Of Theives and Scoundrels.
Author: Whit
Rating: Pg-13
Disclaimer: Medical Investigation is the property of NBC and I do not make any claim.
Feedback: Is a fine thing.
Archiving: If there is another place for Medical Investigation stories you may place this there. Tell me first.
There were eight things coursing through Natalie's mind that she was trying not to think of.
The first being that the mud in the lot at Burke and Friday's factory was not the natural brown that it should be. From what she had seen it hardly even looked like it could be mud. It was black, slimy, and had green lumps in it that she had been afraid to touch. This mud she had realized, took up most of the area where they dumped their waste and most of the back lot that wasn't used for waste storage at all. It was a frightening thing, wondering what the stuff really was.
The second was that the owner of Burke and Friday's, the son of the latter, was neither bright nor kind.
The third was that neither were the Fulton County police.
The fourth thing was that she hadn't really agreed to sneaking around John Friday's factory lot at two o'clock in the morning. In fact, she was certain that sneaking around properties and getting samples was Frank's job.
The fifth thing was that she had ten patients back at the Procter hospital suffering from high fevers and unfriendly looking skin rashes who would probably not understand why their doctor was where she was while they were dying.
The sixth thing was that her wrists really did hurt, and that she wished the Fulton County police hadn't been so..feisty, and why the hell were the seats in the back of police cars made of plastic?
The seventh thing was that she was never going on a scavenger hunt with Stephen at two o'clock in the morning again.
"We'll be taken you downtown," the officer in the front of the car told them.
If Natalie thought hard enough she was certain she could remember his name, Officer Richer. Yes, the one with the beard and the smirk who had given them a personal warning about how the town was run two days before when they arrived in Fulton. She looked over at Stephen, who was sitting beside her in the back of the car, and wasn't surprised to see his jaw clenched. They were being arrested, weren't they? Besides they weren't going downtown at all, Natalie thought smugly, the police station was north of the factory.
"I don't want to hear a fuss out of either of you," he continued, looking in the mirror at Stephen.
What was there to fuss about?
Only the ten dying patients at the hospital, the fact that the mud at Burke and Friday's wasn't mud but radioactive sludge, and the metal handcuffs that were digging into both of their wrists...and the plastic seats.
"Got that?" Officer Richer added as a second thought.
"The hell we don't," Stephen mumbled.
Natalie refused to smile, though she wanted to. She was sure that the officer hadn't heard him. Instead of looking at her companion she looked at the back of Richer's head, "How long will be downtown?"
Uptown.
"Until someone posts bail," Richer answered. "There is a minimum waiting period of six hours."
"What is the bail?" Stephen asked crisply.
"One hundred for trespassing, one hundred for theft. Times that by two you have four hundred dollars altogether."
Amazing math skills really, why didn't he pursue a higher thinking career? Natalie couldn't help but muse.
She wondered if taking samples of mud could be considered theft.
Officer Richer was a fast driver when he had his sirens on. He took turns faster than Natalie was comfortable taking them at, showed no mercy when going through stop signs and lights, and seemed ready to break out into road rage at any second if necessary.
The eighth thing that ran through Natalie's mind, as she was using her cuffed hands to push herself off Stephen, was that of all the police cars they could have been placed in, they were in one that had no seat belts.
Was that legal?
Chapter two will be posted if there is interest.