Chapter 16
Three weeks later, Raymond looked up from brushing down the horse he had been working on when a vehicle pulled up. He saw it was Kevin’s, and since he was done with the horse, he put him back into his stall, making sure the animal had plenty of hay and water, and went outside.
“What’s up?” Raymond asked as he wiped his hands on a rag he always carried in his back pocket. He loved that a couple of the horses liked to steal it from him, and he kept it there to entertain them. He’s also had to play hide and seek with the horse and his rag, it was fun, and broke up the day.
“Can you come over to the security shack?”
“Sure, when do you need me?”
“Now.”
“Okay, can you give me a heads up? I’m going to have to walk to my cabin to get my truck.”
“I’ll drive you there, and I think you should walk in cold.”
“Okay,” Raymond said, and looked over at Shay as he came back from the track with another horse. “I have to go up to the security shack.”
“Okay, let me know if you need anything.” He looked at Kevin, then back at Raymond. “Or if you need me.”
“Will do,” Raymond said with a nod, and climbed into the front seat of Kevin’s truck.
It didn’t take long for them to get to his cabin, and he had to go inside to get his keys, surprised Kevin had waited for him.
When he arrived at the security shack that Yvonne and Kevin shared, there were six unfamiliar vehicles there.
Raymond had a shocked expression on his face, but Kevin shook his head.
“No clue, they arrived and asked to speak with you. They refused to say anything until you were here.”
“Did you contact anyone else? One of ours?”
“I called Jason when I came for you.” They looked up when a vehicle drove slowly down the drive, parked, and Jason Black exited.
“What’s going on?”
“No clue,” Kevin said, and repeated what he had told Raymond.
“Let’s find out who they are, and what they want,” Raymond said as he started forward, flanked by Kevin and Jason. He walked in and the eight people standing around looked up, and Raymond thought he saw relief on their faces.
“Gentlemen, I’m Raymond Morris, what is this all about? What do you need with me?”
“Who are you?” one of the men asked as he pointed to Jason.
“Jason Black, Raymond’s attorney.”
“He doesn’t need one,” the same man said, he seemed to be the spokesman for the group. “I’m sorry if this is confusing, but…” he paused and reached inside his pocket, but Yvonne and Kevin put their hands on their guns.
“Easy there,” Yvonne said.
“Sorry, I’m getting my ID.” At her nod, he reached inside his jacket pocket, and withdrew a slim black wallet. He passed it to Raymond. “I’m Detective Brant Willis, I’m with the Colorado Springs police department, and I’m in charge of a new investigation.”
“Okay, but what does that have to do with me?”
“Let me introduce everyone else here. My partner, then we have the administrator from Colorado Springs Memorial General Hospital.”
“Fuck me,” Raymond said, and looked at Jason, who also sighed. No other introductions were made. “Is this about Reuben Perkins and Alexander Ervin?”
“Yes, I take you know about them?”
“I do, what did they do now?”
“I’m Harold Tallman,” the hospital administrator said.
“In the last month, there has been some suspicious deaths, injuries, and billing matters. After the fourth suspicious death, Nurse Betty Laurel come to me and explained about you and Dr. Amelia Johnson. I know Dr. Johnson has nothing to do with what’s been happening, and I brought in the hospital’s lawyers to see what we can do.
They recommended that we go to the police with what we had. ”
“What do you have?”
“Files of the patients that died, or was egregiously injured.”
“How egregiously?”
“Two patients had to have a limb amputated from an alleged botched surgery, there were four deaths, and both Perkins and Ervin are billing their clients three times what our fees are, and if the bill isn’t paid in full within thirty days, they are sending muscle after them.”
“Really? Are these goons harming them?”
“In two instances, yes. After talking with Ms. Laurel, we talked with Mr. Tallman, and before we go any further, we thought it would be best to come out here and talk to you. It’s my understanding that you have some previous files of Dr. Perkins?”
“Yes, and I’m going on record right now that they were obtained illegally.” He then proceeded to tell them how Amelia had gotten them.
“Wait,” one of the lawyers said. “I’m Fred Kleen, you’re telling me that the information you obtained was given to you by Dr. Johnson?”
“Yes.”
“Are you also stating that those files were in her office at the clinic? They weren’t under lock or key?”
“No lock and key, according to Amelia, Perkins dumped boxes of his stuff in her office, because he was taking over that space after she left, and demanded that she empty the boxes and put the files away.”
“Did she do that?”
“Not all of them. I do know she mentioned something about putting things on the empty shelves. Why?”
“Because if you want to split hairs, they were in her office, so technically, they were hers to do as she wished. Do you know where these files are now?”
“The physical files were left in her previous office at the clinic. I printed copies of what she copied from those boxes. They are currently at my cabin, but, before we go any further, you’re going to want to talk to Shay Hall.” He told them why, and the lawyers and police were writing furiously.
“Do you know where this Mr. Hall is now?”
“Out at the race track. He lives and works here.”
“Yeah, we’re going to want to talk to him.”
Before they could say anything else, a phone went off, and Yvonne picked up her cell and scowled at the number.
She excused herself and stepped outside.
Five minutes later she was back, and with a determined look and walk, she went to her office, and returned in minutes with a small stack of papers.
“Gentlemen, I don’t know where to start, but you need to know this.
” She laid the papers on the counter, and turned to them.
“Kevin and I are security guards for this ranch, eventually one of us will be moving over to another ranch, while the other one stays here. We’re doing background checks on potential horse buyers, trainers, and jockeys.
We also do background checks on others when needed.
” She looked around and saw that she had everyone’s attention.
“A few weeks ago, as a matter of fact, it was on Dr. Johnson’s last day at the clinic, she told us that Dr. Ervin showed up at her office at eight in the morning with someone from HR to do an exit interview.
She told Ervin to get out of her office because she was his superior, and she had already had an appointment with HR.
She snapped the photo of the woman Ervin had with him. ”
“Also,” Raymond said as he remembered. “That same woman was a nurse in the clinic when Shay went to his appointment. According to Shay, she never did what a nurse usually does.”
“What does that mean?” Tallman asked.
“She didn’t take his weight, or any of his vitals, just led him to a room, and told him to sit on the exam table. The nurse who was forced to be a receptionist was told to tell everyone that the name of that woman was Nurse Betty Laurel. We have it on record if you want to view it.”
“Wow,” one of the lawyers said before he looked at Yvonne. “What are these papers, they seem like they might be important.”
“They may be. As I mentioned earlier, Kevin and I do background checks, but we also ask another agency to help us. We weren’t able to get any information from the photo of the woman Ervin said was from HR.
I reached out to a friend of mine from the Brotherhood Protectors, and he just called me.
He also sent me a fax of the information he found on her.
” She waited for three seconds before picking up the papers and started passing them out.
“According to Hank Patterson from Brotherhood Protectors, the woman Ervin said was from HR is Zoe Comfrey.”
“What else?” Brant Willis asked.
“Like I said, according to Patterson, Zoe Comfrey is currently dating Ervin, however, there is a missing person’s report out on her from New Mexico.
” She shook her head and looked down at the paper.
“A doctor filling in at a psychiatric ward at a hospital in that state took a special interest in Zoe. Two weeks after he left to come to Colorado, Zoe was reported missing. According to Patterson, Ervin convinced everyone that she was healthy and could be released. He signed her release papers, and then she disappeared.”
“What else?” Raymond asked.
“She was in that ward because she was sentenced for murder and had to be sent to the mental ward for her incarceration, thereafter and I don’t want to use this word, but she went crazy when she killed her boyfriend.”
“Christ on a cracker,” Willis said. “Will you be willing to give me the contact information for this Patterson?”
“Yes, and just a little background on him,” Kevin spoke then. “He’s a former SEAL, and Brotherhood Protectors is his brainchild. He has offices in Montana, here in Fool’s Gold, in Yellowstone, down in the Bayou, and over in Hawaii.”
“Damn, so he knows his shit.”
“Yes, and his business is protecting people, as well as doing background checks for others, like we do.”
“Okay,” he said with a sigh, then looked at Raymond. “Do you still have the files with you?”
“Yes, I have copies of the physical files, and I backed them up on the cloud, along with flash drives.”
“May I ask a question?” Jason spoke.
“What’s that?”
“You said that there were deaths and injuries. How many deaths?”
“Four.”
“How did they die?”