Chapter 5: New Doctor

Doctor Gail Grady sat back in her chair, her feet propped on an opened desk drawer.

"Damn it Sharon we need to recruit one more person. Then we can start the full testing schedule, but the person we get must be a Bipolar."

"I know. We were supposed to have one more come in," Sharon said as she flipped through her notes, "Yes, a Davy Woods, and from what I was able to get through our contact at Mental Health, a gem for the treatment."

"Then where the hell is he?" Gail said as she set her feet on the floor, "Let me see the file," she said as she held out her hand.

Handing her boss the three-inch file she watched Gail's face as she skimmed through the contents.

"Beautiful, I want this boy, find him for me now!" standing up with the folder, she paced the room as she re-read the blood work reports, and exclaimed, "My God! Look at these serotonin levels! They're almost non-existent when he is in a depressed state, and when he's manic they are so high they're almost off the chart. Yes, we have to include him." Turning around, she looked Sharon in the face and continued once more, "Offer this boy whatever he wants. I must have him. Have you tried calling his home number?"

"No ma'am, I just got the file a half hour ago, I figured you would want to see it first," Sharon said.

"Then get to it," Gail ordered.

"Yes Ma'am, I will call him now," Sharon said as she walked out of the room.

Gail watched her secretary leave the room and then she sat back down and spun in her chair as she said aloud, "Mr. Davy Woods, you're going to be my ladder to the big times." Stopping her chair, she opened the folder again and continued to read. 'Damn I cannot fail this time, and he looks so promising, ' her thoughts were interrupted by Sharon.

"Doctor Grady, I have been calling the number in the folder but it looked like it's been disconnected. However, I am checking the phone records from the other day. I know what time he called and if he used a different phone the caller ID should have snagged it."

"Get it! I don't care how. Damn, his doctor is good. She diagnosed him in less than four months, got him on the medication he needed and onto SSI a few months later." Looking up at Sharon as she started to leave, Gail continued, "Oh, Sharon, Thank you."

"You're welcome Doctor Grady." Sharon said as she smiled over her shoulder at her boss.

Sharon went back to her desk, grabbed her coffee cup, and started to refill it. Her newspaper lay there unread as she poured the fresh coffee. Her eyes settled on the front-page story of another shooting of a mother at a Save-A-Lot, the fifth shooting in three months.

"Animals! We need to develop a cure for people like ... Oh my God!" The coffee cup fell to the floor and shattered unnoticed as her mind registered the name of the victim. Grabbing the paper, she turned and ran into Doctor Grady's office. "Doctor Grady, Doctor Grady! You need to see this!"

"See what Sharon? What are you shouting about?"

"Look at this! I found something else about him," she said as slammed the paper down on the desk and she pointed at it.

Gail's eyes flashed over the story and she felt her blood run cold, and replied, "Crap, I don't see any mention of a father. God I hope they didn't put him in foster care."

"I don't know, I can make some calls, and check it out. However, that is getting into the law there, and that can be a tricky situation. I think we should give him a few days and wait. Maybe he will call."

"Ok, but get me any more of his medical records that you can."

Getting up Gail walked towards her lab, and continued, "I am going to check on subject two. Have Tom take subject one to the hospital tonight and dump him near the back door."

"Yes Ma'am. Tom should be back in a few hours. He took subject four up to Redding. He said he dumped her at the Mercy Medical Center."

"Shred her files, and delete her from the computers," Gail ordered.

"Already done, the only record left is on your laptop," Sharon replied.

"I will deal with that," Gail said as she pushed the door open.

Gail walked down the stairs to the white-walled lab where a young girl was sitting in a chair. Picking up her stethoscope, she walked over and checked her heartbeat, then looked at the pattern of the brain waves as they slowly unrolled from the machine.

"Well Sammie, how are we feeling today?" Gail asked with concern in her voice.

"Please no more, it hurts," Sammie begged.

"Of course it does my dear, which I am sorry for, but you agreed to this! As my grandfather used to say, all pain has a reason. If this does not work, I will transfer you out and the money will still be yours. The only thing is I am sorry if it did not work for you, is that ok with you?"

Sammie thought of her nightmare with schizophrenia and depression.

"Get it over with," Sammie said as she bit her lip then pleaded, "Please, make me better."

"I will try Sammie, it's all I can promise." Placing the plastic bar in her mouth she picked up the syringe, filled it with the milky white liquid. "Sammie, let's try five CCs this time." Reaching over she turned the girls head to the side and forced the needle into the skull just behind the ear. With slow pressure from her thumb, she injected the serum into the girl and stepped back.

Sammy started screaming as the pain built up in her mind, she felt it burning as she shook her head, the tears flowed down her face as she thought of her mother and father. Suddenly her back arced and she screamed loudly, "Mommaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa."

Gail moved in quickly and injected the neutralizer into the girl.

"Damn it. Sammie, look at me, it's not real," she said as she gripped the girl's face and looked into her eyes.

Sammie's eyes darted left and right, looking for an escape as drool started running out of her mouth.

"Come on Sammie stay with me," Gail said as she worked on the young girl.

Davy sat back, stuffed from the good food and looked at Cindy as she worked the last bit of crabmeat out of the leg shell. A strand of hair had come loose and fallen across her face and she blew it out of her way while she pulled the sliver of meat out.

"Got yeah," Cindy said in triumph, dunked the meat into the butter, and ate it with relish.

She looked at the remains of their meal, and noticed the only thing left was two onion rings. Picking a ring up she looked at Davy and asked him, "Davy, do you want one of these rings?" She placed it in her mouth and leaned towards him, her eyes twinkling as she smiled at him.

Davy stood up and leaned across the table. Biting one end of the onion ring, he kissed Cindy. "Mmmm, you taste good," Davy said, as a pair of voices shattered the peaceful moment of their kiss.

"How gross!"

"God! Get a room."

Cindy opened her eyes as she pulled away from Davy and looked at her best friends, "Hi Tammy, hi Charlene. Girls, this is my boyfriend Davy Woods."

Davy looked at the twin girls who were quite beautiful, their bikini tops and short shorts showing off their figures nicely. Deep tans and highlighted blond hair completed the picture. "Uhh ... hi um Tammy and Charlene," looking at both girls he finally asked Cindy, "How the heck do you tell which is which?"

"Wellllll," Charlene looked at Tammy and grinned, "If you're real nice, I will show you."

Cindy reached over and swatted Charlene on her arm. "Davy it's easy. Look at their eyes. Charlene's are blue and Tammy's are green."

Davy looked into Charlene's eyes and noticed the sky blue eyes, which seem like chips of blue ice. "Yes, I see her eyes, they look like chips of blue ice, but I like your hazel eyes Cindy."

Cindy started blushing at Davy's compliment. "Thank you Davy. So Charlene, Tammy, what are you two up to?"

"Just getting lunch, we have a dance tonight." Tammy replied as she looked at the disaster of Davy and Cindy's lunch, "But after looking at that heavy meal, I am not sure I can eat my sandwich. How did you eat so much?"

"Well Davy ate most of it, I just picked at it," Cindy said with a grin.

"You keep telling yourself that girl, and you may believe it." Davy grinned as he picked the tray up and carried it to the trash bin.

"DAVIEEEEEEEE," Cindy said with a pout. "You're supposed to back up what I say."

Walking over to Cindy after placing the tray in the bin, he leaned down and kissed her. "Sorry, but I'm not familiar with the rules, you're my first girlfriend."

"Well I will have to teach them to you," she said as she took his arm, "now where are we headed to next?"

"I need to make a phone call first, can you hold on?"

"Sure." Cindy said as she turned and started talking to Tammy and Charlene while they ordered and ate their lunch.

Pulling his cell phone out, he looked at the last calls he had made and dialed the second one on the list while he walked over to the big postal mailbox and leaned on it. As the phone rang, he idly watched the people walking past.

Sharon rushed into her office and grabbed the phone, "Doctor Grady's office. This is Sharon, how may I help you?"

"Hi Sharon, this is Davy Woods, I wanted to apologize for not calling. Some things came up that made it impossible to call."

"Davy that's ok. Did you still want to volunteer for the trial program?" silently she said to herself, 'Please say yes.'

"Yes I do. Can I come in tomorrow and get started?"

"Hmm let me check," She said as she hesitated as if she was going through an appointment book. She came right back to the phone, "Doctor Grady can see you at 8 am if that's ok with you."

"That's fine, I will be there."

"Ok we will see you then. We'll have a bunch of papers for you to fill out. Also don't forget your consent form," Sharon said as she prayed his mother had signed it before being murdered.

"Ok I can do that, and I have the consent form filled out."

"Then that's all, unless you have any questions?"

"Nope, I will see you then."

The phone went dead and she screamed in delight and punched the air, "We got him Gail!"

Turning she ran out of her office and down to the soundproof lab. Opening the door, she stopped as she saw her boss working feverishly on Sammie or Samantha Johnstone. Dropping her note pad, she rushed to Gail's side, and asked, "What happened?"

"She had a reaction to the serum. I've administered the antidote and its working, but she's out of the testing. Damn it, we were so close."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I will review the data tonight. We will need her taken to another hospital and dumped. Tell Tom I would suggest one over in San Jose this time."

"Ok I will see to it, but I do have good news for you."

Wiping her forehead, Gail looked down at Sammie sleeping, and said, "I could use some right about now, Sharon."

"We got Davy Woods; he will be here at eight am. He never mentioned his mother, and the form is signed."

"Fantastic, I will need to study the data, will you watch over her?"

"Sure go ahead doc. I will get her cleaned up." Sharon started stripping the nineteen-year-old girl, and then grabbed a wet cloth from the sink and started cleaning her up.

Gail unplugged her laptop as Sharon got to work cleaning up Sammie and went into her office. Sitting at her desk, she reconnected to the system and started going through the test data, including the brain wave patterns, EKG, and the chemistry levels of her brain. Two hours later, she found her mistake in the data.

"Davy, I think you're going to be my success story."

"Doctor Grady, I got Sammie cleaned up and she is sleeping on her own," Sharon said as she stepped into her boss's office. She asked, "What about Davy did you find?"

"I found out I apparently used too much on Sammie, I should have only used a little over four ccs for her 110 pound body weight versus her serotonin level. That has been the problem each time. It is the body weight that is the controlling variable."

"So you think you have..."

"A cure? It's too soon to tell. However I think I am close," Gail said as she chewed on her stylus in concentration.

"That's fantastic, so do you still want Tom to take her over to San Jose now?"

"No, I will try one more time with her. Keep her sedated and later, if the need arises, Tom can take her to site two. I think after Davy, we will be moving anyway. We have been here six months, and that's a long time."

"Yes Ma'am."

Cindy let Davy guide her back to the car and stood there while he opened the door for her. As he opened the driver's door, she started to get in but stopped, and said, "Davy you drive."

"Ahhh Cin ... I can't ... ahhh damn it, I mean I don't have a license," Davy replied with obvious embarrassment.

"Oh ok, then we will get you one." Climbing in she let him close the door for her and waited as he came around the car and settled himself into the passenger seat. Pulling out into traffic, they headed for home, or in Davy's case, his new home. As Cindy drove, she reached over, and gripped his hand and smiled to herself.

"Oh Davy before I forget, there are some keys for you in the glove box," she said.

Davy opened the glove box and saw a key ring with a small silver box attached to them. It was the size of a car remote alarm button. Taking the keys, he looked at the box and saw the letters GPS on it, and asked, "What's the GPS for?"

"Emergency locater and panic button, I have one too. Sorry but dad's rules. It continually transmits your location to a satellite. This is in case something happens to us. Daddy wants you to have one because of the person who killed your mom, that way you have a panic button if you need it. The keys are for the house and the password for the alarm is A1B365A1."

"Ok I can understand that, I just don't know what to say," Davy admitted as he placed the keys into his shirt pocket.

"Then don't say anything, anyway, now we're home." Cindy said as she pulled into the driveway and stopped in front of the garage. Climbing out of the car, they walked up to the door. Cindy slipped her small hand into his and she opened the door calling out loudly, "Mom, we're home."

"Hi honey, I am in the kitchen, bring Davy back here," replied a melodic voice from the back of the house.

"Something smells good," Cindy said as she took a deep breath, and said to Davy, "Come on, you know the way to the kitchen."

Cindy deposited her purse on the entry table and hung up her car keys. Walking through the house, they entered the domain of Cindy's mom.

"Hi mom. What are you making?" Cindy asked.

"Hi sweetie, I am making lasagna for dinner, I remember how much Davy liked it when we had it last time," she replied. She walked over to the two teens, and kissed her daughter and then turned to Davy.

"Davy, I just don't know what to say," as she pulled him into a hug and hugged him tightly to her.

"It's ok Mrs. Jameson," Davy replied as he returned the hug.

"You can call me mom from now on. From what I gather you and Cindy are getting close, and I couldn't be happier because you're a great person in my book," she said as she released him. Standing there, she looked at both of the teens, and said, "Now there are sodas in the fridge, Davy your books are on the table. Sorry, but it's homework time for both of you!"

"Yes mom," Cindy said as she opened the door and pulled out a 2-liter of coke and filled the two glasses she had taken from the cabinet. Putting the soda back, she picked up the glasses and they headed into the dining room and started their homework.

After several hours, they closed their books and put them away just as Cindy's dad came in from work and set his brief case against the wall.

"Hey kids, how's it going? Davy, how are you feeling?" he asked as he removed his jacket and draped it over the back of an empty chair.

"Good daddy, we just finished our homework and we got Davy caught up for the week. He will be ready to go back to school on Monday I think." Cindy said. She walked over and hugged her dad, and said into his ear, "Welcome home daddy."

When Cindy had finished greeting her dad, Davy added his response, "I am ok Sir, just didn't realize how much I had missed in school these last few days."

"I understand that. Oh, after dinner or tomorrow I have some more papers for you to sign," Mike said as he released his daughter.

June stuck her head in from the kitchen and started issuing orders to her family, "Dinners ready, Cindy set the table. Davy, Mike, go get cleaned up."

"Yes mom," Cindy replied as she opened the cabinets and started pulling out the plates for the table as the two men headed down the hall for the bathroom to get cleaned up.