A/N Okay, so maybe I should apologize for all of the cliff-hanger chapters. I hope you guys don't really mind them too much because it makes it fun to end it like that. I still don't own the fabulous characters in the story. Hope you enjoy and please leave a review.
Chapter Eighteen
Frank's POV
I came back a little while later to Nancy's hospital room to find her and Joe going through the stack of papers Carlisle brought over earlier. After putting the papers aside, we all dug in to the soup and sandwiches that I picked up at a nearby deli.
Even though I knew that Joe would always prefer a bacon cheeseburger, I didn't want to give Nancy something like that while she was still in the hospital. I figured that a bowl of soup and a sandwich would probably be a nice change from whatever she's been eating here for the past couple days.
When we finished eating and I disposed of all the trash, we were ready to get started looking through the paperwork again.
"Okay, do you want to break this up at all?" I asked looking between Nancy and Joe.
"It might make it easier," Nancy agreed.
"Okay, I'll look through the spreadsheets for the raw materials and you guys can split up the finished product batches that were made," Joe suggested.
We spent several hours looking through the spreadsheets. It took me a while to really get the hang of what I was looking at on the sheets of paper even with Carlisle tutorial earlier today. Once I did get the hang of it, I kept trying to look for a particular pattern to show up, but I wasn't seeing one. I didn't want to give up on this potential clue so easily, so by the time the night nurse showed up, I decided it was time to pack up the paper and take it to the house.
Joe and I quickly put all of the paperwork away as Renata came in to check Nancy's vital signs for the evening. I didn't think it would really matter if a nurse saw them because there was no way she would know what we were actually looking at. However, Carlisle did want to keep this from prying eyes, so I felt obligated to him to make sure that no one saw it if I could help it.
I saw Renata look at the papers Joe and I were putting away in a binder before she turned back to her task of writing down all of the vital sign statistics.
She left a few minutes later and I stood up. "Nan, I think we're going to head back to the house."
Nancy smiled up a me. "Okay, I guess I'll try to get some sleep. Let me know if you find anything out."
"You'll be the first to know if we do," I promised. "For now, just get some rest."
"Bye Nancy," Joe said. "We'll see you again tomorrow."
With a quick goodbye to her, Joe and I walked out of the room and headed for the car.
"So, do you have any ideas about what's going on?" Joe asked as we were driving back.
I shook my head, "No, I haven't been able to really find a pattern, but I don't want to give up too easily."
"I agree. There's something about this possibility that just seems like we're on the right track," Joe replied.
"Well, I guess if we can actually find a pattern in it all, it would definitely give us a potential motive for wanting somebody dead," I stated. "We just have to figure out how it would end up linking back to Jane."
"True," Joe said. "Of course, that is a big 'if'."
We pulled up to the house a few minutes later. I walked inside behind Joe only to find just about everyone already hanging out in the living room.
"Hey man, how's Nancy?" Emmett asked.
"She's doing better," I answered. "I wouldn't imagine that she'll be out of the hospital any time soon though."
"I bet that's driving her crazy," Edward remarked. "From what little time I've spent around her, she seems to be the type that always needs to be out doing something instead of sitting around watching television."
I nodded in agreement. "If she could check out of the hospital right now, I'm sure she would."
"So, did you guys come up with anything else?" Rosalie asked.
"Yeah, any good clues?" Alice added excitedly.
"Nothing so far," Joe admitted. "Carlisle gave us a bunch of spreadsheets for the raw materials that came in as well as the stuff that's been made, but we haven't found any patterns in them so far."
"Maybe we could help," Bella offered. "Since we work at the company, I suppose there's the possibility that we might notice something that you guys wouldn't."
"That's not a bad idea actually," I admitted.
Soon, we had all the spreadsheets laid out across the floor and were sitting around them as a big group. As a group, we worked in silence. I was still trying to work out a pattern in the rejected batches of product hours later when we all began yawning.
"This stuff makes my head hurt," Rosalie spoke up finally.
"Guys, this is kind of interesting," Emmett said.
"What did you find?" I asked moving closer to him.
Emmett was focusing on the raw materials that came in since that was his department at work. He pointed toward one of the spreadsheets where he had highlighted some of the rejected batches.
"I remember the investigations we did on these batches a few months ago," Emmett responded. "The initial testing showed that the codeine that we got from the supplier wasn't at the purity level we require to release it. There was a big to-do about it because we had never had any trouble from that supplier before and all of a sudden we get three out of five of their lots that appeared to be contaminated."
"So what happened?" Joe asked.
"Well, I remember someone calling another company that gets their codeine from the same source. Their supply checked out, so everyone thought that it must have been contaminated out back in manufacturing," Emmett recalled.
"How could that happen?" I asked.
"Several ways actually," Edward piped up. "We've had cases where someone weighs out too much of an ingredient and ends up putting the excess back in the wrong drum. There could be bags breaking before they make into the tank and contaminate other things that were left uncovered."
"So it was decided that this codeine got contaminated in manufacturing?" I asked Emmett to make sure I understood exactly what he was saying.
"That's what the people above us decided in the write-up of the investigation," Emmett supplied. "I never agreed with it though."
"How come?" Joe questioned.
"I don't think it became contaminated there because we would have sampled it before it was ever moved into the manufacturing area to be used in the first place," Emmett explained. "We sample the raw materials as soon as they come in. That's usually when they are still in the warehouse. They don't get moved into the manufacturing area until we've released them after our testing is complete."
I sucked in a breath at that. "So what you're saying is that since no other company apparently had a problem with this shipment of codeine, someone intentionally contaminated it?"
Emmett nodded grimly, "That's exactly what I'm saying."
"Okay, for the sake of the argument," I began, "if the codeine was intentionally contaminated so that it would be rejected, what happens to it from there?"
"Typically, the rejected batches would be gathered up and sent off to another facility where they would then be disposed of," Jasper told me.
"That means that if this was intentional, someone might have known how to intercept that shipment," Joe said.
"But what could be gained from that?" I mused.
"Money," Alice said. "Stuff like that could be sold illegally and generate a lot of cash."
I saw Carlisle walk in on our discussion toward the end and looked up hoping he might have something to offer.
"What do you think?" I asked him. "Is this possible or not?"
Carlisle looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking. "I'm not going to say that this is impossible, but you do realize how many people would have to be in on it, right?"
Edward nodded in agreement, "We realize that, but it just seems like the most logical solution to what's going on."
"What I want to know," Joe spoke up, "is how all of this could be going on under Carlisle's nose?"
Carlisle chuckled at that. "Well, I might be the plant manager, but I sometimes get so busy with meetings that these investigations aren't really anything I pay close attention to. I've always let those matters be handled by the department managers in question, instead of trying to micromanage anything. Otherwise, I would probably never get all the work done that gets stacked up on my desk."
"Okay, so Carlisle doesn't hear about anything going on, but Jane either finds out about it or was involved in the first place," I speculated.
"I'm going to say that she probably wasn't involved in the first place," Bella said. "I just can't see her doing something illegal."
"Bella, that lady was a witch," Rosalie pointed out. "I think you're trying to idolize her or something."
"I'm not trying to idolize her, Rose, I just don't think she would be the type to let this go on if she knew about it," Bella responded.
"Okay, hypothetically speaking," I began, "Jane finds out about somebody selling drugs for profit on the streets. If Bella's assumption is correct, then that means that Jane most likely confronted the person about what was going on."
"Which leads us to that person hiring Felix to kill her in order to gain her silence," Joe added.
"So who would be the person in charge?" Emmett mused.
"I vote for Aro," Joe said. "Maybe he wants to make even more money than the company pays him."
Carlisle shook his head. "I don't agree with that. Aro loves this company and I will never believe that he would have anything to do with bringing his company down."
"The next two guys in charge are Aro's brothers, correct?" I asked Carlisle.
"Yes, Marcus and Caius," Carlisle confirmed. "Marcus is in charge of Operations and serves as Aro's second in command. Caius deals with everything involving the finances."
"Do you think either of them could have something to do with this?" I asked Carlisle.
"I really can't see any of the Volturi brothers doing this. I understand why you guys would look at them for the investigation, but I just don't believe you'll find anything there," Carlisle told me.
A short while later Carlisle retired for the night and left all of us still considering the possibilities of who might be behind the murder.
Jasper was sitting back looking thoughtful for a while. I really liked the guy. He seemed to have a level of calmness no matter what the situation might be. I could picture him as a detective like us really. He not only maintained a cool and collected manner, but he also had a way of seeing the logic behind something that some people might not notice.
"So, what are you so contemplative about, Jasper?" I asked finally.
Jasper rubbed his chin with his hand before turning to look me in the eye. "If I were a betting man, I'd wager that Caius is the one behind it all."
"What makes you think that?" Alice asked.
I leaned forward a little because I was very interested in what Jasper's thought process behind his deductions was.
"Well, I agree with Carlisle that it can't be Aro behind this," Jasper began. "It just doesn't make sense to me. If Aro was the one behind it all, then he wouldn't have been so eager to call you guys in and let you more or less have free reign within the company day after day. He also stands to lose more if word of this got out to the public. It's his company featuring his name, so if his name is tarnished, the company's name is also tarnished regardless of how much of a comeback the company makes after the fact."
"Okay, I'm with you so far," I said nodding.
"Now, I know you guys don't know a whole lot about Marcus," Jasper resumed. "Marcus is the type of guy who prefers to see everything run smooth as silk. He doesn't like problems or anything falling behind schedule. In fact, I would almost want to classify him as OCD in his business manner. Everything needs to be perfect all the time. I can't imagine actually working closely with a guy like that," Jasper said with a slight shake of his head. "Anyway, I think Marcus is too rigid to be pulling the strings behind this kind of operation."
"You're right about us not knowing Marcus," I told him. "Neither Joe nor I have actually met the guy, so we'll take you at your word for now."
"That leads to Caius," Jasper continued. "I seriously doubt that anyone under those three have the financial means to afford a guy like Felix based on what I've heard from you guys. Now, I will be the first to admit that I don't know a whole lot about the guy. I've only met him once when I first started working here, and there's very little that we hear about him through company gossip. What I can tell you is that my first impression of the guy is that he is tricky. He gives off that calm exterior to everyone but behind it all, I think he's cold and calculating. Now, I would think there has to be an underlying reason why Caius might turn against his brothers, but I wouldn't know what that might be. I just know that he has the financial means and I would wager that he's got the mentality to do something like this as well," Jasper finished.
I sat back and raised my eyebrows. "That was definitely well thought. I can't say whether or not you're right about your perceptions, but I think Joe and I will try to find out some more about all three of the brothers."
"These guys definitely have to be behind this," Joe spoke up.
"Well, at least one of them," I replied.
We were all jolted out of our reflections on Jasper's revelations by the shrill ringing of the telephone. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was past midnight.
"Who would be calling this late?" Edward grumbled as he stood up and headed over to the nearby phone in the room.
"Hello?" he answered.
I watched as his face paled a little before he turned to me. "I think you better take this, Frank."
I stood up and walked over to where Edward was holding out the phone to me. I gave him a questioning look, but his eyes wouldn't meet mine. I hesitantly grabbed the phone and said, "Hello, this is Frank Hardy."
"Frank, you need to come to the hospital," Officer Turner spoke on the other line.
"What happened?" I asked now trying to keep from panicking.
"There's been a situation regarding Nancy," he replied. "I'd rather not discuss the details over the phone. Just know that she's okay and everything is being taken care of for the time being."
"Okay, I'll be right there," I told him hanging up.
Everyone in the room was staring at me. I looked at them trying to maintain my focus when all I really wanted to do was get to Nancy and make sure she was okay with my own eyes.
"Something happened at the hospital," I told everyone.
I heard a couple of gasps but didn't pay attention to who they escaped from. My mind was solely on Nancy and getting to the hospital. I vaguely remember grabbing a jacket on my way out of the door.
Before I made it to the driver's side of the car, Joe was there and grabbing my keys from me.
"You're in no state to drive," Joe told me.
I just nodded briefly and got into the passenger seat. I barely had my door closed before we were off with the tires squealing. I sat back with my eyes closed hoping that Officer Turner was right and Nancy would be okay.