Making a connection
Chapter 8
Although he had slept late, Daniel couldn't wait to wake up early and attack the investigation board again.
In no time he was downstairs in front of the white board, studying the eight names. There were lines and post-it notes all around the names. He again looked at the four names that came out of Rexford and the four names out of Hazelton mental hospital.
There was something important about the names, but as of now, Daniel could not figure it out. He only knew that all the names had two things in common; one was that they all came out of two psychiatric hospitals.
And the second was they were now all dead.
None of the former hospital patients died the same way: one died from a hair dryer in the bathtub, another an overdose of too many decongestants, one hit his her head on the fireplace mantle, then there was the one that died from a heart attack, another of respiratory failure, and one of collapse lung alongside heart failure, another one died of a hit and run and then his own patient Gregory Nettles, was dead from a wronged drug interaction. No autopsies had been done and all their deaths were certified by different family physicians.
He thought again about the two different hospitals. Then he looked at what he had previously written on the board again.
2 H/2 M?
Daniel pondered as to why he had written those words...two houses? two helpers?
No, no, neither sounded right. Daniel rubbed his temples. He was getting a headache; perhaps he had left the hospital too early.
Hosptial?
Daniel head shot up and he looked again at the board...2 H...-could that be in reference to the two different hospitals, Rexford and Hazelton? Possibly. His heart began beating faster with excitement as the possibility became a realization.
One mystery down. He looked at the board again.
What could the two M's refer to, then?
Nothing came to mind. The exuberance he felt earlier had faded as other memories entered his mind. Most of them were of Paul. Daniel tried not to relive the moment when he had pushed Paul out of the way, the last seconds of Paul's life. Had he, instead pushed Paul into the oncoming vehicle?
Had he killed Paul. No, he tried to convince himself, the killer did that. Wait. Something was tugging at the back of his mind at the idea of the word killer. Could the M's have to do with the a killer? Maybe the '2' meant two killers? No, he would have written "K" and he could see he had written 2 M's, followed by a question mark.
He stared at the board again. Of course! Not two K's, but two M's, as in murderers.
Two hospitals/two murderers?
Was that it?
Reaching back deep in his mind, he felt as though some little locked door of memory had suddenly burst opened; that he had guessed right.
Progress at last! Daniel eyes scanned the board quickly. It traveled down and halted at the post-it with Kate's name. He had boxed around her name several times. A feeling of loneliness flooded his heart as he reached out and touched her name, as if that would bring her closer to him.
"Any breakthroughs yet?"
Caroline's voice startled him and he blushed with guilt while his hand quickly dropped to his side.
Daniel turned towards the sound of the voice to see Caroline leaning against the doorway, wearing a bathrobe, her hair slightly mussed. As much as Daniel tried to ignore it, Caroline looked prettiest at the start of the day.
He turned to look back at the board, working to keep his voice steady, "I think so. It's just that I feel as though I've studied everything about this case before, but yet, it's like I'm looking at them for the first time."
From behind, he could hear Caroline give a loud sigh, "I see you won't rest until you find some answers, so as soon as we dress and eat breakfast, let's say I drive you wherever you want to go to further your case along, Daniel."
He turned around again, a grateful look on his face, "You would do that for me, Caroline?"
"Don't you get it, Daniel?" she asked, "We're married. I want to help you solve this case and then recover your memory so we can once again continue our lives together. We are a team."
Daniel had to admit once again that Caroline was beyond understanding. Yet, as he viewed the board once again, his eyes wandered back to the lone post-it which simply read, "Kate". If Caroline wasn't there, he would have drawn another box around her name.
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Caroline drove, huge eyeglasses shading her expression. Beforehand, she had typed in the address Daniel had given her in the GPS system which now displayed on the dashboard.
"Where are we headed?" she asked, as she made a right hand turn.
"Gregory Nettles ' place," Daniel said, "So far I've been working this case from the present and going backwards. Maybe I got the order wrong. Maybe I should be starting from the past and moving forward."
"Makes sense," she said, as she was now stopped at a light. But it was obvious from her tone that she did not understand at all.
Daniel was faced forward, viewing the traffic. Up to this point, all he had been thinking about was himself and his case, never giving a second thought to what Caroline must be going through.
"I'm sorry."
The light turned green and Caroline proceeded.
"Why did you say that, Daniel?" she asked.
"Because I just realized that of everyone surrounding me, it is you who is suffering the most regarding my condition," Daniel reasoned, "It's you with all the memories, and here I sit, treating you like a stranger. My condition is a lot harder on you than it is on me."
Caroline shrugged, "I'm just trying to be there for you, Daniel. I want you to know that I am all the woman you will ever need in your life."
Daniel turned to face her, not sure if she was implying anything, but he could not read her expression, being that her sunglasses was blocking off most of her face. And he was glad for that; he wasn't sure if he could face the truth.
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Gregory Nettles' apartment was just a few blocks away from the university. The building was essentially a plain stucco box, bland on all four sides with little greenery. When they walked up, a "for rent" sign was taped to the window of Nettle's apartment window.
A young man answered the door and from behind him, Daniel made out many packed boxes.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Pierce," Daniel introduced, "And this is my wife, Caroline... Pierce." It felt strange for him to say that.
"I know, we met at my uncle's funeral," he said, looking at Daniel quizzically, "I'm Thomas Nettles. I didn't expect to ever see you again."
Thomas Nettles opened the door wider to let the two in. They stood in the middle of the unfurnished room, amid all the stacked cardboard boxes.
"How are you holding up, Thomas?" Caroline asked the young man, with a look of concern.
He shrugged, "It's pretty hectic for me," he said, "I've been going back and forth between here and Ohio where I go to the university. I'm trying to sort out all of Uncle's stuff and get this place cleaned up so I don't get stuck with next month's rent."
"So you're not keeping anything for yourself?" Daniel asked.
He shook his head, "Most of the stuff will be donated to the church. I'm just keeping the photo albums...although I'd still like to have his black rimmed glasses...that was always his signature piece and I'd like it for my mom, Gregory's sister," he then turned to Daniel, "Dr. Pierce, I had asked you if the medical examiner could have misplaced those glasses and you said you would look into it."
"Yes, I remembered," Daniel lied.
"So did you ever find them?" Thomas inquired.
"I'm afraid not."
"That is so strange because he never had them off his face," Thomas half said to himself.
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Back at the house, Caroline had fixed egg salad sandwiches and watermelon while Daniel was studying the board once more.
He felt Caroline's presence in the room and had to force himself to look away. He could see she was holding some type of album book in her hands.
"Yes?" Daniel asked.
"I thought you might want to look at some pictures of our honeymoon," she said, wistfully, "that maybe looking at it might bring back some memories for us."
"Now?" Daniel asked and instantly regretted it when he saw Caroline's pursed lips. He knew she was hurt and he was being unfair. He forced himself away from the board.
"Let's take a look," he said, although his thoughts were still on the whiteboard.
He quickly glanced at some of the pictures. He saw some pictures of them in front of Niagara Falls and also some in front of The Tower Hotel, the same hotel he stayed with his parents when he was young. He looked so happy in the pictures, standing there, his arm casually around Caroline's waist. And somehow that bothered him the longer he viewed the pictures.
He shut the album and handed it back to Caroline, "Thank you, it was nice looking at these pictures of us," he hadn't meant to sound so wooden.
"So nothing clicked for you after seeing them?" she inquired.
"Nothing for now, although I can see that we were happy there and you were quite photogenic," Daniel forced a pleasant smile on his face.
She seemed appeased and with album in hand, she disappeared into another area of the house.
Daniel's smile disappeared the minute he looked back on the board, his concentration once more on the case. He recalled everything that was said during the visit to Gregory Nettle's apartment. Nettles' nephew had mentioned some black rimmed glasses, and strangely, a pair of black rimmed glasses was listed on the board here, also. Why? Why would they be listed here? What is the significance?
As he pondered these things, he heard the phone ringing in the background. Caroline's voice could be heard talking to the caller, but Daniel's mind was too immersed on his whiteboard list to pay any attention to what was said.
The list of items Daniel had written...wait...if the black glasses belonged to Gregory Nettles, could the other things possibly be items that had belonged to other deceased patients?
Daniel's eyes read through the list again... could each of these other items also been previously reported missing by loved ones?
A tremor traveled up Daniel's spine as he came to a slow realization. He now had a theory as to why he had written black rimmed glasses, pearl bracelet, glass squirrel and wedding ring on the board.
They were trophies for the killer.
So he was right... all of these were not accidental deaths...they were murders.
"Daniel!"
Caroline's tone indicated that she had called his name more than once. She was once more standing at the doorway, an unreadable expression on her face.
"That was Kate on the phone."
"Did you say Kate?" Daniel shouted back, trying not to emphasize her name, trying not to sound excited.
"Yes," Caroline let out a sigh as she uncomfortably shifted, "and she said she's on her way here now."
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Chapter nine will be the pivotal chapter! Please don't miss it! :D
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