Page 97 of Her Only Hero

“He was being pursued and needed a safe place to hide the USB, and himself. Your place foot the bill.”

The pieces were falling into place. It seemed nothing happened by accident, but by design or some reason.

“I had confronted Gideon about his malpractice. This time, he didn’t admit any inappropriate care. He even attacked my methods. I told him if he didn’t report himself to the College of Physicians and Surgeons, I would. As long-time colleagues, and the godfather to my daughter, I made the mistake of giving him a few days to get things in order. That night my house and office were ransacked, and two of the three memory sticks were stolen, and somehow the information on the cloud was erased. Gideon had certainly hired hard-core mercenaries. I’m sure they’re the ones who burned down my rental home to ensure no evidence remained. And then hunted down poor David.”

My mouth had become dry, and I tried to swallow.

“Would you like to rest, June?” Dr. Fulthorpe asked.

“No, please go on,” I said and took a sip of water. “Who was David Moreno?”

The doctor continued. “He’s a young man I’d been caring for, for over a decade.”

I glanced at Patrick and frowned.

“David struggled to pay for his medications, and more times than not, I hadn’t charged him. He had insisted on repaying me somehow, so on a whim I asked him to retrieve the last and only remaining USB drive from my rental home. I scribbled my address on a card for him. And then when he went there, well, you know what happened next. Evidently, he and I were being watched. When the thugs tried to steal the USB from him, it ended in a deadly struggle. David bled profusely because of his illness, and that’s when you and the officer came on the scene. He knocked you down and snatched the bloody towel, reclaiming his own DNA evidence. Trying to protect me from being implicated.”

“Poor guy,” I said.

“I never would have asked him if I’d have known of Gideon’s malevolence. That’s when I knew my life and my family’s life were in jeopardy and I had to stop Gideon from hurting his patients. My wife, daughter, and I escaped to Florida, and from there, I reported Gideon and arranged for his arrest while clearing my name. Thanks to the help of Officer Verbeek.”

“I respect what you did, Dr. Fulthorpe.” Patrick put a hand on my shoulder. “It’s not easy being a whistleblower.”

Patrick’s gesture warmed me inside. I knew he referred to what I had done, too.

“I appreciate that, Officer. And thank you for all your help. June, I’m sorry you got caught up in all of this. I should have handled it better.”

“I believe you handled as best as you could,” I said.

“I should be on my way and let you rest,” Dr. Fulthorpe said.

“Thank you for telling us everything,” I said.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Patrick said. “I’ll walk you out.”

I took another sip of water. In a few minutes, Patrick returned and sat next to me.

“The man is carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders,” Patrick said.

“He has a conscience.”

Patrick nodded. “Yes, he does.”

“Well, this really is all over now.” I glanced at my bag on the ground. “I guess I’ll be on my way home.”

“June, wait.”

I remained still, unable to guess what he was about to say. His expression hadn’t betrayed him in any way.

“June, I want to beg for your forgiveness.”

Air rushed from my parted lips. “My forgiveness?”

“I don’t know what happened between you and Doc Hamid, and I don’t care. I mean, I care, but not enough to lose you.”

I wanted to cry with joy. Even when Patrick didn’t know what had happened between Aram and I, his feelings for me hadn’t wavered.

“You just have to tell me, June, which one of us do you want? I mean, I wouldn’t blame you if you choose Hamid. He is obviously a great guy. Highly scholastic. Not bad looking.”

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