An hour later.

Norman had left the ward with his granddaughter and John, leaving the three friends with a mission. Unable to tolerate the killing silence any longer, Preston was the first one to break it.

"Val, how do you know him?"

His words broke her chain of thoughts and she gave a reply not looking at him. "He is a famous psychiatrist. He won the Nobel prize for his contribution to Psychology and Medicine. I have read his books and truly, the man is a genius. He has also opened the National Institute of Psychology, where mentally sick people are cured for free."

The revelation blew Preston and Ryder's minds away. They were in the presence of such a dignified and great man and they did not even know about it. How shameful! But it was not their mistake too. They had only heard about him, unlike her who had read his books too. They had never had the opportunity to read his books or even meet him.

"Now what do we do with his case?"

"It is very complicated. His son went missing almost twenty years ago and that's a long period to consider. It is very difficult to find clues in this matter, let alone find him. His childhood picture will not be of much use for us. Kids change as they grow, we cannot use his picture to track him."

"You are right, Val. We don't even know if his son is even alive." Ryder added, making the other two to nod in agreement. "I didn't want to burst the man's bubble otherwise, I would have told him about it."

"True. His case is a little complicated. Let's wait until he gives us all the details. Lets's talk about something else." Preston said with a mysterious smile and Ryder understood what he had in mind, unlike Valarie.

"What do you want to talk about?" Valarie asked, her mind going back to the old man's pleadings when he requested them to find his missing son.

"What do you think about Violet's proposal?"

"What proposal?" Valarie feigned ignorance even though she clearly knew what her friends were getting at. These two men were wicked and she had the strong urge to bang their heads against the walls.

"What do you think about the doctor as your husband? He is a good man. We have met him and I am sure with him around you, you wouldn't dare ignore your health. You see, doctors are health conscious." Ryder said with a grin that Valarie very badly wanted to wipe off his face.

"No way. I am not going to marry him."

"Why Val? Is he not good or do you like somebody? If so, please tell us. We will do everything in our capacity to bring you too together, even if we have to break his legs." Preston said determinedly. "Am I right, Ry?" He directed his question to his friend and the man nodded like a robot.

"Definitely. You can trust us on that."

"Look, I do not have any man in my life nor am I interested in getting married to a person I have not even seen. How do you expect me to get married to someone who I barely know?" She asked in frustration and she just short of losing her cool.

"That's fine. We can arrange for you to get together and you can find out all about him you want. I'll do a background check on him if you want." Preston said with a poker face, seriously considering the words he just blurted out. "Now that I think about it, you two would make a cute, no, sexy couple. The man is quite good looking."

"Pres, I am going to whoop your ass if you keep on blabbering nonsense. I am not interested right now. Let's talk about it in the future."

"So, you are to marry him in the future? We will wait for the future then." Ryder declared, not allowing Valarie to protest any further.

"You are annoying me to death. I am going to kill you one day before I die."

"Sure go ahead. We will wait for the day." Preston continued to tease her until her face flushed red in anger.

"Let's put this topic on halt right now. I have some things to discuss with you." Ryder said, stopping the two people's bickering. "We have got new leads on this case."

"Is it? What?" Valarie asked in excitement. She had been bored to death now and she could finally put her mind to work.

"The Chief of Army, General Moore was in constant touch with a man for a few weeks before he died. Even the last call he made shows his name."

"Is it? Who is he? Anybody we know?"

"No. The number is registered under an alias, Jack."

"Ohh."

"Here's the interesting part. He is a member of the Vipers gang."

"What? How did you find this out? As far as I know, the gang members are very secretive."

"The man was found dead just a few kilometers from Simon's house. But nobody found out about it until yesterday. His phone has all the call records and this includes all the calls he made to Simon."

"But why did the man who murdered him leave his phone behind? Ain't it suspicious?"

"It sure is. But the phone was not with the man or anywhere near him. It was found near the bushes a few meters away from him. This might the reason for the killer to miss it."

"Maybe. This might be the case."

"Yep. He had a tattoo of a snake and this explains the involvement of the Vipers gang."

"But how are you so sure he is the one who killed Simon? It might be somebody else too. We cannot omit the possibility."

"Yes. But the man had the knife that was sued to chop off the feet." Preston added. "However, I still feel he is not the murderer, and even if he was, who killed him and why?"

"Why is this case getting more complicated?" Valarie groaned, clutching her head. After listening to her friend's words, it was starting to hurt a little now.

"Valarie, are you alright?"

"Yes, why do you ask Pres?"

"Did you take your medicines?"

This time Valarie did not answer and lowered her head in guilt. She had forgotten to take her medicines after she had finished her breakfast. The nurse had come to her to give it to her, but she was still eating. So, she had asked her to leave the tray over and she would take it later. Who knew she would forget about it completely?

"You forgot again?" Ryder bellowed, not trying to reducing his voice even an octave. He had had enough of the woman's tricks who had no regard for her health. If this continued, then she would die of ill health one day.

Valarie knew she had screwed up seeing Ryder and Preston's pissed off expression. How was it her fault that she forgot about it? They should have come earlier to remind about it when they knew she was quite forgetful.

"Take your medicines right now," Preston ordered and Valarie, being a good girl she was, did as she was told obediently.

"That's it. We need to find the doctor as soon as possible and make sure that he likes this stubborn woman. If he does not accept her then will find someone more strict. This woman will not learn until she is shown the hard way." Ryder seethed, startling her.

"What? No. No. I know I am wrong. Please don't do anything like this."

"No way. You need someone who can take care of you as we will not be with you every second of the day. It's best you find a man who can control you otherwise, you will be the cause of your death."

"But.." Valarie tried to protest.

"No arguments. Once the doctor returns from wherever he is right now, I'll set up a date for you two and I hope you two will click."

"But that will take some time. Nobody knows when he will return." Preston added, his mood turning melancholic all of a sudden.

"What do you mean by the Pres? Do you know something we don't know?" Ryder fixed his gaze on him while Valarie wondered why his mood changed all of sudden.

"Yes, he has gone to the war to provide medical assistance to our soldiers. So, until the war ends, he will not be coming back."

"Oh," Ryder could only mutter one word.

"How do you know this?" Valarie asked, after some time.

"I heard the nurses speak about it in the reception. Many doctors from this hospital have gone there."

This time, Valarie and Ryder understood why he had become dejected out of the blue and could also guess who was responsible for it.

"Don't tell me Pres. Is the female doctor on whom you have taken a liking to included in this group?"

Preston was so absorbed in his thoughts that he did not realize his friend's intention and answered honestly. "Yes, she has gone to the border too."

"Wow. You do like her." Ryder exclaimed, his eyes widening in disbelief.

"What?"

"You like the lady doctor," Valarie repeated Ryder's words and smiled at her friend, ecstatic in this new development.

"No, I don't." Preston denied it right away, though he knew he was lying.

"Yes, you do."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"No."

"Yes." Preston did not realize what he had blurted out until his friends cheered for him. "Yes, I do."

"Sigh, now I have two love stories to handle," Ryder said loudly only to receive a glare in return.