Chapter thirty-seven
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
901 G St NW Washington, DC
Spencer
"Do we think it's the Black Knights?" Spencer asked upon joining the rest of the team
They were standing well back from the library, watching as the bomb squad headed in, robot first. "That's a possibility." Rossi said. "The note sent to the media read '1 Cor 119'. Mean anything?"
"First Corinthians, chapter one, verse nineteen: It is written in scripture: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the intelligence of the intelligent." Spencer nodded. "That sounds like them."
"I thought she got her books from a library." Blake said.
"It was the homeschool collective's library, not the local one."
"Think Susanna would come in tomorrow; tell us how they felt about public libraries?" Rossi asked.
"I'm sure she will, but there's something else to take into account." Spencer took a deep breath. "Until late last year the MLK library housed the system's adaptive services. They had to move to an online catalog and delivery services, the entire system has a major issue with safety and the number of homeless who use the library buildings as a shelter, it was getting too dangerous for their adaptive services' clients to actually come to the library to browse."
"Adaptive services," Rossi replied. "You mean the Braille library."
"Apparently a staffer went into the Braille library last year and found a young woman browsing the books while a homeless man masturbated in front of her. She didn't even realize he was doing it. They couldn't staff that part of the library so they closed it out of concern that next time an encounter could get violent." It was unfortunate, he would have delighted in taking Susanna down here, letting her run her hands over shelf after shelf of new books. But she had it all at her fingertips, they delivered now.
"Could the Black Knights have known that they moved the Braille books?" Blake asked.
"I don't know. The library website isn't very clear."
"So this could be part of their pattern of intimidation as well." Hotch surmised, "All right."
Morgan came jogging back from his position forward with the bomb squad. "It's not really an explosive so much as an incendiary device. The goal seems to be desctuction."
"Was it placed in Room 2C?" Spencer asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"The former Braille library?" Rossi assumed.
"Yes."
"Not anymore, it looks like it's holding some kind of archives." Just then there was a loud whomping sound followed by glass breaking. They all turned to look as people started running and smoke started billowing. "Or was. There goes the robot." Morgan said.
"At least it wasn't a person." Hotch muttered.
"Amen to that." Rossi agreed.
Georgetown University Medical Center
Ophthalmology Department
Pasquerilla healthcare center
3800 reservoir road,NW
Washington, DC 20007
It wasn't just that Spencer was glad that the library had not completely blown up (really, that was just unconscionable), that the sprinkler system and fire department had stopped the fire before any real damage was done outside of that room, it was that he was almost glad that it had interrupted them. He knew how he was starting to feel for her but he didn't know how she was feeling about him, and if he had done what he wanted in the garden that night he might have blown the whole thing.
So he was being patient and biding his time. But he had been noticing the symptoms, he had that heavenly dopamine/ norepinephrine high he used to get when it was time to call Maeve or when he was expecting a letter, except now it was so much stronger because he was looking forward to actually seeing Susanna, to holding her in his arms and catching her soft herbal scent. When they had been working on the library bombing some part of his brain was always thinking about her, wondering what she was doing and what she was thinking or feeling just then. Intense, romantic love was very akin to an obsession and he was rather obsessed.
That was precisely why he was sitting in his third doctor's office waiting room in as many days. At Garcia's suggestion Susanna had hired a social worker, someone to act as a case manager and advocate and general helper, someone Cheryl had worked with before as well. Nina was impressively helpful when it came to managing the complicated world of insurance and benefits and charity help that Susanna was relying on to launch herself into the world, and was on hand for each first appointment to help negotiate between her and the staff, but Susanna still asked him to be here for some ineffable reason of her own. At this point unless the world was ending he was not going to say no.
The first appointment had been her new general practitioner, who had given her a good once-over physical and then a mostly clean bill of health. She was still slightly underweight and a bit frail, but according to the GP all she needed was a healthy diet, a daily walk, a multivitamin and to start using some weight machines somewhere. She went home and had her roommate show her how to use what they had down in the basement and that was that.
Her second appointment had been for the dermatologist, as her health condition put her at a very high risk for skin cancer. Thankfully that doctor hadn't found anything of any concern. She had prescribed sunscreen, SPF 30, waterproof, right down to the brands for her body and face and lips, to be sprayed on over every inch and before clothing, to be reapplied if she did anything more than daily exertion or got at all wet, and to be scrubbed off every night. No exceptions, no excuses, no leaving her room without sunscreen, period. They had stopped on the way home for the brands the doctor had insisted upon and Nina then ordered extras by the case.
Today was the third doctor, the one for her eyes. Spencer opened his when the nurse came out. "Dr. Reid?"
Back in the exam room he found Susanna in the exam chair and Nina patently supervising. "So there is good news and bad news." Dr. Lustbader said. "As I was explaining the pigment in our eyes act as shields to protect the internal structures from UV light. Because of the lack of pigment in Susanna's eyes her eyes are completely open to UV rays from the sun which can damage the structures in the eye. Now if this had been caught when she was young she could have been made to wear sunglasses and even prosthetic contact lenses which would have blocked the UV rays and protected her vision. That unfortunately didn't happen. The cataracts that formed in this case are the body's ways of trying to protect itself from any further damage. The first chunk of bad news is that I'm having trouble seeing around the cataracts to assess any nerve damage that may have resulted from the sun exposure. The good news is that those cataracts are ready to come out and because you have retained some vision even if there has been some nerve damage taking them out should result in a substantial improvement. We may not be able to get your eyes back to the point where you can read normal print or drive but we should be able to give you back normal color vision and enough sight to be able to navigate the city more safely."
"Anything would be wonderful." Susanna said with a smile.
"Now after surgery you will need those prosthetic lenses and you'll have to keep wearing sunglasses outdoors. For now I want you to wear them indoors during the day as well, especially in places with lots of windows, just in case."
"When can we get the surgery done?" Spencer asked. "How long will she have to be in the hospital for it?"
"More good news and bad news," Dr. Lustbader replied. "The good news is that it's outpatient surgery and since your vision is so poor right now I'm willing to do both eyes at once. That will mean total blindness for two weeks while your eyes are healing but then it will be over and done with and you'll only have to go under anesthesia once."
"The bad news is her insurance." Nina said. "I checked before we came here. This surgery requires pre-approval, which can take up to six months."
"But once it's approved we should be able to get you in within two weeks." The doctor finished.
Oh, so close! Spencer and Susanna both laughed even as they groaned. "At least we can get the process started today." Susanna said.
"That we will," Dr. Lustbader said. "And I will see you back as soon as we can get it all done."
They left the office, and said their good-byes to Nina. I'm relieved, Spencer thought, hopeful but relieved as well. But I want this for her, this is good for her, so why am I glad for the wait?