“Lexi, how was your week?” she started with an update from the newest member at the table.
“Fine. I had an episode on Sunday night then nothing else,” she sighed as she passed some pages to Leesha. “Here are my notes. Sam helped me document everything so they are consistent with his.”
“Good – that’s great!” Leesha scanned the pages quickly. “This looks fantastic, Lexi. You’re doing a great job with control!”
“Yeah, I was pretty excited too. Now I’m just ready for more action, if you know what I mean.”
Leesha shot Sam a knowing glance, and turned back to Lexi. “I know. It’ll happen. Just be patient. You’ve made great strides, though – this is fantastic work!”
“Be patient, I know. It’s all Sam keeps telling me.”
Sam chuckled at her frustration, then projected to Leesha. “She won’t listen to me.”
“Oh my… Did you just?!”
“Yep.”
“Really?”
He projected “REALLY.”
“You two have been busy!”
Lexi sneered at him. “How come he gets all the cool stuff?”
“Are you kidding me?” he shot back. “I’d kill to have yours!”
“Hmpf.”
If she doesn’t flash soon, and get of this funk, I’m running away.
Leesha turned to Sam. “Do you have notes on this new development?” She seemed to be the resource center of the group. All of the notes and research were funneled through her. Plus, since Sam and Lexi lived together, they were able to keep each other up to speed much easier.
He slid his notes to Leesha, along with his research paperwork from the past three days. Taking advantage of his new ability, he decided to fill in the two of them silently.
“There’s not a lot of ground breaking material in there, but maybe you can find something that I’ve overlooked. There’s a list of deceased staff and their information, retired staff and their information, and staff that are still working – some here in the area, some out of the area. I’ve got a schedule for Sartori, and will start interviewing staff members this week if we all agree it’s the best route to take. Look over the information and tell me where you think I should start.”
“Okay,” Leesha said out loud, more for Lexi’s benefit than Sam’s. “Anyone of interest?”
“Not really,” Sam told them mentally. “There’s a resident with a red flag on his criminal check, but no charges of note. I couldn’t find anything on him other than he was involved in a pharmaceutical investigation around the same time Dr. Blevins was in court. The timing of it made me wonder, but I can’t find any connection. In the end, it looks like he was written up by the Sartori administration once, worked there for four more years, then transferred to a hospital in Scottsdale. He’s a pathologist there now.”
Lexi’s eyes snapped up. “He is?”
Sam tilted his head in thought. “Why is that so interesting?”
“Well, my theory – the one I was so excited about, hit me in chemistry class today. Did you know that there are chemicals, like medicine, that can actually change the way a brain functions?”
“Um… Yeah,” Sam said half sarcastically. “They use them for mental illness all the time, Lex.”
“I know that, moron. But open your mind a little bit more,” she glared at her brother. “According to my advanced chemistry teacher – and perhaps if you were smart enough to take advanced chemistry, Sam, you’d know this – there are studies at some of the Ivy League medical schools where they are testing certain chemicals on animals to see if it can permanently change the way a brain can function. Like, for instance, affecting the way your brain processes the strength in which you hear things through your ear drum.”
“Go on…” Leesha prodded, encouraged by this new information and direction.
“I don’t know much more than that, but I was hoping that maybe I could do a little research project of my own and report my findings at the next meeting. What do you think?” Lexi’s smile was back, enthused by her chance to help the group.
Leesha was just as enthusiastic. “That’s a great idea, Lexi! Good thinking. Find exactly which schools and staff members are running these tests, chemicals they are using, and any news items related to the studies. Also, if you can find out the properties of each of the medicines, and how they affect humans when they are administered. See if they are mixing any of these chemicals, and if so, what kinds of results they are getting. Think you can do that?”
“Absolutely!” she grinned broadly.
Sam turned to Leesha. “Were you able to come up with anything from your list of patients?”
Leesha pulled out her list, which was highlighted and color coded. “Yes. These three that are in green are still in the metro area – I’ve got addresses and phone numbers for all three. This one here – in the yellow – was killed two years ago in an car accident, so I don’t think we’ll get any information there. And the other four – in pink – have all moved out of the area. I think we should start by contacting the three that are here – they’ll be the easiest to find. Do you recognize any of the names?”
Both Sam and Lexi looked at this list and shook their heads.
“Yeah, me neither. I was hoping that perhaps one of them would be at our school or in some similar circle. No such luck,” Leesha shrugged. “Well, I can start by tracking them down.”
“Be careful, though,” Sam cautioned. “We don’t know anything about them.”
“I know, Sam. I will.”
Lexi interjected “You don’t think they’re dangerous, do you?”
Sam shot Leesha a look as she answered. “There’s no way to know until we make contact.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take care of interviewing them?” Sam was now worried.
“No,” Leesha said. “I think I can handle it. I’ll be careful, and if I run into any trouble, I’ll let you know.”
“All right,” he conceded, and forgot his worries as the pizza was delivered to the table.
Chapter Twenty-six
It was a close call, sitting down in the booth next to them at the pizza joint. But he had to try and get close enough to hear their conversation.
He knew the boy didn’t see his face – he made sure that wouldn’t happen. But he did know, from Sam’s clipped conversation with Lexi, that he detected something weird. He made a note to change his scent – shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste, laundry detergent – anything the boy could sniff out. Thanks to his meditation instructor, he was able to concentrate on clearing his mind while he sat there, so that the boy couldn’t hear his thoughts. He recorded what conversation was said aloud, and would review the content later.
They were being discreet. He liked that. He didn’t want his secret out any more than they did. But the fact that Sam could now speak to the others without saying anything out loud was going to be problematic. It was already hard to get close enough to gather any information, though he placed tracking devices on each of their cars so he knew where they were at all times. He was not able to tap into their phones yet, which would make surveillance of their conversation and text messages easier. He’d still have to work on that one – he was still looking for a trustworthy person who was adept at communications technology.
The fact that they were printing and gathering their information was also an issue, since he wasn’t able to get his hands on the research they were stockpiling. It would have been easier for him to intercept if they sent the information electronically. But he was optimistic, for the time being, that they seemed to be doing his research for him. He’d get his hands on their intel, once the time was right. For now, though, he wanted to make sure that he remained undetected. No one needed to get hurt. Yet.
Once they were gone, he got up to head towards his black sedan. He wanted to get this new recording in transcript form and sent to Charlie. As he unlocked the door of his car, he looked up and recognized the man stepping out of the Bronco par
ked two spots down. He wouldn’t forget that tall, lanky frame in a million years. It was the same man that paced the waiting room for eleven hours straight, seventeen years ago, as another doctor fought to save the lives of both mother and baby in an emergency c-section.
He backed his sedan up and wrote down the plate number of the Bronco. He knew he found another.
Chapter Twenty-seven
It was at the dinner table that night when Lexi finally flashed again. Sam was just filling his plate with seconds when he heard Lexi groan inside her mind. Luckily, no one else noticed what was going on. She silently got up to walk out of the room.
“Where are you going, dear?” their mother asked, noticing her sudden flight.
“Uh, just going to the bathroom real quick. I’ll be right back, Mom.”
Sam listened to her footsteps as she walked slowly up towards their bathroom. He heard her quietly shut the door and he took a quick peek through the ceiling to see her lay her head down on the cool tile.
“Stay calm, Lex. Just breathe in and out slowly. Don’t worry about the time – I just checked my watch. Let me know when it’s over,” Sam sent his thoughts to his sister upstairs.
I wish I could go help her, but Mom would sniff out trouble.
His interest in his parents’ conversation was suddenly lost as he focused his ears on the activity – or lack thereof – in the bathroom upstairs. Her jagged breathing was slow and calculated. Lexi wasn’t thinking anything other than to focus on her breathing. Slowly but surely, her breathing finally evened out, and she sent him a mental “all clear” signal. He heard her flush the toilet, just in case her parents were paying attention, and head back downstairs.
Sam took another look at his watch. Almost four minutes for this one. He caught her eye as she sat down and projected the length to her. “They’re getting longer, Lexi. That’s a good sign. Are you okay?”
“Yes. A little rattled – they’re still not fun to go through – but this one was definitely easier than the last.”
“We’ll head up after dinner and log everything and practice your powers.”
“Okay.”
They then joined the other conversation – the one their parents were having out loud – so that nothing seemed out of place to them.
After dinner, they sat in Lexi’s room to write up the notes and practice, but Sam got quickly bored watching Lexi turn herself on and off like a light switch.
She’s definitely getting the hang of it.
“Lex, I’m going to head over and try and get some other research done. You just keep practicing. See how long you can hold it.”
“Okay,” she said, then disappeared again.
That is so annoying.
Sam walked into his bedroom and hit the space bar on his computer to clear the screen saver. He glanced down at his phone. There was a lengthy message from Leesha.
Sam-
Going over your paperwork. Can’t put my finger on why, but this pathologist in Scottsdale is giving me heartburn. Can you do some kind of search? See if there is anything that connects this Dr. Rowe to Dr. Blevins.
I just find it odd that an old co-worker of Blevins’ is now about 30 minutes away from his mother’s Alzheimer’s wing… Might be just a coincidence.
Also, see if you can tap into the prison logs and run a list of anyone that may have visited Dr. Blevins during his stay there? I know you weren’t able to find much information, so this may be a dead end. Just thought I’d ask – I know you’re good at hacking into places – thought you might be up to a challenge.
Let me know if there’s any new activity. See you soon.
Leesha
Sam sent her a quick note back.
Will do.
Dinner time activity tonight. Log done. Lex is practicing. Keep you updated.
Sam
Now that he thought about it, he too found it interesting that an old co-worker of Blevins was so close in proximity to his mother’s nursing home. He wondered why he didn’t already pick up on that, but shrugged it off, as Leesha was usually the one to put everything together.
Sam decided to focus on the prison logs first, mostly because he was curious enough to want to snoop into this kind of information.
What kind of person visits at a high security prison? I can’t wait to see how often some of these people show up on the list. If I can even tap into it…
Through his earlier searches, he was able to find an external and internal web site for the penitentiary that Blevins spent his time at. He knew that most of the staffing information was kept on the intranet, so he started there.
He surfed in and out of the site for a couple of hours looking for visitor logs. Along the way, he was able to find employee listings, and while he didn’t print all of them out, he did decide to print out a list of management administration and medical staff during that time. He bookmarked the list of prison guards, but because the list was so long, he opted not to print it for now.
Finally!
After what seemed like an eternity, Sam was able to find an email document that noted the server address and password for the security department documents. Opening another window, Sam went directly to the site and found everything was listed first by category, then by year. He opened the file named “visitor logs” and accessed the six years that Blevins was there. Luckily, the data was all done in spreadsheet format, so he was able to combine everything into one document on his laptop and slice and dice by inmate name.
Sam did a quick run through, just out of morbid curiosity, of the number of people who visited the prison. Most of the inmates had regular visitors, even though visitation was only allowed for two hour time blocks on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Scanning down the list of names, most inmates had just wives and family members who visited them.
As he continued to peruse the list, Sam finally got down to Dr. Blevins and was surprised at the lack of visitors on his part of the list. In six years, there were only 24 entries in the log, and only two unique names listed.
What was strangest, in Sam’s opinion, is that three of the entries happened in the first year, then Blevins went four and a half years before anyone else came to see him. The last six months, he was visited by a woman named Sara Milligan. His eyes scanned up again for the name of the first visitor.
Bingo! Charles Rowe.
He then did a quick search on Rowe and his current information in Scottsboro. It looked like he was a partner in a private oncology practice with four other physicians, took note of their address and web information, and printed out the detail from the website. On the personal front, he was married, had two pre-teen daughters and lived in the suburbs just south of the metropolitan area. He noted his home address and telephone number and filed it in the newly created envelope marked with his name.
On a whim, Sam then decided to see if he could find web information and visitor logs for the nursing home in which Blevins’ mother was staying.
It can’t be just a coincidence.
Blevins’ mother, Virginia Blevins, had been at the Alzheimer’s unit of Angel Wings Convalescent Center for two and a half years – approximately thirty months to the day. Before that, she lived in the assisted living facility within the same community.
With the higher medical legalities and HIPAA regulations, Sam figured it would be hard to tap into the medical database of records, but was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. Not only was he able to find staff files, rotation schedules, and lists of other patients, but he was also able to access the electronic visitor logs for the last ten years.
He scanned quickly through the last three years of logs for any visitor of Virginia’s, and came up with just one name.
Jackpot. Charles Rowe.
He grabbed his phone to text Leesha one simple message:
Emergency meeting. Tomorrow night, 7:30 pm. Meet us at the mall food court.
Her response was just as brief:
Good. See you then.
Chapter Twenty
-eight
Sam planned their meeting in a crowded place where they could talk and not be overheard. Plus, they all agreed that changing the location of their meeting places was a must.
Sam filled Lexi in on as much of his information as he could. They both agreed that Dr. Rowe must be still connected to Blevins – maybe even helping him.
They met in the food court as planned, promptly at 7:30. Leesha was already waiting for them at a table in the back corner. Sam came in first, followed by Lexi a few minutes later. They decided to drive separately – their parents would have wondered why they were spending a precious Friday night together, and not off with their separate sets of friends.
“What’s up?” Leesha asked, not even waiting for either of them to sit down. She wanted details.
Sam slid the new envelope across the table to Leesha and began to fill her in. “You’ll find all of the documentation in there, but in a nutshell, I found the two instances that prove that Rowe and Blevins could very well still be in contact.”
Leesha’s eyes snapped up from the paperwork she was flipping through to check Sam’s face. “Really? What?”
“Well, first of all, Rowe visited Blevins three times in the first year that he was in prison. That would have been the same time that he was still working here at Sartori, before he moved to Arizona.”
“He traveled all the way to Birmingham to visit him in prison. Three times?”
“Yep. Three times over the course of the first eight months of his prison sentence.”
“Okay,” Leesha mentally chewed on that. “What was the other connection?”
“You were right on target about checking out Blevins’ mother. Virginia Blevins has been visited by just one person over the last two and a half years at Angel Wings. Guess who?”
“Rowe.” Leesha smiled, knowing they were getting somewhere.
“Yep. I think he’s our key.”
Lexi sat there nodding. “I vote for a road trip!”
They all laughed, but knew that going to Arizona in person may be the best way to question him.
Leesha’s face sobered. “Let me think about this for a little bit. I want to plan this properly – we can’t just run down there without a plan. We’ll need a good strategy, very detailed and thought out. Sam, can you do a little more research into the logs at Angel Wings? Specifically before she moved over to the Alzheimer’s unit?”