Chapter 30

Only Women Bleed

Furey was so desperate to have me come back and be with him, that I had to block him, bring the gate down as hard and fast as I could. I knew that if he knew where I was, then it was possible the killer did too, through Furey. My mood was rather testy. I was stressed by the events and there was no denying that I was missing Furey and Greg. I didn't want to leave them, not when Greg was so close to saying something about our future, but there would be no future with this guy running around so it was for the best that I broke off all contact, including psychic.

Quantico came back and told us that there had indeed been a man about three years ago who had offered his psychic abilities to solve a murder of a young woman who had been raped and stabbed to death. He was a phlebotomist who worked at Inova Alexandria Hospital near Reston, but upon checking, he no longer worked there. His name was Jerad Quarry and he had left the Reston area approximately two weeks before the woman went missing near Philadelphia. We immediately sent teams in to find out as much as possible about the guy.

I received the first report by encrypted email, including an update on information I had requested about new employees and vendors at PPTH. There were only fifteen new employees at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, only one of which was a phlebotomist, but it was a woman. We checked other hospitals in the area, but the only other new phlebotomist, at Trenton Mercy, was a black man who had transferred from another hospital in the same system.

But, I remembered the white coat when Fury made contact and the ease in which the man moved through the hospital. So I drove over to PPTH and did some research myself by canvassing the lab where they drew blood. I asked around about any new people, including new vendors. No one had any idea if anyone was new from the numerous vendors that came and went in the lab. Most indicated that they didn't pay much attention to the vendors and those that did, told me that they changed constantly. I was about to give up when I saw one rather dour woman who worked in the bowels of the hospital staring at me as I talked to others in the department. She ran assays on blood and other bodily fluids in a somewhat noisy lab full of noisy machinery.

I walked up to her, "I noticed you were listening to my conversation. Have you seen anyone new around here that sticks out?"

She was a plain woman with an eighties, 'curly' haircut. She was pudgy and probably in her late thirties. I got the distinct impression she was a soccer mom when she wasn't working in the lab. She nodded and spoke in a distinct Philly accent, "There is a guy who comes in from one of our outside labs. They send new people all the time, but this guy asked me directions to Princeton General so I figure he must be new to Princeton if he doesn't even know PG is less than two miles away."

I nodded. It was a long shot, but it made sense. This outside lab collected specimens that required more in-depth analysis, from each floor. He wouldn't be noticed walking around the hospital because he'd be dressed in a lab coat with a vendor's identification tag around his neck. The woman gave me a description from what she remembered. He was about 5'10", medium build, a full head of dark brown hair, parted on the top in the middle, brown eyes and the only thing remarkable about him was a one inch deep scar on his face. She forgot which side. She couldn't remember the name or the day that he had shown up. But the outside lab was Advanced Testing Centers.

I put my best research advisor from Quantico, Petra Olganovich, on the job. She found that there was a new "runner" at Advanced Testing by the name of Jerome Steinberg. He was twenty-nine, white and had joined AT approximately one month ago. According to AT, he didn't have a phlebotomist license in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, so they used him as a runner. He did claim on his application to be trained as a phlebotomist in California.

I called Freddie and Rhodes, telling them both that this man needed to be found and found soon. Apparently, Jerome Steinberg had the day off from his gopher job. He usually worked Wednesday through Sunday. Freddie sent a car to his apartment to bring him in for questioning, but he wasn't home. It made sense to me that if you were stalking someone, what better day to do it than to stalk them on your day off? It was almost nine at night. I decided to drive over to Greg's house to see if he was anywhere around. I plugged my cell phone into the dash board charger but I wasn't sure if the charge would work. The rather old cell phone had been giving me trouble. It wasn't holding a charge very well. I needed a new battery, maybe a new phone. Knocking loudly, I finally let myself into Greg's townhouse when there was no answer.

"Greg?"

There was no sound. I looked through the living room, but it was empty. So, I went into the kitchen to look around. I saw it immediately; a cabinet door was open. Shivers went up and down my spine. The one thing Greg hated were open cabinets or closet doors. He was tall enough that if someone left a cabinet door open, he usually ran into it. I yelled at him for the toilet seat, he chastised me about cabinet doors. I pulled my gun and waited to see if I heard anything. The house creaked, but it was normal timber creaks. I was about to holster my gun when I heard it-- the quiet click of the front door.

I ran from the kitchen to the living room and looked out the window just in time to see a man run like the wind around the corner. I ran out the door and after him, but he had too big a lead.

Jogging back inside to see if I could piece together what he had been up to in Greg's house, I saw that he must not have been there long, because the only area where I could see things had been disturbed was in the kitchen. There were pieces of mail on the floor next to where Greg stacked it on a counter. The mail was piled near the phone and answering machine. I checked the mail to see if there was anything of interest, but there wasn't. Then I checked the answering machine.

The led light flashed, 8:32 pm, for the time of the call, "Alright House," the feminine voice barked. I knew immediately it was Lisa Cuddy, "You said you'd be in twenty minutes ago. It doesn't take that long to dress and get your butt in here. Your new patient is slipping fast, we…oh, never mind, I see you and Furey now." Click.

Greg was at the hospital. I called Jim, who picked up sounding like death warmed over. I quickly ascertained from him that, yes, Greg had asked him to watch Furey, but his entire family was sick.

"Is Furey with Greg?"

"If he's not with you, he's probably with House."

I hung up and jumped in my car. By the time I got to the hospital I could feel Furey trying to contact me. But, I couldn't open the gate. I was afraid the perp would know I was now at the hospital if I did. I still didn't know what the man looked like or if he was really at the hospital. I turned on my cell, hoping to call Freddie or even Greg and warn them, but couldn't get a signal inside the hospital.

Hello Auri.

The voice was in my head, but I still jerked around to see where it came from, it was so clear.

Jerome? Jerad?

I could feel his amusement. Bravo, Auri. You're good…but then, you cheat, don't you? Guess what? He paused for a second, but I didn't respond. I see a boy, he's in your boyfriend's office playing on the computer.

Fear and anger flashed through me. You cross that line and it will be your last. You touch him and I will unleash the full force of what I can do on you.

He was curious, but still amused. Ewwww, Obi Won, what are you going to do …use your Jedi mind tricks on me?

Leave him alone. I was in the elevator traveling to the third floor.

Sorry Auri, but where's the fun in that?

I could feel that I was closing in on him. His presence was getting stronger as we physically got closer. But then, it started to feel weaker, he was moving away from me. I calmed myself down to allow myself to feel his presence. He was going down, but where?

Jarad? How did you get to and from California so quickly?

Can't you just use your Spidy senses and figure that out?

Fuck you.

(He laughed) My father works for FedEx. He's pretty high up, we get free rides anywhere, anytime.

That's why we haven't found you on any commercial liner.

I jumped out at the next floor and took the stairs down, following his imprint, until I reached the first floor. I was sure that we were going outside, that he was leaving. But he didn't, he kept going down into the bowels of the hospital. I wasn't sure what was down in the basement of the hospital and who we would encounter this late at night, but I just kept walking towards his presence.

Most of the doors were locked up tight. But I came to a double set of doors, neither which was locked. Inside were steel cabinets, firmly locked, and stainless steel counters with stainless steel sinks. I realized I was in some kind of kitchen, apparently where the food for the hospital was made during the day. I could see under a door in front of me that there was a light, but the door was locked. I looked through the window on the door and could see cooks and dishwashers, not many, a skeleton crew at best, but they were trying to handle the night requests and clean the dishes. They exited their side of the kitchen through another door that emptied into a hall next to a service elevator.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I sensed that he was close. My gun was still in my holster, so I started to reach for it. An image flashed of me, Furey's image of me, dying in a kitchen, this kitchen.

I heard a sound behind me, but as I turned, the cracking of my skull vibrated through me, I went down, blacking out as I hit the floor.