Chapter 10 #3
After a moment, grounding herself in his gaze, she shook her head.
“No. I’m all right.” Slowly, she clicked on the file icon and the folder opened, displaying information about Luke Stevenson, listing the dates he’d met with her over the past months.
The final entry bore Dr. Janek’s initials.
He must have made the entries when Sachie hadn’t been able to bring herself to return to the office, and there was an attachment on that entry.
She opened the attachment to find a photocopy of a death certificate dated that day that had changed her life.
To her, it was proof positive that Luke was truly dead.
The faces she’d seen on the crowded streets of Honolulu and the one in the window of her cottage on the Big Island couldn’t possibly have been Luke Stevenson. He was dead.
Teller rested a hand on her shoulder. “Do you know if his foster family blamed you for his death?” he asked.
Sachie lifted her shoulders and let them drop. Hell, she blamed herself for his death. Why wouldn’t they?
His hand squeezed her shoulder lightly. “Do you have their names and address in his file?”
She nodded and clicked on the screen with Luke’s personal information.
Teller took the pen from the desk and scrawled the information on the pad beneath Lily’s data. “Do you need anything else from this file? Are there notes indicating the name of the police officer who responded to your call? Maybe he remembers something you might not have noticed.”
She went back to Dr. Janek’s notes and shook her head. “There’s no mention of the responding officer. We can ask at the police station. They would have records.”
“In the meantime, keep looking,” Teller encouraged.
She worked her way through the Ts and thought she’d pretty much exhausted the files until she reached Aidan Williams, a four-year-old she’d been called in to evaluate when he’d ended up in the ER after his father had beaten him with a leather belt and dislocated his arm.
The mother had disappeared months earlier, having returned to the contiguous forty-eight states, leaving the father to deal with a four-year-old.
At the court hearing, the father had blamed the kid for misbehaving and had blamed Sachie for taking the boy from him and sending him to jail. He’d sworn he’d get even. That had been over a year ago. The father had been sentenced to two years. Could he have been released?
Sachie wrote down his name and moved on, finishing her search through the Zs.
She peeled the notes off the pad, pushed back from the computer and stood as Dr. Janek appeared in the doorway. “Ready to continue your search?” he asked.
Sachie smiled at her former boss. “No. I think I have what I need.”
“Well, let me know if you need anything else. I hate that you’re having to go through this on the heels of what happened.”
She snorted. “You and me both. I just hope whoever it is doesn’t come after you next.”
“I’m already looking over my shoulder,” Dr. Janek said. “If you decide to stay on Oahu, you’re always welcome to come back to work here. It’s not the same without you.”
“Thank you. It’s nice to know I was appreciated.” She hugged the doctor and headed for the door.
Teller followed.
Once outside, he pulled out his cell phone. “Let me send a picture of those names and addresses to Swede so he can start fishing.”
She held up the handwritten notes while Teller snapped pictures of them. He sent them via text to the Brotherhood Protector hacker.
Sachie hoped he found something.
Teller pocketed his cell phone. “Where next?”
“The police station,” she said. “I want to see if they’ve made any headway on finding whoever broke into my apartment and drowned my pillows.
I also need to let them know what happened on the Big Island, in case they hadn’t heard.
There’s a chance they might know if some of the people on our list have had further encounters with the law. ”
Teller nodded. “Then what?”
Sachie shook her head. “I’d really like to know what bothered Luke so much that he thought his only way out was to end his life.”
“I thought you said he’d hurt his girl.”
“That’s just it. He never hit her. He grabbed her to keep her from doing something he was against. When she pulled free, she fell and hit her head against a wall.
Though he didn’t actually hit her, he blamed himself.
He was afraid he was genetically predisposed to abuse and would turn out to be abusive like his father. ”
“Sounds like he had a couple of things going on that pushed him over the edge,” Teller said.
Sachie's lips pressed together. “Anyway, I want to talk with his foster family to see if they noticed him acting strangely or if they’d had a fight. They might also have an idea who Luke was hanging out with. I’d like to speak with his friends and Kylie, his girlfriend.
Maybe that will help me understand the signs I should’ve looked for, so I can figure out ways to de-escalate situations like that if I’m ever in a similar scenario.
I never want another kid to die that I could’ve helped. ”
“I know you’re still hurting from Luke’s suicide, and I agree with learning from tragedy to avoid it happening again.” Teller gripped her arms and stared down into her eyes. “I’m on board with all of that...as long as we stay on course to find your stalker before he strikes again.”
Sachie met his gaze and held it with determination and purpose swelling inside. She’d be damned if she let anyone control ever her again. “Damn right. Let’s find that stalker.”