Vengeance (Oak Grove Suspense Book 1) (17 page)

I nod. “I understand. I’m safe at the hospital. There’s always officers on duty there. Just tell them what’s going on.”

“I will. But you won’t be at the hospital all the time. I want Jonathan to drive you.”

I huff. Standing up, I lean over and grab my cellphone. “I don’t want a chauffeur. I can drive myself.” I storm out of the room.

Dylan and Faith are still sitting on the couch in the den. I sit down on the ottoman in front of them. “I need to go to work.”

“You and Dad are fighting?” He looks heartbroken.

I shake my head. “We’re fine. We just don’t agree. It happens. I’m sure you and Faith won’t always agree on everything. Don’t worry about it. Okay? I’ll be home in a few hours. I just need to make up some hours and do some paper work. If you need me, call; I’ll keep my cell on. If I have a surgery, I’ll give it to someone to answer.”

“I’ll be fine. Faith will be here until eight and Dad said I can go over to his house after she leaves.”

“Okay. Thank you, Faith, for taking care of him today.”

She smiles at me. “No problem, Dr. Thorn. I didn’t mind at all.” She’s sweet. They seem good together and, though I hate to admit it, they do remind me a lot of Ryan and me.

“I’ll see you guys later.” I kiss my son’s head and then head out to my car. Jonathan is leaning against the open garage frame. I roll my eyes and whip open my door, jump in, and back out of the driveway, ignoring Ryan as he tries to flag me down. I just catch Jonathan jumping into his car as I reach the stop sign down from my house. I'm not trying to be difficult, but I'm not having a chauffeur.

Once I’m in my office, I feel like I can breathe; I feel in control again. I start doing paperwork. I’m behind from everything that’s been happening in the past week, it’ll take me hours to get caught up. I’m totally engrossed in my dictation when a loud knock on my door startles me. I’m half expecting it to be Ryan, but it’s not. It’s Trevor.

“Dr. Thorn,” he greets me.

“Dr. Daniels, what can I do for you?”

He smiles and moves aside to reveal a student. I inwardly groan. “I didn't know you’d be in today, but since you are, I’d like for you to take Amelia here under your wing for the day.”

“I’d love to, but I’m only getting caught up on my dictation and paper work today.”

He smiles again. “Actually, I need you on the floor. Dr. Gwinn had an out of state family emergency, so we’ll need to double up on our shifts for a while. I emailed you your new schedule.”

I’m instantly annoyed. “Oh, okay. Well, let me finish up the one I’m working on and I’ll be out.”

He nods, leaving Amelia standing in my doorway. “Is he always so clipped?” she asks as I motion for her to have a seat.

I laugh. “For the most part, yes. I’m actually at a stopping point with my dictation, but I don’t want him to think I’m jumping to do his bidding.”

Amelia smiles. “I think we’ll get along great.”

I grin, thinking the same thing. We’ve not said more than a few words, but I can tell she’ll click with me. My phone vibrates on my desk. Looking down, I sigh as I see its Ryan.

“If you need to get that I can wait in the doctor’s lounge.”

I shake my head. “Nah, it’s just a text.”

Ryan: Sorry. Can I please pick you up?

Me: Yes

Ryan: Love you

Me: Love you. I’ll be done at eight.

“Come on, I’ll show you around.”

It doesn’t take me long to show her everything. She’s a very bright girl, and seems to really know her way around the hospital already. We end our tour back at the OR nurses station. Julie hands me a few files on the patients I’m taking over for Dr. Gwinn, but I’ll have to look them over later as it looks like I’ll be assisting Trevor with a surgery in just a few minutes, much to my chagrin. I quickly read over the surgery patient’s chart and point out a few of the notes to Amelia. I’m wrapping up my conversation with her as Trevor enters the O.R.

“Time to scrub up, ladies,” he says, smiling. It’s odd to see him so happy. He’s normally creepy when he smiles, but today he’s genuinely nice. If he was like this every day, I might be able to consider him a friend. He’s already at the sink scrubbing up by the time Amelia and I get in there. She has already learned how to do this, but I make sure she doesn't miss a step.

“How’s Dylan?” Trevor asks.

“He’s good. He might be milking his injury a bit. His girlfriend has been at the house most of the day.”

Trevor laughs and again it doesn’t look or sound creepy, it makes me suspicious, but I shrug it off. I’ll take him like this any day over the creepy lurker he’s been since I started working here. 

“If you have a pretty girl around, things are always better. Let me know if he needs anything. I’ll do whatever I can.”

He’s so genuine it makes me smile. “Thank you, Trevor. That’s really … nice of you. I’ll let you know.”

“You do that.” He winks.

The surgery doesn’t take long and Trevor isn’t as demanding or flat out mean to the staff as he usually is. He actually thanks one of the nurses for anticipating his need. Maybe he has a girlfriend. Poor girl. I don’t know what it is, but I’m thankful for it today. After we are finished, I head to my locker to change into clean scrubs. As I get closer to my locker, I notice a small piece of paper sticking out from the locker’s vent. I grin, knowing Ryan must have stopped by while I was in surgery. I feel badly for having acted so immature about the whole guard thing; I'll apologize when I see him. I know he only wants to keep me safe. As I open the note, a small origami figure falls to the ground.

To show you my affection, I've given you a gift. It's so magical, just like you and me.

I gasp, staring at the figure lying unassumingly on the ground. I look around quickly but see no one. I quickly grab my things, the letter and the origami figure, and run from the hospital to my car. I don't even bother going back to my office to lock up. I have to get home. I don't see Jonathan as I exit. I'm about to pull out my cellphone to call Ryan, when I see a man standing at the back of my car. I turn to run, but he calls my name making me stop.

“Where are you going?” I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Babe?” Ryan says, his footsteps coming closer. “Hey, what's wrong?” he asks, turning me to face him. Wiping my eyes, he asks, “What happened? Are you hurt?”

I shake my head, and hold out the note and the now squished origami. I can see the panic on his face when he looks back at me.

“I thought it was from you. I thought all of them were from you.”

“All of what? You've gotten other origami figures?”

Shaking my head I answer, “No, love notes. The others are in my office.”

He grabs my hand and pulls me back into the hospital. When we reach my office, he makes me stand outside the door as he checks it over to make sure no one is in there and then comes back to get me. He grabs my hand and leads me inside with a hard expression on his face.

“Where are they?” he asks.

“In my right hand bottom drawer. There's a box.”

He yanks the drawer open and pulls out the little decorative box I'd stowed the notes in. He opens it, snatching the notes out. He quickly reads through them. His face grows angry the more he reads.

“Why didn't you say anything?” he asks, barely containing his temper.

“I thought they were from you. Then with everything happening, I forgot. I was only thinking about Dylan and his safety, not about a note I thought was from you.”

His face softens, but I can tell he's still upset. “Let's get back to my house. I need to show this to the guys and try to pull up the hospital CCTV cameras.”

“They have them in the locker room?” I'm horrified at the thought.

“No, but in the hallways. We'll find who did this, Shay.” He squeezes my hand.

“I know you will. Did you go to your mom's tonight?”

“No, everyone came to my house instead. I wanted to be able to keep an eye on everything. I saved you a plate.”

“Thanks.”

Our drive to the house is silent. I feel like I should say so much, but I don't know what to say at the same time. All of this is just so confusing.

“Sit tight. I'll get your door,” Ryan says as he parks the car in his driveway. I appease him.

He opens the door and leans in to kiss me. “Everything will be okay.”

I just nod. I'm tired, stunned, and just confused. I'd like to go home and take a hot bath, but I don't think that will be happening anytime soon. He leads me inside his house and into what he considers command central. It looks like they've acquired even more equipment since I was in here a few hours ago. He walks over to the dining room table where Marsh sits and throws the note and origami creature at him.

“Is this him?”

Marsh looks a little taken aback. He picks up the note, scans it quickly and then turns the origami around in his fingers. “This isn't a fox.”

“I know, but its close enough.”

Marsh sets it down and picks up an expensive camera. It looks like the kind a medical examiner would use at a crime scene. He takes a photo of the note, origami, and then opens the origami to examine the inside of it.

“If it's not a fox, what is it?” I ask because it looks like a fox to me.

“It’s a jackal.”

Marsh types on his computer and pulls up a photo of a jackal and a fox side by side. The jackal is sleeker with larger ears, and a little taller than the fox. It has more of a wild dog quality. The fox has a shorter face and ears, and its coat is much fluffier with a different color than the jackal. However, when made of folded paper they do look very similar. Marsh brings out the fox that Ryan received to compare it to. The differences are very clear.

“So it's not The Fox?” I ask.

Marsh shakes his head. “I'm not totally convinced it's not, but I'm also not going to rule out that it’s just a coincidence. That perhaps your admirer thought you'd like this.”

“How are you going to sit there and say this isn't Mathis? I don't care if it's a fox or a jackal. He's toying with us. He wants to throw us off!” Ryan yells. 

“I'm not saying you're wrong, Ry. I'm just saying we can't rule anything out. We have to look at this as any other case. What would you do?” He turns it back to Ryan, making him think objectively.

“Fine. If this were any other case, then I wouldn't rule out the possibility that she has an admirer that has nothing to do with this and just thought she might like it, but these notes … Marsh, these notes are so pointed. If you really read them, look for a meaning. Someone is out to get her and it’s not by winning her heart.”

One of the guys, whose name I think is Riley Peters, asks, “Where are the other notes?”

Ryan starts to hand them over. Marsh snatches them before Riley can get them. He proceeds to photograph them and then puts each one in a clear plastic evidence bag. He then hands them to Riley who reads them and passes them to the next person.

“We’ll send them out in the morning. See if there are any print remnants on them,” Marsh says to everyone.

“I agree with Ryan on this,” Jonathan inserts. “This really seems linked to the case. I think, if it's not Mathis, it's someone close to him. He knew sending this jackal would get to you, Ryan, and if he didn't know already, he certainly knows now that it has an effect on Shayla too.”

“Did you notice anyone watching me or anything suspicious?” I ask.

“No, but we'll be going over all the feeds tonight. We'll find him if there's something to find.”

“Anything?” Ryan asks Marsh who has been unfolding the jackal.

“I don't see anything but I'll send it off as well,” he responds. “I'd also like to run Shayla's DNA against the hair we found in Mathis' cell.”

Ryan pales. “You think it could be Shayla's? I didn't think of that. We should run Dylan's too. Just in case. It'll be good to have them on file regardless.” Marsh nods in agreement, but I'm completely lost.

“Why do you need to run my DNA?” I ask.

Ryan runs a hand through his hair. “Remember me telling you that The Fox left an origami in his cell when he was released?” I nod. “Well, what I didn't say, because I didn't see the significance then, is that he left a hair inside.”

“But how would it have been mine? I wasn't with you then and you didn't know about Dylan.”

“That doesn't mean Mathis didn't,” Paul comments.

I look at him in disbelief. “It's impossible, only my parents knew that Dylan was Ryan's until a few months ago. Ryan had no clue either. There's no way this Fox guy could have known.”

Paul shakes his head then hands me a journal. “According to this,” he points to the book, “Mathis knew more about Ryan than he ever let on. Once he knew Jacobs was FBI, he sent his men to work. They sent him all kinds of info. Mathis left the origami for us to find in his cell. He knew we'd give it to Ryan. It heightens his game. He wants Ryan to know he's after him and will stop at nothing to get him. Correct me if I'm wrong, Ry, but even if you didn't connect with Shayla and you didn't know about Dylan, you'd still do whatever it took to save them.”

“Of course I would!” Ryan says without hesitation.