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Chapter 29

Jenika walks out of a patient's room that she had just searched and closes the door behind her. She sees Tina and Chance walking up the hallway.

"Anything yet?" Jenika asks her boss.

"Nate just called Tina to room 159." Chance says as she gives the blonde a worried look.

"159? That's Daryl's room." Jenika replies.

"Yeah." Tina nods as they make their way up the hall. "I'm afraid Nate may have found something."

"Daryl? Tina, there is no way in hell that I will believe that Daryl stole anything." Jenika says. "I know him. He would never do such a thing."

"I agree. He just doesn't look the type. Besides, he's finally making friends so why steal from them." Chance says.

"Guys, I'm not accusing Daryl of anything." Tina stops and turns toward Jenika. "But, I have to check things out. Listen, I know that you have a soft spot in your heart for him. Yes, I've noticed. And I know that you probably know him better than any of us. I know it's not Daryl's character to steal.  But if he's being set up, we need to figure out what to do."

Tina always seemed to read right through someone. Just like she knew about Chance and Tim and yes, she was right. Jenika did have a soft spot in her heart for the man. She seemed to be drawn to him. 

Tina takes a deep breath before tapping on the door of 159.

"Yeah?" Nate answers.

As they walk into the room, Jenika couldn't help but think that Daryl looked like a whipped puppy sitting on his bed with his head bowed. It broke her heart.

"Oh, dear God." Tina whispers as she sees the stolen items laying on the floor.

"Ms. Tina, I didn't take them." Daryl says quietly, shaking his head without looking up.

"Daryl, Honey, I'm not accusing you of anything." Tina says softly. "Where did you find them, Nate?"

"In his footlocker. But, I don't believe he put them there." Nate says before explaining. "He wasn't afraid of me checking his room including the locker. He keeps his comic books and art supplies in there. He only asked me not to mess up his comics because he had them stacked in order. Which, being a comic book reader, I can understand. When I opened the locker the comics were all messed up. Like maybe someone was in a hurry to hide everything and didn't realize the importance of keeping the comics in order."

Jenika sits down on the bed next to Daryl and rubs him on the back to try and calm his nerves.

"We know that he didn't steal this stuff but the question is, who did?" Tina says. "And how do we find out who's trying to get him in trouble?"

"I have an idea." Chance says with a shrug as he picks up Tim's camera.

"I'm open for suggestions." Tina says as she sits down on the other side of Daryl.

"The only ones that know about this is us and the thief. I think we should just return the items to their rightful owners and not tell anyone where we found them. The thief will either try it again or unknowingly tell off on himself." Chance says.

"I agree. Cause when they see that Daryl is not being punished or kicked out of the hospital, it's going to piss them off." Jenika adds.

"Yeah, they'll speak up in protest or as Chance said, they'll try it again." Nate says with a nod.

"Okay, we can try that. If that doesn't work, we can always set a hidden camera up in here." Tina says. "Let's get this stuff back to their owners'." Tina says as she, Nate and Chance begins to gather up the items.