Page 28 of Raymond's Forever

“I wish. I’m going to leave that room intact. I’ll wash and dry the sheets in the morning, and leave them folded on the bed.” At his confused expression she elaborated. “In case Betty needs to crash here. I know it’s cheap of me, but I’ll also be leaving the paper plates and plastic silverware, along with the coffee pot, because I saw one in the cabin I’ll be staying in at Broken Two.”

Raymond looked at her with a smirk, picked up the pad of paper beside him, flipped it to a fresh page, and gave her a grin. “Let’s walk.” They toured the entire apartment, and while she said what was to go, or stay, he took notes. By the time they crashed for the night, they were all packed except for his clothes, and a few last-minute items of hers.

The next morning, as Raymond made the coffee, and Amelia tossed all the sheets into the washer, he looked at her with a frown when she joined him.

“What’s that look for?”

“Do you have to contact the landlord about you leaving here?”

“No.” At his confused look, she smiled. “I own this apartment. When I first started at the hospital almost fifteen years ago, these apartments were for sale, not lease, or rent. The builders wanted to make a name for themselves, and the market for units like this was hot. I got a great deal, and was able to pay it off in ten years. I only pay the taxes, and utilities. I’ll keep it until Betty decides what she’s going to do. If she’s compromised where she is, and wants to hide out here, that’s fine. If she wants to come to Broken Two, that’s fine. I’m just going to leave it as a rescue place for her now. She might even decide not to come to Broken Two and sublet this from me. I’m good with whatever she decides. I know I don’t want to put any pressure on her. I can’t force her to move, that has to be her decision. If she does come to work for me, then I’ll look into maybe selling this place.”

“Or,” Raymond said as he handed her a steaming mug of coffee and took one for himself.

“Or, what?”

“Or, you could leave it like this, and I don’t know how many people from the ranches ever come to Colorado Springs, but maybe until you decide, you could offer this to whomever comes instead of them paying for a hotel. I’m not saying you have to do that, but I’m also not saying to turn it into an Airbnb either. If you know what I’m saying.”

“Ah, and maybe Shay, Clark, and Naomi can stay here if Perkins wants him closer to the hospital.”

“Yeah, about that, we’re going to have to come up with a plan on what he’s going to do if and when he’s called into the office, and how far is he willing to go. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to put my foot down on him actually agreeing to the surgery. I’ll know more once I go over that flash drive you have, and I can’t do that until we get you loaded up, groceries purchased, and we get to Broken Two.” He chuckled at her. “At least for you, it’ll be a couple of hours, if you take stopping for groceries into consideration. For me, it was four days.”

Amelia wrinkled her nose, sipped her coffee, and went back to her bedroom to pack up the last of her things from the bathroom, and dressers. Three hours later, they both walked through the apartment one last time, and at the door, Amelia locked up, and looked at him.

“Remind me to leave this key handy so anyone can grab it if they’re coming to town.”

“I will.” They walked out to their loaded vehicles, and after the stop at the grocery store, they were on their way. Amelia didn’t know that he called ahead to let them know they were on the way, so that when they arrived, they had plenty of people waiting to help them unload.

CHAPTER 12

On Sunday afternoon,Raymond leaned back in his chair, scrubbed his face, and jumped to his feet to pace. There wasn’t enough room in what he’d set up as his office, so he tried to go around the table. Frustrated that he couldn’t seem to settle, he changed his slippers into his work boots, and went outside. He ended up walking over to the race track, and felt relieved when he didn’t see anyone there. Fifteen minutes later, he was walking back to his own cabin, and felt better once he returned. He gathered his laptop, notes, and a light jacket. He had thought his tee would have been enough, but his walk proved that it was still a little chilly for the time of year it was. With everything he thought he’d need, he climbed into his truck and headed over to Broken Two. He went by way of the road the entire way, and when he pulled up before the cabins, he didn’t see Amelia’s vehicle in front of the cabin she had chosen. It made him glad he wouldn’t see her, because he was there for a different mission.

Armed with everything he brought with him, he walked over to the cabin where Jason and Ilsa lived, and ended up pounding on the door, not realizing how hard he had knocked until it was whipped open by Jason.

“What the hell, Morris? Are you trying to break in?”

“No, sorry, I’m just frustrated and didn’t realize how hard I knocked. Can I come in?”

“Sure,” Jason said, and stepped back. “Coffee or water?”

“Water for now. I don’t think my nerves will settle for some time. Is Ilsa around?”

“She’s over at Katherine and Caleb’s, do you need her?”

“I don’t know, I do know that I need to talk to you about this case I might have for Amelia. I’m not saying I don’t know what I’m doing, I do, but I need the advice from a federal prosecutor, not a lawyer, if you know what I mean.”

“I totally understand. Let me get you that drink, then we’ll sit down and talk.”

As Jason got the water, Raymond set up his laptop, and notes as he settled at the table.

“What do you have, and before you start at the point you are now, I know nothing about what you’re doing. All I know is that it’s a possible medical malpractice case. I don’t know the players, or the situation.”

Raymond liked that Jason had brought his own pad of paper and pen to the table to take his own notes. He began with retelling what was said at the meeting with everyone there when Amelia and Betty had arrived two weeks ago, and then went on to tell him what Amelia had done on her last day of the job.

“I know what she obtained isn’t admissible in court, I do, however, some of the information she uncovered, I’ve been going over it last night and today. It’s bad, Jason, I mean next level bad. Maybe even the possibility of death penalty bad. From what I’ve read so far, it’s medical neglect, medical malpractice, unsafe practices, and even murder.”

“Stop,” Jason said as he held up his hand. “What kind of proof do you have?”

Raymond told him about the CDs Amelia had discovered, how she had copied them to the drive, and that he had beenreading the cases. “Oh, I didn’t know where to put this in this conversation, I haven’t heard anything concrete yet, but Betty, the head nurse at the clinic told Amelia that Dr. Perkins wanted her to contact Shay to go in to see him on Monday, and to book an OR for Thursday.” He looked at his laptop, found the information he’s stored to the cloud, and played the conversation between Betty and Amelia.