“I don’t know really how to begin.”
“From the beginning?” Brian asked smartly.
“Wait, is anything wrong with Lincoln? Is that why you wanted a friend here? Is he hurt? Dead? Dying?”
“No, no nothing like that. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Franklin sighed and gripped the back of the chair he’d sat in and looked at Addy steadily. “His lawyer called me a week ago. Something came up from your first counseling session with Lincoln and they got the results back. But we need your help.”
“What, he didn’t believe me that I had a miscarriage and accessed my medical records?” Addy saw red. She jumped to herfeet and started yelling at her lawyer. “I can sue him for that! He can’t access them.”
“No, he didn’t do anything like that.” Franklin ran his hand through his perfect hair and ended up messing it up.
“Sit down.” Brian said firmly. “Both of you.” When they stared at him, he stared back, and once they were settled back down, he asked, “Is this the appointment when Addy told Lincoln of the miscarriage? When she sat there and didn’t say anything the entire time, then blew a gasket at the end?”
“Yes,” Franklin said. He sighed deeply. “After you left, Lincoln told the counselor that he never received your calls from the hospital. He even gave his phone to him to have him look.”
“But I did,” Addy said as she jumped to her feet and retrieved her cell phone. She accessed it and showed her lawyer. He looked and nodded.
“I believe you. But Dr. Anderson told Lincoln to look into the possibility of maybe his phone being hacked. Lincoln went to Jackson, his lawyer with that theory. Last week, the report came back that Lincoln’s phone was indeed hacked. However, only your phone numbers were compromised.”
“What do you mean?” Brian asked, and gripped Addy’s hand when she grabbed his.
“It means that whenever any of Addy’s numbers, which were preprogramed into Lincoln’s phone, appeared on the screen, they were rerouted to another phone. Only those numbers. Your home phone, your cell number and the office number.” He finally opened his briefcase and pulled out some papers. “Do you recognize these numbers?”
Addy took the paper and sighed. “Yes, they’re mine. But I don’t understand. The phone wasn’t answered, no voicemail option and when it was, a woman answered.”
“Exactly. See your husband has a stalker. We didn’t know about it until the issue with your missed calls came up. Thisperson is a potentially dangerous one. And we need your help to catch her.”
“Excuse me?” Addy looked at Brian and he hugged her.
“Let’s hear him out. Details please.”
“There’s this woman that the police have been investigating for over a year. They could never catch her in the act.”
“Can you tell us what for?”
“Prostitution, stalking, soliciting.” He saw the shock on their faces and sighed. “The lady, no that’s too nice a term for her. The woman has a male partner. They set up in different places all over town. They hit hotels, country clubs, and very public places. They dress for the clientele, meaning that they’re classy. They especially hit the hotels when there’s a conference or convention in town. They’ve been known to work the bar and they pick up men and women. I don’t think I have to go into details about what they do when they get them up to a room. But the man picks up women, and vice versa. They’ve been known to take pictures and try to blackmail their marks days and even weeks later. Your divorce brought them to the top of the list for the police.”
“How?”
“Both you and Lincoln hired private eyes,” Franklin began.
“I know.” Addy giggled and explained to Brian at his shocked look. “Sam and Larry.”
“They’re private dicks?” he asked in shock, then looked at Franklin and blushed. “Sorry.”
“No need. But, yes, I heard about how you met them. Sam is working for you. Larry is working for Lincoln. Both of them are friends outside their jobs and they have several friends on the police force. During the case of their work for your divorce, they started seeing a pattern. Well, being the guys they are, they investigated. God, I’m not explaining this right.”
“I think I understand,” Brian said. He stood and began pacing. “Once, when Addy and I were meeting clients at the Hastings Hotel, the posh one. I saw Sam and Larry talking with two other men. I thought it was a working lunch. But they kept looking at a man and woman at the bar. Oh, they didn’t sit together, but I got the impression they were together.”
“How do you know this?” Franklin asked with a scowl.
“Details, honey. It’s not only my job, but my life. The answers are in the details. I was meeting with the Harrises for their wedding when you were in the hospital. I overheard a woman answer a phone and she said that the person couldn’t come to the phone right then. She then went to the man, and said, and I quote, ‘When will that fucking bitch realize I’m the woman in his life now. When I’m Abe’s wife, we can have it all. You can have his business and I get hers.’”
“Will you testify to that in court?” Franklin demanded. “Shit, who’s Abe?”
“No clue. That’s why I didn’t say anything.” Brian sighed.
“Lincoln,” Addy said in shock.
