She considered going to the Lincoln County Sheriff but he wouldn’t do anything but call the base and she would be right back to square one. Whatever action she decided to take, she needed to be careful. If something was going on and she told the wrong person, she could end up in the cell next to Raymond Eller. It was obvious that whatever was taking place, General Devin was in it up to his eyeballs.
The next morning when she arrived at the infirmary a patrol car was sitting outside. She got out and opened the door and a few seconds later two of the guards came in. She had seen them around but wasn’t sure of their names.
“Can I help you?” she asked as she took off her coat and hung it up.
“General Devin would like to speak with you,” the tall one said.
“Oh? Well I need to get everything set up for today. I’m giving flu shots this morning. Would you like to get one now?”
“No thanks. The shots will have to wait. The general wants to speak with you immediately,” he said.
“I guess it’s Okay but this is most unusual. People will be coming in expecting me to be here. Do you know how long it will take?”
“As long as it takes,” he said.
“I’ll leave a note on the door then,” she said, quickly scribbling out a note and sticking it on the door with tape.
They walked with her out to the Jeep and drove her to the security building. General Devin was sitting behind a desk when she was shown in.
“General,” she said, nodding at him.
“Ms. Angelina Beck. Have a seat,” he said, not getting up.
“General, I need to get the infirmary open. We are giving flu shots today,” she told him.
“Yes. Yes. That will all get done in time. I want to ask you a couple of questions. You were here last night asking about Raymond Eller, were you not?”
“Who? Is that the man that they said was dead? Eaten by coyotes?” she said looking puzzled.
He looked at her for a few seconds before answering, “Yes. His name is Raymond Eller. You were asking about him.”
“I didn’t know his name, but I did ask if he was officially dead. I have to submit a report to the State with the cause of death. It’s required by law,” she replied.
“So you said. Are you sure about that?”
“I most certainly am,” she said, frowning. “Why? What’s this all about?” she asked trying to cover the fear that was creeping up inside of her.
“I believe that is the job of the Chief of the Medical staff. Not the nurse,” he replied.
“Maybe you forgot. He is in Las Vegas at a medical convention. He isn’t due back until Friday. The State requires notification within forty-eight hours in the event of a death,” she said.
“I see. So you were just making sure we were within the confines of the law, correct?”
“Absolutely. Why else would I bother to ask? I didn’t know him,” she replied.
“You have never seen him before?”
“Heck no. I wouldn’t know him if he was standing next to you. I mean, our paths may have crossed but I have never treated him. I really don’t know him,” she said.
“That’s what Peter said,” the general replied.
“What?”
“Never mind, it’s from the Bible,” the general replied.
She wanted to stick as close to the truth as possible and what she had said so far was mostly true. She only suspected the man at Beacon was Eller.
“Thank you for your time Ms. Beck. You can go back and attend to your flu shots or whatever you were doing,” he said.
She got up and started to leave but turned back.
“Why are you asking me this? I don’t get it. The law requires me to file a death report and all I am doing is keeping us within the framework of those provisions. I’m trying to do my job and you are grilling me. What do you really want?”
He looked at her for what seemed like a lifetime and finally said, “I was not grilling you Ms. Beck. You will know when that happens, believe me. You may leave now.”
“General Devin, you have no idea how hard you make it for people to respect you when you treat everyone like dirt. You really should take a good look at yourself in the mirror some morning.”
He didn’t even acknowledge her presence. Instead he turned back to the monitors and began flipping through the various stations.
You prick, she said under her breath as she left. No one offered to drive her back but it wasn’t that far and it gave her time to think. Finally she had a plan of action.
She was hiding something, he thought, as she walked out of the room. Did she put two and two together and realize the blood was from Eller? She was certainly not dumb. She was stupid for talking that way to him, but not dumb.
He couldn’t find any glaring problems with her answers, but something was bothering him, like a tickle in the back of his throat. Getting rid of her at this time may draw more attention to the base than he wanted. Another disappearance just wouldn’t help what he was doing. He would just have to order surveillance placed on her. Right now, he had more important matters to take care of. The second phase of the testing would take place at 0215 and he had a few details to take care of first. He got his vehicle and headed out to Beacon.
