“Oh, I absolutely believe it. I just don’t know where it’s coming from. But I can tell that trouble is out there, and it’s connected to this place. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the nightmare that sent me into the sabbatical in the first place.” At that, he bolted to his feet in alarm, and she held up a hand. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Don’t worry?” he cried out. “It’s bad enough that you were burned out for six months, but now you think it’s happening again?”

  She gave him a feral smile. “Yes.” Meanwhile she sent him some calm energy. “But you know something? I think I came back bigger, … faster, … stronger.” At the look on his face, she burst out laughing. “Yes, I’m serious.” Then she lowered her voice and added, “I hate to say it, but then …” She hesitated.

  “What?”

  She grabbed a notepad, picked up a pen, and quickly wrote something down, then tilted it toward him.

  He looked at it, then slowly nodded. “I can see to that too.”

  “Good,” she murmured. “Sooner than later, please.”

  “Got it.” He frowned and opened his mouth, then caught himself just in time. Sitting down now, he pulled up his phone and quickly texted her. She read the text as he sat across from her. He was asking if she thought she was being watched. She nodded immediately and quickly sent another text. Watched, listened to, and I don’t want to actually say stalked, but it feels that way.

  His frown was instant, and he hopped to his feet again. “Look. I’ve got an errand to run. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

  “An hour is good,” she said. “It’s not as if I’ll have any shortage of work between now and then.”

  “Right. Did you contact the boy?”

  “Not this morning, but I can wait until you get back.”

  At that, he gave her a bright smile and nodded. “Appreciate it.” Then he quickly left.

  He might appreciate it, she knew, but she appreciated what he was doing first and foremost. Only as she sat here, with that weird buzz going on behind her, did she realize something else was off. When he got back, hopefully with bug detectors, he could tell her if her office had been bugged.

  Considering it was a perfect opportunity for anybody who might have been interested in what she was up to when she got back, it wouldn’t be that surprising. What she didn’t know was whether her phone call this morning had been overheard or not.

  When Dr. Mendelsohn walked in a little bit later, his tone was a little too genial and patronizing. “Hey, how’re you doing?”

  “I’m doing fine. How about you?”

  “Good. So, we talked about some of this, and I gather you’ve already gotten wind of even more of the changes.” She looked up at him and didn’t say a whole lot. “Now, we need to be sure we don’t go too far and have you getting on your high horse about it.”

  “No? If you actually expect me to work under the kinds of changes you’ve implemented while I was away, that is BS, and it’s not happening.”

  She rarely swore, and appropriately his eyebrows shot up at her vehemence. “You know we have to keep everybody happy.”

  “You have to keep some people happy, and you’ve done without me for all this time, so doing without me won’t be that much of an issue again, now will it?”

  “Now hold on. We have some very specialized people here, and the only reason they’re here is because you would be their primary physician.”

  “Yeah, and then I had to leave on a sabbatical,” she pointed out. “Do you still have those people?”

  “Yes, we do,” he confirmed, staring at her, “only because we kept promising them that you were coming back.”

  She sat back. “Give me a list of names, so I’ll know who I’m supposed to give special VIP treatment to.”

  He winced at that. “You know that’s not how we operate.”

  “No, but it sure sounds like you want me to keep that in mind, when I’m out there looking at what’s going on here.”

  “The food isn’t that bad,” he offered.

  “The food is disgusting,” she declared. “More important, it’s completely dead food with no nutrition, and these patients not only need to keep up their basic nutrition, they also need supplements. Yet I’ve noticed that all supplementations have been cut as well.”

  “We were trying to get a new dietician on board.” She gave him a flat look at that, and he flushed. “Look. Give yourself a few days to get used to being back here,” he suggested, “and then, when you come up with some recommendations for changes that you feel need to be made, I will do all I can. Give them to me, and I’ll take them to the board myself.”

  Her look was as calm as she could manage, yet it still made him jump to his feet and walk to the door. “Now, Dr. Cressy. I know you’re upset right now,” he said, fumbling with the door knob, “but it changed once, so it can certainly change again.”

  “It should never have been changed in the first place,” she snapped. “You haven’t seen any progress since I’ve been gone, have you?”

  He flushed at that. “There’s been some progress.”

  “BS,” she declared. “There’s been no progress at all. There are a couple of reasons for that, but one of them is the fact that you really downgraded nutrition by serving that terrible food, and you cut all the supplements. I realize a lot of people aren’t big fans of supplements, but, when it comes to what these people actually need and what they’re actually lacking in, it’s important. And not only did you get rid of all supplements, you also cut all the testing for them. That is just ridiculous.”

  “If we weren’t going to supplement anyway, no point in doing the testing.”

  “Those two things you need to get back online for every single patient, and you need to do it fast. Then you need to get the food situation fixed. Now, what is this about minimal security at nighttime?”

  “We haven’t had any problems since that last bout, so there was no need for extra security.”

  She glared at him.

  “I don’t even know all the details of that incident, and I was kind of hoping that one of these days you and I could sit down and I could hear them.” She snorted at that. “But I also understand that, from your perspective, security is important. What I can tell you is that there hasn’t been any further events while you’ve been gone, so the security was deemed not necessary. It was also costing an extra $75,000 for God’s sake, and that was money we needed for other things.”

  “Yeah, what other things?” she asked, looking at him with blatant disbelief. “I get that you think the extra security was just a one-off event,” she spat, almost gritting her teeth, “but that particular one-off event resulted in my not coming back for six months. I chose not to file any lawsuits over it, and you should know that fortune smiled on you there, but you can’t be sure that another person wouldn’t sue the center.”

  At the term lawsuit, he paled.

  “Let’s not forget that you guys had cut all that security prior to this event,” she reminded him. “So I suggest you talk to the board about getting these things fixed and fast.”

  “Nice to have you back,” he stated in a dry tone, as he turned and walked out of her office.

  She was under no illusions that the board would change everything, but she needed them to change a lot of things, and one out of three wasn’t a bad start. The fact that they had put everything on the back burner that she had spent months getting approved was more than depressing. The realization that it would take months to get all the patients back up to where they had been before she left was disheartening at best.

  She only had herself to blame for that, but she didn’t dare take any more chances with anybody else’s safety, especially not hers. Fool her once was one thing; fool her again, that was on her.

  *

  “I know, Grant, but she wrote me a message, while I was in her office, asking to have the room swept on the sly so nobody knows.”

  “Good God, what kind of an outfit is she working for? And this is definitely not within our purview.”

  “It might not be in our purview, but if we want her to trust us—”

  “I know. I know, and Dr. Maddy would say that, if Cressy needs it, then we need to get it because Cressy’s got better instincts than the rest of us put together.”

  “Ouch, that’s insulting.”

  “It might be insulting, but Dr. Maddy is pretty adamant about Cressy’s abilities.”

  “Fine. So, I’m two minutes away from the office.”

  “Good, stop in there, pick up what you need, and get back to me.”

  It took Gray a good thirty minutes to sign out the equipment that he wanted, then he stopped and picked up a couple tools that he might need. She had asked for one thing, but he’d gone a little beyond that, not sure what was going on and not wanting to come back for more, which would look suspicious as hell. With everything finally collected and loaded in the car, he headed toward the center. As he got closer, while stopped at a red traffic light, he sent her a text. On my way back. Be there in a few minutes.

  There was no response, but he didn’t worry about it because she could be with a patient or in a meeting. He consolidated everything into his bag, so it didn’t look quite so obvious that he was bringing tools into the center, but no security guard even talked to him as he walked in.

  Of course he had to sign the visitor’s log, but he expected that. As he walked to her office, the receptionist looked at him and smiled. “She’s not in there.”

  “Where is she?” he asked.

  “She’s with a patient right now.”

  “Okay, how much longer?”

  She looked at her watch. “She should be back in her office in about twenty minutes, and then she has a meeting.”

  “Good enough. I’ll wait in her office.” Not giving the woman a chance to argue, he stepped into Cressy’s office and closed the door behind him.

  With that, he got right to work. Not a whole lot of area to search in her office, which, once done, made him feel better, and he sent a quick message to Grant. Found zilch in her office, but I brought video cameras. I’ll set that up too.

  At that, Grant called him. “Everything should already be set up for cameras.”

  “Except I’m not sure about her office, what with privacy issues and whatnot. She also has a little back room there, where she sleeps.”

  “Did you check in there for anything?”

  “No, I haven’t yet, and I was wondering if I even should. It seems kind of intrusive to put cameras in there.”

  “But, if you tell her, at least she’ll be aware of it.”

  “That’s true enough. I’ll do that.”

  Hanging up the phone, he walked into the little alcove that she generally slept in when she stayed overnight, something that he really didn’t approve of, but could also understand the need for, at times. With that, he turned his bug detector back on and stared at the flashing green light. “Shit,” he muttered, under his breath.

  It didn’t take him very long to find it because this room was very small. There was a small overhead light, and the bug was planted there. With that discovery, he took several photos, which he sent to Grant, and then he left that room and went back into her office. Then he called Grant. Still Gray spoke quietly, just to be sure his words didn’t carry to that back room. “You were right. It was in her sleeping area.”

  “Why would they do that? I mean, there’s got to be other places.”

  “No, but that’s where she’ll let down her guard, and that’s where she’s likely to contact people,” he noted.

  “She needs to know about that.”

  “Right, and I’m all for telling her, but she won’t be a happy camper.”

  “No, she won’t, but it’ll also confirm her suspicion that something is off. We’ll just have to make sure she knows what’s going on.”

  “So, who do we suspect put this in here? I highly doubt that it was mandated by the center.”

  “Oh, I’m not so sure about that,” Grant argued. “This hospital is sounding dodgier by the day.”

  “Yeah, ya think?” Gray swore. “She really needs another job, doesn’t she?”

  “She needs something,” he agreed, with a laugh, “but I don’t know where she’ll end up.”

  “She’s very talented, and I bet Dr. Maddy would take her on in a heartbeat.”

  “Yeah, Drew has mentioned that to me, even in context of other gifted people who work with Dr. Maddy. It’s not the same kind of work though, which is probably why Dr. Maddy and Cressy have hesitated to go in that direction. Though that doesn’t mean that Dr. Maddy isn’t willing to open up something where the two of them could work together.”

  “Hmm, I hadn’t considered that, but I suppose it’s possible. Now, whether Dr. Maddy actually has funding to open up another center, would be another question,” Gray added, remembering the tail end of the conversation he’d heard yesterday.

  “That is a constant,” Grant stated, with a laugh. “But Drew tells me that the more Dr. Maddy gets incredible results, the more the money pours in.”

  “Yeah, but what happens one day when it dries up, and you’re left to wonder what happened?”

  “That day hasn’t happened, and we’re not going there yet,” Grant stated. “We need Drew’s and Dr. Maddy’s help, along with Stefan’s and Cressy’s. Thankfully they are there for us.”

  “Got it.” After he hung up, Gray quickly set up two video cameras with sound and a recording device in her office. Just as he finished and put away his tools, she walked in and stopped at the doorway.

  “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

  He motioned for her to come in and to close the door.

  With one eyebrow raised, she stepped in, closed the door behind her, and told him, “I have a meeting with the family of a patient here in about twenty minutes.”

  He nodded slowly. “Okay. Remember what you asked me?” She stared at him, dread in her gaze, and he nodded. “Not here but in there.”

  Then he pointed to the small room that she used to crash in. She stared at the room, then turned and looked at him in horror.

  He nodded. “I didn’t dismantle it,” he whispered, “because this will give us a chance to see who’s after you.” She just shook her head, wordless. “I know it’s a bit of a shock, but you were right to be worried. Listen. I’ve installed video cameras here and our own trackers,” he added in a low tone. “So, if somebody comes to check on this, we’ll find them fast.”

  “Why would they check it though?” she asked. “Apparently they can get whatever they want from that bug.”

  “Yes, but I’ve added some static to it, so hopefully they’ll be coming soon to see why it’s not functioning very well.”

  “Ah, well, aren’t you the sly one,” she murmured. “Will you see them when they come?”

  “Absolutely.” He smiled. “That was the whole point.”

  She nodded. “I’m glad to hear that. Why the cameras in here?”

  “Because I want to see if anybody else is coming in and doing anything else in your office. I’ve checked for other bugs here and didn’t find any, but that doesn’t mean somebody doesn’t have some kind of keylogger set up on your computer.”

  “I just brought my laptop from home,” she admitted in protest.

  “Did they ask you to let IT gain access to it?”

  “No,” she said slowly, “but it’s pretty standard to have IT do that.”

  “It might be standard, but I’d like to see your laptop after IT’s been here.”

  “Sure,” she agreed, “particularly if you think something funky is going on.”

  “Now that we have proof that something is going on, it’s even more important. So, it’s better to be sure than to keep guessing.”

  She gave him a clipped nod.

  A discreet tap on her door had her receptionist opening it and announcing, “Your next meeting is here, Doctor.”

  She gave her a smile and replied, “I’ll just be a few minutes.” She turned to Gray and asked, “How about having lunch out of here after a bit?”

  “Perfect. I could suggest something.”

  She nodded. “Give me forty-five minutes.” Then she checked her watch, hesitated, and added, “Though it could be a little longer.”

  “Bad meeting?”

  “No, but it’s the family of somebody I had to leave while I was working with them. I’m sure now it’ll be a case of their wondering why I had to leave, since their son is doing so much worse. What I plan to do about it is the main topic on the agenda.” She brushed her hair off her face, gave him a gentle smile, and admitted, “The thing is, I completely understand their concern and share it. So we’ll have a long talk, and I’ll see what I can do.”

  “But you can’t help everybody. Just remember that.”

  “That message became very clear to me when I had to walk away six months ago.”

  Gray stepped out, smiled at the receptionist, and headed to his car. There, he opened his laptop, quickly updated his notes, and sent the update to Grant.

  When Grant called him a few minutes later, Grant stated, “I told Dr. Maddy.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She’s really concerned about the situation.”

  “Any particular reason?”

  “Cressy’s instincts obviously proved correct about something being off. The fact that she didn’t have the location quite right isn’t a concern.”

  In Gray’s world, that wasn’t anything to be concerned about at all because, Jesus, the woman had sensed that something was wrong and had requested help for it. “She was quite upset when I told her.”

  Grant added, “But I’m not sure she really understands the severity of it all.”

  “Right,” Gray replied, “but I think she was more concerned that somebody would have heard her conversations up until now. Though, when we did have a couple frank conversations, that inner door was actually shut.”

  “That’s good,” Grant noted, “but she needs to watch it from here on out.”

  “Yeah, I know. I disturbed the transmission a little, yet not enough to actually impede it. Just enough to give them lots of static, so they’ll want to come fix it.”