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“Ah, Mr. Hunter. I’m sure you’ve heard the news by now. My condolences. I’m not sure how close you were to Leslie Taylor, but I’m sure she appreciated your efforts.”
Noah remained silent, but he was impressed at the speed of information. The nurse held up two fingers. She would be back. He mouthed thank you and closed his eyes to lean against the building.
As the silence grew, the older man on the other end chuckled. “I applaud your efforts, and far as I’m concerned, this is now over. Don’t worry about the sheriff. I’ve taken care of that. Enjoy Rocky Mount before you head home. There’s a diner down the street that serves an excellent meatloaf.”
Without warning, the call was disconnected, and Noah brought a hand up to smash the burner on the ground. With a slow breath, he regained control and looked out across the parking lot but did not focus on anything in particular. His thoughts were spinning a million miles a minute, and a slight grin spread across his face.
~
WHILE SMALL, ROCKY Mount, North Carolina, had the same rental car company. Noah ended up paying a premium for the interior cleaning. The blood on the passenger seat would be hard to get out and made the young man wince upon inspection. Cash seemed to work, and within half an hour, Noah drove away in a new brown Toyota Sienna minivan. He transferred all the items over, except one thing—the burner cell phone. The heel of his hiking boot made short work of it, and he threw the pieces into the trash bin. While in Wyoming, Noah would have chosen a pickup truck to blend in with the demographic. However, in North Carolina, the minivan seemed to be the vehicle of choice.
Back in the hospital parking lot, Noah parked on the far side with an eastern view of the entrance, and the only access from Parkland Drive was covered. On the passenger seat was Leslie’s green backpack. He debated going through her things as he waited but didn’t want to be distracted.
As the sun set, he nibbled on a protein bar and drank sparingly from a water bottle. The tide of cars ebbed and flowed from the parking lot as the staff changed and visitors or patients came and went.
At ten o’clock, his patience was rewarded when an unmarked ambulance pulled up to the emergency doors. A black Chevy Tahoe with dark tinted windows followed. Two men got out of the ambulance, dressed in blue EMT outfits, and a man and woman dressed in suits got out of the SUV.
Noah parked near the exit and waited. Twenty minutes later, the two paramedics guided the stretcher out of the emergency doors and into the back of the ambulance. A nurse followed, an IV pole with two bags of clear fluid connected to the patient.
“Born at night, but not last night.” Noah chuckled. His spirits were buoyed when his hunch was confirmed.
When the man and woman walked outside, a tall man in scrubs joined them. They talked for a few minutes as he referred to different pages in a folder. Noah could tell the doctor wasn’t happy with the situation even a hundred feet away. He gestured toward the patient, vigorously tapped the paperwork before handing it over, and stood back with arms crossed. The woman shrugged, then abruptly turned her back to him and got into the car as the man got behind the wheel.
Noah slid low on his seat as they drove past, but his worries were unfounded. The woman remained glued to a phone, and the others never glanced in his direction.
Over the years, especially when doing undercover work, Noah had quite a bit of experience following a suspect vehicle. Two or three-person teams worked great. However, the latest technology slowly replaced the tried and tested methods. Quad-drones can be carried and launched with a given target to follow, or GPS trackers contained within a small dart can be fired from a chase car. Most importantly, such new methods didn’t place officers’ lives in danger, and they were fairly reliable.
Right now, he would love to have some air support or another set of eyes, but he would have to make do.
Noah waited thirty seconds before following.
The hunt was on.