Page 4 of Raymond's Forever

“Oh, absolutely, but I wasn’t going to pass up that free money.” He chuckled and the two doctors laughed, and Dr. Ervin slapped Dr. Perkins on the shoulder. They left the area, laughing like they had just invented the wheel, or fire.

The overheard conversation went on for a good seven minutes, and she was able to get it all on tape. The two doctors parted ways after their conversation, and Amelia stayed where she was for a good three minutes before coming out from behind the door. She picked up the box of paper, made sure the hallwaywas empty, then went back to the copy room. With her mind a million miles away, she completed her task, and went back to her office. She was making sure all her files were up-do-date before she left for her own new position in her own practice in two weeks. As she worked on her task, she couldn’t get what she’d overheard out of her mind. She rose to her feet, went over to make sure her door was closed, but before she locked it, she looked out into the hall, and realized she was alone. Behind the locked door, she went back to her desk, pulled her phone out of the pocket of her doctor’s white coat, and played the video she had taken earlier. After viewing it again, she knew she hadn’t heard anything wrong. In her opinion, Dr. Reuben Perkins was about to commit malpractice. If he hadn’t already begun. According to the video, he had already done it in other cities and was about to continue to do it in Colorado Springs.

She quickly made several copies of the video, backed them up on the cloud, and put it on two different flash drives. With that done, she accessed her files on her computer, and looked at her watch. It was after closing time for the clinic, but she wanted to finish her current work, and move onto something that might be more important in the days to come.

Amelia leaned back in her chair, tried to rub the kinks out of her neck, and yawned. She caught sight of the clock in the bottom corner of her desktop computer and shook her head. It was almost three in the morning. She stood, stretched, and looked at the stack of files she’d copied. With a shake of her head, she loaded them into the rolling file box, turned her computer off, shut the lights to her office off, and left the building, locking up behind her.

On her way home, Amelia swung by the storage locker she had rented back when she had talked with Erin Riceman about opening her own practice at Broken Two. On her days off, she had been slowly going through her home and doing some deepcleaning. The things she’d taken to the unit were the things she wanted to take with her on her move. It took less than thirty minutes to load all the files she’d copied into the unit, and by the time she made it home, it was after four in the morning. Instead of going to bed, she made a pot of coffee, went to shower, and dressed in a pair of comfortable sweats and a tee, she poured her first cup of coffee of the day. It was now Saturday, and she had the weekend off. When the clock struck five, she drew in a deep breath, picked up her cell phone and made a call.

“Hello?” The phone was answered on the third ring, and Amelia didn’t waste any time, she also noted the voice was shaky when the person answered.

“Betty, this is Amelia Johnson. I overheard what both Dr. Ervin and Dr. Perkins said to you in the clinic. I also witnessed the assault, and threats against you. Can you come to my home? You are not in any trouble, I’m going to take these assholes down, but I need to see you.” She waited for two full minutes of silence on the other end.

“What’s your address?”

Amelia gave it to her, and after she hung up, she looked in her refrigerator, and decided to make toast instead. She’d have to go to the grocery store later, but not until after she had her meeting with Betty. She had just finished eating her toast when the doorbell rang, and she wiped her hands on a towel, and went to open it.

“Come in, Betty,” Amelia said as she stepped back, and winced when she saw the bruise on her cheek. In the kitchen, Amelia invited Betty to sit, and then laid her freshly charged phone on the table beside her. The first thing she did was ask permission to look at the injury, asked if she could take pictures of it. The skin had broken, but it didn’t require stitches. Once the photos were taken, and notes were made, Amelia refilled theircoffee cups and explained her reason for calling Betty to her home.

“I was in the copy room last night. The copier ran out of paper, and I had to go to the supply room for more. I was trying to clean up the mess of that room, before I could even reach the paper I needed, and I overheard the conversation in the hall.” She reached out and gently laid her hand on Betty’s, and noted the trembling. “There’s more.” She picked up her phone, and accessed the video she had taken, before she showed it to Betty, she gripped the other woman’s hand again.

“I have proof that you did nothing wrong.”

“How?” Betty asked in shock, and watched the video Amelia showed her.

“Are you freaking kidding me, Perkins is admitting to malpractice, murder, fraud, and insurance scams?” Those admissions had been made after Betty had left the two men in the hall after being backhanded by Dr. Ervin.

“Yes. I know I don’t have a right to ask this, but I need something from you.”

“What’s that?”

“I need you to play along with Perkins and Ervin.”

“Excuse me?”

“No, hear me out. My last day of work there is Friday, and next week I start my new job. I know people that can help. I might get in trouble for what I did after I taped that conversation, but if it brings those assholes down, then I’m willing to do the time.”

“What did you do?”

“You have to promise not to let on that you know what I’m going to do.”

“Okay, but what did you already do?”

“I made copies of all my files at the clinic. Along with the others that didn’t need surgery from the other doctors at the clinic.”

“Proof that they didn’t need surgery,” Betty stated matter of factly, and with a decisive nod.

“Yes, as I said, I’m leaving here next Saturday for my new job. I would like you to be my eyes and ears at the clinic after I leave. We can come up with an encrypted e-mail, or something, where you can report to me, but not if you are in danger. If something happens, and you are in danger, call me and I can get you to safety.” At Betty’s skeptical look, Amelia smiled and patted her hand. “I know people. I won’t tell you how, or why, but I can make one phone call right now, and we would both be whisked off to safety.”

Betty looked at her, then rubbed her face, but winced when she encountered the bruise on her cheek. “What do you want from me?”

“I know it goes against your nature, your job, your ethics, and your morals, but I need you to be my eyes and ears in the clinic. I’m going to reach out to Shay Hall, I have his personal cell number, and I know where he lives. I will reach out to him and tell him what Dr. Perkins and Dr. Ervin are planning. I’m hoping he will stall coming into the office until I can talk to him personally.”

“Why can’t you go out and talk to him tomorrow? Or even later today?”

Amelia sat back in her chair with a huff, cocked her head to the side, and gave another huff. “I never thought of that. Let me ask you this, how solid is your life here in Colorado Springs? I mean, are you married, do you have children, what about your home? If push comes to shove, would you be able to pick up and leave at a drop of the hat?”

“Yes, I rent, I’m not dating anyone, and I work at the clinic three days a week, and the hospital the other two, sometimes three. No children, nothing keeping me here in Colorado Springs.”