The Last Clinic (22 page)

“Okay.”

“Let’s go back to the beginning. When did you first think you might be pregnant?”

“I was late this month, and I never am. After a couple of weeks, I got scared, so I took one of those, well, two of those home pregnancy tests last Sunday, after church.
After church
. Boy does that sound slutty.”

“After church is as good a time as any,” said Lulu.

“The first one came back positive, so I took the second one to be sure. It was positive too. Then I started to panic and I called Dr. Nicoletti. Well, his service. I told them it was an emergency. I needed to talk to him right way. I didn’t know who else to call. He called my cell in a few minutes.”

“And that’s when you made the appointment?”

“I wanted to go in to see him that afternoon, but Dr. Nicoletti said he was up in the Delta hunting and wouldn’t be back until late at night, so I made an appointment for first thing Monday morning at his office out in Madison.”

“And did you talk to your parents before you went to see Dr. Nicoletti?”

“No. I knew what my father’s reaction would be. He’d go crazy.”

“What about your mother?”

Beth shrugged her shoulders. “She’d run right to my father. That’s what she always does.”

Lulu reached up with a tissue to wipe away the smeared mascara from under Beth’s eyes.

“Did you call the boy? Tell him? The father, I mean. You’re positive who the father is?”

“I know who it is. But no, I didn’t call him. I wanted to see Dr. Nicoletti first. Then I thought about it. We’re not close, the boy I mean. I didn’t feel like I could talk to him. He’s not like my steady boyfriend or anything. See, my real boyfriend dumped me because of my father. I was feeling kind of low, and I met this other guy. We were at this party. I’d been drinking. We started flirting. It all happened so fast. That’s not a very good excuse, is it?”

“Most of us have been to those kinds of parties, Beth,” said Darla.

“None of that matters now,” said Lulu.

“So then on Monday morning you went to see Dr. Nicoletti? At his office in Madison?”

“At six a.m. That was the time of the appointment. It was still dark. I told my mother the night before that I had an early run out at the reservoir. I’m on the track team. We run out there before class sometimes. I left real early. Daddy and I both left at the same time. I didn’t hardly talk to Daddy that morning. I was too scared he’d see how upset I was. I was going to tell him I loved him when I left, but I didn’t. Now I’ll never be able to. ”

She looked like she might start crying again, but managed to pull herself together.

“Did you go to see Dr. Nicoletti alone?”

“Yes. I thought about calling Aunt Lulu, but I didn’t want to involve her if it was a false alarm. Maybe I should have called her.”

“And was anyone else present at Dr. Nicoletti’s office? A nurse, perhaps?”

“No. When I first talked to Dr. Nicoletti on the phone, I told him I wanted to see him alone. He said he wasn’t supposed to do that. He needed for a nurse to be present during the exam. I started to cry on the phone. I know, it sounds like all I do is cry. Anyway, I told him I wouldn’t come unless he saw me alone, so he agreed.”

Darla had an urge to say something to comfort her, but knew it was critical that the girl stay focused.

“And how long was your appointment at Dr. Nicoletti’s office? Do you remember?”

“I’m not sure, but I was there for quite a while. After seven, but probably closer to seven-thirty.”

“Are you positive you didn’t leave his office before six-thirty a.m.?”

“Oh, no. At least after seven. He talked to me for a long time after the exam.”

“And you’re sure about the arrival time?”

“I arrived at six a.m., and Dr. Nicoletti was waiting for me.”

Darla learned back in her chair and without realizing what she was doing let out a long sigh of relief. Dr. Nicoletti’s office in Madison was a good twenty minutes away from the clinic. It would have been impossible for him to have committed the murder. Marietta Simmons
was
a bitch.

“I actually felt better after I left his office,” said Beth. “Hopeful. I don’t know why.”

Darla paused the recorder and held up her hand. “I’m going to stop you there for a minute. I have to make a call. You don’t want to change anything you just told me do you? Now’s your chance.”

Beth shook her head. “No. It’s what happened. Just what I told you.”

“It’s the same thing she told me, every bit of it,” said Lulu.

Darla stepped out of the room, into the hall and speed-dialed Shelby.

“Have you charged Dr. Nicoletti yet?”

“No. We’re fixing to though. Tommy’s down the hall calling the mayor. I’m sitting here working on my statement. We didn’t make the noon TV cycle, but we’re definitely going to be on the five o’clock news. First story. Tommy, if he don’t know anything else, he knows how to work the media. He was strutting around my office a few minutes ago, bragging to my clerk as how he convinced the program director at WJAK to do a feature on people who sing on the job. First one is going to be that butcher at Kroger’s who breaks into song when he’s announcing the daily specials. Next, they want to record Tommy singing an Elvis ditty when he’s making a bust. ‘Jail House Rock’ is what he’s suggesting. Get it on film. Not on this case of course, but maybe…”

She cut in.

“I’ve found the patient who was with Dr. Nicoletti at the time of Reverend Aldridge’s murder.”

“Promise me it’s not one of his sweethearts. Some big-haired bimbo he was getting it on with. You know how that would look.”

“Nothing like that. It’s Beth Aldridge. She arrived at Dr. Nicoletti’s office in Madison at six in the morning and didn’t leave until after seven, probably closer to seven-thirty.”

“You trying to tell me Miss Beth is knocked up? Who was it?”

“Is that important right now?”

“I guess not. Reverend Jimmy know anything about any of this?”

“No one did. Her story matches 100 percent with Dr. Nicoletti’s version.”

 “I’ll go down and tell Tommy to cancel the press conference. Then I’m going to have to go over to the mayor’s office and get my ass chewed out for riling up the media and get a lecture on how I better have a murderer for him by the end of the week. And on top of it all, I had to shave extra close this morning for no good reason. At least I won’t have to wear these damn dress blues all day. The wife forgot to let the pants out, and I’m on the verge of losing circulation.”

“Beth hasn’t told her mother about the pregnancy yet, so it would be best if Tommy doesn’t know any more details than he has to at this time. I don’t want him talking to Lenore before Beth has a chance to speak to her.”

“I’ll handle things on this end. And I’ll see that they release the doctor,” he said. “I’ll slip him out the back, if he’s willing.”

She heard him clear his throat. “I appreciate the call. You not letting me make a fool out of myself by charging Nicoletti and then having to let him go.”

“Just part of the basic service,” she said.

But once again, he’d hung up.

She moved back into the living room. She left the recorder on pause. There were questions she wanted to ask about the meeting with Dr. Nicoletti—questions she didn’t have the right to ask, questions that went beyond the scope of her investigation. How had Dr. Nicoletti treated her? What was his bedside manner like? How had he advised her?

Beth filled in the answers without her prompting.

“He was really nice, Dr. Nicoletti. Very understanding. Nothing like what Daddy said about him. Right from the start, I felt I could trust him. He was…respectful is the best word I can think of. He said this was the most difficult decision any woman would ever have to face. He told me, that if I chose to have an abortion, legally I would need the consent of my parents. If they didn’t consent, I could petition the court. He offered to refer me to a lawyer that could help me if that’s what I chose to do. He said not to forget about the possibility of putting up a baby for adoption. But he said the first thing I should do is talk to my parents. To start with my mother. We both kind of laughed at that one, knowing how Daddy would react. He said he would continue to treat me at the clinic or at his office if I wished. He also said, even though it was my body, I had a duty to tell the boy. I thought Dr. Nicoletti would try to push me into pursuing an abortion, but he didn’t. He didn’t say so, but I felt like he hoped I would have the baby. But mainly what he did was he listened.”

 “Dr. Nicoletti was right. You’re going to have to tell your mother, the sooner the better,” said Lulu.

“As soon as I get home, I promise. I really was going to tell her after I saw Dr. Nicoletti, but when I got home the police were at my house with the news about my father. We were all so overwhelmed. After that there was so much else going on. Inside, I felt so bad. I kept thinking he’s dead and I disgraced him. Then after all the tears, I just couldn’t handle thinking about anything anymore. My mind blanked everything out. I knew I had some time before I needed to make a decision about, you know, the possibility. I figured I’d wait until after the funeral, and then I’d decide on my own what to do, or maybe go see Dr. Nicoletti again, or talk to you, Aunt Lulu. Then, when I had it worked out, I’d tell my mother. But before any of that could happen, my mother told me that Officer Tommy had a witness who saw Dr. Nicoletti near the clinic, and they were going to charge him with murder. I couldn’t let that happen. Whoever that witness is, they’re lying.”

Beth looked up at Lulu for strength and continued.

“I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do—not even whether I’m going to tell the boy. What if I have the baby and he doesn’t want anything to do with it? Or what if he wants the baby and I don’t? Or tries to pretend it isn’t his? Everything is confused enough the way it is, without him knowing. I need to figure out what I’m going to do first.”

She looked to Lulu and Darla as though asking for their opinion. The women remained passive.

“I do want to be a mother, but not yet. I’m not even out of high school. And the boy, he’s fun to party with, but he’s not someone I would marry. Not someone I would want to raise a child with. But it’s his baby too. Or is it? They can make him pay child support, but if he chooses not to see the baby, no one can make him. So is it really his? Or only his if he wants it to be? The man gets to choose, but I don’t. Why is everything always the girl’s responsibility? It takes two to make a baby, but only one to raise it. And it’s always the woman. That sounds terrible I know, but it’s the way I feel.

“Part of me believes having the child is my sacred duty, above all else. But another part of me says, yes, I should do that with my life, but at a time when I can be the best mother for my baby. I’m the one who will be responsible, but some people, okay, people like my father, they think I should have no say. But this is my life. God gave me this body. So don’t I get to choose? But what if I choose wrong? Was my Father right? Am I a baby killer because I’m not ready to be a mother at sixteen?

“But maybe what I want isn’t important. Maybe this is something I must do, no matter what. I know when I have a baby…not if, but when…I’ll be a good mother—as good as I can be. Dr. Nicoletti is right. It’s the most difficult decision I’ll ever have to make, and I’m going to have to make it alone.”

Darla exchange looks with Lulu. Sixteen-year-old Beth Aldridge was very quickly becoming an adult.

“I’m really a mess aren’t I?” she said.

“You’re a woman,” said Lulu.

“We’ll need to go down to my office. I’ll have a court reporter transcribe your statement. The part about your meeting with Dr. Nicoletti. That’s the only part I’ve recorded. The rest is your private business and it will remain among the three of us, unless you choose to discuss your feelings with anyone else.”

Darla turned to Lulu, who seemed to know what she was going to ask.

“I’ll take her home afterwards and stay with her while she and Lenore talk,” said Lulu.

Beth bowed her head again, turned, and was about to head for the bedroom. Darla reached out and pulled the frail girl to her in an embrace.

“You’re going to make it through this,” she whispered in the girl’s ear. “It’s going to be rough, but you’re going to make it.”

“Do you think so?” said Beth.

“Trust me,” said Darla.

22

The Handcuffs, Pure Inspiration.

He liked Chicago. It was a great city with great food, great entertainment, and plenty to see and do. It was a nice looking city too—not some toilet like, say, Detroit. He’d arrived two days early and checked into a Comfort Inn a few blocks west of Michigan Avenue. The room was okay, but just that. He hated having to stay in cheap motels, but the nicer places all wanted credit cards.

On the up side, he had a couple of days to play tourist, which was not bad.

On the first day, he went to the Art Institute, which had the best collection of French Impressionists this side of Paris he concluded. He had a steak that night, so big he couldn’t finish it. He even caught a Bulls game—scalped himself a midcourt seat—and later got the best blowjob of his life.

The next day, there was more of the same. He took the Architectural Cruise up the Chicago River. Its cool views included the docent—a nicely put together 40-year-old, with a pair of big tits stuffed into a suit that fit a little too tight. She looked like she wasn’t getting much at home. He was tempted to make a run at her. Instead, he went back to the escort he had the night before, the same chick and wasn’t disappointed. No wonder all the conventioneers love to come here.
What was that Frank Sinatra song about Chicago?
he wondered.
Oh, yeah, “My Kind of Town.”

The next day was a workday. He grabbed a quick lunch at the coffee shop in the Drake Hotel, bought a copy of the
Chicago Tribune
, and found a comfortable chair in the lobby. His plan was to make the first contact with his intended before the guy checked into the hotel. He would intercept the guy as he was coming up the stairs to the lobby—make eye contact, trade looks, a quick glance. That was usually enough to get the ball rolling in situations like this. If he got the look, he wanted he’d initiate a conversation. He shouldn’t need any more than a few words for the setup.