“Yeah,” she sighed. “Me too.”
I chatted with Gabby a while longer, and then I headed down the main thoroughfare through town to Cass’s office. I greeted his receptionist, Gwen, who waved me on rather than getting up to let Cass know I was there. I was pretty sure that Gwen didn’t like me much. I didn’t think I’d done anything to her that would cause her anger, but she seemed to hate me on sight, so I was pretty sure her dislike of me had more to do with her infatuation with Cass than anything else.
“Wow, you’ve got quite the mess here,” I said as I noticed Cass in the conference room and veered in that direction. There were pieces of paper, some large and some small, spread out over every flat surface.
“The good news is that a lot of the files in the cabinets were mostly undamaged,” Cass replied. “The bad news is that most, if not all, his current files were in the front of the top drawer, which is the location that suffered the most damage. It almost appears as if the accelerant was focused on that location. I plan to go through all the files at some point, but my intuition tells me that the clue I’ll need to find to solve this case will be found in the partially burned files. That’s if Dale was even killed by a patient. At this point, our entire theory is based on nothing other than speculation.”
I supposed Cass made a good point. The idea that a violent patient would kill a psychologist was a good theory, but it was just one of many. I knew that Lissa and Dale had been dating, but I did have to wonder if there might be any exes in the picture that might be less than happy with the new relationship. And then there was always the possibility that the killing had a financial basis. Had Dale owed someone money or had he been owed money by someone who wasn’t inclined to pay him back?
Cass continued. “If you look at this largish piece of paper, it appears the handwritten note might have pertained to the domestic violence case Lissa mentioned. The top left corner is burned off, but the top right corner includes the words excessive force, bruising, and internal injuries, and then this little piece that appears to fit beneath the top left corner has two letters, ay, followed by the word shelter. I’m thinking the ay might be the end of the name of the shelter Dale might have referred his patient to.”
“Do you know of a shelter in the area that ends in ay?” I asked.
“Not offhand, but I’ll do some searching. I’d like to find either the top left corner or the bottom left section. I feel like if we just had a little more, we might be able to put this together.”
“Do you see a name anywhere?”
He shook his head. “No. I did find this one piece of paper that may or may not fit in the center of this page. The handwriting is the same, and a black pen was used for all the sections I found, but beyond that, it’s really hard to tell if this section goes with the other two pieces or not.”
“The page says: ‘ect has agreed to look into the options provided.’ I wonder what name ends with ect?”
“I can’t think of a single one offhand, but I’m sure names ending in ect do exist. The real challenge is going to be to find enough of the notes left behind to make a case, whatever that case might be.”
Cass and I sat side by side and continued to try to find pieces that matched. We found an entire section that talked about suppressed rage and the manifestation of pent up emotions after a long period of dormancy. I remembered that Lissa talked about a man who had been threatening Dale. In my mind, he made a strong suspect. Now we just needed to figure out who he was.
“I think I found something,” Cass said after an hour. “This section of notes, which does not appear to be part of the original document we looked at, refers to the patient or client as the subject.”
“Ect,” I said. “The part of the page that is burned might simply have been referring to the subject. Still, with the additional word of shelter which is intact, it does seem as if Dale might have been writing about the woman in the abusive relationship.”
“Now we just need to figure out the name of the subject he was referring to and the name of the shelter. If we can track this woman down, we may be able to get her to tell us what she knows about her husband. She may even have insight as to whether or not he is the sort to kill someone he blamed for his wife’s desertion.”
“Hang on, I have an idea.” I took out my phone and pulled up a list of all the women’s shelters in a sixty-mile radius. There was only one, and it was named the Rocky Mountain Shelter for Women and Children. I expanded my search by another sixty miles and then another until I found a listing for the Conway Center for Domestic Abuse. I supposed if Dale simply referred to the shelter as the Conway shelter that might fit the partial note we had. I told Cass about my find.
“That sounds like it could be what we’re looking for. Of course, it will be hard to determine if the woman Lissa told us about is there without a name.”
“Maybe you can just call and explain the situation to the shelter administrator. I’m sure whoever is in charge would know if they had any women referred by Doctor Dale Conover.”
Cass bobbed his head. “I’ll give the shelter a call.”
As it turned out, the administrator of the shelter, a woman named Wanda Davis, was able to confirm that she did have a temporary resident that had been referred by Doctor Dale Conover just ten days ago. She wasn’t willing to give Cass any information about the woman over the phone, but she did say she’d speak to the woman who’d come to them for refuge and ask if she’d be willing to speak to law enforcement in her hometown. There was little Cass could do without a warrant other than wait, so he agreed to her terms, and we went back to puzzle building until it was time for me to leave to pick up Paisley from school.
“Billy Maverick kissed Viola Warring on the lips,” Paisley said the minute she climbed in the car. “It was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.”
I had to fight back a smile. “And who exactly are Billy Maverick and Viola Warring?”
“They are sixth graders. Billy was held back in fourth grade, so he’s already twelve. Viola is eleven. Mr. Armstrong made Billy go to the principal’s office. I heard he might be suspended since he was also caught kissing Felicity Prosect just before Thanksgiving.”
My eyes grew wide. “Did you say that there’s a girl in your school whose last name is Prosect?” The last name, I realized, ended with ect.
“We did, but she moved away with her mom a week or so ago. I heard some of the teachers talking about how happy they were that she moved away. I’m not sure why. Felicity was pretty nice even if she was a loosey-goosey.”
I suspected the teachers were happy because they probably realized that moving away meant she had gotten out of a violent situation. I needed to call Cass and provide him with Felicity’s name just in case Felicity Prosect’s mother was the woman referred to in the notes, but I also knew it was best not to make a big deal about it in front of Paisley, so I asked her the second most obvious question on my mind. “Why did you say Felicity is a loosey-goosey?”
“That’s what all the kids called her after she was found making out with Billy. My grandma thinks that eleven is too young to be kissing anyone, but Felicity is what everyone refers to as mature for her age.”
“Mature for her age?” I asked.
“Her mom works a lot, and Felicity mostly takes care of herself. Can we stop for a snack on the way to your house? My grandma wasn’t feeling well this morning, so she didn’t make breakfast, and they had beans and hot dogs for hot lunch, which is just so gross. At least the way the school makes it, it’s gross. It has these little green things in it, so I didn’t eat it.”
“Yeah, we can stop. How about a burger? I never had lunch so I could eat as well.”
She grinned. “A burger would be dope.”