Chapter 23 - Coalescence

Roger was in the conference room when Lee arrived.

"How's Rachael?"

"Screwed up. Worse than I imagined. Understandably so. I don't want to talk about it. We're on borrowed time."

Saul Jackson breezed in the room with a stack of pictures and an envelope. "Photographer's pics and the delivery receipt. Roger, look at the delivery receipt. Is that Rachael's signature, if you would know?"

"No, this is definitely not Rachael's." Roger looked upset. "It's Mel's. She must have signed for it when I wasn't home."

"Are you positive?"

"The 'M' in MacAdam, that loopy feminine one, is definitely Mel's. I've seen it enough in the past week alone to be certain."

Saul reached in Mel's handbag for her wallet. He opened it up. "He's right."

"Damn," Lee carped. "What does that mean for us? Without Mel to ask about it?"

"There are only a few possibilities, Lee. She might have thrown out the whole package and someone else got hold of it. Maybe she gave the package to Rachael. Maybe she opened it and then disposed of the gun somehow. She could have sold or pawned it."

"Rule out the first two. If Mel signed for it, she definitely would have opened it. She never would have given Rachael the gun. As to the getting rid of it, it's probable."

"Why?"

"Mel didn't care for guns. She wouldn't join us at the firing range and she was really very firm about what I'd need to do to secure my weapons when the baby came."

"Then she gave the gun away or sold it. How the hell are we going to trace that?" Lee asked.

"Interview her friends, for one. Check local pawn shops for another. Are you sure you can continue to work on this, Lee? You seem really rattled," Saul said.

"I am a bit. Too little sleep, too much caffeine, and Rachael threw me off balance."

"You want to take a break? Roger and I can push forward."

"No, I want to follow up on some ideas Rachael and I talked about, like the pregnancy. Roger, exactly how pregnant was Mel and how did you know?"

"Oh, don't tell me Rachael pushed that idea in your ear?"

"Someone fill me in what you are referring to, please?" Saul asked.

"Just how pregnant Mel really was, when did it happen, et cetera. So, Rog, objectively speaking, what did you know?"

"Mel had just found out she was pregnant when we met."

"At a bar?"

"Look, Mel wasn't about to turn into an angel for a baby. Her mother survived cocktail hour and she said this baby would too."

"So that was about three months ago?"

"Yes."

"You told me earlier that you didn't notice her showing at all."

"No, but I didn't look that closely and it's not unusual not to show that early according to the books I read."

"You would."

"Yes, I would."

"So how could you be certain she was pregnant?"

"Morning sickness. She had prenatal vitamins from her Ob-Gyn. That was enough for me, at least until Rachael kept pushing me and pushing Mel for details."

"What happened?"

"I'm embarrassed to admit it, but about a month and a half ago, Rachael got to me. She had been over - when Mel was out - and started in on questions about why Mel had feminine hygiene products in the bathroom if she was pregnant. I didn't see the big deal. You might have noticed that Mel was a bit sloppy. I figured that when she moved she dumped stuff from her drawers into a box and then back into drawers at my place."

"That was the end of it?"

"No, Rachael challenged Mel. There was a phone call. Mel was upset by it."

"I assume you told Rachael to back off?"

"I did, but I did ask Mel some questions that I hadn't earlier. Like who her doctor was. The due date. Could I go with her to an appointment?"

"What'd she say?"

"She picked up the phone and made an appointment for us after the wedding. She explained that the doctor didn't want to see her until then anyway unless something went wrong. Mel got a little upset at it all. She asked me if that was enough proof for me. I said it was fine. She just had to understand where Rachael was coming from."

"Did she?"

"No, which was ironic given that Mel was doing for me what Rachael would probably have done otherwise. Well mostly."

"Rachael would have used your sperm."

"Right, but of course Mel was already pregnant so that never came into discussion. Anyway, a week or two later we were talking about buying a house before the baby came and Mel came in and showed me a home pregnancy test she'd taken so I could get Rachael to shut up. It was positive."

Saul rubbed his temple.

"You have a thought, Saul?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, I do. Let's go through Melanie's stuff from the apartment and her personal items next."

"Focussing on what?" Roger asked.

"Receipts first. Store receipts. Then maybe her calendar and phone book."

A half hour later, Saul softly said: "Bingo." Lee and Roger snapped to attention. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

Lee and Roger stared at each other puzzled.

Saul returned five minutes later.

"What did you find?" Roger asked.

"A receipt dated just over a month ago for a home pregnancy test, a two pack."

"That just confirms what I said earlier," Roger said.

"I'm not certain. When Lee first found the tests, I ran the idea by my secretary - she's expecting her fourth kid any day now. I was puzzled like Lee by why Melanie would have moved the tests with her, including the used one. My secretary said if it was hers, had it been an unwanted pregnancy, she'd have hurled it in the trash right away. She couldn't imagine a different response."

"Yes, but now we know she didn't move them, just proving my point that she was showing her good faith to me."

"Ah, maybe not. I just asked my secretary about that possibility, that if someone demanded proof, how you'd go about it if you were already certain you were pregnant. Her answer was that you wouldn't spend nearly double the amount on a two-test kit when one would obviously suffice. They sell them singly."

"She doesn't know Mel. Mel just probably grabbed the first one she saw, top shelf brand, top shelf price."

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe something else was going on?"

"I think we are spinning wheels here, guessing at Mel's shopping and storage habits," Lee said.

"That's why I put in a call into the clinic where Mel went for the vitamins. Let me see if Susan has heard back."

Moments later, a very swollen bellied secretary came into the conference room.

"You got it?"

"Yes, and you promised time and a half today, right?"

"Double time if this is good."

"It is. Dr. Lara Wildman confirmed Melanie Mattingly's pregnancy with a blood test three months and seven days ago. She prescribed prenatal vitamins and set up a return visit that should have been last week. Four weeks later, the patient experienced bleeding and came to the clinic. She had miscarried. The patient was very distressed. A routine D&C was performed. The outcome and prognosis for future pregnancies was considered excellent. The patient was counseled regarding future attempts at pregnancy and encouraged to wait six months. The patient returned for another blood test just over four weeks later. Pregnancy was confirmed and prenatal advice given. Patient was given appointment scheduling calendar. Patient called and scheduled an appointment for approximately two weeks from today."

"Rachael knew it. How the hell did she know it?"

"She's very perceptive about people, Roger. We've known that for a long time."

"I didn't listen. If I had, Mel would be alive. Rachael would be free."

"This isn't helping, gentlemen. What will help is to find the father and the shooter, if it isn't the same as the father. Roger, you go through Melanie's handbag and look for a phone number, a date, an address, anything that might relate to this guy named 'Ollie.' Lee and I will go through the rest of the stuff from the apartment. Then we'll go through the pictures together. I have doubts they'll be much help."

Lee nodded. They quietly began to paw through Mel's possessions. Saul got up to use the phone. "Susan, order in lunch and coffee for us. Triple time, sweetie. Afterward, go home and put up your feet. Thanks."

Lee flipped through more of Mel's receipts and notes. It was an indiscriminate mess of stuff. He found nothing. Saul brought up a box that Lee hadn't seen collected.

"It was in a high kitchen cabinet, stuffed in a back corner. I needed to stand on the counter for it. The loopy handwriting on the outside reading 'Personal Stuff' suggested to me it was Melanie's. Odd hiding place, however."

"To keep it away from Rachael," Roger said absentmindedly, his focus on a calendar page. "Damn. She really played me."

"What have you got?"

"I'm no expert, but this appears to be a countdown."

"Go on."

"From MP to Ovulat. It ran from nearly two months ago forward."

"Sorry, Roger."

"What does it mean? She didn't trust me enough to tell me? Or she didn't want me to be the real daddy? This makes it seem like she really wanted to pass off someone else's baby as mine."

"Backed up by a hefty life insurance policy on you," Saul said.

"I'm alive. She isn't. That can't be the right focus!" Roger slammed a fist on the table.

"There are generally two motives for murder: passion or money. Maybe Melanie had a deal with the baby's father that went bad or that she couldn't go through with. Who knows? It could be related, it might not be. We just have to keep plugging," Saul insisted.

Then Saul stopped in his tracks as he pawed through the "personal" box. "That answers that mystery." Saul put the oversized air mail envelope on the table. "The stuff they sent back to Rachael."