As He led the doctor up the stairs, back through the corridors of the large home, it would be hard not to notice the curious glances by passing staff or guards stationed at seemingly random doors. He wasn’t surprised. It was odd enough he was leading someone through this place alone, but he didn’t doubt word of the doctors unusual arrival and the outburst had spread throughout it already.
“I understand.” He said, giving the Doctor a glance back over his shoulder. “It is brave thing, to have come here like this. I cannot think of anyone else who would have dared to think of such thing, much less do it. But you are rare woman, Doctor. You come despite risk just to yell at me.” A hint of amusement in his voice at the last words. Indeed to meet someone willing to risk the odds of being shot, just to come and give him a piece of her mind was something new. She had said she did not care what happened to her for her boldness, she knew what the risk was in coming here, and yet she had, because she cared. For the ones who witnessed the incident, and for the ones who did not see it end. “It is rare thing, to find someone with care like yours, Doctor.”
He pulled a key from a hidden pocket of his suit as they neared the large doors of his office, the lock turning with an audible click in the quiet of the hallway. He gave the handle a turn and pushed one side open, a large hand holding it open and he motioned for her to step inside.
On the large glass top desk, sat two briefcases, stacked neatly in the center. He stepped inside, flicking on the light switch and letting the door fall shut after him as he lumbered over to the desk, pulling the top suitcase off and setting it beside the other, popping it open with a soft click. “It is same in both.” He said, turning it around for the doctor to see the neat rows of bills kept in tidy stacks that filled the case.
“So, what does Doctor think?”
The amusement in his tone was welcome to warm the chill it could have held, she might have gotten more than words for her lashing out, a strange thing that her fear was not in death but the loss that might befall her patients in the wake. Arrogance, perhaps, but Mercy understood the power of a good doctor.
“It is care these people need.” She interjected on their walk, sliding her fingers through her hair to neaten the sides once again, wishing she’d taken a breath before thundering to his doorstep. “I am passionate, because I hold onto it. People are not just filling beds, they are individuals... I suppose war taught me fast.”
Waiting slightly behind him once he opened the door, she paused for his indication before walking within, finally pulling up her monocle from the breast pocket of her blouse. She was still fixing the earpiece when he opened the suitcase, and a beat fell with silence after he spoke.
That was quite the sum, extremely generous... Enough to fill holes and buy new ruined equiptment that was for sure.
“Vould it be wrong of me to ask, if it is legal? I do not want to be part of some... Laundering scheme.”
