Chapter 8:
Weaver had returned to the police station swiftly after receiving the word that the footage of the hospital was ready for him to view. This was one big piece to the puzzle with many pieces and he was all too eager to figure out how this one fit into the big picture.
After picking up a flash drive with the video, he went to his office and quickly closed the door behind him. He decided that it would be beneficial to sit at Rogers' deck where he could get a better view of the television that sat nearest it. Once confident that everything was in place, he started up the video and began watching.
At first, it was a bunch of people who casually were walking through the door of the emergency room. It was that way for the first thirty minutes of the film. Weaver fast forwarded the video before he found what he was looking for.
There had been a steady stream of people at this point who were coming in and out and all of a sudden, it was like the Red Sea had gotten parted all over again. The individuals he could see grew closer to the sides of the path while a figure dressed in black carried an unconscious Rogers in through the door. The man looked distraught. Though something struck Weaver as odd. It was like the man's expression was one that carried a lie. Not one that carried concern.
It was all Weaver needed to find out. This man who had helped Rogers get to the hospital had to have been his attacker as well. There was no way Rogers would still be alive if that hadn't been the case. The question still remained; why would this man want to do this?
Unless he was someone who was cursed just as everyone else was.
He decided that tracking this man down was his first priority. He ran his copy of the footage down to the same tech that made it.
"Can you please run a facial recognition scan on this man right here?" He had swiftly fast forwarded the video to the time stamp he had memorized and pointed to the man in black, "I think I have a lead finally."
"Sure thing, but it will take some time once again."
"Just do it as quickly as you can. Also once you figure out who it is, I want to know everything you can find on this man."
"Yes, sir! Absolutely. I'll see what I can dig up."
He decided looked up information on Nick Branson in the system and tried to locate all the information he could as to who this man was. This man was a model citizen. He had practiced law and was a great one from the looks of it. How could it be that this man had fallen so low as to hurt someone?
Weaver smiled and patted the tech's shoulder before he left. Once he got the information he needed, he was sure to figure out what else he needed to find to solve this case. In the meantime, he decided that a good old stake out would benefit him.
And he was going to follow Victoria Belfry.
Henry smiled when he walked into the wing of the hospital and found Jacinda, Lucy and Tilly in the room with Rogers. He took it as a good sign that Rogers was now sitting up in a chair next to the bed playing chess with Lucy. She was sitting next to the blond young lady and was smiling big.
"Oh come on! We can win this!" Tilly gently shook Lucy earning a playful giggle from you little girl. It appeared that Rogers was winning and winning by a lot.
"Looks like someone is being schooled here!" Henry walked in and stood behind Rogers. All eyes turned to face him.
"Yes. And its not fair!" Tilly playfully pouted. Everyone chuckled and was smiling including the man who had been in the hospital for the last few days.
"It also appears that someone is feeling a bit better." Henry gently patted Rogers on the back.
"I am. I'm honestly surprised as you are." Rogers still wore the nasal cannula that helped him breath. The bandages, while not as bloodstained as they were when Henry first saw his friend, were still bloodstained. He was still in the ICU which meant that he wasn't completely out of the woods. His injured leg was propped up on another chair down below the small table carrying the chess board. The IV that was feeding him life giving blood and fluids was a stark reminder that Rogers was still healing and it would take longer than he had previously thought. Seeing Rogers up and smiling though, meant more to Henry than he had realized.
"Am I too late to the party?" Everyone whipped their heads around and saw a new face added to the nix.
"Nick!" Jacinda was the first to respond and had emerged from behind Lucy and Tilly. She had been caught up in other things, but was enjoying the company. She was a bit flustered at the fact that Nick would he here, "What are you doing here?"
"I heard that Detective Rogers was here in the hospital, and I thought I'd come to say hello."
Rogers looked back and his face blanched slightly. The man standing before him, looked familiar to him. Though he wasn't sure why. So he shook his head free from his dark musings and then gave the man a warm smile.
"Are you okay Rogers?" Henry broke through the haze that had started to form in the detective's mind. Rogers looked to the young man in front of him and smiled.
"Yes. I'm sorry. I got lost in thought." It was Rogers' turn to remain flustered.
Then there was a knock on the door and Dr. Hornstein walked in smiling.
"Hello everyone! Seems like you've got quite the entourage."
"Seems like I do." Rogers sat further up in his seat, wincing as the movements pulled at his wounds. It was a miracle that he could even move let alone sit up considering what all he endured just a few nights ago.
"Okay! So I'm here to draw a little blood from your arm. We just want to make sure that there are no infections or anything we need to worry about."
"Why do you need his blood to check that out?" Lucy looked confused. Everyone chuckled at her question including Nick who had blanched a bit.
"It's just routine procedure. Nothing more." The doctor moved his hands behind his back and just smiled, "We just want to make sure that you are healing and not contracting anything."
Rogers nodded and looked toward the doctor.
"I am ready when you are."
Throughout the whole process Nick just watched everything that was going on. He watched the doctor work to stick the detective's arm with a needle and pulled some of his blood out of his arm. Rogers just continued to play the chess game with Lucy and Tilly and it took his mind off what was going on.
"We are through." The doctor eventually said and then fished around the cart carrying everything. He wheeled it closer to the door to move it out of the way and then returned to bandage Rogers' arm.
However, while everyone was focused on the doctor and everyone else, Nick moved toward the cart and very carefully snagged a vial of the blood and the left.
The doctor followed suit and that left the rest of the occupants of the room oblivious to everything else that was going on.
"Where did Nick go?" Jacinda looked around and noticed Nick no longer in the room.
"I don't know. But I'm going to get to the bottom of this." Henry walked out of the room quickly to go see if he could locate the man.
Henry ran out into the hallway and tried to locate Nick, but he ended up running into Weaver instead.
"Weaver! So good to see you. Have you seen my friend Nick Branson on your way up here?" He looked confused.
"What is Nick's last name?" Henry noticed that Weaver blanched at the mention of his friend's name.
"Branson." Henry finally put the confusion to his expression, "Why? Did he do something wrong?"
"I think he was the one who put Rogers in the hospital."