Clearing the Course

by Diane Weiner

  Megan said, “Jonathan and I met back at the station earlier.”

  “Why don’t you join us?” said Emily. “There’s plenty of room.”

  He nodded and Megan grabbed a chair from a neighboring table.

  “These smell great.” Pat grabbed a roll. “How do you like Sugarbury Falls?”

  “It’s charming from the little I’ve seen. My girlfriend would love this place. Maybe I’ll arrange a fall foliage trip for us after this is all over.”

  “Mr. Stirling, did you make any headway?” asked Megan.

  “Call me Jonathan, please. I went out to the college and spoke to Professor Carlson. He was quite evasive when I asked him about spending time with Damari Cooper. Evasive verging on defensive. He insisted the only time he spent with her was supervising her research or teaching a class. And he insists he never set foot at the Founder’s Day celebration.”

  The waitress jotted down their dinner orders and refilled the water glasses.

  “Does he have an alibi?” asked Emily.

  Megan answered, “I interviewed him as well. His alibi is about as strong as Robby’s. He was home alone. Fell asleep watching television. Woke up and went to bed around 3 a.m.”

  “What happened to the suicide theory?” asked Emily.

  “There was a note on her computer that sounded like it could have been a suicide note. Said something about ‘love hurting’ and ‘moving to a greener place without pain.’ I ran it by her best friend, Li Min Wang, and she said it sounded nothing like the way Damari would express herself. And Damari had just dropped off a new dress at the cleaners to be hemmed. It’s my experience that suicide victims are all about closure. It didn’t make sense.”

  “And there were the bruises across her abdomen,” said Pat. “It wasn’t a suicide.”

  “Then why write the note?” Emily took a sip of water.

  Maddy grabbed a roll. “Duh. Maybe she didn’t write it. Maybe someone, let’s say the murderer, wrote it so it’d look like a suicide and didn’t think about the telltale bruises.”

  “That’s a plausible theory,” said Jonathan. “Megan, did you check for prints?”

  “Of course. We only found Damari’s.”

  “She took her laptop to class, right? The professor had access then. He could have written it and wiped his prints while she was out measuring gardenia leaves or something.”

  “I’m re-interviewing people who spent most of the day at the picnic. I’ll be showing them Carlson’s picture. Otherwise, no tie-in to the murder.”

  “But neither he nor Robby has an alibi so why is Robby the one behind bars?”

  “Because of the lunch box and sweatshirt found near the crime scene. And the anonymous tip saying he was there that night.”

  Maddy said, “Did the sweatshirt you found have a missing drawstring?”

  “As a matter of fact it did.”

  “Someone planted it. I searched his drawers for a red sweatshirt. It was missing.”

  “Searched his…”

  “Enough about the murder,” said Emily, quickly changing the subject. “Here comes the food and I’m starving. Henry, tell them about our little discovery.”

  Henry, realizing they didn’t want to reveal that Coralee had let them into Robby’s room, said, “Dallas Peterkin was ripping out our old kitchen cabinets and found a silver box in the wall which contains a skeleton key, a playing card, and several envelopes sealed with wax imprinted with the letter F. My grandfather must have hidden it there. We opened the first one and it has a riddle.” Henry relayed the riddle.

  “A river,” said Pat.

  Henry was surprised. “That was quick.”

  “A river has a mouth but doesn’t talk and runs with no legs. Maybe there’s something at St. John’s river you’re supposed to find.”

  “That’s a bit vague. St. John’s river is miles long. And what’s with the card?”

  “When do you think the box was hidden?” asked Megan.

  “The cabin was built nearly a hundred years ago. The box had to have been sealed into the wall when those original cabinets were put in.”

  “That was right around the time of the Great Depression.”

  “Weren’t people like hoarding their money back then?” said Maddy.

  “If he was hoarding money, why wouldn’t he have hidden the money in the box rather than leaving those vague clues?” Emily wiped sauce from her mouth. Mysteries seemed to find her like mosquitos buzzing around porch lights at dusk.

  While working on dessert, Dan Fischer came in with a pretty young date. Emily whispered to Megan, “She looks like she’s twelve.”

  “Hey, don’t we see enough of each other at work?” said Dan to the group. He hugged the young girl like a hard-won trophy.

  “Who’s your lady friend?” said Emily.

  “This is Elsie. She’s a nanny, here for the summer.”

  The girl, who looked slightly older than Maddy, said with a heavy accent, “It’s Elsa. I live in Germany but want to see New England. I applied with agency and they found me this work, I mean job.”

  “Elsie babysits for the children in the cabin next door to me.” Dan put his arm around the fair-skinned, rosy-cheeked, beauty. Emily couldn’t fathom what the two of them had in common. Did he just squeeze her boob?

  “So is this the lawyer you were telling me about?”

  “Yeah. Dan, this is Jonathan Stirling. Jonathan, Dan.”

  Dan said, “That poor kid’s going to need a lot of help getting out of this one. Do you have a defense lined up?”

  Jonathan sipped his coffee. “We’re working on it.”

  “I heard they found his sweatshirt on the bike path. You know, I saw him and Damari together earlier that day. He was eating a hotdog.”

  “I’ll put the pieces together and, rest assured, Robby Birchfield will have the best defense possible.”

  The hostess, who’d been waiting patiently, started walking toward a table, menus in hand.

  “That’s our cue. See you at the hospital, Henry. Enjoy your evening.” Elsa waved a shy goodbye as they followed the waitress.

  “That’s disgusting,” said Maddy. “That girl is young enough to be his daughter.”

  Emily agreed, happy to know Maddy found the age difference to be inappropriate.

  “Does the whole town know all the details of the case?” asked Jonathan.

  “It’s a small town and people talk,” said Emily.

  A scream. From the far corner of the room. Li Min standing, cursing at Dan.

  “You quack! You said we’d have our baby. We paid you. You promised!” Li Min picked up a glass of something and threw it at Dan. “No wonder Damari dumped you.”

  Shen put his arms on his wife’s shoulders and calmly but firmly said, “You’ll pay for this Doctor Fischer. That was our life’s savings, and you’ve broken my wife’s heart.”

  Dan wiped his face with the cloth napkin and blotted at his shirt. “There are no guarantees. I told you your uterus was incompetent.”

  The comment was like throwing oil on the fire of Li Min’s anger. “Damari was right about you. She figured you out pretty quickly.”

  Shen grabbed his wife’s wrist as she was about to crack a plate over Dan’s head. “Come on, let’s get out of here. He’s not worth going to jail over.”

  Shen led his wife out of the dining room, clutching her hand as they made their way past staring diners. Now, Li Min was sobbing as they passed Emily and Henry’s table. Elsa, the German nanny, slapped Dan across the face after he whispered something in her ear. Emily could only imagine what insensitive comment he’d made. Elsa stormed out after Li Min and Shen.

  Jonathan said, “I misread this as a quiet little town.”

  Emily said, “That was so strange. I saw Li Min earlier today and she was all smiles—convinced she was pregnant. I didn’t know the hospital had an infertility clinic.”

  “We don’t,” said Henry. “Anyone with serious infertility issues is referr
ed to the program in Burlington. It’s top notch. I can’t imagine why they didn’t go there.”

  Maddy said, “What did she mean saying Damari was right about him? Were they dating?”

  “No, just colleagues as far as I knew. Megan, did Dan say he and Damari were friends?”

  “Just that he knew her as the receptionist in the emergency room. Li Min didn’t bring up any relationship between the two when I interviewed her. I’m not sure what the comment meant, if anything.”

  Maddy said to Megan, “Maybe instead of making a case against Robby, you should look more closely at that Dr. Fischer. He seems to like them young and he has gray hair.”

  Chapter 13

  Maddy carried her laptop into the kitchen the next morning while Emily and Henry ate breakfast. Henry was engrossed in his Sudoku, and Emily tore out coupons from the paper.

  “There’s fresh oatmeal on the stove.”

  Maddy seemed not to have heard Emily, launching into her news.

  “Look, there’s another post from that girl. She says she’s going to end it all and can’t take it anymore. We can’t let that happen.”

  “Megan said they can’t trace the post. She hasn’t made a threat to society or committed a crime. It’s really tragic, but I don’t know what to do. Did you suggest counseling?”

  Maddy gave her a look. “Counseling? What, on-line? Or maybe she could skype with Dr. Phil.”

  “You don’t have to be sarcastic. I’m trying to think of something.”

  Henry said, “There’s a suicide hotline at the hospital. Why don’t you post the number?”

  “I’m going to private message her and see if she answers.” She typed a message, then ladled oatmeal into a Styrofoam bowl.

  “I don’t know why you bought these. You know they’ll wind up in a landfill.”

  Emily was tired of the endless criticisms. “It’s just while the kitchen is being remodeled.”

  “What about following up on that Dr. Fischer?”

  Henry said, “I’ll stop by and have a talk with Dan when I get to the hospital.”

  “He’s not going to tell you the truth if he was seeing Damari. Even if he didn’t kill her, why would he admit to having a relationship and make himself a suspect?”

  Emily, admiring Maddy’s pragmatism, grabbed a glass of juice. “I have a better idea. We can stop by Rebecca and Abby’s place. Rebecca is a whiz at this sort of thing. She might find a connection between the two of them.”

  Maddy said, “While we’re at it, how about the infertility business that Li Min was so upset about. I think there’s more to that story.”

  “I was going to ask him about that when I see him.” Henry looked at the rooster clock. “As a matter of fact, I need to get going. I’ll talk to him first thing.”

  Henry grabbed his briefcase and kissed Emily good-bye. On the way to the hospital, he sorted out what he knew about Dan Fischer. Dan was about his age and had been an ob-gyn back in California before coming to Vermont. He mentioned an ex-wife once, but never talked about her. As far as he knew, he didn’t have children. He was a bit of a charmer. When he thought about it, Dan didn’t hesitate to give hugs or kiss his patients on the cheek. Was he acting fatherly, or was it something else?

  He jumped out of the Jeep at the same time Pat pulled into the parking lot.

  “Hey, buddy. That was quite a scene last night. Megan says she’s going to look into the whole connection between Damari and Dan.”

  “She thinks what Li Min said is valid?”

  “Not really. She thinks Li Min probably just blurted out the comment about Damari in anger, but they have to follow up on it.”

  “Have you noticed how Dan always puts his arm around the nurses when he talks to them?”

  “I think it’s just his personality.”

  “I didn’t know he was some kind of infertility guru, did you?”

  “No, but down in the morgue, I’m not as privy to that sort of info as those upstairs. Wait. This is probably nothing, but…”

  “Spit it out. What?”

  “Right after Christmas I did an autopsy on a young girl who died from an overdose of infertility hormones. The husband said she never sought help from an infertility clinic.”

  “Did the records say she was Dan Fischer’s patient?”

  “No. Her primary care doctor was all that was listed, and her husband confirmed she didn’t have an ob-gyn. He was rather tight-lipped about the whole thing which I thought at the time seemed strange.”

  “Did you call in the police?”

  “No. I had no reason to think a crime had been committed. Figured she misjudged the dosage—or her husband did when he went to give her a shot. In the back of my mind, I thought that’s why the husband seemed weird. Anyhow, I went off on vacation right after that and didn’t give it another thought.”

  “Can you access her medical records?”

  Pat punched a few keys on his computer. “Give me a minute.” He clicked more keys. “This is strange. I can’t find her records.”

  “Do you have the name right?”

  “Yeah. Her name was Sunshine Blue. I remember thinking it sounding like something Beyoncé would name her kid. Look, I still have it in my rolodex.”

  “Rolodex?”

  “What can I say. I’m an old-fashioned kind of guy. It’s handier than going through medical records for contact info on the rare occasions I need it.” He pulled out the card. “See.”

  Henry looked at the card, then sat at the computer. “Let me try.” He tried alternate spellings, but still nothing.

  “You couldn’t find it either, right?”

  “It’s not even been a year. I’m sure the records should still be on file. Maybe we can check with her primary care doctor. Do you know who it was?”

  “No, but there are only two in this town. We can ask them.”

  Pat locked his door and they rode the elevator to the main floor. One of the two doctors was on duty. He was sitting behind the desk doing paperwork.

  “Jack, do you have a minute?” asked Henry.

  “What’s up Henry? Pat, why are you up here? I swear I didn’t kill anybody lately.”

  Henry said, “We had some questions about a patient and Pat says she only listed a primary care doctor.”

  “I can’t remember which of the two of you she listed. Do you remember a patient named Sunshine Blue?” Pat half-sat on the desk as he spoke.

  “No. I would have remembered a name like that. Why don’t you look up her records?”

  “They seem to have disappeared,” said Pat.

  “Can’t you call her and ask?”

  “No, she died last winter. I did the autopsy.”

  “Sorry I can’t help. I’d have remembered a patient who died. Doesn’t happen every day you know.”

  Henry and Pat thanked the doctor, and went to Henry’s office. According to one of the nurses, the other primary care doctor, Dr. Madison Pollack, had an office in town, Henry picked up the phone.

  “Hello, this is Dr. Henry Fox. I need to speak with Dr. Pollack, ugh, regarding a case.” He waited while the receptionist got her. “Dr. Pollack, do you remember a patient named Sunshine Blue?” He cupped the receiver and whispered to Pat, “She doesn’t think so, but she’s checking the computer.” A few minutes later, she was back on the line. “You didn’t? Thank you for your time.”

  “I take it that was a no,” said Pat.

  “Yeah. She even checked the records. She said sometimes she’ll only see a patient once and they list her as their doctor. That wasn’t the case this time.”

  “Should we ask Doctor Dan about her?”

  “I’m not sure that’s the route to take. If he is running some sort of sketchy infertility clinic, let’s not tip him off.”

  “You want to call Megan?”

  “Not until we investigate a bit ourselves. I don’t want her to think we’re pulling things out of thin air. I wonder if we can get a look at Dr. Dan’s files.”


  “You think he’d be dumb enough to have kept them?”

  “They aren’t in the system, but if he’s treating infertility, he has to be keeping records on his patients somewhere.” Pat was silent for several minutes. Henry knew he was formulating a plan. “How about you distract him. Get him out of his office quickly, so he doesn’t lock up, and I’ll sneak in and search.”

  “We can give it a shot, but I can’t believe he’d leave those sorts of records easily accessible.”

  After discussing a plan, Pat hid against the wall around the corner from Dan’s office, while Henry went inside.

  “Dan, come quick. There’s a woman in the ER in labor big time. I think the baby’s coming any minute now! Come on.” Henry and Dan ran down the hall to the elevator. When the elevator bell rang, Pat snuck into the office. He searched through the files in Dan’s bottom drawer, and then the filing cabinet. Flipping through the first two drawers, he found dusty files packed tightly together. They were coded according to hospital protocol. The third drawer, however, was locked. He tried to jimmy it, to no avail, kicked it, then snuck back out before Henry returned with Dan.

  “Henry, she couldn’t have gone far. You sure she was that close to giving birth? Why would she have left, that’s crazy.”

  “I don’t know. She was upset and screaming. Her husband was with her. Maybe when I went to fetch you, they got fed up and went elsewhere. Seemed imminent, but then again, I haven’t delivered a baby since med school.”

  “Like where would they go? There’s not another hospital for miles. Maybe we should call the police. If you’re right, she’s probably having that baby on the side of the road somewhere.”

  Like divine intervention, the loudspeaker echoed in the hall. “Dr. Fischer, you’re needed in labor and delivery, stat.”

  “I’ve gotta go. I’d follow up if I were you.”

  After Dan took off down the hall, Pat grabbed Henry’s arm. “There’s a locked drawer in his filing cabinet. I’ll bet he’s got records in there.”

  “Then it’s time to tell your girlfriend to get a search warrant.”

  “I’m sure my hunch isn’t enough for a warrant, but I’ll tell her what we learned. See you later, Sherlock.”