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I pushed a hand through my hair. “Let’s go over it again. You say we can’t link the names on the accounts that the organization’s opened to an actual person?”
Pieters nodded. “Nope. It’s like this guy is a ghost in the wind. Even his aliases are coming up empty. The last known address for him was somewhere in Florida. But the organization is still running. Still taking donations. Still has a face to go with the sob stories they spout. But that face isn’t the brains behind this operation. And we haven’t been able to find a single shred of him for the last six months.”
I reclined back in my office chair. “Yeah, that son of a bitch has been taunting us. But he’s not smarter than I am. I’m close, I can feel it. He’s gotta turn up somewhere.”
Pieters grunted in agreement. “Let’s take a break. I need to get out of this office.”
I nodded and pushed out of my chair. “Yeah, all right.”
As we trudged down the hall of my house, both of us stiff and weary from sitting behind my desk, Pieters asked, “So, when was the last time you saw her?”
I didn’t want to talk about Piper. He was probably the best friend I had, but there were still some things I didn’t want to discuss with him. And my pathetic pining for my long-distance girlfriend was one of them.
I rounded the corner and stopped in my tracks, causing him to run into my back. “Reed, what the fuck?”
“Piper?” I breathed.
Her head whipped toward the sound of my voice and my heart stopped beating in my chest when I saw the look of despair on her face. “Lawson,” she cried before launching herself from the couch and into my arms.
The sobs that wracked her body shook me and all I could do was hold her close while her tears soaked my shirt. I don’t know how long we stood there, arm in arm, her crying while I wracked my brain for what could possibly be the reason for her tears.
When she finally managed to catch a breath, she looked up at me, her face red and puffy. Even though she was here when she shouldn’t be and visibly upset, she was still a sight for sore eyes. “What’s wrong?” I asked, not willing to let her go.
Her nostrils flared as she pulled in what I assumed was an attempt at a cleansing breath. It didn’t work, because as soon as her lips parted to speak, her eyes filled with tears again. “They kicked me out.”
She could have said that she decided to quit medicine and join the circus and I would have been less shocked. “I’m sorry, they what?”
I released her with one arm and guided us to the couch. Piper was holding a piece of paper that was crumpled in her hand and she thrust it in my direction.
A deep voice rumbled from the hallway, reminding me we were not alone. “I, uh, I’ll catch up with you later, man.”
I jerked my chin up in his general direction but never pulled my eyes from the paper in front of me. It was a letter from the State Board of Medical Examiners.
I scanned it twice before looking back at where Piper sat, tears streaming down her face. I didn’t know all the terminology that was used but understood enough to know this was bad.
Very bad.
“You’ve been writing prescriptions for painkillers?”
Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “No!”
“This is ludicrous.” I could feel the flush of anger creeping up my neck. “Why would they even think this?”
“I have no idea,” she wailed. “I haven’t ever written a prescription for OxyContin.”
The longer she sobbed, the more furious I became. There was no way Piper would have ever done anything like this. I read over the letter once more.
The board was accusing her of improperly writing prescriptions for hundreds of pills to people here in Georgia. There was going to be a hearing scheduled, but until then, she was effectively stripped of her medical privileges.
I pushed to my feet and stormed down the hall to get my phone. When I returned, Piper was still in the same spot on the couch, no longer wailing, but weeping quietly. I handed her a box of tissues I grabbed from the bathroom and sat back down beside her.
“I’m going to fix this,” I declared, pulling up my list of contacts.
She scoffed. “You are?”
I nodded.
“Lawson, how the hell are you going to fix this?” She dabbed at her red-rimmed eyes. “You gonna hack into their system and just delete this letter?”
