building shows that when he carried the old man over his shoulder, the old man was already unconscious.

So the one who poisoned the old man may not have been Kent Lambert at all. It was you, Evan.

Answer the officer's question. The old man's lips were purple when he boarded the ambulance, showing signs of poisoning. Kent, had you already administered the poison?

I did not!

And that bottle of water was given to me by Stanley's father!

I denied it fast, but a familiar voice rang out from the doorway.

Evan! You wouldn't listen to me. You just had to keep going at Stanley.

I told you not to hurt Old Mr. Mason, and you went and did something this stupid anyway!

At the door, I watched my wife walk slowly inside.

Evan, just come clean already.

She gave me no chance to speak and turned straight to the officer. Officer, it really was my husband who did the poisoning. Please, arrest him right away.

A jolt shot up my spine. My eyes moved between my wife and Stanley, and all at once I understood the truth of it.

I kept my voice even as I looked at the officer. You're welcome to arrest me. But only on one condition: that Old Mr. Mason was never poisoned at all, and certainly isn't dead.

What? Old Mr. Mason isn't dead?