Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (54 page)

"Absolutely, so what did your program say about t
his
case?"

He point to the computer and Raymond saw the words.

"Raymond,
Lana
doesn't have a stalker. Someone has hired a hit man to kill
her
. I started running the results t
his
morning before
Lana
was
shot. It takes a few hours to run, so I've still have to enter the gunshot. But I thought it
was
important to give you t
his
information now. When I rerun it after entering the shooting, it will take a couple of hours to run.
With
any luck it will give us a name."

"How accurate is t
his
?"

"I have only used it for five other cases, but so far it's one hundred percent. It's still in the infancy stage I can only say it's ninety percent."

"Oh shit, we aren't even looking in the right direction. We thought he is just a sick perverted man stalking
her
. I never dreamed someone paid a hit man." He reached over and kissed Ken on the forehead. He picked up
his
phone and called Sara. "Sara I need you to run everything you can find on
Lana
and
her
family and every friend
she
has ever known and see if you can find anything illegal or jealousy or trouble
with
the law which includes drugs. Check phone records for anything unusual. Also find out if
she
has a will and who's in
that
will."

"You got it and it will take a several hours but I will work hard on it. Do you want t
his
to take top priority?"

"Yes, and I want you to work on t
his
personally. Since t
his
is a delicate situation, I
would
like for you to call me and not Mike."

"I understand, and I will."

Chapter 34

2:52 p.m.

After several of hours of surgery the doctors came out and talked
with
Mike. Many of the team members were waiting at
his
side.

"Mr. Ramsey?"
said Dr.
Orsburn
as he walked into the room.

"Yes sir, I'm Mike Ramsey, how is
she
doctor
?" Mike
was
so anxious h
e could hardly breath
e
.
He had never been t
his
scared since
his
wife died.

"
She
's one tough lady, living after taking a shot like
that
is remarkable. We had to remove
her
left kidney and spleen.
Her
lung
was
punctured by part of the bullet, but it
was
in a place where we could remove it. Internally
she
's
banged up pretty bad and the next day or two we'll know more.
She
has lost a tremendous amount of blood and
that
doesn't help. One thing
that
did help
her
was
the freezing cold weather. It slowed down the flow of blood. But I think
she
'll pull through, keep in mind, s
he
won't be ready to run marathons any time soon. But I think
she
'll be up to par in a couple of months."

Mike walked over and shook the doctor's hand and thanked him. "I need to get in
her
room immediately,
she
's in protective custody."
Thank you God,
she
's alive and it looks like
she
'll live
. T
his
is nothing short of a miracle.
His
heart
was
relieved
and he wanted to get to
his
Lana
.

"
She
's in room 200, but we have
her
listed as 314 on the books,
that
's an empty room and in a part of the hospital
that
's quiet. So you may want to put someone watching
that
door."

"Thank you so much." Mike liked Dr.
Orsburn
and he
was
the same doctor
that
performed surgery on Frank. He
was
thorough and cared a great deal for
his
patients. He noticed him at Frank's memorial. How many doctors
would
go to a memorial or think about changing the room numbers on the charts?

"I hope you catch the son-of-a-bitch who shot
her
," the doctor said
with
anger for the shooter.

Mike and Joe immediately headed to room 200. There laid he precious
Lana
with
tubes running out of
her
side. He laid
his
head down next to
her
and cried
his
heart out
while holding
her
hand
.

Joe walked over to Mike and put
his
hand on
his
shoulder and he too had tears running down
his
cheeks. "Mike, why don't you go in the bathroom and shower. I brought you a clean change of clothes. I'll sit here and watch
her
."

"Sure, I
would
be glad to do
that
. Ask Dane to sit at room 314 and have someone get him a doctor's uniform. Also set men at every e
ntrance and make sure someone monitors
all the cameras. Get someone to sit outside t
his
room. Nobody and I mean nobody gets through
with
out the hospital administrator approving them. Give him a call to get photos of all nurses and doctors who will be attending to
Lana
." Mike's cop mode set in, giving orders. It
was
second nature to him.

"I'll do
that
and I brought you some food and coffee," said Joe.

"I'm not hungry but the coffee sounds good." Mike looked at the black coffee and he noticed Joe got some french vanilla cream. Seeing the cream choked him up, it reminded him of
Lana
and their first morning together. After all these years of drinking black coffee, t
his
precious girl changed him. "Joe."

"Yes sir."

"Thanks for the cream.
That
was
thoughtful of you."

"You're
welcome and I'll get busy setting everything up in the hospital. I'll let you know when everything is in place." Joe wrote down all
that
needed to be done. Before he left he walked over to the bed and held Lana's hand. "Mike
she
really is a special lady. It could have been me or I might be at the morgue.
She
saved my life."

Mike had no idea what he
meant
. "What do you mean
she
saved your life?"

"Right before the gun shot
she
pushed me out of the way.
She
must have seen something," said Joe as he noticed how bloody the tubes were sticking out of
her
side.

Mike's looked at Joe and he reassuringly said. "Yea
she
's a very special lady and
she
did what any loving person
would
do.
That
's the mom in
her
. Joe, I don't want you to feel guilty. Nor
would
Lana
want you to feel guilty.
She
thinks the world of you and
she
'll tell you
that
when
she
feels better." Mike knew Joe
would
feel bad the rest of
his
life and he hoped if
Lana
died Joe can come to terms
with
his
feelings. Unfortunately in t
his
business you can't wear your emotions on your sleeve. The cops have to learn to cope, or the stress will eat them alive.

"
That
's exactly what Raymond said."

*****

Colby a senior agent and special long range weapons expert called Raymond to the side. "Raymond, it's over a mile to
that
light house.
That
is not an easy shot, and I think we need to start researching who could shoot
that
far. And Raymond, we've had agents outside for several days, and nobody bothered them. It
would
have been easier to shoot one of us when we were alone. So he
was
after one person, and the only people not outside before today were you, Mike, Joe and
Lana
."

Raymond thought a minute. "I agree. Keep in mind it's been cloudy and windy the last several days. And what you just said coincides
with
Ken's theory. Let's go to the lighthouse and double check forensics. Find us a car equipped
with
forensics materials. I don't think they missed anything, but we are the experts and if we'
re lucky we might find a clue
."

"Yes sir."

Raymond and Colby were both on the Marshals terrorist sharp shooter team and experts in long range weapons. They drove to the lighthouse as quickly as they could and they ran up the steps two at a time. They could see fingerprint dust on the center of the double windows. "Colby I want you to see if you can find any tripod marks. I don't think anyone could make
that
shot
with
out
that
extra support."

Colby got down on
his
knees far from the window so he
would
n't contaminate the marks on the floor. He grinned at Raymond. "I see marks of a tripod Raymond. Two marks by the window are clear, but t
his
other has footprints on it."

Raymond got on the floor, took out
his
flashlight and looked. He also saw three spots.

Colby took several pictures of the untarnished marks.

"Do you think he sat in a chair?" Raymond asked.

"For him to shoot t
his
far I think he
would
sit in a chair, but I don't see any marks. Not only
that
, he probably
was
here hours before he made the shot. Once the sun came up we had deputies outside and they
should have
seen something. So if you don't mind Raymond I'm going to have forensics checks the outside to find anything like wrappers cigarette butts or anything like
that
. I'm going to have them check the building for marks and break-ins."

"Good idea. And you're right about the chair. If he's been here for awhile waiting I can't imagine him sitting on the floor. We
would
be able to see a clear spot from
his
butt. Not only
that
, he can't hear anything because it's too far, so he
would
n't know
where we
were
to shoot.
You can't see anything because the window is too high. Unless he stood, he had to have a chair." Raymond stopped and thought a minute. "He had a tripod
with
a chair. We should have thought of
that
."

Colby walked around and looked at the positioning he
would
be in if he
was
about to make
that
shot.
"I'm guessing he stood right here because there
was
no wind t
his
morning. Remember we were talking about how perfect the water
would
be for water skiing, it looked like glass. So he
would
n't have to consider wind, only the velocity for dropping."