Snatching up his phone, Noah called Roberta’s cell phone number. Impatiently, he waited for the call to go through. He couldn’t help but feel irritated that she was dragging out telling him what she had learned. Even when she answered, she didn’t tell him right away but instead asked him to hold on while she went outside the library. As he waited, Noah began restlessly drumming his fingers on his folding table.
“All right, I’m back,” Roberta said. She had a pleasant voice with a slight twang that appropriately reminded him of Ava’s voice. “I apologize if this all sounds rather mysterious. Here’s the problem: Everything you said about Ava London’s high school experience was true except that she had gone to Brownfield High School and not Coronado. But, more important, she did not graduate.”
“Excuse me?” Noah questioned. He wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.
“Ava London committed suicide during her senior year exactly twelve months after her father and used the same gun in the same fashion and in the same room of the house. After I discovered this unexpected fact from the memorial in the high school yearbook, I went back and looked at the appropriate issue of the local newspaper published during the week following the event. There were a lot of articles because the tragedy was a major, upsetting episode for the entire town and sparked an investigation by the local authorities. Both the father and the daughter were popular figures in the town. Although no one was ultimately blamed or charged for the tragedy, it was thought by many that Ava’s suicide might have been an early case of cyberbullying. Of course, it wasn’t yet called cyberbullying, but that was what they were describing. At least three of Ava’s classmates were named, and it was considered probable that more were involved. The names of the three were Connie Dugan, Cynthia Sanchez, and Gail Shafter.”
For almost a full minute neither Roberta nor Noah spoke. Noah was stunned for the second time within the hour, and even more so than learning the FBI had been responsible for Dr. Mason getting his thesis. It was Roberta who broke the silence after giving Noah enough time to absorb what she had told him. “Do you want me to continue my investigations?”
“Hold off for now,” Noah said. “Let me digest this weird revelation. I’ll call you back.”
After disconnecting the phone, Noah got up to pace in an attempt to get his mind around what he had learned. With the size of the room, there wasn’t nearly enough space. After four steps, he had to turn around. But he felt he had to move. For a few minutes as he walked back and forth, he fantasized about confronting Ava that afternoon when she came home from the hospital to tell her he’d discovered that Ava London was the sockpuppet, not Gail Shafter. But he gave up on the idea as a childish urge for a bit of revenge that she, too, had been harboring a secret a lot stranger than his having had to make estimates on his thesis project to get it in on time. Besides, he didn’t know for certain if she had anything at all to do with his current thesis fracas.
Instead, Noah picked his phone back up with the idea of reconnecting with Roberta Hinkle. But that turned out to be problematic for the time being. On his screen was a text from her:
I’m on my way back to Lubbock and the phone signal gets bad. Leave me a voicemail if you can’t get through, and I will return your call. Or you can email me. Roberta
Noah responded by email:
Ms. Hinkle: Despite this surprising twist to the story, I would like you to continue investigating Dr. Ava London’s professional training record at Brazos University. In keeping with what you have learned, I would like you also to check to see if there are any court records in and around Lubbock of someone assuming the name of Ava London around the year 2000. As a final request, would you send me photos from the 2000 Brownfield Yearbook of Ava London and Gail Shafter?
Much obliged, Dr. Rothauser
Sending off the email, Noah stared at his computer, wondering what he could find out about Ava using his BMH super chief log-in information. Since he was technically still a member of the surgical staff despite his current suspension, his position allowed him access to a very wide range of BMH data banks, possibly even employee information. Suddenly, he thought it would be ironic after considering hacking into Brazos University if he could get access perfectly legally to Ava’s BMH records and possibly see who from the Brazos University Department of Anesthesia had written recommendations for her and possibly read them.
After typing in a bit of information and a few clicks, he was in the BMH computer. A few moments later he was poised to try to go into employee records, but he hesitated. With his computer savvy, he knew that the BMH computer would be recording everything he did while he was logged in. It was standard procedure. His concern was that someone, knowing he had been suspended, might have set it up so that his use of the computer would be flagged. If that were the case, it could reflect badly on him during the upcoming Advisory Board meeting that he had been snooping in employee records. It wouldn’t be as bad as hacking into the Brazos University computer, but bad enough.
“Damn!” Noah voiced. It was frustrating to feel thwarted at every turn. Just as he was in the process of logging out from the BMH computer, there was a ping from his phone, indicating that he’d just received an email. Quickly switching to his email inbox on his laptop, he saw it was from Roberta Hinkle. But before he could open it, he noticed that it has been read before he clicked on it. Noah stared in confusion where the little blue dot had been. He looked at the time of the email. As he suspected, it had just arrived, so there was no way he would have read it. Then the blue dot suddenly returned.