Page 39 of Raymond's Forever

“Easy there,” Yvonne said.

“Sorry, I’m getting my ID.” At her nod, he reached inside his jacket pocket, and withdrew a slim black wallet. He passed it to Raymond. “I’m Detective Brant Willis, I’m with theColorado Springs police department, and I’m in charge of a new investigation.”

“Okay, but what does that have to do with me?”

“Let me introduce everyone else here. My partner, then we have the administrator from Colorado Springs Memorial General Hospital.”

“Fuck me,” Raymond said, and looked at Jason, who also sighed. No other introductions were made. “Is this about Reuben Perkins and Alexander Ervin?”

“Yes, I take you know about them?”

“I do, what did they do now?”

“I’m Harold Tallman,” the hospital administrator said. “In the last month, there has been some suspicious deaths, injuries, and billing matters. After the fourth suspicious death, Nurse Betty Laurel come to me and explained about you and Dr. Amelia Johnson. I know Dr. Johnson has nothing to do with what’s been happening, and I brought in the hospital’s lawyers to see what we can do. They recommended that we go to the police with what we had.”

“What do you have?”

“Files of the patients that died, or was egregiously injured.”

“How egregiously?”

“Two patients had to have a limb amputated from an alleged botched surgery, there were four deaths, and both Perkins and Ervin are billing their clients three times what our fees are, and if the bill isn’t paid in full within thirty days, they are sending muscle after them.”

“Really? Are these goons harming them?”

“In two instances, yes. After talking with Ms. Laurel, we talked with Mr. Tallman, and before we go any further, we thought it would be best to come out here and talk to you. It’s my understanding that you have some previous files of Dr. Perkins?”

“Yes, and I’m going on record right now that they were obtained illegally.” He then proceeded to tell them how Amelia had gotten them.

“Wait,” one of the lawyers said. “I’m Fred Kleen, you’re telling me that the information you obtained was given to you by Dr. Johnson?”

“Yes.”

“Are you also stating that those files were in her office at the clinic? They weren’t under lock or key?”

“No lock and key, according to Amelia, Perkins dumped boxes of his stuff in her office, because he was taking over that space after she left, and demanded that she empty the boxes and put the files away.”

“Did she do that?”

“Not all of them. I do know she mentioned something about putting things on the empty shelves. Why?”

“Because if you want to split hairs, they were in her office, so technically, they were hers to do as she wished. Do you know where these files are now?”

“The physical files were left in her previous office at the clinic. I printed copies of what she copied from those boxes. They are currently at my cabin, but, before we go any further, you’re going to want to talk to Shay Hall.” He told them why, and the lawyers and police were writing furiously.

“Do you know where this Mr. Hall is now?”

“Out at the race track. He lives and works here.”

“Yeah, we’re going to want to talk to him.”

Before they could say anything else, a phone went off, and Yvonne picked up her cell and scowled at the number. She excused herself and stepped outside. Five minutes later she was back, and with a determined look and walk, she went to her office, and returned in minutes with a small stack of papers.

“Gentlemen, I don’t know where to start, but you need to know this.” She laid the papers on the counter, and turned to them. “Kevin and I are security guards for this ranch, eventually one of us will be moving over to another ranch, while the other one stays here. We’re doing background checks on potential horse buyers, trainers, and jockeys. We also do background checks on others when needed.” She looked around and saw that she had everyone’s attention.

“A few weeks ago, as a matter of fact, it was on Dr. Johnson’s last day at the clinic, she told us that Dr. Ervin showed up at her office at eight in the morning with someone from HR to do an exit interview. She told Ervin to get out of her office because she was his superior, and she had already had an appointment with HR. She snapped the photo of the woman Ervin had with him.”

“Also,” Raymond said as he remembered. “That same woman was a nurse in the clinic when Shay went to his appointment. According to Shay, she never did what a nurse usually does.”