Chapter 8:

A step in the right direction

Dear Katie,

How are you? Mandy forced me to stay home today, but I knew that you would be working. I talked to Anya yesterday. She said that Jacob had a trial yesterday, and was proven not guilty. She also said that Jesse is coming up and taking good care of her.

Guess what? Anya got a good look at her attacker, and described him for Steve. They're thinking that it was a henchman for Richard Maxwell. Maxwell was convicted for causing several bombings several years ago in Colorado. He was arrested, but escaped from jail a few months later. Speaking of those bombings, my parents died in one caused by, the police think, Maxwell. Unfortunately, no one can prove that particular bombing was caused by him. Anyway, if you get any more information, let me know okay?

I'd like to see you, so if you can stop by later I would like that.

Your Friend,

Amy

Katrina's thoughts were snapped to the present when she was paged.

Paging Doctor Katie Sloan. Please report to the autopsy room.

"What did Amanda find?" Katie asked.

Katie hurried into the hospital towards the autopsy room. When she turned the corner, Katie saw Amanda working on a corpse.

"Not exactly what I wanted to see," Katie said teasingly.

"Sorry," Amanda replied, "I want you to look at this. As I was doing Christine autopsy, I found something interesting. At first I thought she was killed because of a wound created by the knife you found, but after further testing, I discovered she died because of a new poison.

"A new poison?"

"It seems that it was created just for this purpose," Amanda explained.

"So what's so new about it?"

"Well, it seems that she was cut by the knife, and that made her bleed, obviously.

The funny part about it was that not only was there a large wound on her leg from the knife, but there was also a small cut on her finger. I didn't think anything of it, until I studied the bandage on her finger. That's where the poison comes in. The poison was placed on her bandage and that's how it entered the blood stream."

"So if it was only a small cut, why was there so much blood on the knife?"

"It was used as a cover up after she was killed. It was dropped into her dead body to make it look like she had died by stabbing. Unfortunately, the killer did a really sloppy job by stabbing her in the leg. The only way that Christine could have died from that is if she had been left there for hours."

"Wouldn't you be able to get up and leave if you were just stabbed in the leg?"

"That's why I said it was a sloppy job."

"So since Jacob didn't kill Christine, who did?"

"I have no clue, but Steve is looking over that journal you found to see if he can get anything from it."

"Amanda, you're wonderful! If you find anything else, let me know. I have to get back to work."

"Bye, sweet."

Katie quickly walked back to work. She had so much on her mind, and so much that needed to be done. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Katrina," the voice said. Katie tried to continue walking and ignore the person, but he spoke again, "Hey, Carrots, how long can you ignore me?"

Katie turned around and looked at Peter. She wanted to cry out and run to him. Katrina wanted to have him hold her in his arms, and comfort her from all of her fears and worries that she had. She wanted to love him like she had in England, but she was determined to not give in so easily.

"Ignore you, Doctor Barry?" she asked coolly, "What makes you think that I am ignoring you?"

"Come on, Kate, ever since I've come to the hospital you've been ignoring me. What have I done to deserve that?"

"I don't know. What have you done?" Katie asked sarcastically.

"Aren't you going to tell me?"

"I think you can figure that out all on your own. Now, if you would excuse me, I have work that I need to get back to."

Katie turned around and left Peter standing in the hallway, hurt and confused. She walked around the corner, and leaned against the wall. Katie brushed at the tears that fell from her eyes. She didn't want to hurt Peter like that, but he had hurt her greatly too. She wanted him to realize that, but at the same time, she just wanted him to love her and call her his baby like he used to do in England.

Katrina finally walked back to her patients' rooms to complete her job for the day. She didn't see Peter any more, and she thought that was just as well. Katie was afraid that if she spoke with him much more, that she would break down and allow him to beat her at his game. But then again, was he the one playing the game, by pushing her away, or was she pushing him away?

Katie pushed those thoughts aside, and began to pack up to go home. She had to talk to Steve about all of the information that she had gathered that day. Perhaps it would help them get somewhere in the case of Christine's murder. Katie didn't know how it could help, but anything was a possibility at this point.

Later that evening at the dinner table, Katie discussed everything that had gone on that day, with her cousin and her uncle.

"So, Steve, what do you think about what Amanda found?"

"I'm not exactly sure what to think at this point, but at least it's a start. I have to get off to work. I have night shift." Steve replied kissing Katie on the forehead.

"Bye," she said.

"Kat, you asked me earlier about the Maxwell family," Mark said.

"Yes."

"Well, do you remember the bombings that occurred a few years ago in Colorado?"

"No, but Amy told me about them."

"Well, I want you to look at these pictures. I had Steve bring them home."

"Okay," Katie replied as she spread out the photos over the table, "What am I looking for, Uncle Mark?"

"I want you to see if any of these men look familiar to you. They are men who may be connected to the bombings there, and possibly Christine's murder."

After a moment of scanning the pictures, Katie said, "That's him!"

"That's who, Katie?"

"That's the man that attacked us on the ship at Moral Bay."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Annetka and Amy both described him so well that I could pick him out."

"All right. We'll let Steve know."

Katrina was so excited about all that she had found out that day, that as soon as she got a chance, she called Steve at work and let him know of all that had happened. He told her that he would begin looking into the case some more. Katie was so happy, yet she still had many questions to answer, and she knew that her detective work was not yet over.