Ghostly hostage, p.10
Ghostly Hostage, page 10
"Of course. That's not a problem." Pete kissed her softly.
"If you two want to go home, my parents can take her," Angus offered.
"I think she needs to be with people she knows right now." Carrie looked at the motorhome. "She'll be more comfortable. Besides, she said she wanted to give me all the passwords to her computer programs and stuff in case we need them while she's gone. She knows I'll be the one covering the front desk for her since I always do when she takes vacation time."
"Do you know if there is anyone we need to contact for Brayden or Sam?" Franks asked.
"No idea about Brayden. I think his family is in the area, but I know he lives alone. And Sam isn't close to his family. He'd probably not want you to contact them unless it was serious. They live in Vermont, I think."
"He's not dating anyone?" Angus asked.
Carrie shook her head. "His last girlfriend did a job on him. He's been single for years."
"And I know they already called Kyle's family. They did that as soon as they got him to the hospital," Angus told them.
"They can call his family, but not me?" Pete looked upset.
"I don't have you listed as a contact," Carrie admitted. "We need to change that. They would have called my parents if things got worse." Her eyes widened as she glanced at Lance. "They didn't call my parents, did they?"
"Not that I'm aware of. We were kind of holding off to see how things went. We were hoping to have you all out of there before the day was over," Angus said.
"I'll go see if I can find any contact info for Brayden and call his family." Franks headed into the motorhome.
"That just leaves Sam, but if you think we should wait, we will," Angus said.
"Yeah, I would wait. He doesn't talk like they're close at all. Unless something major happens, I'd hold off," Carrie agreed.
"Angus?" his mother called as she gestured for him to join her.
"I'm being summoned. Yell if you need anything, okay?" He gently touched Carrie's arm.
"Of course. Please let me know when you hear anything. I'm glad to be out of there, but now I don't know what's going on and that's almost worse."
"I promise," he said before turning and going to where his parents stood. "What's up?"
Lizzy smiled. "Ray came to let us know Kyle's out of surgery and in recovery. Everything looks good so far. He'll be able to have visitors tomorrow."
"That's a relief. I'm glad there were no complications. Has Ray been in to tell Lance?" Angus asked.
"He just went inside, then he's headed back to the hospital. He said there are a few ghosts he needs to speak with, but he'll meet up with us later." She handed him a bottle of water. "How's Carrie and Kathy?"
"Carrie's okay, Kathy not so much. I guess Kathy is planning to go visit her sister in California for a few days. Carrie and Pete are going to stay with her until she goes."
"You told her we could help, didn't you?" Lizzy asked.
"Yep, but they already had everything worked out. Carrie thinks Kathy would be better with someone she knows, and I have to agree. Besides, I need you here. Any news from inside?"
"Other than Lance enjoyed dinner, not a word. I'm going to send your dad over to feed Haunt and check on things at Lance's house. Do you need anything?"
"No, I'm okay." He smiled at his father. "Give Haunt a big hug from me and tell her we'll be there as soon as we can. They won't let you park in this area but have the officer call Franks' phone when you get back so I can let you past the crime tape. The captain still has my phone."
"I will. You stay safe and get Lance out of there as soon as possible." His father hugged him.
As Angus watched him leave, he pulled his mother close. "How are you? It's been a long day. If this is too much—"
She slapped his arm. "My future son-in-law is in there. Don't you dare try and make me leave. I'm just fine. I'll stay until I get too tired, but I'm not there yet. Betty said that the guys are talking over the autopsy, but with the parents right there, have to be careful what they say. She gets the feeling they think something is suspicious, but she doesn't know what."
Angus told her what Carrie had said about there being no visible sign of why Reggie died. "I hate to think the hospital messed up, but that's becoming a strong possibility. Once I have the lab results, we'll know better where to look. Until then, we just have to wait."
She hugged him. "Sit down and relax for a bit." She gestured to the curb near where they stood. "Lance is going to need you to be strong once he gets out of this."
He agreed and sat down, glad to be off his feet for a few. While he might let his body rest, his mind wouldn't. The more he learned, the more he thought he should start investigating the hospital. But where did he start? If there was some mix-up with medications, it would be on the medical chart, right? Or did a nurse grab the wrong drug and not notice? The first thing he needed to do was find out who was taking care of Reggie, then from there he could investigate one person at a time and hopefully find out what happened to cause a young child to die.
As he sat beside his mother, he thought about every angle he could work, but deep down inside, he prayed they found a cause of death, because he really didn't want this to end up being a murder.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Lance had the case file along with notes and photos from the autopsy in front of him. He was careful to try and keep the pictures hidden from the Meyers who sat directly across from where he sat with Sam and Brayden. The things they had to discuss with Christine were going to be upsetting to the family, but there was no way to avoid it.
A small voice in the back of Lance's mind wondered why he should care if he upset the family. They'd come in and taken them hostage at gunpoint and shot Kyle in the process. But another part of Lance understood the actions of a grieving parent. Nothing made this situation okay, but he could at least understand the need to find answers. After doing the autopsy, he wanted those answers just as much.
"We're ready when you are," Sam told Tim since he held the phone.
"Who is it we're asking to talk to?" Tim asked.
"Dr. Christine Matthews." Lance hoped she had time to look through the medical file.
Tim placed the call and put the phone on speaker before setting it down in the middle of the table.
"Hello?" a voice Lance hadn't heard before answered.
"Hey, this is Lance Turner. I'm hoping Dr. Matthews is available to take our call or has left a number to contact her at." Lance shuffled through his notes, trying to decide where to begin.
"She's here. One moment and I'll give her the phone. How are things inside? Do you need anything?" the man asked.
"We're fine. How much longer before we get those answers from the lab?" Tim asked.
"We're as anxious to get results as you are, but some things can't be rushed. We'll let you know the moment they come in," the man assured them.
"That's all we need. Now let us talk to this doctor." Tim nodded to Lance and the others. "Ask your questions, but don't try to be sneaky about anything."
Lance wasn't sure what they could be sneaky about. They'd been upfront about everything so far. It wasn't as if they were suddenly going to work on a plan to send in SWAT and put an end to this. While that would be great, Lance figured everyone knew it would be too dangerous for what had so far been a mostly peaceful situation.
"Hello?" Christine's soft voice asked.
"Christine, it's Lance. Sorry to involve you with this, but we have a case where the child had interstitial lung disease and none of us know much about it. I'm hoping you might be able to help us figure out if the lung disease might have been a contributing factor in this death." Lance had no idea how it could have been, but he didn't have Christine's background.
"I've got the file and have had a chance to glance through some of it. From what I can tell, the child was doing well recently. Had discontinued the need for supplemental oxygen and was in the hospital for general testing and a sleep study."
The news about the sleep study was new to him, but that didn't shock him either. They'd want to make sure the kid's oxygen levels stayed steady during the night.
"That's exactly what we were told as well," Shawnee spoke up. "Our son had been off oxygen for a few weeks and his doctor just wanted to confirm he was doing okay. We agreed to the sleep study because we'd worried his levels were dropping at night."
"I've got a call in to your son's doctor and will discuss it with him once I get a chance to speak to him." Christine's tone became more compassionate. "I'm sorry about the loss of your son. No parent should have to go through that."
"Thank you," Shawnee whispered as she started to cry again.
"Now what did the autopsy show?" Christine asked.
"Dr. Matthews, this is Sam Barret. I'm the head medical examiner. From what we saw, there were no signs of any respiratory or cardiac event that would have caused death. Other than the lungs being a bit underweight and some pulmonary fibrosis, we didn't see anything abnormal. We have the images taken during the autopsy that we can email you."
"Please." She quickly gave them her email. "Had the child been eating normally? Had there been any other problems leading up to his death?"
"No, he was doing well. He was so excited to be able to go to school without carrying oxygen around with him. His appetite was normal, maybe even a bit increased, but I'd been told boys start eating a ton right before puberty and I figured that might be what was happening." Shawnee wiped at her eyes. "When we left the hospital for the night, he'd been laughing and acting as if he didn't have a care in the world. He was watching a movie on his tablet and promised us he'd go to sleep as soon as it ended. It was around two hours after that we got the call that he'd died."
"Lance, can you also send me the imaging you got of the heart?" Christine asked.
"Of course." He nodded to Brayden to find that stuff. They'd already warned Tim and Shawnee that they would need to email information out and got their okay to do so. "We ran this as a forensic autopsy, going through the extra steps due to the circumstances. We didn't want to risk missing anything."
"Good, I'm glad to hear that. You saw no signs of any previous heart disease?" Christine inquired.
"None, but I did see from the heart monitor he wore in preparation for his sleep study that there was a brief reading of ventricular tachycardia right before the code was called, but we see no signs of that during autopsy." Lance exchanged a glance with Sam, knowing he was thinking the same thing he was. With no cardiac damage or prior issues with heart disease, the obvious answer would be a reaction to a drug that had been given to Reggie. Yet, none of the drugs listed as given to him would have caused such a reaction. In fact, due to the fact he was doing a sleep study, they would be careful not to give him any drugs out of the ordinary so they didn't have an effect on Reggie's sleep pattern.
"Give me a second to look at what you just sent me," Christine said.
Lance focused on the list of the lab work they'd requested, making sure Sam had asked them to run tests for lesser-known drugs that weren't always tested for.
"Lance, let me call you right back. I've got Dr. Plunket calling my phone." Christine ended the call without waiting for a reply.
"That's Reggie's doctor. Has been since he was diagnosed. He's always been great, but I was a bit upset last night when he never spoke to us after Reggie died. We tried to speak to him but were told he was with another patient." Shawnee no longer even held the gun. It rested on the table in front of her.
"That could be true. By the time he finished, you'd left, it was late, and he planned on speaking with you today, but you were here instead of home," Brayden pointed out.
"He's right. We left our cell phones at home," Tim told his wife. "He might have called."
"He should have been there for Reggie." Shawnee started to cry again. "Maybe if he were, we'd still have our son."
And this was another reason Lance had chosen to work with the dead. He rarely had to deal with families. Sure, there were times he'd have to speak to them about the results or scheduling of an autopsy, but by the time he did, most had calmed a bit from the initial shock of their loved one's death. He couldn't imagine working with the living, especially children. Reggie's doctor had thought he'd left the boy in good hands. The tests weren't invasive, and the sleep study was common. The doctor couldn't have known what would happen, yet here he was being blamed for Reggie's death. Then again, maybe he had been. Right now, Lance had no idea who or what had killed the child. He only knew whatever it was, it probably wasn't natural.
"Whatever happened to Reggie happened quickly. Even if he was somewhere in the hospital, Dr. Plunket might not have had time to even make it to Reggie's room," Sam said, then shook his head. "I know that's not what you want to hear, but from reading the report, he was gone quickly. They attempted to bring him back and were unsuccessful."
The phone rang again, and Tim answered. "Yes?"
"It's Dr. Matthews again. Sorry about that, but I had some questions I needed Dr. Plunket to answer." She blew out a hard breath. "I have not had a chance to go through Reggie's whole history, but I have gone through everything we have from yesterday and from the autopsy today. I have to agree with the parents. Reggie seemed fine all day. He wasn't on any new medications, he hadn't had trouble breathing, and all the tests were common and non-intrusive. There is nothing I can see that should have caused his death. Even the autopsy photos don't show me anything. There is lung damage, but that is common for children with this disease. Most children don't survive having interstitial lung disease, but Reggie was showing signs of beating it. The fact he no longer needed oxygen is amazing and a testament to the work Dr. Plunket was doing. His treatments were working. I'm sorry that I can't give you answers, but I'm not seeing anything that alerts me to him having any kind of respiratory emergency last night."
"Dr. Plunket hadn't put him on any new medication?" Brayden asked.
"No. Dr. Plunket said he'd gone over everything as well and didn't see any medication given that Reggie hadn't already been on. He's poured over the medical file today as well and is as confused as we are about how this happened," Christine said. "I'm going to continue to read through the rest of Reggie's history and go back over the hospital reports. I'll call you if I find anything of interest, but right now, I suggest you wait on toxicology. I fear our answers may be there."
Lance sighed. "That's what we were thinking as well. Thank you for taking the time to do this for me. I didn't know who else to call and wanted someone who wasn't familiar with Reggie to give it a look with fresh eyes."
"No problem. I'll be here if you have any more questions. You can call my phone or this one here in the command center." She paused. "Captain Marshall is asking if you need anything?"
Lance looked around the group. When no one said anything, Lance said, "Answers."
"Yeah, I wish I had them to give them to you," Christine said. "Be safe, and we'll call if we find anything."
"Thanks." Tim reached over and ended the call. He looked at Sam. "Well, what does that tell you?"
"You know as much as we do," Sam told him. "We have no idea as of right now why Reggie died. Lab work is going to take hours. I could use another bathroom break and I'm sure others could as well. Then I am going to go back through the file and make sure we didn't miss anything."
Brayden nodded. "I could use the bathroom."
"Me as well," Lance agreed.
"Then let's go get that done." Tim stood and gestured to the others to follow.
Shawnee picked up her gun and followed them, veering off to the women's room while the men went into the other one.
Lance tried hard not to think about the long night ahead. He was tired and wanted nothing more than to get a hot shower and curl up in bed beside Angus and Haunt. He could sleep for a week after all this. So much for being refreshed after vacation. He didn't dare guess what the rest of the week might hold. Now they'd be behind schedule, and who knew when they'd get back to work as normal. Once this was over, the morgue would be considered a crime scene. Even if they rushed the investigation, it would be a day or two before they could get back to work. If he'd known what he was coming home to, he would have booked another cruise and stayed away another week.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Angus groaned as he tried to stretch out in the passenger seat of his car. He'd gotten a few hours of sleep, but they hadn't been good ones. He turned the key in the ignition so he could see the clock on the dash. He sighed, seeing it was just after three in the morning. He glanced out his car window toward the command center, wondering if there was any news yet. He'd asked one of the officers to wake him if there was, but he didn't trust that they would.
He sat up, pulling his seat into the upright position as he looked around. It was quiet outside. Red and blue lights still alerted people that there was something going on, and two news vans sat farther down in the parking lot, waiting for a story.
He'd sent his parents and Franks home to bed around nine, but that left him with no way to contact the ghosts since Christine had left shortly after them with a promise to return today if he needed her. He didn't. As nice as it was to have the ghosts giving him updates, it was pointless to have his mother or Christine hang around if there were no updates to give.
The last he'd heard, Lance and everyone left inside the morgue were doing okay. They were just waiting for lab results. Angus glanced up at the building, glad to see lights on in the lab over the morgue. Hopefully, that meant people were working to get them answers. Some of the tests would be completed by now, but with the lack of activity around the Command Center, he doubted any of those tests held answers.
Needing a bathroom and a cup of coffee, Angus got out of the car and made his way toward the motorhome. The captain had gone home to sleep, but he could see several people inside the motorhome working. He quietly opened the door in case anyone was sleeping and made his way inside.
