Chapter 13

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Well after the Chinese food had been cleared up and Amber had had another nap, she sat in the living room with him. And then she admitted, "I didn't delete that video."

She brought it up and played it in front of him, memorizing it, and taking a last look to see if anything else was important. He looked over at her, and she felt the intensity of his gaze, as she watched the video once more. She frowned at one point, as she recognized that more people were involved. Then she backed it up slowly and watched again.

"What is it that you see?" he asked.

"At one point in time it seems our dead man is talking to Dr. Charles," she shared, taking yet another look.

Jasper got up and sat on the couch beside her, as she replayed that part.

He frowned. "All I see is part of a white coat, the back of it. How do you know which doctor this is?"

She pointed at the edge of the video. "Watch him turn his head here." After a moment or two, she said, "That mole behind his ear tells me this is Dr. Charles."

"Okay. So do you think that would be unusual for Dr. Charles to speak to someone in the ER hallway?"

She pondered that. "If somebody managed to catch him in the ER and talked to him, I could see it. Other than that, generally he's pretty unavailable. He's in the OR suite or in his office, dictating notes for the medical files."

Jasper frowned. "That doesn't mean a whole lot to me. So, what does that mean to you?"

"Somebody could have called him specifically, on his direct line, whether personal or business. So, if somebody knew him or if somebody might have some pull in that area—like a big donor for the hospital, a rich family on the board, or somebody who's been a director, somebody who hobnobs with these donors—then Dr. Charles might come in response to their call and talk to them in person. However, generally it would be another surgeon or another doctor or even someone in management who would make those kinds of personal contacts, especially for someone who appears without an appointment."

"So, Dr. Charles is a well-placed doctor. Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes, he's the head of the surgical department," she shared. "Sometimes he will come to the ER, so maybe this is just more because of Mason."

"And yet some random guy shouldn't ask questions of Dr. Charles regarding Mason," Jasper pointed out.

"I know, that's why I'm wondering about this discussion caught on tape here. Maybe this is just some guy… getting information, with the surgeon fobbing him off or not checking close enough to see if he has the right to that personal information," she suggested. "It just hit me that it's off."

He studied her for a long moment, then looked back at the video stilled on her phone, now bringing out his own phone. "Let me make some phone calls about that."

She looked over at him. "I don't want to get Dr. Charles in trouble. He's nice. He found me in the parking lot after I got hit by that car."

"So, is he a little distracted? Is he one of those genius people who lives in his head?"

"He's one of those genius people who lives in his heart," she replied, "and he would go the extra mile to help somebody. Thus, if somebody at the hospital was waiting for information, he would normally not be there to interact with the family or the patients. However, if he was, it's quite possible he got stopped and was asked about a patient."

"Interesting. I'll make a quick call."

"To him?" she asked in astonishment.

He nodded. "Yes. Any reason not to?"

She thought about it and shrugged. "I guess not. I'm just not used to the idea of cold-calling somebody like that."

"He'll have to be contacted at some point in time because, if he had any information to give, and he gave it to the now-dead guy, then we need to know about that conversation."

"Right." She frowned.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I won't get Dr. Charles in trouble."

She flushed. "I would appreciate it if you didn't because he is a good doctor. I wouldn't want to think that he would pay for something I pointed out."

"I'm not the bad guy here, and I'm not getting everybody in trouble. You know that, right?"

"I think you can do it without trying," she muttered. "You just have that knack." His eyebrows shot up, and she nodded. "I think it's complete BS that you're acting as if you aren't the head of this investigation."

"I haven't officially been given that status yet," he stated coolly.

She eyed him intently. "You may not have been given it, but I also think a part of you hasn't formally reached out and taken it, even though in reality you already have it." Surprised, he just stared at her, and she nodded. "You know I do see people, inside and out," she murmured, "so it's not as if this is a surprise to me. You are a hands-on leader, and I don't know whether the other investigators are willing to step into alignment over all this, but it's obvious to me that this is where you belong."

"Now you sound like Tesla," he muttered.

"Whatever pain, problem, or headache happened in your world that sent you away from this work," Amber began, "it's too bad because you're obviously very gifted."

"I haven't done anything yet," he said, looking at her. "You can hardly call me gifted when, so far, all we've done is get your apartment burned."

She started to laugh. "You're right. I hadn't thought about it from that point of view." He shot her a look but they both got up, headed downstairs before moving into the kitchen. She wasn't sure whether he was looking for privacy to make phone calls or what, but, in his house, she did feel like an interloper in some ways, even though he'd made her feel incredibly welcome, cozy and snug, and definitely secure. Whether that was a false sense of security or not, she didn't know.

When he walked back out of the kitchen a few minutes later, he was frowning.

"Uh-oh. What's up?"

He shrugged. "He's not on shift at the hospital. So I sent some people to Dr. Charles's house to speak with him."

She winced. "I don't want to get him in trouble," she reiterated.

"He's not answering his phone," he shared, staring at her intently.

She stared at him for a moment, before she realized what he was saying. "Oh my God." She bolted to her feet, then grabbed her leg and cried out in agony. He swept her into his arms and just held her while she shuddered and shook, catching her breath.

"Remember about looking after yourself," he muttered.

She took several deep breaths and nodded. "I'm working on it. I am, honest."

"Work harder. We can't have you hurting yourself even worse," he stated in a firm tone. "Now we don't know that anything is wrong with the doctor, but we must find him and confirm that he's okay. Then we'll find out what the dead man may have said to him."

"Dr. Charles knows me," she said. "He would talk to me."

"He'll talk to me too," he declared, with a note of amusement in his tone. "He won't have any choice."

"Back to that whole investigator role? You should know that projecting your role as sitting on the sidelines doesn't work when you say things like that," she pointed out.

"Maybe not," he conceded, "but it is very much the way I'm working this right now."

"Right, you're doing what you can do for the moment. Then, after that point in time, you'll change it."

He gave her a smirk and slowly helped her back onto the couch.

"I do need to watch those sudden reactions," she admitted.

"You sure do. The last thing I want is for you to reinjure yourself."

"That's just because you don't want a house guest for too long," she teased, interjecting some levity.

"As far as I'm concerned,… you're here for a couple months. It'll take that long to get your insurance claim through and your new apartment sorted."

She sat in shock, but just then his phone rang.

He stepped back and answered it, his tone turning cool. She settled back to wait for whatever news had developed, but her mind was still stuck on the fact that he considered her being here for more than just a couple days. It certainly added a level of security that she hadn't realized she was looking for. She seemed numb from everything that had happened, with all the constant changes, as new information kept coming in.

She hadn't had a chance to get her balance and to get comfortable in her current situation. Everything was moving too quickly. Yet just knowing that he wasn't expecting her to get out within a day or two was a huge gift and one that she was damn grateful for. At least with that level of stress off her shoulders, she settled back to wait for his return.

Just as she started to relax, her phone rang. As she answered it, she winced because something told her that maybe she should have let it go to voice mail, but too late. "Hello," she answered cautiously.

"Like your present, bitch?" And then the man went off in a horrific round of laughter, and he hung up.

*

Jasper walked backinto the living room, glad that he at least had some news to tell her, and then he saw the look on her face. "What's the matter?" he asked, racing toward her.

She took a deep breath. "I made the mistake of answering a call on my phone," she said frantically.

"What did they say?" Jasper asked.

"They said, ‘Like your present, bitch?'"

He took the phone from her numb fingers and jotted down the last phone number. "It's not blocked," he murmured, "so it'll be an unregistered number." She frowned, almost in disbelief. He shook his head. "Not your problem. Don't you worry about it."

"That's a good thing because I have no idea what I would even do with that information."

He quickly sent off the phone number to be tracked but expected it to likely be a dead end or somebody else's phone or something else.

He got a return call within minutes. "That was Dr. Charles's phone number at his home," Evan declared, with a snap in his tone.

Jasper shook his head. "I just heard from the two officers who went to his house. They stated he was fine, and he would be willing to answer a few questions."

"I don't like the sound of that at all," Evan replied, "but I'm tied up at the hospital."

"Not a problem. I've got somebody else I can send." He quickly hung up and phoned Masters. "I haven't had a reason to pull you further into this, but I could sure use you now."

"What do you need?" Masters asked easily.

Jasper explained the situation about the doctor and the phone call that just came through from his home phone.

"Ah, shit, so you think he's a hostage?"

"I don't know, but check it out, then give me a heads-up as to what we're looking at or if he's got somebody hiding in his house?"

"Which we won't know because, the minute I go up to the front door to check on him—"

"I know. I need a backup plan, but I don't want to move Amber, who's already been attacked. You also don't know the update on what already has happened." Jasper quickly explained about the body dumped outside his home.

When the whistle came through the phone, Masters added, "You've got shit happening, don't you?"

"I do," Jasper confirmed, with a light chuckle.

"What about the rest of your investigators?"

"I haven't been able to reach Sam, and Morgan is at the morgue right now with our most recent dead body. I don't want to send him on a wild goose chase if that's what this is. Not sure about Lichen. I think the other guys mentioned Lichen was due for three weeks of leave. As far as I'm concerned, better he's gone right now."

"I don't think anything is a wild goose chase," Masters noted casually, "and I'm already on my way over to the doc's place."

"Good enough. I'm hoping it's nothing, but—"

"Yeah, I'll give you a report in about twenty minutes," Masters said, before he disconnected.

As Jasper turned, Amber was staring at him.

"What was that?" she asked.

"The phone number your caller used returned as Dr. Charles's home office."

She stared at him. "So, that's even more reason to be worried."

"Yet it shouldn't be because I had confirmation from two officers that they had just spoken to him at the front door, and everything appeared to be fine."

"Then this guy called." She shook her phone and stared at Jasper.

"I know," he replied, putting a hand on hers to calm her down. "I know. So, now I have somebody else heading over there to see what the true situation is."

She swallowed. "Dr. Charles is a good man."

"I'm glad to hear that, and we'll find out very soon, so not to worry."

"Finding out is one thing," she noted, "but finding out before something ugly happens is a whole different story."

"We'll get there."

"I know Dr. Charles. I know him quite well," she repeated, as she looked around. "Take me to his house to speak with him."

"What good would that do?" Jasper asked.

"I don't know. Yet I feel l should be there for him." Just then her phone rang again. She stared down at the number and whispered, "I think this is the same number." He looked at it and nodded, urging her to answer it again. She leaned in close to Jasper, so he could hear their conversation. "What do you want?" she cried out.

"I want to take out a couple birds with one stone," he replied. "So I could use you over at the good doctor's place, and it would be a lie to say he is fine. The man is not doing very well at all. In fact, he might need some medical attention." In the background, she heard some moaning.

She twisted to look up at Jasper in horror. "I'm on my way. Of course I would be a lot more mobile if you hadn't tried to run me down."

An ugly silence came on the other end of the phone. "You're too damn smart for your own good, bitch. You know that, right? Get over here in the next ten minutes, or I'll pop this guy, and, this time, nobody'll fix him." And, with that, he hung up.

"You're not going anywhere," Jasper growled, his tone firm as he glared at her. His mind was already racing to figure out how to get her to stay here and maybe have a policewoman fill in.

She shook her head. "None of the conniving going around in your brain right now will work," she declared. "We're on the clock. We only have ten minutes to get there, less than ten minutes now. I won't leave Dr. Charles in his hour of need." She was already heading to the front door. "You can either take me and maybe it will help, or maybe it won't. Or you can stay here and run things from the background." He swore out loud, and she shrugged. "I could just sit around here too, but I would much rather get to work."

He gave a bitter laugh. "You know how this will end."

"It'll end with us capturing this asshole," she stated, "and then maybe we can focus on getting Mason's shooter taken care of. That's what this is all about. So, yes, we must do whatever we need to in order to make this happen, but let's do everything we can to deal with Dr. Charles, with what we've got in front of us too."

He shook his head. "I don't like the idea of your leaving Fort Knox."

"Fort Knox is great if you live in it forever," she pointed out, with a clipped nod. "But the reality is, we live in this world. And it just called me out of Fort Knox. So, one way or another, I will answer that call."

*

Amber knew she'dupset Jasper, but nothing else could be done. She would not sit back and let a good man die because she hadn't been willing to step outside. She was the one who had started this by taking a video of the now-dead man talking to Dr. Charles, so she would have to be the one who dealt with it. As she made her way to the garage, she realized she didn't have any wheels. Closing her eyes, she stiffened her spine, then turned and said, "Please, Jasper." She could almost see the wheels turning in the back of his head.

He finally nodded. "Let's go." He led her to his vehicle. He helped her into the passenger seat, then walked around to the driver's side. "Just for the record," he stated, as he got in, slamming the door a little harder than necessary, "I don't agree with this."

"Objection duly noted," she murmured. "And, just for the record, it doesn't change anything. He's a good doctor, and I couldn't live with myself if I hadn't done what I could to try and help right now."

He shook his head. "We don't even know if he's still alive."

"No, we don't," she admitted, "but, if he is,… I am a nurse and know what to do to try and help him. On the other hand, if this guy sees you, he's likely to shoot you right between the eyes, and you'll be of no help to anyone."

He shook his head. "And he won't do that to you?"

She frowned, then shrugged. "It's a possibility. I get that. I don't want to think about it, but I'm not stupid either. It's possible."

"It's not only possible, it's quite likely that his intention is to eliminate anybody who had contact with the man from the ER, our dead John Doe," he stated. "And that includes you."

"Yes, but maybe, if I can check on the doctor,… maybe I can find a way to extend this long enough for you to take him out," she suggested. "You'll have to be smart about it, or he'll take one look at you and shoot first, ask questions later. I'm an ER nurse. I know all too well that people don't keep walking when they've got bullet holes in their brain."

He gave her a faint smile. "You're right. They usually don't," he agreed, "but the gunman will still have to hit me first, and I don't kill easily." And, with that, he drove to the doctor's home, done in silence, at least on her part. Jasper, on the other hand, barked out a steady stream of orders to various people over the phone, while driving fast to meet their deadline.

As soon as they got to the doctor's house, she looked at it and sighed. "Did you have to park in full view?"

"Absolutely. I'm done hiding from this asshole. So whatever he's got to say, whatever it is he thinks he'll do, he needs to do it."

"You realize that'll mean a bullet hole, right? He'll take one look at you and start shooting."

"We've already discussed that point, but, in a very short order, he'll decide that you're trouble, and he'll take you out too."

Amber shuddered at the possibility. "Let's go see if we can both avoid getting shot, help Dr. Charles, and get this done."

With that, Jasper shut off the engine, hopped out, and came around to her side, where he opened the door.

"You could have just let me out," she noted. "You could literally just let me walk to the door, and he wouldn't know that you are anything other than a ride."

"He's undoubtedly already expecting me too, for no other reason than he dropped the dead guy outside my house, probably knowing that ahead of time."

She winced, realizing he was right.

"Let's go," Jasper stated.

"Is it just the two of us?"

"No, I already contacted Masters, and he's on his way too."

"And yet he's not part of the original team."

He gave her a flat look, then smiled ferociously. "Now how do you know that?"

"What? I don't know this? I can't know this?"

"How do you know I didn't get to bring in a few men on this case?"

She sighed. "If you weren't so damn secretive, people would have a much better idea about how you guys operate."

"They might. Absolutely they might," he agreed, "but being secretive is what has kept me alive this far, so I'm not likely to change it now." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, as they walked up to the door. "Come on. Let's go face the music, even if it's the funeral march."

*

Tesla stared atMarkus in shock. "They did what?" she asked, her voice rising to a high-pitched squeak.

Markus nodded, his face grim. "Yeah, and that's where we're at right now, still waiting for an update."

She looked over at Mason, then back at Markus. "Good God, what is going on?"

"That's what we'll sort out, and we don't have any idea whether the doctor is alive or dead."

"But he performed a miracle to keep Mason alive," she whispered, her heart breaking. "It's not fair that somebody would target him, not for doing a brilliant job."

"Maybe too brilliant, as far as these people are concerned. If assassination of Mason was the end goal, nobody will be happy with the surgeon who pulled out all the stops to keep Mason alive."

She nodded but found it hard to imagine that somebody would willfully do such a thing. "So, they're going in?" she asked, feeling faint at the thought.

"Yes," he confirmed, his tone grim. "We do have a team moving into place around the house, but…"

"But what?" she asked.

Markus sighed. "The nurse, Amber, is involved, just because she is kind and is worried about the doctor. Then the doctor is involved, literally because he was doing his job and did a phenomenal job saving Mason. And now… Jasper is there too."

Tesla closed her eyes at that thought. She could not bear the thought of losing Jasper. They'd become so close over the years. He was more like a brother than a cousin to her. Maybe a brother she had lost a long time ago, but Jasper had been there for her, and she couldn't bear not being there for him now.

She opened her eyes, her resolve returning, as she squared her shoulders and gave Markus a hard look. "What can I do?"

He shook his head. "You? Nothing." She frowned at him, and he smiled. "The warrior is on it," he stated.

"But the warrior," she replied, her eyebrow arched, "hasn't solved it yet. There are moving pieces still, so what can I do?"

He hesitated. "You looked at all the relevant videos. We've ID'd the dead guy, some local gun for hire," he began. "Amber pointed out Dr. Charles partially in the video, talking with our dead guy. So we are now working hard to figure out who else is involved, whether with the Amber angle and her video or directly with Mason. The general attitude is that the two must be connected, simply by that video she took. It's too bizarre to have two major issues like this and not find a link."

She tilted her head. "I would agree with that.… I can start running down more of this information. I was doing some of it, though not very much. I didn't have access to the details I needed and never got set up the way I should have. I intended to discuss it with Jasper and never should have let up on that."

"Let up on what?" Markus asked in astonishment. "It wasn't your job. We were just to keep you calm and the baby safe."

"The baby is safe," Tesla declared in a determined tone. "Never doubt that."

"Oh, I don't doubt it," he said, with a wry look in her direction. "That doesn't mean we need Mom running around and getting stressed out herself."

She smiled. "This baby is part of me. She'll be tough, just like me."

"She?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"Feels like a she," she admitted. "I hope it's a she." She glanced back over at Mason. "Mason hopes it's a girl too, but, as long as it's a healthy baby, it won't matter. Even if it's not healthy, obviously our hearts would break for anything other than the perfectly healthy child we're hoping for, but we will love him or her, no matter what."

He nodded. "I wouldn't expect anything else."

"So keep me busy, so I'm not dwelling on the negatives here."

Markus sighed. "If you want to run the data we've gathered so far—looking for crossovers, for connections, for other known allies—you could do that. Nobody can analyze data better than you."

"I'm on it," she replied, as she looked around and frowned at him. "Can you get me set up with a small table?"

"For?"

"I can't use a lap table effectively," she noted, patting her large belly with a smile. "And an office chair. I want it set up in the corner over here. I've got my laptop, and I will get on this." She determinedly got up and started moving her bags around the floor.

"Wait," he muttered, holding up a hand.

"No, go now."

He hesitated, but she shook her head. "Not the time to argue, Markus. Even when I do get information for you, there is no guarantee it will be helpful or even timely. All I can do is start cross-referencing data to find who all might have been able and available to do something about this, and who might want to," she explained. "Everything else is more or less intangible."

He took a moment, then nodded. "Fine. I'll get you set up, but I need you to take care of yourself."

"I will. I promise. If Mason wakes up, he'll need—"

"If Mason wakes up?"

"No." She shook her head. "When Mason wakes up, he will need me, but, in the meantime, we must get whoever it is who's intent on killing him." She looked up to see Evan step inside, sighing at the sight of her moving her cot. She rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me that you've been dragged into this again too."

"No," he countered, one eyebrow raised. "It's our honor to be here and to be a part of this."

Instantly she felt tears gathering in the back of her eyes, and she nodded. "I'm sorry. I'm just a little stressed."

His boyish grin flashed. "I would expect nothing else, considering the stressful situation you're in," he noted, with a nod. "We're on it. Though it might not look as if we're getting very far, we are making progress."

"I'll help more too," she murmured, "by setting up a proper workstation." She then looked over at Markus. "Why are you still here?"