The Assassin's Deception

Chapter 40

KAITLYN STONE
Conrad and I walked into Chastain's lobby at two fifty five that afternoon along with a fairly young Indian man in a lab coat.
"I hate to bother you but do either of you know where I can find Dr. Conrad Hawkins?" He asked.
"Namaste." Conrad said looking hard at him.
"You found me."
"Conrad, be nice." I sighed gently nudging his shoulder.
"I'm Dr. Devon Pravesh, I'm your intern."
"I'm aware." He sighed.
I shook my head.
"I have to go meet with the realtor. Call me when you get a break?" I asked causing both men to look at me.
"Oh my gosh. You're Kaitlyn Stone." Devon said.
"Yes. I am." I looked at him as Conrad wrapped his arm around me protectively.
"My fiancee and I are so inspired by you. I'm so glad I got to meet you." He smiled at me.
"I appreciate that. Thank you. Don't worry, Conrad knows what he's doing. You'll learn a lot from him." I smiled at him before looking up at Conrad.
"I've got to go, babe. I'll talk to you later."
He leaned down and kissed me before I left.
I drove directly to Red Door Realty in downtown Atlanta where I met with Vanessa Rush in her office.
"Hello, Ms. Stone. It's a pleasure to meet you. We're so pleased you've decided to have us help you find your new home." The short red head said shaking my hand.
"Thank you. My boyfriend is a resident doctor at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital and we'd love to set up an appointment either tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday morning to tour the houses together." I told her.
"Of course. I have an opening Wednesday starting at ten." She smiled.
"Okay. Perfect."
Ms. Rush and I found four large houses to tour with Conrad.
We were just saying our goodbyes when Conrad called.
"Hey, baby. How are you?" I answered cheerfully.
"This guy won't stop talking about you like I don't know how amazing you are." He growled.
"You know as well as I do, he doesn't mean it like that." I chuckled.
"I know." He sighed.
"We found four houses to look at on Wednesday. Is that still okay?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." A smile played in his voice.
"Conrad, try to be nice to Devon, okay?" I urged.
"I'll try. Only for you."
I laughed again.
"I gotta call you back." He rushed.
"Okay. Be safe, Conrad."
"I will."
He hung up the phone and I decided I'd drive over to the Atlanta field office and start setting up my office to work out of.
"Hello, Director Stone. My name is Dakota Wilson I'm the field supervisor for the Atlanta field office. I was on maternity leave when you were here earlier this year." A young woman with light brown hair and green eyes greeted me with a firm handshake.
"I heard that. Congratulations." I smiled at her.
"Thank you. Right this way." She lead me through the office to an elevator.
On the fourth floor was a large office with two large couches and a desk with three chairs.
"This is a beautiful office." I sighed.
"It's all yours." She smiled.
"It's perfect. Thank you."
"Dakota." A tall African American man said from the doorway.
"Oh. Hello, Director. I didn't know you were in today. I'm Joel Osborne."
"My meeting with the realtor didn't take as long as I thought it would so I decided to come in and set up for next week." I answered.
"You're going to buy a house?" He asked.
"Yeah. My boyfriend is a resident at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital so even when I'm traveling he'll be there."
"We recieved a request to investigate a doctor at Chastain. A Dr. Lane Hunter. Do you know her?" He asked.
"No. I can go meet with her if you'd like? It might make a better impression if I go." I said.
"That's actually accurate." Dakota said.
"Here's the file. She's all yours." He smiled at me.
"Thank you." I said taking the file.
Dr. Lane Hunter, an oncologist at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital has been brought to the FBI's attention by a patient's family after he passed away in her care.
"It's not terribly uncommon for a cancer patient to die of cancer in an oncologist's care." I said looking up.
"According to the family, Dr. Lane Hunter is the only one who believed he had cancer. Honestly, it's just an inquiry. Nothing official yet." Joel said.
"Okay. I'll talk to her and see what I think." I said laying the file on my new desk.
Chastain Park Memorial Hospital was roughly a fifteen minute drive from the FBI field office. I fastened my badge to the front of my belt and my Glock 22 pistol on my side under my blazer before walking into the hospital.
"Hey, Kaitlyn. What are you doing here?" Conrad asked when he saw me walk in.
"I'm actually on business, crazily enough. I'm looking for Dr. Lane Hunter?" I smiled and he kissed me.
"I can take you to her office. It's on my way to Cardiology. What's going on?" He asked taking my hand.
"It's just a routine inquiry. Nothing to be concerned about."
He nodded and we continued to walk in peaceful silence.
Oncology was on the second floor and Conrad kissed me again before continuing on to Cardiology where Devon was waiting for him.
I knocked on the door.
"Come in." A strong female voice called from behind the door.
"Dr. Lane Hunter?" I asked opening the door.
"How can I help you, Ms?"
"My name is Director Kaitlyn Stone of the FBI and I recieved a general inquiry this afternoon about a patient of yours. A Mr. Cole Richman who passed away last month."
"Of course, Director. Come in. How can I help?" She asked motioning for me to sit.
"What can you tell me about Mr. Richman?" I asked.
"He had an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer and he fought for quite a long time under my care. In the end he wasn't able to win his battle. It truly is a tragedy." She said appearing to fight back tears I knew were fake.
I wondered why she bothered to fake tears as a professional oncologist. I didn't expect her to get emotional to begin with.
"Was there anything remarkable about his case?" I asked.
"Not necessarily. Again it was a very aggressive form of the cancer but I've seen other people fight cancers just as aggressive." She answered.
"What about the night he passed away? Can you walk me through that?" I asked.
"I'm not sure I can. I have so many patients even in a single day that a single night over a month ago is foggy for me." She sighed.
"I see. Well, thank you for your time, Dr. Hunter. I'll be in touch if I have more questions for you." I said standing up.
"Of course, Director. Thank you." She shook my hand and I left.
Conrad was lounging in the cafeteria when I walked back downstairs. When I saw his face I couldn't help think about the number of times I watched him beat himself up over a lost patient.
"Conrad. Can I talk to you outside for a bit?" I asked walking up to the table.
"Of course. Are you okay?" He asked standing up.
"Yeah. I'm fine." I assured him as we walked outside.
"How many patients have you lost in your three years here?" I asked.
"Thirty that I personally ran the code for and another six that were directly under my care." He answered instantly.
"How many of those thirty codes could you walk me through right now?" I asked.
"Thirty." He looked at me hard.
"Where is this going?"
"What can you tell me about Lane Hunter?" I asked looking at him.
He looked taken aback as he stared at me.
"I thought it was just a general inquiry?"
"It is. Something about her just isn't sitting right with me. I trust your judgment." I answered.
He looked up over his shoulder at the hospital. I saw Dr. Lane Hunter watching us from her office window.
He leaned over and kissed me hard before whispering in my ear,
"Talk about this at home."
"I'll see you at home, babe." I said turning to walk away.