He was trying to remember the conversation he had had with her when he suddenly realized the applause had ended. Everyone
in the ballroom was staring expectantly up at him, waiting for him to begin, and for the first time in his life, he was unnerved. He couldn't remember a single word of his prepared speech, or even the topic. He glanced down at the podium where he had placed the program, read the title and a brief description of the talk he was supposed to give, and ended up winging it. Because he kept his remarks short, his trapped audience loved him. Overworked and overstressed, they had been given a one-night reprieve to
eat and drink and celebrate. The sooner he finished boring the badges off of them with platitudes about putting their lives on the line every day, the happier they would be. His thirty-minute presentation ended in just under ten minutes. Their response was so enthusiastic, he actually laughed. They gave him a standing ovation.
Later, on his walk back to his hotel, he thought about his bizarre behavior and concluded that he was acting like a boy who had
just discovered sex. He felt like he'd traded places with his youngest brother, Zachary. These days Zack couldn't speak two full sentences without the words 'girl,' 'hot,' and 'sex' in them.
Theo didn't know what had come over him, but he figured it would all go away as soon as he went fishing. He loved to fish.
When he was out on his boat, the
Tuesday morning, before he headed to Bowen, Theo had a breakfast meeting with a couple of New Orleans police captains,
and then he stopped by Dr. Cooper's office. The doctor worked him in just so he could give him hell about not keeping his appointment after the surgery. After he finished his lecture about how important his time was, he checked Theo's incision. 'It's healed nicely,' he announced. 'But you could have gotten into trouble if there had been any complications. You shouldn't have flown back to Boston so soon after surgery. It was a stupid thing to do.'
Cooper sat down on the stool next to the examination table. 'To be honest, I didn't expect any complications. Mike did an
excellent job. She always does,' he said. 'She's as good with a knife as I am, and that's high praise indeed. She's one of the best cutters in the country,' he added with a nod. 'You were very fortunate she saw you were in trouble. I offered her a place on my team, even hinted at a partnership. She's that gifted,' he stressed. 'When she turned me down, I encouraged her to go on and get a subspecialty under her belt, but she wasn't interested. She's too stubborn to see she's wasting her talent.'
'How so?' Theo asked as he rebuttoned his shirt.
'Doing family practice out in the boonies,' Cooper said. 'Mike will be doing a little cutting, but not much. It's a waste, all right.'
'The people of Bowen might not see it that way.'
'Oh, they need another doctor, no doubt about that, but…'
'But what?'
Cooper was fiddling with the lid of the cotton swabs. He abruptly closed it and stood. 'Bowen isn't the sweet little town she made it out to be,' he said. 'I talked to her this morning about a bowel resection she'd sent me, and she told me her clinic was vandalized. Turned upside down.' 'When did it happen?'
'Last night. The police are investigating, but so far, Mike told me there aren't any leads. You know what I think?'
'What's that?'
'Kids did it, looking for drugs. When they didn't find what they wanted, they tore up the place.' 'Maybe,' Theo said.
'Mike doesn't keep hard drugs in her clinic. None of us do. Patients who need that kind of medicine should be in a hospital.
It's a real shame,' he added. 'She worked hard to get that clinic ready, and she was so happy and excited to be going back
home again.' He paused to shake his head. 'I worry about her. I mean to say… if it wasn't vandalism, then maybe someone doesn't want her back in Bowen.'
'I'm headed to Bowen to go fishing with her father,' Theo said.
'You could do me a favor then,' he said. 'I've got another box of supplies I was going to take to her, but you could take them
for me, and while you're there, you could look into this vandalism. Maybe I'm overreacting, but…' 'But what?'
'She's scared. She didn't say so, but I could tell. I got this feeling while I was talking to her that there was something else she wasn't telling me. Mike doesn't get scared easily, but she sounded upset when she was talking to me.'
Theo left the doctor's office a few minutes later carrying a large cardboard box of medical supplies. He had already checked
out of the hotel, and his suitcase and fishing gear were packed in the car he'd rented.
The sky was pristine blue, and it was sunny and warm, a perfect day for a drive in the country.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
It was early afternoon, and Cameron, Preston, and John were all chomping at the bit for Dallas to arrive. They had been waiting in John's library for over an hour and were becoming more and more anxious.
Dallas was late as usual.
'Where the hell have you been?' Cameron demanded the second Dallas walked into the library, looking as tired and haggard as the others. 'We've been waiting for hours.'
'I've been running my ass off,' Dallas snapped. 'And I'm not in the mood for attitude, Cameron, so knock it off.'
'Do we pack up and leave the country?' Preston asked. 'Are the police going to knock on our doors?'
'Jesus, don't talk like that.' Cameron broke out in a cold sweat.
'I don't think we're going to have to pack our clothes just yet,' Dallas said.
'You got the copies of our files back?' Preston asked eagerly.
'No,' Dallas answered. 'I didn't get them… yet. I found out what courier service the law firm uses and went there. Fortunately, they hadn't mailed the receipt back to the firm yet, and I got a copy. I called Monk immediately, and he headed out right away. Catherine sent the information to a relative, a Dr. Michelle Renard in Bowen, Louisiana.'
'I don't get it. Why would Catherine wait till she was dead to send it to a relative and not just turn it over to the Feds the
minute she found out?' Cameron asked.
John answered. 'I know exactly what she was doing. Catherine was a fanatic about marriage being forever, and she wasn't
going to let me go. She would have used what she discovered to make me behave. The last couple of months, she must have thought I was coming around. I was being so sickeningly nice to the woman. But Catherine was vindictive. No matter how nice
I was to her, she was going to send me to prison after she died. Still, I never would have guessed that she would have sent the
file to the family she'd practically disowned.'
'Did the doctor sign for the package?' Preston asked.
'Yes.'
'Son of a bitch. We're screwed.'
