The Reckoning (27 page)

Doctor Powell shut the door. “There’s no need for that. I can take your vitals.”

He took two steps toward the bed.  The door crashed open and Mike rushed in with his gun drawn and pointed right at Powell. “Get down on your knees and put your hands behind your head.” Dr. Powell narrowed his eyes at
Elizabeth
. He turned. “I’m just trying to help her, Detective.”

Mike pointed toward the ground and back at the doctor. “On your knees, now!”

The doctor fell to his knees and laced his fingers behind his head. “You better have a good reason for this, Detective, or my lawyers are going to have a field day with you.”

Mike reached into his back pocket and pulled out some cuffs. He walked up to the doctor and cuffed his wrists. He helped him up to his feet and looked at
Elizabeth
. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”

Elizabeth
shook her head. “No.”

Mike pulled Dr. Powell from her room. The General walked in, carrying a cup of coffee and handed it to her. He dropped her doctor bag by the door. “It appears I’m on babysitting duty so Mike can escort the doctor out of the house.”

Elizabeth
released a sigh. “Did he have anything on Powell? Any reason to believe he was Winters?”

The General shrugged. “Don’t know, Lizzy.” The General took a seat next to her on the bed and leaned against the headboard.

“What are you going to do now, Daddy?”

“I have to call in my report. Lizzy, I promise you that we can help her control her telekinesis. I wouldn’t lie to you, but she does need to go with me, not only for her safety, but for everyone else’s.” He kissed the top of
Lydia
’s head. “At least for the time being.”

Elizabeth
leaned her head against her father’s arm. “You’ll watch over her while she’s there. Just as if she were me or Gracie? Promise me.”

The General lifted his arm and put it around her shoulders. “You have my word Lizzy. But you really should tell the girls they need to be a bit more discreet.” The General leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “There are still bad men after
Lydia
. I just want to train her, maybe recruit her, so that she can eventually take care of herself.”

Elizabeth
bit her bottom lip and looked up at her dad. “Give her a choice, Daddy.”

“I will, baby. I know you’re dying to go check on the others. Just finish your coffee first.”

Elizabeth
slid her legs over the bed, downed the coffee her father had brought, picked up her bag, and walked out the door. She was already starting to feel better. Now she had a job to do and her father for the mean time would watch her back.

CHAPTER 23

After checking on the sisters,
Elizabeth
was satisfied they just suffered from exhaustion. A little bit of rest, and they’d be good as new.
Elizabeth
walked into her house, followed by her father. Her legs threatened to give out on her. She’d never been so tired in her life. She by-passed the kitchen and went straight to her room, calling over her shoulder, “Good night, General.”

Elizabeth
set her alarm clock for work the next day and fell asleep when her head hit the pillow.

Elizabeth
woke to the sound of beeping. She reached over and hit the button, turning the damn thing off. She rolled to her back and reached up swiped the sleep from her eyes. She sprang up. “I’ve got work to do.”

The quicker she got to the hospital, the sooner she would start her own investigation of her co-workers and help Mike figure out who Winters was. She’d cross all of the ones she’d seen at the party off her list. Glenda hadn’t recognized any of them. She’d find out the reasons for those that hadn’t shown and narrow the employee list down one by one.

Elizabeth
arrived to work with renewed energy. She’d snuck out of the house while her father slept on the couch. Her choice to go into work to get the needed information wasn’t something she’d have backed down from even if he had woken up. Mike was going to be a whole other issue.

Elizabeth
pushed through the door to the administration office and smiled as she bypassed the receptionist. She walked into Suzie’s office and plopped down in the chair.

“Dr. Lister, what brings you by today?”

Elizabeth
leaned back and crossed her legs. “Mike Bennett proposed to me last night.”

“Congratulations.” Suzie smiled. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Elizabeth
uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, putting her elbows on the young administrator’s desk. “Actually there is. I wanted to get the invitations out as soon as possible before he changes his mind.”

Suzie sat back in her chair. “
Elizabeth
, I’m sure he wouldn’t do that. You’re a great catch.”

Elizabeth
let her lips tilt up in a smile. “Just to be sure, I’d like to get a list of all of the doctors on staff for the invites. The quicker I hold Mike accountable, the better.”

Suzie leaned forward in her chair and started punching the keyboard. Her printer sprang to life. “That’s no problem.” Suzie pulled the list from the printer and handed it to her. “Here you go.”

Elizabeth
stood, took the papers, and waved them in the air. “I’m also going to need the rest of the staff. Can you send it to my house? Thanks again, Suzie. You need to keep a lookout for yours too.”

Elizabeth
walked out of the office and down the hall toward her own.

“
Elizabeth
, can I talk to you for a minute?” Dr. Powell walked in step with her down the hall.

Elizabeth
swallowed around the lump in her throat and stopped walking. “I’m sorry for Mike’s behavior, Dr. Powell. He’s just very protective of me.”

Dr. Powell nodded. “I would say so. That’s the only reason I’m not pressing charges.”

Elizabeth
nodded. “I appreciate that.” She turned and started walking. “Having my fiancé in jail would definitely put a damper on the wedding plans.”

Dr. Powell grabbed
Elizabeth
’s left hand pulling her to a stop. “Where’s the ring?”

Elizabeth
felt her cheeks turn red. “He hasn’t given me one yet. It just happened.”

Dr. Powell clicked his tongue. “Then it’s not official.”

He spun on his heels and walked off, whistling down the hall as he went. 

Elizabeth
walked to her office and pushed the door closed behind her. She leaned against it. Dr. Powell still gave her the creeps, but that didn’t mean he was a killer. She walked around her desk and took a seat. She picked up the phone and dialed. Even with the list she had, there were only a few that she could remember being there. Her mind had been preoccupied with Mike’s kiss and then the exploding planter. She need Claire and her security system to give her the rest of the information she needed.

“Hey, Claire, this is
Elizabeth
. Do you mind if I come over and review the tapes from last night?”

“Sure. I’ll have the system cued and ready for you. Do you mind me asking why you need it?”

Elizabeth
leaned back in her chair. “I’ll explain when I get there.”

Elizabeth
didn’t waste any time getting to her car and driving to Claire’s. The hairs on her neck were standing on end. Her intuition was telling her that time was running out and bearing down on the Bennett’s. She needed to do something and fast.

When
Elizabeth
pulled into Claire’s driveway, she killed the ignition, and took the front steps two at a time. Reviewing the tapes would take all day, and yet, it was something that had to be done.

Claire opened the door before she had a chance to knock. “You’re up bright and early.” Claire stepped back, letting
Elizabeth
walk through the door. “So what brilliant idea have you come up with?”

Elizabeth
chuckled. “One that’s going to take me all day. Do you mind if I get some coffee?”

“Follow me.”

Elizabeth
walked into the kitchen. She shouldn’t have been surprised by the fact that both Abby and
Lydia
were there, but she was. “You guys ever go home last night?”

Abby looked up at
Elizabeth
and grumbled something
Elizabeth
couldn’t hear.

“Not a morning person, Abby?”

Abby turned her glare on
Lydia
. “It seems my long lost sister is, and dragged me from my nice warm bed this morning, just so we could be here when you got here.”

Elizabeth
glanced over at
Lydia
. “Why was that?”

“You were coming, and Abby here is going to make things a lot easier for you.”

Elizabeth
fixed her coffee and pulled out a chair across from the sisters. “How so?”

Lydia
took a sip of her coffee. “She’s going to call in a favor to one of her coworkers and cut the time it’s going to take you to go through your list.”

Elizabeth
raised her brow. “How do you know I have a list?”

Lydia
sat her coffee back on the table. “I saw it in my dream, of course.”

Elizabeth
nodded. “Of course, I should have known.”

Elizabeth
reached into the back pocket of her jeans, pulled out the folded paper, and handed it to Abby.

“What’s this?”

Elizabeth
grinned. “A list of all of the doctors on staff at the hospital. I thought since Glenda didn’t recognize any of them we could eliminate the ones that showed up and narrow down our suspect list.”

Abby pushed from her chair. “You’re brilliant.”

Abby rushed from the room, pulling out her phone as she went.

“Now aren’t you happy I brought Abby?”

Elizabeth
leaned back in her chair. “Whom is she calling her favor into?”

Lydia
took another sip of her coffee. Claire walked over and stood behind Abby’s empty seat. “If I had to guess, it would be Ted. The man is a genius with face recognition. He’s the reason we figured out it was Andrew who was trying to kill me.”

Elizabeth
nodded. She remembered all the chaos the bank manager had created. The attempt on Claire’s life and the aftermath were just one of the things these women have been through. She would do everything she could to help them get a little bit of peace back in their lives.

Claire looked up. “I can help her. I can mark off the names of the doctors who donated last night. That will be less for Ted to have to work through.”

Claire left the room as quickly as Abby, leaving only
Elizabeth
and
Lydia
sitting at the table.
Elizabeth
put her elbows on the table. “How is it you know so much because of your visions or dreams or whatever you want to call them, and yet, you can’t just tell us who Winters is?”

Lydia
sat back and smiled. “You really are a smart one, aren’t you?”

“What aren’t you telling us,
Lydia
?”
Elizabeth
sat back in her chair. “These are my friends, and I’m not going to let them get hurt just because you’re withholding information.”

Lydia
stood and walked toward the coffee pot to refill her mug. She stared out the window above the sink and let out a sigh. “It’s not like that. My visions, as I like to call them, are subjective, and you proved that last night.”
Lydia
turned and leaned against the counter. “Any rash decision or choices, if you want to call them that, can alter and change things.”

Lydia
took a sip of her coffee. “It should all be over tonight, if my vision stays the same.

Elizabeth
pushed her chair from the table, sending it flying, and advanced on
Lydia
. “Listen here. I don’t care who you are. You need to tell me what you know. People are dying from that drug, and that man is a killer. If you know something you better tell me now!”

Lydia
grinned. “Such heart. You are the perfect match for my brother, same temper and same drive.”

Lydia
set her coffee cup down. “I saw two men in lab coats in a parking garage. One shot the other. You were there, along with Mike and my sisters. That is all I can tell you. If I were to tell you what happens, it might change things.”

Elizabeth
let her head drop. Getting information from this woman was like pulling teeth. The butterflies in
Elizabeth
’s stomach were assaulting her. The thought of Mike getting hurt in all of this was enough to make her need to stop it before he showed up. If she could just take control of the situation, she would save him and his family. She whispered, “What else can you tell me?”