by Nancy Adams
Since Dad had retired a couple weeks before, she’d begun doing more of the cooking herself, and loved it. We both said we wanted fried chicken, and she smiled as she went to get it started.
I went up to my room and got on my computer. Like Dad, I had a lot of emails offering me support and telling me I'd looked good on TV, but there were also some telling me what a low-life I was. Some of those were from people I knew, but not all of them, and I wondered how other people were getting my private email address.
Nathanael
Chapter Nine
Love Comes Softly
* * * * *
I checked my watch and saw that it was almost six, so I played a game of solitaire to kill the last few minutes. When I got done, it was five after, and I suddenly found myself nervous as I picked up the phone and tapped her name to let it dial.
She answered on the second ring.
“Before you say anything,” she began, “let me say this: I never should have doubted you, I never should have believed it for a second! I love you with everything in me, with everything that is even a part of me, and I should have known that you could not be the man she painted you as being. Nate, I am so sorry, so very, very sorry!”
I blinked back tears. “Katelynn, let it go. I saw those pictures, and I can't blame you for thinking they were real. Please, Baby, please just let it go. I don’t want to talk about that, anymore, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, and I could hear her sniffling. She was crying, too. “I just feel so bad about this.”
“Shh. It's over, as far as we're concerned, it's over! The rest of it will go away, too, before long, I promise you. Now, how are you doing?”
I could hear the weak smile through the phone. “I'm okay, now. I've been sitting downstairs, and telling Dad that I've come to realize I was wrong. He can't drop the case just yet, but he says he won't be working too hard on it, either. As soon as we can get any kind of proof against Donna, he'll drop her like a hot potato!”
“Okay, let's not talk about that. I'm worried about you, and how you've been holding up. I know this hasn’t been easy for you.”
“No. But I feel so bad about the way I've treated you the past week. I've actually been worried about you, the whole time, but I didn't know how to say that without getting angry again, so I didn't say anything.”
“It's okay,” I said again. “And if you'd like to make it up to me, you can.” I made sure she could hear the big smile I was wearing.
“Just tell me how,” she said.
“Easy. Just tell me you love me again!”
She giggled the way she does when she's delighted. “I love you, I love you, I do so love you, Nate! Just a second, Dad wants to talk to you.”
I steeled myself. Mr. Burke was quite a man, and I wasn't sure how he felt about me talking to Katelynn again.
“Nate, this is Jim Burke. I want to tell you how sorry I am that we're on opposite sides of this thing.”
“Sir, no apology is necessary. I've seen those pictures, and I'd probably have taken the case, too, in your shoes.”
“Still, I want you to know it. When Katelynn told me she is convinced of your innocence, it actually eased my own mind, because there are some discrepancies in my client's story that bother me. I can't go into them, you understand, but I had no trouble accepting Katelynn's conviction that you didn't do these things, and let me say I'm very glad to be able to say that. I still think you're a fine young man, and I'll be praying that my involvement won't strain our future relationship.”
I smiled. “We're Marines, Sir. If we can't get over a matter of hurt feelings, there's something pretty wrong, don't you think?”
He laughed. “Semper Fi!” he said, and I could hear him passing the phone back to Katelynn.
“I love you,” she said. “I'm going upstairs now, so we can talk more privately.” She said that last word pointedly, and I guess it was aimed at her parents. I could hear her rushing up the stairs, and waited until she spoke again.
“Okay, I'm all alone, now. You can yell at me, if you want to.”
“Katelynn, I don't want that. Let's let it go, Baby, please? Tell me how things are at the store.”
“Well, I found out Donna has someone spying on me, so that's got me pretty ticked off. It's Karen Lang, the newest girl, and now that I think of it, she was a friend of Donna's before she came to work there. Maybe Donna's had something like this planned all along?”
“No telling. What else?”
We talked about the store for a while, and some of the things that were happening as it grew. I was amazed at the sales numbers she told me; this store was doing better than many others we'd had open for years, and that can usually be attributed to local management. She was doing a great job!
She told me about meeting with John Tarsikes, the investigator, and that she would be working with him at times to feed Donna's bunch false information. I hadn't heard about the man working with them, so that was a surprise, but so much was happening so fast that I don't think Mike could keep me up to date on everything, no matter how he might want to.
And then we talked about us, which was the most important part of the conversation. She assured me, over and over, that she truly loved me, and I repeated it back every time. Some things can't be said too much, and this was one of them. We talked about things we had talked about before, like her trying to be a socialite, and she admitted that, after all of this, she wouldn't mind being unemployed.
“Maybe we'll have kids, and I can be the soccer mom,” she said, and I laughed. We both wanted kids, and I told her again what a great mother I knew she'd be.
We talked about a lot of other things, and I realized that it was almost midnight, her time, so I said we should let her get some sleep. She protested, at first, but I could tell she was tired. I promised to have my phone on so she could call me anytime, and if I didn't hear from her, I'd call again the next night. She finally agreed, and we said loving good nights to each other.
I laid back on my bed and tried to relax, but I was so excited, so overjoyed, that I just couldn't. I got up and went downstairs, where I found Mom and Dad watching an old movie, and I sat down and joined them.
Dad looked at me. “So?” he asked. “How did it go?”
I was smiling so broadly that I'm sure he didn't need an answer, but I gave him one anyway. “It went great. We're back, right where we belong! You're still gonna get to be grandparents soon, don't worry!”
Mom clapped her hands, while Dad just smiled and gave me a thumbs up. We all turned to the movie and watched Abbot and Costello run around like scared kids, while Lon Chaney chased them as the Wolfman.
I finally went to bed around midnight, California time, and went to sleep pretty easily. I was up and ready for the office the next morning, the first time in a week that I'd actually felt like going in. I took one of my Corvettes, the '69, and drove it rather sedately, for once.
When I got to the office, I went straight to legal and found Lawton already in. I knocked on his office door, and he waved me in.
“I talked to Katelynn last night, and she's definitely back to believing in me. I also spoke to her father, who said that he was glad she had come to him about believing I was innocent, because there were some tings about Donn's story that bother him. As her lawyer, he couldn't tell me anything, of course, but he told Katelynn that if we can get any proof that the pictures are faked, he'll drop her as a client and withdraw himself from the case.”
“Excellent,” he said. “I'll call the photo lab today and see if we can get a preliminary report that will lean that way, and email it to him. That might be enough to bring this whole thing to a screeching halt.”
I shook my head. “Don't do that,” I said. “I want this to go to court, unless we get enough proof of fraud to press charges against Donna. If we can't prove it in one form of court or another, there will always be people who will believe I did it. I want that woman exposed, as hard as possible.”
Law
ton nodded. “Okay, I understand. Incidentally, our court date for the first hearing on the case is scheduled for a week from today. I'm told the judge was shocked that we wanted it early, rather than stalling it off. He's not used to that, so he granted it and gave us a slot that was just vacated by a settlement.”
“Good. The sooner, the better. I want this over and one with, so Katelynn and I can get on with our lives.” I turned and walked out, then went to Mike's office and told him about talking to Katelynn, as well. He got up and shook my hand.
I went on to my office, and had just gotten into my chair when my cell went off with Katelynn's ring tone. I snatched it out of my pocket instantly.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Babe,” she said. “I just wanted to hear your voice. Good morning.” I could hear her smile.
“Good morning to you!” I said, smiling myself. “I can't tell you how good it is to hear yours again! I have missed you so much.”
“Me, too. I almost broke down and called you a few times, just to hear you say 'hello,' but I didn't. I didn't want to have to cry again, and I would have.”
We talked for a few minutes, more of the lovey-dovey stuff that would bore anyone but us, and then she said someone was at the office door. I let her go, and she promised to call me on her lunch break.
I went into my day with a light heart, and couldn’t wait until she called again.
John
Chapter Ten
A Bump In The Road
* * * * *
My morning started as usual, parked down the street from Donna's house. The reporters had either caught up with her or given up, I didn't know which and didn't care, but they were not in sight, so they didn't matter. I watched her take the youngest kid to school, and when she came back, good old Jerry was parked out front, waiting. They went inside without really talking, and I put the laser mike to work.
Jerry: “You see that press conference he held?”
Donna: “God, yes, what a mess! I've been getting calls from people all over town, telling me either what a bitch I am, or to go get him for all he's worth! Yesterday, I had someone at the store actually dare me to come outside and fight, because she said she'd seen Nate at church and a man who'd go to church would never do the things I said he did! The security guys had to run her off!”
Jerry: “Well, this is gonna get hotter, pretty soon. He's already thrown you under the bus, telling the whole wide world you're a thief and a liar. With all his money, I don't think you can win this fight. I'm thinking you need to drop this and just cut your losses, pack up and get out of here.”
Donna: “What, are you gonna go weak on me, now? I'm telling you, they'll cave before it gets into court! Those pictures are dead on, no one will believe him once they see those!”
Jerry: “You better be right. If any of this comes back down on me, I'm not gonna take it quietly, you can count on that! If I go down, you go down with me!”
Donna: “And if I get a big fat check, you get twenty percent, remember? Keep your panties on, Jerry, Momma's gonna take care of her big boy! Now, come here, I've needed you for a while, now!”
More sexual sounds came through, but I tuned them out. I wondered what Jerry had meant about something coming down on him. Would he have been involved in making the pictures? It didn't sound like it; if he had been, he probably would have been far more confident of success. That's the way con artists and pirates work, by believing their own press!
I waited until they got done with their calisthenics, and Jerry drove away, then decided it was his turn to be stalked. I started the car and followed him into the city.
Jerry was an enigma in this thing, and I wanted to know where he fit in. So far, all I knew was that he was involved with Donna in the plot, but I hadn’t heard anything that would give me an inkling as to how or why, and that's what I wanted to find out.
He drove to a building in a nicer area, and when I got close enough, I saw that it was a medical clinic. He climbed out of the car and I was surprised to see that he was wearing a white jacket, the kind worn by nurses and such. He went inside, and I parked and followed.
The clinic was a general practice, and when I looked around, I saw that it was run by a Physician's Assistant named Gerald Patterson. Jerry was a wannabe doctor, apparently; Physician's Assistants can run clinics, even make diagnoses and prescribe medications, and they have a licensed physician who supposedly supervises them, but actually only signs off on whatever they do. I had a sneaky hunch that if we looked into Donna's daughter's medical issues, they'd lead right to this very office!
A receptionist asked if she could help me, and I said I had a pain in my stomach that wouldn't go away. I was in town on business, I said, and the clinic had been recommended to me by a friend. She said they did take walk-ins, and that it would be a hundred dollars to be seen by the PA, so I paid and sat down to fill out the form she handed me.
I marked a bunch of stuff to make it look like I was genuine, and handed it in. She took it and glanced over it to be sure I'd added name and such, then told me it would be about fifteen minutes. I sat back down to wait.
I'd used a false name, so I didn't react the first time it was called, and had to make the excuse that I was hurting so bad I just didn't hear her. She told me to go down the hall and into room number three, and I did. I sat on the exam table there, and a nurse came in to take my temperature and blood pressure, then told me the PA would be with me in just a moment.
Jerry came in and shook my hand. “Mr. Johnson, what's the problem today?”
“Doc, I've got this pain in my gut that won't go away, and I thought I ought to be seen. Thanks for taking me on short notice.”
He smiled. “No problem. Take off your shirt, please, and show me exactly where it's hurting.”
I took off my shirt, and pointed to just above my navel. “It starts here,” I said, and goes over to the left side.”
“Hmm. Have you been having normal bowel movements?”
I thought fast. “Well, not lately. I've been a little stopped up, if you know what I mean.”
He asked a few more questions, and finally decided I was having an attack of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I'd actually had it before, and knew the symptoms, so I was impressed the he got them right on the first try. He prescribed a stool softener, and told me I was good to go. I thanked him and put my shirt back on, then said, “Hey, Doc, can I ask a question?”
“Sure,” he said and sat back in his chair to look at me.
“I've got fibromyalgia, too, and my doctor back home gives me Oxycontin, but I've been out on the road for a couple of weeks, and I’m out. Could you fix me up with a refill?”
He looked at me for a long moment, and I guess he was deciding if I might be a cop. I don't have a very imposing physique or appearance, though, so few people ever think I'm capable of being one, and he finally said, “Well, I could, but I really shouldn't, not without talking to your doctor.”
“Oh, crap,” I said. “the reason I asked you is because My own doctor is on vacation in the Bahamas, and I can't get one called in anywhere til he gets back. Couldn't you make an exception this one time? I'd be more than willing to pay extra.” I took out my wallet and let him see that there were a lot of hundred dollar bills in it.
He rubbed a thumb along his bottom lip. “I don't know, Mr Johnson,” he said. “If anyone found out, I could get into trouble. It'd be a lot of risk.”
I nodded sympathetically. “Sure, I understand, but I'd make it worthwhile. Say, five hundred? Just for writing a prescription?”
He smiled. “How about this? I've got some sample packs, forty milligram pills. Each one has four in it. What if I let you have, say, twelve of them for that five hundred bucks?”
I knew that oxy was going for around forty dollars a pill on the street, and he was telling me that he knew that, too, and that he took me for an addict. I grinned and told him that would be fine, and he left the room for minute. When he came back, he handed me a dozen o
f the packets, and I gave him the five hundred dollars. We smiled at each other, and I was out the door and back in my car. I sat there and thought about what I'd learned.
I knew a lot more than I had, that was for sure. Jerry was a Physician's Assistant, and he was also a drug dealer, using his license and clinic to make lots of money illegally. A guy like that would do just about anything for money, including help set up a rich man for shake down, but none of this explained how he'd gotten involved with Donna Bennet.
Like many things I dealt with in my line of work, the more I knew, the more I realized I didn't know. Every answer led to another few questions, and I wanted those answers more than ever.
If Jerry had something as legitimate as the clinic going for him, why would he want to risk it all on drugs and cons? None of it was making any sense, yet, but I wasn't done. I'd get to the bottom of it, one way or another. This was just another little bump in an already bumpy road!
Katelynn
Chapter Eleven
Playing The Game
* * * * *
I was feeling great. I had Nate loving me again, and I was more in love with him than ever, and I'd gotten to talk to him once already, that day, and would get to again in a couple more hours. I was in my office, doing my dailies, when a knock on the door got my attention.
“Come on in,” I yelled, and looked up to see Donna walking in. She wasn't use to come to work for a few hours yet, so I was surprised, and my anger at her almost made it out of my mouth. I caught it just in time, and smiled.
“Hey, Donna,” I said, then let the smile fade a bit. “How you holding up with all the news and stuff?”
She sat down in the hair across from my desk and looked at me sadly. “I don’t know,” she said. “I've got people calling me names, and I'm worried about my kids hearing all this stuff. It's getting pretty rough, to be honest, and I just needed to talk to someone. I hope you don't mind?”