Chapter 23: Demon
It was Saturday and we were having church. The last several days hadn’t gained us any insights into what Dr. Nathan Addison was doing. He was still in town. He seemed to spend a lot of time in his hotel and at the coffee shop. When he was out and about, he was on his phone a lot.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t using his listed phone according to Outlaw. It had to be a burner, which upped the suspicion that he was up to no good. One day he went to the hospital. We had no idea if he was there asking about Zara or something else.
Today was going to be an extra stressful day because after church, we were going to let Zara out of the compound. I’d been against it, but she’d thrown down an ultimatum. If she wasn’t allowed to go soon to look for a wedding dress, there’d be no wedding at the end of August.
She told me it usually took people months to get one and have it made in time. I told her she had until the thirty-first of August. That’s when she hit me with needing to go and try dresses on in person. She said it wasn’t possible to get one that fit, over the internet. The other old ladies all sided with her. After we argued for a couple of hours, I’d given in, but only if she went with an entourage of not only ladies, but me and some of the guys. She’d agreed.
We were running through club business first, then we’d talk about Zara’s situation for the umpteenth time. The haven for abuse victims was off the ground. We decide to get housing up first then worry about walling in the property. We’d post guards if we had to. The women we’d helped rescue in Virginia with the Punishers prayed on our minds. We could have brought some of them here if we’d had the housing done.
When we were all up to date on it and the financial performance of the other businesses, we settled in to talk about Zara. “Anderson called last night. He said there was nothing definite tying Dr. Addison to this Nunez cartel, though there has been a change in his business over the last year and a half. According to his financials, he’s been growing his practice at an unusual rate, primarily with elderly patients. Not sure that means anything. Not like they’d be the ones looking to buy hard drugs.”
Bear looked up with a thoughtful look on his face. I knew something had occurred to him. “What is it, Bear? I can tell you have an idea.”
“Well, it might be nothing, but I was reading an article online the other night. It talked about how much Medicare fraud there was going on in the U.S. Doctors who are getting the social security numbers and other information on their elderly patients, creating fake visits and testing, that they then bill back to Medicare. There are millions of dollars wasted every year due to this. Could his sudden rise in patients and them being elderly be due to him doing something like this?”
“I guess it could, but how would the cartel tie into it?” Bull questioned.
“I don’t know. Maybe we could get Zara’s help. She’d likely know if things looked right when it came to patients, the tests ordered and the diagnoses. It’s worth a look. If nothing else, we could get his ass for fraud,” I said with satisfaction.
Outlaw rapped his knuckles on the table. “You said that he was desperate to get her back after they broke up. I could see if he loved her, he would be, but then again, he’d have never cheated. So why was he? Don’t get me wrong, she’s beautiful and sexy, but he’s a doctor. He could find another piece of arm candy.”
“Influence. Sway with someone. Status maybe,” Joker added. We were all just throwing out ideas.
“Did he know about her uncle Tommy?” Tank asked suddenly.
“I don’t know. I never asked her, but I can. Surely, you don’t think he wanted something from him?”
“Maybe not something specific but having government connections could come in handy if you had other aspirations or ended up doing something you shouldn’t have,” Joker suggested. I could see they were getting into this idea. I didn’t want to knock it down as a possibility, but it seemed awfully thin to me. We didn’t have any other ideas.
“I mean, I guess you could. Not sure if he had an aspiration other than to be a doctor. That’s something else I’ll ask Zara. For right now, I hate to say we’re in a wait-and-see mode. I’m more worried about her being outside the compound today. Who’s going with us to look for this dress?”
I knew Rebel, Bull, Ace, and Ajax were staying behind to watch the kids, so their wives could go. It wasn’t their preference, but they did it. Joker, Maverick, and Slash all raised their hands. Them, plus me and Jake, would make five of us to five women. I hoped it was enough men, but then again, I didn’t want to leave the compound short on the off chance that anything happened here.
I decided to talk to Zara about whether Nathan had known about Anderson and if he had other aspirations when we got back from shopping. Right now, I wanted her to have her mind on something totally unrelated to this mess.
I’d noticed she’d been getting quieter as well as more antsy to leave the compound. I hated that she felt like a prisoner, but until we found Nunez, I wouldn’t risk her.
She’d been asking if she could go back to work. It had been a month since she’d taken her supposed emergency leave from the hospital. They were putting pressure on her to return. She was worried that her job was in jeopardy, which brought to mind the idea of the club being partners in an urgent care clinic.
“Hey, before we go, I need to ask. I know things have been crazy this past month, but has there been any work done on the idea for a clinic in town? I understand if it hasn’t, however, the hospital is pressuring her to return. She’s worried she won’t have a job. I’d like to be able to talk to her about it.”
Bear groaned. “Shit. I totally put it on the backburner, Demon. I’ll get to work on it, I promise. We don’t want Doc to be stressed out even more than she is. She’s getting impatient with this lockdown, isn’t she?”
“Oh yeah. She’s too quiet. She’s dying to go back to work. She doesn’t know what to do with all this free time, and wedding planning only takes up a portion of it. But don’t sweat that you haven’t done it, Bear. It’s totally understandable. Just let me know when you do.” He gave me a chin lift. This ended the meeting for this week. I hurried out to go find Zara. We were planning to leave for Nashville at noon.
I found her where I thought I would. She was sitting in the common room with the other ladies and holding one of the babies. It was Kiara, Jessica and Ajax’s little one. She was barely over a month old.
I loved the look of Zara holding a baby. I loved kids but hadn’t known if I’d ever get the chance to have any of my own. Hunter and Emmie, Harlow’s kids, had become my pseudo-ones. However, now that I had Zara, I was going to be able to experience fatherhood for myself. I honestly couldn’t wait.
I walked over and gave her a kiss. I made sure it was one she’d remember all day. Even though I’d made love to her this morning before church, I wanted her again. Damn, that would have to wait until we were back from shopping. “Baby, are you ladies about ready to go? Is there anything I need to do?”
“No, honey, I’m set. The last one was just fed, so the guys should have a couple of hours of peace on that front. I just need to change and grab my purse.”
“Okay, why don’t you do that and meet me back out here?” She handed Kiara back to Jess and got up. As she walked away, I watched her ass. God, I loved her ass. I heard a laugh. I looked around and saw Madisen grinning at me.
“Could you be any more obvious? You’re practically undressing her and having sex right here, Demon.”