Chapter 12:
"What about finally telling us the truth?"
The expression on Jack's face didn't suit his friendly tone at all.
"What's that supposed to mean? The truth? I already told you, Andrea temporary..."
Jack interrupted her, the friendly tone had vanished from his voice.
"I know what you told us, the thing is : you lied to us. Because Andrea never was transfered to that clinic."
The nurse seemed scared for a moment.
"Of course she was! You've seen the documents yourself!"
Jack seemed to intentively think about this for a moment.
"Yes, we did, the problem with this documents is, that they have no validity, they are forged, without any legal effect." "That's nonsense!"
She still wasn't willing to give in.
"Did you ever realize that these documents were never signed by a doctor? There's not a single evidence , that a doctor has granted the temporary transfer. There's not even prove that a doctor ever has seen these documents before Andrea had disappeared. That's a little strange, don't you think?"
She didn't answer. He slowly broke down her defence, broke through her.
„To be exact, there's only your signature and only - and considering the size of the clinic's administration this is really strange - your fingerprints on this paper."
She still kept silent, she seemed to search for a believable answer to this, for another lie.
"I don't know what you did and I don't know why, but I know that if Andrea will be harmed in any way, you're the one being responsible for it. You were competent for her care and safety. You were the one rather initiating or at least covered her disappearance. You are responsible! And ... you left a conclusive evidence for your actions."
Jack tapped to the document. The nurse looked scared to him now.
"Listen, I can't tell you where she is.
Jack gave her an interested look.
"Do you know how many years of imprisonment you will be sentenced to for assistance to murder or manslaughter in the second degree? You know that!"
The nurse winced.
"She is not in danger!"
Jack bend himself down, closer to her.
"You have released Andrea from the mental institution with the help of some forged documents. You have given her into the custody of another person. You've pulled her out of her daily routine and her usual surrounding. You have no possiblities to check her health state or to take care of her taking her medicaments . You've send her to a world she hasn't been in for years now and you didn't hear anything of her since that. You've let a young, psychologicaly instable woman depending on others people's help enter the real world all alone. How the hell do you wanna know, that she's not in danger?"
The nurse breathed heavily now, she was on the edge of crying.
"I just tried to protect her."
"Of whom?"
She didn't say a word.
"Of whom!"
„Of Leeland Brooks."
He got her, he had finally broken through her defence.
"What made you believe Andrea needed to be protected from Brooks?"
The nurse hesitated for some more moments, than she took her handbag and searched for something – a letter. She handed it to Jack, who took it.
"Because she received this from him."
She pointed to the letter in Jacks hands. It was some lines long, written by computer and without any signature.
"What makes you so sure it was Brooks, writing to her?"
The nurse gave him a sad look.
"Who else would write such horrible things?"
Jack read the letter
Hello my dear you still remember the day when we first met you'd been good and I know you liked it but now you're a real bad girl tryin to talk me into but you won't get a chance there's nowhere to run, there's nowhere to hide wherever you will be, I will find you be prepared for what's to come I will show you what true suffering means
Jack swallowed hard after reading, the nurse was right – it was horrible
"What did you do?" "I was so ununtterably worried about her. I panicked, I knew she wasn't safe where she was any longer."
Jack looked her, finding his interest once again.
"How's that?"
„Take a look at the second page of the letter."
He flipped back the first page of the letter and looked at a b/w picture of Andrea sleeping.
„That was taken in her room, in her room in the clinic."
Jack understood, but the nurse said it out loud none the less. "Nobody, except for me, the rest of the care personel and the doctors are allowed to enter these tooms. No one! Such a picture should never have been taken. Somebody broke into the institution and entered her bedroom. He could've killed her! She wasn't safe there any more."
"And that made you decide to send her away?"
„Yeah. The only relative of which I knew where she was, was Erika. So I gave the letter and a short note to a friend of mine who works for the state prison. She gave it to Erika. Some days later I received a message from her. She asked me to send a copy of the letter to her brother in New York. She wanted to call him afterwards and ask him for help. Forging the documents for Andrea's transfer was her idea, too. So nobody would become suspicious."
Sam interrupted the nurse with another entitled question.
„Why didn't you call the police?"
The nurse gave an sarcastically amused look.
„The police? This guy has broken into her bedroom and took some pictures of her! Police couldn't have protected her either."
Sam waved through the room with her hand.
„What about us? What about the FBI?"
The nurse crossed her arms before her chest and gave her a hard look.
„Her brother works for FBI."
Jack made Sam stop questioning the nurse with a movement of his hand.
"And he picked her up?"
"Yeah, yesterday morning at about five."
They were so close to a solution.
"Do you know where they wanted to go?"
"No."
Jack looked at her intentively, she was telling the truth. Something else came to his mind. "Did Andrea ever get to see the letter?"
The nurse looked at him, being surprised.
"For heaven's sake – no! Our patients' mails are inspected before they are distributed to them. To avoid that they get upset about something too much. If she would have seen and read this, she probably would never be able to give her testemony. It would have thrown her back years on her way of recovery."
Jack repeated the nurses' words once again, seeming surprised.
"Make a statement?"
"Didn't you kow? Andreas case will come up for trial this month. She received the citation for next Thursday, to give her testemony. She is the main witness of the prosecution. The sentence stands and falls with her statement, cause all of the other evidence isn't sufficient. Brooks will be called to account for what he has done to her."
Jack realized the importance of the situation all of a sudden. Andrea was the only one capable of identifying Brooks, the only one who could charge him and send him to prison. And Brooks tried to keep his freedom. He probably had just speculated that getting and reading the letter would scare Andrea that much and throw her back in her psychological recovery, that she wouldn't be able to give her testemony. He had the chance to kill her, as he charged someone with taking the pictures of Andrea, but he didn't do it. But now Andrea had disappeared and she had never read the letter. She was still willing and able to give her testemony in front of a jury and he was still in danger of losing his freedom. The question emerging was, how far, now that his first plan had failed, Brooks was willing to go to keep it.
"Thank you, you've helped us a lot."
He finally said, some of the friendliness had returned to Jack's voice again ...
"What about finally telling us the truth?"
The expression on Jack's face didn't suit his friendly tone at all.
"What's that supposed to mean? The truth? I already told you, Andrea temporary..."
Jack interrupted her, the friendly tone had vanished from his voice.
"I know what you told us, the thing is : you lied to us. Because Andrea never was transfered to that clinic."
The nurse seemed scared for a moment.
"Of course she was! You've seen the documents yourself!"
Jack seemed to intentively think about this for a moment.
"Yes, we did, the problem with this documents is, that they have no validity, they are forged, without any legal effect." "That's nonsense!"
She still wasn't willing to give in.
"Did you ever realize that these documents were never signed by a doctor? There's not a single evidence , that a doctor has granted the temporary transfer. There's not even prove that a doctor ever has seen these documents before Andrea had disappeared. That's a little strange, don't you think?"
She didn't answer. He slowly broke down her defence, broke through her.
„To be exact, there's only your signature and only - and considering the size of the clinic's administration this is really strange - your fingerprints on this paper."
She still kept silent, she seemed to search for a believable answer to this, for another lie.
"I don't know what you did and I don't know why, but I know that if Andrea will be harmed in any way, you're the one being responsible for it. You were competent for her care and safety. You were the one rather initiating or at least covered her disappearance. You are responsible! And ... you left a conclusive evidence for your actions."
Jack tapped to the document. The nurse looked scared to him now.
"Listen, I can't tell you where she is.
Jack gave her an interested look.
"Do you know how many years of imprisonment you will be sentenced to for assistance to murder or manslaughter in the second degree? You know that!"
The nurse winced.
"She is not in danger!"
Jack bend himself down, closer to her.
"You have released Andrea from the mental institution with the help of some forged documents. You have given her into the custody of another person. You've pulled her out of her daily routine and her usual surrounding. You have no possiblities to check her health state or to take care of her taking her medicaments . You've send her to a world she hasn't been in for years now and you didn't hear anything of her since that. You've let a young, psychologicaly instable woman depending on others people's help enter the real world all alone. How the hell do you wanna know, that she's not in danger?"
The nurse breathed heavily now, she was on the edge of crying.
"I just tried to protect her."
"Of whom?"
She didn't say a word.
"Of whom!"
„Of Leeland Brooks."
He got her, he had finally broken through her defence.
"What made you believe Andrea needed to be protected from Brooks?"
The nurse hesitated for some more moments, than she took her handbag and searched for something – a letter. She handed it to Jack, who took it.
"Because she received this from him."
She pointed to the letter in Jacks hands. It was some lines long, written by computer and without any signature.
"What makes you so sure it was Brooks, writing to her?"
The nurse gave him a sad look.
"Who else would write such horrible things?"
Jack read the letter
Hello my dear you still remember the day when we first met you'd been good and I know you liked it but now you're a real bad girl tryin to talk me into but you won't get a chance there's nowhere to run, there's nowhere to hide wherever you will be, I will find you be prepared for what's to come I will show you what true suffering means
Jack swallowed hard after reading, the nurse was right – it was horrible
"What did you do?" "I was so ununtterably worried about her. I panicked, I knew she wasn't safe where she was any longer."
Jack looked her, finding his interest once again.
"How's that?"
„Take a look at the second page of the letter."
He flipped back the first page of the letter and looked at a b/w picture of Andrea sleeping.
„That was taken in her room, in her room in the clinic."
Jack understood, but the nurse said it out loud none the less. "Nobody, except for me, the rest of the care personel and the doctors are allowed to enter these tooms. No one! Such a picture should never have been taken. Somebody broke into the institution and entered her bedroom. He could've killed her! She wasn't safe there any more."
"And that made you decide to send her away?"
„Yeah. The only relative of which I knew where she was, was Erika. So I gave the letter and a short note to a friend of mine who works for the state prison. She gave it to Erika. Some days later I received a message from her. She asked me to send a copy of the letter to her brother in New York. She wanted to call him afterwards and ask him for help. Forging the documents for Andrea's transfer was her idea, too. So nobody would become suspicious."
Sam interrupted the nurse with another entitled question.
„Why didn't you call the police?"
The nurse gave an sarcastically amused look.
„The police? This guy has broken into her bedroom and took some pictures of her! Police couldn't have protected her either."
Sam waved through the room with her hand.
„What about us? What about the FBI?"
The nurse crossed her arms before her chest and gave her a hard look.
„Her brother works for FBI."
Jack made Sam stop questioning the nurse with a movement of his hand.
"And he picked her up?"
"Yeah, yesterday morning at about five."
They were so close to a solution.
"Do you know where they wanted to go?"
"No."
Jack looked at her intentively, she was telling the truth. Something else came to his mind. "Did Andrea ever get to see the letter?"
The nurse looked at him, being surprised.
"For heaven's sake – no! Our patients' mails are inspected before they are distributed to them. To avoid that they get upset about something too much. If she would have seen and read this, she probably would never be able to give her testemony. It would have thrown her back years on her way of recovery."
Jack repeated the nurses' words once again, seeming surprised.
"Make a statement?"
"Didn't you kow? Andreas case will come up for trial this month. She received the citation for next Thursday, to give her testemony. She is the main witness of the prosecution. The sentence stands and falls with her statement, cause all of the other evidence isn't sufficient. Brooks will be called to account for what he has done to her."
Jack realized the importance of the situation all of a sudden. Andrea was the only one capable of identifying Brooks, the only one who could charge him and send him to prison. And Brooks tried to keep his freedom. He probably had just speculated that getting and reading the letter would scare Andrea that much and throw her back in her psychological recovery, that she wouldn't be able to give her testemony. He had the chance to kill her, as he charged someone with taking the pictures of Andrea, but he didn't do it. But now Andrea had disappeared and she had never read the letter. She was still willing and able to give her testemony in front of a jury and he was still in danger of losing his freedom. The question emerging was, how far, now that his first plan had failed, Brooks was willing to go to keep it.
"Thank you, you've helped us a lot."
He finally said, some of the friendliness had returned to Jack's voice again ...