O2 10/18
Chapter Nine:
Don ran his fingers through his hair and paced Olivia's room.
He was tired and frustrated but most of all he was worried about Olivia.
Ever since she'd woken up, the Secret Service had been pumping her for information on the twelfth man involved in the abduction. Their efforts were certainly hampered by the fact that Olivia could only stay awake for several minutes at a time and she only woke a few times a day. Don hadn't even gotten any time to catch up with her. He'd had to be content with simply holding her hand in encouragement as the Secret Service agents did their jobs.
There was another factor holding up the case. Olivia had not begun speaking again. She was able to write simple words, albeit at a snail's pace, but more advanced communication skills had not returned to her yet. Don feared they might never return however he choked down his doubts and tried to be there for her during each session.
Kim and Don had reached an agreement on how to proceed with thankfully little argument. In hopes of drawing out the twelfth man, they carefully crafted a detailed misinformation campaign involving not only Olivia, but also the Eppes family. Don knew it had been no secret for weeks that he and Charlie had been visiting Olivia. Now they needed to make it clear to anyone who was watching Olivia's progress that she was not under FBI guard any longer, even though she actually was. It was arranged for Charlie to give a statement to a local newspaper saying that Olivia Brecht was a family friend to the Eppes and since the loss of Charlie's friend Brian, her husband, he'd wanted to look out for her. He also purposefully let slip that he and Olivia had attended high school classes together and had been longtime friends. Charlie also arranged for one of Don's old high school friends to leak that Don and Olivia had been 'halfway down the aisle at eighteen' so that their relationship was made public knowledge as well. The Bureau contributed a quiet press release thanking Don for his efforts in the case and announcing they'd given him a month's paid vacation courtesy of the Attorney General himself. The press release ended with a brief sentence saying his time off from work had already begun. This, with the newspaper piece, and a few well placed rumors around the hospital, would hopefully explain why a federal agent was spending all his time with a recent crime witness.
A second press release by Cal Sci touted the video enhancement program that Charlie and Amita had been working on and announced a federal grant had been given to Charlie who would take a brief leave of absence from teaching to complete the work on the program as quickly as possible for law enforcement use. In truth, Charlie and Amita had completed the program, without a grant, days earlier but this provided a cover story for Charlie so he could work full time on the case. He and Amita were working on equations to help locate the twelfth man and Charlie was also a part of the surveillance operation covering Olivia's room. He and Don were bugged 24/7 and carried tracking devices just in case they became targets. Charlie had tried to convince Amita not to leave her apartment without an escort and was only calmed when the Secret Service agreed to place an undercover agent in her home posing as a friend crashing on a visit. Thankfully, they assigned an agent who was a math major in college so the three ended up working well together, making the cover story look perfect.
Charlie still came and read to Olivia as he did before only now his movements to and from her room were monitored on closed circuit TV. Don, used to being involved in surveillance, almost didn't notice the difference but it took Charlie a while to learn to act natural instead of suspicious.
As part of the plan, Don had suggested the hospital prepare two press releases and only release them on the Secret Service's approval. One mentioned that Olivia had woken up and was improving daily. The other said that she had taken a turn for the worse and might not recover so she was going to be transported to a hospice care facility. Both were false and designed purely to evoke a response from the outstanding kidnapper. Don hoped, once they had gotten any information from Olivia, that the first press release might prompt the suspect into trying to silence Olivia permanently. If that didn't work, he might try to attack her when she was transported. He hated using her as bait but with Kim and the Secret Service in charge of the investigation, all he could hope to do was dictate some of the terms, especially since his family was so heavily involved.
Kim had come through for him in one way, however. Ever aware of his commitment to family, she arranged for Alan to go on a 10-day cruise to the Caribbean. Don had to laugh when he learned the cruise was for law enforcement officers and their families. If there was anywhere Alan would be safe it would be on a boat in the middle of the ocean with several hundred cops. Alan was loathe to go with his sons in potential danger but listened to reason, knowing they all had parts to play in this charade and his was to be conveniently out of the way so Don and Charlie could focus on the case without having to worry about him.
At that moment though, Don was concerned about Olivia being overtaxed by the Secret Service agent working on a laptop to create a composite image of the man she had seen but no one else had. The agent was growing impatient at his inability to correctly gauge what changes Olivia wanted him to make. No matter what he did it seemed like it wasn't right to her and she was tiring rapidly.
"Here, let me try for a while," Don offered when he sensed Olivia could take no more of the agent's pressure.
"But I'm trained in the FACES system!" the agent protested loudly.
"What, you think the FBI doesn't use FACES? Come on, we use it all the time. Go take a break."
The agent got up and huffed out, almost forgetting to get back into character - the spouse of the fake patient in the bed next to Olivia's - before leaving the room.
Don sat down in the chair vacated by the agent and took Olivia's hand. She seemed grateful for the rescue, nodding her thanks to him. Don held her hand up to his lips and pressed a small kiss against it. "How are you holding up? I know this is hard."
Her expression was one of weariness and resolve. Don understood it perfectly.
"Yeah, I know. I hope it will all be over soon as well but we have to do this."
He closed the cover on the laptop and pushed it away. "Let's see if we can't get this over with in an easier fashion. I'm going to ask you some questions and you can nod or shake your head to answer them. Okay?"
Olivia nodded.
"Good. So, does this man look anything like someone you've met before?"
Nod.
"Someone currently in your life?"
Olivia shook her head.
"Someone from your past?"
Nod.
"From your school days?"
Nod.
"In England?"
Shake.
"High School?"
Nod.
Don was excited by this. "Is it someone I know?"
Nod. This was good news. If the person looked like someone Don recognized he could handle part of the work for her.
"A student?"
Shake.
"A teacher?"
Shake.
"A parent?"
Shake.
"Someone from school but not a student, teacher or parent?"
Nod.
"An employee at the school?"
Nod.
"Ok, I'm going to list off a number of jobs and you squeeze my hand when I mention the job this person held. Okay?"
Olivia nodded in comprehension.
"Janitor, nurse, principal, assistant principal, school board member, sports coach, trainer, secretary, career center staff, guidance counselor..." Don felt a firm squeeze on the last word.
"Guidance Counselor?"
Shake.
"Some other kind of counselor?"
Nod.
Don wracked his brains for a moment then it hit him. He finally understood why she hadn't simply written the name for him earlier. Even Don couldn't remember how to spell the man's name.
"Dr. Van der whatever his name was, the school psychologist?"
Olivia nodded vigorously and even made the effort to lift her finger and put in on her nose.
"O, you're so good I could kiss you!" Don quickly flipped open his cell phone as Olivia smiled at him. "Charlie, are you at the house? Good! Drop whatever you are doing and go find one of our high school yearbooks. No, it doesn't matter which one or whose it is. I need you to scan the photo of the school shrink, that Dr. Van der something long no one could ever spell or pronounce. Yeah, Dr. Dutch, that's what we called him." Olivia nodded again when she heard the nickname she'd forgotten. "Scan it and email it to me ASAP. Call me back when the email's sent."
Don hung up the phone and turned back to Olivia. "You rest for a while. I'll get started on the composite based on my own memory of Dr. Dutch and when Charlie sends the image then I'll update it to look as close to him as I can. Once that's done all you have to concentrate on is how your guy differs from the what I have in the system already."
Olivia nodded and patted Don on the arm before closing her eyes for a much needed rest.