44. Levi
Levi watched the elevator doors close, holding his breath. There was so much he wanted to say to Alexis. Hopefully, they would have time later. Maybe by then, he wouldn’t feel the burden of guilt he currently carried on his shoulders.
He turned and headed toward Valentina’s office. After Tessa’s email the night before, Levi had more than enough evidence to push forward, but it was what Elias had told him that made him pull the trigger. When his brother had arrived the night before, Levi had thought he would tell him about the billing fraud. He hadn’t.
Elias had been friends with one of the nurses at the clinic. Levi hadn’t known––he didn’t think anyone in the family had known. She was fresh out of university and had jumped at the chance to work with ‘The Great Jonah Beckingsale’. Apparently, Jonah had a reputation amongst the nurses at her university. A completely undeserved one. They thought he was a great doctor, but Elias’ friend soon found out differently.
It started slowly. Incidental touches while they were working that increasingly became more familiar. Jonah would follow her into the supply closet and say things to her that she found offensive, but she couldn’t say anything. It was her first job, and if she said anything against Jonah, she would be fired, and her reputation ruined. She put up with his advances, rebuffing him as much as she could, and searched for another job. Eventually she found one, and when she submitted her resignation, Jonah got angry. He assaulted her. In the office after hours. When she filed a complaint, no one believed her at first, and then her character was slowly eroded by Jonah’s lawyers. They accused her of coming on to him. They said she was the one to initiate the sex, and when he told her they couldn’t do it again, that it wasn’t right, she accused him of sexual assault. They had photos of her at a club in a short dress… with Elias. Because Jonah and Elias looked so alike, the lawyers insisted it was Jonah. Jonah agreed that it was him. They’d gone to the club together. They’d flirted. Jonah knew it was wrong—he was married and her boss—but he was helpless against her advances. They offered her a settlement. Paid her for her silence with the threat she would be dragged through the mud if she didn’t ask for the charges to be dropped.
If Levi hadn’t punched Jonah at family dinner that night, Elias would have.
It explained why Elias had been so belligerent that night. Levi couldn’t blame him.
Elias had asked Levi not to include his friend’s story in the evidence he had for Valentina. He was only telling Levi because he needed to tell someone—someone who would understand. When Elias found out what Levi planned to do, he’d felt like he could trust him enough to share the story, but not the name of the nurse. Tessa would probably know, but Levi didn’t want to do anything that might hurt the woman further. It was bad enough what Jonah had done. Levi refused to violate her even more. If, after this whole mess came to light—and Levi had no doubt it would end up on the front page of the papers—she wanted to come forward, he would support her, but he would not force her.
Levi didn’t have to wait long before he was shown into Valentina’s office. He sat, shifting nervously as she wrapped up something on her computer before turning to smile at him.
‘You’ve decided to go ahead then?’
He nodded and slid a USB across the desk. Valentina smiled at her own private joke before picking it up.
‘That has all the files I could find with billing discrepancies,’ he said, wiping his hands on his pants. ‘It also has evidence of sexual harassment and some unsubstantiated claims of inappropriate doctor/patient conduct.’
‘Inappropriate…?’ Valentina asked, with a cocked eyebrow.
‘I believe my brother is engaged in a sexual relationship with one of his patients. A patient that had previously made a claim for a botched breast augmentation.’
Valentina nodded and slid the drive into her computer.
‘The oldest document we could find was from twenty-five years ago and involves my father… and Alexis’ father.’
Valentina raised her eyebrows at that. ‘Jack and your parents know each other?’
‘More than know each other, apparently,’ Levi replied. ‘He helped them win a settlement for a malpractice suit and…’ Levi took a breath. ‘Since Jack is related to my case, I also included some documents about one of my clients. Sophie Jamieson.’
Valentina sat back and eyed Levi across her desk. ‘You were Sophie’s doctor?’
He shook his head and then nodded. ‘I was her plastic surgeon. Not GP. I did some cosmetic work on her after… well, she told me it was a car accident, but I had my doubts. I didn’t know she died until recently.’
‘No one interviewed you at the time of her death?’
He shook his head.
‘According to the police report, they contacted your clinic.’
‘What?’
Valentina clicked around her computer before speaking again. ‘They spoke to Dr Jonah Beckingsale.’
‘My brother? Why would they speak to him? Sophie was my patient, not his.’
‘When they asked to speak to her doctor, Jonah was presented. He told them he’d only ever given her injectables: Botox and fillers. There was no evidence of assault.’
Levi rocked back in his seat. ‘Bullshit.’
‘Are these her medical records?’ Valentina asked, looking at the screen.
Levi nodded, feeling numb. ‘And before and after photos,’ he said.
Valentina didn’t ask why he’d never reported the suspected abuse. He expected her to. He expected her to blame him for Sophie’s death, but she didn’t.
‘This is good,’ Valentina said. ‘It will help with the case against Jack. It looks as though your parents helped him by diverting the police investigation. It’s a serious offence if it turns out to be true. It could be a quid pro quo thing… he helps them, and in return they falsify records.’
How would they even know about Sophie’s files? Except… the memory of seeing his mother sitting at his desk and going through his computer flashed like a neon warning sign. How did she even have access to his computer? Of course she had access. Catherine probably had administrator access to every computer in the clinic. The only reason he had Sophie’s original files was because he’d stored them on his laptop. At the time, he’d been thinking of going to the police, but didn’t. He’d wanted to speak to Sophie before he did anything. Going to the police would have broken their confidentiality. But she never came back, and he’d never had a chance to help her.
‘This is bad… isn’t it?’ he asked Valentina. ‘For my parents, I mean.’
She nodded.
‘What should I do? Should I resign?’
‘No. Not yet. We don’t want to do anything to tip them off.’
‘Tip them off?’
‘If you suddenly up and leave, they’ll know something’s up, and we’ll lose the chance to get the evidence we need.’
‘So… how exactly is this going to work?’
‘It’s probably better if you don’t know,’ she said.
He knew she was right, but he hated it just the same. He hated not knowing what his next move was, and sitting and waiting for the other shoe to drop was torture. But he had to do what he was told, or he could jeopardise the whole case.
‘Your parents, your brother… they will probably go to jail,’ Valentina said gently.
Levi took a deep breath and nodded slowly. ‘I know. But… doing nothing is putting other people at risk.’
‘Okay,’ Valentina said with a sharp nod. ‘Have you decided what you will do after?’
Levi sighed. ‘Honestly? I haven’t thought much past today.’ He huffed out a laugh. ‘It’s very unlike me. I usually have the next ten years of my life planned out, but right now…’ He shrugged. ‘I have to live day by day.’
‘It will be messy for a while,’ she said. ‘You will probably get slandered and accused of all sorts of things in the process. Are you prepared for that?’
Levi held his head up. ‘I am. I deserve it.’
Valentina cocked her head. ‘Why do you think that?’
‘It was all going on under my nose, and I ignored it. I may not be directly responsible, but I am complicit.’
‘I wouldn’t be so hard on yourself. This started long before you worked at the clinic, and while you may have been suspicious, you didn’t have any proof. Once you found that proof, you took responsibility. No one can ask more of you than that. Once you know better, you do better, right?’
He nodded but still felt guilty. Would he have done anything if Alexis hadn’t inspired him? He honestly didn’t know. It was in watching Alexis and seeing how she navigated the messiness of her life that gave him the courage to wade into the fray. It was because he wanted to be a better person… for her. He wanted to be someone she could be proud of, and ignoring what was going on with his family would make him someone she would be ashamed of. That’s what gave him the courage to do this. Left to his own devices… he may have kept his head buried in the sand indefinitely.