Chapter 11
Mickie drove to the Bel Air Hotel the next day in the Bentley.
Alex didn’t let her drive the Aston Martin, and she didn’t want to.
She didn’t bother to take a security guard with her.
She didn’t feel in any danger. She thought Alex was paranoid about that and it made him feel important to have security guards outside the house.
They were provided by a service that rotated them.
They all looked to Mickie like actors pretending to be bodyguards.
It was a short drive from Bellissima to the Bel Air Hotel.
Billie took an Uber from the hospital when she finished work. She still didn’t have a car, and Jason used his Jeep most of the time, but he let her borrow it when she was desperate for a car, which wasn’t often.
When Billie got to the hotel, she was wearing her work clothes, which that day were running shoes, a pink sweater, and jeans.
She looked clean and respectable but she still dressed like a schoolgirl.
She didn’t need fancy clothes to work in the lab.
She waited in the garden for Mickie to arrive, watching the swans glide around and trying to figure out what to say to her without saying too much.
She didn’t want to break her promise to Jason, but she wanted to give Mickie some kind of warning that the roof might fall in, and she didn’t want her to take a fall for Alex, if he was doing something illegal, and somehow implicated her.
Billie didn’t trust him. And her instincts were still to protect her baby sister. Old habits died hard.
Mickie showed up on time in a silver Chanel jogging suit with matching running shoes and a silver Chanel purse. Her clothes no longer appeared secondhand. They were all the latest styles, and Alex was paying full price for them.
Mickie didn’t look happy to see her, and Billie was worried and tense.
They went to the bar together, Mickie ordered champagne by the glass and Billie water.
She wanted to be as coherent as possible to choose her words.
She was walking a thin line between concern for her sister and respect for Jason.
“I’m sorry to drag you here on short notice,” Billie said for openers.
“So what’s the problem?” Mickie didn’t want to waste time with her. She had none of Billie’s protective instincts except for herself.
“I don’t know what to say or quite how to say it, but I’m worried about you with Alex,” Billie got right to the point.
It was clear that Mickie didn’t want to make chitchat, and neither did she.
It was a storm warning, not a social visit.
And Mickie considered herself much too important to spend time with Billie now. She had outgrown her.
“Oh, for chrissake, Billie. I’ve been with him for seven months, and nothing bad has happened.
All that crap you were afraid of in the beginning was completely off base.
The guy is a serious doctor, he has a practice of every rich, important, or famous woman in L.A.
, and some men, he makes a shitload of money, and I don’t know what you’re worried about.
I think you’re just jealous because I fell into the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and you can’t stand it.
You’ve always been jealous of me, since we were kids. ”
Billie wanted to scream listening to her, but stayed calm.
“I’m not jealous of you. We want different things in life.
You have a right to the things you want.
And I’m happy for you if it’s working for you.
I can’t tell you how, but I’ve heard some things that suggest Alex may not be everything he says he is.
He could wind up in trouble, and I don’t want you in trouble along with him. ”
Mickie laughed out loud. “We had dinner last night with people who want to invest twenty-five or even up to forty million dollars in his business. I’d call that pretty darn successful. What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I can’t tell you, but for instance, he may not have gone to Harvard. It’s just a rumor I heard.”
“So where did he go? Yale? He’s a brilliant doctor, he’s more educated than you are. You think you’re such hot shit because you went to MIT. So fucking what, where did it get you? You’re a lab tech at Cedars.” She wanted to hurt Billie, but her sister refused to take the bait.
“I’m only here because if he ever gets in trouble, I don’t want you to get hurt with him. That’s my only motive here. I’m not trying to spoil your fun. I’m trying to protect you.”
“I don’t need your protection. This is all about that asshole you live with, isn’t it?
He hates me, and I don’t like him either.
He doesn’t approve of me, and I don’t care.
You’re picking on one of the most successful doctors in L.A.
He has a fantastic practice, and I have a great life with him.
What do you want me to do? Walk out on him because of some witch hunt your jerk of a boyfriend is on?
Do you want me to live in a shit apartment like the one I shared with you?
I am living the life I always wanted, and I don’t give a damn how jealous you are of me, I’m not giving that up and going back to being a waitress because you think it’s all I deserve because I didn’t finish high school.
Fuck you, Billie, and your boyfriend.” She stood up then, reached into her silver Chanel bag, pulled out a twenty-dollar bill, and dropped it on the bar to pay for her champagne.
“I don’t need you in my life. I don’t want you in my life.
Just stay away from me. I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, but it’s all bullshit.
Yeah, I have a fantastic life now, so get over it.
This is all about how jealous you are of me, you’re consumed by it.
It goes all the way back to Dad because he liked me better than he liked you.
Well, I’m sorry, that’s not my fault.” All the venom of her twenty years was spewing out on her sister.
She was so blind to Alex’s faults that the possibility that he might not be what he claimed was inconceivable to her.
And her jealousy and resentment of Billie knew no bounds.
It was a painful eye-opener for Billie, and a reminder of the past and her earlier experiences with her sister.
But she had at least tried to warn her. Her conscience was clear.
It was useless and Billie couldn’t tell her about the five women whose faces were deformed because of Alex.
“Just stay away from me,” Mickie repeated.
“Stay out of my life,” she said, and walked out of the bar, went to claim her car from the valet, got in, and drove away.
Billie took a sip of her water and left Billie’s money on the bar, added a little more for the tip, and then she got up and left too.
She called an Uber once she left the bar, and it arrived three minutes later.
She was silent on the drive back to West Hollywood, thinking about everything Mickie had said.
Billie just hoped that Alex didn’t drag her down with him, but he might.
There was nothing she could do about it.
She went upstairs to the apartment, and sat thinking about Mickie.
She really was a lost cause. Billie felt like she didn’t even have a sister.
Mickie really didn’t care about anyone but herself.
While Billie was meeting with her sister, Jason was in Joe McCarthy’s office discussing their next steps. They had the five women’s letters on the desk between them, all with photographs.
“He’s practicing without a license, and he didn’t go to the school he claims. The truth is we don’t know a damn thing about him, and the police have better access than we do.
They can at least give us some history from Florida, and check for a criminal record nationally.
We don’t know where he went to medical school, or even if he did,” Jason said, going to the most extreme possibility, which he doubted was the case.
“I assume he’s a doctor, but why no license?
No one is that sloppy. And he’s never had a problem until these five women, but their evidence is irrefutable.
We need to know a lot more about this guy.
I think we need to give it to the police now.
” They would have to eventually anyway to pick up any criminal activity, but they needed more help from them now, since nothing was adding up so far.
“I just want your green light to go to them now. I didn’t want to do it without talking to you. ”
“I agree,” Joe said with a serious expression. “We need their database, their muscle, and their connections.”
“Do you want to call them or should I?” Jason asked him.
“You can call them. It’s your story. I know the head of the fraud unit, Lieutenant Dan Kelly.
I’ll send him a text and give him a heads-up.
You have my blessing on this.” Joe glanced at his watch.
It was five-thirty. “I’ll shoot him a text now.
Call him in five minutes, and see if he wants you to send him what you’ve got, or meet with him on Monday.
” Joe jotted Kelly’s phone number down on a piece of paper and handed it to him, and Jason went back to his desk.
He waited five minutes, and called the number Joe had given him. A gruff voice answered.
“Kelly,” he said in a voice that sounded like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Jason gave him a quick rundown of what he had so far, and the lieutenant listened carefully before he spoke.