Page 20 of Too Old for Love

“I suppose that’s possible,” nodded Everest. “They’d have all the data right there at their fingertips. Those people, those who died, did they die broke? I mean, did they die owing a lot of medical bills, or losing their homes?”

“We’ll check,” nodded Eric. “It’s a good place to start. Mike? The elevator cable, what do we know about that?”

“It was definitely cut and to cut a cable on an elevator isn’t like you’re packing scissors. You’d need a special tool. It was literally hanging by a thread. We thought that someone might have done it just hoping to kill someone, anyone.”

“But?” asked Luke crossing his arms over his chest. “I feel a ‘but’ coming on.”

“You’re not wrong,” smirked Mike. “But the lobby guard, John, he said he’d called the elevator company to come out and fix it.”

“That’s right,” nodded Everest, “he did say that. It was really fast. They said they couldn’t do it remotely.”

“My guys checked,” said Mike. “They couldn’t fix it remotely because they didn’t have anyone working at the site who knew that system and the guy who did know that system was already on site. He was in that building already doing repairs.”

“Wh-what?” she gasped. “John lied?”

“He didn’t lie. He simply didn’t tell you that they’d been there working on the elevators since about six-o’clock. Long after most left the building. I’m going to bet that the elevator company was paid handsomely.”

“It was a little after seven when I left,” she whispered. “Someone really wanted me dead.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Mike? I want you to go with Parker, Hiro, and Joseph to Med-Tech, Everest’s old company. Tell them you’re investigating the elevator incident for the fire department and the boys are part of a risk management investigation.”

“Sure thing,” nodded Mike. He turned and looked at Everest. “Will you be okay here with everyone?”

“What the fuck, dude? We’re not derelicts. We’ll watch over your woman,” laughed Duncan.

“I know, I know,” he laughed.

“I’ll be fine,” she said holding his hand. “Go. See what you can find. I’ll stay here and see if I can help answer questions about the system.”

Mike gave her a soft kiss and left with the three men. Everest turned to AJ and Tanner and smiled.

“What do you need from me?” she smiled.

“I’m in the system now,” said AJ.

“How did you get in?” she frowned.

“Well, we’re pretty good at this sort of thing. Why don’t you take a seat next to me and we’ll walk through this.”

Everest took a seat and stared at the screen, tilting her head sideways.

“That’s not our system,” she frowned.

“Everest, this is the system I see when I go in the backdoor, so to speak. It might look different than what you would see but I can assure you, it’s your system,” said AJ with confidence.

“No, no,” she said shaking her head. “Look, right here. This button allows drug substitutions without physician approval. All someone has to do is click on it and an alternate drug is sent instead of the drug ordered.”

“Fuck.”

“And here,” she said pointing to something else on the screen. “Dear God. This, this would allow surgeries and tests to be scheduled for patients.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” frowned Tanner.

“Pull up, oh shit, what was his name?” she said pacing the floor, scratching her head. “Pull up Sebastian Myers of Pittsburgh, PA. He would be in his seventies. He complained to his doctor that his medications weren’t working and the doctor ordered blood panels for him. The blood panels showed that he most likely had a cancerous mass in his abdomen and immediate surgery was recommended. The problem is nothing was found during the surgery. The doctor jumped the gun without doing additional tests and when they opened him up there was nothing wrong.”

“Jesus,” muttered AJ.