Taken for Granted Final Chapter

Conclusion:

Kelly awoke in an unfamiliar room, but felt that
she was safe. The room smelled of pine
disinfectant and soap. The sheets of the bed
she was lying in were crisp and white and the
mattress was bent in the middle so that she
was sitting up.

“At last you are awake,” said a whispery voice.

“Sam? What are you doing here? What
happened…? Oh, my God! Where is Dr.
Martin?” Kelly tried to swing her legs over the
bedside but was stopped by the side rail.

“Whoa, Kelly, it’s all right, settle down.” Sam
Dunn rose from the bedside chair. “He’s in
custody where he should be. I’m sorry I
couldn’t get help to you sooner, but nobody
would listen to me.”

“Then they know he killed Grant, or had him
killed? And he did something to me,
something in my coffee,” Kelly fumbled with
the side rail until she got it out of her way.

“Yes, he tried to kill me too. He was waiting
for me in the parking lot at Benny’s. He told
me everything, including his plans to take care
of you. I guess he felt that, since he was
going to shoot me, he had nothing to lose.”

“He shot you?” she was looking him over for
signs of injury. “You’re okay?”

“Yeah, being a little paranoid is a good thing
sometimes. I was wearing a Kevlar vest. I
edgy after what happened to Grant so I pulled
it out of the attic and put it to good use.” He
smiled self-consciously.

“So, he killed Grant, but why?”

“Grant was very organized and he noticed that
the dates his insurance had been billed for
didn’t match the dates that he had seen Dr.
Martin. Martin explained that the dates were
when the billing was done, not the actual visit
dates. Grant didn’t agree and investigated
further with his insurance company. It turned
out there were billings for eighteen visits.
Grant only saw Dr. Martin six times. He
wanted to give Martin a chance to turn himself
in, but when he refused Grant told him that he
was going to file a complaint.”

“Dr. Martin could have lost his license,” Kelly
concluded, “so he couldn’t let Grant do it.” She
smiled ironically and shook her head. “Now
he will lose more than that.”

“If only Grant had told us before confronting
Dr. Martin. Maybe we could have saved him,”
Sam sighed. “I’m sorry that I put you at risk by
coming to you with my suspicions.”

“You didn’t put me at risk. I had voiced my
concerns to Dr. Martin. He already thought
that I knew more than I did,” Kelly assured
him.

Before they could get lost in the “what ifs”
Babs breezed into the room bearing a
bouquet of colorful balloons.

“Well, look at you!” she cried. “You actually
had me worried; I think I might have gotten a
gray hair. You look fine to me though.” She
arranged the balloons on the bedside table.
She glanced at Sam and said, “You look pretty
good, too.”

“We are both fine, thank God,” Kelly said
relaxing back into her pillow.

“Well, then let’s get your things and get out of
here. We have groups to run. We already
have six new patients scheduled who were
patients of Martin’s.” She began pulling
things out of the closet for Kelly.

Kelly sighed in resignation and swung her
legs over the edge of the bed.

The End