Using his extra-sweet-playboy charm, Sam contacted Jasmine at the pathology department at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. Jasmine had been given strict orders not to release any information on Tina Philips death until the police had ruled it out as a homicide.
Jasmine told Sam, considering the rather cold treatment he’d given her lately that she would not risk her job for him again. However, if Sam agreed to her terms, Jasmine, as always, was willing to negotiate the issue. Seeing how easily Donna’s mood and attitude toward him could change, Sam didn’t want to risk pissing her off again. He sensed all Donna needed was a reason to doubt him and it would be over for them.
Exercising his connections as a major contributor to the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as promised, Sir Richard intervened. Instead of speaking with Jasmine’s supervisor, Sir Richard spoke to the head of administrations and arranged for Sam and Donna to meet with Jasmine and examine Tina’s body the next morning.
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Although the guest house was a fair distance from Triplet Hall, upon hearing Melissa confirm that Wilson was the one who betrayed her, John wasn’t comfortable with Melissa staying at the Hall. In fact, John wasn’t comfortable with the genetics team being there either. He never trusted Wilson, and he trusted him even less now. John knew, sooner or later, Wilson would betray them again. Next time, they might not be so lucky.
John and Sir Richard talked at length about this situation and decided if Jared and Juanita agreed to take over the infirmary at the complex, perhaps it was better for Melissa to be taken there.
Jared, of course agreed, as did Juanita, but only until she left the UK. Jared stood firm on his decision not to leave until Forrest was no longer an immediate threat to Donna. He would have preferred that the threat be removed altogether, but Sir Richard wasn’t ready to take that step. Like Jared, Sir Richard preferred allies instead of enemies and only killed as a last resort. Despite his misgivings about Jared, Sir Richard trusted Jared’s professional judgement.
If the worse came to the worst, Sir Richard would make the move to the complex and Sam and Jared would either learn to tolerate each other or Jared would have to use his enhanced speed and senses to avoid Donna. Regardless of Jared’s reservations, Sir Richard had decided, he’d had enough. If Jared and Donna were meant to meet, nothing on this earth could stop it. That much Marie had taught Sir Richard long ago.
Because of Sam’s position as head of the medical department, Sir Richard told him of their plans to take Melissa to the complex. He left it up to Sam to tell Donna. Sam told her that with Wilson staying at the guest house, John didn’t want Melissa living at the Hall, so she was taken to a secure location. Because Melissa was the first human Donna had used the EHG on, she wasn’t pleased with the decision, but accepted that it was not her judgement call.
Although she’d assisted with Melissa’s surgery and postoperative care, Melissa was Sam’s patient, just as Linda Wilson was hers. However, in order to appease Donna, Sam had to promise her he would take her to see Melissa after they’d finished at the RVI, in the morning. Sir Richard, of course, was not happy with Sam’s decision.
“Sam…” Sir Richard forced through his teeth, “…by promising to take Donna to visit Missy, you have put me in an extremely difficult position. You knew Jared had refused to see Donna, and you knew Juanita didn’t want to see Donna either. Now both Jared and Juanita will basically have to be put under house arrest until Donna leaves the complex. What were you thinking?”
“I know, Sir Richard, but you don’t understand how stubborn Donna can be. I didn’t have a choice. It was either take her to see Missy or lie to Donna. Frankly, I’d rather risk upsetting Jared and Juanita than Donna. Besides, why is he doing this? Why won’t he face her and end it? If Jared cares so much for Donna, why keep her guessing?”
Sir Richard gathered his laptop case and other things and prepared to leave. “Look Sam. I’ll talk to Jared. I’ll let you know something tonight or in the morning. I have other business to attend to at the complex. Depending on what time I get finished, I may spend the night there instead of coming back to the Hall, but I promise to let you know something before you go to the RVI. I have to go,” he said, ushering Sam out the door. “If I don’t see you tonight, be careful. Have a good time, and whatever you do, you and Richard keep an eye out for trouble. With Forrest at death’s door, I doubt we need to worry about him, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t have someone else do his dirty work.”
“OK, Sir Richard. Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Jared may disagree, but I’ll talk to him,” he said and stepped in the private lift.
As soon as Melissa had changed clothes and was ready to travel, she and John met McGowan and Sir Richard on the roof. Once they’d boarded the chopper, John took his place at the pilot’s seat, and he and McGowan flew them to the complex.
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Sam and Donna left shortly after Sir Richard and John had left with Melissa. Richard followed Gary out to the car park. As soon as he was in his car, Richard snapped his cell phone in the car cradle, popped in his Bluetooth ear buds and pressed a button on his steering wheel. “Hi, it’s me. Is everything set up for tonight?”
“Yes, Richard. I received your text. You will owe me big time for this.”
“Yes, and I will compensate you big time for this.” Richard grinned. “As I always have.”
“What makes you think this woman will listen to me? You don’t take my talents seriously. Why would she, and why are you doing this?”
“Because Donna means more to me than anything, and she’s not like other women. Donna is… well… she’s different.”
“Ah! I get it now. She is the one you told me of. The one who has dreams of the future.”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe these dreams?”
One side of Richard’s mouth turned up. “I don’t need to. I just need Donna to think I believe. I happen to know for a fact that Sam thinks Donna is a little loony, when it comes to her so-called psychic abilities. Sam doesn’t believe in any of that shit, so he’ll think we’re wasting our time. That’s why you’ve got to make this your best performance yet.”
“And you promise to take me back to Bucharest, so that I may spread my father’s ashes over the River Danube?”
Richard chuckled. “I will personally fly you back on one of our private jets.”
“This woman – Donna – she must mean a lot to you.”
“More than you could possibly imagine.”
“Bring her to my tent. I will tell her fortune. All who hear will believe, or their souls will burn black in their chests.”
Richard laughed. “Yeah, yeah, yeah – OK. I’ll remember to borrow John’s silver crucifix, before I leave the Hall.”
“Had you been wearing it the last time you came to my bed, the silver would have melted around your neck.”
Richard grinned. “Days gone by, Daria. My twilight activities have ceased. I’m a converted man now.”
“Yes, of course you are,” she taunted. “And I believe that about as much as I believed my mother’s claims that she was descended from the same bloodline as Isis.”
“Help me get Sam away from Donna and I’ll produce documentation to back her claims,” he joked. “I have to go sweetheart. We’ll see you tonight. Remember, make this good.”
“I will remember, Richard….”
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Donna stood in front of the mirror, brushing out her long hair. “Sam, what kind of rides will be at the carnival?”
Sam wrapped his arms around her waist and planted kisses up the left side of her neck. “Just standard twisting, turning, up down, forward back stuff, sweetheart. Why?”
“In that case, I’d better wear my hair in a ponytail. I can’t stand to have it flopping in my face.” She fastened it high on her head with a hair tie.
Sam turned her. “You can have it flopping in my face anytime you want to,” he said and kissed her.
There was a tap on the door. “Are you two about ready to go?” Richard called out. “I don’t want to keep Joyce waiting.”
Sam took Donna’s hand and opened the door. “Like you’ve ever cared about keeping anyone waiting,” Sam groaned.
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After Jared had examined Melissa, John took her for a tour of the complex. While they were doing that, Sir Richard asked Jared and Juanita to join him in his office. Sir Richard sat back in his chair. “Jared, Juanita, I appreciate what you’re doing for me.”
“Like I told you, Sir Richard,” Jared responded. “I don’t mind helping.”
“Donna asked me to express her thanks to you for giving her what she needed to save Missy’s life. Donna wanted to thank you personally, but since you won’t see her, she asked me to tell you.”
“Does she know where we are?”
“No. I haven’t told her. She just knows you’re in the UK. There is a slight problem, however.”
Jared locked his eyes with Sir Richard’s and leaned forward. “What kind of problem?”
“As you might have guessed, Donna was upset when Sam told her we weren’t taking Missy to the Hall. I think Donna is concerned something might go wrong with the EHG.”
Jared frowned. “EHG?”
Sir Richard chuckled. “Enhanced Healing Gene - that’s what Donna is calling it.”
“Oh – I see – catchy title,” Jared laughed.
“It sounds like something Donna would come up with,” Juanita added.
“She hasn’t published this, has she?”
“No, Jared. Sam made the remark that Triplet International could market this stuff and make billions. Donna quickly reminded Sam that this was not about personal gain. No, Son, it won’t be published. At first, I thought she might be considering it, but despite what happened between you and Donna, she still protects your secret. All Donna has ever been interested in was saving lives, Jared.”
Jared swallowed hard. “I know, Sir Richard. You still haven’t told me what the problem is.”
“Donna wants to make sure Missy is OK. Sam had to promise her that he would bring her here and let her visit. We can handle this one of two ways. You can either face Donna or you and Juanita will have to remain in your quarters until she and Sam leave. Personally, I think you should talk to her, but it’s not my call. When we brought Donna here, my plans were to tell her what was going on, give her a tour, and let her decide whether or not she wanted her own quarters, or whether or not she wanted to remain with Sam as she is now. If you decide not to talk to her, I’ll forgo the tour, but you need to decide soon. Sam is bringing her in the morning after they examine Tina Philips body.”
“Her body?” Jared frowned. “Tina - that’s the lab tech I talked to at the Centre – correct?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?” Juanita asked.
“We suspect someone murdered her, but until Sam has done his examination, we won’t know for sure. At the moment, the police are treating it as an overdose of bad cocaine. The evidence suggests that it was an overdose, as well, but Sam insists Tina didn’t do drugs.”
“She could have faked her drug test results.”
“That’s what I thought, Jared, until I found out Sam did the drug screening tests himself. I may not always agree with what Sam does, but when it comes to running the infirmary, Sam has an iron hand. Since you and Juanita are part of the team now, you might as well know the rest. Donna is extremely concerned with Linda Wilson’s baby. She believes the baby should have been aborted long ago, which is surprising since Donna is pro-life.”
Jared frowned. “Why would Donna suggest Linda Wilson have an abortion?”
“The ultrasound she did on Linda showed that the baby’s internal organs were not developing at the same rate as its skeletal system. She also said that the medication Linda Wilson’s physician had been giving her had nothing to do with a kidney infection. Donna was surprised that Linda hadn’t already had a spontaneous abortion. Although she didn’t know why Linda’s physician would do it, Donna believed the drugs Linda had been taking were to prevent this from happening. She said Linda wasn’t having Braxton contraptions. What was actually happening was that Linda’s body was rejecting the malformed foetus.”
“Did she check this through an amniocentesis?”
“Yes, Jared, but the results of the test and Linda Wilson’s medical records disappeared from our system, altogether. Sam spoke to Ian Allen, another of his lab techs. Ian told him that he’d given the results to Tina Philips. Tina was supposed to drop them off at the nurse’s station, but we never heard from Tina again. That’s when we found out she’d taken an overdose of cocaine. They found her body in a derelict factory at North Shields.”
Juanita furrowed her brow. “Wasn’t Tina Philips the girl Gary had been going with for the last few months?”
“Yes…” Sir Richard responded, “… and it’s hit him pretty hard, too.”
“But why would Tina steal the test results and then go to the trouble of wiping Linda’s records from your system?”
Sir Richard softly groaned. “I don’t know Jared, but I have a sneaky suspicion that whoever wanted those results kept quiet, was also the person who bumped Tina off.”
“Then I would suggest doing another amniocentesis and this time have Donna do the test herself. That way there won’t be any chance of the results falling into sticky hands.”
“I would imagine Donna will talk to the Wilson’s and see if Linda will agree to another amniocentesis. With Linda being in my guest house, it shouldn’t be a problem. Now, at this point, I have to ask you a question, Jared. Do you think there’s any possibility that Donna’s EHG will be able to correct this kind of genetic abnormality?”
Jared grinned and glanced at Juanita. “Sir Richard, I’m not the one who would know that. I only carry the gene. Other than that, you would have to ask Donna.”
“So you don’t object to her using it again?”
Jared frowned. “Of course not, Sir Richard. I know I can trust Donna not to let this get out. I mean, I know eventually if she achieves her goal that it will get out – so to speak – but I know, even if Donna figures out what makes me tick, she will never reveal that secret to the World.”
Sir Richard’s eyebrows shot up. “So the tough attitude you used on her was another part of your front?”
Jared grinned again. “Sweetheart,” he said, turning his attention to Juanita. “It looks like you and I will be under house arrest for a while tomorrow.”
Sir Richard softly chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll let Sam know. He will be pleased. He really does seem to care very deeply for Donna.”
“Yeah – well,” Jared scoffed. “Sometimes looks can be deceiving. Time will tell. If that’s all, I’d like to go work on Richard’s surprise for Donna.”
“You mean the stage project?”
“Yeah. You’d be surprised how bad his memory was. If I’m here long enough and have the time, this is one project that will be done right.”
“Should I give you a call when Sam and Donna head this way?”
Jared smiled his sexy crooked smile. “No need. Trust me, I’ll know. Later, Sir Richard,” he said and left.
“Now, Juanita, not that I’m trying to run you off, but when did you want to fly back to the States?”
“Soon, Sir Richard. I’m afraid when Forrest figures out I helped Jared rescue Melissa, the first thing he’ll do is go after my mother.”
“Yes, you’re probably right, but when that happens, all he’ll find is an empty room. I won’t wait until the last minute to get either of you out.”