“Hello, Damien.” He usually addressed me as Mr. Harrington, but just recently he had taken to referring to me by my first name. I guessed that meant that we were on a first name basis, so to speak. “And should I say, good evening?”
I sat down. “So what brings you here?”
“I was just going to check on you. I wanted to see how things are going with your new case. You have to understand, Silas is a close personal friend of mine. When he was accused of murder, he called me, and I informed him that you were the best attorney that they could possibly get for this case. I really do believe that Silas’ case will do wonders for your career.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Oh. So you’re the reason why Silas was so adamant about hiring me. Is that right?”
“Yes. I definitely insisted that you are the best person for this job, because I know that you’re going to be able to get to the bottom of what happened here. I have my suspicions. I’m sure you do too. But I have faith in you, faith that you will get past the falseness of what everybody believes about what happened, and get to the truth.”
I was surprised that Silas had a connection to Sargis, but I probably should not have been. After all, Silas was an international businessman who headquartered his firm out of Silicon Valley. Sargis was part of a family that ruled Southern California. I should not have been surprised that their paths might’ve crossed a time or two. But I did wonder if there was any kind of business arrangement that the two of them had. Was Silas somehow involved with the mob? And if he was, so what? Perhaps Ava had somehow run afoul of the Gregorian clan, and Silas was hired to murder her? Was Sargis here to get me to go down a different path than the one that I was going down before?
“What suspicions do you have about the situation?” I asked him.
At that, I brought out a file. “Here are the medical records that you seek. I understand that Silas was concerned that maybe Ava had some undisclosed health issues which would cause her to have died so suddenly. But these are the records not for Ava, for she was very healthy, but for her identical twin sister, Emma. I think that you will find these records to be enlightening, to say the very least.”
I looked at Sargis’ face, and I wondered why it was that he had gone through the trouble of getting Emma’s records. “I don’t understand.”
“Oh, I think that you do.” At that, he stood up. “Well, I must be on my way. I have a meeting with Erik. As you are probably aware, I come to Kansas City from time to time to see how the Kansas City division of our clan is faring.” He smiled. “As much as I enjoy visiting you and Harper, you mustn’t think that I made a special trip just to see the two of you. Although that might not be a bad idea one day.”
In spite of myself, I smiled as well. “Take care of yourself, Sargis.”
He tapped his forehead. “The answer is there. You just have to put the pieces together. And I hope that these records will help you do that.” He turned to walk towards the door, and then he turned back. “I know Silas well. I know that he’s had a lot of issues in his youth, but a murderer, he is not. I hope you realize that.”
And then he turned and left.
Chapter 17
I shook my head after Sargis left. It was so odd that he would stop in like that, and just dump these records on me.
But as I read the medical records, I suddenly knew what it was he was getting at.
I think.
Emma Jackson, according to these records, was suffering from pancreatic cancer.
I stared at the diagnosis sheet. I knew something about pancreatic cancer. Basically, it was a death sentence, and there was very little that could be done about it. Mainly it was because pancreatic cancer was considered to be what was called the “silent killer,” in that the typical person does not show symptoms of the disease until was way too far gone. The lifespan of the person diagnosed with pancreatic cancer was usually less than a year. Commonly, it was only a few months. That was the fate of a childhood friend of mine, who contracted the disease when she was only 33 years old. She was diagnosed in February and died in April. Her story was extremely common with people suffering from this disease.
And yet… David Taylor was planning his wedding with her. Her parents never said a word about her illness. David certainly never said a word about her illness, either. It seemed like that was something that they would have brought up to me, especially when I was asking about whether or not Ava had any health issues.
I tapped a pen on my desk, thinking about this. The answer was right there in these medical records.
It was there. But what was it? Emma was desperately sick. So what?
I got on the phone. I called Opal Jackson, and she picked up on the first ring.
“I was wondering if you would mind if I could speak with your other daughter, Emma. There’s a few questions I needed to ask her about what she knew about Ava and Silas. Do you think that would be possible to speak with her?”
Opal was quiet for a few minutes. She finally spoke. “I suppose that could be arranged. Do you want her to come into your office, or do you want to come and see her? She’s currently living with David. They live in a house on Ward Parkway, by the Country Club Plaza. I understand that your office is on the Country Club Plaza, so if you want to go visit her you certainly can, or she can come to you.”
I certainly was not going to tell Opal that I knew the truth about Emma’s health. If Opal knew that I knew the truth, then something told me that she would not be so accommodating. In fact, David and Ava’s parents were being far too accommodating about all of this. It seemed as if they were all bending over backwards to make sure that I was given information that I needed. They all but bent over backwards to tell me a story that was in lockstep with one another.
“That would be helpful if she could come to my office. Does she work? I mean, work outside the home. If she doesn’t, I would appreciate it if she could come over to my office tomorrow at two.” I had court appearances and depositions tomorrow morning, so the afternoon would be the earliest that I could see her.
“I’ll arrange it and call you if there are any changes.”
“Thanks.”
I got off the phone and read the medical records some more. It was definite that, according to these records, Emma did not have much time left. She was diagnosed some three months back, in April of this year. Apparently, she was not feeling well for a matter of months. When she went to see her doctor, she explained that her lower back was hurting, and that her urine was very dark. She was also concerned that her feces were very light. Those were sure signs of liver blockage. She also had been losing weight, and the doctor noticed that she was slightly jaundiced. According to the notes, Emma had been to the doctor several other times before this particular visit, and nobody had ever found anything wrong with her. It was suspected that she had a gallbladder problem, and kidney stones were also a diagnosis that was given to her. But, apparently after doing a battery of tests, the doctors found out that she had pancreatic cancer.
I read further. I saw that she had elected not to do chemotherapy. According to the notes, she stated that she had seen people on chemotherapy, and that was not the route that she wanted to take. According to the notes, her doctor had explained to her that she had only between four and six months to live. She could have prolonged her life to up to a year if she did the chemotherapy.
In other words, Emma was terminal, and she knew it.
So she had been diagnosed three months prior to this. I wondered who I was going to see the next day. Was I going to see a woman who was on death’s door, and, if so, how come nobody said a word about that?
I thought about the fact that Sargis had brought me these medical records. If he didn’t, there would be no way that I would’ve ever found out that Emma was dying of cancer. There would be no reason for me to have gotten these records. Legally, I knew that the HIPAA laws were sacrosanct, and it was very difficult to get information on a person’s health, even in the best of circumstances. If
Emma was relevant to the case, then I could’ve subpoenaed these records, but, at the moment, she wasn’t legally relevant to the case. So, if Sargis didn’t bring these records to me, the fact that Emma was sick, no, dying, would have been unknown to me.
Completely unknown to me.
I then called Silas. “Silas,” I said to him. “I would like to ask you a few questions.”
“Certainly. What questions do you have for me?”
“Did you know Ava’s identical twin sister, Emma?”
He was quiet for a second or two. “No, I didn’t even realize that Ava had an identical twin sister. Why do you ask that question?”
“Ava never talked about her twin sister?”
“As I said, I didn’t realize she had a twin sister, so no, she obviously never talked about her.”
Now that was extremely odd to me. Silas and Ava were married for seven years, and Ava never once talked about her sister? Granted, the two of them lived in Silicon Valley, but they still maintained a house right here in the Kansas City area, close to Ava’s parents. He knew her parents. Why did he not know that she had an identical twin sister?
Very peculiar. But I knew that I was going to have to ask Emma about her relationship with Ava.
“What made you ask that question?” Silas asked again. “That question didn’t just come of the blue, did it?”
“No. It didn’t. Listen, Silas, I need to get off the phone right now. I need to get ready to prepare for speaking with Emma tomorrow. She’s going to come into my office.”
It seemed as if the possibility was strong that Ava and Emma were not on good terms. For whatever reason. After all, why would Ava not even tell Silas at all about the existence of an identical twin sister? That just didn’t make any sense to me.
I got off the phone and shut down my computer. I was going to have to quit for the evening. I wanted to get home to the kids, and, besides, I needed some rest. I knew that my subconscious had the overall answer to my questions. That was always the way that it was with me – somewhere, in my heart, I always knew the answer. It was just a matter of my brain catching up with my heart.
And I had a feeling that this was going to happen soon.
Chapter 18
The next day, Emma came into my office. I was struck by how fit she looked. She was tanned and muscular. She looked like one of those women who lived a life of leisure, so all that they did all day was lay out by the pool and lift weights at the gym. She probably was a runner in her spare time. That was the kind of physique that she had. She was blonde, with her hair cut in a short bob, and she evidently just had her nails done. They were elegant, painted in white, while her toes were displayed in a peep toe pair of pumps that showed off her bright red toenails.
She was carrying a Louis Vuitton bag, in black, and she was wearing a white dress. I knew something about Louis Vuitton items, because Sarah always bought them, paying $1,000 and up for a purse. We used to fight about her buying those Louis Vuitton bags all the time. Emma’s white dress hugged her curves, and I could see the outline of well-toned abs underneath the dress. Her legs, which were showed off by the shortness of the dress, were also muscular.
No doubt about it. Emma did not appear to be a woman who was on death’s door. In fact, she looked extremely healthy.
I made a note to myself to ask Silas a few questions about Ava. I was starting to understand exactly what happened, but I didn’t quite understand why it happened. That was the only thing that was rolling around in my brain.
“Hello, Mr. Harrington,” Emma said, as she came into my office. “You wanted to see me? You want to ask me some questions about my sister?” She shook her head and wiped her eyes. “You have to excuse me, but I’m still so sad about losing Ava. My identical twin sister. You know, you always read about how identical twins have a psychic connection to one another? How if one twin hurts, the other one hurts just as much? Well, that’s not just a myth. That’s absolutely true. And when I lost my twin sister, it was as if I’d lost the other part of myself. Like half of myself was missing. So, I know that you’re representing her killer, but I was hoping that you could find your way towards seeing that he take some kind of plea deal. I really don’t want the case to go to trial, and see the jury possibly acquit him. He deserves to go to prison for what he did to my sister. And I hope that he rots there.”
I studied her face. I was still trying to see any kind of indication that she was sick, but there was just nothing. She looked, for all the world, like somebody who could leave my office and run a marathon. Hell, she probably did run marathons. At least, from the looks of her, she did.
“So you tell me that you’re very sad that you lost your identical twin sister. Yet, Silas never even knew that Ava had an identical twin sister. I find that very disconcerting. After all, Silas knew Ava’s parents. Yet he never knew about you. Why would that be?”
She dabbed her eyes with a Kleenex. “Well, here’s the thing. My sister and I have always had a rivalry between each other. She was always stealing my boyfriends, and vice-versa. And I guess that she just didn’t want me to meet her husband. She was afraid that I would steal him as well. But that didn’t mean that we weren’t close. That we didn’t love each other. It just meant that we tried not to bring one another around when a guy that we were interested in was also around. I don’t know if that makes sense to you, but that’s how it was between the two of us.”
That really wasn’t making sense to me. “With all due respect, Ms. Jackson, I don’t really understand what you’re saying. Yes, I can understand that you were wary about Ava meeting men that you’re interested in, and it was the same way for her as well. But Ava was married to this man for seven years. You mean to tell me that you didn’t attend her wedding? You never came to family gatherings?”
She assumed a defensive posture as I was talking her. She crossed her arms in front of her, she narrowed her eyes at me in a scowl, and she pursed her lips. I could tell I had struck a nerve. “Okay. I guess you’ve probably already figured out that my sister and I were not close at all.” And she looked away.
I cocked my head at her. “Oh. So you’re telling me that what you were saying earlier about how you feel like you’ve lost a part of yourself, and that how you feel a psychic connection with your twin sister, and all of that – that was all just a lie.”
The sweet, prim, proper and grieving girl disappeared in front of my eyes. In her place was a hellion bent on revenge. “I wasn’t aware that I was on trial here. In fact, I think it’s your client that’s on trial. It’s your client who is going to burn in hell for what he did. I know I wasn’t all that close with Ava, but you have to understand that she was still my sister. She was still my blood. She and I still shared a womb.”
“You shared a womb. Did you also share a man?” I was referring, in this instance, to David, and she knew it.
She stood up. “I don’t have to take this from you. David and I are in love. But we were not dating at all while my sister was alive. We were just friends. Not that that’s any of your business.”
“I –” I was going to say something snarky to her, like how could she become engaged to the man her sister was engaged to, not even a month after her sister was murdered, but I decided that I did not want to antagonize her any further. There was no need for me to, really.
I wanted, for all the world, to ask her about her health issues. How it was that she was looking so hale and hearty, when she was on death’s door. But the last thing I wanted to do was to attract a lawsuit from her, for violating her privacy. For violating the HIPAA law. She seemed like just the kind of person who would drag me into court for that, so I decided to let that go.
I made a note that I was going to have to put Emma on my list of witnesses. There was something about her. And I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I felt slightly stupid for not being able to put that missing puzzle piece together, but it was right there. Right there where I could almost touch it.
“Is
there anything else you need to ask me, Mr. Harrington?” Emma asked me curtly. “If not, I have places I need to be.” She looked at her nails. “I have a manicurist appointment in a half-hour. So, if there’s nothing else…”
I shook my head. “No, at the moment there’s nothing else. But, I’ll be sure and let you know if I have anything else for you.”
“I’m sure you will.” At that, she gathered up her bag, and left my office without a word.
I doodled on my pad of paper as I thought about everything I was finding out in these past few days. My client was a narcissist, his father was schizophrenic. At the same time, I just had this feeling that the fact that my client was narcissistic and he had mental illness genes were not really relevant to this entire case. I just didn’t know why, but there was something else that was out there, and I just had to figure it out.
It was then that I got a phone call from the medical examiner’s office. “Hello, this is Dr. Prorock from the medical examiner’s Office. May I speak with Mr. Harrington?”
“This is.”
“I wanted to call you with the preliminary results of our second autopsy on Mrs. Porter.”
My heart started to race. The fact that the medical examiner was calling me was a good sign. It was my experience that if they didn’t find anything, they probably would not call me, but would send me a letter. “Thank you for calling me. What were your preliminary results?”
“We were able to test just enough of her tissue to find trace elements of a barbiturate called Secobarbital.”
Secobarbital. Curiouser and curiouser. On the one hand, that made me feel better about the whole situation. Silas was probably correct, when he said that his wife was dead before the fire swept in. That meant that she possibly did not burn to death in an agonizing fashion. Yet, at the same time, it put more of a question in my mind. Could Silas have done this to Ava?
Or maybe somebody gave her the barbiturate? But why?
Secrets and Lies Page 11
