“Should we?” he asks, following me into the kitchen.
“Sit down,” Bruce says, looking at the chair beside him as he bites into a donut. Caleb pulls the chair out for me before walking over to the chair beside me and sitting down.
“Can I get you two anything to drink?” Heloise asks from the kitchen as she makes two cups of coffee. We both shake our heads as she comes over, handing one to Bruce and then sitting down in the only empty chair left. “So what is this visit about?”
“Well,” I start and I wipe my sweaty hands on my pants, “I was wondering if you guys know anything about the Hope Springs Medical Clinic.”
Heloise snorts. “That thing?” She shakes her head, taking a sip of her coffee. “It was horrible. Doctors performing things they had no right performing. Taking money from the insurance companies and the patients. They got shut down or something like that.”
“I think I was born there.”
“Makes sense,” Heloise says, looking over at Bruce, who is just eyeing me.
“Why do you say that?” he asks me. I explain to him what I found out and he looks down at his donut. “There was chatter while it was still up and running,” he finally says. “No one could get proof of what was going on, but things were definitely not on the up-and-up.”
“Do you know anyone who used to work there by any chance?” I ask, holding my breath until he nods.
“Meredith Casey,” he says her name, “she worked labor and delivery.” I feel Caleb reach over and grab my hand in his.
“Do you think she would talk to me?”
“I’ll give you her number and also call and tell her you’ll be getting in touch with her,” he offers. “Surprised she went to work there to begin with. She was retired when it opened up.”
“Do you think they kept the medical records somewhere?” I ask, my heart beating hard as I feel like I’m one step closer to the answer.
“They should or at least they did, but then the main pipe valve broke,” he shares and the little bit of hope I had sinks down. “Everything was damaged and then they threw out what was covered in mold.”
I take a deep breath in. “Interesting.” I look over at Caleb.
When we walk out of the house a short time later, I have the piece of paper in my hand. When I get into the truck and he drives away from the house, I pull out my phone. “Here goes nothing,” I tell him, dialing the number and then putting it on speaker.
It rings three times before the answering machine picks up. “You’ve reached Meredith, leave me your name and number and I’ll get back to you.”
“Hello, Meredith, my name is Sierra. If you can call me back at 561-715-4499. Thank you.” I hang up the phone and then look over at Caleb. “And now we wait.”
Chapter 26
Caleb
“I’m going to be done by the end of next week,” Theo says when I walk into the house a week later. “We are finishing up the bedrooms upstairs and it’ll be all done.”
“It turned out so good,” I praise, looking around at the living room with all the built-in cabinets she wanted made.
“She got a bunch of stuff delivered today and she’s getting more stuff delivered tomorrow,” he whispers to me, “so have fun with that.” He doesn’t even try to hide his smile as he whistles picking up some of the tools.
“What are you doing this weekend?” I ask him before he walks to the door.
“Going home,” he answers, “show my face, try to see if your father has work for me.”
“We just got seven new clients this week,” I remind him, “and you have to admit you’re starting to like it here.”
“I will admit no such thing.” He opens the door. “I haven’t gotten laid once since I’ve been in town.”
“What about last weekend?” I remind him.
“That is very different. She was from out of town and house-sitting the house next to mine.” He puts away his stuff in his toolbox before unclipping his tool belt.
“I mean a win is a win, isn’t it?” I watch him look back at me.
