“No worries. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do.” Cael hung up and arched an eyebrow at Rosa. “That nurse told us they’d been detained. They hadn’t even been called out. Let’s see what Sparks has to say.”
They’d left the office and were walking through the bullpen when he saw Ash sitting at his desk in his and Letty’s office. Taking a detour, he knocked on the glass wall. Ash looked up and smiled tentatively.
“Hey. Everything okay?”
“I?
??m not sure.” He walked in with Rosa beside him. “What was the name of the doctor who attended to you at NY Presbyterian Hospital?”
“Dr. Ward.”
“I knew it! That bastard.” They weren’t losing their minds. Ward had been there. Dead.
“Who?”
“Something really fucked-up is going on,” Rosa said, coming to sit on the edge of Ash’s desk, talking quietly. She brought Ash up to speed on everything that had happened from the moment they’d arrived at the crime scene, the puzzling game of musical chairs with various nurses, disappearing staff, vanishing bodies, and altered information. “And then Sparks orders us back here.”
“Wait, what was the name of the drug you found?”
“Thelxinomine,” Cael replied. “Have you heard of it? I swear I’ve seen it somewhere.”
“I know exactly where you saw it.” Ash opened his desk drawer and straightened. “What the fuck?” He jumped to his feet, and Cael was immediately at his side.
“What is it?”
“My prescription. It’s gone.”
“Are you sure you left it in there?” Rosa asked.
“Yes. I took one at lunch and put the bottle in this drawer. And now it’s fucking gone.”
Ash searched through the rest of his desk drawers, coming up empty every time. Ash’s side of the office was impeccable. It would be hard to believe the guy could lose anything there. Letty’s side was less organized but still tidy enough not to drive Ash mad. Cael knew what a neat freak Ash could be.
“Where’s Letty?” Rosa asked.
“She’s with the sarge, taking inventory on the last shipment of ammunition.”
“Did you leave your office recently?” Cael looked around the office, not that he’d be able to spot if something was out of place. If Ash hadn’t noticed, it was likely whoever had come in and taken the pills had done so discreetly. Someone had to have seen something. They were in the freakin’ bullpen, for crying out loud.
Ash narrowed his eyes at his desk, as if doing so might make the pills reappear. “About twenty minutes ago. I went to the bathroom.”
Rosa walked to the door and discreetly peeked outside. “You can get a new one, right?”
“I suppose, but the doctor who prescribed it for me is dead. It was Thelxinomine. Dr. Ward signed off on it. I had two weeks’ worth of doses left.”
“There’s no way this is a coincidence.” Cael tapped his earpiece. “Dex?”
“Hey, bro. What’s up?”
“Are you around?”
“Yeah, in the office with Sloane.”
“Stay there.”
“Sure.”