Chapter 158: What Happens Next
"Nothing you can't handle, I'm sure," soothed Stephanie as she crossed her legs in front of her. "I have looked into your request to open a hospital of our own, and that is completely possible."
Her voice was practically cheerful at that prospect. "The fund would take a bit of time to pull together, but if we could get the other Houses on board, then it would be that much easier. We even have a few gypsies that are accredited doctors from human institutes, a few wolves that are vets, and a couple of others that know herbal medicine, so we would have all of our bases covered."
"I am still waiting for the shit part," I said, amused. There was always some sort of downside to all of this, but all I was hearing was the good parts.
"The downside is trying to fund everything. It will take at least $100 million to get the project off the ground. That includes finding an appropriate building, or building one, getting staff and all the lesser details, like having our own lab in the basement," explained Stephanie.
"Am I really lacking in that much money?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. I didn't know exactly how much I was worth, but after a few hundred years, I should be up there in the billions, not millions.
"No," replied Stephanie, shaking her head. "But we are not philanthropists here. If other Houses want to make use of our hospital, and the wolves definitely will, then they should contribute financially to it too."
See, that was why I needed her. I never even considered getting the others to chip in, even if they were going to be the ones using it, too.
"Then, is this one of the projects I can get you to oversee?" I asked, not sure how comfortable she was in setting up a whole hospital. It seemed a bit out of the range of her job scope.
"I already have a real estate agent looking into finding us either the perfect building or the perfect land. We'll need something where the wolves and Skinwalkers can comfortably run in shifter form." She jotted something down on the tablet in front of her.
"Then have fun. Let me know how much money you need and when, and I'll get it to you." One of the best things about money is that you can always make more if necessary.
I mean, the police force is always hiring.
"Very good, I'll leave you alone with all this," smiled Stephanie as she came to her feet and walked out of the room. Her heels echoed on the floor long after she left my sight.
With a long sigh, I went back to the folder in front of me and opened it.
"What do I have to do to draw you out?" I murmured to myself as I went through everything for a tenth time.
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"Ah!" said a doctor as he nearly ran into me. I was back at the hospital, just wandering around. In all honesty, I was here partly for the case and partly to understand what it would take to get one of these up and operational.
"Sorry about that," I smiled at him, skirting around the blood cart in front of him. "I hope I didn't ruin anything."
"Nope, all good," smiled the man, but it didn't reach his eyes. Oh well, he was probably ticked that I was in his way. After all, I would have been the same way if someone had just been hanging around the precinct when I had places to be.
He waved at me before taking off again down the hall before going into yet another patient's room.
After a couple of hours of walking through the different departments, I had a whole list of notes to give to Stephanie should she ask my advice. Since I had given her the go-ahead to do this herself, I wasn't going to then butt in.
But that didn't mean I couldn't be useful either.
I found my way to the cafeteria and stood in line to get a cup of coffee. I had my fingers crossed that this place would offer better coffee than the precinct, but I wasn't holding out much hope.
Doctors and nurses, like police, would take their coffee any way they could get it when they were desperate. But as long as it wasn't sludge, I would enjoy it.
"Next," came a shout as the person in front of me stepped to the side. "What can I get for you?"
"Coffee, four milks, four sugars," I said, my face completely straight. Truthfully, that was the bare minimum that I needed in order to make coffee palatable. The darker the coffee, the more sugar I took, but I couldn't say nine sugars. People tended to look at me weird then.
"Here, let me get that," came a voice behind me. "I'll add on just a black coffee." An arm reached past me with a debit card in order to pay for everything.
"Thanks," I said, turning around to see who was treating me.
"It was the least I could do. After all, I did try to kill you with my phlebotomy cart," smiled the man. Right, he was the cranky one that I bumped into.
"I am pretty sure that I agreed it was all my fault," I chuckled as the two of us stepped away from the cashier to wait for our drinks.
"If you want to grab a seat, I'll be more than happy to bring the drinks over when they are made."
"Thanks," I murmured, nodding my head. "My feet are killing me."
I turned around and found a little table near the exit. If he was my perp, I wanted to make it nice and easy for him to get me to a secondary location. And if he was just a creep, I still wanted an easy exit.
I had crawled out of a bathroom once on a bad date, and I was never going to go through that again.
Always sit near the door.
Pulling one of the chairs out, I waited to see what happened next.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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