“Hi. This is Detective Edgar James with the Philadelphia PD,” Edgar introduced himself on the phone. “I am calling concerning a person who was admitted recently….”
“Hang on. Let me transfer you to the department who can help you with it,” the person on the other end of the line answered.
After a minute of waiting, a voice came on the line. “This is Lisa. What can I do for you?”
Edgar again introduced himself and went on to explain the reason behind his call.
“Do you have a warrant?” Lisa asked.
“No,” Edgar replied.
“Sorry, Detective. Patient’s treatment is part of HIPAA, and we can’t disclose it to the authorities without a warrant.”
“I know the patient was treated in your hospital after the accident, and I am not asking about the type of treatment. All I want to know is if the patient is still in the hospital,” Edgar explained.
“Sorry, Detective. The patient’s admission is protected by HIPAA. My hands are tied without a warrant.”
As Edgar shook his head in frustration, his gaze fell on Julia, and a sudden thought flashed on his mind. Julia should be the person talking on the phone, not him. The hospital would be more inclined to divulge information to the wife rather than to a cop.
Edgar chided himself for not thinking about it earlier, and he turned his attention back to the phone. “Lisa, I understand your position. However, I don’t think I explained the situation clearly.” Edgar went on to explain that Eli Berg’s wife, Julia Berg, was next to him and had filed a case for her missing husband.
“See…? Our interest in Eli Berg is because he was reported missing. If you can confirm that he is in your hospital, you will make someone here very happy.”
“Yes, that is true.” Julia jumped on the phone and explained how grateful and relieved she would feel if Lisa could confirm that Eli was alive and was in the hospital.
Julia’s emotional plea made a difference as Lisa agreed to look up the files and confirm Eli’s admission status.
“Hang on,” Lisa said as her fingers danced on the keyboard. “The computer has been acting slow all day… this might take a minute.”
“Sure. Thanks, Lisa,” Julia said.
As they waited, Julia and Edgar’s gaze met, and Edgar flashed a thumbs-up sign to gesture that Julia had been handling the phone well.
Julia smiled and flashed the same gesture back at Edgar.
It almost took a minute before Lisa’s voice came back on the line. “I have it here. Eli Berg, a brown male, age 31, was admitted to the hospital on September 11th at 3:17 AM.”
“Yes, that is him, Eli Berg – my husband. What happened?” Julia said.
“Hmm… the case file says that your husband was in an accident. The paramedics responded to a 911 call on the early hours of September 11th and brought him to the hospital for treatment. Oh, Jesus!” Lisa exclaimed.
“What happened?” Julia said worriedly.
“It looks like it was a terrible accident. Your husband lost consciousness and didn’t regain it till today. He was admitted as John Doe, and it looks like it was changed to Eli Berg today.”
“Is he still there? Which room?”
“That is strange.”
“What?”
“It looks like he was released from our care, overriding doctor’s consent.”
“What does it mean? Overriding?”
“It seems that the attending physician advised that your husband remains in care for a few more days, but your husband insisted on getting discharged today.”
“So, he is not in the hospital now?”
“Yes. It looks like Berg left the facility less than an hour ago with his….” Lisa stopped her sentence abruptly, as if she was surprised by what she was reading in the discharge summary.
“With whom?” Julia asked.
“With you,” Lisa said, leaving everyone on the call stunned. “The discharge summary states that the patient was advised against the discharge, but the patient, along with his wife, insisted on being released immediately.”
“There has to be some kind of a mistake. I am Eli’s wife, and I had no clue that he was even in the hospital. How did this happen?”
“I am not sure; I was not there,” Lisa clarified her position. “I would assume that your husband must have identified that person as his wife.”
“Why would he do that…” Julia’s words trailed off as a thought stormed into her mind. Sania.
Edgar must have read her mind as he muttered, “Sania must have been in the hospital.”
“Were there any calls made by Eli Berg after he became conscious?” Edgar asked.
“I am not sure if I can say that,” Lisa hesitated.
“Please, Lisa, my husband hasn’t come home yet. This might give us a clue,” Julia pleaded.
“Alright, but please don’t tell anyone that I disclosed this information.” Lisa punched a few more strokes on the keyboard before coming back on the call. “It looks like a call was placed from his room this morning. Do you have a pen? I have the number with me,” Lisa asked.
“Yes, go on,” Edgar replied.
As Edgar was jotting down the phone number, Julia could tell that he had also recognized the number. It was Sania’s home phone number.
Julia’s face reddened in anger, as she now knew that her suspicion was indeed correct. Her husband was having an affair with Sania. The accident might have slowed down their plan, but it didn’t change it. They were running away from their past lives.
Edgar held up his hand to gesture Julia to hold her off from shouting slurs directed towards Sania. Edgar didn’t want the discussion with Lisa to change course, as he still had a few more questions.
“Thanks, Lisa. This helps,” Edgar said. “What is the condition of Eli Berg — I mean with his mobility. Was he in a wheelchair, or was he mobile?”
“Let me look it up.” Lisa punched a few more strokes. “It looks like Mr. Berg was mobile, but in a limited capacity. I guess that he can walk, but slowly. He can’t run or move fast.”
“Did anyone else visit him during his stay in the hospital?”
“Sorry, it doesn’t say anything of that nature. We don’t collect that kind of information.”
“Do you have tapes that would have captured him leaving the facility?”
“Sure. There are cameras at the front entrance of the hospital… but I am sure you need a warrant if our security department had to hand over those tapes.”
“I understand,” Edgar replied. “Can you think of anyone else who can help us identify the person?”
“Probably the nurse and attending physician. But I was not there, and there is no way for me to confirm,” Lisa said.
Edgar realized that he got all the information that he could get from Lisa. He thanked her for her help and gave her his direct number in case she found something that could be useful for the case, before disconnecting the call.
Julia simmered with anger. “I knew it all along. Here I am feeling worried about his safety, and, in the meantime, he is out prancing with his ….”
Julia’s outburst was interrupted abruptly as the interview room door opened, and Arya entered through it.
Julia turned towards Arya. “Guess what? We found out what happened to Eli.”
“I know. He was in an accident,” Arya said, as she approached the table.
For the next five minutes, Edgar shared the details that Lisa shared about Eli Berg’s hospital stay.
Arya, upon hearing the details about the hospital discharge, asked, “Do you think it was Sania who visited the hospital?”
“Who else?” Julia fumed.
Edgar raised his hand as if to tell her to control herself. “We can’t say that for sure, but who else could it be?” Edgar asked, staring at Arya.
Edgar could tell that Arya was wrestling with something on her mind. Working all these years with her, he could tell when Arya had something cooking in her head.
; “What are you thinking?” Edgar asked, holding his gaze directly at Arya. “How did you know that Eli was in an accident?”
“The call was from a state trooper. He had spotted the Ford Transit van and recognized the plates from the BOLO.”
“Where was it?”
“Near the Delaware border.”
“That fits with what we heard from the hospital. I guess Eli had an accident near the border, and they must have towed the Ford Transit van.”
“No,” Arya said. “He did not have an accident driving the Ford Transit van, and the state trooper did not spot the van in the impound lot.”
“What?” Edgar was confused. “Walking into the room, you already knew that Eli Berg was in an accident.”
“Yes. I knew, but not from the state trooper,” Arya said evenly. “The state trooper spotted the van somewhere in the woods and, guess what, it was not damaged — the van was not in an accident.”
Edgar leaned in, and Arya could tell that his curiosity was heightened.
“The state trooper did a visible inspection… the van was locked, and there was no one inside the van.”
“If not from the state trooper, how did you know about Eli being in an accident?” Edgar asked curiously.
“After I finished the call with the state trooper, I did a search on accidents around that area for the night of September 10th….”
“You should have gotten a hit for the early morning hours of September 11th,” Edgar interrupted Arya as he connected the dots.
Arya pointed her index finger at Edgar. “Bingo!”
“I got a hit about an accident that said the victim was transported to the Bay Memorial Hospital from the scene of the accident. When I pulled the record, I found out that the victim had no ID, no wallet, or anything that could identify the victim. That was a bust, and I thought the 911 record might help me with the identification. When I looked it up, I was surprised to see that the person who placed the 911 call didn’t identify herself.”
“It was a calculated guess on my part that Eli Berg was John Doe.”
Edgar nodded. “Good one.”
“Who do you think reported the accident? Sania?” Edgar asked.
Arya thought for a moment and said, “I don’t think so. We knew from Carter that Sania went directly to her home from the restaurant after Eli drove off with the van. Carter also mentioned that Sania never left her home that night. With this information, I would say that the anonymous caller being Sania is highly improbable.”
Edgar nodded, gesturing his agreement with Arya’s analysis.
“We all just missed something important here.” Arya stood up from the chair. “The van. Eli was not driving the van when he met with the accident.” Arya tapped her index finger on the table. “If this was the scene of the accident, the van was spotted near Midlex Reserve — which must be as far away as Joe’s Coffee.” Arya pointed in the direction of Joe’s Coffee, which was at least five hundred feet away from the Germantown precinct.
“They are walkable, but it was not like they were next to each other,” Arya concluded.
“Did you say Midlex Reserve?” Julia asked.
“Yes. Why do you ask?” Arya asked.
Julia didn’t have to reply; the expressions on her face gestured her response. Julia knew the place.
“What is it, Julia? I can tell that you recognize the place.”
Julia nodded. “I know where Eli is. Our family owns a property near the Midlex Reserve, and he must have gone there that night.”
“Does he have…”
Edgar’s question was interrupted by Julia as she answered, “Yes, Eli has the keys to the property. He goes there sometimes to hunt.”
37
It took close to forty-five minutes on the 202 South highway before Edgar saw the exit sign to take 1 West.
“We are approaching the border,” Edgar remarked, glancing towards Arya.
“We should be hitting the exit to Stoneridge Valley shortly,” Arya remarked, glancing at the navigation map on the police cruiser.
The moment Julia mentioned that they have a family property close to the place where Samir’s Ford Transit van was spotted, Edgar and Arya made their decision. They would be heading up straight to Bergs’ Stoneridge property. The coincidence was striking — Eli being ticketed driving Samir’s van, Samir’s van being spotted close to the Stoneridge property, and Eli getting into an accident less than a mile away from the Stoneridge property. All the signs pointed to a logical conclusion that Eli must have visited the Stoneridge property on the night of September 10th.
However, the answer to the following questions still eluded them —
Why did Eli Berg drive Samir’s van on the night of September 10th?
Why did Eli abandon the van in the woods next to the Stoneridge property?
Why was Eli walking back in the darkness of the night before getting into an accident?
Did Eli leave with Sania from the hospital? If they are together, where are they now — Stoneridge property?
* * *
As they wrestled with these questions, Edgar turned towards the core question that started this case. Where is Samir?
He then proceeded to raise the following questions —
Did Samir ever leave Philly on September 10th?
Is it possible that Samir met up with Eli and Sania in the restaurant?
If not, how did Eli not only know about Samir’s van but also get access to it?
* * *
Arya had no answers for Edgar, but she had more questions of her own.
Were Omar and Nafisa somehow involved in Samir’s disappearance?
What about all the other things that came up during the investigation — Marisomo break-in, Samir’s secret trips across the country, Samir’s secret bank accounts, Samir’s relationship with Omar and Nafisa; Did any of those things have anything to do with Samir’s disappearance?
* * *
During the drive, Edgar and Arya threw out different theories to their questions, trying to connect all the dots. But in the end, they were no closer to the answer compared to forty-five minutes ago. They could not see the forest from the trees. Samir’s lies, Samir’s secret trips, Samir’s secret bank accounts, Marisomo break-in, Omar, Nafisa, Culver City, Samir’s van, Samir missing his flight on September 10th, Sania and Eli’s relationship, Eli driving Samir’s van. They were not able to connect the dots that could tie everything together and solve the mystery. Arya felt that they were close — if they could only find that one missing thing that would crack open the whole case. They both agreed that one thing could be finding Eli Berg and finding out why he was driving Samir’s van on the night of September 10th.
* * *
With that hope, they took the exit to Stoneridge Valley.
38
“It should be someplace here,” Arya remarked, as Edgar took a right on the Brandy Creek road.
“Can you call him?” Edgar asked, referring to the state trooper who spotted Samir’s van.
Soon after the detectives decided that they would be driving to Berg’s family property in Stoneridge, they called the state trooper. They asked him not to impound the abandoned van. Instead, they asked him to wait as they were on their way to the scene.
“No signal,” Arya said, holding up her cellphone. She had wanted to avoid radioing him on the official channel, as it could lead to jurisdictional issues. The Germantown detectives had no business inspecting a possible crime scene that far out from their jurisdiction. They could follow the procedure and involve the right people, but that would take time. And that is something they couldn’t afford. Arya had a hunch that Eli might be on his way to retrieve the van from the Stoneridge property.
“Slow down,” Arya said, holding her hand to make a gesture. Arya could see a winding road to her right, which seemed to be taking them to the woods.
“It should be that road,” Arya said, glancing towards Edgar. “Do you want to….”
Arya abrupt
ly stopped her question when Edgar interrupted. “That should be it… Berg’s Stoneridge property.” Edgar pointed towards a driveway to his left. The driveway seemed to be obscured from the road by a rather large rock wall; ancient, but well-maintained.
“What do you think we should do? Berg’s property or to the van? Left, or right?” Edgar asked.
Arya’s first impulse was to check the property and then swing by the van. The van was not going anywhere; the state trooper was holding guard.
“Left — the property.” Arya pointed towards the driveway.
“You sure? You were quite confident that Eli would be coming here to get the van,” Edgar asked.
“The van is not going anywhere.” Arya shrugged. “If Eli had gone to the van, the state trooper would be holding him till we get there. I had asked him to hold anyone who came to get the van.”
“That is good.” Edgar nodded. “Let us check out the property then…,” Edgar said, as he turned left and drove towards the driveway.
They noticed a ‘Private Property – Do Not Trespass’ sign as they neared the driveway.
“Not for us,” Arya smiled. “We are the fucking cops.”
Edgar shook his head. “Not because we are cops — we have owner’s consent, remember?” He flashed a smile.
“Whatever. Both works for me,” Arya waved her hand dismissively as she got down from the car.
The trees along the driveway seemed to have created an archway, a tree tunnel, drowning out the already fading evening light.
Arya stood still by the entry gate. She seemed to be lost in thoughts as her gaze peered through the driveway.
“Is the gate locked?” Edgar got down from the car and walked to her.
Following her gaze, Edgar noticed a house that loomed large at the end of the long driveway. The house was an enormous brick building, which looked surprisingly beaten down.
“I didn’t expect this,” Edgar said, standing next to Arya. “The place looks like a haunted house.”
The Hunt for Truth Page 21