Time for Raine

by C. Barry Denham

  On the day she was scheduled to leave for Atlanta, she arrived early at the office and found not only Connie at the reception desk, but a man in a dark suit sitting in the waiting room. In spite of his disarming smile, uneasiness surged as he stood to greet her. He approached with extended hand. Noelle glanced at Connie, who simply shrugged.

  “Dr. Victor, my name is Sanders. May I have a few moments of your time before your patients arrive?”

  “And this would be concerning…?”

  Sanders looked at her, then Connie, and plastered another smile on his face. “It’s a private matter.”

  “Then you’ll have to make an appointment.” Noelle moved toward her office.

  “Dr. Victor, I’m not selling anything, and I’m not in need of a psychologist—well, at least not for treatment.” He shook his head. “Although my wife might question the latter claim. Let’s just say this is a matter of utmost importance concerning your recent visit to New York.”

  Was something wrong with Sean or Raine? “What do mean, my visit to New York?”

  “Dr. Victor, there’s no need for alarm. If you would allow me a few minutes of your time, I am sure you will understand why I’m here.”

  Noelle hesitated for a moment and then pointed to the door to her office.

  She followed him in, closed the door, and indicated a seat. Sanders stood in front of it and waited for her to walk around her desk to her chair before sitting. She took a deep breath and gave him her full attention.

  “Dr. Victor, I am with the National Security Agency in Washington, DC. Yesterday our office was made aware of an incident that occurred at Global Studios, an incident between one of your patients and Senator Charles Blane, the Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. I understand you were also present later that day, when FBI agents interviewed your patient?”

  “Mr. Sanders, as you must be aware, I am not at liberty to discuss anything to do with any of my patients.”

  “Dr. Victor, let’s cut to the chase, shall we? As you may or may not be aware, I have the authority under legislative law to exempt you and me from patient privilege or any other HIPAA requirement you are referring to in matters concerning national security.”

  “National security? What are you talking about?”

  “Dr. Victor, I assure you that it is essential you cooperate with me concerning—”

  “And I can assure you, Mr. Sanders, I am not discussing this matter for a minute more without first talking with my patient’s father and an attorney.” She reached for her intercom button.

  “Dr. Victor, you will most definitely get your chance to speak with Mr. Sampson. And an attorney, if you so desire.”

  Noelle froze. She frowned and gave Sanders an inquisitive look.

  “Please forgive me. I should have clarified my intentions. I am here today to escort you to Washington. As we speak there is a plane waiting for us. Mr. Sampson and Raine are in Washington, awaiting your arrival. Mr. Sampson specifically asked for your presence during our further interrogation—”

  “Interrogation?”

  Sanders’s face reddened. He took out a handkerchief and wiped sweat from his brow. He took a deep breath and stuffed the handkerchief back into his jacket pocket. “Dr. Victor, I have spent the last thirty-six hours with a team of financial experts and mathematical statisticians—some of the best in the nation—trying to reconstruct the logic your three-year-old patient gave to the FBI agents in her attempts to explain how Senator Blane allegedly pulled off the most intricate scam of taxpayer dollars in the history of Washington. And quite candidly, Doctor, in spite of all you may have heard about layers of oversight in Washington, to supposedly be able to pull something like this off is quite a feat in itself. A few hours ago this team was able to figure out what your young patient learned after mere minutes of research on the web and her review of intricate government forms. The fact she was able to access those forms, in itself, is an intriguing mystery to a lot of people, including myself.”

  “Look, Mr. Sanders. I’m glad they figured it all out. But I fail to see what this has to do with me or my patient, and why the urgency to disrupt my schedule as well as the schedule of my patients, not to mention her father’s life? Soon, I will have a waiting room full of other patients.”

  Sanders’s face grew red, and he stood, leaning over her desk.

  “Dr. Victor, if a three-year-old, in a few minutes, I might add, can ascertain this much about the United States Senate and its dealings through the Internet, then somebody else is bound to figure out a way to use that expertise to compromise and damage the security of our country.”

  “You still have not answered my question of how I fit in.”

  “It’s very simple, Dr. Victor,” Sanders said, rubbing his eyes once again. “We need to know as much as possible about your patient, her—for lack of a better word—condition, how she knows what she knows, essentially everything about her, down to her favorite color, if you will. Please, I implore you; don’t make me force your cooperation, Dr. Victor. And believe me, I can accomplish that in mere minutes. We must have your cooperation, and we must have it now. Please save us both a lot of headache and red tape and cooperate.”

  She hesitated, rubbed her hands together, and then reached again for the intercom.

  “Let me get my office manager to reschedule my appointments—”

  “We’ve arranged for that.”

  “You’ve what? How—”

  “Dr. Victor, in about ten minutes Dr. Andrews from our DC office, an expert in child psychology, will walk through the door and begin reviewing your patient files on schedule for today. And let me ward off your concern.” He held a hand up. “He has the security clearance to do that. You need only to have your office manager gather the files for him to review.”

  After a moment, she took a deep breath. “Okay, where do we start?”

  “We start by getting your suitcase. You can brief us on the plane.”

  “There’s no need to go to my apartment.”

  Sanders wore a smirk on his face and shook his head.

  “I was planning on joining Sean…Mr. Sampson—”

  “Forgive me, Dr. Victor, but there’s no need to play games. We know about your relationship with Mr. Sampson.”

  “What relationship? What do you mean?”

  “Dr. Victor, we have about six hundred photographs of you, Mr. Sampson, and his daughter, taken all over New York City. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that you two are…shall we say, enamored with each other.”

  “Are you saying we were followed?”

  “As I said, this is a matter of national security.”

  “So you know I was planning to join Mr.—Sean and Raine in Atlanta for her interview with World News?”

  “If you’re referring to the dark green suitcase in the trunk of your car, yes, we know you are packed and ready to meet up with the Sampsons.”

  “Is there anything you don’t know about me, Sanders?”

  Sanders stifled a yawn and then fought off a smile. “Not much, Dr. Victor,” he admitted, looking at his watch. “Not much at all.”

  ****

  An hour into the flight the panel of experts continued to fire questions at her via a large TV screen attached to the bulkhead of cockpit area.

  Her patience was wearing thin.

  “Doctor Victor, does the child display any signs of malevolent behavior?” The question came from one of the suits. Either the color balance was questionable, or the man was an immediate candidate for a stroke or heart attack. His face glimmered as the teleconference camera zoomed in. The placard in front of him indicated his name, followed by a string of letters depicting a variety of degrees.

  “Dr. Vance, if you read my notes in Miss Sampson’s file, which all of you have in front of you, you would find there is no need for that question. Miss Sampson is one of the most nonaggressive children I’ve had the pleasure to evaluate.”

  Another woman in business suit s
poke up. The camera panned to her mid-sentence. “Dr. Victor, we should keep our personal opinions at bay and stick to the facts.”

  A flash of anger overtook Noelle. She stood and moved closer to the camera in front of her seat. “How dare you imply my professional opinion is tainted in any way whatsoever!”

  “Now, Dr. Victor,” Sanders said. “I’m sure Dr. Wade didn’t intend for her question to insinuate any impropriety concerning your patient. Isn’t that right, Dr. Wade?”

  Silence prevailed. Assisting in matters of national security was one thing. Taking insults was another.

  The plane soon landed at Dulles, and Noelle was still seething from the confrontation with the so-called experts. She stepped into a waiting car, which took her to a military-like complex not far from the airport. She was taken to a room with sparse but comfortable furnishings and was told Sean and Raine would be joining her momentarily. In a few minutes, Sean walked in alone. She stood to greet him, happy to be close to him again. As he drew near, his expression said it all. His body was stiff, and the warmth in his expression she remembered from a few days ago was gone. His expression was cold, and he looked through her, refusing to make eye contact.

  The tension was palpable as he closed the door behind him.

  “What did you tell them?” His voice was tired and angry.

  She didn’t know how to respond, searching for a reason for his curt behavior.

  “I thought you said you wanted to protect her.” His eyes were wild and desperate. “We trusted you. You’re a doctor—what about our rights to privacy?”

  “They told me—” She willed the tears away. It wasn’t what he was asking; it was how he asked it. Her heart broke at the piercing look he shot toward her. She wanted to tell him that they had confiscated Raine’s file, against her will, and there was nothing she could say that would not be covered in her many notes in the file. He simply didn’t give her a chance.

  “They told you that you could break the laws?” he shouted in a mocking, desperate tone. “And you believed them?”

  “They gave me no choice.”

  “Yeah, I see that.” His tone was filled with hateful sarcasm. “I see very clearly the choice you made.”

  He turned, walked out, and slammed the door behind him.

  So much for a joyful reunion. She stood there confused as the painful truth surfaced. From his viewpoint, she had fallen in a trap and betrayed them, two of the most important people in her life. She wanted to be anywhere else but there. If she could only turn back the clock. She took a deep breath and fought the tears valiantly. In the end, the situation was just too much.

  She wanted to die.

  Instead, she gave in and cried.

  ****

  “So, young lady,” said the woman with big teeth. Raine thought of the Big Bad Wolf. “As I understand it, you have a very special gift.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I guess so.”

  “I understand you sort of see things before they happen?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe kinda.”

  “Can you give me an example?”

  “Well, once I ate a lot of pancakes and beeped.”

  “Beeped?”

  “That’s what my Daddy calls burping and farting.”

  “I see.”

  Some other men and women in the room laughed. They sat at a table behind the lady.

  “So what happened when you…beeped?”

  Raine pointed to a large binder, which lay on a table behind them. “You already have all that in those notebooks.”

  The lady didn’t look like she felt so good. She turned around to the man who sat behind the stack of files. He nodded.

  “That man is going to tell you.” Raine pointed to the man.

  The teeth lady looked again at the man. He nodded once again and said, “It’s in there. Dr. Victor told us about the incident. Miss Sampson told her dad she knew he was going to tell her how belching—rather, beeping—was a compliment in China. In fact, he did say that to her later in their conversation.”

  “See?” Raine said. More people laughed. “He just told you.”

  “Yes, but—” The lady wasn’t smiling any more, although Raine could still see her teeth. “How did—Never mind. Let’s move on to the talk you had with the senator. You remember that, don’t you?”

  Raine nodded.

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I asked him if he was going to give the money back.”

  “And how did you know he had money that didn’t belong to him?”

  “Because my daddy was going to tell me he was a shady character. So I started looking for reasons why Daddy might say that.”

  “Because your daddy was going to tell you? Wait, honey, I don’t understand. When did your daddy say the senator was a shady character?”

  “Right after I talked to that bad man at the TV station.”

  “But you had already talked with the senator when your daddy said that, correct? When you talked to the senator, you had to have already known about the money. Your daddy didn’t say anything about the senator until after you confronted him, right? How did you know about the money if your daddy hadn’t clued you to his opinion that he was a shady character?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I’m sorry, sweetie. I don’t understand. Can you help me understand?”

  Raine shrugged.

  “Okay, well, let’s try something else. When did you look on the Internet and find out the senator allegedly took the money?”

  “He did take the money.”

  “Yes. Okay. When did you discover the money was missing?”

  “At home.”

  “You found out by looking on the Internet at home?”

  Raine nodded.

  “And when did this happen?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Was it after you got home from the TV interview?”

  “Duh,” Raine said, smiling. These people were silly.

  The lady with big teeth looked around at the other people. “Duh, what does that mean? Duh?”

  “I haven’t been home since the interview.”

  “Oh, I see. Then you made the discovery about the money while you were in the hotel before the TV interview?”

  “No, ma’am. I found out about the money while I was at home.”

  “But you said you haven’t been home since the interview?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The room got very quiet.

  “Are you saying you discovered the money was missing while at home before you went to New York for your interview? And as I understand it, you made the Internet search ahead of the time when your daddy said the senator was a shady character, not after?”

  Raine smiled and nodded. Finally, she got it.

  After that the lady with big teeth looked sick, like she might throw up. She left the room. She didn’t even ask to be excused. Another man from the table cleared his throat and walked over and sat in an empty chair across from Raine.

  “Hello, honey. My name is—”

  “Welks,” Raine said and laughed.

  “How did you know—?”

  Another man from the table laughed and interrupted, “She’s got your number, Welks, might as well sit down and let somebody else try.”

  Raine smirked. “I knew he was going to say that.”

  “Got me.” Welks smiled, but then shook his finger at Raine. “Let’s take another tack, shall we, Miss Sampson?”

  “Okay.”

  “Right now, at this particular time, do you know of any other money that’s missing, or any other bad man…or woman in the Senate? Or even in Washington?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Another lady at the table spoke next.

  “If we were to give you some names, could you tell us if there is anything…bad going on with those people?”

  “You can’t ask her that,” said a man in the corner of the room.

  “What are you doing, asking that kind o
f question?” asked another.

  Raine had enough of all the silly arguments. “I don’t know.”

  “Is there anything else you can tell us? About anyone in the government or anyone anywhere we should know about?”

  “Maybe some things I will tell them at the Congressional hearing.”

  “What Congressional hearing?” asked a new person, an older man sitting at one of the tables.

  “The one they will ask me to talk at.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What did, I mean what will they ask you?” So many people were talking now, she couldn’t tell who had asked what question.

  “Mostly stuff about reform and how to get stuff done. Oh, and how to get some laws passed so everybody doesn’t hate the people in Washington so much.”

  “Good luck with that,” someone at the long table said. This made a lot of people talk at once.

  She wanted to laugh at them. But Daddy wouldn’t approve.

  So she smiled and listened to all the crazy people talking at once.

  ****

  He should have known better. Why did he let himself be fooled? Noelle might as well have stabbed him in the chest. Why did he think she—or any other woman besides Patty—would want to protect his child? She didn’t know how it felt to lose somebody. Did she? How could Sean think she would? She hadn’t lost the one she loved. She had no clue what it was like to be helpless in preventing the one you love from being torn from you or how it was like losing part of your soul. He had let it happen once before, but by God he wasn’t letting it happen again.

  And then she goes and practically hands my daughter and everything she knows about her over to the Feds.

  And now his daughter was being interrogated. What did that mean?

  He paced back and forth in the room outside where Raine was being questioned. He clenched his fists and wanted to storm the room. He should take her away somewhere where no one could find them. But he had to keep his cool. He was all she had now, and he couldn’t afford to do something stupid and lose her, too. He wanted things to be like they were at Ono before all this happened. Raine was doing fine adjusting to life without her mother. It hadn’t seemed as if she needed anyone but him. And he was fine, too. He didn’t need anyone, especially someone who would fold at the first threat and fill the Feds full of ideas about her gift. Those clowns had no clue as to what was or was not a threat to national security. They especially didn’t know how this interrogation might damage his little girl.