Author's note: I can't thank you guys enough for your support and patience on this story. Almost done! Is this all a little too deus ex machine? Should I stop pointing out the flaws in my own story? Yes… starting on next chapter…
Rex tapped his foot impatiently as he closed his phone after getting Natalie's voicemail again. He realized Natalie hadn't been missing for long, but he also knew that it didn't make sense for her to disappear now when they were finally making progress in their investigation. Trying not to fidget too much he watched the discussion taking place.
"I was fourteen when I moved in with my brother," David was saying, "naïve, eager to please. He got married right after I moved in to an intern from the hospital where he was a resident. It became apparent very quickly that all was not well in the Truman household. Paige… had a problem with controlled substances. I don't know where it started but it was very pronounced by the time she moved in. Alcohol mostly but I think there were pills from time to time. There were other things that didn't make sense until later—strangers that Spencer called colleagues though they didn't look like doctors to me. Hushed arguments he and Paige had from time to time. Then Spencer came to me one day and asked if I would like to help."
"Help what?" Bo asked.
"Don't interrupt," he scolded, "He told me that this guy Snyder was after him. That if he had his way we would all lose everything. Because I'm such a sensitive soul I couldn't bear the thought of harm coming to a brother I loved so much, so I agreed to help. That's when Spencer gave me a baseball bat and instructions on where I could find this guy alone."
"So it wasn't a mugging," Rex said, "you really did assault him."
"Yes," David admitted, "with some help. One of the football players from school who I'd managed to get some embarrassing information about. It wasn't until later that Paige told me, during one of her binges when Spencer was out, that she and Spencer and some of their colleagues had a nice side business selling pharmaceuticals from the hospital supply closet. I don't know if this guy Snyder had been involved or if he just found out about it, but he was threatening to go to the police. Me and the Louisville slugger were supposed to convince him otherwise."
"Apparently it worked," Bo said, "There's no record or any police investigation against Spencer."
"Well if there's no record of the investigation that's because Spencer took care of the records," he said, "because there was an investigation. I think Spencer was paying off some of the AC PD, but apparently not all of them were interested in his money. One cop in particular managed to gather a little too much evidence against them, but he was mysteriously shot before he could get enough to file charges."
"My dad," Michael said stunned.
David nodded, "I think so. But you have to believe me when I tell you I didn't know that till today and if you could please make sure you tell your brother that when he wakes up-"
"Vickers!" Bo said impatiently.
"Anyway," he said turning back to Bo and Hugh who were busily taking notes, "Paige suspected immediately that Spencer was responsible for the shooting and I guess that was a little too much for her to handle because at that point she threatened to go to the police, but Spencer stopped her by informing her she was just as responsible for that cop's death as he was. Apparently she'd worked on him in the ER that night while under the influence of Spencer knows what and botched the surgery. Or so he said. She didn't seem to remember much of that night, but that wasn't all that unusual back then."
"That's why she seemed so surprised when I told her she'd overdosed," Michael said, "she didn't remember."
"And it would seem that Spencer fudged the details," David continued, "According to his version, he covered up her mistake, devoted husband that he was, and framed Snyder for it."
"Killing two birds with one stone," Rex said, "he discredits Snyder and gains leverage on Paige."
"The killing didn't come till later," David said, "Snyder'd lost his career and didn't have much else to lose so he went back to threatening to tell. So Spencer had me make a phone call one night. I told Snyder that I was scared of Spencer, that I wanted out of his little operation but needed help getting away from him. He agreed to meet me in an empty alley."
"Where he was found dead the next morning," Michael said.
"I didn't know that was going to happen," David insisted, "but then afterwards Spencer explained to me in his charming way that I was officially an accomplice and he'd make sure my involvement was known if I ever said anything. I moved out not too long after, kinda hoped to never see him again. Clearly those hopes were dashed a few months ago."
"And you think John found out about all this?" Evangeline asked.
"He was looking into our father's murder," Michael said.
"And Truman was still free to repeat history," Bo said. Turning to Hugh he asked, "Well what do you think?"
"You definitely have enough to bring him in for questioning," he said, "probably for an arrest, but it's going to make it hard for the charges to stick if all we have is their word." He indicated Layla and David.
"Hey guys," Rex said, interrupting, "Not to change the subject, but Nattie's still not picking up her phone and I'm really starting to worry."
"Could she have gone by to see John?" Michael asked, "She wouldn't be able to use her phone in his room with all the machines."
"Maybe," Rex said sounding as though his worries hadn't been eased at all.
"Well I need to head over to the hospital to chat with Truman," Bo said as he rose to his feet and grabbed his jacket, "we can look for her while we're at it. And later," he gave Rex and Michael a stern look, "you two and Natalie can explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to conduct this investigation without talking to me."
Natalie tried not to let her panic show as she raced down the stairs after Dr. Truman. John had called out to her and she arrived to discover he had evidently suffered some sort of set back. Her gut told her that Truman was likely to blame for the set back, but at this point accusing him could interfere with John's treatment, so she kept her mouth shut. Truman's concern for John had to be an act, but why was he bothering? She struggled to keep her worry fro John from clouding her perception of anything suspicious Truman did…
She realized suddenly that they were in an empty basement corridor that seemed to contain only labs and offices. Why would they have taken John down there? "Where are we going?" she asked as soon as the thought occurred to her.
Truman took about ten more steps down the hall then paused and wordlessly turned to face her.
"What's going on?" she demanded, "Where's John?"
"Upstairs in his room," he replied opening the door beside him, "now if you'll please step inside-"
Realizing that in her panic over John she'd stepped into a trap Natalie turned to run but an arm circled around her chest as Truman pulled her back against him. With his free hand Truman held a syringe in front of her face as he murmured in her ear, "I wouldn't advise struggling further. Now if you would please…"
Natalie allowed herself to be pulled backwards into the room which appeared to be a small laboratory. Once he'd closed the door and locked it behind them he shifted his grip to her arm and spun her out so she could face him.
"What's in the needle?" she asked not taking her eyes off of it.
"A virus," he said calmly, "a rare tropical one almost unheard of in Pennsylvania, but the Buchanans seem to have some sort of genetic predisposition to it—your brother Kevin contracted it not too long ago."
"That was you?" she asked as it began to dawn on her that Truman was behind more than just what had happened to John.
"Yes," he smirked, "that was me."
"I don't understand," she said, trying to keep him talking in the hopes he would reveal something else, "Why would you want to kill Kevin?"
"No," he said in a patronizing tone, "if I had wanted Kevin dead he would be. It's a virulent strain, but not one an otherwise healthy adult can't survive without treatment. Of course, it can have unfortunate side effects. Your brother's sterility, for example. And one must wonder what it would do to your unborn child." Looking at Natalie's startled expression he said, "Yes, I know that you're pregnant and I know that John McBain is the father. Imagine my delight in discovering something that could give me leverage over both Lieutenant McBain and Asa Buchanan."
"Asa?" she asked in genuine confusion, "What does my grandfather have to do with this?"
"Your grandfather, my father," he said.
"Really?" Natalie asked dubiously.
"You aren't denying it," he said, "I'm surprised but I appreciate that."
"Well how do I know who Asa slept with fifty years ago?" she shrugged, "but if you want people to be impressed you picked the wrong family. The long lost child thing is a bit overdone with this one."
"Yes," he smiled, "you would know about that, wouldn't you?"
"I do," she nodded, "though I'll confess to being somewhat amazed that the actions of a world renowned surgeon in his fifties so closely mirror those of a twenty-one year old college student."
"You fail to see the depth of my plan," he said, "but no matter. I'm not really interested in your opinion."
"So why do you want John dead?" she asked, "or are you going to try to pretend you meant to leave him alive?"
"No, Lieutenant McBain was supposed to die," he said, "but I failed to properly estimate the thickness of his skull or the response time of the Llanview emergency services. An error on my part, I'll admit, but even if he does recover I don't think he'll be a problem in the future. He has some information he needs to forget, but I suspect he'll be willing to now. He won't risk causing harm to his child or leaving behind a fatherless child the way his father did in pursuit of a mere drug trafficking case."
"That's a good plan," Natalie nodded, "but you made another miscalculation."
"And what's that?" he asked, clearly not believing her.
"Your leverage doesn't exist," she said, "I'm not really pregnant."
Caitlyn leaned forward and kissed John on the forehead then whispered something in his ear that made no sense. As he pulled back and gave her a quizzical look she smiled at him sadly one last time as her image began to blur. "Wait!" he called but he suspected she didn't hear.
Everything around him began to fade and he felt suddenly as though he were falling. Then he hit the ground with a jolt.
There were voices. People in his room. Worried about something or someone.
Michael opened the door to John's room but found his mother sitting next to the bed, not Natalie. "Michael?" she asked seeing the worried expression on his face, "Is something wrong?"
"Not sure," he said, "have you seen Natalie?"
"No," she said, "not for a while."
"I did," Marcie said approaching Michael from behind.
"You saw her?" Michael asked, "When?"
"Just a little bit ago," she said, "I don't know, half and hour tops. She was walking down the hall with Dr. Truman. She looked really upset about something."
"Did you find her?" Rex asked as he joined them.
"Marcie saw her with Truman," he said.
Rex cursed.
"What's going on?" Eve asked.
"I can't find Truman anywhere," Bo said as he joined them. Michael and Marcie stepped into the room so that they wouldn't all be crammed in the doorway. "He's not in his office, he's not in the OR. Any idea where he would have gone?"
"No," Michael said, "but Natalie's with him."
"What?" Bo asked, "Why?"
"We don't know," Rex said.
"But Marcie saw them together," Michael explained.
"Where were they headed?" Bo asked, "Did it look like they were leaving the hospital?"
"No," Marcie said pointing down the hall, "they were going that way."
"There are stairs down there," Bo said, "great. They could be anywhere."
"Did Natalie look okay?" Rex asked.
"She looked worried," Marcie explained, "at first I assumed maybe something had happened to John so I came down here but everything seemed to be okay. What's going on? Why are you looking for Dr. Truman?"
"We'll explain later," Bo said as he pulled out his radio, "I need back up down here at Llanview hospital to search the premises for Dr. Spencer Truman."
"Bo?" Paige asked as she appeared behind him in the doorway, "what's going on?"
"We need to talk," Bo said, "but I need to find Truman first, do you know where he is?"
"No," Paige said shaking her head.
"We believe he's still in the hospital-"
"Hey guys," Michael said glancing back and John's monitors which were showing increased activity, "maybe we should move this discussion out of the comatose patient's room."
Bo nodded in agreement as they began to process slowly out of John's room.
"B12," a hoarse voice said behind them.
Everyone jumped and turned to look, startled as John's eyes fluttered open. "John!" Eve said rushing to his side, "You're awake!"
John took a moment to scan the crowd in his room before mumbling, "Natalie. Where's Natalie?"
Bo, Rex, and Michael looked among themselves nervously, no one wanting to tell the injured man that they didn't know where Natalie was and that she might very well be in danger. Finally Bo said, looking calmly at John, "We aren't sure."
"B12," he repeated.
"You said that right as you woke up," Eve said, "what does that mean?"
"I don't know," John said, fighting the sluggish feeling in his mouth, "Caitlyn said it right before she left."
"Um… Johnny," Michael said, "what are you talking about?"
"Caitlyn…" John said, aware he was probably making no sense to anyone but unable to find the words to explain, "She was here. She said Natalie was in trouble and then she said 'B12'."
"B12," Bo repeated, "what is that? Besides a type of plane."
"Could it be a room number?" Rex asked as his mind raced to uncover the meaning.
"That would be in the basement," Michael said.
"Spencer has a lab down there," Paige said, her eyes widening.
Without waiting to respond Bo started down the hallway as he called into his radio for back up to meet him in the basement. Rex followed at his heels. John tried to sit up but found he could only summon the strength to half roll onto his side. He tried again, grunting with the effort. "Johnny," Michael said walking to his side and putting his hands on his shoulders, "calm down."
"I have to go," John argued weakly, "I have to find her."
"Bo and Rex will find her," Michael said firmly, "she's gonna be okay. But you're not if you don't lie back. You just woke up after three and a half days in a coma after being shot in the head. You have a fractured skull, okay? You're not in any condition to go anywhere right now."
John collapsed back against the pillows. It wasn't really out of any agreement with Michael, but he couldn't force his muscles to function any longer.
"Nice try," Spencer said calmly, "but hardly believable. I overheard your tearful admission at Lieutenant McBain's bedside."
"You overheard me because I said it loudly with the door open," Natalie explained, "Did it not occur to you I wanted to be overheard?"
"And why would you make up something like that?"
"Because you're not the first sociopath to go after John," she said, "And you're not the first to try to get to him through those close to him. After that medication error, which I can only assume you were responsible for, I decided I needed something to tempt whoever was after him away from attacking John himself. I figured if I'm an attractive target normally me and John's baby would be irresistible, and look, I was right."
Spencer studied her face carefully. "You're good, Natalie. I'll be honest I can't say for certain whether you were lying then or you're lying now. Of course it would be simple enough to take a sample of your blood and run a pregnancy test, but time is a factor. Judging from the conversation I had with my ex-wife a short time ago you've been asking a few too many questions and getting far too many answers. Depending on who you've talked to I might have to make my exit very quickly. I could always take you with me I suppose-"
"Except I'm not likely to go along quietly," she pointed out.
"Oh I think you will," he said brandishing the syringe once more, "pregnant or not you will only survive this virus if you get treatment. If I leave you locked in here it's very unlikely anyone would find you in time. It's not a pleasant disease—it would be a very painful and lonely way to die. And what's to stop me from heading upstairs afterwards and slipping a little into Lieutenant McBain's IV? In his weakened condition do you really think he could survive it?"
"Fine," she said, trembling with a mixture of fear and hatred, "I'll go with you. Do whatever you want with me, just leave John alone."
Spencer pulled her closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Good girl," he said, "This is what we're going to do--We're going to walk just like this out through the loading dock. If you try to scream or get away or signal to anyone this syringe will be in your arm in an instant. Understand?"
Natalie nodded mutely.
To be continued.