by Robin Mahle
Kate had subscribed to Nick’s school of thought. Then again, Nick had chosen to make the move to Quantico to get out of the field, to slow down. That was what he told her. Things hadn’t turned out that way, though. He’d been hands-on during every investigation they’d handled since her arrival. She began to wonder if that was because she was involved. Now Nick had paid the price for his management style. If he hadn’t gone to Rio…
“You ready to go?” Surrey tilted back the paper cup to get the last drop of coffee inside.
“I’m ready.” Kate gathered her dishes and returned her tray to the counter. She pulled her coat off the back of the chair and reached for her bags.
Surrey returned with a to-go cup. “For the road. You sure you don’t want to take a coffee or something? Who knows when we’ll get the chance to stop for food or drink again?”
“I’m fine.” She started toward the lobby doors.
Surrey followed. “Well, I can see I plucked at a nerve. Hey, I didn’t mean to piss you off, Reid.”
“You didn’t. I just want to get this over with. Same as you.” Kate pushed through the doors and made her way to the rental car. “I’ll drive.”
“All righty.” Surrey raised his brows and stepped inside the passenger seat. “This should be a fun day.”
Kate pulled the car to a stop in the visitor parking lot of the hospital. “I don’t know if he’s here yet, but I say we go in and wait.”
“Whatever you say,” Surrey stepped out of the car.
Kate retrieved the warrant from her bag and headed toward the hospital’s main entrance. It would now be the third time she had visited this hospital and it was starting to feel like everything relating to Theodore Bishop originated here. “What is it about this place?” She said under her breath.
“What’s that?” Surrey asked.
“Nothing. It’s just déjà vu. But as they say, third time’s a charm.” She pushed inside and approached the information desk.
“Agent Reid. You’re back,” said the man behind the desk. “And with someone new.”
“This is Agent Surrey. We’re here to see Dr. Hilgard.”
“I believe he’s in his office. Should I call up to him?” He reached for the phone.
“No. Thank you. Do you mind telling me where I can find his office?” Kate replied.
“Sure thing.” He pointed to the right. “Head over there to the elevators. Go up to the 8th floor. His office is the big one at the end of the hall. Can’t miss it. “Says Administrative Director in big bold letters.”
“Director?” She replied.
“Yes, ma’am. Dr. Hilgard practically runs this place. Well, the admin side of it anyway.”
“Thanks for your help.” Kate started toward the elevators. “He’s up there on the food chain. Same as Whitman was.”
“What do you suppose that means?” Surrey asked.
“I don’t know yet, but maybe we’ll find out.” She stepped onto the elevator. Kate stared at the numbers, not wanting to engage Surrey. Although, it seemed unfair to hold his beliefs against him. What did she know of what he’d been through as an agent? Just because he didn’t put his job before his life—anymore—didn’t mean that was a bad quality, did it? “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be, well, kind of a bitch.”
Surrey laughed. “You’re not. And I would never use that word to describe any woman, regardless of what she might have done. Asshole, maybe. Anyone can be an asshole. But again, that’s not what I think of you. I think you’re passionate, and that’s great. It would be a shame to see that light go out in you, but it will someday, and you should be prepared for that.”
The doors opened to the 8th floor and the two headed down the long corridor lined with offices. When they reached the end, it turned out the man behind the desk had been right.
“This must be the place,” Kate said. “That guy wasn’t kidding when he said it couldn’t be missed.”
“No. I like the big bold letters.” Surrey turned to her with a smile. “He must be some kind of really important man.”
Kate chuckled and pushed inside where a desk was positioned near the entrance and two chairs rested alongside the wall.
“Can I help you?” A young woman with short red hair peered at them with a furrowed brow.
“FBI. We’re here to see Dr. Hilgard. Is he in?” Kate said.
The woman’s face masked in concern. She glanced over her shoulder to the closed door. “I’ll have to call him.”
“So, he’s in his office?” Kate walked around the desk.
“Ma’am. You can’t just go in there.”
“I have a warrant that says differently.” She opened the door.
Surrey turned up his palms and shrugged at the woman before hurrying to Kate’s side.
“Dr. Hilgard? I’m Agent Reid and this is Agent Surrey. We spoke on the phone late yesterday before you hung up on me.”
The doctor removed his glasses and pushed away from his desk. “What are you doing here?”
Kate unfolded the warrant and slapped it onto his desk. “It would’ve been easier if you had just answered my questions. But since we’re here now, we have a warrant to view Dr. Eugene Bishop’s medical records.”
Hilgard snatched the warrant and read it. “Well, I can see you’d prefer to go about this the hard way.”
“The hard way?” Surrey asked. “I’m afraid you left us with no choice. We can go on back and grab those records on our own if you’d prefer.”
Kate glanced at him with a wry smile.
“Fine.” He typed on his computer. “I can retrieve them here. We put most of the archived files onto a database a few years ago. You might as well have a seat.”
“Thank you.” Kate pulled out a chair. “We aren’t here to make your life difficult, Dr. Hilgard. We simply need to understand the circumstances that revolved around Dr. Bishop’s death. He was young to have died from a heart attack.”
Hilgard shifted his gaze. “It isn’t as uncommon as you might think, Agent Reid.” He peered at the screen and turned the monitor toward them. “Here you are. Cause of death, heart attack. I’m not sure what else you hoped to glean from this.”
Kate looked at the monitor. “If you’d be so kind, we’d like to review the entire file. Autopsy…”
“There was no autopsy,” Hilgard interrupted. “He died of natural causes and the family didn’t request one.”
“No?” Kate shot a glance at Surrey. “I think it would be best if you could get us a hard copy of the records. All of them. Including any and all medical history, not just the files surrounding his death.”
Hilgard looked again at his monitor. “I’ll have my assistant get those for you.”
“And a place to take a look at them, too. That would be great,” she added.
Hilgard stood from his desk. “Of course. It should only be a few moments. I’ll take you to an available meeting room now.”
X-rays, photocopied charts, lab results. All of it splayed out on the table while Kate and Surrey combed through each document.
“We’ve been at this for a while, Reid. I haven’t seen anything that stands out, have you?”
Kate pushed aside the documents she reviewed. “No, but doesn’t it strike you as odd that a seemingly healthy 45-year-old just dies from a heart attack?”
“Well, not according to Dr. Hilgard. He seems to think it’s a regular occurrence,” Surrey replied.
“No underlying problems, diseases, disorders.” Kate shook her head. “Damn. I thought we’d find something in here.”
“I know you did. Hey, you had to give it a shot. It was the right move.”
Kate sighed. “I hate to beat a dead horse, but I just don’t buy it. No autopsy? The wife of a prominent physician doesn’t ask for an autopsy. What if it had revealed some sort of hereditary condition? What if he had had mini-strokes before and he never got checked out?”
“You can ‘what if’ this all day, but it won’t do you any good. How
do you want to move forward on this, Reid? We can’t sit here forever.”
“Right. You need to be getting back.” She pulled up.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Kate pressed her hand against her forehead. “I know you didn’t. I just, you know, when I get those inclinations…”
“I get it. You want to run on it,” Surrey replied.
Kate peered at the documents once again. “I have to be missing something.” With her fingertips, she pulled each document, one by one, for another look. She re-examined the initial intake questionnaire when Dr. Bishop had arrived on the day of his death. “This one here. It says Dr. Bishop had been sick for a couple of days. Vomiting.” She peered at Surrey. “It was attributed to a stomach bug or flu.”
“Okay.” Surrey appeared to wait while Kate’s wheels spun.
“And yet, I see no other notations regarding this. It was as if they dismissed it.”
“The guy was having a heart attack,” Surrey began. “They might’ve been more concerned with that problem than a flu virus.”
Kate peered into the distance. “This sounds familiar to me. I—I can’t place it.” She retrieved her phone. “Hang on. I need to call Duncan and ask her a question.” Kate pressed the contact button and held the phone to her ear. “Eva, it’s Kate. Yeah, doing all right. Listen, you remember back, maybe earlier last year, we had that consult out of Detroit?”
“I think so. I’d have to pull the file. Why?” Duncan replied.
“Didn’t it have to do with some sort of suspected poisoning of a victim who the doctors thought had had a heart attack?”
“It’s starting to ring a bell. Hang on.” Duncan typed on her computer. “Do you have a minute to stay on the line, or do you want me to call you back?”
“I have a minute. Thanks,” Kate said.
“Okay, I’ve got the file. It was last year. Detroit field office. They had a couple of victims they thought were related.”
“Right. That’s right. I remember now,” Kate said. “One of the victims had a heart attack and the autopsy revealed it was due to his obesity.”
“Yep. Hang on, I’m still reading this,” Duncan said. “Turned out that only after the fact, after someone had bragged about killing this person in prison did the original ME go back for additional testing on his samples.”
Kate might as well have had a light bulb glowing over her head as she sat upright and set her sights on Surrey. “The samples were tested again for poison. They hadn’t been originally.”
“You got it. How does this help?” Duncan asked.
“It does, trust me. I need to get my head around this. I’ll call you back, though, okay? Thank you so much, Eva. I needed this.” She ended the call.
“You want to tell me what that was about?” Surrey asked.
“I think Dr. Bishop might’ve been poisoned. And I think his son did it.”
24
The winds kicked up with ferocity as it reached midday with the flag outside the hospital whipping and rattling the metal pole. Kate hurried through the doors and buttoned her coat on her way to the car. Agent Surrey seemed to catch onto the notion that when Kate’s intuition struck, he’d better keep pace. And this had been one hell of a hunch.
“There’s no way you’ll be able to prove this, Reid.” Surrey walked beside her. “They would need tissue samples, and not only would they no longer have samples since it’s been 16 years, but there was no autopsy to begin with.”
“I don’t need to prove it.” Kate unlocked the door and stepped behind the wheel. She waited for Surrey to get in. “I just need Mrs. Whitman to know that we know what her son did. We have enough on Bishop to put him away, but we need to find him first. Mrs. Whitman needs to be confronted on this because I think she’ll crack.” Kate fired up the engine. “We’re going back to talk to her.”
“You still believe she’s been helping Bishop?” Surrey asked.
“I sure do. I think Theo killed his father to either protect his mother or defend her in some way.” Kate noticed Surrey turn away and peer through the windshield. “You know I’m right.”
He was silent for a moment and kept his eyes forward. “Maybe.”
Kate smiled. “Uh-huh.”
“That case you were talking about with your co-worker, the one in Detroit,” Surrey added. “How had the victim been poisoned to make it look like a heart attack?”
She glanced at him. “It was a flower. Oleanders. They’re incredibly poisonous and also extremely difficult to detect unless you were looking for it.”
Surrey shook his head. “But how would a kid of that age—what was he then, 15 or 16? How would he have known about any of that stuff? Sure, his dad was a doctor, but he wasn’t a chemist.”
“That might be a question for Mrs. Whitman,” Kate replied. “And since we’re here now.” She parked alongside the curb that fronted the extravagant home. “We should go and ask her.” Kate jumped out and headed straight to the front door. With Surrey approaching, she rang the bell.
The door opened to the same housekeeper she had seen yesterday. “Afternoon. I was here yesterday speaking to Mrs. Whitman.” She turned to Surrey for a moment. “We had a couple of quick questions for her if she has a moment.”
“I’ll go get her. Would you like to come in?” The housekeeper asked.
“Yes, we would. Thank you.” Kate walked inside and when the woman left, she turned to Surrey. “It’ll be tougher for Mrs. Whitman to ignore us if we’re standing in her foyer.”
“Yes, it will. I would’ve expected a door slammed in our faces had she answered herself.”
Voices erupted from somewhere beyond the foyer. Kate turned to Surrey. “Here we go.”
It took several more minutes before Mrs. Whitman appeared. “Hello, Agent Reid, Agent Surrey. I apologize for making you wait here. My housekeeper knew I was in an appointment. Please forgive the delay.” She smoothed down her silk blouse. “Now, I am quite busy, so how may I assist you today?”
“Mrs. Whitman, you should know that we were able to obtain a search warrant to view your husband’s medical records, including and up to the issuance of his death certificate.”
“Why would you need to see that? I don’t understand. You had asked about my son.” She appeared flustered and pressed lightly on her styled hair as if to ensure nothing had fallen out of place.
“Would you like to sit down?” Kate placed her hand on the woman’s arm.
Mrs. Whitman pulled away. “I certainly would not. Now, what is it that you wanted to ask, Agent Reid, or are you intent on continuing to waste my time?”
“I’ll get to the point then. There is sufficient evidence to suggest your first husband, Theo’s father, was poisoned. He was given something that induced his heart attack.” Kate may have stretched the truth just a little, but it was the only way to ensure a reaction.
“What? What are you saying? That’s not true. You know that’s not true.” Her face reddened. “I think it’s time for you two to leave.”
Kate held up a hand. “Mrs. Whitman, we just want to know where he is. We need to find your son before anyone else is killed at his hand. I’m sure this must be incredibly difficult for you to hear, but you know it in your heart what your son has done and what he is capable of continuing to do.”
“You know nothing.” Whitman’s eyes darkened. “You have no idea about my son.”
“We know he’s in Mexico,” Surrey began. “If the Mexican authorities capture him, and he has committed a crime there, he will not be extradited. He will spend the rest of his life in a Mexican prison. Is that what you want for your son?”
Mrs. Whitman eyed him and then Kate for what seemed like an eternity. “You don’t know what his father was like. Theo tried to protect me.”
“I’m sure he did, ma’am,” Kate said. “Where is he?”
“He was such a quiet boy. And oh, how he admired his father. Until he saw what kind of man he truly was. A great doctor, yes, but a h
orrible husband. Theo found out his father cheated on me, and not just once. The deceit went on for years. When we thought he was out of town, helping other doctors. Well, he might’ve been doing just that, but he was also sleeping with anything in a skirt.”
“How did Theo know anything about poisons?” Surrey asked as he caught a sideways glance from Kate. “He was very young to possess that type of knowledge.”
Mrs. Whitman inhaled a deep breath. “He learned it from a movie. Around the time of all—this. A movie had come out. Something to the effect of using oleander to poison someone.”
“I think I know the film,” Kate said. “Theo was acting in your best interest at the time. Just as you are for him now. Please, Carol, we have to find Theo before he hurts anyone else. At least if he is returned, you’ll be able to see him again. If he stays in Mexico…”
“He’s in the capital,” Mrs. Whitman blurted out. “He’s in Mexico City.”
“Where?” Kate pressed on.
“Please don’t hurt him,” she pleaded.
“Ma’am, the sooner you tell us, the sooner we can bring him back,” Surrey replied.
“He’s in a studio apartment. I’ll give you the address.”
“Did you arrange for him to leave the country?” Kate asked.
“I’ve been wiring him money. He needed me. I’m his mother.”
“Thank you, Carol. You’re doing the right thing,” Kate said.
“You don’t have children, do you, Agent Reid?” Her tone was harsh and deep. “Because if you did, you’d know this isn’t the right thing at all.”
The airport was just ahead. Kate dropped off the rental car and she and Surrey headed toward the terminal.
“Fisher wants me back ASAP,” Kate began. “I’ll be taking a chartered flight.”
“Then I guess this is where we part ways.” Surrey offered his hand. “It’s been a pleasure working with you, Kate Reid. I mean that.”
Kate glanced at his hand before taking it. “The pleasure was all mine, Jonathan Surrey. You’re very good at what you do.”
