Chapter Eleven
Lee woke taking in the change of scenery and feeling incredibly clear headed. He was no longer in the treatment room, and was now situated in a comfortable private room. The shades were open and he had a view of the ocean from his bed. He laid serenely for a moment, remembering the entire ordeal, but feeling oddly at peace.
He stopped to take stock of his physical condition, noting his left leg was wrapped, but comfortable. His right leg felt heavy in the cast, but he was no longer in pain. He also happily noted that the symptoms of the venom were no longer plaguing him. His stomach was sore, but the heavy cramps were absent as was the headache and swelling in his throat. He took a deep breath in, fully inflating his lungs and marveled again at how good it felt to breathe without the ventilator. Next, he tested his limbs, smiling to see that he had full movement available to him. He still felt weak, but knew he was on his way to recovery now.
He reached for the nurse's call button, curious what day it was and just how long he'd been out to wake up feeling this good. He didn't have long to wait before Jamie arrived in the room, smiling contently at his patient.
"It's good to see you awake, Lee," he greeted. "How are you feeling?"
"Better… I mean really, really, better," he qualified, emphasizing the adverb adequately. "So much better that I have to ask how many days I lost?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"Three days," Jamie replied, reaching for the bed controls. "Let's get you into a sitting position, careful, you may be a little dizzy at the movement," he cautioned, raising the head of the bed to a comfortable thirty-degree angle.
Lee closed his eyes, indeed feeling a little dizzy at the movement after having spent so much time flat on his back. He recovered quickly and found Jamie's eyes to get the rest of the story.
"That must have been some powerful sleep juice you gave me," he said, not quite accusingly, but he was curious.
"Nothing quite so devious; the fact is, the adrenaline did stir back up the venom toxins. The next time you woke you were delirious; it took two more rounds of antivenin to finally get the upper hand on the toxin. By that time, you were clinically exhausted. You slept for 28 hours straight with very little help from me, I might add," he said with a small smile.
"Sounds like it might be a good thing I don't remember those three days," he replied with a hint of concern. "That's a lot of antivenin, Jamie."
"The coral snake is of the elapid family of snakes, which means its venom is some of the most toxic in the world. That fact is countered by its envenomation system that delivers its venom far less efficiently than say, the rattlesnake whose venom is less toxic, but doses out far more venom in its strike. Lauren apparently made up for that giving you a far greater dose than you would have received from an actual snake bite," Jamie explained, pausing and waiting for an indication of Lee's emotional state at the mention of the psychotic woman who had tried to kill him.
Lee sighed, recognizing the doctor's test of his emotional well-being. "Smooth, Jamie. So, to answer your unspoken question; I'm fine. I really am. The fall-out is to be expected, but the fact is, we stopped not one, but two cold-blooded killers; and Rod's name has been cleared. That's what I signed up for; the rest will work itself out."
Jamieson sighed and nodded, accepting his answer; at least until he got Harry's take on the matter. "I made a call before I came in; so, you should be expecting visitors soon," he informed, changing the subject and moving on. "In the meanwhile, would you like to freshen up before they arrive?"
Lee nodded gratefully. "Yes, definitely," he said. He was only sporting an IV at this point, and was relieved to be free of the EKG; as well as the other monitors that had surrounded him the last time he was awake.
"Good," Jamie replied, removing the IV tube from the port and lowering the bedrail, then retrieving a robe for his patient. "Now, slow and easy are the words of the day. You've been on your back for almost five days now and you're going to be weak," he cautioned.
Lee nodded, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, then waited a moment for the world to stop spinning before reaching for the robe and standing cautiously. He took a deep breath, definitely feeling his weak muscles, but nodded that he was ready to proceed as Jamie took to his side to offer a supporting arm.
Lee made it to the private bathroom, feeling much steadier and stronger with each step and stopped as he reached the door.
"I can handle it from here, Jamie," he assured the doctor. "Okay if I take a shower?"
"Fine Lee, use the Call button inside if you need any help," Jamie replied dutifully, but knowing from experience that his oft-patient was well able to handle things at this point.
Lee appreciated the vote of confidence and nodded, before closing the door behind him.
VTTBOTS
He was back in bed with freshly changed linens and resting comfortably before his "guests" arrived; he figured Jamie had fended them off long enough for him get presentable; which he appreciated greatly.
"Hello Lee," Harry greeted followed quickly by Chip's, "Hey there, buddy."
"Hi," he replied; tired from his excursion out of bed, but feeling much better for the trouble and grateful to see his two best friends again.
"It's good to see you looking so well," Harry complimented, clearly pleased with his improvements.
"Jamie tells me I lost three days," he shook his head and chuckled. "I don't remember them at all."
"Just as well," Chip jumped in. "You had us pretty worried."
"Yeah… well Lauren and her sister did a pretty effective job on me."
"Are you ready to talk about it?" Harry asked cautiously.
"Definitely, and I'd really like to be brought up to speed on the investigation. It is still ongoing, isn't it?" Lee asked, suddenly concerned that the matter had been dropped now that he had proven there was no compromise of national security secrets.
"It's still ongoing," Harry assured him, "in fact, Sheriff Perkins drove down today when Jamie indicated yesterday you'd be waking soon. He's outside now if you're up for a visit and a first-hand report."
"Of course," Lee replied.
Harry nodded toward Chip, who left to invite the Sheriff in as the admiral avoided getting into any heavy conversation until they returned, which was only moments later.
"Lee, this is Sheriff Perkins."
"I remember," Lee said, extending his hand for Tom to shake. "You saved my life at the cabin. Thanks, Sheriff," he replied gratefully.
"First off, it's Tom," he said during the shake, before continuing. "It was my pleasure, I only wished we had gotten to you sooner," the Sheriff replied apologetically.
"You got there in time, that's the only thing that matters," he replied graciously. "Besides, I was still gaining information, pretty much right up until she came after me with the knife."
Tom smiled politely and let it go, but silently remembered jokingly describing Crane having a hero-complex and realized just how true that was; the man had nerves of steel he silently complimented.
"I've been busy interviewing all concerned," Harry said, setting the tone for the debriefing he knew Lee was after; having Sheriff Perkins here would make it all the easier since he was a major player in the investigation that broke the case wide-open. "Between what you reported and what I heard Lauren say for myself, ONI is satisfied with your conclusion that no sensitive information was sought after, gained, or redistributed." Lee nodded, that fact was abundantly clear to him. "ONI is expecting your full report at your earliest convenience, which I told them wouldn't be for at least a week," he added, demonstrating that his retired "stars" still carried plenty of weight in Washington. "The military has now turned its attention to the murder of its officers as a criminal investigation; ONI is investigating in conjunction with the civil authorities since evidence of civilian victims has been substantiated," he stated matter-of-factly, explaining Sheriff Perkins' ongoing involvement in the case.
"So, she was telling the truth; there were more husbands?" Lee inquired solemnly, his eyes tightening at the thought.
"I'm afraid so. Chip, why don't you bring Lee up to speed from the time you returned to the cabin."
Chip nodded and began. "We were about ready to wrap it up at the cabin when Tom and his evidence team found several important clues; the first was a safety deposit box key in a secret pocket in Lauren's purse," Lee raised his eyebrow, he vaguely remembered Harry mentioning a safety deposit box when he first came into Med Bay. "The second was evidence to believe that there had been a second woman at the cabin. We had no reason to suspect that the body wasn't Lauren's, so we headed out to deal with the safety deposit box. Tom secured the necessary search warrant, and we flew into town to check out the box. That's where it got strange," he added, nodding toward Tom to take over.
Tom handed Lee a report with the evidence found in the box and continued with the briefing.
"We found a wad of cash; $35,000 to be exact, along with three different passports…"
"Her escape route well-planned if she got caught," Lee interjected, stating the obvious in disgust.
Tom acknowledged with a nod and continued. "There were also some pictures."
Lee's brow rose, as Chip took over.
"They turned out to be Lauren with each of her previous three husbands… and there was one with you."
"Something to remember us by," he added sarcastically.
"Yeah," Chip agreed just as disgusted as his best friend. "And then there was another picture, that's when we discovered that Lauren had a twin sister."
"There were some odds and ends at the bottom of the box; memorabilia, we're guessing, from each of the marriages and three deeds of land, including the cabin where we found you. Owned free and clear, by someone named Lisa Davenport," Tom continued.
Lee reacted with a furled brow, "Is that a clue to her real last name?"
"Yes, we've since discovered that the land was owned by her sister Lisa, under her real name. We found a rental agreement at the cabin, apparently building the alibi that you two were taking a little weekend getaway; she even stocked the kitchen to keep up the ruse," Tom replied.
"Yeah," Lee agreed, "she told me that the snake bite would make perfect sense in the woods. So, was that all there was in the box?" he asked, knowing there had to be more for Chip to connect the dots fast enough to call Harry in time to save his six in the hospital.
"No, there was more, another safety deposit box key; this one was in San Diego," Tom clarified.
"We decided to let ONI chase that rabbit," Chip joined in, "and that's when Tom's people broke open the case."
Lee urged them on, keenly interested in having the blanks filled in, as Tom picked the story back up.
"My evidence man requested prints from the Nelson Institute since you, as the next of kin, were unavailable, that's when we discovered that the dead woman at the cabin wasn't Lauren Crane."
"We put two and two together and called the Admiral," Chip added.
"You're timing was impeccable," Lee complimented with a small grin, knowing that although he had had a plan to subdue her, he was still operating from a very physically compromised position.
"That brings us back to the hospital room. Do you remember everything that went on there?" Harry asked, taking over the briefing.
"Everything's crystal clear. I was obviously in shock when I opened my eyes to see her. I knew who she was even before she took off the wig. She told me that I had killed Lisa, and I put the rest together to figure she had a twin sister."
Everyone nodded, having already been informed by Harry about Lauren's cruel game, pretending to have a split personality named Lisa.
"She admitted that she and Lisa took turns doing away with the husbands… among other things," he stated cryptically, there was no way he was going to go into her admitting that somewhere along the line Lisa had enjoyed his marriage bed. That one was too private to address here with Tom present, so he moved on. "Anyway, I pushed her again about the Intelligence, and her answer was almost exactly what Lisa told me in the cabin; they could care less about secrets and intelligence. They were in it for the kicks," he stated with a cool disdain that was palpable to everyone in the room. "I was trying to push her over the edge, like I did Lisa, so I could subdue her. I told her the authorities were onto her, and that I used her; I got the same reaction I got from Lisa. She could take killing her husbands without an ounce of remorse, but she couldn't take being used by a man. She started for me, which is what I was going for; I couldn't chance a nurse coming in and getting inadvertently pulled into this. That's when you came in, Admiral."
Harry nodded; having already shared what he had witnessed among the rest of the room during the course of the last three days.
"So, did ONI get access to the other box?" Lee asked.
"Yes," Harry answered solemnly. "Filled with evidence of the other four husbands she had seduced, married, and killed."
Lee blew a breath out, soaking in the vindication of his sacrifice of the last three months with this new information. "Was there any indication of how she and Lisa became cold-blooded murderers?"
"Naval Investigators are still wading through it," Harry continued, "but do you remember her saying something about her father not thinking they were good enough?"
"Yes, and that they had made more money than…" he faltered for the name, not quite able to recall it.
"Roger," Harry said, supplying the missing name to Lee's nod of remembrance. "It turns out that Lisa and Lauren have a brother, a very normal brother I might add. Their family lost track of the twins after their father died and the family business was left solely to Roger."
"Yeah, they both made it very clear that they hated men in general," Lee added, exchanging eye contact with Chip and Tom, who were both shaking their heads at this point.
"The profilers are saying that was at least one motive that led to their killing spree," Harry added.
"Honestly Admiral, they both gave me so many different reasons, I don't know which one is true."
"They all may be true, Lee. You see, the reason Roger inherited the business was because Lisa and Lauren had already shown mental instability. They were in no means cut out of the will, but they felt slighted regarding the family business. Roger was interviewed only yesterday, and he said that Lisa and Lauren would often play games with the family, switching identities for no apparent gain. He said in no uncertain terms, that some of those games were downright disturbing. At this point, the profilers can only speculate, but they believe that both women may have been schizophrenic. They may have had as many motives as personalities, Lee," Harry speculated.
Lee sat a moment without saying anything, not sure he wanted to bear his soul in front of Tom, but spoke anyway.
"I can't feel sorry for them, Admiral, as many times as she acted like a lost girl begging me to help, I can't forget how easy it was for them to lie. She knew how to get to the men in her life, and they both moved in and out of those lies way too easily. If you could have seen Lisa going back forth between her Lauren and Lisa personalities you would know what I mean." Lee rubbed his forehead tiredly. "I don't even know if it matters now, whether it was a mental illness or not; but, I do know that I saw the eyes of a cold-blooded killer up close… twice," he said. "There was evil in those eyes, Admiral, and you know that I know what that looks like," he added, referring to his ONI career as a part-time field-op.
"I understand, Lee; you were closer to her than anyone at this point, and the only surviving husband; so, your opinion ranks high in this," Harry assured him.
Lee nodded, ready to move on and regretting letting all this get to him in front of Perkins. "There's a couple of things I'm curious about," he said, deliberately moving on. "How did she make it past the gate to gain entrance into Med Bay?"
"The most likely way was in the trunk of one of the cars; there was a shift change at Med Bay only 45 minutes before we found her in your room."
"I guess we're fortunate she didn't injure anyone else trying to get to me," Lee pondered thoughtfully, the weight of being stalked by a psychopath not so easily shaken.
"For what it's worth, Commander," Sheriff Perkins jumped in, going formal to emphasize his point. "I saw the same eyes you did. And I knew without a doubt that if I didn't hit my mark, she would have killed you without hesitation."
Lee nodded in appreciation of Tom's support.
The mood in the room was heavy, until Harry spoke again. "You said there were a couple things you were curious about, Lee."
"What was in the syringe?" he stated flatly, knowing that whatever it was, it was deadly and worked fast.
"Another venom, and like the snake venom she used on you, it was highly concentrated." Lee's brow tightened as Harry paused a moment before continuing, "black widow venom," he stated flatly.
Lee sunk deeper into his pillow, struck by the irony of it all. "Forgive me if I sound callous," he said, "but it's rather ironic that she died from her own venom."
"You're entitled to feel that way, Lee," Chip offered sincerely. "In fact, I'm right there with you."
They locked eyes for a moment, before Lee cracked a small apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry for being so broody, I just haven't had a chance to talk about it and it's all pretty fresh," he admitted.
"No apologies needed, Lee," Harry admonished immediately. "No one could have expected any of this when they asked you take on this assignment."
"At any rate, I owe each of you my life. Thanks for covering my six; and thanks, on behalf of Rod and the other men. Now, at least the truth is known. I told Jamie that's what I signed up for; the rest will work itself out."
There wasn't much more to be said after that, and Chip sensed it was time to give Lee some space, so he retreated to what he knew Lee needed right now.
"Well, now that you're not at death's door any longer, I expect you'll be hungry for some real food. I'll try to sneak in something edible the next time I come by," he joked.
"That sounds good about now," Lee said, appreciating the change of tone as he reached for another handshake from Sheriff Perkins.
"Tom, thanks again for everything you did, and for putting up with my Exec here in my absence," he quipped.
"You're welcome, and anytime you get tired of Morton here, just send him my way. I've got some cold-cases he can work on," he jokingly returned.
"Thanks, but I think we'll keep him around, at least until the computer upgrades are done on Seaview," he teased.
"Keep it up, Buddy, and I'll leave you to the mercy of mashed potatoes and Jell-O," Chip deadpanned.
They all chuckled comfortably as Chip escorted Tom out of the room. Harry hung back, waiting for the door to close completely before he moved closer to Lee's bed.
"Are you going to be all right?" he asked candidly.
"I'm all right, Admiral. It was bizarre, and I can't say I'm looking forward to going home." His admission surprised Harry, his forehead furling in response as Lee continued. "I lived three months with a homicidal maniac… her things are still there…" his words dropped off as his eyes drifted away.
"Were you in love with her, Lee?" Harry asked point blank.
Lee raised his eyes to meet Harry's and sighed. "I was starting to feel something," he admitted, "but my head was still screwed on straight enough to know, that at the very least, she had betrayed Rod by coming on to me. And once she started derailing my 'recovery' I knew we were on the right track. I think I'm being honest with myself when I say that I wasn't in love with her. But I was married to a serial killer, Harry," he said, hardly able to believe the absurdity of the situation.
"Well, you know as well I do, that the marriage was performed by an ONI Agent. The marriage was never certified, and that you were never legally married," Harry reminded him, something that had been worked out from the very beginning of the well-planned operation.
"Yeah," Lee said, smiling weakly, and knowing that he had Harry to thank for that; the Admiral had, in fact, insisted upon it. "Do me a favor, Harry… ask Chip to do a purge for me throughout the house. He might not get everything, but I'd appreciate not having to walk into the house with all her stuff staring back at me."
Harry nodded, he knew Naval Investigation had already been through the house looking for evidence, but the house was still full of reminders of the sham marriage. "We'll both take care of it, Lee," he promised.
"Thanks, and I'm good, Harry," Lee assured his good friend. "I don't intend on doing anything drastic like selling the house, or anything. I'm just not used to my missions being so personal. I'll work through it."
"Understood," he replied, looking for and finding strength in Lee's eyes, and confident that his captain would indeed work through the fall-out of the highly personal mission. "Get some rest, Lee; Seaview needs her captain back at her helm."
Lee sighed, almost forgetting what it was like after three long months. "I've missed her," he sighed, wistfully wishing he was on her Front Porch right now, watching the ocean press against her magnificent windows.
Harry gave his leg a paternal pat and stepped away; leaving Lee to the privacy he no doubt needed after the emotional briefing.