by Uc Amalu, Jr
CHAPTER NINE
Marla scanned the photo slowly, taking in every detail of
the young girl. She closed her eyes and her hand flew up
to cover her mouth.
"Yes, God yes."
"Who is she, Marla?" Jay pushed her, his excitement
building.
"Kylie.."
"Who, who is she?" he interjected.
She gathered herself together and choked out her name,
"It’s Kylie-Anne Saunders."
"Good job, now what do you know about her?‛"
She could do nothing more than stare at him, her hands
trembling, tears welling in her eyes. Her mouth opened
but nothing came out.
"What?" he prompted her.
She began rambling incoherently, her thoughts cluttered.
Jay walked around the counter and stood beside her, he
put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
"C’mon Marla think, this is important."
She reached for a tissue and dabbed at her eyes, she took
a few deep breaths and
relaxed back into her chair. Her eyes shot up to his, "I
think we should go see Dr. Sugars."
"Brilliant idea!" he remarked.
Marla picked up the phone and pressed a button, "Dr.
Sugars, there is a Detective here and I think you should
speak with him right away. Ahuh… yes… sure." She
disconnected the call. After placing the phone back on the
cradle she turned to Jay and said, "Follow me."
Marla led Jay out from behind the counter and down a
corridor to a door where she knocked lightly and then
entered, motioning him to come through. The pale blue
walls immediately struck Jay as cool and calming, the
large royal blue easy chair looked inviting and the massive
oak desk was truly a work of art. All in all, Jay was
impressed. A middle-aged woman entered the room
through a door at the back of the office and walked
towards him, her hand gracefully extended to him.
"Good morning Detective, I am Rose-Marie Sugars. Marla
tells me that I should speak with you right away, how can I
help you?" her face was serious but had an aura of
kindness about it.
He accepted her hand and shook it politely, "Jay Marnotti,
nice of ya to see me on such short notice."
Dr. Sugars pointed to the easy chair and motioned for
him to sit down. "Please, make yourself comfortable.
Would you like a coffee or tea?" She turned her attention
to Marla. "Marla, I’d like a tea with some lemon please and
the Detective here…"
" I’m okay thanks," Jay informed her, lowering himself
into the comfort of the easy chair.
Marla nodded and left the room using the back door that
the doctor had used just a few moments earlier. When the
door clicked shut, Dr. Sugars sat behind her oak desk and
leaned her elbows on top, holding her glasses in her
hands. She toyed with them silently for a second before
slipping them on and directing her gaze at him.
"Tell me Detective, what is so important that you have my
secretary insisting that I speak to you right away?"
"You see Doc," he took the photo from his pocket and laid
it on the desk in front of her. "It looks like your clinic may
be a link to another murder."
"Another murder?" she grabbed the photo from the desk
and studied it carefully. Jay watched as she surveyed the
picture of the murdered girl, waiting to see the response
in her eyes. It didn’t take long for the recognition to turn
to disbelief and then finally to horror.
"Good grief," was all she could manage. "What is going on
here Detective?"
"That’s what I was hoping you could tell me, we have two
dead girls, both were clients here and no-one seems to
be able to, or want to, tell us anything."
She shot him a look of anger. "How dare you imply that
we are some how responsible for these atrocities?"
"If the shoe fits…"
"Just what is that supposed to mean? I have helped as
best I can by answering that other Detectives questions
and by seeing you without prior arrangement." She placed
the photo back on top of the desk; face down.
"Have you really? Then why is it you ushered my buddy out
the door so fast last night, that he didn’t finish his
interview to his satisfaction?"
"Maybe I was just shocked Detective, did that ever occur to
you? It’s not everyday that you are told that a patient has
died in such brutal circumstances." The room fell silent
and remained so for several minutes, until Marla returned
with the tea. She placed the tray on the desk and pushed
it towards Dr. Sugars.
"Thank you Marla, that will be all for now."
Marla lowered her head and retreated back out the door,
her eyes diverted to Jay briefly, before she left.
"So what can you tell me about this girl? And try to
remember all the details." Jay spat at her.
Her glare cut through him, the tension between them was
thickening by the minute. She rose from her chair and
turned to the filing cabinet behind her, reaching in she
riffled around before retrieving a plain manila folder. She
sat back at her desk and opened the file, pausing for a
moment to glare up at Jay again. Her hands sifted
through the few sheets of paper and finally came to rest
on a single sheet; she pulled it free from the rest and
perused it for sometime before finally handing it over to
Jay.
"Her name was Kylie-Anne Saunders, twenty one years old,
no next of kin given. She was roughly fifteen weeks
pregnant at the time of her consultation."
"When was that?" Jay asked, taking the piece of paper
from her.
"Thursday, last week."
"Had she confirmed her abortion, or was she just
enquiring about it?"
"She was confirming her procedure, she had seen me
about three and a half weeks ago initially. I met with her,
explained the procedure and handed her over to Marla to
run through the process."
"The process?"
"We ensure that all the women who come here are well
informed of their alternate choices and we set a
mandatory two week period of consideration before they
are scheduled in for the termination."
"‚And this counsellor they are referred to?"
"Yes, Anna Jameson. We insist that at least one session
with her be completed before returning with their decision
of whether or not to terminate. You see Detective, we are
dealing with human life here, we do not just let women
walk through our doors and jump straight onto the
operating table." She looked directly into his eyes and
continued, "Termination is irreversible, and once it is done
it’s done. That’s why it is so very important for these
women to recognise that and have every opportunity to
explore other avenues."
"But I thought…"
"What?" she cut him off cold. "That I like terminating
human life? That I don’t give a second thought to what it
is I am really doing? Grow up Detective, this is a serious
decision with serious implications, none of which I take
lightly."
Jay was beginning to see how this woman easily led
Ben; she was powerful with her words and the manner in
which she delivered them. It would have been quite easy
to spend an hour with her and still walk out with
unanswered questions. He believed that she would have
made a great politician.
"Look, we’re getting off track here Doc, what else can ya tell
me about Kylie-Anne?"
"Please call me Rose Detective," she replied.
"Fine, what else can ya tell me, Rose?"
She hit a button on the intercom on her desk, a loud
drone echoed out and then Marla’s voice sounded over
the speaker.
"Yes Dr. Sugars?"
"Marla, could you come in here please?"
"Sure thing."
The intercom went quiet. Rose turned to Jay and said,
"Look, I honestly don’t know a great deal about these
girls, they come to me, I explain things and then I hand
them over to Marla. If anyone knows more about them, it
will be her."
When Marla appeared in the doorway, Rose stood and
walked over to the back exit. "Marla, please tell the
Detective of anything you may know regarding these girls,
if there’s anything you even suspect about them…" Her
words trailed off and she fixed her eyes on Jay. "For
Heaven’s sake tell him before we are charged with
murder!" With that, she opened the door and left the
room, leaving Marla standing alone her eyes wide and her
jaw almost on the ground.
"Thanks for your co-operation, nice meetin’ ya," Jay yelled
out after her. His head turned back in Marla’s direction. A
broad smile spread across his face. "Now Marla, where
were we?"