Chapter 2

I discovered that it was quite early, so I relaxed and let my mind wander. I knew that Teri and the kids were fine, but I had to accept responsibility for putting them in such a dangerous position. When I thought about it some more, I realized that nobody could connect Kevin with Jim, or Branson, because there was no connection other than the law suit against Fornier. So taking them to Branson for a houseboat adventure wasn't really all that insane.

The real question was how did those people know to find us out on Table Rock Lake? Who was giving away that kind of information? For that matter who besides my pilots, and Jack knew? If I could find the answer to that question a lot of other questions could be answered.

I wrestled over that question until my doctor showed up.

She was HOT. I might be in a hospital, but I was still a man, and she was all woman.

Rather than make an ass of myself, I waited patiently for her to say something. The fact that waiting patiently gave me a longer opening to enjoy the view was completely beside the point...

"Good morning David. I am Doctor Russell. You have been unconscious since they brought you in, but I have been in to see you every day. So even though I feel like we're old friends, I know that you just met me, so I will try to catch you up.

"You were in a very destructive accident. I am told that you were advised about the tragic deaths of your family, and that, even though you took it hard, you remained strong. That's good. Strength always helps in times of unusual stress, but it can also be harmful to hold everything in. Do let us help!

"I apologize for speaking clinically. I'm not writing in your chart, and I should have the sense to speak to you like a person, not a patient.

"Please forgive me.

"Your condition is stable, but puzzling. We found very few good explanations for your light coma, but now that it is over, I suppose we will never understand what caused your brain to shut down so dramatically. There are some on the staff that suggest your mind was protecting you from the deaths of your family, and that makes perfect sense. Others feel that your head injury, though apparently superficial, was more traumatic than we can see on x-rays. That also makes sense. The truth is that we can't know with any certainty.

"Your head wounds are already healing, and should not cause any lingering affects beyond an occasional headache. You need to keep an eye on several things, and go to the doctor should any of them worsen.

"First; you have very peculiar blood chemistry. It doesn't appear to have affected anything. It's just peculiar. Every person's body has a variety of chemicals that make up their blood chemistry. Yours is peculiar. It's like there's an extra something that would explain your rapid healing.

"People heal at different rates. Your injuries are healing quite rapidly, and we wondered about it, but chalked it up to your body producing chemicals that promote healing. So be careful. Understand that healing fast is not invulnerability.

"Second: You had a very sharp blow to the head. It was enough to put you out for four days, but when you awoke, you showed no signs of a brain injury. Just be aware and see a doctor the instant you feel anything unusual, and be a good boy, eat well, live a good life, and try to avoid crashing into tractor trailers as much as possible." She wrote some things on her clipboard, and then said, "I'm ordering your release, because you're fine. Please find a doctor when you get to your new home and have the office staff order a set of these records, so they know what we know.

"Other than that, it has been a pleasure to meet you, and I hope you do well."

Doctor Russell never asked me a single thing, so I doubted she had much interest in anything I would have had to say on the subject of my health.

Talk about impersonal.

That one had the bonding capacity of a reptile. Beauty is useless when someone is that self-centered.

Things happened rather quickly after Doctor Russell signed me out. Monica reported my recovery, and was told to wrap it up, and get back to work. She left with a cheerful goodbye. Five suitcases were brought in. They had been rescued from David's parent's car, and contained their personal belongings and clothes. I found their wallets, complete with most of the documents I'd need to get organized in my new life.

The nurse that processed me out also handed me the contact info on a funeral home that I could call to pick up and take care of the bodies. That hit me kind of hard, and I sat back down, as all the air went out of me.

Just before I left the hospital room, I was visited by an attorney, who introduced himself as the representative of the trucking company who owned the truck that knocked down the bridge that killed David's family. We talked about lots of things, and I told him that I would hire a local attorney to help me. I asked for his card and promised to have my lawyer call him as soon as practicable.

That got him off my back, and helped me get moving.

Once I was free of the clutches of the hospital and the court's oversight, I called a car service, and using a credit card I found in David's father's wallet, paid him to take me to a local Marriott Residence Inn. Just after noon, I checked into a king room, got my bearings, and got right to work.

The luggage helped answer a great many questions, as at least one of David's parents was an exceptionally organized person. I suspected that would be the mother of the family, but that was just a guess.

Finding myself in another body named David was a bit of a comfort, but I couldn't tell you exactly why. It just was. His wallet had about a thousand dollars in hundreds, two credit cards that matched up to two in the wallets of his parents, along with his license, and other things you'd expect in the wallet of a healthy, heterosexual, teenager – three condoms.

As I methodically searched the suitcases I found all sorts of things that helped me understand my situation. One of the suitcases contained a small briefcase, and in it, I found David's parents' check book and life insurance policies. It looked like they were insured for one-million dollars each, with double indemnity for accidental death. So as soon as I got the death certificates, I was the sole beneficiary of a sure four million dollars. The bank balances added up to about three-hundred and forty thousand dollars, which was good for a start, and I could see that David was a signatory on all of their accounts.

The rest of his mother's suitcase was pretty typical. I discarded her clothes and feminine products, along with hair care and body wash things. David's sisters were very much alike, and their suitcases were a dry hole. That left two more. One was obviously David's father's things, and other than clothes and a shaving kit, produced nothing of interest except contact information for his employer and a copy of his contract.