Chapter 17
Suspicions
Intro Song: Suspicion, Terry Stafford
Mick awoke abruptly and looked around, disoriented. Had Beth just left for work or had he dreamed it? Rubbing his eyes to clear his vision, he lifted his head to focus on the clock on the far wall, hazy when viewed through the freezer lid. Two o'clock! Okay, I dreamed it. The struggle to synchronize their radically different schedules was taking a toll on both of them.
If he were being honest with himself, many things were taking a toll. They had had words last night over Mick's ploy to meet Jamie Sommers at the office yesterday. He had hoped it had escaped Beth's notice, since she hadn't given any indication at her office, or on the ride home. However, once they got inside, it was a different story. I should have known better...
His mistrust of Beth's new 'friend' had been growing since she'd told him about their outing while he and Josef were in New York. He was leery of new people entering her orbit now that they were together. The vampire was willing to concede that his solitary nature and need for secrecy tended to make him unusually suspicious of people; however, based on what Beth had shared, something about this woman just didn't sit well with him.
When Beth mentioned that she'd suggested his services to Jamie to help locate a missing relative, his disquiet had deepened. He'd started asking more questions about her new office mate - how long had Beth known her, where was she from, what did she know about her history, what was she like, whether the alleged missing person was out of state since Jamie was supposedly from New Orleans, did Jamie ask her a lot of questions... on and on until Beth had finally balked at further grilling, challenging him about the reason for his inquisition.
"You are the one asking a lot of questions, Mick, not Jamie!" she had exclaimed, irritated.
The P.I. had told her it was his standard procedure before accepting new clients, hoping she'd accept his superficial explanation at face value. It didn't work. Unfortunately for him, his Beth was one very smart woman. She was, as Josef had keenly noted, a "quick study," and she had detected his skepticism despite his best efforts to hide it. Her face had changed, her large blue eyes narrowing to slits.
"Mick St. John, you no more needed help finding my cubicle than I do!" Beth had accused, hands firmly planted on hips. "You could have followed my scent! What exactly were you doing at the office today?"
He had been forced to admit that her mention of Jamie's efforts to become her friend had triggered his internal alarm system. He'd detected an insistence from the woman that gave him cause for concern. He had wanted to meet - and assess - her for himself, something Beth hadn't appreciated when he confessed his motives.
"I'm not foolish, Mick. I'm not going to become friends with anyone questionable - and I would never say anything about how you live, or what you are, to anyone! You have to trust people, especially me, a little more. You are beginning to sound like Josef - you see danger and conspiracies everywhere. I don't want to live like that - I don't want us to live like that."
She had stopped, as something else occurred to her. "You... you didn't just bring me flowers, did you?" Her tone became suspicious. "The roses - they were just an excuse to come by and investigate Jamie... weren't they?"
He had vigorously denied her assertion, and apologized for his suspicious nature. The reality, however, was that he wasn't sorry he had checked out Jamie - and if her heart rate and pupil dilation were any indication, she was very nervous about meeting him. Perhaps there was a simple explanation for it... but what if there wasn't? He bit his lip. Maybe Beth was right. Maybe Josef is rubbing off on me.
He pushed open the freezer lid and sat up, looking around with bleary eyes. A few more hours in the cold would have been welcomed, but he needed to talk with Logan and Ryder. He was curious about what, if anything, they had uncovered regarding the mystery nurse in New York City, the woman who appeared to have a connection to the explosion that caused the death of Sara Whitley. He was curious – and he also had another motivation. He wanted to have all that out of the way before Beth got off work so they could start their weekend in peace. I have plans for you, Miss Turner. That thought, at least, made him smile. They could use some fun.
After a quick shower, he dressed, and hurried out the door, checking voicemail as he went. Josef! Damn! While he had spoken briefly with him on the phone, they had not seen each other since their return from New York - and Josef had made note of that fact. His message, inquiring after Mick's general health and well-being was obviously a signal, ending with "Come see me when you come up for air, Mick. I'm anxious to hear what you've found out."
"Okay, Josef, point taken," Mick muttered. His mentor – and nominal boss –wanted his just due and Mick, despite the personal matters claiming his attention, had a job to do. Josef had shown a side of himself in New York that Mick had never seen before - a man with emotions and deep feelings, someone who told him to spend the time he needed with Beth. If Josef's message was any indication, though, it appeared as if that man had once more disappeared.
After a mercifully uneventful drive across town, Mick found himself banging futilely on the door to Logan Griffen's lair. "Logan!" he shouted, scowling directly up into the security camera. "Logan! I know it's early! I need to talk to you! LOGAN!" He paused and listened. No answer. The frustration evident in his face, Mick decided to take matters into his own hands. Reaching inside his ever-present coat, he removed his pick-pocket kit and selected a small slender tool; within seconds, he had jimmied the lock. With a wave toward the camera, he put his tools away and entered Logan's inner sanctum.
"Logan!" This time, his banging and shouting – coming just outside Logan's freezer – had the desired effect. With a groan, the curly-haired vampire pushed open his freezer lid and sat up.
"Mick, what the hell? What time is it?" Logan looked at his fellow vampire, dismay written all over his youthful face. He shook his head at Mick's response.
"It's almost three o'clock, Logan. Get up!"
"I certainly hope you mean three in the morning, but I have a bad feeling you mean afternoon."
"Yeah, Logan. Afternoon. Tough night on World of Warcraft?"
"Noooo." Logan's guilty face belied his answer. "Well, maybe a little. But hey, Mick, Ryder and I have been working our asses off, trying to follow up on all the information we've found. I needed a break!" He climbed out of the freezer as he spoke, clad only in now-stiff sweat pants. "Gimme a minute to get dressed, okay?"
Mick's eyebrow arched at the site of the vampire's 'sleepwear', but he refrained from commenting on it. ""Hurry up, okay? I have to go see Josef and I need an update before I do." Mick wheeled and hurried out to Logan's computer area.
The mention of Kostan's name lit a fire under Logan. Throwing on fresh sweats, he hurried out to his bank of computers, where Mick was pacing impatiently.
"Lemme try to get Ryder online, okay? I think he should be in on this."
"Fine. Just hurry up!" Mick was determined to get the information he needed and meet with Josef before Beth got off work. He wanted – needed – an evening with her free of distractions or interruptions.
Logan had better luck rousing Ryder than Mick had encountered with him. Within a matter of minutes, England's friendly face appeared on the large computer monitor. Rubbing his eyes and yawning, he said, "Hi Logan. Hey Mick. What's going on?"
"Ah, Ryder, Mick here would like to know what we've found out. I thought you should be a part of the discussion."
"Fine by me. What's Logan told you so far, Mick?"
"Not a damn thing, Ryder, but I'd sure like for one of you to start!" Mick crossed his arms and waited impatiently.
"Okay, here's what we've got." Logan took a sip of blood from a glass that had obviously sat out for hours. He saw the face Mick made at the clotted, congealed sludge reflected in his computer screen and turned to his friend, his cherubic features clearly perplexed. "What?! It's fine! Excuse me, but I don't like to waste things." He turned back to his computer and began his recitation. "Okay, well, we told you that the info we had initially on this nurse was pretty much all fake. No, wait. I take that back. The R.N. license for New York seemed to be legit - but the coursework that is a requirement for a state nursing license may be bogus, right Ryder?"
"Yep. I'd bet a bag of blood on the R.N. license being a fake - and the college degree probably is too." Ryder's tone was morose. "When we got hold of the Renaissance personnel records, I checked her transcript. Supposedly, she got a nursing degree from Loyola University in New Orleans. But, her transcript definitely didn't look like the ones I found for other nurses from the same school when I compared the courses. And, Mick, this is really weird. We figured out that her phone numbers were activated shortly before she started working for Renaissance - and discontinued the morning after the fire. I mean, that's pretty suspicious, in and of itself."
Mick grunted. "Yeah. Yeah, it is. Can't think of any innocent reason for that."
Logan added eagerly, "For the past 2 days, we've tried reaching the references we pulled off her application on file in the Renaissance system yesterday - and guess what? None of those numbers are still active either. Looks like they were all discontinued shortly after she started working there. Yet, her file indicates that Renaissance talked to them all."
Frowning, his eyes dark with concern, Mick asked, "What else? Did you find anything to incriminate Renaissance itself?"
Logan hesitated and Ryder plunged in. "Well, I don't know for sure how Renaissance is involved in whatever happened, Mick, but I can tell you I've never seen the kind of firewalls and security that we encountered in their system anywhere outside the Pentagon. I can't think of any reason for a home health agency to have security like that. I've certainly never seen anything like it."
How could I have been so wrong about Judy Albert? The private investigator ran his hand through his hair in short, frustrated gestures. "What about her address? Credit card activity?"
"We have the address from her application. It's probably a dead end as well - I couldn't find a business or residence registered for that site. Couldn't really tell anything from Google Earth either; the buildings are all just too close together and the front doesn't make clear what the building is." Logan looked up from his computer screen with worried eyes. "I guess we could have someone physically go there and check it out. As far as credit card activity, that gets really crazy..."
"You mean the rest of this isn't crazy?!" Mick exclaimed, his frustration growing with each new revelation.
"Okay, okay, sorry! Crazier! Happy?" Logan amended. "Geez, Mick, chill out! Ryder and I traced her credit card records - her name is listed as Rebecca Bledsoe, by the way, but that's probably a fake too - and there are multiple airline ticket purchases."
"Where to?" Mick's eyes brightened. Maybe this was a clue to where to find the mysterious "nurse".
"You name it!" Ryder replied sarcastically, buttoning a rumpled plaid shirt over his lean frame as he read off the list in front of him. "Miami, New Orleans, Dallas, Chicago, Las Vegas... all originating from New York City for travel on different airlines on the same day - the morning after the fire."
Mick uttered a short, heartfelt expletive.
"I hear you! None of this makes sense to me." Ryder stared out at them from the computer screen.
"It does if you figure it's some kind of conspiracy." Logan glanced at Mick to see if more information would be forthcoming. I don't know if I want to know more or not...
"Right." Mick focused on the ceiling for a moment, hands on hips, thinking. "Okay, I want you guys to put all this in writing for me, including the specifics of what you found in the Renaissance intranet security..."
"Already done, Mick," Ryder jumped in.
"Good. Send it to me - and print it out for me too. I want you to dig into the airlines' records and find out which ticket she actually used - if she used any of them, which, right now, I doubt. Then, I want you guys to start looking for shipments and transfers of arms or munitions... and silver. Just in case. All up and down the Eastern Seaboard. Look for any reported thefts too. Let me know if you find anything. Anything at all."
"What are you going to be doing in the meantime, Mick?" Logan was curious... and concerned.
"I'm going to have a contact of mine in New York check some of this out in person - and I've got to talk to Josef."
Taking the printed pages out of Logan's hands, the worried P.I. disappeared up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Looking at Ryder's puzzled face on the computer screen in front of him, Logan stated the obvious. "Whatever is going on, it's a really fucked up situation - and now we're stuck in it."
Ryder nodded his head in agreement and responded, "Could be worse though."
"How?" Griffen asked gloomily.
"We could be in New York."
The two vampires set to work.
"Why, if it isn't my old friend, Mick St. John!" Josef Kostan turned from his perusal of the Dow Jones screen display to smile at his friend. There was no doubt, however, that the smile was not genuine.
The honeymoon's definitely over. So much for the kinder, gentler Josef Kostan..."I know, I know, Josef." Mick held up his hand to ward off any further comments from the elder vampire. "I should have been here yesterday."
"Yes you should have, Mick."
"What happened to 'take all the time you need with Beth'? Besides, did you want me to waste your time before I had anything to tell you?"
"Well! Your concern for not wasting my time is admirable!" Josef responded dryly, ignoring the comment about Beth. "Then, may I assume from your presence that you have some useful information for me?" He walked over to his friend and offered him a glass of the thick, red liquid that sustained them.
Mick accepted the glass gratefully and took a long drink before answering. "Right now, I feel like someone has given me the pieces to a very complicated jigsaw puzzle and kept the box." He hurriedly filled Kostan in on the information that Logan and Ryder had compiled, handing Josef the printout they had provided. He made a point to stress how valuable their efforts had been, an action that Logan would have appreciated had he been present to hear it. "I've got them looking into any munitions thefts or silver purchases, just to be safe."
"What about this so-called nurse?" Josef flipped through the pages of information as they talked.
"Well, I've also got them trying to find out exactly where she went when she left New York, but that's tricky, given all the tickets she bought. She might not have used any of them – in fact, I would bet your money that she didn't." Kostan snorted but said nothing, pausing to read some details related to the search for the missing woman.
Mick continued, "I'm going to get in touch with Gabby as soon as it's a decent hour in New York. I'll have her check out the address this woman listed on her application and ask her to go back and talk to our good friend, Judy Albert at Renaissance, again."
"Okay, I take it back. You have been doing something besides sleeping with the lovely Beth Turner. You are still sleeping with the lovely Beth Turner, aren't you?" Josef's dark eyes sparkled; he was never happier than when putting his best friend on the spot.
"Yes, Josef." Mick sighed. Here it comes. He had known he wouldn't get through this meeting without being grilled - again - on his personal life. Kostan seemed to need that sort of stimulation almost as much as blood. I guess that's the price I have to pay for his friendship...
"Good! I was afraid that Victoria might have put her off, but I can see that Beth is more mature than to be bothered by a little thing like some gorgeous 300-year-old female vampire with the hots for you." He smiled wickedly at his friend - a real smile this time.
"Well, I'd be lying if I said she was happy about Victoria answering my phone. As for the rest of it... I didn't mention it, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't either, Josef. It's behind us now." He looked pleadingly at his friend, knowing that the likelihood that Josef would agree to this was somewhere between slim and none.
"Well... I'll think about it, how's that? You have to admit, discussing this topic with Beth would be very awkward... and I do love awkward, as Simone has so accurately pointed out."
Studying his friend's crestfallen face, Josef snickered. "I'm kidding, Mick. I won't say anything...not even about the shower movie…You know I have a great deal of affection for Beth - and she's undeniably good for you. Although, I do have to say, for your sake, I certainly hope that Victoria and Beth never come face to face. They might end up with one of them holding you down while the other stakes you, and then having their way with you."
Mick shook his head at Josef's teasing at his expense as he got up from his friend's designer couch and headed toward the door, pausing to look back at the other vampire for a moment, one eyebrow cocked. "You know, that is one thing we can agree on, Josef. Those two meeting would probably be a disaster."
Let's just hope I'm wrong and that's the biggest worry you'll have... Josef mused silently as he watched his friend leave. Let's just hope I'm wrong.
End Song: Paranoid, Jonas Brothers