There was a tap on the door, and both looked at it. It was Marshall. Conrad waved his father in.
Marshall stopped at the foot of Julia's bed and looked at her with a hint of guilt. "Julia, how are you feeling?"
"Lucky to be alive. Thank you for coming to my rescue."
"I wish I could have gotten there sooner."
"You did the best you could, that's all that matters."
He nodded. "The FBI want to talk to you."
Conrad stood and looked at his dad. "Dad, she's been through a trauma and heavy surgery. Can't this wait?"
Marshall gave Conrad, then Julia and apologetic look. He knew the timing was awful, but it was also playing against them. At that moment in time Cain and Kim could have already left the State if not the country all together. "I'm afraid not, son. We don't have a lot of time."
Conrad clenched his jaws and fists, and Julia could tell he wasn't pleased.
Her soft voice quickly lowered his anger. "Conrad, I didn't go through what I went through so that Cain, Kim and Red Rock Medical can get away with what they've done."
She shifted her attention to Marshall. "I'll talk to the FBI, but first I need 5 minutes with Conrad. He has a right to know why."
Marshall understood fully what she meant. She didn't want Conrad to discover the truth behind it all, second-hand, while she told the FBI. She respected and loved him too much to do that to him. "I'll let them know."
"Thanks."
Once Marshall had exited the room, she put her hand out toward Conrad. He took it and sat down on the side of the bed, not letting it go.
"Jeremy was an ortho intern at Chippenham Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. Just like Chastain, they decided to bring in Red Rock Medical to support the hospital that was in financial difficulties. It looked like it was the perfect partnership, at least that's what Jeremy told me. That's how the director of the hospital sold it."
She paused for a minute.
"Very early on, Jeremy and some others realized that things weren't going the way they were supposed to. They were making budget cuts, impacting the staff, the type of medical supplies used, the rotation hours, and the patient's safety. He overheard a conversation between two Red Rock Medical employees and found what they said odd and alarming."
She looked down at her hands.
"He started to fight Red Rock Medical on every decision they made, and they regarded him as a whistle-blower."
Conrad frowned and narrowed his eyes. It sounded familiar.
"They found a loophole to fire him, and they tarnished his reputation. Not a single hospital in Virginia nor surrounding states wanted him. He worked for some times in a dispensary, but he was having a hard time making ends meet. I told him, I'd help him whether it was financially or talking to my superiors to bring him on board, but if there was one thing about Jeremy, it was that he was proud. He refused my help, and said that it was just a rough patch, that it had only been a month. You see, I had continued watching over him and helping him through college after our parents died, and I think he felt it was time I stopped taking care of him."
Conrad watched as Julia bit her lip.
"Julia, what happened?"
She raised her eyes and searched his. "You remember that morning when you were looking at the family portrait in my bedroom?"
"Yes." How could he forget, considering it was the morning after the best night of his life.
"You asked me where Jeremy was, and I told you he was in Virginia."
He nodded.
"What I omitted to say was that Jeremy was in lot 1729 of the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Richmond."
"Wait, what?!"
"Two days after our conversation, when I told him I would come to Virginia to help him, I got a phone call from his landlord. He had committed suicide."
Her beautiful almond-shaped brown eyes stung as the tears rose to fill them. "I found a letter in his belongings where he told me everything about Red Rock Medical and what they had done to him, but also what he thought they were up to. It had not been 1 month since he had lost his job and hadn't been able to pay his rent or student loan… it had been 6 months. 6 months that I saw nothing. I hadn't seen the signs."
"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known. You said it yourself, he kept all of that to himself."
"After that, I vowed to find out the truth about Red Rock Medical and avenge his death. But I didn't know how. There was no way I could approach them to follow down the path, of what Jeremy might have started, without them getting suspicious."
She looked out the window at Marshall and took in a deep breath.
"That was until I overheard your father and someone else talk at a medical conference in Washington, DC, about Red Rock Medical and how they were poisoning Chastain from the inside. I approached your father in the hotel lounge and I told him about Jeremy."
"And my father decided to not only help you, but have you hired here so that you could be close to people from the group."
She nodded.
"Your father told me all about you and I saw so much of my brother in you, I couldn't let someone else suffer."
He couldn't believe how altruistic she was and caring.
"Today, you found the proof of what they were trafficking."
"Yes, Conrad. I did. I finally did and I'm going to do everything I can to put them all behind bars and pay for what they did to Jeremy, you and who knows who else."
She had lost every single member of her family and even though she had suffered and been alone, she had continued regardless of everything, she hadn't given up. He had hardly ever met someone that strong.
He squeezed her hand. "I think it's time Red Rock Medical paid for everything they've done."
She nodded then looked at Marshall through the window giving him the green light to send in the federal agents.
Luckily, they didn't question her for too long. They had received most of the needed information from Conrad and Marshall, along with the proof she had sent him by email. They had only needed her to corroborate and fill in some blanks. The agents advised her that the other hospitals where Red Rock Medical were active were on lockdown and being searched as they spoke.
"What about Cain and Kim?" asked Conrad.
"We are still trying to hunt them down. We've got people stationed at their homes, and their photograph has been communicated to train stations, bus terminals and airports. The rest of Red Rock Medical has or is being taken into custody as we speak."
"I want cops or federal agents posted on this floor and near this room."
"Doctor Hawkins," said one of the agents, "I understand your concern, but I don't think that is necessary."
"No, I think you don't understand. We almost died today, which means that they can be charged with attempted murder. If they find out we're alive, can you guarantee they won't try again?"
"I can't guarantee that."
"Exactly," replied Conrad. "That's why you're going to put people here on watch."
The agent nodded. "We'll get right on that."
"Security is advised as well and their badges have been rendered useless," said Marshall. "But I agree with Conrad, it's easy to walk into the hospital even without a badge and come up here."
Conrad's attention shifted to Julia. She was pale and looked beat. "She needs to rest."
They all nodded.
"We'll keep you posted and put in place the surveillance right away. Doctor Adams, Doctor Hawkins, thank you for your collaboration."
Marshall followed the agents out of the room closing the door behind him.
Julia threw a nervous glance at Conrad. "You think they'll come back?"
"No. But I don't want to take any chances. After what you've been through, you need to feel safe, and all of this should be the least of your worries. You need to rest, regain your strength, and heal."
"You make me feel safe," she replied.
"Baby, you should rest."
"Says who? The doctor or the man I've fallen in love with?"
He smiled. "Both."
He watched as she shifted toward the side of the bed. "Would you stay next to me?"
He took off his boots, then settled in bed next to her. He raised his arm, and she slowly lowered her head so that it rested on his pec. It didn't take long for her to doze off and it was no surprise. The anesthetic was still active and would take at least another couple of hours to wear off. For him it wasn't the anesthetic that put him out like a light, it had been the drop in adrenaline and feeling her against him, he could finally find release.