Chapter 9 #2
“I don’t give a rat’s ass about him,” he said honestly, “but depending on what your sister knows, she could go down with him. She may know nothing, even if the charges against him are true. But if she does know, or is involved in some way, even covering up what he does, she could get hurt by this, Billie. Badly. At worst, she could go to prison too. I want to know what you want me to do about it. I can give the story back to Joe now, and tell him I have a personal connection and can’t do it.
I will absolutely do that if you want me to.
If I take the story, I have to follow it to the end, no matter what I find.
I don’t want to take your sister down with him, but I can’t stop the train once I start it.
I’m fine if you tell me not to do it. I don’t want to start the investigation without your permission,” he said simply, as Billie stared at him, her stomach churning.
And knowing her sister, she knew anything was possible.
Mickie could be in it up to her ears and be fine with it.
Or she might know absolutely nothing. Or the three women’s claims could be bogus.
She was grateful that Jason had given her the option, but ethically, she thought there was only one answer.
“You have to do it,” she said simply. “These women deserve a fair shot at the truth.”
“If I don’t do it, they won’t bury it,” Jason assured her. “They’ll assign it to someone else. That might be the best answer for you, and for Mickie.”
“You’ll do a better job. She needs to know the truth too, no matter who tells it. If he’s hurting people he needs to be stopped, and Mickie needs to get the hell out of there.”
“What if she’s involved in some way?” Jason didn’t think much of Mickie, but felt like an executioner.
Billie took a breath before she answered. “If she’s involved, she has to face the consequences. You can’t spare her. I don’t want her to go to prison, but what you are saying is horrific. Do the story, and I’ll just pray she has no part in it. And if she does, she’ll have to pay for it.”
“Do you want a couple of hours to think about it?” Their lunch came, but neither of them was hungry, and she shook her head.
“No. Do it. It’s good for you, and it’s better to know the whole story.”
“You can’t tell her,” he said seriously, “or warn her.”
“Of course not.”
“It’s your decision, Billie. I’ll give it up in a hot minute if you want me to.”
“I don’t. For her sake and everyone’s, for those women.
” He nodded, then took the file out of the envelope and handed it to her.
It was the last time he could show it to her before he started working on it.
She winced and almost cried when she saw the pictures.
They were horrendous. “If it’s true, the man is a monster. ”
“He may be. Stranger things have happened. It’s not the first time I’ve heard stories like it,” he said.
“Thank you for asking me.” She was touched.
He didn’t even like Mickie, but he loved Billie, and they were sisters.
He had done the noble thing, and the right thing.
After this, they’d have to see what he would find out, and then what happened when he went to the police with the evidence, which was how it worked.
They both picked at their lunch and finished quickly, so she could go back to work on time, and he could get started.
He kissed her when he left her at the hospital door.
He was going back to his office to start his research by calling the Medical Board of California to verify that Alex’s license was in order. It seemed like a good place to begin.
Jason logged onto the site of the Medical Board of California, clicked on the section for License Verification, put in Alex’s name, and waited.
Alex Addison’s license would be a matter of public record.
Jason wanted to know when it had been issued, how long Addison had had a California license to practice.
It was an ordinary request and it would be easy to get the information.
It seemed to take a very long time and the response came back that there was no medical license issued under that name, which was clearly a computer error.
So he called the phone number listed for the Medical Board and made the same request. They left him on hold and came back with the same response.
There was no California license issued to a physician by that name.
“He practiced in Florida before. Could he be practicing here with his Florida license?” Jason asked the clerk on the phone, after double-checking the spelling.
“Not legally. It’s against the law. Did you check Florida?
Maybe he didn’t have one there either. Maybe he had a felony on his record, so he couldn’t get one.
You’d be surprised what people get away with, or try to.
You can check Florida, but for a copy of an out-of-state license you have to make the request in writing, and it takes time,” the clerk informed Jason, and he thanked him, puzzled that he couldn’t find Alex’s license.
A Harvard-trained physician would not want to practice without a license.
Jason wondered if the clerk was right, and Addison had an old felony charge of some kind.
He would have to get that information from the police, and he didn’t want to contact them yet.
That would be further down the road. He was trying to get the simple pieces of the puzzle in place first. Then he’d have to figure out where the pieces of sky belonged, the pieces that didn’t fall into place until the very end.
He had already hit a wall with a piece that didn’t fit, the very first one, and in theory, the easiest one to get.
He tried all the standard methods to check for a license in Florida, through the Florida Department of Health and their license verification portal.
Nothing showed up. He couldn’t find proof of a license in Florida or California.
Jason sat at his desk, thinking about it, and remembered someone he knew in New York.
Ed Manning was third-generation Harvard and head of the Harvard Club in New York.
He was a lawyer at Jason’s father’s firm.
Jason got the number on the internet and called him.
Ed was surprised to hear from Jason. He hadn’t seen him in several years.
“I’m writing a piece about a Harvard alum,” Jason explained after the initial niceties. “Undergraduate and med school, I need to know what year he graduated. How do I get that info? What department should I call? Is there an alumni office that handles basic inquiries like that?”
“I can get that for you. Give me his name, I’ll call you back,” Ed said, very obliging and happy to help.
“I hate to put you out,” Jason said politely.
“No problem, that’s what I do. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”
“You’re a champ, thanks, Ed.”
Jason’s cellphone rang ten minutes later.
“No luck, my friend. I checked a couple of different ways. I thought it was a glitch in the system, but it isn’t.
I checked the registrar’s office. We have a bunch of Addisons, but no Alexander.
And weirdly, not a single one in the med school.
He didn’t go to Harvard, undergrad or med.
You know, you’d be surprised how many people claim they went to Harvard, and aren’t telling the truth.
They think no one will ever check. You’re smart to fact-check on that. Your Dr. Addison never did.”
“You’re sure?” Jason pressed him again.
“Absolutely. Nice to talk to you. Give me a call next time you’re in New York.”
“I will.” Jason sat staring into space for a minute.
Alex Addison, if that was his real name, which Jason now wondered, was practicing medicine in the state of California without a license.
The diplomas that according to Billie’s sister hung on his office wall were frauds.
He had never gone to Harvard as an undergraduate, or for med school.
So where did he go to med school? Or did he?
A shudder ran down Jason’s spine as he thought of it.
Was he even a doctor? It was beginning to get ugly, and he had only just started.