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“Of course.” Jared played the footage once more. “He does seem to be looking in your direction.”
“He was. Both times that I’ve seen him, he made sure to catch my eye. He got my attention, then disappeared. Could you show the footage outside the on-call room?” She gave him the approximate time to start the search.
“Sure.” He pulled it up and fast-forwarded the video. Workers and visitors and patients sped back and forth past the room, but only one other person entered and Jared paused the playback.
“He’s the one who left the note in my pocket,” she said. “He had a key card—a badge. Could it be someone who works here?”
“Probably not,” James said. “Most likely he lifted it from someone.”
“I can tell you who went in that door at that time.” Jared’s fingers went to work on the keyboard once more. “Alex Carlisle.”
“Well, that’s not Alex Carlisle who went in the room. I know Alex and that’s not him.”
“Let’s look at the other footage and see if we can get some other views,” James said. “Maybe we can run him through facial recognition software and get a name with the face.”
Jared leaned back, studying the pictures from the security footage. “That first shot is the best of the bunch. In the others, he keeps his head down a lot or his face turned from the camera. I’m kind of surprised I got that one.”
“It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing,” James said. “If I give you an email address, can you send it through? The woman’s name is Caitlyn Evans.”
“Sure thing.”
James rattled off an email and Jared sent the picture. “Done.”
“Thanks.” He looked at Lainie. “Okay if I follow you home?”
“How are you going to do that? You don’t have a car and you really shouldn’t be driving, so I’ll pass, but thanks.” She frowned. “But why . . .”
“Well, if not me, then someone. I mean, it can’t hurt, right?”
“Right. True.” But having him—or someone—follow her home almost felt like admitting the man from the hospital was some kind of danger to her. But he was dead, so...
No.Adamwas dead. The man in the hospital was very much alive. But what did he want? “No,” she said, “forget it. He’s messing with me, but he hasn’t done anything threatening.”
“You mean, like leave a note in your lab coat? Not to mention you were asleep at the time.”
When he put it like that ... She sighed. “I mean, like you said, this could all just be some stupid joke. A prank.” She rubbed her forehead. “I just want to go home and put this day in the rearview mirror.” Adam was dead. She’d watched him breathe his last. If the person wanted to hurt her, he could have while she’d slept.
Great. She’d never sleep again at this point.
She stood. “Thanks again, everyone. I’m going home.” She looked at James. “I recommend you do the same.”
“Lainie—”
“No.” She held up a hand. “I promised myself I’d never be a victim again. First with Adam, then the break-in at my house—”
“Break-in? What break-in?”
“Someone broke into my house shortly after Adam died. Before I was even released from the hospital, I had a storage unit reserved and movers lined up to get everything of Adam’s out of my place and moved over there.” She paused. “I suppose I should have just asked his family to get his stuff, but I couldn’t ... deal with them. Not at that point in time. And I didn’t want any reminders of him in my home.”
“Understandable.”
“It was mostly just files, since he worked from my house occasionally. And he’d already moved his favorite recliner in. That kind of thing. But I wanted it all gone. Anyway, a couple of days later, I walked in and my place was trashed.” She sniffed and swiped a tear. “Whoever it was stole my jewelry, the television, anything and everything of value. The file cabinets and dresser drawers had been turned upside down. It was a hit and grab.”
“I’m so sorry, Lainie. That’s just awful.”
“It was, but you know what I did?”
“I can’t even imagine.”
