Code blue, p.13
Code Blue, page 13
Myra Regan. Sixty-four. Currently lives in Concord, New Hampshire. Divorced from Gerald Regan, now deceased. Net worth three million dollars she inherited from her father, Joseph Hutchins. No children or siblings.
Annie Dresden. Sixty-two. Currently lives in Newark, Delaware. Single. Never married. Net worth five million dollars she received from a lawsuit she filed against a large chemical company for stealing her formula; signed under a sealed document due to trademark infringement. Also, no siblings.
Both are college graduates. Annie went to William and Mary. Myra went to Dartmouth.
Both have a FB page that is private. Not much activity on Instagram. Myra, you have some food photos, Annie, you have a lot of cats.
“Perfect. And thank you for making me younger than Myra.” Annie chuckled. Myra gave her an elbow.
Everyone agreed it would be suspicious if Yoko and Izzie were from the same place. That was easily taken care of by Fergus, who produced a Pennsylvania driver’s license for Izzie. Yoko’s was from Florida.
Charles continued explaining their assignments: “Izzie, you are to report to Mrs. Edith Clayton in the admin office. If she questions you, show her the emails, but by now she should have received one informing her that you are a new hire and will be reporting the day after tomorrow.
“Yoko. You are now in charge of landscaping in Florida. You are to report to Ivan Zhukov at the facilities building.
“Kathryn, orderly in Arizona. Reporting to Nurse Ratched.” Charles snickered. “Sorry, Janet Turner.”
“We should stop referring to her as Nurse Ratched,” Myra advised. “Although from what I’ve gathered, it’s apropos.”
“What’s the timeline?” Annie asked as she began to jot down the information.
“You and Myra will fill out the application forms as soon as we’re finished here,” Fergus instructed. “I don’t imagine they will be long in contacting you. Once they interview you over the phone, then the two of you can schedule your trips. Meanwhile, Izzie and Yoko should plan on leaving as soon as possible.”
“I’ll book you two on a commercial flight. Tomorrow morning okay with you?”
“I’m ready,” Izzie answered.
“Me also.” Yoko concurred.
“Good. I’ll send you the details as soon as I book it, and your hotel and vehicles.” Annie nodded. “Maggie is staying at a Suite Inn. I’ll get two more on the same floor if available. Kathryn, you’ll head down to Arizona.” Annie jotted down a few more notes. “How soon can you get there?”
“I’m already fueled and ready to go,” Kathryn replied. “Shouldn’t take more than eight hours. I can be there tonight and can meet up with Maggie.”
“Perfect,” Myra said. “Everybody good with this?”
“Whatever it takes!” came their battle cry.
Pensacola Hospital
Maggie arrived at exactly ten. She signed in again as Jeremy’s cousin. When she arrived, Clara was at the nurse’s station. “Good morning. Nice to see you again.”
“Good morning to you, too!” Maggie grinned. “How is my cousin doing today?”
“Seems to be coming along. They took the stitches out of his head earlier, but I suppose I shouldn’t be telling you that.” She leaned closer. “It’s just that he seems so lost. Sad. I hope his girlfriend comes back today. She seemed nice.”
“I haven’t met her.” Maggie made a mental note to find out about the girlfriend. She wondered who it was and if she could offer any additional information. She was going to check with Jeremy. “I better get moving if I don’t want to get thrown out of here.” Maggie moved quickly to Jeremy’s room.
“Hey. Good morning,” Maggie smiled.
“You came back.” Jeremy looked pleased.
“I said I would. Listen, they don’t give us a lot of time, so I need you to fill me in. Your girlfriend. How much does she know about the accident?”
Jeremy strained a chuckle. “She’s not really my girlfriend. We worked together. Sorta. I mean, we both worked at Sunnydale. I was the pharmacist. She’s in the administration office. We’re just friends, but it was the only way they would let her up here.”
She placed her finger on her lips, looked around to see if anyone was in view, pulled a device out of her bag, and walked the perimeter of the room. She was checking for bugs. Not the bed type, but camera and audio types. Nothing, so far. Just in case there were prying ears, Maggie whispered, “Tell me more about this morphine thing.”
Jeremy’s eyes followed her every move. She returned the device to her tote and nodded for him to continue.
“I noticed we were shorted several boxes of OxyContin, Vicodin, codeine, and morphine a few months in a row. When I called the sales rep, she blamed it on someone else. After the third time, I brought it to my boss’s attention. The next week I was out the door. Said they were automating the system.”
“That’s not a coincidence,” Maggie said softly. She had been around long enough to know when things don’t add up, or when they do.
“Yeah, ’cause when I asked Regina—that’s my pretend girlfriend—she said she didn’t know anything about automation. She works in bookkeeping, so she would know if any invoices were paid.”
Maggie bit her lip. Ever since she stopped biting her nails, her lip had been taking the brunt of her nervous tic. “Then you were run off the road,” Maggie said plainly.
“Yep. And then they said they found a vial in my car.” Jeremy shook his head. “Who is doing this?” he asked rhetorically.
“I don’t have an answer for you right now, but I can promise you, I will. Just give us some time.”
“Us?” Jeremy asked inquisitively.
“I work for enormously powerful people. If anyone can get to the bottom of this, my boss can.” Maggie knew divulging Annie’s role would not be an issue. Maggie worked for the Post, and Annie owned it. “We’re also going to find a lawyer for you, should this situation go any further.”
Jeremy’s eyes welled up. “Why are you doing this? Don’t misunderstand me. I really appreciate it, but you don’t know me from a hole in the wall.”
“We fix holes.” Maggie grinned, the gap between her front teeth on display. “You need to gather your strength. But, in the meantime, do you think Regina would be willing to talk to me?”
“I can ask. That’s if she comes back.”
“I’m sure she will.” Maggie really had no idea if she would, but once again, her gut was telling her that Regina was someone who cared about Jeremy. Maybe not as a love interest, but at least as a friend. A colleague. Maggie pulled out her business card. “Please give this to her and tell her about our cousin thing.”
Jeremy tried to laugh, but it hurt too much. “I have a fake cousin and a fake girlfriend. I hope I don’t have a fake doctor.”
Maggie was happy to see Jeremy in better spirits. “I have to fly out to Arizona later, but I’ll be back in Florida tomorrow afternoon. Are you allowed to make phone calls?”
“I don’t know. Haven’t tried. Besides, who would I call, anyway?”
“Me, for one. I’ll talk to Clara. She seems like a reasonable woman.”
“She brings me ice a few times during her shift.”
“Good. Okay, I am off for now. Sit tight. I’ll be back.” She patted the shackled hand.
“Maggie.” He gently grasped her wrist. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“I’ll think of something.” She gave him a wink and returned to the nurse’s station.
“Hey, Clara, do you think it would be alright if Jeremy could use a phone to call me? Just in case he needs something.” She lowered her voice. “Like a lawyer?”
“If I’m on duty, I’ll let him use my cell,” she said in a hushed voice.
“Thanks. I owe you.”
Maggie drove to the airport, where Annie’s jet was waiting. “Hello, Roger,” Maggie greeted the pilot. “How’s the weather looking?”
“Clear skies. We should have wheels up in about twenty minutes. Do you need anything?”
“Maybe a sandwich,” Maggie said sheepishly.
Roger, who had been Annie’s pilot for a while, was used to Maggie’s voracious appetite. He nodded and thought to himself, Where does that girl put it?
Maggie strapped herself in and pulled out her laptop. She instantly sent a message to the mainframe:
Sykes was a pharmacist at Sunnydale. Boxes of Oxy, hydrocodone codeine, and morphine were missing from shipments. Contacted the sales rep but got no real answers. Sykes told his boss and was fired almost immediately. Then came the accident and the vial at the crash site. Seems like a setup to me.
A colleague named Regina works in admin office and visited him. He thinks she is on his side. I left my contact info for him to pass on. Izzie should make friends with her. Wheels up in five. Later, gators.
The information was uploaded to their secure server, giving all the Sisters access to the information. It was the quickest way to share details in real time.
Tempe, Arizona
Maggie’s flight took off and landed without any delay. A people-mover tram brought her from the hangar to the rental agency. She laughed to herself. This is like déjà vu all over again. She quickly filled out the paperwork and drove the car to Theresa’s hotel.
Henry and Frida had asked Theresa if she wanted to join them again for some sightseeing. She wasn’t sure what to give them as her excuse. She surely didn’t know anyone. Should she tell them the truth? No. But she also didn’t want to lie. How about a headache? That was something she didn’t have to fake. Her two new pals were disappointed, but said they would check in with her later in the afternoon to see how she was feeling.
Theresa was pacing the floor, waiting for Maggie to come to her room. Theresa trusted Lizzie, but she hadn’t yet met Maggie. Everything was moving quickly. And eerily. She still couldn’t shake off the disturbing feeling she had from her late-night escapade. The knock on the door jolted her. She peered through the peephole. A thirtysomething woman with wild curly red hair smiled up at her. Theresa slowly opened the door but kept the safety chain on. “Maggie?”
Maggie automatically pulled out her press pass. “That’s me.” She continued to smile.
Theresa shut the door so she could take off the safety chain, then let Maggie in.
“Hi, Theresa,” Maggie said pleasantly. She knew how unnerving all of this had to be for the woman, who continued to pace.
“Hi. Please come in. Sit.” Theresa motioned to one of the club chairs.
“Thanks.” Once again, Maggie pulled out her laptop. “Tell me everything you remember about the accident.”
Theresa recounted the collision with as much detail as she could, which was truly little. “He came out of nowhere, sideswiped me, causing my car to hit a pole.” She pointed to the fading bruise under her eye. “Airbag deployed. When I looked up to see who it was, they were gone.”
“Do you remember if the truck came from behind?”
“Yes, it did. It was as if he was trying to overtake me on the road.”
“And there is no security footage,” Maggie stated.
“Correct,” Theresa responded. “I’m afraid that’s all I know.”
“About the accident,” Maggie said, still typing. “What about the night crawl?”
Theresa was stunned. She had no idea how much Lizzie was sharing and with whom. “Uh, well.”
“It’s okay. Lizzie and I are part of a team. I have some general information. I just need you to go over it with me to make sure we’re not leaving out any important details. Let’s start from the beginning. When you first arrived at Sunnydale.”
Theresa described her experience in great detail, from the curt phone call to the odd behavior of the staff, the mysterious woman in the wheelchair, the ring, and the questionable death of her aunt.
“Just so you know, we were not able to confirm a death certificate for your aunt. Could she have been going by another name?”
Theresa jerked her head. “I can’t imagine why. The staff had her name on the window.”
“Walk me through it one more time. About the woman in the wheelchair, mostly.”
“I think the woman in the wheelchair is, in fact, my aunt, and the woman who died is someone else.” Theresa shook her head. “Why they would lie to me or do such a thing is bizarre.” Theresa thought for a moment. “Unless I’m losing my mind.”
“I doubt it.” Maggie looked up from her keyboard. “Why would they lie to you is the real question here. There’s got to be some kind of cover-up.”
“I’ll say.” Then Theresa went into further detail about the night she and Henry and Frida crawled through the bushes and what they believed they saw. “It looked like a body, but it was too far away. Whatever it was, it was in a black bag, on a gurney, and placed into a hearse.”
“In the middle of the night.” Maggie wasn’t asking a question. She was punctuating Theresa’s story.
“According to Henry, this happens at least once a month.”
“I wonder. Do you think Henry and Frida would be willing to talk to me? Or someone else who I’m working with, to try to unravel this enigma?”
“There are more of you?” Theresa’s eyes got wider.
“Let’s just say we have many resources. In a day or so, there will be another new resident at Sunnydale. Her name is Annie Dresden. She is close friends with Lizzie.”
“I don’t understand,” Theresa said.
“I don’t expect you to, not just yet, but just know that Lizzie and our team are peeling the onion.”
“Okay. Does that mean I have to stay on a little longer? Lizzie said for me to sit tight, but of course I didn’t, and here we are.”
“If you can, it would be helpful. You seem to have an ‘in’ with two residents, and you are familiar with the lay of the land.”
“That’s for sure. I was crawling on it,” she said nervously.
Maggie could sense Theresa’s trepidation. “To reiterate Lizzie’s advice, sit tight and wait to hear from Annie. Go about your business. See the sights.”
“If the heat lets up. How do people live here?”
“It is a bit crispy, isn’t it?” Maggie had to agree. Florida was humid. Arizona was crispy. “Do you have your cell handy?”
“Yes.” Theresa got up and unplugged the phone that was being charged.
Maggie gave her a phone number. “Call this if you find yourself in any danger or need some help.” It was the emergency line that everyone had access to. If you dialed it, the mainframe would automatically track the location of the origin of the call. “It’s kind of like our own private nine-one-one.”
Theresa was intrigued. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Is there anything else you can think of?” Maggie checked the time. “I have to get over to the police station. I want to see if they can give me any other details of your accident. I’m doing a story about the rise in hit-and-run accidents.” She raised her eyebrows. “Try to relax. Someone will be in touch soon.”
Theresa felt a sense of relief. She was not alone in this quagmire. Lizzie was on top of it, just like Theresa had hoped.
Maggie got into her flaming hot vehicle, started the engine, and rolled the windows down. The police station was eleven miles away. She figured the car would be cool by the time she got there and chuckled to herself. How do people live here?
When she arrived at the police station, she identified herself, showed her credentials, and stated her reason for visiting. “I’m doing a story about hit-and-run accidents. I understand there was one on the Sunnydale premises a few days ago.” She held up her press pass in front of the plexiglass window.
“Oh?” the front desk officer asked curiously.
“Yes. A woman named Theresa Gallagher was hit by a dump truck as she was leaving the long-term care facility.”
“Oh, yeah. I was entering the information into the system earlier this morning. How can I help you?”
“Would it be possible for me to take a look at the accident report? It’s important that I have the facts to back up my story.”
“Sure. I don’t see why not.”
At least she wasn’t getting stonewalled like in Florida, she thought to herself.
“Come on back.” The officer pressed a button to release the security door. “I’ll print out a copy for you.”
Maggie walked through the metal detector. She was surprised at how accommodating the officer was. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
The officer typed a few sentences and then hit the print button. A whirring sound emanated from a large printer. He walked over and pulled out the two sheets of paper. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” Maggie looked down at the bare bones report. “No one has come forward with any information?”
“Not to my knowledge. I’m the one who gets to do the transcript input.”
Maggie reached into her bag and pulled out a business card. “If you get any updates, can you please give me a call? I’d be most appreciative, and I’ll be sure to mention the cooperation of the Tempe Police Department.”
“Sure thing.” He tapped the card in his palm, then tossed it in the garbage can as soon as Maggie was out the door.
Another officer entered the room. “What was that all about?”
“A reporter from Washington, D.C. Says she’s working on a story about hit-and-run accidents across the country. Wanted to know about the Sunnydale thing.”
“I hope you didn’t give her the real report.”
“Nah. Just the same one you gave Gallagher for the car rental agency.”
“Good. We don’t want to get anyone at Sunnydale in an uproar. They donate a lot of money to our PBA.”
“Sir? There really wasn’t much of a difference in the two reports.”
“I know, but the one you gave her does not mention failed security on Sunnydale’s part.”
“But that doesn’t mean they broke the law.”
“True, but we don’t want there to be any reason for anyone to want to investigate this further. They told us there was no footage because of an upgrade, and we took their word for it. End of story. Got it?”
