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The Purloined Letter
Zanewasinhis cubicle dictating his notes after his morning rounds at the hospital when his phone buzzed. He glanced down and saw it was from Carol at his office. It was odd for her to be calling as she normally handled everything with only minor feedback from him.
“Carol? What’s up?”
“Dr. Savage. You need to come back to the office right away!”
Zane’s spine stiffened and his body went immediately on high alert. Carol was the calmest and least dramatic person he knew. For her to sound this upset, something truly terrible must have occurred. “Are you alright, Carol? What’s wrong?”
“That woman was back,” Carol said, her voice shaking. “I caught her going through your office.”
“What woman?” Zane asked even as he had a sinking suspicion about who it was.
“The woman with the big, blonde hair and the...” Carol paused, uncomfortable about describing anyone in a derogatory way even after what happened. “Well, the one who wouldn’t make an appointment I told you about a few weeks ago.”
“Shawna,” Zane growled. Fucking Shawna.
“Yes, Shawna,” Carol agreed. “The one you showed me the picture of. Oh, Dr. Savage, I’m so sorry! I tried to stop her.”
“It’ll be okay, Carol, I’m on my way. Lock the office door until I get there,” he instructed.
“Yes, sir. I will.”
Zane quickly signed out of his dictation program and ran for his office which was in a small medical office park across the street from the hospital. When he arrived, he found Carol in a state he’d never seen her in. Usually perfectly poised enough to give even Maggie a run for her money, today Carol’s hair was coming out of her bun and her blouse was partially untucked from her black, pencil skirt. She ran to the door to let him in when she saw him through the glass.
“Oh, Dr. Savage, I’m so glad you’re here!”
Concerned for her, Zane led her to one of the small couches in the waiting area. “Carol, are you really ok? She didn’t hurt you did she?”
Carol tried to pat her hair back in place nervously. “Not really,” she confirmed.
“I’m so sorry about this, Carol. Truly.” Zane hopped up and handed her a cold bottle of water from the small refrigerator they kept in the waiting room for patients. “Here, take a sip and start from the beginning.”
Carol sipped and tried to regain her composure. “I was coming back from the bathroom and I heard shuffling in your office,” she started. “I thought maybe you had forgotten something and I was going to see if I could help.” She took another sip of water and bathed her forehead with the condensation on the bottle. The confrontation had really shaken her up. “I opened the door and there she was, riffling through things on your desk.”
“What happened then?” He encouraged after Carol paused.
“I asked her what she was doing, of course,” Carol continued. “I told her she had no right to be in there and I was going to call the police.”
Carol looked at Zane with wide eyes, remembering. “I had thought to keep her from leaving this time. You know, hold her there until the police came. I tried to block her from getting away. I really did, but she pushed by me so hard, I fell to the ground. Before I could get back up to follow her, she was already out the door. I called you straight away.”
“You shouldn’t have tried to stop her, Carol,” Zane said with concern. “You could have been really hurt. There’s nothing in my office worth that.”
“She did take something though,” Carol said suddenly. “I couldn’t see exactly what it was. An envelope of some kind maybe?”
“I’ll go look,” Zane assured her. “I’m going to call the police and see if I can tell what she took. You just sit here and let the police in when they arrive. I’d let you go home now but I know they are going to want your statement. As soon as they are done with you, though, you go home for the rest of the day. Just tell the service there’s been an emergency and we will get in touch to reschedule patients if necessary.”
Carol nodded her assent and slumped back on the couch, the shock catching up with her now that Zane had arrived to take over. Zane went into his office and looked at his desk. His papers were in disarray, but he tried to see if he could figure out what had been taken without touching anything. He was hopeful Shawna had left fingerprints all over everything so they could prove it was her who had been there. He'd have to come clean to the police about their history.
After a couple of minutes, he was afraid he knew exactly what was missing. A card he had received the day before was gone. A card Maggie had sent him. It was a simple ‘thinking of you’ card written on Common Grounds stationary. Maggie had signed it with her name and a line of x’s and o’s. It was silly and corny and had a smile plastered to his face the entire day. It also had Maggie’s full name and return address written on the envelope.
Once he had explained to the first officers on the scene that he knew the assailant and had a history with her, detectives were called. He spent over an hour going through his history with Shawna and her previous stalking of him. It was hard on his pride to admit he had been somewhat afraid of her, but he had to make them understand the real threat the woman could pose. This wasn't just someone looking for something to steal from a doctor's office. The detectives chastised him a bit for not reporting the stalking earlier and he was surprised that the statute of limitations for felony stalking was three years. He could actually still press charges against her for what she had put him through.
After the police had finished taking fingerprints and taking his and Carol’s statements, he had sent her home and told her to take Friday off as well. He didn’t see patients on Friday anyway and could tell she was still shaken up by the afternoon. He wanted to give her time to get over the shock. He didn’t know what he would do without Carol piloting the ship. After a few more phone calls, he went home, packed a bag and headed to Gladewater. Maggie was going to get an unexpected houseguest for the weekend.
Zane found Maggie at a back table in the cafe going over some marketing materials with Sofia. The woman had proved to have a natural talent for marketing and Maggie had leaned heavily on her to make calls to local businesses about their new events and the catering end of the business. They both looked surprised to see him but quickly made him feel welcome.
“Zane! What a wonderful surprise!” Maggie exclaimed. She hopped up from her chair and gave him a hug and a quick kiss. She then held him at arms’ length. “What’s happened?”
