11
The next morning C.J. woke up feeling worse. Her husband lay sleeping beside her and although she knew he would tell her, 'I told you so', she decided to run downstairs and call in to Carol, her sorority sister, now doctor.
She extracted herself quietly and slowly and noticed the clock read that it was still only 6:45am but hoped she wouldn't wake Carol up when she called. Carol had told her before that she has to get up at 6 to start getting ready for rounds if she has patients in Meadow Woods.
Carol answered right away and C.J. told her about her throat. Carol asked, "So, are you running a fever?"
C.J. rummaged around in the cabinet in their kitchen that they kept medications and found the thermometer. "I'll know in a minute. While I'm waiting on this thing why don't you tell me about you and Jared. Are you two getting serious?"
Carol then spent the next ten minutes telling C.J. how in love she was with him. That their only problem was how self conscious he would get sometimes when she had to go to parties with other doctors from time to time. Other than that, she hoped he would propose soon. She said she didn't care if he bought her a big ring or not, she was just so in love with him and had so much fun with him. "He's so different from every other guy I've ever dated. He's taken me to all sorts of places I've never been. C.J...I went to this little dirty bar and had the time of my life watching him play pool and clean up, you know. He's the first guy that hasn't really had a problem with my job being more prestigious than his, not like Randolph...that last loser I dated who kept reminding me that he was up for head of Angeles Memorial just so I knew he had more influence than I did. Oh C.J., he's always leaving me something at the nurse's desk...sometimes its a single rose or a brownie from the cafeteria...they aren't big things, but they mean so much more than anything Randolph gave me...you know what I mean?"
C.J. sighed and smiled, "Yes, I know what you mean...you ready to hear my temperature?"
Carol then said, "Oh, oh yes, I'm sorry...I just get wrapped up in him when I get to talking about him...I just can't help myself."
If C.J.'s throat weren't so sore, she would have laughed harder but she did chuckle, "I understand, but Carol, its reading 100.8.". She coughed and then started to say, "Matt's gonna..." she sighed.
She didn't hear him come up behind her. He had woken up to an empty bed and went looking for her. So from behind she heard, "Matt's gonna what?"
C.J. closed her eyes and turned around, "Matt's gonna want me to come see you today Carol. Any chance I can get in this morning?" Matt furrowed his brow and took his hand, gently placing it on her forehead as he looked her in the eye. She could see concern there but not judgment. He leaned over, brushed the hair back and kissed her forehead and then ran his hand through her hair until she got off the phone.
Carol told her, "Sure, come to Angeles Memorial. I have a secondary office over there now. Its in the Doctor's Suite I building next door, room 408. I'll be over there around 10. You won't have to sign in, just come on back. Its a research space not a regular patient office, but I have everything there I will need."
C.J. told her, "I'll see you then, Angeles Memorial, room 408." As she put the phone down her husband rubbed her back.
She turned back to him and he asked, "So...how high is it?" as he kept his arms around her.
She told him, "Its over 100, but not 101 so yes...I am going to see Carol. I guess I should probably just hang around here until about 9 or so. I can take my time getting ready and get some breakfast before heading over there."
He ran his hand through her hair again and said, "And then after your appointment, you can come home and get back in bed. Uncle Roy and I were just going to work today on trying to figure out a way to catch whoever is harassing Laci and Blaze. You can think from bed, right?"
She coughed as she was about to protest. He took her hand and led her back upstairs and told her once they got to the bedroom, "I know you are independent, just fine and don't need my help, but let me take care of you for a little while, ok? Why don't you get back in bed and let me make you breakfast, hum."
She started to shake her head and told him, "Matt, you don't have to..."
He kissed her hand and told her, "I know I don't have to...I want to...because I love you." He brushed back the hair from one side of her face and then walked with her over to the bed. She got in and he tucked her in then sitting beside her asked, "Any over the counter medicine you want me to bring up?"
She nodded her head and said, "Maybe some pain reliever to get the fever down, but that's all...oh and my cough drops. They're still in my purse on the couch."
He nodded and went down. She could hear him on the phone calling down to the Boardwalk Bakery offering to tip well to anyone who would bring over her favorites. Then she heard a glass break and him yell up, "Its ok, I'm fine, just dropped a glass...stay in bed." Then she heard him cleaning it up and the door bell ring. Next thing she knew he stood before her with a tray of her favorites from the bakery, a banana and orange juice along with two pain relievers and her bag of cough drops.
"Here ya go..." he said as he sat it down in front of her. "I'm going to go get ready to head in. You just stay here and take your time getting ready to go see Carol. Call me after your appointment, ok?"
She nodded as she ate the banana and he left to go shower and change. When he came out of the closet dressed he sat back down on the bed and felt her head again then said, "You feel cooler than before. I think the pain reliever worked. Do you feel any better?" He tucked some of the blankets around her again.
She smiled and told him, "Maybe...I'm sure Carol can give me a prescription that will make all this go away, I'm sure." He kissed her one more time before grabbing his gun and tucking it behind him. He told her, "Just take your time and let me know, alright. I'll lock the doors behind me and set the alarm...I love you."
She told him, "I love you" and blew him a kiss as he left.
She slowly got up and turned on the water to the shower.
Matt pulled out and drove off.
Roy Turner walked out from behind the bushes by the beach house and ran his hand over the window, open downstairs. He looked around for a second before leaving himself.
Matt and Roy paced around and around the office. Neither one comfortable with the fact that they couldn't figure out how to catch whoever it was that was harassing Laci and Blaze.
The phone rang and Chris answered it. She called in to the penthouse, "Houston...Hoyt's on line 3."
Matt called back, "Thank you Chris." He picked up the phone and asked, "What's up Hoyt."
Hoyt answered, "Me, I'm up...been up for 24 straight hours now...I got the report from Mack on that couple in the park, Margaret Nelson and Carlos Balones. They were poisoned. Apparently its a slow acting poison which meant that the couple probably ingested it at dinner and died around midnight. Maybe even as they walked through the park."
Matt digested that, "So, that means our killer is drugging them in some way, all of his or her victims. That way they don't fight back."
Hoyt nodded his head, "Yeah, but we know whoever it is, has to have some strength with the way Mays was put in the hot tub at that spa."
Matt rubbed his forehead, "Yeah I know..."
Hoyt asked, "What are you thinking?" as he took his 5th cup of coffee from the officer that had just walked into his office, handing it to him.
Matt just sighed, "I don't know...I mean I know these murders are tied to the harassment my clients are receiving, but I don't know how it all connects."
Suddenly Matt caught Chris jump, startled from her desk. Matt told him, "Hang on Hoyt..." he sat the phone down and rushed out to the lobby.
"Chris...what's wrong?" he asked as he got to her desk. It appeared all the blood had just run drained from her face and she was blinking.
"I...I...I don't know what that is..." she said as she pointed to an envelope as she stepped further and further back. "It was addressed to you and C.J."
Matt walked around with Roy right behind him and found a legal sized envelope with something crawling out of it...a spider.
Matt stepped on it and Roy said, "Easy there...how are we supposed to figure out what it is if you squash it til its unrecognizable".
Matt just looked at his uncle for a second and then used the envelope to scoop it up with and carried it over to the table and slid it off. Both looked it over and Matt pointed to the back of it, "Look at that, it looks like a violin..." He blinked for a second and then rushed over to Chris and asked, "Did it bite you?" he put his hands on her arms and looked her in the eye.
She was still clearly shaken up but replied, "No, I never touched it. As soon as I opened it, it slid to the bottom and I dropped it." Matt nodded his head and went back to the penthouse.
Roy said, "A brown recluse...one of the worst spiders in these parts...likes to hide in tight, dark spaces." He noticed Matt take the envelope and look for a return address. He rubbed his forehead. There wasn't any address including the address to the building, so Matt figured someone dropped it off. Without saying a word he took off to the elevator down to the second floor mail room to get answers.
Roy told Hoyt, still on the phone, "Hoyt...someone just sent Matlock and C.J. a deadly spider."
Hoyt blinked and told him, "Did it bite anyone?"
Roy answered, "No, we got it in time. We'll send the envelope it came in over to your place to be examined?"
Hoyt took a deep breath and answered, "Sure thing. I'll send a cruiser over for it now, just bag it. Take care."
C.J. slowly got ready and went downstairs. When she grabbed her purse, she noticed the window open. She thought that was strange and looked around for a second to see if anything was missing before closing and locking it. She sneezed again before heading out to her car.
She was about halfway to Angeles Memorial Hospital when she saw a car blow through the intersection ahead of her hitting a young man on a skateboard. She saw someone, large but with a coat, hat, and glasses on place a baseball bat in the man's hand and something white. Her light turned green and she was already calling the police when she turned her car to block traffic from hitting the young man sprawled out on the pavement in front of her.
C.J. had basically told the dispatcher that a pedestrian was seriously injured at the intersection of Eastdale and Highland. Jumping out she threw her door shut despite the cars honking, going around hers not having seen the accident. She stopped and caught her breath as she realized the young boy's neck had been broken. She started leaning on the hood of her car, closing her eyes. Then she noticed something in the middle of the road, a slip of paper or a business card. 'That must be what I saw the driver put in his hand' she thought to herself. Darting almost through traffic and motioning for cars to stop, she ventured out and picked it up. Her eyes widened when she read it after getting back to her car. It was a ticket to a baseball game that had engraved on the bottom, Courtesy of Laci and Blaze...Play Ball!
Warren pulled up shortly after the nearby cruisers arrived on scene to direct traffic and cover the body. He walked up to C.J. who he told to just sit in her car. "So, you saw the car approach from your left as you were sitting at Eastdale and Glasglow Drive..."
C.J. nodded, almost in shock. The boy looked so young to her and it was just sinking in that only 20 minutes ago he was just skating around, probably without a care in the world, and now...he was gone. His parents...his friends...his family...she just closed her eyes and then focused on Warren and answered, "Yes...I didn't see the driver that well and didn't get a real good look at the vehicle either...Aren't there cameras all around here?"
Warren shook his head, "Not for another block or so. No one else got to see much either. I almost wish you had been closer because I know I could trust your account. You would take note of the make and model. In fact, its fortunate that you were here. I doubt anyone else would have noticed the baseball ticket in the middle of the road, much less thought to grab it." She was nodding her head, but still staring forward. He noticed how it affected her and said, "Well, that is almost...are you going to be ok? Do you want me to have one of the guys drive you back to the office?"
He asked that as he put his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him and said, "No, that won't be necessary. I'll be fine. I have a doctor's appointment I need to get to..." her voice trailed off as she saw the coroner finish zipping up the body bag and lead the stretcher to his van. She asked softly, "Were you able to identify him?"
Warren nodded his head and said, "Yes, he had a school ID..." She closed her eyes again, "his name was Trenton Wells and he was a sophomore at the high school three blocks away. I'm going over there now to make the notification." He looked away for a second, "I hate doing those...especially with someone so young."
C.J. nodded back to him and said, "I can't imagine...You don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine."
He threw her a little smile and told her, "You can drive off now. I'll let you know if I learn anything. So far you are essentially the only one who has been able to see this serial killer." She nodded and after patting her shoulder again, he walked off and she left to go see Carol.
Carol greeted her but noticed something was wrong right away. Her smile as she approached turned into a look of concern, "C.J. is everything ok? Are you ok?"
C.J. looked up as she had been looking down as she walked through the fourth floor of the building and tried to smile when she said, "I'm ok really. I just witnessed a bad auto pedestrian accident...well actually I'm not sure it was an accident...anyway, I'm here to get looked at, so..."
Carol put her arm around C.J. and led her back into the office. "You look a little shaken up."
C.J. said, "Yeah, I am...the boy was only a sophomore in high school...the boy that was hit by the car...so young..." her voice started to trail and then she coughed.
Carol went into doctor mode, "Ok, so how long have you had this cough?" She asked as she began feeling around C.J.'s neck.
C.J. answered, "Just a few days. I figured I caught whatever this is when I drove to the office in my bikini."
Carol stopped abruptly and asked, "You drove to work in your bikini? C.J. I know you and Houston are basically newlyweds, but really..."
They both laughed and C.J. explained to Carol exactly what happened. Carol told her, "How awful..." she looked into C.J.'s throat with her small doctor's flashlight and after checking her ears as well told her, "I think you might have strep throat."
C.J. closed her eyes and put her head back in the chair, "No, really?" Ugh, she thought.
Carol took out a device to take a sample and told C.J. to stay put and she would be right back. She went down the hall to a lab to ask them to just run it real quick and then came back with the results. "You have strep throat. The sample was positive for the bacteria" she told her as she came in the door.
C.J. just took a deep breath and said, "Ugh...so I guess that means I have to go home and go to bed?"
Carol was writing down a prescription on her pad and then handed it to her. "That probably isn't a bad idea. Sounds like the day was rough enough already. Here take this and fill it...they're antibiotics and will help keep Matt from getting it as it will cut down on the amount of time you are contagious. Drink plenty of fluids, eat some soup for example for lunch, and try to get some rest. In about 3 or 4 days you should be feeling much better."
C.J. took the prescription and headed out. She chose a different route to get home and stopped by the pharmacy closest to the beach house. Once she got in, she went to call Matt. Chris told her he had to run downstairs and she would give him the message to call home when he got back.