Page 31 of Maverick
“Should I come back?” I assumed he would find the memory card and pop it in the computer and we’d have the answers we needed. But I guess I should have known the geeky jock would want to make out with it first.
“Yeah, give me a couple hours. There’s a serial number on it, not that people register these things. I should be able to figure out where it was sold, which may lead to a buyer. There’s an SD card, which we can read, but I’ll check it for malware first. Could be some hunter wanting to know what kind of game Larry has. But given the trouble we’ve had, and the fact that it was aimed toward the house… better safe than sorry.”
I nodded. “Sounds good. Anything else you can tell me?”
Baller shrugged. “It had Wi-Fi enabled. I shut that off, obviously. That would have allowed someone to remote in to obtain the footage. Which would have been the smart way to go—only had to go on site once to set it up.”
I’m not sure which was worse. The idea that someone could spy on Kat and Larry anytime they wanted, or that someone would sneak onto their property multiple times to look at the footage.
“If they remoted in, could they see a live video? Or just the stills the camera took?”
Baller shrugged. “I can’t tell by looking at it. But I’ll search up the model number and figure out exactly what it was capable of. It’s fucked up for sure, just the level of fucked upness that’s in question.”
I stepped out of his office and closed the door. I didn’t care what level it was. Someone made my woman feel unsafe. And I would make that someone pay.
20
Kat
“While Mr. Evans was in the hospital, my colleague conducted a series of tests to assess his cognitive skills.” Dr. Snider, the neuropsychologist we finally got in to see, turned to Dad. “Do you remember Sarah?”
It had been about a week since “the incident,” and so far, Dad remembered who I was. That hadn’t stopped Maverick from keeping up the pretense of being my new boyfriend. I crossed my legs and tried to focus on what the doctor was saying and not on the ten inch—
“You mean when I had my appendix out?” Dad’s nose scrunched. “That was so long ago, I can’t remember who I met.”
The doctor shook her head. “No, Mr. Evans. You met Sarah a few weeks ago, when you went to the emergency room for your heart and stayed a few days.”
Dad ran his fingers through his silver hair. “I don’t remember doing that. But then, there’s a lot I don’t remember these days.” He looked down and twisted his hands in his lap.
I reached over and placed my hand over his, my heart breaking.
“I see. Let’s go through the results then, shall we? Your performance on the tests indicate that you are experiencing cognitive decline. These same tests were run five years ago, and there is a significant difference. This would lead me to a diagnosis of dementia, most likely Lewy body dementia given the hallucinations and sleepwalking.”
My eyes filled with tears, but I willed myself not to cry. I took a deep breath and squeezed Dad’s hand.
“Am I going to die?”
I lost the battle and wiped a tear from my cheek.
“Not today, Mr. Evans. But we all die eventually.”
I cleared my throat. “Is there anything we can do now? Any medication?”
“There may be, but you’ll need to see another doctor for that. I’ll make a note in your chart to get that appointment set up for you.”
I fought the urge to scream.Another fucking appointment.
“The important thing for now,” the doctor continued, “is to make sure you get plenty of rest and take all your medications. With the short-term memory issues, it’s important that someone monitors Mr. Evans’ medication. Dementia patients will often take too much or too little medication because they don’t remember whether they took it. You’ll also want to work on making the home safe, especially because of the sleepwalking. No weapons, obviously.”
I nudged Dad with my elbow and he scowled.
“There are also special locks you can put on doors,” she droned on. “They’re similar to the types you see on hotel doors. Those can help prevent sleepwalkers from walking outside and getting lost or locked out.”
Yikes. That was a disaster waiting to happen.
“Now, Mr. Evans, I understand you typically live alone?”
Dad nodded. “Yes, Katie is visiting but she’ll be going back soon.”
