Title:Urban
Legends
Author:Krisdae
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Date Rape (Not
described)
Disclaimer: I own nothing in the world of Numb3rs.
A/N:
A big thanks goes to Marvinetta for being such a wonderful beta. I
really appreciate all you do!
Reviews: Yes please!
Thank you to all of you who have reviewed. It's nice to know people are still reading and enjoying!
Urban Legends
Chapter Seven
Don and Terry pulled up in an apartment complex not far from the hospital. It was a fenced community, but the gate was open. One of those places that sold people on being safe, but never quite following through. Brian Wohlmer's apartment was on the top floor of the three-story building and the wooden steps leading up to it were not in the best of shape. They knocked on the door to 307 and waited.
After a few minutes, the door opened to reveal a young man about Charlie's age. He had a pleasant face that was showing signs of being very tired. "Can I help you?"
"I'm Agent Eppes, this is Agent Lake. We'd like to ask you a few questions."
The man hesitated briefly and Don thought he was going to tell them to go away, but then he stepped back, allowing the agents to enter the apartment. He led them past the kitchen to the living room and sat on the couch. "So, how can I help you?"
"I understand that you're working with Dr. Condron at the hospital on some drug trials," Don began.
Brian nodded, "Yes, I've been working with him on the project since I entered my residency."
"What can you tell us about the side effects of this drug?"
Brian shook his head, "I'm really sorry, but I can't tell you anything about the drug trial. I'm not at liberty to discuss it." Brian sounded regretful, but continued. "You might try talking to Dr. Condron. He is in charge of the program and might be willing to disclose that kind of information." As Terry jotted something down, Brian's leg began to bounce. "Can you tell me what this is all about?"
Terry watched Brian's leg for a minute. "You seem a little nervous. Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no," Brian answered quickly. "It's just been a long couple of days. Anytime I have to work a double shift, I drink a lot of coffee. It can take me a while to wind down."
"You work double shifts often?" Don asked.
"All the time," Brian replied, laughing slightly. "Just because they put a cap on the number of hours an intern can work in a hospital, doesn't mean my hours are going to be normal."
"What about weekends?" Terry asked. "Do you work a lot of those?"
"Everyone does. In fact, I've worked double shifts the last three weekends now. This weekend I'm supposed to have off, finally."
As Terry jotted down this information in her book, Don picked up the questions again. "What can you tell me about Jack Timmons?"
"The boy who came in the other day?" Brian hesitated before answering. "I'm not sure what you're looking for. All I can tell you is that he was a part of the study at the hospital. Dr. Condron is trying to see if there is any connection to his death and the study. If there was, it was some sort of error." Brian smiled weakly, "It's one of the reasons I've been working so hard this week. Dr. Condron is on a mission. Again, you should really talk to him for any details."
Don realized that this kid was trying to get him to talk to someone else. That either meant he didn't' know anything and couldn't help, or that he knew all too much and didn't want to have to talk to the Feds. "Did you know him? I mean before the study?"
"No, should I?"
"He was a student at CalSci," offered Terry. "Isn't that where you went to school?"
"Yeah," admitted Brian. "But that was before medical school. It was several years ago, I'm not really in a place to meet CalSci students. Not unless they're in the hospital for some reason."
"What about at Forbidden Sights?" Don asked. "Ever hang out there?"
"Well, sure. It was a favorite hangout when I was in school and it's still a nice place to go to wind down after a stressful week."
"It's a favorite hangout for CalSci students," Terry commented.
"I'm sure it is," responded Brian, starting to sound a little annoyed. "Look, I know where you're going with this. I'm sure that I must have seen Timmons at Forbidden Sights at some point since I was there all the time and he obviously went there as well, but I didn't know him, I didn't talk to him outside of the study. And I really think you should be asking Dr. Condron your questions and not me." He rose from the couch suddenly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I haven't slept in almost 48 hours and I need to get some rest."
Don and Terry followed him to the door, and headed to the car.
"Well," Terry said. "Do you think I hit a nerve?"
"Yeah, but to what? The question about knowing Jack Timmons outside the study or the fact that Forbidden Sights is such a hangout for CalSci students?"
"He's got an alibi for last weekend."
"He thinks he does," replied Don. "But, let's make sure. It's possible he went to Forbidden Sights in between or after his shifts."
The guy entered Forbidden Sights and headed over to the guy behind the bar. "Hey man." They were alone, no one else being in the building at this hour.
"Hey, how'd it go?"
"It kinda sucked. He's all upset at what happened the other night with that guy."
"He's upset? The owner got really pissed when we had to shut down for a couple of days."
"Yeah, well, he said we have to stop using the stuff."
"What? Why?"
"The guy who died… it was from an overdoes of the stuff."
"No way. He told us…he promised us that no one would get hurt from it."
"Yeah, well someone did. He says we have to stop using the stuff until things cool off."
"And what are we supposed to tell our clients?"
The first man shrugged. "I don't know. Tell them that we're getting more, but that we have to wait for it to arrive or something."
"What about the stuff we have left? Can we use that?"
"I don't know, man. It sounds like a bad idea."
"Yeah, well if our man's nervous about the death the other night, I sure as hell don't want this stuff around if the cops start sniffing. I say we get rid of it this weekend. All of it. We can just disperse it evenly throughout the night."
"I think it's a bad idea."
"Yeah, well, it's not your decision to make. Come on, we could use the cash it might bring in."
"All right, but if he gets mad, YOU get to deal with him."
When the weekend arrived, Charlie began to really feel nervous about his decision to go to Forbidden Sights. But he was no less determined. All he had to do to convince himself was remember the look on Amita's face last Sunday morning when she had told him about her attack. Anything he could do to help Amita would be well worth it.
Amita had helped him pick out an outfit for the club, since she assured him that his usual t-shirt and jacket wouldn't really fit in at the club. She had gone through his closet to find an appropriate outfit and Charlie just hoped he could manage to fit in.
After Amita picked him up, they headed over to the club in silence. "You know, Charlie, you don't really have to do this," Amita said as she parked the car.
"I think I should be saying that to you."
"Yeah, well, I'm sure that if I decided not to go, you'd just go on your own and I don't want to think about what would happen to you without a friend to protect you."
Charlie studied Amita, "Come on, it can't be that bad."
Amita just laughed and shook her head. "Come on, Charlie, let's get this over with."
The club was loud. Not just from the music, but from the people around them. There were several booths, most of which looked over the sunken dance floor. The bar at the end of the main room also had a good view of the floor. People were everywhere, moving in all directions, causing Charlie to feel disoriented. He began to feel nervous until he felt Amita grab his elbow.
"Let's go find a booth, Charlie," she suggested and began to drag him through the crowd. Charlie was amazed at her ability to move through the chaos with minimal effort. He thought she must have knowledge of the crowd from previous visits.
They found a booth and sat down. Charlie took in all the sights around them. "All right, Amita, tell me what happened when you were here. Where were you guys sitting last week?"
Amita pointed towards a booth not far from the bar. "We sat at that table. We got here pretty early and I went up to the bar to order a drink…"
It was Friday and it was late. Two things that meant Don should have been headed home. But, here he was, still in the FBI office, looking over the notes he and Terry had gathered throughout the last few days. Terry was still here, and David was looking up some information for them. It made Don feel grateful that his co-workers and friends stayed with him at times like this. He knew he was work obsessed, but sometimes the only way he could get to sleep at night was if he knew he'd done all he could have for the day.
Terry looked up from her notes. "Wohlmer's in on it. I'm sure of it."
"He has an alibi for last week."
"Maybe, but these attacks are pretty random. If Wohlmer's supplying the drug, he wouldn't have to actually be at the club, would he?"
"But how can we connect him with it?" asked Don. "If he's not at the scene…" he trailed off as David came up.
"I found something you need to know." He held out a printout for Don ad Terry to read. "Wohlmer used to be a bartender when he was in college. And guess where he worked."
"Forbidden Sights," Don answered. "There's your connection, Terry."
"Maybe some of the people he worked with are still there?" Terry suggested.
"Let's find out," Don suggested as he pulled his chair up to his desk and reached for the phone.
Charlie had been over Amita's story several times. He had been by the booth where Amita had been the weekend before. In fact, barring the women's restroom, he'd been everywhere Amita had been and didn't see anything that was out of the ordinary. Of course, how much had Charlie been expecting to find on a busy night?
Feeling somewhat frustrated, he made his way over to the bar. "Two waters please," he told the bar tender.
"Sure thing." The guy turned around and grabbed a couple of glasses. "Your girlfriend's cute." He said as he put the glasses down behind the bar and began to fill them.
Charlie looked over at the table and smiled at Amita, "She's not my girlfriend, but thanks."
The guy behind the counter smiled. "You know, she could be. Your girlfriend I mean."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that a guy like you shouldn't have to take no for an answer."
"I don't understand…what do you—"
"Hey, Justin! Hurry it up!" another bartender shouted towards them.
"All right," answered the bartender. He turned back to Charlie. "Look, all I'm saying is that you're out at a popular college club and all you have to do is take your girl on the floor. Trust me, the rest will be easy."
Charlie was a little confused. "Uhm…"
"Hey, just make sure she drinks a lot of water before going out there. Once you're on the floor, you don't want her to have that excuse." The guy handed the drinks to Charlie. "Trust me. And have a good time." He winked before heading off to the other end of the bar.
Charlie was confused by the entire encounter, thinking it was out of place and he should mention it to Don. Charlie almost thought the guy might have offered him this drug to make Amita and easy target, but he'd been called away before getting that far in the conversation. But still, Charlie checked both drinks to see if there was anything strange about them. He saw nothing. And besides, the guy behind the counter didn't know which drink was his and which was Amita's. They were safe.
David came back to the desk as Don got off the phone. "I spoke to one of the managers at Forbidden Sights. He says that Wohlmer had been a bartender for several years while he was in college. Says he was a member of Beta Omega Gamma and that several of the guys who have worked there over the years are in the same Fraternity."
"There's our connection," Terry commented.
Don added, "I spoke with the owner and he is going to fax over a list of everyone who's worked there for the last 8 years. We should be able to find out just who knows Wohlmer. Good catch on the Fraternity, David. We'll cross reference the names with the fraternity."
"I'll get a list from XTC. Maybe that's how that other attack happened. Once of the guys in the fraternity worked in a different club than the others, but would still know everyone else."
"Right. And let's get the schedules for every bartender that is a member of this fraternity and see if one of them was working every night a known attack happened."
Don's cell rang and he put the paper down to answer it. "Eppes."
Don, it's Amita.
"Amita? Is everything okay?"
No. It's Charlie.
"Charlie?" Don asked, getting a sinking feeling in his stomach. He looked over to see Terry watching him closely. "Did something happen to him?"
We were dancing, Don. We were having a good time and then he started acting a little more hyper than usual. I tried to see if he was all right, but he passed out before I got an answer from him.
Don's heart dropped. "Amita? Where are you? Where's Charlie?"
They're taking him to the hospital, Don. I'm on my way there.
"Listen carefully, Amita. When you get there, tell them to page Dr. Reeves. Tell him you're with me and that Charlie's got the drug in his system. I'm on my way there." Don stood and grabbed his coat as Terry handed it to him.
I'm so sorry, Don
"Don't worry about that right now, Amita. I'm on my way there and then we can talk." Don hung up the phone and then looked at Terry.
"I'll drive," she offered as they raced towards the exit. "You call your father."
Don began to dial the phone and prayed that Charlie would be all right.
