Chapter 14:

Jack was absolutely sure that there had been some physical release for Miranda's psychological reaction. From what the psychologist had just hinted and implied he was pretty sure the girl had rather been harrassed or attacked. He didn't know that for sure, but he strongly suggested that one of the hospitals in the closer surrounding would be able to help him with that.

He knew it was just a reaction by feeling, but first thought was the best in most cases – anyways he didn't have a lot of options. He needed a solution for this messed up situation they were in, needed to understand why Miranda had reacted like this. He needed something to get a hold on her and make her stop. Something to get Sam and especially Danny out of there as soon as ever possible – time was the one thing they didn't have on this.

Right know they were sitting in relative silence, frequently dialing numbers of hospitals in the surrounding area and hoping to find something that would lead to any new evidence about Miranda, anything that would help them understand what she was doing.

They were doing this monotone task for some way more than two hours now and still they hadn't been lucky with anything. None of the people they had been talking to, had been able to help them and from the expression on their faces it was plain to see how they grew more and more desperate. It was Vivian, who broke through that face's expression and made the other two men wince.

„I found her!"

She was giving a triumphant and slightly tired smile to the rest of the team, which actually just contained Martin and Jack. But she immediately had their attention. They were both looking up from their list of hospitals they still had lying in front of them, hoping to find any clue of what had happened to Miranda.

"St. Andrews Memorial – that's about six miles out of town. It's pretty far away from both her school and her home, but they got a file about a girl named Miranda Thomas. Her age and general description also fits..."

"We actually don't have very much to lose on this. Will they send us a copy?"

"No – the nurse I talked to actually hadn't been very cooperative. She said she couldn't give out any more detailed information – not without permission from a doctor. I guess we will have to go there."

"Alright Viv – take Martin with you and get to that hospital – it at least is a chance. Let's just hope it's what we're searching for..."

Viv shot him a slightly interested and somehow concerned gaze and he knew – although he was standing behind him – Martin's view at him wouldn't differ that much from the one he was getting right now. She seemed to think about something and he was pretty sure what it was about.

"So – where are you going to?"

"I'm gonna get to Miranda's school and hopefully I will be able to convince police, that she actually is the shooter. Maybe I'll get a chance to talk to her. We need to talk her out of this, but I need something to get a hold on her, some proper reason why she is doing this. So you better hurry with that hospital."

Jack got up from his chair besides the phone to get to his private office, grabbing the keys for his car and leaving to get to the school grounds. He was pretty sure he couldn't do much or he at least would've a hard time achieving something. But Sam had been right with her words – this was actually their case and they were responsible for getting Miranda back – unharmed at it's best. He was willing to quarrel with authorities at school to achieve that.

Vivian and Martin on the other hand had a some way longer ride to where they were supposed to go and their task definitely wouldn't be much easier. As the nurse already hadn't been very helping, the doctor in charge probably wasn't any better. Of course this was a matter of pretty great importance and they had a really good reason, but in the end giving a patient's information to anyone wasn't allowed. It was an ethic basis and mostly the doctors were extremly uneasy and very much incooperate when it came to giving information to them.

It would be a matter of convincing, a matter of making the doctor see this was actually urgent. It wouldn't change anything about the facts – it still meant to chose between the less of two evils, but they couldn't keep that decision from them. They actually couldn't leave any decision to them – they needed this information, desperately.

They arrived at the hospital about 40 minutes later, directly heading to the nurse's desk at E.R. Vivian had been talking to her before – she had been the one, who had told her she couldn't get the information for her. Right now the nurse seemed pretty open for any suggestions – she was giving a polite smile to them as they approached.

"What may I do for you?"

She asked, sounding as politely as her smile had been. But it didn't stay on her face, not for long. Exactly up to the moment when Vivian showed her badge to her and identified herself.

"I'm Agent Johnson, this is Agent Fitzgerald – we already have been talking to each other about an hour ago. I had been asking you about a patient, Miranda Thomas. We're here to see her file..."

A cold, unwilling expression had appeared on the nurses face. Probably the same expression she had worn on her face when Vivian had demanded her wish at the phone earlier. It seemed like she wouldn't be any more lucky. But to her surprise the nurse didn't close in completely.

"The doctor's office, who has been in charge of that patient is on the second floor down the left corridor. Room number 11. She is the one to decide about this."

"Thanks."

They left the nurse's desk and went down the E.R.'s corridor to the elevators, getting upstairs to the doctor's office. Vivian knocked slightly and received a short pressed answer from inside. As they entered they found themselves confronted with a mid thirty year old brown haired woman, who was almost hidden behind the load of paperwork on her desk. She looked up in surprise as they entered.

"Can I help you?"

Once again Vivian fetched her badge and showed it to her, giving her a small smile too.

"We hope you can – we're with the FBI and we need to have a look at the file of Miranda Thomas. I already had been talking to the nurse down at E.R. on the phone, but she told me I needed to come here in person."

The doctor's expression had hardened on her face as she looked at Vivian now. One could literally see herself closing in as she prepared to answer to the federal agent right now.

"Well, then she didn't inform you correctly. Because we don't give out any patient's information to anybody – being here in person or not."

"I know you don't usually do this, doctor, but we need these information urgently. The patient we are talking about – Miranda – she disappeared one and a half days ago and we hope her hospital file may help us to find a reason for her disappearance."

"I see that it is urgent, but I don't make the rules. This is hospital politics and I'm not allowed to break them..."

"I do understand that, but I guess I made my point clear – it's a very urgent matter."

"I'm sorry – as long as you don't have an official search warrant which allows you to invade one of my patient's privacy... I won't give that file to you."

Vivian knew the younger doctor wouldn't help her if she didn't have a very good reason and if she wouldn't explain her motivation a little more detailed. Until now she hadn't given much of a motivation to the doctor to help her. Therefore she took a step closer to the her, lowering her voice and telling her the reason for her actual urgency.

"Doctor, this is very, very important. Miranda Thomas is about to take revenge on whatever had happened to her... and we have to know about it, we have to! She started shooting pupils at her school and we need to find a way to get a hold on her. We need your help!"

Vivian hoped and prayed that she had achieved something with her desperate speech, that she had found a way to reach the incooperate doctor. Still it didn't actually seem like this, as the doctor got up and turned away from the desk, turning her back on them. But to Vivian's surprise she went to one of the cupboards, opened it up and grabbed a file out of it.

"Alright."

Finally and with an expression on her face and in her eyes that would have chilled everything like ice, the doctor handed Miranda's file to Vivian. She put it down on the desk in the doctor's office and opened it up. She had seen files like this before – too many times before – and therefor she didn't need much time to scan through the information. What she was reading in there, what she was finding out, just left one justifiable comment for her to anounce.

"Oh good lord..."