“Have you had the baby checked? How far along are you?”
“I haven’t had the baby checked. The conception date seems obvious, but I haven’t figured out my due date. I’m not ready yet.” She pulled her hair from her eyes. “What are you going to do about Drake?”
“We’ll bring in the rest of the victims and see if they can ID him as well. Get a DNA specimen of course, but it will take some time before we get those results.”
“Are you letting him go?”
“I don’t know. If enough of the victims say he’s the guy, we’ll have enough to get an arrest warrant signed. But in order to get a conviction, we’re probably going to need DNA from this baby to establish paternity.”
“I don’t think you’re going to need it.”
“Why?”
“The patient we were all caring for. I think he raped her, too.”
“What makes you say that?’”
“I don’t think she recognized him, but she was fearful of him.”
“Maybe she just had a fear of men in general. That’s common after rape.”
Lilly leaned forward, “The patient said she was twenty-eight weeks pregnant. When he did the ultrasound, he said she was only twenty weeks.”
“What difference does that make?”
“Every woman knows when she is due,” Lilly pressed.
“When are you due?” Nathan folded his hands.
Lilly punched her fists into the table. “What is wrong with you! This is you trying to help me?”
“I’m sorry. I’m playing devil’s advocate. Not all your observations are absolute.”
“Twenty weeks is considered a nonviable fetus. The cutoff for viability is generally twenty-four weeks. At that gestational age, we would try to take the baby if the mother was in distress. Maybe even a few weeks shy of that we would try. But there’s no way anyone would grab a baby at twenty weeks if the mother was dying.”
Nathan waited as Lilly drew breath, collecting her thoughts. She placed the palms of her hands together and pointed her fingers at him.
“He underestimated the age so we wouldn’t grab the baby. He didn’t want it to live. It’s his MO to kill his offspring. Can’t we remember Torrence being run off the road?”
“Lilly, there are several problems with this. First, you assume he knew she was going to kill herself in the ER and he was setting up a reason to let the baby die as well. He may be a criminal, but I doubt he’s a psychic.”
“I think he recognized her and was going to use the advantage of the hospitalization to take her out anyway. Having it documented in her chart that she had a nonviable fetus, no one would have attempted a C-section.”
“I think it’s a stretch, Lilly. Secondly, the patient’s accusation of rape is essentially an unreported event.”
“She reported it to me.”
“But not to the police. And her reporting it to you is not going to hold credence with any judge. You’re claiming this man raped you; you want him in jail; you’ll say anything to get him there. It creates an obvious conflict of interest—a victim in a profession with a duty to report. Besides, what she said to you is hearsay, and she obviously won’t be around to testify. These are two major problems that a defense attorney will have a field day with.”
“I wouldn’t lie.”
“I’m not saying you’re lying, but a judge will need more.”
“I’m telling you Nathan, he raped that woman. That is his baby.”
Nathan slumped in his chair. “Brett’s already made a few phone calls to the patient’s family.”
“And?”
“The problem is she not only didn’t report it to the police, she never confessed this crime to anyone else; not her parents, not her sister, not even her husband. The family was fairly stunned to hear of her suicide. They think the baby is her husband’s child. He’s not claiming otherwise.”
“Nathan! It is Drake’s—”
“Lilly, we can’t go down this path.”
She buried her face in her hands. “He touched me.”
He reached out to her and laid his hand on her shoulder, relieved she didn’t push him away. “I know, Lilly.”
She looked up and grabbed his arm. “No, today. He rested his filthy fingers on my stomach and commented about how he had another child on the way.”
Nathan’s heart hammered with adrenaline-laced fear that his next words would cause any trust she had in him to disappear. “Do you think anyone else can verify that statement?”
Lilly’s face was resigned, almost hopeless and she pulled her hand back.
He could see her bold facade start to fracture and her lower eyelids began to fill. “We’re going to have to use the other women. It shouldn’t be hard. After all, we do have a sample of his DNA from several victims.”
“Something tells me that’s not going to be enough.”
“We’ll have to wait and see. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to charge you for hitting him. Luckily, it’s a misdemeanor assault, and I can give you this summons rather than booking you into jail. You have to sign it as a promise to appear in court. If you don’t, you’ll be placed in lockup. So sign this and make sure you show up.”
Nathan slid the summons toward her. The look of betrayal in her blue eyes sunk his soul with despair. Lilly pulled it with her index finger and scanned it. He handed her a pen, and she took it and signed, sliding them both back to Nathan. He tore off the defendant’s copy. She took it, folded it without looking, and placed it in the splotched red pocket of her lab coat.
“Just so I can clarify, I’m getting a ticket, and he’s going to walk.”
“At least you didn’t break his jaw. Then it would be a felony and you’d be spending the night with us.”
“Can I go now?” Lilly asked, standing from the other side of the table.
Nathan’s throat dried as he watched her readjust her shirt over her expanding belly. There were so many things he wanted to say, but any expression of them would come across as weak. He stood as well. “Lilly, what can I do to help you?”
“You can make sure Drake Maguire gets the electric chair.” She pushed past him and left.
Chapter 26
“SO ARE WE GOING to play this good cop, bad cop?” Brett asked as Nathan returned to the monitoring room.
“Absolutely not. We’re going to play this bad cop and on-the-verge-of-homicidal-maniac cop. You get to play bad cop.”
“But you know I love the maniacal, homicidal role better.”
“Let’s just do it cleanly. The last thing we need is this guy on the streets because we screw up. Lilly is convinced that her suicidal patient was one of his victims.”
“Just that we’ll never be able to prove it.” Brett laid his hand on the two-way glass and drummed his fingers.
Nathan leaned into the wall. “If Lilly’s right, don’t you think it’s odd to have so many pregnant victims? I mean: Torrence, Lilly, this patient—three altogether.”
“Does seem high.”
“So either he has intimate knowledge of these women and their cycles, which would be feasible being an OB, or he is victimizing a lot more women than we know about.”
“Not good options, either way. A doctor in betrayal of the public trust or one of the worst serial rapists this department’s encountered.” Brett slapped the glass. “Since he’s not under arrest, I didn’t Mirandize him. I did ask if he wanted to call anyone, and he refused.”
“No request for a lawyer?”
“None.”
“Well, let’s see what Dr. Maguire has to say about this whole situation.”
Nathan allowed Brett to enter the room first. Brett took the single chair in front of Drake as Nathan hovered in the corner, searching the doctor’s physical features for anything that would betray the evil within him. The diatribe of tall, dark, and handsome fit him to a tee. His hair was dark chocolate. The eyes off-putting at first: one blue, one brown. But the longer you looked, the more intriguing they
seemed. The gym might be his second home as he was physically strong, well defined, and his posture expressed confidence. He was well groomed, and taking into account the earlier incident, he was dressed decently and had smoothed down his hair during his wait. Being a doctor, Drake made more money than Nathan did, which usually made up for every other shortcoming a woman might find fault with. He couldn’t fathom Drake having difficulty getting a date.
But then rape was never really about that anyway.
Yet, he’s chosen this path, and I have to figure out why so I can keep him from doing it again.
“Dr. Maguire. How are you doing? Is there anything we can get for you?” Brett offered. Nathan popped an antacid to keep the bile in his throat at bay.
“I’m fine. Thank you.”
“I want to reiterate that you’re not under arrest, though there are some questions we’d like to go over with you. The more information we have, the more easily we can clear up this little misunderstanding you have with Dr. Reeves.”
“That’s trite. She accused me of raping her in front of the whole ER staff.”
“As I said, the more we know, the easier it will be to clear your name.”
“Did you charge her?”
“Dr. Reeves has been served a summons, and she was released. That’s common in an assault case such as yours.”
“Good, then I don’t see any other reason for me to be here. It’s clear I didn’t harm her in any way.”
“Not today at least,” Nathan said from his position in the corner.
“Not at any time.” Maguire sat taller in his chair, glaring at Nathan. He folded his arms in defiance. Nathan had seen thousands of these attempts to establish superiority. The chess game had begun, and it was going to go quick. Nathan had struck early.
“I know women like Dr. Reeves can sometimes say things when they’re confused, so any information you can provide will help us get you out of here,” Brett offered. Drake seemed to consider his options. “We will videotape this, but again, you’re not under arrest. Answer a few questions for us, and you’ll be out of here.”
“Whatever, let’s just get on with it.”
“How do you know Dr. Reeves?”
“She’s an ER physician, and we work together occasionally. I don’t know her personally.”
“How often do you see her?”
“Only when she calls us on consults.”
“Ever see her outside the hospital?”
“No.”
“Never? Not even on the sly? Maybe pass her by in the cafeteria? The grocery store?”
“Not that I remember.”
“So, you and Lilly never dated?”
“Never.”
“Why do you think she would accuse you of raping her? I mean, a man she’s merely an acquaintance with?”
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask her.”
“What’s your theory, Doctor?” Nathan asked, stepping closer to the table. “You must have some thoughts as to why she would do this.” Nathan knew posing a challenge to an intellectual would force him to say something. Drake wouldn’t play dumb. It would be too self-degrading.
“There have been rumors,” Drake offered.
“Of what?”
“Of the fact that she’s not necessarily the most stable personality.”
“In what way?” Nathan pulled up an extra chair and took a seat.
“That she’s been drinking, missing work.”
“Why would you care about hospital gossip? Aren’t you in nearly different worlds? How would you know that unless you were keeping tabs on her?” Nathan pressed.
“It came to mind after she right-hooked me in the ER.”
“This is confusing to me. Initially, she was trying to help you. Correct?” Brett asked.
“If that’s what you want to call laying me out with a punch to the jaw.”
“No,” Nathan corrected, jamming his index finger into the table, “According to Lilly, you had that girl’s blood in your eyes and she was trying to get it out. Can’t you catch some pretty nasty diseases from an exposure like that?”
“Yes, disease can be transmitted that way.”
“So, she was trying to help you.”
“Whatever you want to think.”
Brett leaned back, letting Nathan take the lead.
“Drake, did you have blood in your eyes from that patient?”
“Yes, but what does it matter?”
“This is where my confusion lies. Why would she initially be trying to help you, then suddenly, on the turn of a dime, have enough anger within her to punch you in the face?”
“Like I said, rumors have it that she’s not stable.”
“Lilly says while she was washing your eyes, your contacts fell out and she saw that your eyes were different colors. That’s one of the identifying marks of her rapist, an assault she reported to us several months ago.”
“I’m not the only man with eyes like this.”
“No, but you’re the first one I’ve ever seen. Must be pretty rare,” Brett said.
“I don’t know the statistics.”
“Why are they different colors?” Nathan asked.
“I don’t know. I was born with them this way.”
“But you’re not curious as to why? Being a doctor and all, you must have at least a few educated guesses,” Brett followed.
“It is what it is.”
Brett stood from the table, taking a position off to the side. Nathan inched closer to Drake. He was always drawing closer. His goal was to be inside Drake’s personal space, but he had to get there without him noticing, slowly over time. Move the chair an inch closer as you pretend to adjust your own position. Lean in and lean out, but lean in more and scoot forward just a bit. Subconsciously, Drake was backing up, trying to get away from the invasion of his personal sphere. There was little room for retreat in these interview rooms. Brett had already seated Drake in the back corner, opposite the door and the camera. None of this was by accident.
“Why do you hide them?” Nathan leaned in, making it appear that he wanted a closer look, but nudging forward to close in farther.
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you wear the colored contacts to hide them?”
“Every day I work with anxious, pregnant women. I got tired of repeating myself all the time because they were looking at my eyes and not hearing what I was saying.”
“So initially, you didn’t wear the contacts.”
“I can’t remember when I started wearing them.”
“Since you were a teenager?”
“No, it hasn’t been that long.”
There was a faint knock on the door, Nathan turned to see Brett step out.
“Where did you grow up?”
“That seems to be going a long way back for the incident today.”
“The more we know about you, the more we’ll know that you couldn’t possibly have done what Dr. Reeves says.”
Maguire scratched his arms before continuing on. “A small town outside of Las Vegas.”
“Did you go to school there?”
“Yes.”
“Public? Private?”
“Public.”
“You have parents?”
“Obviously.”
“Still living?”
“My mother, yes. My father, I don’t know.”
“Why don’t you tell me about that.”
He sighed. “It wasn’t a great childhood. My mother ran my father off when I was little.”
“Explain that more. What was going on in the house?”
“She was yelling all the time. Nothing was ever good enough for her. Everything had its place, its order. My father never earned enough money even though he worked all the time.”
“How old were you when he left?”
“Little … three, maybe four.”
“Do you know where he is now?
“I have no idea.”
“Are you still in touch with your
mother?”
“She comes here to visit every now and then.”
“When was the last time she was here?” Nathan asked.
“Honestly, I can’t remember.”
“Any siblings?”
“I have one brother.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“The only family you keep in touch with is your mother.”
A low, faint hum sounded. “Essentially.” Maguire looked down and glanced at his pager. “It’s the hospital. I’ll have to call in.”
“I’ll give you a few minutes.”
Nathan stepped out and paced in front of the two-way glass like a caged tiger wanting to devour the visitors on the other side. Brett approached him, a piece of paper secured in his hand. “We have the warrant to obtain DNA samples. Crime lab guy is on his way over.”
“I want you to call the OB unit. See who’s covering for him. I don’t want him to say he has to leave to take care of a patient.” Brett did as he was asked. Nathan continued his observation. Drake seemed calm and relaxed on the phone, unflustered to be sitting in a police interview room on suspicion of rape.
He has no concern about any of this.
“They say Kadin Daughtry is covering. He’s actually there now.”
“Good,” Nathan nodded, seeing Drake put his cell down. “Let me continue on my own. I know where I left off.”
Brett acquiesced, and Nathan stepped in. “Everything all right?” He closed the door behind him.
“Fine. How much longer are we going to be?”
“All depends on you. Let’s wrap up these questions, and we’ll see about getting you on your way. Why did you decide to become a doctor?”
“To help people.”
Nathan frowned. “You don’t seem to like women very much.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because you referred to your patients as anxious pregnant women. That’s derogatory.”
“For one, that’s a professional observation. Secondly, you can ask any OB to verify what I said.”
“What are some of your hobbies?”
“I don’t really have much extra time.”
“So you never have any fun? What do you do to relax? I’m sure the demands of your job can be stressful.”
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