The Joker

While Max had been in the hall to answer Steve's call, Jack and the detective finished up things with Samantha. Before they too got ready to leave they asked Samantha for a signed permission to request her call logs from her provider just in case Olivia had done something like a bait and switch. Where she would call the number she wanted to call first and deleting it, before calling a second harmless number and leaving that behind as 'evidence'. Samantha quickly agreed and signed whatever the detective needed. Wanting to help in whatever way she could to correct the mistake she had made. After that they thanked her again and excused themselves. The detective immediately contacted his colleagues for the trace of the number and to initiate the retrieval of Samantha's call logs. 

With both of his companions busy on the phone, Jack decided to make himself useful as well and see if any of his friends could get the trace or the records any faster. Besides, if there were multiple numbers or if the number belonged to a burner phone or something, they could use all the help they could get to still let that information lead them to an actual suspect. So, he saw no harm in getting that ball rolling. 

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After Max had picked up the call, Steve was straight to the point and wasted no time on any chit chat since he felt Noah's fiery breath in his neck despite Noah being nowhere near him physically. 

"Max, talk to me. Tell me you found out which bastard was responsible for what happened to Laila. Now that Laila is out of surgery, Noah has started asking questions. Questions you were supposed to be getting answers to."

Despite Steve's rushed and direct tone, Max's ears zeroed in on a particular set of words and felt a sense of relief. With almost a smile on his face he repeated, "She is out of surgery? Does this mean it went well and that the baby and Mrs. Stephens are fine?"

Although Steve was in a hurry and didn't want to waste any time, he made an exception for this particular question and said, "They both made it, but it is too early to say that they are doing fine. The surgery itself went well and all the bleeding has been stopped, but they need to keep her here for observation to say if they are fully in the clear or not."

Although Steve had said they weren't a 100% in the clear yet, for Max this was a piece of welcome good news and he was confident that Laila would make sure to turn whatever chance they had into a certainty. Now that Max's question was answered, it was time for him to give an answer as well. If he wasn't sure of that, Steve's words would have made it clear. 

"Alright, now that you have gotten your answer, it is time for you to give some to me. What did you and Jack find out so far? Do you know who is responsible?"

Max told him about the nurse and what she had told them. This confirmed their suspicion that Olivia was the more likely suspect. They would now go through her life with a tooth comb to see who she could have gotten to do this with such a small window of opportunity. Max told Steve about the phone records, how they had found one number in the nurse's phone but were not taking any chances with her and checking the actual logs from the phone company as well. 

Steve was satisfied with the update, but hoped that an answer would come soon. They said their goodbyes and each went to go do what they were supposed to do next. For Steve that was passing along this update to Noah with the level of certainty that they were going to catch the person who did this, like Max had interpreted the news about Laila and the baby. For Max it was working even harder and faster to find Noah a name to focus his anger on. 

Fortunately, both of them were successful in what they had set out to do. Just a short hour after they had talked with each other on the phone, they discovered that Olivia had indeed been trying to play it smart, but hadn't been smart enough for the three of them. The phone record and traces of the numbers revealed that the number that was still on Samantha's phone belonged to Olivia's parents. The number she had deleted however, belonged to a man named Roger 'The Joker' Matthews. He was well known in the underground scene and had earned himself that nickname because he was crazy like the Joker in the Batman movies and wasn't above any type of crime. This person in question was none other than the man Olivia had contacted and hired to get even with Laila and take away her happiness, just like she had taken hers.

It fit right into his ammo and to confirm him as their perpetrator, he had been ID'd by staff in a hospital just outside of town with injuries matching someone who has just been in an accident. Things went pretty quickly after they broadcasted his photo through local news channels and Samantha offered her assistance in spreading his picture using the health network email listing that contained the email addresses of every hospital and clinic in the province. It was normally used in cases of falsified prescriptions, known addicts who would come for painkillers and to set up regional meetings or workshops. That is why she knew that it would be an email address that is regularly checked if not the main email address of that hospital or clinic, used for receiving and sending patient files as well. 

After they got the call, the detective, Jack and Max headed over to that hospital straight away, sirens blazing to not waste any time and risk him leaving the hospital before they could arrest him.