AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The exchanged I love yous and ended the call. Rachel instantly went back to the last page she’d found with Gary Williams listed on it. Only, on this page, there was another name listed with it. She studied the section for a moment, certain it had to mean something>
Williams, Gary (father)
Williams, Blake (son, deceased)
Under any other circumstances, it may not have seemed like a very big deal. But the fact that Gary’s name was linked to that strange coding sequence was too strange to ignore. With a stirring of excitement, she went back to Dr. Willis’ notes. She flipped through them until she came to the reams of test results and readings that resembled the ones where she’d found Gary Williams in Dr. Adler's notes. She then scanned for names, and she found several. Most were the names of doctors and other researchers who had contributed to the work but near the end of the papers, there was the name again: Gary Williams.
As far as she was concerned, it was more than enough reason to look into Williams. His name was listed in both doctors’ work over the past year or so and the inclusion of a deceased husband gave him one more solid tie—one more reason he might have a grievance against Willis and Adler.
She grabbed her cellphone and called up Detective Sullivan, pulling his number from the Post-It note he’d adhered to the inner cover of one of the folders. Sullivan answered on the third ring with a slightly jovial tone to his voice.
“Is this Agent Gift?” he asked.
“It is. How’d you know?”
“The area code in your number. Plus, it’s been about three hours since you left. I figured that was enough time for you to dredge something up from those files.”
"Well, I think I might have. I know it's a bit after five, but are you still good to head out to follow a lead?"
“Absolutely. Give me your address, and I’ll come pick you up right away.”
CHAPTER SIX
The rain had let up a bit, but it had left a murky and foggy atmosphere in the city. Sullivan had been able to pull up the address of Gary Williams and found that he lived close to the Wedgewood area of town. The fog only thickened as they entered into the sparsely wooded portion of the city. It was actually quite beautiful, an almost perfect match to some of the pictures Rachel had always seen of Seattle on television.
“This should be interesting, I think,” Sullivan said. “The guy doesn’t have a record to speak of—nothing I saw from the quick check I did before leaving the station. But for his name to be in that research, along with the name of a dead son…” He stopped there, as if the description spoke for itself.
“It is peculiar,” Rachel said as Sullivan pulled his car onto a secondary road off of the main highway. They drove deeper into the trees, the idea of a large city looming behind them becoming less and less prominent. And the deeper they drew into the forest, the more fitting she thought it seemed…a man who’d lost his son, somehow connected to two recently murdered doctors. Gary Williams sure did check a lot of boxes, but she tried her best not to let the gloomy environment play too much into her mindset.
Three minutes later, Detective Sullivan turned into a thin, gravel driveway. A modern-styled cabin sat on a plot of land that looked perfectly chiseled out of the forest; it was hugged by trees—mostly pines and spruces—to all sides. An SUV was parked at the end of the driveway, old and dusty.
Dusk was falling, but in the cover of the trees and with the overcast sky still spitting the smallest bit of rain, it looked much closer to night. Sullivan parked the car, and there was an awkward moment where they both hesitated while stepping out into the driveway. Neither of them was sure who would take the lead: she knew Sullivan was hesitating because, more often than not, a federal presence overruled cops and detectives. However, as far as Rachel was concerned, his was Sullivan's case. And it was also his territory.
She smiled at him and gestured him forward toward the cabin. “You go ahead. This is your show.”
He nodded politely and led the way to Gary Williams’ porch. It was a partial wrap-around and, like the cabin itself, looked neat and well-maintained. A single rocking chair sat to the left of the front door. A decorative barrel had been turned upside down to hold an ashtray, the bottom of which was littered with the remnants of a cigar butt and old ash.
Sullivan knocked on the door, and they waited together in an awkward silence. Within a few seconds, they heard shuffling footsteps approaching the door. The sound of a disengaging lock broke the quiet, and then the door was opened. A man of about fifty started out at them, giving them a scrutinizing gaze.
“Yeah, can I help you?”
Sullivan continued to take the lead. Rachel admired the way he remained casual and almost conversational. “Hey there, sir. Are you Mr. Gary Williams?”
“I am. And who are you, exactly?”
“I’m Detective Paul Sullivan with the Seattle PD. This lady beside me is Special Agent Rachel Gift, with the FBI. I was hoping we could have a word with you.”
Williams looked legitimately confused, his eyes narrowing and blinking wildly as he looked back and forth between Sullivan and Rachel. “Why? Is there something wrong? What’s happened? And…and can I see some ID, please?”
“Of course,” Sullivan said. He not only took out his ID, but handed it over for Williams to have a closer look. Rachel kept hers in her hand as he surveyed it.
“And for right now,” Rachel said. “There’s nothing wrong. We just need to speak with you.”
“That’s right,” Sullivan added. “We’re working a case that led us to some medical records where your name showed up specifically.”
Rachel saw the quick shift in Williams’ face at the mention of medical records. He took a single step back, and Rachel wondered if he was about to close the door in their faces. “These records…was my son’s name also included in them?”
“Yes, it was.”
