Albert and I left the police station, and we got in his car, which was a large black Chevy Tahoe. I offered to drive, but Albert insisted since he knew his way around.

“So, who’s our suspect?” I asked once we made it inside the vehicle.

Albert turned on the car and the engine hummed for a moment before he switched gears. “He’s a physician’s assistant who works at the hospital. His name is Cole Allen. He lives over on the edge of Hickory, from the looks of it. That’s all I really know about the guy.”

We made our way onto the street and drove along the narrow but smooth road at a steady 45 mph.

“Do you know if he was well-liked by the nurses? Did they have anything to say about him or his personality?”

Albert shook his head. “I don’t really know.”

We entered a neighborhood with houses evenly spaced out but plenty of trees in the yards. The homes all had a second floor, and all of them looked like they had been built recently. Wide driveways, small porches, but big homes. It was quiet, and hardly any traffic in the neighborhood. We came up to a house that blended in with the rest of them. A soulless house of aluminum siding and brick

“All right, this is his address. He’s just a few blocks from my place, whaddya know,” Albert said as he parked in front of the house.

“It seems like both of you have good taste in neighborhoods.”

Albert chuckled with a bit of confusion. “Yeah, I guess so.” We got out of the car and walked up to the front door.

Albert rang the doorbell, and I stood next to him staring up at the windows. After a few seconds, I saw a crease in one of the blinds. It was hard to see through it, but I sensed that someone was looking at us through that fold.

We waited for close to a minute before Albert rang the doorbell again. I could hear the faint “ding dong” through the wall, so I knew it was working. I peered back up at the window, but the crease was gone.

There were no cars in the driveway. Part of me wondered if I just imagined the crease in the window. But the longer we waited, the more suspicious I grew with Cole Allen.

“Maybe we could come back later. But I was told he was here during this time. He usually works overnights at the hospital.” Albert turned around, but just as he did, the door opened up, and a man was standing with tired eyes and disheveled hair. He was wearing a t-shirt with khaki pants.

“Can I help you, gentlemen?”

“Hello, we’re wondering if we could speak with Cole Allen?” Albert asked.

“What’s this regarding?”

“We need to speak with Cole privately.”

The man took a deep breath and tightened his lips, but he nodded. “My name is Cole.”

“Do you mind coming down to the police station, sir?”

“Again, I’d like to know what this is about.”

“There is a decent amount of blood missing from the hospital you work at,” I said.

“Oh, okay. Well, I don’t really know anything about that. Do I really have to come down to the station?”

“I’m afraid you do. Now, I could put handcuffs around you, but I don’t think you’d want your neighbors to see that. Or you could just come down to the police station.”

Cole sighed. He rubbed his face, and his hands were twitching as they moved back to his side. “Yeah, okay, I’ll come with you.”

Albert escorted him to the back seat. On our way back to the station, we didn’t say a word. Cole tapped his fingers on his thigh, and his knees were bouncing. Occasionally he tried taking a deep breath through his mouth. Still, he looked like he was having a hard time finding his regular rhythm.

When we made it to the station, we went inside the conference room with wooden panels and a few windows.

“Can I get you anything, coffee or water?” Albert asked.

“No. That’s okay. I just want to get this over with. Why am I here again?”

“A few nurses saw you go into the blood bank at the hospital the last night and push out a cart. Conveniently the person working the checkout counter wasn’t there for a brief moment. There was no sign-out, but someone did take some blood. When we reviewed the security cameras, they apparently had some issues with the image, which was inconclusive. Nevertheless, staff came forward and said they saw you walking around,” Albert said.

“I don’t think so. I wouldn’t do something like that.” Cole couldn’t look at either of us in the eye. His focus was on the table. His grimace and head shake seemed exaggerated, but perhaps that’s just how he usually spoke.

“Do you have any idea who might have taken the blood from the bank then? And I just want to remind you, if you tell the truth to us, it makes things a lot easier.”

“I don’t have a clue.” Cole bit the bottom of his lip, and his eyes became glassy. He had a sheen of tears, and his lip trembled. “Dammit. I can’t do this. I have no idea why they picked me for this.”

Albert was about to say something but touched his shoulder. I wanted to hear Cole finish his train of thought.

“They told me to just deny, deny, deny, but I can’t do that. I’ve never been someone like that. I’m a horrible liar.” Cole had tears pouring down his cheeks.

“Cole, it’s okay. I think you made a mistake, but if you tell us more information about who you did this for, it will make the path ahead a lot easier,” I said.

Cole sniffled and cleared his throat. “That’s the thing, I don’t even know. I can start from the beginning, but I’m not sure how helpful it will be.”

“That’s okay, we can try. Take a deep breath and start wherever you think would be best.”

Cole took a long inhale and slow exhale. He did this a few times.

“I don’t even know how they found me exactly. I think it was a targeted maneuver by them. I was at a coffee shop working on my laptop. It was all personal stuff, nothing that would be associated with the hospital. Because, you know, it’s nice to get out of the house that you’re always inside of and do something a little different. Anyways, this coffee shop was outside of town. Browndale, to be exact. So figure about 20 miles outside of town, about a 30-minute drive.

“I was inside the coffee shop, but as I was leaving, I noticed a limousine pulled up next to me. It was bizarre to see a limousine in the parking lot of a coffee shop in Browndale. No one was around though, I was the last to leave the coffee shop while the workers were still there closing it up. It was at night and completely dark out. Someone from the limousine called my name and waved me over. Their window was rolled down. They said my full name, Cole Allen, which I thought was very bizarre, and my gut was telling me not to go, but I did anyway because I thought it may have been someone I knew.

“So I approached the limousine, and there was a guy whose face was still tucked in the shadows. I couldn’t get a look at him. Anyways, I approached the limousine, and he said, ‘Hello. How are you this evening?’ And I responded with fine. He opened the door and told me to ‘Please, get in. I need to speak with you about some things in regards to the hospital.’

“I thought it was all weird, but something told me that maybe I had to do something for work as an emergency call or something. I don’t know. But my gut told me not to do it. So I said to him, ‘Look, I don’t think I can come inside your car. I’m not at work right now.’

“And I swear to you, he pulled out a small pistol and aimed at me. I know nothing about guns, so I couldn’t tell you the make or model, but he pointed it at me and said, ‘I’m sorry to do this, and I really hate to pull this out, but you need to get inside the limo. All I want is just a conversation. I promise you, you will not be harmed.’

“I’ve never had a gun pulled on me before. I didn’t really know how to react, but my heart was speeding, and I thought it would be best to go inside the car. He made me hand over my phone as soon as I got in. My adrenaline kicked in, and I wanted to fight or flight, but I knew I couldn’t survive if I tried either. Not to mention it’s never been in my blood to hurt someone. You know?

“Anyways. I get in the man’s limo, and he assures me many times he’s not going to hurt me, and he just wants to discuss business. He tells me not to say a word to anyone about this meeting. I agree to everything, and he makes me shake his hand. He told me to call him Logan. Whether or not that was his real name, I have no idea, but that’s what he introduced himself as.

“Logan said to me, ‘Cole, I wanted to talk to you about a business opportunity that I think you would really like to be a part of. I will give you $500,000 in cash if you can do me a huge favor.’

“My voice was gone. I think my nerves got the better of me or something because I couldn’t really talk. So I nodded. What else was I supposed to do?

“Then he said to me, ‘Cole, all I need you to do is grab a few bags of blood from the hospital bank. It will be the easiest half a million you will ever make. And don’t worry, the blood is going to a good cause. A friend of mine runs their own practice, and they need blood for a dire situation. I’ve asked around to see who would be able to supply me with blood. You’re the guy. Everyone says you’re very nice and accommodating. Won’t you please help out this life that is in danger?’

“I was flabbergasted. I didn’t know what else to do, but I agreed. I said, yes, I could do that. So then he told me how it would all go down. I would pick a date and time that would be most conducive for me to sneak inside the blood bank and take as many bags as possible. It didn’t matter the blood type, which I thought was strange, so I grabbed as much as I could one evening. I was told to meet him in a part of the hospital that the security wasn’t too strict over, and I left the cart there, and someone came in and took it. But that night, he picked me up in his limo, we ironed out all the details. I never got his phone number, email address, Facebook account, nothing. He also didn’t ask me for my address. This was insane to me because later that evening, after the job finished, Logan came up to my doorstep, and he handed me a briefcase of $500,000. I couldn’t believe it. He told me not to tell anyone; otherwise, I’d be risking my life. I told him I would swear to secrecy, and then he said if anyone noticed what happened to the blood that I needed to deny everything. He said as long as I denied everything, I would never have to see Logan again.”

Cole put his head down on the table and started sobbing.

“Cole, it’s okay. We can keep this between us,” I said. “This doesn’t have to get out to anyone else.”

It took a moment for Cole to regain his composure to talk once again. “No, but that’s why I need to go back home and go to work as if nothing ever happened. I think they have eyes on me somehow, somewhere. If I’m not at work mysteriously, I think they might start to suspect something.”

“Do you have any idea who else might be involved in this? Did you get a look at the driver when you were going inside the limo? Did you happen to get a license plate? Would you happen to know the year or model potentially?”

Cole shook his head and rubbed his eyes with a little too much pressure. “I’m telling you, I have no idea. It didn’t even occur to me to remember any of that information when I met with this Logan guy.”

“It’s okay. We have a few things we can research in the meantime. What would you like as far as safety goes in the meantime?” I asked.

“Like witness protection or something?” Cole asked.

“If you think it’s life or death.”

“Honestly, I think if I just went about my normal life as if nothing happened, I don’t think they’ll have any idea I spoke with either of you today. If you hold me here, I think they’ll know, and they’ll grow suspicious. I can’t say how they’re watching me, but they have to be. They knew my name and saw me in the parking lot at the coffee shop. I was targeted.”

I nodded. “You have a shift tonight, correct?” I asked.

“I do.”

“And you think it’s best if we let you continue working and pretending nothing has happened. This conversation, for instance, never happened. Right?”

“I think that would be the best way to go about it. Yes, sir.”

I took a deep breath. “From the FBI side of things, I’m okay with that. I think you’re right to let things happen as usual, so whoever was involved in this doesn’t try and flee. And speaking of fleeing, you cannot go on any trips or travel in the meantime. Because if you go anywhere, it will look awfully suspicious. Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes. Of course. You have my word; I’ll stay and just keep working. I’m so sorry for what I did. It’s the biggest regret of my life. But I felt like I was in such danger if I didn’t obey this man’s rules. Even if there wasn’t the money offer, I still would have felt pressured to follow Logan’s directions.”

“Thank you, Cole, for your time today and for telling the truth,” I said.

“Do you mind if when you drop me off, can you take me in a non-labeled police car? Just in case there’s a set of eyes on my house, I don’t want them to know I was with any of you.”

“We can have that arranged. Sheriff Albert, I’ll take him home in my car. Also, in the meantime, don’t touch any of that money.”

“Thank you, sir. I promise I will not take anything from there.”

“One last thing, Cole, could you tell me when you met with Logan? The date is the most important, and time would be helpful if you happen to know it.”

Cole thought about it for a moment and then pulled out his phone. “Sorry, I have to look at my calendar to remember the exact date I went there. It was definitely on Saturday...” He swiped once on his phone and spotted it. “It was 2 weeks ago in June. June 22nd, to be exact. As far as the time, I can’t remember exactly, but it had to have been around 10 because it was completely dark out.”

“Got it. Thank you for all the information.”

Leaving the police department, Albert came with me, and we drove Cole back home. The entire car ride was silent. When we dropped Cole off at his house, he said goodbye, and I waited in the driveway until he made it to the door and went inside.

On the drive back to the police station, I couldn’t help but replay the conversation with Cole in my head. “I’m curious, Albert, what do you make of Cole’s story?”

“I think he’s full of shit,” Albert said.

“If he is, he sure pulled out one incredible acting performance in that conference room. He had a full-blown meltdown. Do you have any reason for believing that it was an elaborate lie?”

“Yeah, it was over the top, I think. All of Cole’s crying and shaking. It was too much. Ya know?”

“It seemed pretty genuine. Plus, the man has spent his whole life devoted to medicine. I don’t think he’d be so good at acting and have such masterful control of his emotions. It felt honest. I want to know more about this Logan character. I’m thinking of calling the limousine companies in the area. I’d also like to see if the coffee shop has any security footage from that date.”

“Is that something you want to tackle then? I’m totally okay with handing this over to you.” Albert had a slight smile.

“Sure. I have a feeling this might be related to my case I’m working on.”

I received a text message from Martha. She asked me if I wanted to have dinner tonight to discuss what I had found or discovered today. I agreed, and she ended up inviting me over to her house for dinner. Driving back to the police station, I dropped Albert off. I still had some time in the day to make a few calls before I would go to Martha’s house for dinner.