Colby felt vindicated when they emerged from the judge's chambers with search warrant in hand. He had been spinning a fast one at the bank, hoping to get into the box without the search warrant, but it was good to know that he'd still been right. They headed back to the office and faxed the search warrant to Katelyn, making an appointment to be at the bank the next morning. By the time they got to the command center, everyone had already gathered for the briefing, but they managed to slip in unnoticed as Robin began to speak.
"This task force consists of investigators from the Health and Human Services Commissions Office of Investigations and Enforcement, the Office of Attorney General's Medicaid/Medicare Fraud Control Unit, state Bureau of Investigation from Tennessee, Florida, and California, and now the Federal Bureau of Investigation. TBI, FLBI, and CBI have several convictions pending for TennCare, Florida Medicaid, and Medi-Cal in Medicaid fraud, numbering in the millions of dollars. These convictions have led to Medicare fraud investigations that we believe number in the hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even billions."
Robin introduced the members of each agency, and continued, "We had a big break in the Medicare fraud investigation when Ellery Hague decided to plea bargain, and provided us information on a Medicare fraud scheme involving chronic dialysis services. To give you an idea of the scale of this breakthrough, the global market for chronic dialysis services is worth approximately $43 billion and at $5 billion, the US market is the largest in the world in terms of value."
She paused and looked at everyone. "Unfortunately for everyone involved, Ellery Hague was killed last night. This is one of the reasons the FBI has joined the task force. We hope that in the investigation into the homicide, we'll be able to uncover information that he had intended to provide us with. Information that we had not yet received."
Looking over to the corner, where Charlie had been talking to Rilla, Robin continued, "We have retained the services of Professor Charles Eppes who is a mathematician, and Rilla Davison, a healthcare services consultant. Professor Eppes is from CalSci, and Ms. Davison is from a consulting firm that CMS had already retained to create a data warehouse."
She grinned and went on. "Agent Eppes tells me that Professor Eppes is available to us whenever necessary, day or night." There was a smattering of laughter at that. "However, Ms. Davison is only available onsite Monday through Thursday, even though she is available via email or telephone on Fridays. Let's try to work within those constraints. Any problems with that?"
Robin glared around the room. Colby was amused to see huge, muscular agents stand down from that glare, then focused on Robin again as she continued. "We have secured the cooperation of all state Medicaid agencies, and the insurance companies that process Medicare claims on the behalf of the Center of Medicare/Medicaid services. Medical claims data from all these agencies are pouring in, Rilla and her crew are in the process of loading all the claims data into the data warehouse. Professor Eppes and his assistants are coming up with methodologies that will use this data warehouse to help us identify potential fraud situations. This data warehouse will also help us compile evidence in the chronic dialysis services scheme." She took a deep breath, "That's pretty much all I have. Any questions?"
There were a few questions, then everyone broke up and went back to their own piece of the investigation.
Colby and David caught Don and Megan up on where they were with the safe deposit box. Then they headed back to their own tables in the command center to start sifting through the rest of the papers they had brought in from Hague's home.
"Hey, Charlie! How's everything?" David greeted Charlie who was wrapping up with Rilla.
"Just getting everything from Rilla before heading back to CalSci. Say hello to your ladies for me." Charlie dashed out the door like the hounds of hell were after him.
Rilla laughed. "Your brother's something else, Don." She grinned, "What, I'm not sure yet!"
Don returned the grin. He'd found Rilla easy to get along with, in the few hours he'd been working with her.
"Nice gig you got there, Davison," Colby ragged her. "Only working Monday through Thursday. What do I have to do to get hours like that?"
Rilla sent him a half smile. "You have to be really good at what you do. Does that give you a clue as to where you stand in the scheme of things?"
David broke up into laughter. "She got you there, Colby!"
She relented when Colby threw David a dirty look. "It's because I live in Chicago. Mondays through Thursdays onsite, Fridays at home. With wide area network connectivity these days, it's become easier to work from home."
All four agents looked at her in surprise. "Don't you miss your husband during the week?" Megan asked in astonishment.
"Sure I do. But think about it. Even when I worked in town, I worked late just about every day. I would stress out trying to get back home so I could see him for maybe a few hours in the evenings, if that much. This way I work late without any guilt four days a week. And I focus entirely on him for three whole days. How many of you can say you spend that kind of time with your significant other?"
Rilla glanced around, then felt guilty. "Sorry, I forgot for a minute that you were law enforcement officers. I roll that spiel out almost automatically these days. You probably don't get to spend very much time with your loved ones, do you?
Colby smiled at her, "It's alright. We're tough law enforcement officers. We can take whatever you dish out. So what does that mean? Focus entirely on your husband for three whole days?"
Rilla grinned with mischief, "It means I'm very, very nice to him. And he's a very, very happy man when I'm at home."
The four agents broke up into laughter at that. Then went back to the tedious details of their investigation.
-----
Hannah's apartment was dark when Colby finally got there. He was spending more time there than he was in his own apartment, but he couldn't really say that he was spending quality time with her.
He stripped and slid into bed with her, pulling her gently into his arms.
"Mmmmm, Colby." She murmured, turning into his arms, and pressed a kiss against his neck.
He kissed her on her temple. "Sorry, honey, I didn't mean to wake you."
She laughed softly, "I wasn't all the way asleep. You know you wouldn't have woken me if I were."
Colby chuckled softly in agreement, resting his cheek on the top of her head. He loved the feel of her cradled in his arms. She had been pressing kisses on his neck. That seemed to be her favorite place to start. He threaded his fingers through her hair, gently massaging her scalp and slowly moving down to massage her neck.
A soft moan of pleasure from Hannah made him smile. The soft sounds of pleasure she made were music to his ears. His hands began to explore her body, gently stroking her arms, as he tilted her head back to lick and nibble his way down her neck. Gently pulling her arm up, he began by kissing her palm. Then alternating kissing, nipping and licking, he worked his way from her palm to her upper arm. Her sudden gasp of pleasure when he nibbled the soft, silky skin on the inner part of her bicep gratified him. She had been caressing his shoulders and arms, but her hands were just gripping his shoulders now. He knew she was just hanging on now as he pleasured her.
Her collarbone looked inviting and he succumbed to that invitation, pressing soft kisses there. He licked his way down to her breast. Her nipples had already tightened into aroused little buds, but he skirted around them, as he licked his way around the curve of her breast. She whimpered in protest at that lack of attention, but he ignored that. He slid his left hand around to the small of her back, lifting her just slightly. His right hand reached around the other side to squeeze and massage her butt, while he licked and sucked his way down the soft skin of her belly, then finally, he spread her legs with his hands.
He began to lick her, from her vaginal entrance to her clit, up one side then down the other. His softened tongue spread her labia and he caressed her clit with the rough texture on the middle of his tongue. She jerked in sudden pleasure, and his hands went around her hips to steady her. Then he started flicking the tip of his tongue around her clit, teasing her, before finally concentrating on her clit. His tongue swirled around her clit, exposing it, and then he gave her clit a quick little suck. That sent her over the edge and she climaxed. He held her through the climax, continuing to gently lick and suck, but slowing down as she spiralled back from her climax.
"Oh, my God!" was all she could manage to say, her bones still liquid with the climax she'd just experienced.
Colby grinned, and positioned her on her left side. He leaned over her left leg, perpendicular to her, and pulled her right leg over his hips. He pressed himself into her and began to thrust steadily into her. Slowly at first, but he'd held his own need in check for a while, and that need took over as he thrust hard and fast into her. He heard moans of pleasure and realized that this time, some of those moans were his own, intertwined with hers. The position they were in, with her tilted slightly forward, and him slightly back, had him thrusting towards the left inside her. He'd discovered early on that it was her more sensitive side. Before long they both hurtled into a climax.
They lay on her bed for a few minutes before either of them recovered enough to move. Hannah giggled as they both struggled to get back under the covers. "And what do you call that particular sexual position? How did you learn of it?" she murmured, drowsy with the pleasure.
Colby laughed, "Does it really matter? It felt good, didn't it?"
Hannah smiled as she nestled back in his arms, "Well, I just wanted to know what it was called so I could ask for it later."
"It's the Sleeping Beauty," he murmured as they both drifted off to sleep.