“With a live birth certificate and a similar name, I’m sure it was easy for you to set up your deceased brother’s identity to start and bankrupt multiple businesses without a second glance.”
“What do you want?”
“Just answers. I’m just curious about you. Let’s share coffee and war stories, Mr. Fowler. It seems we’ve both been through a lot recently. I’m simply looking for a connection.” I offered my cup to toast. He softened and tapped his cup to mine with a nod. We sipped our coffee, and I smiled warmly, but he didn’t. In fact, he twisted his mouth up into a sour face.
“Why do you care?”
“I don’t have many friends, Jim. I tried to connect with Ben, but he didn’t understand me. Since it was you, posing as your brother, who obviously went through such difficult times, I thought you could help me get through, um, what I’m going through.”
He took another sip of his coffee, a large gulp, then set it down with a displeased look on his face.
“So, is it true? Did you pose as your brother to invest in The Village’s new construction project?” I reached across the desk and touched his hand, softly running my polished fingernails over his skin.
“Yes,” he clipped out.
“They bankrupted you.”
“Yes.”
“Your wife left,” I continued. He closed his eyes as I stood up, made my way around the desk, and began massaging his shoulders. “She abandoned you when you needed her the most.”
“Yes.”
“I know how it feels.” I leaned down, whispering in his ear. “Ben left me too.”
“I don’t know what you ever saw in him. You’re so beautiful,” he said as I began rubbing his chest and arms.
“I could really use a friend right now. Do you think we could be friends?” I asked suggestively.
“Of course.”
“Show me,” I said. He stood up and reached for me, but I stepped back. “Not here. They just finished installing some equipment in the new wing for radiology. Personnel hasn’t moved over there yet, so it’s still empty. Grab your coffee. I don’t like to drink alone.” I gave him a lopsided grin. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 17
Mr. Jim Fowler, director of emergency services at ATL Regional hospital, aka Jimmy Fowler, owner of Fowler Construction, amongst other failed business ventures, eagerly and discreetly followed me down to the empty east wing of the basement level. I was glad. I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done if he hadn’t taken the bait, although I was pretty sure he would since he’d been stalking me anyway. Ben had tipped me off to that fact when he told me Fowler knew my address.
Truth, I thought, the kind that ran this deep, would be revealed only under distress. And I wasn’t going to do anything to tarnish a man’s name without knowing the real truth for sure. Just because he’d lied about his identity, it didn’t prove he was the rapist.
When we got to radiology, I took his hand and led him to the table in the brand-new MRI suite. He set his coffee down, grabbed my waist, and lifted me onto the table. I played along, yelping in excitement. When he leaned in to kiss me, I turned my head.
“Come on, sweet tits, don’t tease me.”
I cocked my head to the side. I hadn’t anticipated him making it so easy.
“What did you say?”
“I said, don’t tease me. Let me have you.” As disgusted as I was by him, I let him push into my leg, just to feel him. I needed to make sure.
Unlike Todd, he wasn’t erect. He was, as Abigail Lancaster had described when I examined her, “as flaccid as a rubber band.”
“Don’t I turn you on?” I asked.
“Of course. Just let me… Bend over for me. I’m an ass man.”
“Hold that thought…” I sucked my finger and touched his bottom lip. “Let me grab something.”
“Whatever you need, sweet tits.” He slapped my ass when I walked away.
It was really like he was two different people dwelling in the same body. On one hand, he was kind, smart, and gently worded Mr. Jim Fowler. The boss who I’d come to respect quickly for the way he treated his employees. On the other hand, he was vulgar, disgusting, and disrespectful as all get out.
Which side was real?
At this point, it didn’t matter. He’d done what he’d done. He’d raped countless women. My hunch told me the only reason he’d stopped was because he’d found his scapegoat in Todd. But would that stop him forever? Doubtful.
As I walked out of the suite, I locked the door from the outside. I watched through Plexiglas as he turned to look at the door then me with shock written all over his face. That softened into concern. He was mouthing, “What are you doing?” but I couldn’t hear him.
I turned on the speaker and pressed the button to talk.
“You’ve been a bad boy, haven’t you, Jimmy?”
He smiled. He thought I was playing some kind of sex game, I guess. “Yeah,” he said. “Are you going to dole out a punishment?”
“Do you want me to?” I smiled. “I will let you decide.”
“Yeah, baby.”
“Okay, but first, will you answer one question for me?”
“Whatever you want.”
“There’s one thing I never could understand. I know you started in The Village as a copycat after Todd Morris raped Jamie Phillips. You saw an opportunity to make those people pay for what they’d done to you, and to assert yourself as a man. You haven’t felt like a man in a long time, have you, Jim?” He was mouthing all kinds of stuff, but I had the button pressed. The speaker worked like a two-way radio, as long as I held the button, I was the only one being heard. “Anyway, all of that was clear right away. But what happened to make you start targeting women outside The Village? Did you decide to venture out? The women of The Village weren’t enough for you anymore? Or did you just enjoy raping women so much that you didn’t care about the reason you started? You just had to get it where you could? At first, I figured you were just trying to throw off the cops, but now that I know you better, I think it was the latter.”
I laughed when he flipped me the bird.
“Your turn to talk now, Mr. Fowler.”
“Screw you.”
“That’s not very nice. I know you did it. I know you’re The Village Rapist and you’re letting Todd Morris take the rap. I know everything.”
“If that were true, there would be a third party involved in this conversation: the police. I’m done playing. Now let me out before I call security.”
I laughed. “Call them.” He pulled a cell phone from his pocket and began pacing the room, trying to get a signal. “All of the lead-lined walls down here really suck for cell phones. I mean, just because this room isn’t lead lined doesn’t mean all the other ones aren’t. It’s a regulation radiology department. The lead protects passersby from being irradiated.”
“Shut up and let me out!”
“Do you know why this room is the only one in the department that isn’t lined with lead?” I asked, but he just stood there not willing to participate. “I can tell you’re dying to know, so I will tell you. MRIs don’t emit radiation the way CT scanners and X-ray machines do. Instead, an MRI machine uses a very, very, very strong magnet to produce images. When the magnet is off, like it is now, it’s harmless. But when it’s on, well, it can literally pull a nail from a board. Isn’t science fun?”
“What are we doing down here, Dr. Drake? What’s the point of all of this? You are making very serious accusations, without any proof.”
“That’s true. That’s the purpose of this, Jimmy, Jim, Jim. You’re a dirtbag. You did rape those women. I know it. You brought me down here to have sex with me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but you were throwing yourself at me! I would hardly call that rape.”
“You called me sweet tits, and you couldn’t get it up. Both of those things are The Village Rapist’s signature moves.”
“I hope Todd fucked you so hard that you’ll be feeling his cock for
years!”
“Oh, there you are! You really should get some help with this whole split personality act you’re putting on.”
“You’re right,” he said. “You are. I need help. Call the psych ward and get me a bed. I will tell them everything.”
“Yeah…no. No, thanks. You don’t deserve to work the system. Besides, you asked for this.”
“What?”
“Punishment.”
“No. What are you going to do?”
“I’m just going to make you finish your coffee.”
“I knew it tasted like ass. What? Is it drugged or something?”
“Or something.” I shrugged, indifferent. “Drink it and I’ll leave.”
He chugged it. “Now open up.”
“I didn’t say I would let you out.” I laughed. “I said I would leave.” I looked at my watch. “Oh, I do really have to run. I have a plane to catch. Someone will find you eventually. You were right. Your coffee was tampered with. I stirred in some ferrofluid.”
“What’s that?” he shouted, beating on the glass.
“Liquid metal. Highly magnetic.”
I saw realization dawn on his face just before I flipped the magnet on and unlocked the door. I could hear faint screams as I walked away. I didn’t want to watch. I wasn’t a sadist. Just someone who wanted peace for those who felt like I did. My attacker would never meet adequate punishment in my eyes, but the women Mr. Fowler had raped would have justice.
As for me, I had a new life to start living. I dropped variously addressed note cards in the freestanding mailbox in the center of the city. I even sent one to Jamie when I found out where she’d moved. They all said the same thing: Justice has been served. They could believe it or not. I’d done my part. I’d gone to great lengths to make sure nothing would be traced back to me, and Todd would be put away for a long time, after he pled no contest in Jamie’s and my case. Since most of the women believed that Todd was responsible for their attacks, they believed justice had been served and were grateful not to have to testify.
Like I’d done for her, Larissa came to my side after my ordeal with Todd had come to light. She, like many, thought he was responsible for her attack. She trusted me when I told her she would never have to face her attacker again. She believed me when I told her it was over. With her help, I planned to start over. She didn’t ask any questions when I asked for seed money to start over, nor did she expect a return. I don’t know why she helped me, but she did. After she wrote me that check, she went on living her life, and I went on living mine, no questions asked.
It took about a week for Mr. Fowler’s body to be discovered, along with the typed suicide note that would confirm he’d purchased and willingly drank the ferrofluid before walking into a magnetic field so strong it pulled the liquid metal right out of him. That was when his admission of The Village rapes came to light, his guilt leading him to take his own life in such a gruesome and dramatic fashion that would make national headlines. After that, his victims were truly at peace.
By the time all of that was put to bed, I was beginning again, in a new city far from there. A place where perhaps I would never feel the security I’d felt before my brief stint in Atlanta, but it was a place I planned to call home.
The End.
I hope you enjoyed reading my book. If you did and would like to continue the series, book 2 is available for preorder by clicking HERE and will be available January 2017.
Hollywood Series
Love Reconnected (Book 1)
Love Ignited (Book 2)
Love United Book 3)
Aubrey Drake Series
Do No Harm (Book 1)
In Harm’s Way (Book 2)
About the Author
Avery Michaels is a novelist and college instructor. When she’s not writing she can be found chasing her son and her gigantic dogs around her hometown of Trussville, Alabama. She’s also a car dancing enthusiast and master at can’t-carry-a-tune karaoke. You can follow her shenanigans on Twitter @averymichaels_ or visit her website: www.averymichaelsbooks.wixsite.com/averymichaels.
Do No Harm (Dr. Aubrey Drake #1) Page 11
