Confidentiality

by Jessica Aiken-Hall

  “It’s a nice offer, dear. I think this lady is too old for that, but I’d love to hear about it.” Norma’s smile made up for our lack of interest.

  “Oh yeah, and I’m pregnant.”

  “Wait… you’re what?” I felt my eyes squint.

  “Pregnant. I took the test the other day, and then a few more… and they’re all positive. I didn’t want to believe it, I thought if I kept taking them, I’d get the result I wanted… turns out it doesn’t work that way.”

  “Congratulations.” Lily’s voice cracked.

  Norma’s smile grew. “How exciting.”

  “Not exactly. It’s not the best timing. I don’t even know who the dad is.”

  “You don’t?” Maggie raised her right eyebrow and tilted her head.

  “It’s either Jimmy’s or my boss’s. Since I’ve been trying to get rid of Jimmy, I’ve been seeing Andrew… and by seeing, I mean sleeping with.”

  “I figured as much… that is how babies are made.” I coughed into my sleeve when no one else laughed. “So, what are you going to do.”

  “I don’t know. But there is no way Jimmy can know about this. He’d be a horrible father, and I know he’d make my life hell if we had to share a baby.”

  “Have you thought about your options?” Maggie asked.

  “Options? What options?” Sonya snapped her head around.

  “You know… adoption or… abortion.” Maggie lifted her eyes to look at Sonya.

  “No, I couldn’t imagine either. Besides, my mom has been after me for some grandkids. I just don’t know what I’m going to do about Jimmy.”

  “I’m relieved to hear you’re able to find something good in this.” I gave her a smile.

  “Yeah, it’s either be happy or cry myself to sleep every night.”

  “Has Jimmy ever hurt you?” Lily’s question made Sonya snap her head to face her.

  “What do you think rape is?” Sonya crossed her arms and pursed her lips.

  “Sonya.” I hoped just the tone of my voice would help ease some of the tension.

  “Of course, it is.” Lily softened her voice to match my tone. “I mean… has he ever hit you or…”

  “Just because he never left me looking like you doesn’t mean he’s not a piece of shit.”

  “Sonya, that’s enough, Lily’s just trying to help.” I widened my eyes to keep from rolling them.

  “There’s no doubt in my mind he’s a horrible man. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. Sorry, … I… I don’t know all of you that well yet. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Lily took the insult in stride.

  Sonya crossed her legs and bounced her foot. “Sorry, … it’s just these crazy hormones.”

  “What was your excuse before?” Maggie murmured under her breath, but loud enough to be heard.

  “Well, you sure have a lot on your plate, dear,” Norma spoke up before Sonya could react. “We’re all here for you through this. Don’t you forget that.”

  “Thanks. You guys are the first ones I’ve told about the baby. I’m too ashamed to tell my mom I don’t know who the dad is.” Sonya dropped her head.

  “Just tell her it’s your boss’s,” Lily stated matter-of-factly. “You’re in control of that piece… until a paternity test anyway.”

  “I thought about it… but once it’s obvious I’m pregnant, Jimmy is going to start shit. He’s not very good at math, but I bet he could count to nine.”

  The circle filled with laughter. “You have some time before you need to worry about that. Think about what Lily said, it’s a good idea.” I smiled as a plan was set into motion. “Things always have a way of working out.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  With Gabriel back in my life, I had even more reason to reach out to Ginger. I had put it off long enough. With the murder of Joseph Swift, Seth’s case had fallen by the wayside. Tim did mention the camera that could have captured the caller at Lawrenceville Pizza hadn’t been working for months. With that worry out of my mind, figuring out what Seth told Ginger and getting her to back off was all that was left.

  I picked up the phone and dialed Ginger’s number. As I waited for her to answer, I rehashed what I would say. I had rehearsed it so much at this point I wouldn’t have to look at my notes. When she didn’t answer the plan crashed down around me. “Hi… ah… um… Ginger, this is Valerie Williamson, from ah… Lawrenceville Regional Hospital and I just wanted to… um… see how you were. Please give me a call at 802-555-7171.”

  What the hell was that? That was a lame excuse. She’ll never return my call. I shook off the shiver of self-loathing as I hung up the receiver. As I waited for my computer to fire up, the piercing ring echoed between my office walls. The number I had just dialed lit up the caller ID display. “Hello, Lawrenceville Regional Hospital, this is Valerie.”

  “Well, I should hope so, since you just called me. What is it you need?”

  Thankful she hadn’t had enough time to listen to the message I left I could start over. “Hello Ginger, I just wanted to touch base with you and see if you had any leads about Jane’s death.”

  “Not one.”

  “No? I thought Seth had told you something?” I squeezed my eyes tight and attempted to push out a migraine by massaging my temple.

  “What? Seth? He told me he knew who killed Jane… a lot of good that’ll do me now.”

  “I have some information I think could be helpful.” I glanced down at my notes.

  “Well… go on… I don’t have all day.”

  “Did you know Seth was physically abusive to Jane?”

  “Yes, you’ve told me that before… your point?”

  “He said he wanted her out of his life, and then… she’s dead.”

  “So, your big break in the case is that Seth, the dead guy, killed my daughter?” Ginger sighed into the phone. “What am I going to do with that? Who’s going to make this right? Who’s going to…”

  “Ginger… Jane knows you love her, and she’s probably happy you cared so much about her that you offered such a nice reward. Your love for your daughter is enough. It’s okay to let it go.”

  “How do you know any of that?”

  “This is going to sound crazy, but Jane came to me in a dream the other night, and she told me.” I shook my head in disbelief as I tapped my forehead. No. No. No. This was not what I meant to say.

  “She did?” Ginger’s tone softened.

  “Yes. And she wanted me to tell you she loves you… and she wants you to live your life. Don’t waste any more time on things that don’t matter.” Impressed she bought it, I was grateful my other guilty pleasure of watching Long Island Medium had come in handy.

  “Thank you, Victoria. That really does put my mind to ease. I guess I just wanted to do something for Jane, I lost sight of what really matters.”

  “It’s Val… I’m glad I could help. Have a nice day.”

  My ability to lie and pull stories out of nowhere was both impressive and concerning. Who had I become? I hated liars, and now I was becoming a professional. My gram always told me white lies don’t hurt anyone, as long as they’re done for good. This seemed like one of those situations.

  Next on my list was Jimmy. He had to go, and as soon as possible. If left to her own devices, I imagined Sonya would take matters into her own hands. I didn’t want to think about her baby being ripped out of her arms as she was sent back to prison.

  I logged onto Facebook and typed Stephanie Mills’ password in. When the page opened, I typed Jimmy into the search bar, only to realize I never found out his last name. I replaced Jimmy’s name with Sonya’s and clicked on her profile picture. When I opened her friends list, I scrolled through the names. Not one Jimmy on the list. I clicked back until I was on her timeline and read through her posts, looking for any clue I could find that would lead me to Jimmy.

  Halfway down the page, there were two faces pressed together in a kiss. When I clicked on the photo to make it bigger, I noticed Sonya and a person
named D. J. Jones were tagged in the image. Clicking on D.J.’s link brought me to his page.

  D.J.’s timeline was flooded with pictures of Sonya. It had an obsessive stalker vibe to it. This had to be Jimmy. His profile listed he lived in Lawrenceville and listed some of his family members. It appeared he lived alone in a crappy little apartment. From the pictures, I wasn’t able to make out where it was.

  I opened a new browser and typed D.J. Jones, Lawrenceville, Vermont, in the search bar. About a dozen results populated the page. I clicked on the first one. Once there, it gave me the first three digits of his phone number, and the rest of his information was blocked out unless I wanted to pay $9.95. There was no way I wanted my credit card linked to his name on the internet. I clicked back to the search results, only to find the same thing with every click.

  Frustrated, I closed all the open browsers. Why was everyone always looking to make a buck? Why couldn’t you just get information like we used to? I missed the days of being able to open a real phone book and getting someone’s number and address. Now, it seemed like everything else was on display for the world to see, except for the important things. I guess I’d have to figure out how to ask Sonya without raising any suspicion. As I thought about a tactic that might work, I remembered I had the information at my fingertips.

  I logged into the hospital’s database and pulled up Sonya’s information. I was in luck. Jimmy was still listed as her emergency contact. I wrote down the address to his apartment and phone number and clicked out of her file. My heart raced as I looked down at the piece of paper in front of me. I didn’t like the idea he lived in an apartment building. It was too easy for someone to spot me.

  As I went to pick up my phone to call Jimmy, it sang its alarming song. I pulled my hand away from the receiver as though it was going to send a shock through me. The room began to spin as I thought about what I had almost done. It was mistakes like this that would get me caught.

  When my heart rate returned to normal, my cell phone started chirping. “Hey, Tim.”

  “Where are you? Why didn’t you answer your phone?” His voice was masked by distress.

  “Oh, that was you? I’m in my office, just didn’t feel like…”

  “Val, I need to talk to you. It’s serious. I’ll be right there.” Silence followed his words.

  Every possibility of his urgency fell on top of me like a stack of bricks. Fear multiplied as the seconds passed. Frozen in my chair, cold sweat formed at my brow. What if he knows? But what does he know? How? How much? The thoughts poured in like a rushing river. I sat with my back pressed into my chair and my feet planted on the floor. With my hands on my thighs, I took a deep breath and exhaled as I counted. It was unreasonable to think this was about me. There was no way he could know anything. Donald Brice was long gone, and Jane wasn’t an issue anymore.

  My heart dropped when I remembered Seth. But I didn’t do it. There was no way I was going to take the fall for a murder I didn’t even commit. The minutes passed by like hours as I waited for Tim to arrive. My head swirled from every scenario it could possibly be. What would it take to make Tim stop loving me? The knock at my door brought me to my feet. I hoped I wouldn’t find out. Not today.

  Tim didn’t let me open the door all the way before he rushed in past me, shutting it behind him. “Val.” Tim let out a few heavy gasps before continuing. “There’s been another shooting.” His hands went to his knees as he hunched over to gather some air. “I just came from the scene.”

  I walked over to put my hand on his back. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. But they think this could be the work of a serial killer.”

  “Why? What makes them think that?”

  He stood up and rolled his shoulders. “This guy had just been released from jail, another sex offender. This time, it was rape.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Stephen Boulder. His release was on the front page of the Village News, yesterday.”

  “Yesterday? Holy smokes, this guy works fast.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I’m here.”

  “Why?”

  “A guy released from jail today was just moved into the vacant apartment in your building.”

  “Oh my god, how can they do that? Just put them anywhere, and without giving us a heads up?”

  “It’s a friend of the family, or at least that’s what they told us. His release will hit the paper tomorrow.”

  “Wait… isn’t there enough time to make them pull it?”

  “We’re working on it now, but it’s late. We didn’t connect the dots until a few hours ago.”

  “I don’t want you going home tonight. Come to my place, please.”

  “I can’t…”

  “Come on, Val. This could get serious.”

  “I can’t leave Gabriel there.”

  “He can come, too. I just don’t want anything to happen to you. We have an undercover guy covering the area, but these guys are sophisticated. They know how to go under the radar. I just don’t want you in that building, especially knowing there's a sex offender living there now.”

  “You really think the same person killed those guys?” I paused to look at his face and matching eyes. “How can you tell?”

  “It’s hard to explain, and I can’t leak too many details, but there were a few similarities.” He ran his hand through his hair. “A few too many to be a coincidence. We just have to be on guard now and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  “It only takes two murders to make a serial killer?” Nausea hit as I waited for his answer.

  “Well, technically, it’s three. We just wanted to stop this guy before we can officially give him that title, and announce we have one on the loose.”

  I was only one away from holding that title myself, and just hours away from adding it to my resume. The weight of those two words made me question my plans. I couldn’t let it stop me. I was doing it for Sonya. I had to remember I wasn’t like them. I was doing it to protect people. Can it really be murder when you look at it that way?

  “Val, are you alright?”

  I blinked my eyes. “Yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking.”

  “I know it’s a lot to take in. I didn’t want to scare you, but you have to promise me you won’t go home without me. Call me when you leave, and we can get Gabriel together.”

  “I promise. I’ve got a few things I need to do before I leave for the day, but I’ll let you know when I head out.”

  Tim leaned over and kissed me. “I love you, Val.”

  “I love you, too, Detective.” I winked to try to lighten the mood. “Be careful, I need you alive.”

  “Will do. And… don’t forget to call.”

  After Tim left, I thought about the possible serial killer and wondered what fueled them. What made them kill these guys? It didn’t seem like what they were doing was really that bad of a thing after all. The world had too many sex offenders as it was. What’s so wrong with eliminating them? Maybe we weren’t that different after all. The more I thought about it, the more I realized our missions were similar.

  I packed up my stuff and drove to Lawrenceville Pizza. With the cameras down, I knew it was the best place to make the call. I dug out the piece of paper with Jimmy’s number and walked over to the payphone. I cleared my throat as I waited for him to answer.

  “Hello?” The voice on the other end sounded like I had woken him.

  “Hi, is this Jimmy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Hey, this is Stephanie.”

  “I don’t know any Stephanies, you must have the wrong number.”

  “Wait… Jimmy… I’m Sonya’s friend.”

  “Sonya? What’s this about?” He took the bait as I imagined he would.

  “I know how you can get her back.”

  “You do?”

  “I do, she’s been talking to me. Can we meet up tomorrow?”

  “Yeah. That’d be great.”

  “Perfect. Meet me
at the park down by the river at 4:00.”

  “Why not just come here?”

  “Sonya can’t know. She’ll be pissed if she knows I’m talking to you.”

  “Hmm… good point. See you then. I’ll be in the red Toyota Takoma.”

  “See you then.” As I hung up the phone, I felt the adrenaline rush through my body. This was going to be easier than I anticipated.

  “Well, isn’t this a nice surprise.”

  The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I turned around. I managed to smile as I stood in the parking lot, just feet from making it to my car without being noticed. “Hi Norma.”

  “Hi.” She smiled as she lifted up the two boxes of pizza. “Want to join us for dinner?”

  “Oh, that’s sweet of you to offer, but Tim is expecting me to call him.”

  “Oh, he’s welcome, too.”

  “He’s probably not up to it. There’s a lot going on in town.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, it’s crazy. He said they think there’s a serial killer.”

  “Oh, my goodness. What a scary thought.”

  “I know, right? But don’t worry. We’re safe… just sex offenders and rapists have to worry.”

  “Oh, dear.”

  “Yeah, Tim said they just released one to my building… so he doesn’t want me going there alone. They’ve got a detective on the scene, though, to try to catch the killer… you know… before he strikes again.”

  “Well, that does sound like Tim would be preoccupied. Be safe, dear. It was so nice to see you tonight.”

  “It was nice. Enjoy your pizza and tell Maggie and the girls I said hi.”

  “I will, dear.”

  As she walked to her car, my stomach dropped. I shouldn’t have shared any of that with her. Tim would be furious if he found out. “Norma?”

  “Yes, dear.”

  “Can we keep what I just said between us? I mean until it’s released to the public?”

  “Of course. Your secret is safe with me.” She smiled as she got into the driver’s seat.

  Relief washed over me. I knew I could trust her.

  Chapter Eighteen