by Barbara Ebel
Kendrick leaned over the computer keyboard and pressed a few keys. It took him less time to get into George’s perverted material than Dustin took to access his draft emails. “Bingo. We’re sending this computer to the crime lab.”
Dustin shook his head. “Those pictures break my heart.”
“Let’s do a quick scan of other rooms, particularly the bedroom.”
“Should we say something to her?”
“Be my guest.”
Dustin stopped at the kitchen counter. “Do you ever use your husband’s computer to watch the content he has on there?”
Marlene began spinning her wedding ring around her finger. “Uh, we don’t keep the same pictures.”
“What pictures does he keep?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Vacation photos?”
“Some vacation photos,” Kendrick said.
When the two men finished throwing electronic devices in plastic bags, they wished Marlene a nice day and slipped out the front door.
In the driveway, Dustin scowled. “Too bad she didn’t come to us first with what she knew.”
“Marriages are complicated. Maybe she’s an enabler, an accomplice, or in denial of her husband’s pet peeve.”
“Now it’s my turn. We’re heading to Gillespie’s office, where he practices. I drove my ex-girlfriend there one morning. I don’t even have to pull up his address or let the GPS track him down.”
-----
Thursday morning in Dr. Gillespie’s office, Annabel and Stuart crouched down in the waiting room playing with a four-year-old. The boy’s mother was in the bathroom and the two students engaged the boy with Legos. Both their doctors were filtering through business mail before seeing their first patients.
“I visited Bob last night,” Annabel said, “and we studied until eleven o’clock, but I didn’t get home and to bed until midnight. I could use a nap.”
Stuart added five blocks to the building the little boy was making but spoke to Annabel. “You’re ahead of me, and there will be less time to study once we hit the wards next week.”
“I can’t wait.”
Stuart grimaced. “Hang in there, Annabel. Even though I like being here with Dr. Clark, I’m ready to see sicker patients on the wards. Only today and tomorrow are left.”
Annabel dumped another box of classic Legos on the floor. “This building needs more height.”
The boy beamed at both of them. “Then I’ll fly off the top so my mom can’t find me.” He waved his arms in the air. “”Then I won’t have to go in a room and Dr. Gillespie can’t look in my throat!”
Annabel and Stuart weaved back to the hallway. “How about that?”
Stuart said. “Your patient doesn’t even want your attending examining his throat.”
Dr. Gillespie filed out of his back office and Annabel joined him. Their first patient came in because of a rash. After a thorough history and physical exam, George attributed it to a change in the family’s fabric softener sheets for their dryer.
As the day wore on, and after the students came back from eating lunch, Annabel started clock watching more intently. The waiting room was fuller than the morning and nurses were filtering parents with babies and children to the back rooms.
She thought back to last night’s call with Dustin. Secretly, she wished the police would do something with the information she provided. At least Dr. Gillespie deserved a slap on the wrist. However, she might never know. Her boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, was not transparent with her anymore.
As the cases thinned, Becky sat at the desk with a child’s chart and physician’s orders. She logged in to the office schedule and picked out a date and time for a follow-up appointment. She turned her head to Annabel. “Ask them if next Tuesday would work at eleven o’clock.”
Annabel nodded. She was trying to help Becky with the flow of patients and stuck her head back in the exam room, where the young patient was putting his T-shirt back on. “Next Tuesday at eleven o’clock work?”
“Sure,” the mother said.
Annabel went back to Becky at the front desk. “That’ll work.”
“I think a police car just pulled into the parking lot,” Becky said, narrowing her eyes towards the front window.
A parent in the waiting room stood. She walked to the window, put her hands on her hips, and swiveled around. “There are two cops and they’re coming in!”
The door opened and the two officers appeared larger than life in the waiting room.
“Mommy, Mommy. They have guns!” A small boy jumped out of his chair.
“Settle down, son,” Dustin said. He tipped his hand at the mother. “Nothing for patients to worry about.” He flanked Kendrick, now at the reception counter.
Becky popped out of her chair and Annabel’s jaw dropped.
“Is Dr. George Gillespie here?” Kendrick asked.
“Yes, sir,” Becky responded and pointed to the back.
George was at the open door in a flash. “What’s going on, officers?”
“We have a search warrant,” Dustin said. “The rest of your afternoon is going to be disrupted. You should ask patients to reschedule.” He re-shifted his gaze and gave Annabel an acknowledgement with his eyes.
“I love the police force, but you all have some nerve. Show me.”
Dustin gladly thrust the warrant into his hand.
“I should probably call my lawyer to check this paperwork.”
Dustin tried not to roll his eyes. “It’s signed by a judge. You don’t want to tick off the judge and impede this process. We are going to do our job right now.”
Becky stopped trembling while George belabored his point. Like he had something to hide, she thought. She had no protocol for this unheard-of situation, so she slipped into the waiting room and made an announcement. “If it’s imperative that your child sees a pediatrician today, see someone else or pop into the ER. If the appointment can wait, call us back and we’ll reschedule.”
The families picked up their things, gathered their children, and with open mouths and intense stares, they marched out of the waiting room.
“What on earth is going on here?” Heather Clark made a dead stop and scrutinized the officers like they were imposters on the planet. Stuart was beside her.
“Doctor, we have a search warrant,” Kendrick said. “We’ll be combing through this office. All rooms.”
“Uhh,” George mumbled. “I’m going back to my office for my computer. I’ll put it in my car so I can work at home tonight.”
“Show me where it is,” Dustin said.
Kendrick nodded and stayed in place while Dustin and Gillespie trotted to his office.
“Here it is,” George said. He laid his hands on both ends to pick it up, but Dustin stopped him. The screen lit up, revealing a room with a little boy swinging his legs off the side of an exam table and his mother reading a magazine.
“Interesting view,” Dustin said.
“My next patient is waiting on me in the exam room. You can appreciate the need for extra security monitoring these days.”
Dustin ignored him, unplugged the laptop, and clasped it with one hand. He started out the door and looked for closed exam doors. He came to the only one and knocked.
“Come in,” a woman’s voice sounded.
Dustin opened the door to a woman with a magazine and the young boy he just saw on George’s computer. “Ma’am, who are you here to see?”
The woman bobbed her head in surprise. “Dr. Clark. Is there a problem? She’s okay, isn’t she?”
“Yes, but you will have to reschedule your appointment.”
As Dustin arrived back up front, he called the station. “Kendrick and I have to search the pediatrician’s office for more evidence. Send backup. An officer needs to take in George Gillespie.”
CHAPTER 28
George Gillespie said nothing as Kendrick waited for two other officers to arrive.
“You’re busted, you know,” Kendrick said.
The doctor twirled his stubby fingers in front of his protruding abdomen and stared down, his bushy eyebrows camouflaging his eyes.
Upon Dustin’s request, the office staff stayed in the front office. They were clueless over why the police came, except that the officers had permission to search the place. Some of them thought Dr. Gillespie acted a bit weird, but what were they physically looking for?
Backup police arrived. One of them stayed with Dustin and Kendrick and made sure staff hung around, out of the way, but available to answer questions.
Annabel and Stuart huddled by the front window and watched as the second officer ducked George Gillespie into the back of his patrol car. The doctor wore a scowl on his face and gave a last-minute stare at the front of his office.
“Adios,” Annabel mumbled.
“This makes for a memorable rotation.” Stuart grinned as he turned to her. “No surprise. You’re on it.”
As the patrol car took off, Dustin and Kendrick went back to Dr. Clark’s empty exam rooms.
Dustin yanked Kendrick’s sleeve. “In here. This is the room I viewed from his computer.”
Closed cabinets with medical supplies stood above a counter and sink and ninety degrees from it were open shelves with medical props and books. Dustin combed the shelves, starting from the top. Next shelf down, he started on the end, where he found a plastic replica of four small back vertebrae.
“Damn,” he said. “Will you take a look at these bones? They sure are keeping an eye on things.”
“Like Dr. Clark and her patients?”
“Oh yeah.”
Kendrick looked closely. A round-eyed camera was planted between an intervertebral space. “I’ll wrap up in this room, take pictures, and the evidence.”
Dustin turned at the door. “I’ll start on the next room,” he said and chuckled. “I’ll check out anatomy samples first.”
A similar shelf was in the next room and Dustin went there first. A twelve inch plastic bone example of a child’s forearm was mounted on a standing display. Dustin peeked closely and found the same camera model as the last room attached between the radius and ulna.
And so it went. Between the two officers combing both doctors’ rooms and offices, they confiscated video camera equipment in every one of them.
But the last room turned Dustin’s stomach upside down and, if he had the chance, he would sock George Gillespie right in the face. A camera, like an eyeball, peered out of a plastic ornament of a giraffe mounted in the children’s bathroom.
“Thoughtful of him,” Dustin said to Kendrick. “No camera is installed in the staff’s bathroom, only the pediatric patients’ commode.”
-----
“Dr. Clark,” Kendrick said, “it’s a second team’s job to come in here and finish what we’ve started. Lots of evidence here. We’re not at liberty to say much, but your office must close for a day or two.”
“Evidence of what?”
Unaware of it, Heather held on to Becky’s arm, as if for mental support. What was going on with her practice?
“Dr. Clark,” Dustin said, “did you have any knowledge that your rooms were being videotaped?”
Heather’s eyes became moist. She let go of Becky and clasped her hands together. “No. Really? All this time? I was a new doctor fresh out of residency. I’ve been here for three years. He’s been watching my rooms all along?” She wanted to sob.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. Why don’t you come back to the police station and we’ll get a statement. And let the rest of your employees go home for now.”
Heather nodded. Drawers opened and Becky and the others grabbed their handbags and personal items. Kendrick kept an eye on the situation for anything unusual leaving the premises.
“Kendrick, I’ll talk to the students,” Dustin said. “Why don’t I meet you outside with Dr. Clark?” He leaned in and spoke softly. “I’ll be a few minutes.”
Dr. Clark stopped at the door. “Annabel and Stuart, I’ll make a call to the department chairman. Someone will inform you about what to do tomorrow.”
Dustin waited for the activity to subside and for Heather to step outside. He walked over to Annabel and Stuart. “If we need to ask either of you questions, I can track you down. I have Annabel’s number.” Dustin focused on Stuart. “I need to talk to Annabel.”
Glued to the floor all along, Stuart finally moved forward. He stepped to the door, looking back at Annabel, worried now about her relationship with the officer rather than what would happen to George Gillespie.
“Annabel, I’ll text or call you later.”
Annabel nodded and turned back to Dustin. Eye to eye, she melted over the features she loved about him.
“Good thing you told me about Dr. Gillespie spying on his partner’s room,” he said.
“Good thing you finally called me back to hear about it.”
“Touché. I deserved that. Anyway, we found the camera and, in addition, many more. Including in the patients’ bathroom. We also raided his home before coming here.”
Annabel shuddered like ants were crawling up her leg. “The bathroom?”
Dustin didn’t respond but nodded slowly.
“How come you went to his house?”
“Officer Kendrick hunted down your attending’s secret stash of child pornography.”
Annabel briefly closed her eyes. “How awful, how despicable.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and continued with passion in her voice. “Doctors take an oath when they become a physician and swear to uphold ethical standards. Dr. Gillespie did not hold up his side of the bargain when he took the Hippocratic Oath. He’s a moral disgrace. It makes me sick to think I worked with him in the same room while he went overboard with physical exams. He’s damn dangerous and seriously mentally ill.”
“You’re correct. Let’s hope justice prevails and this is the beginning of his end in pediatric medicine.”
An aching silence followed his words. Annabel felt the blow before it struck. Her next breath was difficult to inhale; her chest felt achy and her heart thumped with sadness.
“I won’t be seeing you again, Annabel. Our relationship is over.”
“I contemplated as much. I’m sorry to hear it.”
She swallowed emphatically, trying to camouflage the emotion welling up in her eyes. It was a closed subject, she could tell. Whatever the problem was between them, he had no desire to tell her. She didn’t dare ask him, either, and suffer an agonizing embarrassment.
He forced a slight laugh to break the uncomfortableness between them. “Unless, of course, I see you because of police work. You do have a knack for bringing problems to the attention of the sheriff’s department.”
She only gave him a slight nod. She wanted to tell him that she wouldn’t be bothering them anymore because, in less than one year, she would be out of Cincinnati and on to residency in another state. Hopefully, Tennessee.
But she didn’t say it. And he didn’t wish her any luck for her future in medicine. Everything with him was over.
-----
The patrol car with George Gillespie in the back seat was gone when Annabel stepped outside. A buildup of summer clouds had materialized and, in the distance, they looked ominous.
She went to her car, her head low, not wanting to see or interact with anyone. She made it to her vehicle without any awareness if Stuart, Dr. Clark, or Officer Kendrick were still around. Dustin was then the last one to exit the office. He turned around and secured a special police lock on the door.
She wanted to drive away as inconspicuously as she’d walked to her car. After starting the ignition, she drove home, and when she opened her apartment door, she already didn’t remember the details about driving home. She was a frazzled wreck.
Oliver jumped out of his dog bed, surprised to find her home. She leaned over and he swiped her mouth with his tongue, but she didn’t mind. She spoke softly.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your kiss. You are such
a love. It’s you and me now, Oliver. No more Dustin.” She grabbed his leash and continued talking out loud. “Let’s go for a short spin. I’m too sad to take a long walk. Plus, I’m waiting for the medical school to determine what they’re going to do with Stuart and me now that the dirtbag pediatrician has been hauled away.”
Downstairs, Oliver balked. The sky was darkening more and more. She tugged him to the front tree and, in a minute, the dog reciprocated and walked her back the way they came.
“Who’s walking whom?” Annabel commented. Upstairs, she unfolded the dog’s thunder shirt. Most likely, she would wrap him in it before the end of the day.
She fluffed up her pillow and curled up on her bed as Oliver jumped up as well. It had been several years before Dustin that she had shared a serious relationship with a college student named David. In the end, they became close friends. It was only because of a basketball head injury and his prolonged recuperation that their romantic relationship dwindled away. He was no longer in college at the same time with her after his injury. Her father had even treated his secondary impact head injury, so David ended up beloved by the whole family.
As she stroked Oliver, her relationships with the opposite sex became crystal clear. It was as if sunlight slit through the ominous clouds and struck her with clarity, infallible self-reflection, and an understanding of herself. Between her relationships with David and Dustin, she actively used the dating app, Findar. The encounters from the site ended up being rash flings. They were diversions … sexual interludes fraught with risky behavior. How could she have done such a thing?
Being her first love, she had cared for David more than she realized. Witnessing his awful accident on the basketball court and his subsequent hospitalization was a tragic turn of events. No wonder she had experienced cold feet diving into another significant relationship. The social dating app and escapades had filled the void. But then her courage came back and she took a chance with Dustin.
With Dustin, their closeness and intimacy surpassed what she had shared with David. Her maturity grew as well as the depth of her feelings for a partner.