Traffic Stop (15 page)

“I talked to my friend Lauren today. She’s an attorney, and I told her everything that has been going on.”

“That’s great; it can’t hurt to have another perspective on things.”

“She’s going to have her private investigator start searching through the hospital records to see if they can find anything, but first she wants your permission to get involved.”
C’mon baby, see
this in the same light I do.
Ryan held her breath, waiting for Tobi’s answer.

“That’s not a problem. I don’t mind her looking through things, but you know I can’t just hand over any patient files. She’ll have to do that part of the digging without my help.”

As her breath rushed out, making her a little lightheaded, Ryan nodded and smiled in appreciation.

“Ryan…why were you so worried to tell me that?”

“I didn’t want you to think that I went behind your back, that I didn’t believe you when you said there was no involvement with a patient on a personal level.”

“Oh, honey, I know I reacted poorly that night, and I am truly sorry. I know why you’re asking, and I understand. I want this guy as bad as you; even more so.”

“I just don’t want you to think that I don’t trust you, because I do.”

Ryan pulled into the garage, turned the Jeep off, and walked around to Tobi’s side. She waited until Tobi was out of the vehicle then grasped Tobi’s upper arms and gave her a serious look. “I trust you more than anyone, Tobi.”

“I never doubted that. I was so frazzled that night. I should never have yelled at you like I did. I’m so sorry for that.”

“Don’t be sorry; it’s in the past.”

“Don’t ever be afraid to talk to me, Ryan. I may not always like what you have to say, and I may not always agree, but I will listen.”

“I’ll remember that, and I hope that you’ll tell me when you need to talk.”

“That won’t be a problem because I’m big on communication.

It’ll probably drive you nuts.”

Ryan hugged Tobi close to her and placed her lips against the side of her head. Her hair was so soft, and smelled fresh and clean, her body warm and supple.
I’d love to feel her writhe beneath me
and make her even warmer.
Ryan’s heart skipped a beat, her pulse rapidly accelerating.
Good God! Get a grip woman!
Ryan barely contained a groan of desire. She took two full breaths then kissed the top of Tobi’s head and took her hand.

“You could never drive me nuts, sweetheart…at least not in a bad way.”

It took a full five seconds before Tobi raised both eyebrows and glanced in Ryan’s direction. “Being coy now, are we?”

Ryan grinned and pulled her into the house, closing the garage door.

When they finished cleaning up after dinner, Ryan called Lauren to tell her it was fine with Tobi if she looked into things.

After a brief conversation, Ryan handed the phone to Tobi.

“What?”

“Lauren wants to talk to you.”

“Why does she want to talk to me?”

“That’s what I asked her, and she said it was none of my business,” Ryan said, scowling.

Timidly reaching for the phone, Tobi put it to her ear.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Tobi. I know this is going to drive Ryan crazy, but she’ll survive,” Lauren said, laughing.

Tobi chuckled with her after seeing the scowl still on Ryan’s face. “You wouldn’t believe the sour look she’s pulling right now.” Pouting, Ryan turned on her heel and went back into the living room.

“Oh, I’d believe it. I’ve seen it enough times myself. Listen, I wanted to hear directly from you that you were okay with someone delving through your own personnel files, not to mention all the background info that will come back.”

“I’m more than okay with it, Lauren, I want this over with. I don’t mind you looking into things; just know that I can’t and won’t hand over any patient files.”

“I understand and don’t worry about that. We can work around it.”

“Thanks. It’s one thing for him to harass me, but for him to hurt Ryan is going too far.”

“She is all right, isn’t she?”

“Except for a few bumps and bruises, she’s fine.”

“She’s so damned stubborn. I wasn’t sure whether to believe her or not. She’s not very good about telling people when she’s hurting.”

Tobi detected a hidden meaning in her statement and knew Lauren was talking about more than just a physical hurt.

“I’m finding that out. I hope that I’m slowly convincing her that she can tell me anything. I don’t like to see her in pain.”

Lauren was silent for a moment before responding. “She’s a good person, Tobi. I’m so glad you two have found each other.

She deserves to be happy, and I know that she will make you just as happy.”

“I concur, Counselor.”

“I’ll let you go for now because I’m sure that after this she will need her feelings soothed. No doubt she is still pouting,” she said, laughing.

“Thanks, Lauren, for everything.”

“No problem, kiddo. I’ll give you a call in a couple of days.

Take care of yourselves.”

Tobi set the phone down and leaned heavily against the counter, pondering what Lauren had said. She knew Ryan held things inside, but she wanted to unlock that part of her, and given enough time, she had no doubt that would happen. Question is, would Ryan give them that time or would she pull away in fear?

Speculating wasn’t going to bring about the solution; she would just have to show Ryan that she didn’t have to be afraid. With a determined push away from the counter, she went in search of her little pouter.

After three days, Lauren called Ryan at the precinct with some information.

“First off, I’m not even going to tell you how my informant got all this information, so don’t even ask.”

Ryan would have laughed except that she knew Lauren was completely serious.

“There’s nothing specifically pertaining to Tobi. Just typical malpractice lawsuits. We looked through court dockets, hospital records, Tobi’s personnel file, and even checked with the State Department of Professional Registration for any complaints.”

Lauren explained. “Out of everything, there’s just one incident that jumps out at me.”

“What’s that?” Ryan asked.

“Well, among the documents pertaining to the death of that pregnant woman, there’s a statement from her husband claiming that there had to be a mistake. His wife could not have been pregnant because he’d had a vasectomy two years prior.”

Ryan mulled this over, but said nothing.

“There are also several documented follow-up attempts on the hospitals end, but no other correspondence came from the husband.”

“Hmm, wonder why that is?” Ryan asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Well, anyhow, thanks for looking into this for me, Lauren.”

“No problem. Take care and give me a call me sometime, okay?”

“Will do, Counselor.”

Ryan strummed her fingers lightly on the desk before rolling her chair over and retrieving the husband’s address from the computer.
Think I’ll stop by and have a chat with Mr. David Hyde.

Grabbing her jacket and keys, she headed out the door.

Following a winding road into the heart of an older subdivision, Ryan found the street she was looking for and stopped in front of a red brick house. She saw a car in the driveway and took a deep breath before heading to the front door.

The door opened to reveal a middle-aged man of average height with short red hair and wire-rimmed glasses. “Can I help you with something?”

“Are you David Hyde?”

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

“Mr. Hyde, my name is Sergeant Ryan Thomas,” she said showing her badge. “I have a few questions I’d like to ask you about the death of your wife.”

He stepped out of the house, pulled the door closed, and crossed his arms. “What exactly do you want to know?”

“It seems that you submitted a statement saying your wife could not be pregnant. I’ve read the autopsy report, and there was no question that she was. The hospital tried on several occasions to follow up with you, but there was no further contact from your end.”

“Sergeant, I found out shortly after I sent that statement that my wife had been having an affair. With that new knowledge, I didn’t see the point in pursuing things any further.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well…is there anything else you need?” he asked in a tone that indicated she was being more than bothersome. Ryan knew she was pushing her luck but had to ask the one question she was sure Mr. Hyde could have done without.

“Do you happen to know who she was having the affair with?”

“No. One of her friends, Cindy, told me about the affair but said she never knew who the man was. Apparently, my wife would never tell her anything about him.” Stepping back to the door, he said, “If that’s all, I have things to do.” When Ryan nodded, he disappeared inside.

Once in the Jeep, Ryan deliberated over what Mr. Hyde had revealed. If his wife, in fact, had been having an affair, then who was this other man? Could he be the one causing all the problems?

If so, what exactly was his vendetta against Tobi?
I think I need to
do a little more investigating.
Opening her cell phone, Ryan punched in a familiar number.

“Dr. Drexler’s office, Marcy speaking. May I help you?”

“Hi, Marcy.”

“Hello there, how are you feeling?”

“I’m doing great; thank you for asking.”

“Let me guess; you’d like to speak with Tobi.”

“Please, if she’s not too busy.”

“Glad to hear you’re doing better, Ryan. Hang on just a second.”

“Thanks, Marcy.” Ryan listened to the soft beat of music as she ran her hand down the smooth surface of the steering wheel and back up. This was an annoying little habit that reared its ugly head when she had too much pent-up nervous energy.

“Hey, honey.”

Instantly grinning, Ryan’s hand stopped in mid-motion, “Hi.”

“To what do I owe this pleasure?”

“I was wondering if you were free for lunch today.”

“It just so happens that I am. Does this mean you’re going to spend some of your day off in my presence?”

“If that’s okay with you, I thought I might.”

“I’d love it. Why don’t you meet me in the cafeteria, say in an hour?”

“Sounds good, I’ll see you then, sweetheart.”

Tobi set the last of the signed reports on Marcy’s desk and waited for her to finish her phone call.

“I’m going to meet Ryan in the cafeteria for lunch today, if you should need me.”

“Aren’t you lucky? What’s the occasion?”

“Yes, very lucky,” Tobi said, grinning. “She’s off today and wanted to spend some time with little ol’ me.”

“Well, I’ll walk down with you. I need to grab a couple of things myself.”

After closing the office door, they headed to the elevator.

They had just entered the cafeteria when Tobi felt the vibration from her pager against her hip. She checked the number and grabbed Marcy’s arm.

“I need to answer this page real quick. Can you do me a favor?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“Can you just watch for Ryan, and if she gets here before I return, tell her I’ll be right back?”

“Okay, no problem.”

“Thanks.” Walking to the bank of phones, Tobi punched in the number. “This is Dr. Drexler. Did someone page?” She jotted down a few notes as she listened. “Okay, I’ll be right there.” Tobi pocketed her beeper and headed back to Marcy. “Damn, so much for lunch.”

Finding Marcy where she left her, Tobi rushed to explain,

“Marcy, I really hate to ask this, but can you wait for Ryan to get here and tell her that I’m sorry I couldn’t make lunch? The ER just called and needs someone to scan a rigid belly on a trauma that just came in.”

“Not a problem; get on over there. I’ll let Ryan know what’s up.”

“Thanks, I owe you one.”

Tobi descended the back steps to the entrance of the tunnel that led to the emergency room. Walking through the tunnel always reminded her of those scary movies where the lights were dim, and she could almost imagine a water puddle here and there, making it seem cold. With each step, the sound of the soles of her shoes hitting the concrete floor was the only thing she could hear.

As she rounded the corner to the last section before the steps to the ER, Tobi stopped. She thought she had heard someone running toward her. Not hearing anything, she continued on. A few steps more and she heard the noise again. This time, she knew someone was behind her. As if in slow motion, Tobi turned and barely saw the flash of a white-clad arm and dark eyes before taking a blow to the side of her head. Falling back against the wall, she slid down and everything faded to black.

“Hey, Ryan,” Marcy said as she approached with a tray in her hands.

“Hi. You mean the boss actually lets you get away to eat?”

“Sometimes,” Marcy said, laughing. “Listen, Tobi got called away on an emergency.”

“Ah, okay, thanks for sticking around to tell me.” With a slight hesitation, Ryan continued, “Would you like to eat lunch since you’re already here?”

“I’d like that. I’ll go get a table while you get your tray.”

Ryan picked up some food, fixed a drink, and went to pay.

She found Marcy sitting toward the back wall.

“So, it’s your day off, huh?”

Ryan took a sip of iced tea and nodded. “The department does the schedule so that every two weeks, you end up with a day off during the week.”

“That sounds like a great schedule. I bet-”

“Dr. Drexler, 5-0 …Dr. Drexler, 5-0.”

Ryan saw a frown form on Marcy’s forehead. “What? Why did they page her?”

“They’re paging her to the ER, but she should have been there by now.”

“How long ago did she leave?”

“It’s been at least ten minutes.”

“Is that long enough to get there?” Ryan asked, worried.

“It should be, but maybe she stopped off at the desk before going to the exam room.”

“Hmm, that could be.”

“What was I saying? Oh, I bet that schedule gives you time to get things done during the week that you normally can’t.”

“Exactly. It’s nice to have a day to do errands at places that normally aren’t open after regular business hours. How has today been?”