“That’s step one down. Now to return the key,” she thought. She had no idea when the next shift started, so increased her walking speed. Her chest felt tight, because she couldn’t relax yet. The tension had built up and it would only release once she had returned the original key.
She continued following the route, and then entered the stairwell. She stepped down with pace, holding the handrail to steady herself. Soon she reached the bottom of the stairs and slowed down. It was time to be cautious. She listened out to hear of any signs of activity. The biggest problem would be if she was spotted by the chef. He had already seen her today, and may be suspicious if he saw her again. Her excuse wouldn’t work a second time.
As she walked through the door she heard excited shouting coming from the kitchen. She instinctively ducked down, as if she were dodging a thrown plate. However she immediately realised that being low was probably a benefit, so she crept along staying under the height of the metal bench. That way if the chef didn’t come out of the kitchen she would be very hard to see.
As she crept she looked out ahead for any other signs of life. While her current position kept her away from the chef, it would look very suspicious to anyone else. Once she passed the kitchen she slowly straightened until she was upright, but maintained the same speed. She had to focus on being invisible. Elizabeth strained her hears to detect any movement, but heard nothing. So she continued on.
The women’s locker room was empty, so Elizabeth rushed over to the locker where she had taken the key. It was a delicate process getting access to the keyring without disturbing the contents. She didn’t feel confident enough to remove everything, just in case someone turned up.
Every knock and bang made her wince, but she managed to retrieve the keyring. It was quite sturdy, so she struggled opening it enough to put the key back on. But she did, and swirled the keys around enough so it looked natural. Then she carefully reached back into the locker, to place the keyring back where she had found it.
A whistling sound from the room outside froze her in place. Elizabeth recovered from the scare and released the keys. After a quick glance at the locker, she determined it was good enough. She had to get moving. The whistling was coming closer, so Elizabeth looked around the room. The showers were too risky, but there were toilets. She stepped over to the nearest cubicle as quickly as she dared and closed the door slowly and quietly. She even turned the latch with agonising slowness to keep it soft.
Elizabeth closed the lid and scrambled onto the toilet. She didn’t even want her feet to be visible. The whistling became louder still. The whistler had to be nearby, and the sound of footsteps confirmed her fear.
“Gracey is that you in there?” a female voice said. Elizabeth kept deathly quiet, not wishing to give anything away.
“Oh c’mon honey it’s ok to respond you know, I don’t bite. A little girl talk never hurt anybody. Would you prefer if I was on the can too?” the woman continued. Elizabeth remained silent. She heard the cubicle door next to her close and lock, and the sounds of a woman sitting down.
“Ah, there we go. I’m here, so you comfortable now?” the woman asked.
“No, quite the opposite,” Elizabeth thought. Not only was it an awkward situation, she couldn’t judge whether the woman suspected anything.
“Honey, don’t be embarrassed. We can chit-chat down here, it’s different. Nobody else will hear us,” the woman said. Elizabeth kept quiet, wondering how she was going to get out of the situation. She heard the toilet flush and the woman leaving the cubicle.
“Not very friendly today are we? Maybe you’ll relax when you’re done. I’m going to take a shower,” the woman said. Elizabeth waited for any sound to acknowledge that the woman was telling the truth. She heard a tap turn on nearby, and the sound of rushing water. But she waited a minute. And then she heard the sound of the shower curtain being pulled closed.
“Now’s my best chance,” Elizabeth thought. She took a moment to prepare herself, and plan her next move. She wound herself up like a coiled spring, and then unleashed herself. She turned the latch and flung the door open, dashing for the exit of the locker room.
She heard the shower curtain being pulled with force and a voice called out after her.
“Where do you think you’re going? So rude! I’m going to give you a dressing down next time I see you!” the woman called out.
“You’ll never see me,” Elizabeth thought. She didn’t even try to be sneaky she just kept running. Out of the room and up the stairs. She kept going until she reached the main corridor a few floors up and then eased into a walk. Her heart was still pumping like mad.
“What a strange encounter,” she thought. But the job was done. She had a working key, and the original was back in its rightful place. There would be some confusion when that woman eventually confronted her colleague, but they had nothing to tie it to her. And they wouldn’t suspect that the key had been copied and replaced.
Elizabeth slowed down and took a deep breath. Now she could grab a quick bite to eat and then see Dean. After scoffing a sandwich she walked over to Dean’s ward. She didn’t even knock and entered his room. He looked up and then smiled.
“Elizabeth, nice to see you. How are you today?”
“A bit exhausted actually, it’s been a huge day. I have some news though.”
“Ooh I’m sitting down.”
“I’ve got myself a copy of the key to where they are holding Nathan.”
“Wow, how’d you do that? Was I right about the lunch lady?”
“You sure were. I found the key in the locker of one of the food staff. I got a copy made and returned the original. It was a bit of an adventure, but now I’m set.”
“That’s amazing. I told you didn’t I?”
“You did, you were right on the money.”
“Not bad for an old bloke eh?”
“Ha-ha, no you did great.”
“Have you seen our mysterious friend again?”
“Just briefly. I confirmed a few details and the best time to visit him. He gave me a lead to follow up too.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Nothing too crazy, just where I can find contact details for his old boss. I want to approach it from that angle.”
“Approach what?”
“Oh my investigation. Turns out Nathan’s mother sent a letter to the newspaper, so I can do a proper story on it. Met with her yesterday too.”
“Wow, things are really moving.”
“Yeah, they need to be. There’s something really wrong going on here, and I think the longer it continues the harder it will be to stop.”
“I think so too. I just have a feeling that this is big, that’s why I want to know all about it. You just can’t make this stuff up.”
“No you really can’t. How are you feeling today?”
“Can’t complain. Well I could, but you know apart from the obvious, things are fine. Have you found out about that doctor Malberg?”
“Not yet. I’m waiting on a call-back before I investigate in more detail.”
“Ok that’s alright. You need to move carefully with that one.”
“Yeah that’s the feeling I’m getting.”
“Good. Well I was thinking of you, and decided that I have another story to share with you.”
“Great, I’ll grab the recorder and then you can start talking,” Elizabeth said. Despite her good news on the investigation, she didn’t have anything to report for a treatment for Dean. She felt bad, but didn’t want to act too impulsively. But she began to wonder if soon she would have no choice. Even if the program was as established as she hoped and she got Dean onto it, there were no guarantees. And it would take time. But time was against them.
These were the thoughts that ran through her head as Dean related his story. At least while doing so he was distracted from his current situation, and even laughed a little. She could offer him that at least. If all else failed, she would hear and notate his stories. A
nd share them with the world.
17
An Important Call
Elizabeth rushed out of the hospital, hoping to get to work as soon as possible. She hadn’t progressed her museum story, even though she had done the interview in the morning. She needed some progress to show, otherwise there would be trouble.
She made it into the office and headed straight to her desk. There were a lot of ideas running through her head from the day, but she focused on what was important. First she wrote down detailed notes and a plan of action for the Museum Heist. Even in a normal situation that would be interesting. In fact there was so much going on she probably couldn’t give it the full attention that it deserved.
Once she was happy that she had made sufficient progress on that story she switched over to Nathan’s disappearance. She had to be careful what she noted down for this one. Obviously she had a lot more information than she could acknowledge. So she decided to stick to the basic stuff and noted down her interview with Nathan’s mother and her call to his employer. Charles, Nathan’s boss, was one she would leave out for now. If she did manage to contact him, she wouldn’t be able to explain how she got his number.
As Elizabeth finished up her notes, her phone started ringing.
“Hello, Elizabeth speaking,” she said, answering it as soon as possible.
“Hello Elizabeth, I’m calling you on behalf of Lucy Morgan.”
“Great, thanks for getting in touch.”
“No problem. I have a message to pass on. She confirmed that Dr Malberg is the one who directed her treatment.”
“That’s all I needed. Thank you so much.”
“There’s more. You are not to mention Lucy in any context relating to this matter.”
“Sure, I understand. Thank you.”
“Glad you understand. Goodbye.”
“Bye,” Elizabeth said and hung up. That was an intriguing call. She had the confirmation she needed. Doctor Malberg was her next target for investigation. She decided to see what she could find at home and draw up a plan for getting in touch with him. She had the feeling that she might need some leverage before she did so. If they had outright denied any program of treatment to Dean, then they may be quite careful about admitting to her as well. And she couldn’t use Lucy as a source.
Elizabeth squared off her notes, and prepared to leave the office.
“How’s my museum story going?” George asked.
“Well I met with the Director of Egyptian Antiquities this morning. Very cagey fellow, he only agreed to meet because he wanted to get his hands on the tip we received about the theft.”
“Why is that?”
“He thinks there’s no value in the item on the black market, and that none of his staff would have told us about it.”
“So he thinks the thief gave us the tip to show off?”
“Exactly.”
“Did you hand it over?”
“Yeah, I just made sure I got a copy. It’s of no further use to us, and it might buy us some cooperation. It all seems very suspicious though.”
“Yeah, normally they report these things to the police. You do have a nose for finding these ones.”
“What can I say? They stink,” Elizabeth said with a laugh.
“Nice one. I’m guessing you also started your pet investigation?”
“It’s a real story George.”
“Missing persons case for a guy that nobody has heard of and only his mother is looking for? Not really no. But I’m going to let you convince me. Is there anything yet?”
“Not yet, just met with the mother and called his work. Routine checks. But there’s a few things of interest there.”
“Name one.”
“His manager has left and the HR department said that our missing person is on extended leave.”
“Oh that’s definitely interesting. Why would a person who just disappeared take leave from their work? And not tell their mother?”
“Exactly.”
“You’ve intrigued me Elizabeth. But don’t get caught up in this exclusively. You owe me the museum story too.”
“Hey, that was the deal. You know me, I honour my side of a deal.”
“Can’t fault you on that. Last time it almost killed you. Ok keep me posted with your progress. I want something printable soon though, don’t drag the museum piece out too long.”
“Sure thing boss.”
“Good. See you later.”
“Bye,” Elizabeth said and waved to George. He was a stickler for his rules and merciless over culling nothing stories, but he was fair. If there was some meat in a story he let you have a go at it. But he wouldn’t wait forever. Elizabeth packed her things up and got ready to drive home.
However as she walked to the car she had a better idea. She could stop by Nathan’s apartment and take a look. She looked up his address and drove there directly. She went straight up the stairs and entered with the key his mother had provided.
Her first impression was that the place had definitely been locked up for a while. It had that stale smell of a place that hadn’t been aired.
“If I’m going to spend some time here, may as well make it a bit more pleasant,” she thought to herself. Elizabeth walked around the apartment, taking note of the layout and opening windows where possible. There wasn’t much airflow, but she felt better immediately. The apartment was fairly compact with only one bedroom and the kitchen, living and dining all combined into the one room. There was also a bathroom and laundry housed in the only other room. But that made things a little easier for her.
Her first thought when looking around the apartment was the same as what Emma had said about it. There didn’t seem to be anything suspicious. It was as if he had left one day and not returned. She half expected the place to be ransacked, or show the signs of a struggle. But no, it was just an apartment frozen in time.
Her objective was to find the phone number for Charles, Nathan’s former boss. She had neglected to ask Nathan just where he stored his documents, but there wouldn’t be that many places. She started off by looking in the bedroom. There was a double bed inside, and a small desk with a computer. She made a mental note to ask him about that next time. There was also a wardrobe along one end of the room with mirrored doors. Elizabeth opened the wardrobe, peering inside. The end she had opened was full of coats and shirts, with shoes at the bottom and a drawer full of clothes. She shifted over to the end of the wardrobe and opened it too.
She had more success. There were stacks of boxes, and tucked away in the corner was a small portable expandable file. She reached in and pulled it out, coughing on the dust that was displaced. She put the file on the bed and clicked it open.
It was a standard type of file, with plastic tabs denoting the various sections. She flicked through until she found one called work. There were all kinds of documents in there, but she eventually found a fairly chunky one. She pulled it out to take a better look.
It was definitely an employment contract, and the front page was a letter with the Addensum logo and address. She scanned through the letter and saw that it was signed by Charles Manfried, and below it was his mobile phone number. Elizabeth pulled out her phone and punched in the number, creating a contact for Charles. With that done, she put the document back in the file, and then put the file back where she had found it.
She felt like it was a good idea to pretend like she was never here. Just in case. She also felt strange disturbing Nathan’s things. She had barely met the guy and she was rifling through his things. And the place had a strange sort of feeling to it, like a tomb. She thought that it was because it had been left vacant for so long. That it had developed a different feeling.
With her objective met Elizabeth left the apartment. Partially because she wanted to respect Nathan’s privacy, and partially because of the awkward feeling she felt there. She walked straight back to her car and drove home.
Once inside she walked straight to the couch and flopped down onto it
. Her day had been quite intense. From the Museum, to the key shenanigans and going through Nathan’s apartment. But it was a good kind of intense, much better than the alternative of doing nothing. She felt like she had made real progress. But she had one more item on her list before she had a rest.
She pulled out her phone and looked at Charles Manfried’s number. She had it, so she should call it. She hesitated at first, unsure of why. But then dialled it, giving herself no option. The phone rang and rang and she thought that maybe it would ring out. But finally a voice answered.
“Hello,” a man said. His voice was nervous and unsteady.
“Hello, is this Charles?”
“Who’s asking?”
“I’m Elizabeth. I’m a friend of Nathan and trying to track him down. I thought you might be able to help me.”
“Why?”
“Well you were his boss right? Maybe he told you where he was heading for his leave?” Elizabeth asked. Charles already sounded nervous, she didn’t want to scare him off too quickly by admitting that she was a journalist and was doing a story on Nathan’s disappearance.
“How’d you get my number?”
“From his things, he had your number written down.”
“Ok. I don’t know anything, you shouldn’t have called.”
“I’m sorry to have bothered you, I just thought you could help.”
“Nope, sorry I can’t. Don’t contact me again,” Charles said and then hung up. Elizabeth stared at the phone. That was a textbook conversation for a scared source. She had had the same conversation many times over when dealing with sources that were too afraid to talk. Her suspicions were right, someone had gotten to Charles and maybe even paid him off.
This was definitely a conspiracy, one designed to remove Nathan from the map and keep anyone from finding him. If she hadn’t received the tip and contact from Nathan, she would never have stumbled across him either. It was a very well-constructed disappearing act, one that seemed to have a lot of power and influence behind it.
The Secret Patient Page 13
