Page 44 of Raymond's Forever

“Yes, Kevin came to get me to go to the security shack today. I went there and there were eight people there. Three police officers from Colorado Springs PD, the hospital administrator, and four of the hospital lawyers.”

“Holy shit, wait, that’s only seven people, who was the eighth?”

“No clue, they never introduced him.”

“Okay, what did they want?”

Raymond scrubbed his face and leaned back heavily in his chair. “Since you left the hospital five weeks ago, Perkins has been busy, and not in a good way. There have been at least four deaths, two egregious injuries, and it’s not been proven yet, they’re working on it, but he’s sending henchmen after people not paying their hospital bill within thirty days.” He shook his head and sighed heavily. “Shay showed him his bill, and it’s for roughly seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It wasn’t said, but I’m wondering if he’s going through the insurance company in his billing, or if he’s doing it separately, and that’s why he’s sending out the henchmen.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Three quarters of a million dollars?”

“Yes,” he said, and frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Shay said that he didn’t use this address on his paperwork when he, Clark, and Naomi went to see Perkins. He said it was a bogus address. I wonder how they found him to give him the bill.”

“Call him and ask,” she encouraged, and he did just that. Three minutes later, he hung up and looked at her with a gigantic grin. “What?”

“He used his previous address back in Pennsylvania. The post office there forwarded it to him here. However, his bill was in an envelope with a note inside. The note said that the apartment building he had lived in had burnt down months ago. It turned out the owner of the building did it for insurance money.”

“Damn, did Shay know this?”

“Not about the insurance money, but definitely that the building was gone. The police back there called to get a timeline as to when he had moved out.”

“Ah, so if it’s true and Perkins is sending goons after people, they would never find Shay.”

“Correct, and we have a security team in place.”

“Damn, what else?”

“The police were from the white-collar crime unit. Nurse Betty told the administrator all about the files you made, but she made sure she said it in front of the lawyers. One of the lawyers, a man by the name of Kleen, promised that you were not in any trouble for making copies of things in your own office. They left the original files, I made copies from the flash drive here, and took a drive for themselves. I promised them that all the information I have is there, however, if they needed anything clarified to contact me again. Jason was there, and we both said that we were your lawyers.”

“Okay, thank you for that, but do you think I’m going to need one?”

“Yes, because I showed them Shay’s recording of Perkins calling you incompetent, and I told the hospital lawyers that if they don’t add the charge of defamation of character to their lawsuit against him, then I will.”

“Ah, and you’re representing me in that.”

“Yes.” They sat there lost in their own thoughts, until Raymond spoke quietly, “There’s more.”

“Jesus, what else could there possibly be?”

“This is regarding Ervin.”

“Oh, okay, what?”

“While we were all discussing the information I had, Yvonne received a phone call, then a fax. For weeks, no one knew who that woman Ervin said was with HR, and who acted as a nurse for Shay. Someone from Brotherhood Protectors, who I now know has some deep connections, found her.”

“Who is it?”

“Her name is Zoe Comfrey, and she was reported missing, Jesus this is confusing.”

“Take a deep breath, and lay it out for me.”

“Okay, apparently Ervin had been working at a psychiatric center over in New Mexico, started an affair with Comfrey, convinced everyone she wasn’t a danger to anyone, and got her released. Two weeks after her release, she was reported missing, it was after Ervin resigned from that facility.”

“Shit, he kidnapped a mental patient. Do you know why she was in there?”