CHAPTER 20
As William had thought, Tom had a conference call with the management. Huston shook his head at William's puzzled gaze. The two of them sat down at the table and began to discuss the case of Laura Median. There was no time for them to go to the other department where her husband's case was being examined. They needed Tom's advice on how to proceed and soon, the conversation between William and Huston turned to the matter of Sofia. William took his phone out of his pocket and gave the names of the clinic's staff to Huston. The sergeant wrote these down calmly and then reached for the phone.
'What are you doing?' William asked. Huston raised his finger, as if telling William to hang on.
'Hi Sam. Are you free to talk?' the sergeant asked, leaning back in his chair, before bringing a document closer to him. 'Do any of these names ring a bell?' Huston read the names off the paper before repeating them for Sam's benefit. After a bit of time, some rustling was heard on the other end, and thanks to the sergeant's rounded eyes, William knew that Huston had some useful information. 'Oh, wow! Thanks for that Sam! I'll tell him now. See you later!'
'What was that about?' William asked.
'Fred Brown, the pathologist, performed Woodruff's autopsy on the local coroner's recommendation. He was asked to come down from Central Hospital. Sam said that Fred did his job properly. I didn't ask him any more questions on the matter. Does this ring any bells in your head Bill? Who are you calling?' Huston asked, seeing that William had grabbed back his phone.
'What an idiot I am! Now I get it! Copies of the documents were left at both the crematorium and the funeral home. Wait!' William quickly dialed a number and asked a few questions, before repeating them to someone else. Then, he put the phone down, coming to a realization. 'There you are! Did you say he worked at the Central Hospital? Ah, it must've been Fred Brown that signed all the papers in the clinic four years ago. His name's right there. We don't have to wait till tomorrow now, we can go there right away, if someone hasn't already tipped Fred off. They're all in it together in that clinic,' William added with disgust.
'Wait! Let's call the Hospital first; you'll be able to find out if Fred's there,' Huston gestured towards the phone before William rang the Hospital and asked if they had someone called Fred Brown on their books. He received confirmation and asked to be connected to his department. It turned out that Fred wasn't at work despite the verification. Having spoken for a little more time, Huston thanked the receptionist and turned back to William. 'It looks like he's gone from there already. They say he's taken sick leave and is staying at home due to the virus outbreak. In addition, he's already sent a letter of resignation to his union.'
'Jimmy, this isn't your standard resignation. We need to find him. Get what I mean? Fred Brown must be registered as a professional somewhere. You didn't ask the hospital for his address or phone number, did you?'
'No, but it's not an issue. I'm sure we'll find out,' Jimmy chuckled at William's response. The sergeant actually turned out to be wrong, as it took longer than expected to find out where Fred lived. The last place that someone with that name lived was next to the clinic, as Fred had rented an apartment there. However, he'd moved out a few years ago. The request to T-Mobile took some time to process, so in the meantime, William told Huston that he'd go to the hospital and try to find answers himself. Huston looked bemused.
'At the end of the day, you know what to do. I'm not your boss, so let's just say it's a business trip, alright?'
'Thanks Jimmy! I owe you one!'
As he was about to leave, William had to face Felicia, who'd just finished speaking to journalists and she clearly wanted to tell him something.
'Bill, make sure to put your mask on!' Felicia smiled and pointed to her mask as William put his on. 'That's better. There were a load of journalists asking questions about you also. Don't get on the wrong side of them now.'
'Don't tell me that small Asian journalist was there as well?'
'She was there, Linda Wu's her name. She's been working on the cable channels for a good while. She's a good reporter with an unhealthy interest in your case. It's not just her either. At the end of the day, the fewer answers we give them, the more they like to make assumptions.'
'You're right there!'
'Just be careful. They'll ambush you when you leave, just don't lose your temper,' Felicia waved him off with sincerity in her eyes.
'I won't! Thanks for the advice!'
There wasn't anyone at the exit and with a sigh of relief, William got behind the wheel of his car and drove towards the city. He was so consumed by those facts that he'd become oblivious to the large Chevrolet behind him. William felt that the end of this case was near and felt he needed to rush things in his head.
At the hospital, William wasn't met in a friendly manner. As the doctors were busy, it became apparent that everyone was a bit flustered. The head doctor refused to speak to William and when William attempted to speak to him, there wasn't any chance of getting a positive response, especially given the virus situation. William was quite forceful with the doctor.
'You don't have any patients here so what the hell are you doing? You said on the phone that you even had people in the corridors and on the floor! The place is empty and you can't even talk to me?'
'Mr. Lindstone, don't tell me how to do my job! We're both in different professions after all. Anyway, I've got orders from above that's more important than talking to you. Do you understand?'
With the pair shouting at one another, they parted. A reporter stood on the ground floor of the hospital, discussing coronavirus.
'Here's a representative of the police passing by, Lieutenant William Lindstone,' William heard a clear voice close by and froze in disbelief. Right in front of him stood the reporter that he and Felicia had discussed earlier. She thrusted a microphone to this mouth and asked him some questions: 'Lieutenant, how many people are infected? Have you come to the hospital for a test? What's your view on the city's current situation? Are the measures taken by the city and the state justified?'
The sheer anger that had built up inside William thanks to his own powerlessness caused him to tear the microphone out of the reporter's hand and throw it into the rolling camera lens.
'Just leave me alone. Why are you following me around everywhere? Haven't you got anything better to do?' he soon moved away from the journalist who stood in bewilderment at his powerful response and then he got back in the car. The cameraman soon tracked William leaving, and the journalist apologized to her audience, hoping in her head that this would spark fury from the viewers online. William was unaware of this however and neither was the hospital's head doctor, who complained to the mayor about William's defiance in the face of the reporter. The mayor soon called Tom who listened to her tired voice.
William passed a small Toyota as he was leaving the hospital, and it let him out onto the road, giving way, before William rushed back to the office, awaiting an unpleasant conversation with Tom.
On the day of his trial, William was driven through the streets he'd walked a thousand times before, but this time couldn't see through the walls of the van. He could only imagine the route, the lines of houses they were travelling on and the streets where city residents were going about their business.
The van moved slowly, accompanied by two patrol cars, but the residents weren't out on there like normal, only two or three pairs could be seen on a bridge. Holding the handrail was a small girl in a raincoat and beret. It was a cold April morning with an unpleasant and chilly wind blowing in from the ocean over an unusually empty sea front. Pedestrians wore white masks, looking like a scene from the Walking Dead. The little girl squinted at the sun, smiling at a woman who, squatting in front of her, tried to take a picture with an old Polaroid instant camera. The film cartridge was finished and, in her hands, she had a few pictures of her baby that she held with her gloves at their edges. The woman picked one carefully, put it in a clean, white envelope, then screwed the rest up and put them in a small backpack.
'Dee, are you done?' the girl asked cheerfully and took a lollipop from her pocket.
'Yes, I am. Now let's get far, far away from here.'
'Disneyland?' asked the little girl.
'Yes, of course. Just do what I say and never take anything without asking, especially in the shops, okay? I'll always buy whatever you want, you just have to ask. You have a great future ahead, so study hard and grow up strong and no one will ever hurt you.'
'Yes, Dee,' said the girl, obediently and hearing the rustling paper, anticipated the sweetness of the candy she was about to eat. Denise took out her phone and called a number, which was immediately answered.
'Hi, Jimmy! Can we meet? I have the perfect photo, so are you sure you can pass it on without a problem? What? My voice sounds funny? I've decided to go back in time. The sex-change had a bad effect on my skin and my mood, so I'm better as a woman. Okay, the taxi's here and I'm getting in. See you later.'
Half an hour later, the yellow taxi stopped on the corner of Seventh Street, near a small eatery. A woman went in and went up to the cashier behind the counter. They exchanged a few words, she took a coffee and threw some coins into the tip jar. The girl behind the counter smiled through her mask. This was the first customer she'd seen for quite a while.
A man approached the woman, they sat down and began to talk quietly at the far table.
'Where are you going to go?', he asked.
'No idea, but far away from here. Justice hurts, so I want to go and live where it doesn't.'
'Mexico, perhaps? You've never said.'
'I'm not going to say either. I feel much better now, that's the most important thing. Thanks for your help, Jimmy.'
'My pleasure. I couldn't let you go alone and thought I may be able to help you more than you realize. I was even hoping we could live together some day.'
'But you have a family and children, I don't,' the woman smiled, sadly.
'Yes, but mine are fostered, you know.'
'Jimmy, I need a couple of months to take a break from the past and get over this.'
'A couple of months? That's quite a time, but just promise me that you'll call me, when it gets easier for you?'
'You bet!'
'Have you now returned to your previous look? What are you called now, Danny Hill?'
'No, same as before, Denise Hill. Danny was just convenient when I wanted to change sex – Denise and Danny are very similar and easy to remember, it avoids confusion and I didn't need to change anything. Okay, I've got to go. Be careful and hand this envelope to him, that's all.'
'Don't worry, will do. Remember, I'll be waiting for your call,' Jimmy got up and walked along the deserted street to the crossing.
CHAPTER 29
At this time, William's trial was nearing its end in the courthouse, and everything became clear. The jurors had grown tired over the course of the case but listened to the judge pronouncing William's sentence. Things had clearly come to a sad end.
'…despite the lack of evidence of a premeditated murder, pursuant to Paragraph 210 of Part 2 of the USA's Criminal Code, even the unintentional loss of a person's life during a robbery, rape, arson, kidnapping or escape from custody must be considered in any case as an extreme indifference to the value of human life, and must be qualified as a first-degree murder. Therefore, the court pronounces a sentence of two life sentences for each murder and the verdict comes into force from the moment of this announcement.'
There were no further comments from anyone. Everyone looked round in surprise, not daring to express any emotions. William even looked up at the judge in surprise, trying to understand what had just happened, but he didn't succeed. His head was empty and he couldn't think straight; William's mind was already dead and a life sentence was no different for him than death, so all the way back to prison he rolled in the back of the van in a complete daze.
In the cell, its narrow walls seemed to shrink even more, as William's eyes reacted to changes in lighting and in the darkness, his mind wandered to a darker place as he thought the depths of a grave probably looked the same.
William stood inside the cell, hearing the door lock, and he couldn't take any step forward. He forced himself to look around at the walls and think carefully. He had to talk to Tom again. He approached the door and called a guard over, telling him the request. The guard didn't answer leaving William alone with the silence, and the waiting game began. The next morning, he was informed about his impending transfer to another prison, and in the afternoon, the door to William's cell suddenly opened, and he was informed of a visitor.
'Thomas?', William asked, sitting up.
'What?' the guard asked.
'Is it Thomas Wilson?'
'No,' the guard responded coldly.
'The lawyer?' asked William, less enthusiastic than before.
'No. Turn around and face the wall with your arms stretched out,' it was an order, not a question.
The walk down from the third floor felt like an eternity for William. When he finally reached the glass screen in the visitation room, he couldn't believe his eyes. The small reporter, Linda Wu, sat in front of him on a wooden chair, holding her purse.
'Hold it,' a voice was heard from behind William and the guard handed him a book. William saw that this book wasn't in the best condition and had many torn pages and looked crumpled.
'I was asked to give this to you,' Linda said from behind the glass, weakly.
'What? Who gave it you?' William was at a loss as to who'd sent him the book. It had an unassuming and uninteresting cover – it was some kind of romance.
'There, take a look inside,' Linda replied. 'I was told that you were looking forward to seeing this photo,' she said, trying to smile, but her face instead showed sadness and sympathy for William's situation.
'A photograph?' William muttered, taking an envelope from the middle of the book. Surely, this must've been scanned before it had got to him to make sure it wasn't contraband. He opened the envelope to find a Polaroid photograph of a little girl wearing a white raincoat and beret. She stood on the embankment near a large bridge and squinted in the sun, very much like his own daughter. 'This looks like Sofia!' he thought, before realizing what had actually happened in the courthouse. It was worse than the life sentences he'd been ordered to serve – William had to live with the thought that Sofia had a daughter and that she lived with someone else.
William clenched his fists and looked up at Linda behind the glass.
'Are you alright? What's wrong?' she asked.
'This is Sofia's daughter, I'm certain of it,' William said approaching the glass. 'She stayed with that person who's behind all this, see?' he stopped and realized that the only person that could help was sitting right in front of him. 'Linda, listen to me,' he whispered. 'Can you find Thomas Wilson for me? He's been transferred to Phoenix; can you find him and tell him I've remembered something?'
Suddenly, Linda pursed her lips, her eyes sparkling. She removed her mask and took out a napkin to wipe her nose.
'I'm sorry, I wanted to make you feel better. I'm so sorry. I've got a lot of time, though, now, as I've got no job, the channel is closed. I think I might be able to move to Phoenix and find work, although it might be difficult.'
'Really?' William couldn't believe what he'd just heard. 'Then, I beg you, write down what I've asked you… shit, there isn't a pen and paper. Okay, try and remember what I've asked you and write it down, when you get out of here. Contact Jimmy Huston in the police office, he should tell you where Tom is now.'
'I will, don't worry,' Linda said with a reassuring tone.
'So, when I entered the hotel room, Fred Brown called me 'Dannie'. Let Tom find everyone with this name in the cases I've investigated. I'm certain that this 'Danny' must've lived here in the city. This man is close to Fred Brown and he must be found – he's very important. I'm certain that my granddaughter is with him. Please tell Tom about this, and stop crying. I've got two life sentences to serve. Thanks for coming Linda, it's not for nothing, I'm certain. Yes, justice hurts, but I'll await your return.'