Lilly sighed as she pulled papers out from the case box and onto her desk. "Doctor James Madsen; thirty-six. Ran a family clinic over in Germantown. A nurse opened up that morning, found him in his office, throat slashed."
"They recover the murder weapon?" Lilly's partner Detective Scotty Valens asked.
Lilly nodded. "A scalpel from a drawer right next the smashed cabinet. Looks like somebody smashed a window to gain entry to the clinic too."
"Everything's pointing to a robbery gone bad." Scotty said.
Lilly paused as she looked over a set of notes she'd pulled out. "Hold on, this is interesting. A statement from the other doctor who worked at the clinic: Dr. Matthew Swain. He says Dr. Madsen was having heated phone conversations shortly before his death."
"Don't suppose it says with who."
Lilly shook her head. "There's not much here. The detective could've got fixated on the robbery explanation and ignored anything that suggested something else."
Scotty shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Goin' the extra mile. Wouldn't be the first time."
Lilly set the page down and looked at Scotty. "Well, maybe Dr. Swain'll have some more to say to someone who wants to listen."
Lilly and Detective Nick Vera managed to catch up with Dr. Matthew Swain at his home. A friendly-looing place, his walls were decorated with several humanitarian awards. Aside from his thinning, white hair, he looked fairly good for his age. His serious but relaxed demeanor quickly changed to one of surprise when he heard the detectives mention Dr. Madsen's name.
"Jim?" He said, smiling slightly. "It was terrible what happened to him. He deserved better. I kept the clinic open for a few more months, but I just couldn't keep working there. I sold it and got myself a job at St. Boniface, stayed there until I retired seven years ago."
Vera nodded. "You mentioned something in the report about Dr. Madsen getting some harassing phone calls?"
Matthew nodded. "I'm surprised that's even in there. No disrespect to your department but I don't think the fellow working the case back then was very interested in anything that didn't fit the robbery aspect."
"So how often were these calls?" Lilly asked.
Matthew paused for a moment, trying to remember. "Well I knew of at least three. The week he died, I'd left for a pharmaceutical convention in New York. He had one the day I left. I guess that would be the last time I saw him alive..."
("Monday Monday" - The Mamas & the Papas)
Matthew straightened his coat as he walked out of his office. Looking around to see where Dr. Madsen had gone, he heard talking from his office. Curious at the tone he heard, Swain walked over and peaked through the door which was open a crack.
"No!" Jim said. "I'm not changing my mind about this! And stop calling here thinking you're going to make me reconsider. I'm not going to put her through this anymore! Hello? Hello?" Jim sighed and massaged his forehead, hanging up the phone. He looked up to see Dr. Swain looking in. "What is it, Matt?" Jim asked, suddenly sounding very tired.
Matthew smiled. "I was just heading out now. I've got to get home and pack. I just wanted to say goodnight. I didn't mean to eavesdrop."
Jim managed a slight smile. "Don"t worry about it. I"ll see you in a week, Matt.'
"Is everything all right?"
"Everything's fine." Jim answered.
Matthew looked at the phone. "Didn't sound like everything's fine. I heard you have a couple of phone calls like that already this week."
"It's fine." Jim repeated curtly. "Don't you have to pack for your drug convention?"
Taken aback, Matthew raised his hands. "Okay, okay. Take it easy, Jim."
Jim lowered his head. "I'm sorry. I've just been having a rough week."
"Anything you want to talk about?"
"No, I'm fine."
"If you say so. You know it's not to late for you to buy a ticket and come with me."
Jim looked up. "I'm fine here. Besides, I got a kid to take care of."
Matthew shrugged. "All right, well, see you in a week." He turned and headed out. As Matthew headed out, Jim lowered his head again and sighed.
"Something was weighing him down, and I'll bet good money it had to do with those phone calls." Matthew said.
"Did anyone else know about these calls?" Vera asked.
"Paula, one of the nurses there, overheard at least one. I think she and Jim were pretty close. Not in a romantic way, I mean he was married. But they just understood each other."
"You know where we can find her?" Vera asked.
Matthew "It's been a few years but the last I heard she was working at the Children's Hospital."
Matthew lowered his head. "We didn't really socialize a lot outside of work, but I considered Jim a friend. You know, all these years I've sort of felt a bit responsible for what happened to him."
Lilly raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"
Matthew looked at her calmly. "Well, cause while I was away at that convention, somebody slit his throat. I tried to get him to come along but he wouldn't go. Maybe if I"d sold him a little more on the idea, he'd still be alive."
In the staff lounge at the Children's Hospital, Scotty and Detective Will Jeffries looked at Paula Freeman intently.
"You were the one who found Dr. Madsen." Jeffries said.
Paula nodded wistfully. "I'll never forget that as long as I live. Dr. Madsen was a good man, always treated me with respect, and to a black nurse, that's more than most doctors back then could say. He deserved better."
"We heard that a few days before he was killed, someone had been harassing him over the phone. We were told he might have confided in you about it."
Paula nodded. "I remember the phone calls but he never said exactly who they were from."
"But you have an idea?" Jeffries asked.
"Dr. Madsen"s wife was recovering from an illness at the time of his death. He was busy a lot with the clinic, so he hired a nanny to watch over his daughter. Jackie was her name, I think. Jackie Warren. Dr. Madsen's daughter really took to her. She seemed like a perfectly nice girl at first."
"At first?" Scotty said.
Paula sighed. "After a couple of weeks, it turned out Jackie wanted a little more than she was entitled to..."
("I'm a Believer" - The Monkees)
Paula looked up from her desk as Jim escorted an elderly woman from the exam room.
"Dr. Madsen, Steven Burke called." She said. "It sounded like his wife Claudia was having a bit of a reaction to the medication you gave her. He says it's been causing some stomach and chest pains."
Jim frowned. The medication he'd given her had a few potential side effects but those weren't among them. "That's odd. All right, have her come in as soon as she can."
Paula smiled. "I already penciled her in for 11:15 today."
Jim chuckled. "What would I do without you?"
Paula returned the smile, then looked on with surprise as she saw someone familiar walk in the door. Jim recognized her expression and turned around to Jackie looking at him.
"Jackie? What is it? Is Connie okay?" Jim asked, concern in his eyes.
Jackie smiled reassuringly and held up a hand. "No, no. She's fine. I dropped her off at school without any problems. I just... wanted to talk to you about something in private."
Jim was confused but nodded. "Of course. Just over here." He said, escorting her over to his office.
Jackie chuckled and started pacing as Jim sat down. "I realize this may not be the best time to do this, but it took me all morning to work up the courage to do this so if I don't do it now, I'm afraid I'll never be able to."
Jim shook his head, still not following. "Never be able to what?"
Jackie turned to him, an anticipating smile on her face. "I've seen you here, they way you help people around here. And I've seen how you are with Connie. I've never seen a man who took care of so many people. You're an amazing man, Dr. Madsen." Jim saw a look of desire in her eyes and before he knew it, she was kissing him.
He pulled back immediately. "What are you doing?"
The smile remained on Jackie's face. "I do everything a wife does. Shouldn't I get everything a wife gets?"
Jim stood up. "I have a wife. Look, Jackie, if I gave you the wrong impression, I'm sorry, but I'm a married man." His tone wasn't harsh but still firm.
Jackie folded her arms and looked at him impatiently. "And just where is your wife now anyway? Forget about her. She can't take care of herself, much less her own husband and daughter, and she still expects you to stay with her? It's pathetic."
Jim's eyes narrowed. "You know what" Don't worry about picking up Connie from school. I'll make other arrangements. You're fired." He immediately sat back down and started looking over some papers, deliberately ignoring her.
Jackie put her hand up to her mouth, and with tears in her eyes, ran out of the room.
Paula, having overheard everything, watched her run out the clinic, and then continued with her own work, shaking her head...
"A little harsh, wasn't he?" Jeffries said.
"Maybe, but Dr. Madsen wouldn't take someone disrespecting his wife like that." Paula said.
"So you think those calls might have been her trying to beg for another chance?" Scotty said.
"She had a pretty serious crush on him, I know that."
"And gettin' fired on top of getting rejected mighta pissed her off?" Scotty asked.
Paula shrugged. "Hell hath no fury."
Jackie Warren, now Jackie Hewitt, had made a name for herself as an agent for the largest real estate agency in Philadelphia. Jeffries and Detective Kat Miller caught up with her outside a gray-colored house she was exiting. "Good starter house" she'd called it. "Perfect for a new family."
Jackie was puzzled when the detectives mentioned Jim's murder, but she rolled her eyes when they mentioned Paula.
"Figures." She said. "She never liked me. She used to take care of Connie now and then and sort of resented me taking over."
"So was it true what she said about you having a thing for Dr. Madsen?" asked Kat
"And him firing you when you bad-mouthed his wife?" added Jeffries.
Jackie sighed. "I was twenty years old. I was a little girl with a crush that I thought was love. I was hurt but I would never do something to hurt him. I lost my own father in Korea when I was six. I could never do that to Connie."
The two detectives nodded as Jackie continued. "After Dr. Madsen fired me, I went back to school. I was staying at my dorm when I heard he'd been killed. I felt awful for thinking this when I heard it, but..."
Jeffries perked up at this. "But what?"
"But I couldn't help but wonder if his wife had something to do with it."
"His wife?" Kat asked.
"I never met her but Dr. Madsen told me his wife was an alcoholic. He'd sent her away to get treatment when it got serious, and that's something I know even Paula will confirm. Apparently, she didn't exactly go willingly either. Even after she left, she called his work and his office a few times, drunk, begging him to take her back. One day when I was dropping Connie off at home, I picked up the phone and listened in. It got pretty ugly."
Jeffries and Kat looked at each other.
"I tried to tell myself I was being crazy, and after they said it was probably a robbery, I decided it was nothing. But in forty years, I haven't forgotten what I heard. And if she was half as angry as she sounded, I don't know what she was capable of."