“Happy Birthday sweetheart,” Max said as he saw his daughter come into the kitchen on Thursday morning. Since arriving home, it had been very busy at the office. As one of his most loyal client’s son decided it was time to upgrade his crimes to assault with a deadly weapon and so Max had been trying to figure out to get him help given there was proof of the crime. But he wasn’t letting his busy schedule ruin his daughter’s 16th birthday. “Birthday girl that you are, what do you want for breakfast?”
“Eggs, bacon and pancakes, whipped cream and Tabasco sauce please,” Grace smiled. “Thank you, Daddy,” she said as she sat down at the table. She was still off school until Monday. But she has been deep into the homework that she had gotten from Elizabeth each day. “Are we meeting everyone tonight for dinner?” she asked of their usual plan for the night of her birthday. It usually consisted of a big birthday dinner at the Crashdown and this year, her Sweet 16 party was as scheduled on Saturday night.
“Yup,” Max said as he served the first coarse to his daughter. Pancakes and whipped cream. “7 p.m. if that is if you still want to go?” he asked as he looked at his daughter. She had been laying low at home since their return on Monday night. To his knowledge, she hadn’t even left the house. Although Elizabeth had been known to come over to drop off any homework and he knew that Grace and Jake had been talking on the phone. “If you want to stay home, we can. Everyone will understand.”
“Dad, I want to go.” Grace said. “Grandma and Grandpa Parker are back, and I want to see them. And I should get out of the house, sometime, right?” she asked.
“Yes, you do,” Max smiled. “So, we’ll plan on it. And don’t worry, I didn’t tell Grandma and Grandpa Parker nor your Grandparents Evans anything okay.”
‘I appreciate that Dad. I am still struggling with it, and I really don’t want them to know what happened until I am ready to discuss it,” Grace said as she ate her breakfast. “And it’s over anyways so nothing can change it except learning to live with it.”
“Now that we’ve settled tonight’s plans, I wanted to give you a present. You’ll get the others later. But this is something special.” Max said as he decided to get their discussion off such an emotional topic and onto something easier to handle as he finished the breakfast preparations and picked up a small box and handed it to Grace who looked down at it with uncertainty.
“What is it?” Grace asked.
“Open it,” He said softly as he watched his daughter take off the bow and ribbon and open it. “Dad, it is beautiful,” she said as she picked the gold locket out of the box. “I love it.” she said as she saw the word
Grace engraved on the front.
“This is a sort of a replacement locket although you probably don’t remember it. Back when you were two years old. Your mother gave you a similar locket,” he said as Grace continued to look at it. “Shortly after you were given it, the clasp broke and she had it repaired and unfortunately she had picked it up the day of you know…” he said softly.
“The crash,” Grace squeaked as she opened the locket and saw two pictures; one of her mother and one of Grace. “When were, these pictures taken?”
“That is your mother when she was sixteen. And that of course you in a recent picture. They couldn’t locate it in the wreck. And even if it had been salvageable, at the time, I didn’t want to replace it. It had been a gift from your mother. But I thought maybe it was time for a new one, a new memory. A memory of who your mother was when she was a teenager.” Max asked. “I hope you like it now that you’ve heard the story.” he said softly. “The other one had a picture of you as a baby. Although she had removed it when she took it to get it fixed because she wanted to put your two-year-old picture in as a replacement which we had taken shortly before the accident. But I thought you might like one of both of you at the same age.”
“I LOVE IT Dad,” Grace smiled. “Thank you,” she said as she hugged her father and immediately put the locket around her neck. “I’ll always treasure it.”
“You’re welcome, now eat up.” Max said with a smile. “I have to get to work.”
“I’ll be at Crashdown with Elizabeth after she gets out of school,” Grace said as she finished her breakfast. “We can meet there.”
“Sure,” Max said.
*****
Jake was waiting for Elizabeth to finish getting ready for school. As his unofficial punishment from his parents; he was forced to drive Elizabeth to school and pick her up if she didn’t have plans after school. “Come on Elizabeth,” he called. “I have to get going.”
“Coming I am coming.” Elizabeth called back from her bedroom.
Jake grabbed the present he planned to give to Grace and walked downstairs and saw his mother was in the kitchen working on her manuscript. “How’s the writing?” he asked.
“Coming along,” Maria said. “You’re going to school, right?”
“Yes Mom,” Jake said with an exaggerated whine. “I am waiting for Elizabeth to get ready,” he said as he grabbed the orange juice from the fridge. “You’re coming to dinner tonight at the Crashdown right?”
“Of course,” Maria said as she put down the pen she’d been using to make some changes to a chapter she was currently writing. “I wouldn’t want to miss Grace’s birthday.” she said as could still remember the day Grace had been born. The first hybrid human production and how loved she had been by both her parents. “I wouldn’t want to miss it.”
“You’re missing Grace’s mom, aren’t you?” Jake asked. Being only four when Grace’s mother died; he barely had any memories of his Aunt Liz. But knew she was loved and the little memories he did had told him that she was a good person. Just like her daughter.
“Yeah on days like these,” Maria sighed. “To see her little girl turning sixteen is so special but it also brings back the knowledge that her mother has missed so much. Liz would have loved a day like this for her little girl.”
Jake nodded as Elizabeth stormed into the kitchen grumbling about the hair dryer that was on the fritz. “I am ready,” Elizabeth said as she grabbed her lunch and a spare cookie from the jar on the counter. “Are you? Can we go?”
“Just waiting for you so yeah, I am coming,” Jake said. “See you tonight Mom.”
Maria nodded as she saw her two eldest strolling out the back door towards Jake’s car. Yet memories of Liz were flooding back to the front of her mind. Maria missed her best friend from childhood so much. Sighing, she went back to writing as she waited for Colin, Liam and Belle to get ready for her to drive to their school.
Life goes on she thought.
And that sucks. I miss you Liz. You should be here on your daughter’s big day.
*****
“I am feeling like I am going crazy,” Beth was saying later that morning in the office of her friend and colleague, Dr. Brian Francisco; her shrink even though it had been over a year since she had last needed his advice. “What should I do?”
“What makes you think you’re crazy?” Brian asked. “You seem to have your life on track these days. What has happened to make you question your sanity?”
“Nothing, but I have had these moments where a memory or so pops into my head and I can’t account for them. And yet I am not even so sure they are memories.” Beth was saying.”
“Can I ask, how so?” Brian asked.
“Phrases, words and just this sense of déjà vu; like I have experienced certain things before, I don’t know how to describe it,” she sighed. “It’s getting stronger with each day it seems.”
“What’s happened lately? Has anything changed in your life,” Brian asked as he looked at Beth’s file. He had been the first one on her case as she recovered in the hospital in preparation for the twin’s birth and over the years; he had been there as a sounding board even though there seemed to be no progress in Beth’s memory coming back. “As I said back in the beginning; your case is not that unique. Your memory wasn’t lost due to some condition or the accident. It just seems to be psychological or trauma induced in that it just wants to stay gone. So, that could always lead to situations in which it does come back in bits and pieces, even all these years later.”
“As I have indicated, it was nothing. The kids are growing up, healthy and happy, inquisitive as ever. Life has been normal. My career is progressing at a fast rate given how it started. So, it’s been nothing that life altering. I guess the only thing is the kids are starting to get curious about their history. They both of an assignment for school in which they must do a family tree and of course being raised by a single mother who is an amnesia patient; they are having difficulty.
“Aw, the girls.” Brian said. “They would be thirteen, right?” he asked.
“Yes.” Beth smiled.
“So, they are getting to an age when they are naturally going to be curious about where they came from. Even having grown up in this situation; and knowing what they know about your accident. It’s going to make them wonder where they came from. It’s only natural for any kid. But I can understand why it’s causing conflict in you.”
“What do I do?” Beth asked.
“I would keep an eye on your feelings and anything memory related. Write it down if it seems strange to you.” Brian suggested.
“I guess,” Beth said as she decided to be truthful. “It’s just I guess one patient also got me going. A pregnant teenager; she came in unconscious in the middle of a stillbirth and she was slightly delusional, so I didn’t take it seriously. But she awoke for a moment, called me Mom before she fell back to sleep.”
“That is indeed interesting,” Brian said as he took notes. “Has this happened before?”
“Not that I can remember,” Beth said. “It probably has but I am just blocking it out. I deal with kids all day every day and apparently, this teenager lost her mother when she was a toddler and is being raised by a single father. So maybe that is what got me going. It reminded me I don’t know my past. For all I know I could have had a child before the crash. And that child has been raised without a mother.”
“Do you think you have a child out there?” Brian asked curiously because this subject hadn’t come up in any of their meetings over the years. “You would think if you had a child out there, there would have been someone coming to claim you in those early days, right?” Brian asked.
“You would think so, wouldn’t you?” Beth said. “All indications are I am not from Connecticut or even the East Coast as no one came forward to claim, and no one can find records on me from this part of the country. So why was I in the area on the night of the crash? So, if I am from another part of this country, do I have a family out there wanting me back but don’t know where we are,” she asked.
“As I said, there is a no physical cause of your amnesia. Could be trauma induced yet there was never indication of any injury to your brain. You recovered normally. And moved on and could train in medicine and remember in relation to you career and your kids. You just can’t remember the accident itself or the life you led before the accident.” Brian said as he looked over her case. “But is there any reason to think you might have a kid out there?” as he read the notes from the accident that was deep in the file. And he muttered to himself that there was never any indication noted whether she had given birth prior to the twins before born.
“No. But one of those moments I spoke of had me saying this piece of dialogue to someone about a pregnancy. In this memory, I was shocked that my baby was full term because I was sure it had to be premature.” Beth said. “With the twins, they were indeed born premature and there was not a question that they weren’t full term. So, I don’t know where I could have had this conversation.”
“Maybe you should have another CT scan. When was your last one?” Brian asked as he looked at her file. “Not since that fall on the ice three years ago, right?”
“Right,” Beth asked as she remembered the fall she had taken while ice-skating with the kids on a trip to New York and Rockefeller Plaza. She had been fine but as a precaution, had a scan when she and the kids had gotten back from their trip. The scan came back with nothing unusual in the results.
“Maybe have another one,” Brian said. “It can only ease your mind whether there have been any changes” he said. “And as I said if you have any more moments of déjà vu. Why don’t you write down the experiences and let me know?”
“I have to get going,” Beth said as she looked at her watch. “I have a patient in twenty minutes. Thank you again Brian for fitting me in, on such short notice.”
“Why don’t you come back next week if you want,” Brian said. “We can talk,” he assured his friend. “And in the meantime, why not take it easy and don’t stress or push yourself. You’ll get the answers you want all in time,” he warned.
Beth nodded. “And that is what I can’t help but be afraid of,” she said quietly as she left the office and booked an appointment for the following Wednesday. Brian could only look at his friend and patient and wondered where this would lead Beth as it was apparent that her brain was wanting to tell her something and he wondered if his friend was ready for what could be unleashed.
******
“We know you did it, so you might as well admit it JoJo,” Detective MacIntosh was saying as his partner Sandra Casper was keeping guard at the doorway of the interrogation room. “You might as well confess now and save a lot of pain and anguish for the families involved and even for yourself. It would make this go down a whole lot easier if you tell us the full truth of what you did.”
“I didn’t do it,” JoJo Walsh grunted after being caught with bag of cocaine in his bag as he stood over the body of a drug overdose.
“Oh, come on now,” Trevor said. “We all in this room know it’s a lie. Why don’t you tell us the truth and maybe we can make a deal here and now?”
“What deal?” JoJo asked as he stared at the cop across the table from him and looked at the guard by the door. “I don’t have anything to deal…”
“We both know that isn’t true,” Trevor asked. “You could be looking at a lot of time in prison if you don’t start talking…. right now,” he warned.
What kind of deal could you give me?” JoJo said as he appeared to consider his options as all the protests he had been making died down as he got quiet.
“I don’t know, I would have to ask the district attorney. But I can say right now that you might get a little less jail time if we can prove that you cooperated with Detective Casper and myself, so how about it, will you finally tell the truth JoJo?” Trevor asked. “It would be better for you in the long run.”
Jo Jo remained silent for a few minutes as he considered his options. Trevor and Sandra were convinced he would talk because while he was small-time hood, he also wasn’t stupid. He knew this would be his third strike if the case went to court and resulted in a conviction, of course would mean mandatory jail time and not an easy in and out term. It would be real years in prison, due to his lengthy record. “Fine I’ll talk,” JoJo said.
“Do you want an attorney?” Trevor asked as he exchanged a smile with his partner who also couldn’t help but smile. He could feel it; they were close to getting closure for the Anderson family in the death of their son. Justice was on the tip of Jo Jo’s tongue.
“No, because I am not confessing to this bogus drug wrap. I didn’t do it. You have the wrong man. But I will confess on something else if you promise me I get a deal. So, if you want this confession; you need to get me a deal.” Jo Jo spat as spewed some crap that immediately got Trevor annoyed.
Damn it, Trevor thought as he expressed a frown to his partner who came forward and sat down at the table. “Okay I bite, what is this crime you want to confess to?”
“That car crash outside Roswell, New Mexico in I think it was 2008. I faked it, or shall you say staged it. Who they said died didn’t. And I can prove it,” JoJo Walsh spat.
“What?” Detective Casper asked. “What are you talking about? We know nothing about a car crash.”
“Check into it then. Car crash. Fourteen years ago, Roswell New Mexico. One casualty. But she really didn’t die. She’s alive and well or she was alive on that day. Whether she is still is, can’t say. I have proof. I get the deal, you get the proof. Those are my terms.”
“Okay,” Trevor asked as he exchanged a look with his partner who shook her head in disbelief. “If this were to be true, why did you do it? Why stage this crash? Why make people think someone was dead when they weren’t. What was in it for you?”
“Ten thousand moolah. I was paid to set up the crime. Make it seem like this person died when really, she was taken away in a white van. She had car trouble; she stopped. I stopped to help her. Pouring rain made it miserable conditions. She was grabbed from behind and pushed into a van. A body was placed into car to make it look like this someone died and then the gas tank was punctured and set on fire…”
“Who paid you?” Sandra asked.
“Some man Denny someone. I forget his name. He was tall and imposing. Dirty blond hair. He said he had it out for this woman’s husband. And was going to make him pay or at least make him miserable for the rest of his life.” JoJo said. “So, do we have a deal?”
“We’ll see,” Trevor sighed as he wasn’t sure what to do under these circumstances. He had a confession on an unrelated crime. One they didn’t have jurisdiction on or know of. Turning back to Jo Jo, “But in the meantime, you’re going back to lockup. And you might want to know that you’re still in trouble on the cocaine bust and it is three strikes. You should have confessed when you had the chance Jo Jo,” Trevor said as he watched Sandra pull a cuffed JoJo out of the chair and lead him back to lockup.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it,” he cursed. “The idiot won’t cough up a confession to the drug possession and assault charge we have him nailed for, but he’ll confess to another crime. He’s stupid,” Trevor murmured to himself as he left the interrogation room. “Hey Captain, do we know anyone in the Roswell, New Mexico department?”
“They don’t have a police department,” Captain
Hanson said as he stepped across the room to talk to Trevor. “Why?”
“I might have something on a case out that way. If not a police department, what do they have then?” Trevor asked.
“They have a Sheriff’s department. It’s a small office or it was when I knew it. Roswell is a small town and doesn’t need a big one. I did ten years in the department as a deputy right out of the academy. I had family in the area, so the job appealed. The sheriff was a good guy. While I haven’t talked to him in years, I believe he’s still with the department as the Sheriff. He’s one of those lifers. His name is James Valenti Jr. Why?”
“JoJo Walsh refused to go down for the cocaine bust but he made a confession about some other crime taking place in Roswell fourteen years, ago.” Trevor said. “I am going to check into it. I don’t want to believe it. But it was so ludicrous it might actually be true.”
“What was it?” Captain Hanson asked.
“A car crash, someone died. JoJo says the person didn’t really die, he staged it to make it look like it killed the poor woman.”
“Car crash…fourteen years, ago…. a woman?” Captain Hanson asked as his face paled considerably. “If it’s the case I am thinking of as there weren’t many crashes at the time given we’re talking about a real small town. I was Roswell for that one; it was about three months before I left to move here to take a job after my marriage broke up. Elizabeth Parker Evans after work one night was driving home when she crashed. It was grizzly sight. A body was located but it took dental records to positively identify the remains. She was I think 26 or 27 at the time of her death. She left a husband and a two-year-old daughter.”
“Wow,” Trevor said. “You have an excellent memory.”
“There are those cases that stay with you,” Captain Hanson said with a frown. “The department tried everything to find a cause of the accident. But the case grew cold. It seemed like one of those freak accidents. It had been stormy that night. And Mrs. Evans, a medical student and intern at the hospital had a late shift at a local hospital and she got caught up in the harsh weather. It was a truly sad case because I had never seen two more in love people than the victim and her husband. They were truly devoted to each other. High school sweethearts and they married once they graduated high school. She went to medical school, he went to law school, and then they welcomed their first child. They were so happy and then tragedy struck, and Max Evans life was never the same. If not for their daughter, I am not sure he would have made it without his wife.
“You said a body was discovered?” Trevor asked.
“Sure,” Captain Hanson said. “It needed dental records to be able to be identified but still, a body was found. Why?”
“The confession said that he replaced the body with someone else and took down the car and puncturing the gas line in the process.”
“Get on it MacIntosh okay,” Captain Hanson ordered as his mind flooded with images of the crash. One of the reasons he left Roswell yet settled for another small town instead of the big city. The intensity of the case had stayed with him and finished off his struggling marriage. Yet he liked small town life, so he found one that had a job open for him and he made a clean break.
“Why?” Trevor asked as he could see his boss was being affected by the mere mention of the case.
“They did discover a puncture in the gas line in the wreck that could be piece back together in the aftermath. They figured the crash did it. Why don’t you call Sheriff Valenti and ask for his assistance? He’ll want to help. He’s very close friend of the victim and her family. Likely still is.”
Trevor nodded and walked back to his desk. Sitting down, he booted up his computer and after doing some necessary paperwork that had to be submitted as soon as possible, he searched for the phone number for a James Valenti Jr who was indeed still town sheriff of Roswell, New Mexico.
******
“You’re making progress Allie,” Beth was saying to her new patient as her mother sat in her wheelchair. Both had made tremendous progress over the past few days since the accident. “Allie may need some rehab,” she was saying to Allie’s mother and father who were also present by his daughter. “But all indications are that she’s improving by leaps and bounds.”
“Thank god,” Steve Minor was saying to Beth. “I appreciate all you and the hospital have been doing for both my wife and daughter. I wish I hadn’t been in New York when the accident happened.”
“You are welcome,” Beth said with a smile. “At least you are here for them now. I’ll be back tomorrow to see Allie. But I am thinking depending on her progress; she could be going home early next week with out- patient rehab a very likely possibility.”
“That is wonderful,” Steve said as Beth nodded as she left the patients room and headed back to her office.
Patients like Allie and her mother despite the heartache of the pain and recovery that would be ahead made it all worth it to Beth as she recognized the human spirit in trying to take tragedy and letting them open a new chapter. Then a sensation came to her
“Miss come back to us,”a voice came. “Can you hear us,” a voice called. “Wake up and tell us who you are?” “She’s out again” “MVA one victim, unconscious at the scene.”
“Oh god,” Liz muttered. Trying to shake it off, walking into her office she saw Debra her assistant putting a file on her desk. “What’s up?” she asked.
“I didn’t know when you would be back,” Debra said as she handed the doctor the file she had in her hand. “This came while you were in with Allie Minor and her parents. “They said you requested the results.”
“I did,” Beth asked surprised. “I don’t think I have asked anything of the medical lab lately,” she said as she tried to shake the memory of the time of the crash. Why was it all coming back to her, now? “Anyway, thank you for giving it to me. I am here for another twenty minutes before consultation in Madison. So, I will be gone the rest of the day,” she said as Debra made her way out of the office, while Beth opened the file as she sat down at her desk.
Her jaw dropped opened. She realized she was reading the DNA report on her daughters; Alexandra and Caroline. She saw her own name on the request by line.
Damn it girls, what have you done…she asked herself as she continued to read. Nothing unusual was found but in the last page; she almost fainted when at the end, she read that there was a positive match of the girl’s DNA with someone else.
A patient, Grace Evans. It had a patient file number included.
“This makes no sense,” she told herself as she read the report. But there it read, a 99.8% match and that only made sense if they were family. And not only family, but a full-blooded family member.
Feeling faint she picked up the phone and asked for the records department. “Hello this is Dr. Beth Evans, pediatrics. I need the access codes for three former patients. The names are
Alexandra and Caroline Evans, twins, d.o.b October 31, 2008 in this hospital and I also want a copy of a recent patient,
Grace Evans; patient number 45-0191-28. I am not sure of her birthday. But she was in the hospital in the last week; discharged Monday. I was the admitting physician, but Dr. Alyssa Davis was her treating physician. I need the codes immediately.” she said. “Call me back please, thank you.”
She picked up the phone and called Serena and told her that she would be late for their consultation.
Sitting back as soon as she got off the phone; she tried to make sense with this information. She then picked up the phone again and called the medical lab and asked to speak to Alison Connor. “Are you sure this is reliable?” she asked about the report she was given. “You ran it twice?” she asked. “Thank you” she said as she put down the phone.
“How is it possible that the girls could be related by a perfect match to a sixteen-year girl I had never seen before the weekend,” she asked herself as she waited for the basement records to call back, so she could access the patients’ files. Being the electronic record age, all doctors had access to the files, but they needed access codes for discharged patients which gave the record storage a purpose to still exist.
The phone rang, she answered “Yes this is Doctor Beth Evans, yes I called earlier for the codes for the three patients,” she said.
“Why is there a need for the codes of these patients,” the tech asked. “I am required to ask when such requests come through the office.”
“A matter has come up that is related to the cases, and I need to double check their files,” Beth said as she operated almost in a trance. “I can’t really say what I am looking for right now, I am just in need of all three files. The situation is urgent.”
******
“Happy Birthday Grace,” Jeff Parker said as she hugged his granddaughter. “We missed you so much” he whispered as her took his Grace into his arms. Grace to Jeff Parker was a vision of his dearly departed Liz. So similar in many ways yet different but loved even more by her grandparents who were like her father and saved when Liz died by the fact that they had someone to love in their granddaughter. “I hear you got into some mischief while we were away?” he laughed. “Do I have to kill Jake?”
“How much did you hear?” Grace asked quietly; worried that her grandparents had heard the whole story even though she knew her father wouldn’t have told his in-laws the sordid details or at least not yet. “Do I want to know?”
“Don’t worry, you’re safe. I’ve just picked up bits and pieces,” Jeff smiled. “I hear you had a health scare. And you couldn’t go to school this week. Are you okay?”
“I am fine Grandpa,” Grace assured her grandfather. “I promise that if I could be in school, I would be there is a heartbeat, but appearances must be kept.
“I am glad, so are you having a great birthday?” Jeff asked as they walked out of the kitchen and to a booth where they both sat down as Patty brought some food out for her boss and Grace. “I assume you’re meeting Elizabeth and Jake?”
“It’s definitely been a memorable day,” Grace said. “Yes, I am meeting them here when they get out of school,” she said with a smile. “So, how was the cruise? I got your e-postcards.”
“We had a wonderful time,” Jeff smiled. “It was a unique experience being so far away from the Crashdown and even Roswell. It’s something we haven’t been able to take advantage of, so it was a pleasant change of pace and your grandmother appreciated the time away to simply relax and I think I liked not having the stress of bills or inventory for a couple of weeks.” he said. “I heard you were working a lot of hours before your little rebellion. I hope the stress didn’t get to you, of work and school.”
“No, it wasn’t that,” Grace said assuredly. “I promise you. I am careful of the balance I place between here and my school work. But it definitely weird being off this week and not having to deal with classes.” she said simply. “Just the homework Elizabeth brings to me.”
“I bet,” Jeff said.
“Where is Grandma?” Grace asked as she looked around the restaurant for signs of her grandmother.
“She had to do some last-minute shopping,” Jeff smiled as he hugged his granddaughter one more time before heading to the back while Grace took a seat to wait for Elizabeth and Jake and ate some food. It was really the first chance to get out of the house since her return.
******
The Sheriff Department
“I am out of here Deputy Peterson,” Jim was saying as he closed his computer. “You know how to get a hold of if there is emergency.” he was saying as he packed up his bag. “Put any other messages on my desk and I’ll deal with them in the morning when I am in.”
“I have your beeper number,” Deputy Peterson replied as he watched the Sheriff pack up for the day. “And your cell phone if for some reason the beeper isn’t working. You don’t have to worry. Enjoy yourself. Tell hello to Amy for me.”
“Will do,” Jim smiled. Amy was happy to finally have a night to herself in which she didn’t have to work now that Jeff and Nancy were home from their vacation. Even if they were going to be spending it at of all places, at a birthday party for a sixteen-year-old at the Crashdown. But it would be worthwhile if it was a night without stress for his wife and he for one was looking forward to it.
“Then have a good night,” Jim said as he left the office and got into his car and drove home to get ready for the dinner.
But just as his car pulled out of the Sheriff Department’s parking lot, a phone call came in; on the Sheriff’s line. Deputy Doug Peterson picked it up. “Hello, Sheriff Department. This is Deputy Doug Peterson. How can I help you?” he asked. “No, I am sorry Sheriff Valenti is gone from the office for the rest of the day. A family commitment. He’ll be back in the office in the morning. But if it’s an emergency, I can reach him. How urgent is it? It’s not, okay. Can I take a message?” he asked. “The New Haven Police Department, Detective Trevor MacIntosh; CIU (Criminal Investigative Unit). Can I ask what this is about?” he asked as he jotted down the name and phone number. “Cold case, okay,” Deputy Peterson said as he finished the message. “As I said, he’ll be back in the office in the morning. I’ll let him know you called.” he said as he laid back down the phone and laid the message on his boss’s desk and left the room.
*****
“Did you follow up on that JoJo tip?” Captain Hanson asked as he walked past Detective MacIntosh’s desk a few minutes later.
“I am still investigating,” Trevor said. “I just put a call into the Sheriff’s Department in Roswell but Sheriff Valenti has left for the remainder of the day due to a family commitment. So, he will be back in the office tomorrow. I figure if he doesn’t try back than I’ll try again in the morning.”
“Was there anything else?” Captain Hanson asked.
“JoJo Walsh could be conceivably telling the truth. He was in the New Mexico fourteen years, ago. He had just been released from a six-month jail sentence in Nevada. He was staying with family in nearby Hondo. Therefore, it’s possible he could have done what he said he did. I am trying to track down his bank records for that period to see if the amount of money he said he was paid was deposited anytime near the crime.” Trevor said. “That is if he even deposited the money. He could have blown it in one night on drugs for all we know.”
“Right,” Captain Hanson nodded. “Why don’t you keep on top of it MacIntosh and let me know if you find out anything concrete. Check out any car crashes that seem to match that ammo. It couldn’t hurt to see whether JoJo is lying to get a lenient deal on his remaining charges by inventing a story. Maybe he picked up some of the details some other way.” Captain Hanson said.
“Sure, thing Captain,” Trevor said. “Speaking of family commitments, I have my own. My son’s hockey game,” he said as he looked at the time. “Meredith is going to kill me; the game started five minutes, ago.”
“Go,” Captain Hanson smiled. “This can wait until tomorrow as JoJo or this case is not going anywhere tonight. Say hello to Meredith for me.”
******
“I just about fainted Serena,” Beth was saying in the office of her best friend. The consultation had just ended, and Beth was filling in Serena on her new discovery. “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.”
“This is unbelievable,” Serena said as she looked at the report. “Have you talked to the girls?”
“I haven’t been home yet. I came straight here,” Beth said as she looked at the patient files in front of her. “Due to the consultation with Carl’s family” she sighed. “This is all kinds of surreal.
“It definitely is,” Serena nodded. “And you had no clue about this?”
“I have been having these strange feelings over the last week. But I chalked it up to the girls finally getting interested in their family history and how hard it is for me to answer their questions. I do remember when the girls were born Dr. Francisco telling me that it was very fortunate that the twins were born healthy despite being premature because they had a very rare blood type that would make it hard to get a transfusion for them if one ever became necessary.”
“A blood type that is indeed very rare. I never see this combination and they share it with this teenager,
Grace.”
“Yeah I have seen the blood type but not this combination of it. It’s very rare. The girls were fortunate they have been healthy.”
“Exceedily for two growing thirteen-year-old girls,” Serena remarked as she was Alexandra and Carrie’s doctor. She had taken on their care when Beth and the twins had moved to Madison and she’d opened her own practice. But for two growing girls; she hardly had to see the girls for anything medical. Which surprised Serena because of her own experience with her kids as she had to think an illness or something minor would occur, but Alexandra and Carrie were truly two healthy teenagers despite the circumstances of their births.
“I know,” Beth nodded. “I have been very lucky and, yet this is odd situation. Look at the match. This isn’t a case of maybe they have a half sibling out there. Which could be conceivable given they have a father out there. But it’s a full match. Which only would happen if they have the same mother and father? How is that possible?”
“You know how,” Serena smirked.
“Of course, I know how,” Beth smiled. “But this can’t be right. It just can’t be. I don’t want to think what I’m thinking.”
“I know you don’t want to be thinking it. How about we help you settle down enough, so you can get some answers. Bring the girls in tomorrow afternoon at 5 p.m. My last appointment just got cancelled. Why don’t I run a blood and DNA panel and maybe we can confirm some of the questions you have about you and the girls. And then we’ll take on the concept that they match this teenager on the other side of the country.”
“The girl’s birthday is today. I noticed it in the file. She is sixteen Serena today.”
“I know,” Serena sighed as her heart ached for her friend if this report was legit. The idea her friend missed so many birthdays all because of how she had been robbed of her memory. “But why don’t we take this one step at a time?”