"I think it's okay." Louis said slowly after a few minutes'
observation. Okay, the police officers had seemed like they might have
been a bit suspicious of Elmer before but they certainly hadn't treated him
in any manner that could have been considered poorly and although it
looked like the younger officer still held a touch of suspicion, the older
one seemed to be totally comfortable with what Elmer was telling them.
Louis still wasn't thrilled with his son being suspected of anything for
even a second, of course, but as long as they got it straightened out
quickly and didn't upset Elmer in any way, he supposed he could deal with
it. Now if they would just get busy and find Lona. Louis shook his head
as he thought of the missing doctor, worry washing over him as images of
some of the more graphic things he had seen in the ER flashed in his head
at the thought of her. If anything serious had happened to Lona.... There
had been one case in particular, a woman probably around Lona's age,
kidnapped, tortured for days, brutally.... Had that ever been solved? He
would have to find a chance to bring it up with the police, a time when
Elmer wouldn't overhear and freak out totally. He didn't even want to
think of how his son would react to the possibility that something like that
could have happened to Lona. He knew he wasn't reacting well to the
possibility himself, after all.
"Louis?" Hook asked quietly, seeing worry suddenly in the older doctor's eyes. this had to be hard on him, so soon after losing his former wife to maybe have lost and friend and then there was what had happened with his other son as well. "We're going to find her."
Louis nodded, willing himself to share Hook's confidence. "I'm just thinking that if.... You've been in the ER. You know some things that have happened." He didn't go into detail, able to see from Hook's expression that he knew the kinds of things that Louis was thinking of.
"If it's happened, we'll deal with it when we find her." Hook said
quietly. The thought that something like some of the things that he had
seen in the ER could have happened to Lona was definitely unnerving him as
well but considering how long she had been missing at this point, he knew
they had to look at that possibility. "Lona has plenty of friends here.
If it has happened, she's going to have a ton of support to get her through
it."
"I don't think she realized that, how many friends she had." Louis said softly, so quietly that Hook almost didn't hear him.
"Well, when we find her, we'll just have to show Lona if she didn't
realize it." Hook told him. That thing about Lona not knowing how many
friends she had bothered him, though. Was it possible that she could have
actually left despite the evidence to the contrary, just assuming that no
one would care or notice that she was gone? They were definitely going to
have to have a long talk with Lona once they found her if that was so.
Okay, she could be a bit prickly and obsessed with her research at times
but Hook definitely considered her a friend and he knew Chris felt the same
way along with many other people in the hospital.
"You don't think they still suspect Elmer, do you?" Louis asked quietly. "Because that boy would never, ever...."
"I know he wouldn't." Hook said with a shake of his head and then a slightly bemused smile as he thought of what Elmer had said. There hadn't been sound on the monitor, of course, but he had a bit of a talent for lip reading, developed when he had a professor back in med school that wouldn't speak up so the back row could hear, figuring missing the lesson was their punishment for not showing up bright and early. "Elmer said she was brilliant, you know, mentioned it before he said how beautiful she is."
"She is. Why wouldn't Elmer notice that?" Louis said with a shake of his head. Okay, maybe he did have a bad habit of thinking the worst of his son at times but did everyone else have to do it as well? Was it any wonder that the boy didn't seem to have any self esteem? Louis shook his head again as he thought of it. A bad father, although he had tried his best, had wanted to be better, he knew that as far as Elmer was concerned he was nothing but a bad father.
"Didn't say I was surprised." Hook said mildly. Honestly, he knew
that Elmer wasn't really that bad. If he had thought so, he never would
have tried to help him out with the dinner for Lona in the morgue. That
stupid stunt with the head had to be just some sort of mental aberration,
maybe triggered by.... Hook shook his head as he suddenly thought of
something. The head thing happened soon after Elmer's mom died. Maybe
that was what had triggered it, him wanting to win Lona by any means
necessary before he lost her too? If so, was it really right for him to
use the head to try blackmailing Elmer into helping to get the Klingerman
anesthesiology report? Hook was definitely going to need to have a talk
with the younger doctor and soon. First things first, though. They had to
find Lona.
"Come on. We better go and take Elmer off the detectives' hands before he gets a bit paranoid and convinces them that the entire hospital might be plotting against Lona or something." Hook said with a slight laugh. "I want to see about talking to her doctor too, see if I can lean on him a little to get a look at her medical records. I know Elmer says she doesn't have any relatives she's close to but there would have to be a family history in there. Maybe he missed someone somehow."
"I don't think Elmer misses ANYTHING when it comes to Lona." Louis
told Hook. He knew that looking at Lona's relatives was worth a try,
though. Close or not, if she had gotten a call from a family member, maybe
that could be responsible for her current absence. It was certainly much
better than some of the possible scenarios that he had thought of.
"Why don't you go and get Chris, see if she has anymore ideas too?
I'll go and get Elmer." Louis told Hook. If talking to the police had
upset his son, he wanted to give Elmer a bit of privacy, a chance to pull
himself together without the worry of others watching him. Louis just
hoped that they could get this fixed quickly. Lona had to be alright.