Defending Hayden (Second Chances #7)(62)
“I know, Hayden. I’d be the same way if something like that happened to my furry friends.” She opened the door and we walked inside; it felt like home. I hadn’t realized how much I missed being there. Thankfully, my office was still bare: Wilford hadn’t hired anyone to take my place yet.
Once we got to his office, Kellie fired up his laptop and we waited. She searched through his drawers until she found a little black book. “What is that?” I asked.
She flipped through the pages. “It’s Pappy’s password book. I told him he should probably write everything down, and he took me up on it.” Her fingers landed on a piece of paper and she smiled. “Got it.” My heart thundered in my chest as I waited for her to type everything in. A part of me was hopeful, but the other was ready for disappointment. Sliding away from the desk, Kellie got up and pointed to the computer. “It’s pretty easy from here. Just type in the date you want, and it’ll take you to that day. Rewind and fast-forward to whatever times you want.”
We switched places and she sat across from me while I sat in front of the screen. There were so many files to look at, it was insane. I picked the day Goldilocks came in and went from there. So far everything looked normal. Jessica and Amanda followed all protocol and didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. I watched day after day, my stomach growing sicker by the minute.
“Anything yet?” Kellie asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing. The girls disposed of everything properly and made sure their hands were clean after each visit. I don’t understand how it could’ve passed to the other dogs. Even looking at myself, I did everything safely. There must be something I’m missing.”
The only cameras in the building were in the main kennel area, the isolation room, the lab, and at the front and back doors. Every time I saw movement into the isolation room, I stopped the feed and watched. No one went in there except me, Jessica, Charity, and Amanda.
Turning to Kellie, I lifted my arms in defeat. “I’m done. There’s nothing in here that can prove anything.”
“I’m sorry, Hayden. I really thought you’d be able to find something.”
“So did I,” I said, getting to my feet. Kellie took my spot, and I walked out into the waiting room while she turned off Wilford’s computer.
“You ready to go?” Kellie asked.
Holding my tears back, I took one last look around the clinic. “I guess this is it.”
She hugged me. “You’ll find another job, Hayden. You’re the best there is. There’s no other doctor who’s going to put in nearly the hours that you have here. There were plenty of nights you were here long after I went home.”
It took me a minute to concentrate on her words, and when I did, something clicked into place. I was the only one who put in the hours, including many late nights. “Oh my God,” I gasped. Kellie looked at me like I’d lost my mind. I hurried back into Wilford’s office and opened his laptop. “I need you to get me back in.”
She sat down and booted the laptop back up. “Why? What’s going on?”
“I checked every day for the past two weeks, but I didn’t even think to look at the nights. It might be a long shot, but I have to give it a try.”
Kellie nodded. “Smart thinking,” she praised. “I never would’ve thought of that.”
She pulled the software back up and we switched seats. Her phone buzzed and she glanced down at it curiously. “It’s my husband.”
“Everything okay?”
She finished reading the text and groaned. “Looks like my daughter is sick. He said she threw up everywhere.”
“That’s not good. Do you need to go?”
I was hoping she’d say no, but she got up and nodded. “Asking my husband to clean up puke is like making him eat brussels sprouts; he can’t do it. He’d probably put poor little Allie in the shower with her clothes on until I could get there.” I started to get up, but she stopped me. “You stay and finish up. You’ve come too far to quit now. Just make sure to lock up when you leave.”
“Are you sure? What if I get caught?”
She laughed. “Then I’ll bail you out. It was my idea for you to come in the first place.”
“Thanks, Kellie. I’ll shut the computer down once I’m through.”
“Good luck,” she replied, grabbing her keys. “If you find anything, let me know.”
She hurried off and I got back to searching. The clinic was pretty dead at night, since I wasn’t there working all sorts of hours. As I was fast-forwarding through the various nights, something caught my eye. It was a burst of light, then back to the awkward night-vision lighting. I carefully scanned back and stopped when the light came on; someone was in the lab. All I could see was a shadow, but then it disappeared and reappeared in the isolation room with Goldilocks. Her tail wagged, but she was so weak she couldn’t get up. A figure in a dark blue hooded sweatshirt and jeans opened her cage and stuck her with a syringe—only he wasn’t giving her an injection…he was taking her blood.
What the f*ck is going on here? It was Jeremiah. The time on the video said two o’clock in the morning. What the hell was he doing there that late at night?
As soon as he left the isolation room, he went into the main kennel, and then everything happened so quickly. Bile rose in the back of my throat, and I held my breath as I watched him infect three of my patients with the contaminated blood. After infecting my animals, he put the syringe in the sharps container on the counter.