“She did?” Skitz asked. “Do you know who they were?”
“No, Doctor, I don’t,” Allison said.
“So there were four people in that room and they just… disappeared into thin air? Is that what you’re telling me?” he asked, his face turning redder by the second.
“I… I don’t know,” Allison stammered.
“Where’s the security footage? I want to see it, right fucking NOW,” Skitz bellowed. One of the nurses came forward with a DVD. Skitz grabbed it and inserted it into a DVD player. They all watched as Lisa escorted two men and a woman into James’ room. Lisa then walked out and returned with a cup before leaving. The door was shut after she left the second time and remained closed. Skitz looked at the nurses, then at Tina.
“FIND HIM! RIGHT THIS FUCKING SECOND,” he screamed. The nurses scrambled around, but there was nothing they could realistically do. Skitz went to the front desk and confronted Lisa.
“Who were those people who came to see Mr. Eastland earlier today?” he asked.
“They showed me some credentials and said they were here to do a wellness inspection on him for the insurance
company,” Lisa said. “I, uh, don’t know anything more than that, Dr. Skitz,” she added. The doctor’s face looked as if it were about to explode.
“Did you see them leave?” he asked.
“No, Dr. Skitz, I didn’t,” Lisa said quietly.
“Lisa, it’s a good thing you swallow,” the doctor said. “Otherwise you’d be out on your ass right now.”
“I’m sorry, Dr. Skitz,” Lisa cried. “Is there anything I can do to make this up?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, there is,” the doctor said as he unbuckled his trousers. “On your knees. NOW.”
…
When Max returned to the gallery he shared with Adrestia, he went to the guest suite to find James sitting up in bed. A woman wearing a plain floor-length dress and a bonnet was feeding him something from a bowl. He watched as she spoon-fed James, wiping his mouth after each small bite.
“How is he?” Max asked Adrestia, who stood in one corner of the room holding the chart she “confiscated” from James’ hospital room.
“Not too well,” Adrestia said quietly. “But he is a bit better. The tea I gave him kept him together long enough to transport him here, but…”
“But what?” Max asked.
“I don’t know if he’s going to make it,” Adrestia said quietly.
“Who is that with him?” he asked.
“Oh, sorry, let me introduce you,” Adrestia said. Max followed her to the bed.
“Clara, this is my husband, Max,” Adrestia said. The woman turned and offered a hand to Max, who accepted it with a smile. “Max, this is Clara Barton.”
“Clara… Barton? THE Clara Barton?” Max asked.
“Yes,” Adrestia said. “She was given permission to come and look after James until we felt he was well enough to get out of bed on his own.” Max saw the sad expression on Adrestia’s face and pulled her into the next room.
“What’s the matter, sweetheart?” he asked.
“I feel somewhat responsible for this,” Adrestia said. “I know I’ve been extremely busy lately, but I can’t help but think I should’ve caught this earlier. Maybe if I had acted sooner, he wouldn’t be in this shape.”
“Sweetheart, you said it yourself,” Max said. “You’re immortal, not omnipotent. You can’t be everywhere all the time. Your own protocols prevent that. It’s not your fault he waited so long to ask for help.”
“I know,” Adrestia said quietly. “Still…”
“But nothing,” Max said. “Look, after this is over, why don’t you and I take a little mini-vacation. A break from all of… this. Maybe zap over to the Mediterranean and take in the sights or something.” Adrestia chuckled at that.
“That sounds like fun,” she said. “I’m sure Eli would love to take some time off to be with Lizzy.”
“There you go,” Max said.
“Oh, speaking of Lizzy… She made me a new toga. Maybe I’ll model it for you tonight,” Adrestia said.
“Now that sounds like a plan,” Max said.
“Thank you,” Adrestia said.
“For what?” Max asked.
“For being there for me. I don’t know what I’d do without you sometimes,” Adrestia said, wrapping her arms around him. “I love you so much.”
“And I love you too, my avenging goddess,” he said as he hugged her back. “So, anything interesting in Eastland’s chart?” he asked, looking at the thick folder in her hand.
“Yes,” Adrestia said. “A very convoluted mix of medications, all designed to keep James in a persistent vegetative state. Kept him just conscious enough to know what was going on around him, but not conscious enough to do or say anything. Also, it seems Skitz kept James’ caloric intake just above the minimum amount necessary to keep him alive.”
“Eli will need that when he and that Jones woman go to see Judge Stone,” Max said.
“Yes, he will,” Adrestia said. “I’ll make sure he gets it.”
“Makes ya wonder how many others Skitz has done this to,” Max said.
“Yes it does,” Adrestia said, her eyes flashing.
“I’ll check in with Cameron in the morning. Maybe between this chart and what Cameron finds, we’ll have enough to present to the judge,” Max said.
“I hope so,” Adrestia said. “If that judge doesn’t do something about this, I guarantee you I will.”
…
Edwin Skitz, MD, Ph.D., POS, slammed his fist on the desk as he looked at his computer. Not only had the incompetent nurses in C Ward lost a patient, but they also lost the man’s chart. Shit, Edwin thought to himself.
He looked at the surveillance video one more time. Still, he could not identify the three people who walked into James’ room. Then he looked at the time on the monitoring stats. It appeared that Eastland had disappeared within 30 minutes of those three people entering his room.
They tore James’ room apart but found nothing to indicate where the man had gone. Or how he had managed to suddenly disappear, along with three others. Tina, James’ wife, sat across from his desk, looking at him with concern. Then he realized he had another problem.
There were five other men in that ward in the same situation as James. Edwin had turned their wives against them like he had done with Tina. They had become part of his personal “harem,” but some of them were now doing other… work. In short, they were supplementing Edwin’s already bloated income with their bodies, performing as high-end escorts or porn actresses.
Like James, the husbands of these women were in controlled catatonic states, with their insurance policies footing the bills for their “treatments.” If James managed to get to the authorities, Edwin’s goose would become well-done, and he knew it. In his twisted, warped mind, Edwin felt he only had one option if James couldn’t be located quickly. He picked up his phone and dialed a number.
“Start warming up your ovens,” Edwin said when a man answered at the other end. “I may have some work for you.”
“Right away, Dr. S,” the man at the other end said before ending the call. Edwin put the phone down and looked at Tina. He had seduced many women into his lifestyle over the years — all of them married — but Tina was his crowning jewel. She happily humiliated her husband and pledged herself in a way no other woman had ever done — by allowing him to brand her.
“So, what now?” Tina asked.
“It may be time for us to retire,” he said. “If we can’t find and retrieve your husband soon, I’ll have no choice but to close up shop and tie up all the possible loose ends.”
“And the other girls?” Tina asked.
“They’ve played their role. I’m sure I can unload them pretty quick. They’re still in their prime and can fetch a pretty good price,” Edwin said.
“What about your staff here?” Tina asked.
“I’ll give them all a nice severance package and a recommendation,” he said. “They’ll get hired on somewhere else.”
“Any idea who those three people are?” Tina asked.
“None,” he said, looking at their images on his computer. “But I’ve got some people working on it.”
“And when you find them?”
“They’ll wish to God they never heard the name Edwin Skitz,” he said with a cruel smile. Tina smiled back.
…
“There’s several videos on that thumb drive,” Cameron said as he handed a small USB drive to Max. “We’re still evaluating Mr. Eastland’s brain feed.”
“What have you found so far?” Max asked.
“I ran it by Smith and Jones and they agree with my assessment. There was absolutely no medical need for Eastland to be kept hospitalized. The damage to his brain was corrected by surgery. He could’ve been released at any time,” Cameron said. Max knew that Smith and Jones were the two alien beings whose experimental device was responsible for the changes in Cameron.
“So this was all done deliberately to keep Eastland in check?” Max asked.
“Yes,” Cameron said. “In fact, Skitz admitted that to him. The video is on the drive I gave you, along with several others. This Skitz is certainly no Albert Schweitzer.”
“Anything else?” Max asked.
“We did a deep dive on Skitz and his private clinic,” Ginger said. “Over the last 20 years, there were more than 50 men who died while in his care. All of them were married and all of them were cremated almost immediately after their deaths.”