"Cheer up, Elena, you need to have a little fun. You know as well as I do that Katherine would not want you to be so sad all the time," Caroline nudges her friend as they walk down the boardwalk at the Galveston Island Pleasure Pier, stopping at the 5D theatre ride to face a Megalodon shark. "It'll be fun," she pays for their tickets, links arms with a Elena and drags her inside.
"I know that, Caroline but it just seems so selfish of me to be doing things like this when she's buried under six feet of dirt. She loved sharks, for her Shark Week was like Christmas week at our house when we were growing up."
"Elena, your sister would not begrudge you living your life. I mean, you can't just sit in a corner and let it pass you by," she points to a couple of seats and they make their way over there and sit down. Leaning close to her she adds in a whisper, "When this is done, we'll get a funnel cake."
"You and your funnel cakes," Elena chuckles and quickly covers her mouth when a chorus of "shushes" answer her laughter. Several minutes later they come out and her heart is pounding at being scared in a fun way. She's happy Caroline insisted she accompany her to the pier today. Truthfully she's been feeling kind of lonely since Nik moved out with Nadia and Noah. Although she misses them, she doesn't want to be put in a position for the incident to be repeated.
"Let's have a turn on that," Elena points to the rollercoaster, "Then we'll get that funnel cake."
"You're on and we have to go the Pirate's plunge too," she adds when they get in line for the ride. "Have you heard anymore from that cute Ranger you were telling me about?"
"I haven't actually talked to him. I try to call his office once a week, sometimes more to see if there's anything new on Katherine's case but apparently he's out of town on a work related matter."
"Maybe it is related to her case, you never know?" they show the man their entrance bracelets then take a seat and secure their safety belts.
"I don't know, but thanks, Care, it feels good to let loose but I feel guilty too, I wish there was something I could do to help him catch Katherine's killer," her voice trails off when the cart drags itself up without effort as Elena's hands tighten on the bar and her breath quickens in anticipation and fear.
"You're welcome," she starts then looks over the side as the roller coaster begins its climb. "It's awfully high isn't it?"
"It says it has a 100 foot vertical drop, tracks at 52 miles per hour and there's four full inversions," Elena looks over her shoulder just as it speeds up. She hears the creaking of the cart moving and with that everyone starts screaming as it races forward, she wants to close her eyes but she can't manage to keep them closed.
After the ride's over, Elena gets out with a stumble and starts walking out making sure she doesn't bump into any walls. "that was so awesome" she screams making the people who are nearby jump, for the moment, letting go at least for a little while of the oppressive feeling that she shouldn't be having fun when her sister can't...
"It was epic!" Caroline squeals back, links arms with Elena, dragging her towards the funnel cake shack before tackling the Pirate's Plunge.
"Texas Ranger?" Wes Maxfield looks at him incredulously.
"Yes, sir. Can we talk for a few minutes?"
"You can walk with me to my car, I'm due at the hospital for a surgery," he hurries down the stairs and heads towards the parking lot. "You said this was about Katherine?"
"Yes, she was murdered at her home a few weeks ago. I'm here to ask you about that."
"What did you just say?" he stops in his tracks and turns to face Damon.
"I said that Katherine was murdered in her home a couple of weeks ago."
Damon observes his body language carefully, he's not actually surprised when there isn't much of a reaction.
"I hope you're looking into that husband of hers. I warned her about him..."
"I'm not here to talk about him, I want to know about your relationship with her."
"We had an affair, she ended things with me, got married and left the area," he tells Damon very matter-of-factly and void of emotion.
"How did you feel about that?" Damon looks at him.
"We were lovers, I was engaged to another woman at the time who's now my wife so I'd prefer this be kept quiet. Katherine was good, very good...," he looks away for a moment, "I didn't really want to give that up and neither did she but her new husband made her leave. Between you and me, I believe he was jealous of what she and I had..."
"Jealous?"
"I brought out the passion in her, she was tomcat in bed if you know what I mean," he smirks at Damon. "That man didn't like that I was a better lover. Despite that, she chose him when I told her I didn't want kids. I heard she popped out a couple of babies... In the end, she moved on and so did I. Frankly, I don't know where they went after they left Virginia. Is there anything else?" Dr. Maxfield stops when he reaches a Maserati convertible.
"When was the last time you saw her?"
"I told you, when she broke up with me," he unlocks and opens his door. "Is that all? I need to get to the hospital."
Damon catches his incessant blinking and is more than interested in his braggadocio but as a seasoned professional, he maintains a neutral demeanor. "For now, but I'd like to ask you a few more questions when you're free to sit down with me."
"Call my office," he slides behind the wheel, slams the door closed and speeds out of the parking structure in his Maserati so fast that his tires squeal as he makes a right turn onto the road.
Damon drives over to the hospital knowing that Katherine was there for some reason although he knows he can't get any medical records without a warrant. He's surprised when he sees Elijah Mikaelson walking down the hall with a man in scrubs and a lab coat.
"Counselor?" Damon approaches him.
"Hello, Ranger Salvatore. This is my brother, Dr. Finn Mikaelson."
Damon shakes his hand, "Dr. Mikaelson, can I ask you a couple of questions?"
Finn looks at Elijah who nods affirmatively and leads them into an empty conference room. "Elijah tells me you're working on Katherine's murder. I'll be of any assistance I can."
Damon says thanks when Finn hands him and Elijah a cup of coffee. "Do you know Dr. Wes Maxfield, he's a surgeon?"
"We're not friends but I know who he is. We're cordial but that's about it."
"Did you ever see him with Katherine, I mean before she and your brother got together?" Damon takes a long swallow of coffee.
"I can't go into specifics because of privacy laws but I did see her once. She had been admitted by one of my colleagues but I was assigned to her the next day. When I went to see her, Dr. Maxfield was in the room. I have no idea what they were talking about and I can't disclose anything else about her care. I can tell you that I didn't know who he was at the time. I hadn't forgotten all about it till Nik brought her home to introduce her. I wouldn't probably have remembered her even then cause I see so many patients on a day to day basis, she's the one who brought it up."
"Thank you, Dr. Mikaelson, I appreciate your help," he shakes his hand again. When he reaches the door, he says over his shoulder, "I'll see you back in Texas, counselor."
Stepping out of the bathtub, Elena dries off, slips on an old fleece nightgown then crawls into bed. She tries to read a book but finds herself reading the same paragraph over and over so she sets it on her bedside stand and reaches for the remote. Scrolling through the channels, she finally settles on "Gone With the Wind" on TCM but knows she'll fall asleep long before Rhett delivers his most famous line.
Soon her eyes fall closed but the sound of her phone jars her awake. Blindly she reaches over and clicks it on. "Hello," she yawns.
"Hello Elena, you sound tired?"
"Damon, hi and yes, I was just about asleep."
"I just wanted to check in with you. I miss seeing you storm into my office," he laughs.
"My friend took me to the pier today, I mentioned the same thing," she smiles at the thought.
"I'm glad, you deserved a time out after all you've been through. I wanted to touch base... I met Dr. Wes Maxfield today."
Elena sits straight up in bed at hearing that name. "What? Tell me what you know."
"He admitted having a relationship with your sister and that's about all I can tell you right now."
"What do you think?"
"Elena, I can't risk jeopardizing anything but let's just say, I have a few more questions for him."
"As frustrating as it is, I understand. If he did have something to do with it, I don't want him to get free on some sort of technicality."
"Thank you for understanding. Did you have fun at the pier?"
"I did, Caroline's a good friend," she slides back under the covers with the phone between the pillow and her ear.
"I'd like to take you there sometime."
"That would be nice," her voice trails off and Damon knows she's just about down for the count.
"Happy dreams, sweet lady," he whispers then ends the call.
"Goodnight," Elena mumbles, falling asleep to the sound of his voice.
"So what is it that you want from me?" Dr. Maxfield leans back in his expensive office chair with his fingers tented.
"Can you tell me where you were on November 2nd?"
"Do I need my attorney here?"
"That's up to you, Dr.," Damon replies, looking up to meet the man's dark blue eyes.
"On November 2nd," he turns to his computer. "On that day, I was removing a gall bladder. If you doubt me, you just have to check the hospital records. They can't give you the patient's name but they can tell you that I was clocked in so you see, it's physically impossible for me to have been in Galveston on that date."
Damon looks up but doesn't say anything about the man's faux pas. "I will check that out. We have a witness who says your breakup with Mrs. Mikaelson was acrimonious at best. Would you care to elaborate on that?"
"Who would that be? Katherine had no family around here to confide in."
I'm not at liberty to say but can you answer my question?"
"Fine, I didn't want our relationship to end. We had fun together, she was great in the sack, I told you that, I was her priority. Name me one guy who would want to give that up," Wes stares at Damon.
Their interview is cut short when the doctor's secretary steps in. "Excuse me, Dr. Wesfield, they need you at the hospital for an emergency consult."
"Thanks Hayley, tell them I'm on my way."
She nods and ducks out of the room.
"Thank you for your time, Dr.," Damon tips his hat and leaves the office with a smile on his face.
"Enzo," Damon picks his phone when he reaches his rental car. "I just left the doctor's office."
"And what did you feel?"
"He's dirty alright, it's just proving it. He knew she was murdered in Galveston without me identifying the city."
"And Texas is a big place, how would he know where she was murdered unless..."
"I want to give him the feeling that he's off the hook. I'm going to fly home."
"That's why I was calling, I was going to suggest you fly or drive to Huntington, West Virginia to speak with Miss Barstow."
"Why?"
"She's in custody. According to Kai, she's adamant about not knowing about the murder beforehand and that she only pawned the necklace after finding out that Markos was dead. She did pass a polygraph and you know him, he's always been able to read people, like he has a sixth sense about these things..."
"And what is his sixth sense telling him?"
"He believes her but wants you to hear her story too, she may know something and just needs to have her memory jarred a bit?"
"Alright, I guess I'm going to West Virginia, I'll be in touch," Damon clicks off the phone. Rather than go to the airport, he exits onto Interstate 77 for the 6 hour drive to Huntington all the while wondering how they're going to be able to prove Dr. Maxfield's role in the murder for hire scheme that claimed Katherine Mikaelson's life.
Tremendous thanks to all of you. The flu virus tends to wane in warmer weather, hopefully this virus will behave the same way. When I'm admitting a patient, we have vaccine questions, the flu one is only on the admit database from October till April for the same reason.
I did update my DE Titanic story yesterday. I love dropping them into the past because they're perfect together no matter the era.
Chapter title: 'Suspicion' by Elvis Presley.
Thank you Eva - for everything.
Have a terrific day and I truly hope life will soon return to normal. We'll see you next time.