Meeting More Shelleys

Audra woke up in a hospital bed. She was dressed in a hospital gown with tubes and wires springing from her arm. She tried to lift her head and groaned loudly at the pounding.

"Audra?" Yolanda's voice was high pitched and worried.

Audra turned her head as Yolanda stood to check on her.

"My you have had quite the day." Audra could tell that Yolanda was trying to keep the mood light. "How do you feel?"

"Thirsty," Audra said and noticed a tray with a cup and a pitcher of water.

Yolanda poured a cup and pressed the adjustable bed control to help Audra sit up. Audra took the cup and sipped, the cool refreshing water in relief.

"What happened?" Audra asked, remembering everything up to stepping from the elevator.

"They think you may have had a mild heart attack," Yolanda said.

"What!" Audra shook her head.

The door opened and Margaret walked in. "Agent Wheeler." Margaret looked relieved to see that Audra was up and okay. She walked further into the room and stood at the foot of Audra's bed, picking up her patient chart. Yolanda stepped out of the way into a corner. "I had one of our best doctors come and check on you, Dr. Shelley."

The tall, handsome man that walked into the room and smiled looked extremely familiar. It was the same face and smile as Brendon Shelley. And now that they were standing side by side, she noted it was strikingly similar to the hospital administrator, Margret Shelley's, smile that, of course, was identical to her sister Kendra's smile. Audra heard her monitor beep.

"Take it easy, Ms. Wheeler." Dr. Shelley smiled as he came to Audra's bedside to check her pulse. "Have you ever had this happen before? The chest pain, shortness of breath while at rest?"

Audra shook her head. As he stood closer to her she was shocked at just how much he looked like the councilman she'd met earlier in the week at the station.

"Well, it wasn't a heart attack." Dr. Shelley looked at his watched as he felt what Audra knew to be a very rapid pulse rate. He reached for her chart and Margret passed it over. He scribbled a few numbers. "Is something upsetting you?"

"I don't like hospitals," Audra said.

Dr. Shelley nodded. "Many people do fear hospitals but there is nothing to worry about. We are here to help and heal, not harm."

"Did you say that to Abigail Stevens?" Audra asked.

Dr. Shelley dropped the clinical smile and grimaced. "Right, Agent Wheeler. Always on the job aren't you? That may be why you've had this little episode. When was the last time you took a vacation?"

"I'm on vacation right now, Dr. Shelley," Audra said coolly.

Dr. Shelley smiled. "Margaret told me you were inquiring about that case. I took the liberty of having our staff pull that file for you." He nodded to Margaret who handed the file to Audra. She thumbed through it quickly then dropped it directly in her lap.

"I spoke with her sister earlier this morning. She said Abigail had a private physician, but a Dr. Curtis delivered the baby," Audra said. "Do you know who that private physician was?"

Dr. Shelley groaned and for a moment began to dematerialize.

"You're a specter?" Audra gasped and realized that her specter shield was across the room.

"Yes, for nearly five years now. That was a bit of nasty business, Abigail's murder in our small town hospital," he almost mumbled. "I knew you were here in town to investigate Gwyn's passing. Do you believe they are connected in some way?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," Audra said as she placed a hand on the file in her lap. "Do you know who that physician was? Apparently he was from India."

Dr. Shelley fluctuated again. "I don't remember a doctor from India. If Dr. Curtis delivered her because he was on call then chances are that doctor was from out of town. With it being that long ago, there's little chance of tracking down who it was. Today we have a pretty integrated system, at least statewide, so doctors know when their patients have received care elsewhere. More so we don't prescribe dangerous mixtures and such."

"Right." Audra felt the disappointment of what she was sure would be a dead end. "I would like to be released as soon as possible."

"Of course." Dr. Shelley made another note in his chart. "But I suggest you follow up with your doctor, in case this is more than just a case of nerves or career exhaustion. It could be a condition of angina that needs to be monitored and treated. If it happens again while you're in town, feel free to come see me at my office." He produced a card from his clipboard and handed it over. He looked at the case file in her lap. "I was a resident at the time," he commented, "but I'll never forget it."

"Did you know Abigail?" Audra asked.

"I did," he said softly.

Audra looked at Margaret's surprised expression.

"How well did you know her?" Audra asked.

"Margaret, will you go see to the paperwork for Agent Wheeler's release?"

Margaret seemed confused by the request but left, closing the door behind her.

"Abigail was very friendly," Dr. Shelley began with a smile. "She was easy to get along with. Even though she was a prostitute, I always knew she could be more and I tried to help her as best I could."

"By giving her money?" Audra pressed.

"From time to time," he admitted.

"Did you have an affair with Abigail Stevens?"

"No." The doctor's smile widened as if expecting that question. "She wasn't my type."

"Oh?" Audra didn't hide her disbelief.

"Oh," he said, confirming. "I'm glad Abigail gets a chance at finding justice, even after all this time."

Margaret returned with the paperwork and handed it to Dr. Shelley who scribbled on it and handed it back.

"You are free to go, Agent Wheeler," Dr. Shelley said heading to the door. "Be sure to follow up with your doctor."

He left without another word.

"Whenever you're ready, Agent Wheeler," Margaret handed over a single piece of paper with checks and circles, "take that to the nurse's station and they'll check you out."

Audra nodded and looked over at Yolanda who'd been as quiet as a church mouse the entire time. When Margaret left, Yolanda handed Audra her borrowed dress and drugstore underwear. She thought of Ethan as she dressed and felt a small sting of disappointment that he hadn't come to check on her.

"I'll drive you back to the B&B and come back with one of the guys a little later for your car."

"Do you mind stopping by the high school?" Audra asked as she picked up her specter shield, strapped it on and activated it. "Renee told us that Abigail was seeing a tutor shortly before her first pregnancy. I want to see if he still works there."

"Are you sure you're up for that?" Yolanda questioned.

"Of course," Audra assured her.

"Okay, but let me take the lead Kojak. You've fingered your boss and your specter doctor already today. Let me take the heat from the school teacher, in case it gets ugly."

Audra couldn't help but laugh at Yolanda's mock serious expression. "Okay, I'll be the good cop."

"Great."

As they drove through the school's parking lot Audra noted how full of cars it was. The lobby entrance was barren except for two signs, one pointing all day visitors to stop by the principal's office, the other announcing the town hall meeting starting at eight o'clock that night. Audra had nearly forgotten that the Mayor had mentioned a town hall meeting during his tirade at the sheriff's station. She looked at her watch and saw it was just past six.

"Do you think we should attend?" Yolanda asked.

Audra nodded. "It couldn't hurt. We should have enough time to grab dinner after we ask about Mr. Hawthorn."

Yolanda nodded and took the lead. They walked through a door that led to the inner school office and came upon another printed sign with an arrow pointing in the direction of the principal's office.

They followed a narrow hallway past the inner office and found the principal's door. Audra noticed the last name, Shelley, attached to the door. Yolanda pointed at it giving Audra a puzzled look before knocking.

"Come on in," came a deep and croaky female voice.

Yolanda pushed the door open to find a little old woman crouched behind a mountain of paper files.

"Anytime today," Principal Shelley snapped and they both entered the office. "You must be the FBI people." The old woman sat back as if she knew her work would be completely interrupted.

"We have a few questions about a past student," Yolanda said, taking point.

"Abigail Stevens." The old woman got up from her chair with some effort and lifted a file from the corner edge of her desk. "News travels fast, especially in this town, and, specifically, this family."

Yolanda moved to retrieve the file from Principal Shelley.

"Were you the principal here when she was a student?" Yolanda asked.

"Yes, I was here for her, her sister, and her mother. I've been here a long time." The old woman sat back down with some effort. "But, it doesn't look like I'll be here much longer. If that town hall meeting goes the way they want it to, they'll be shutting this school down and our children will feed into the next county over. All of this specter business, what with that Gwyn Miller being killed by one," the Principal explained, as if she'd said it all.

"What kind of a student was Abigail?" Yolanda asked.

"Well, she was a fast girl. You know, with the boys." Principal Shelley cleared her throat. "She was nice enough, and pretty, but she was from a poor family. We had breakfast and lunch programs back then, but that was about it. There just wasn't much hope for a girl like that."

"What makes you say that?" Yolanda pressed.

"This is a very small town. I hate to say it, but this was the type of place where you pretty much died where you were born, unless you had the smarts it took to get out of here. Back then there was little on television and the best form of entertainment was town gossip. Once a person got a reputation as promiscuous or a drunk, it was hard to live it down. Then when she became a prostitute, well…"

"Did any of that gossip surrounding Abigail include any of her teachers?" Yolanda asked.

The old woman scoffed. "You must have heard then."

"Heard what, Principal Shelley?" Yolanda urged.

"There was talk about Abigail being assaulted at Mr. Hawthorn's house. When I questioned Abigail about it she said nothing happened."

"Was she assaulted by Mr. Hawthorn?"

Principal Shelley shrugged. "I don't think so. He was the one that actually brought it to my attention. I tried to get her to tell me what had happened but she wouldn't. Of course, there was nothing I could do." Principal Shelley pointed to the file. "It's all in there, what he said and what she said."

"Who else was involved?" Yolanda asked.

"I really do not know, young lady. Neither of them named names. Why are the two of you stirring up this nasty piece of business? I thought you were here about Gwyn."

Audra took note of that turn of phrase and recalled it was very similar to the way specter Dr. Shelley and his twin, the Councilman, had phrased it.

"How are you related to Dr. Shelley?" Audra asked, causing both Yolanda and Principle Shelley to look at her in confusion.

"Which Dr. Shelley?" The old woman smiled wryly.

"How many are there?" Audra asked.

"There was my father, the small town Dr. Robert Shelley. Then there was my brother, who took over his practice, Dr. Kenneth Shelley. Of course he had three sons, triplets, and of course one girl. The girl, Margret Shelley, and one of the boys, Dr. Kenneth Shelley the second, who runs the town hospital."

"So, Dr. Kenneth Shelley the second is your nephew," Audra stated.

"He is." Principal Shelley confirmed.

"And he's a specter," Audra pointed out.

"He is," Principal Shelley said again at length. "He helped bring the junior college here and his life insurance policy built the new hospital."

"I see," Audra commented.

"All of this ugly business coming back to haunt us," Principal Shelley said.

"What do you mean, haunt you as in, your family?" Yolanda asked.

"Well, there was a crazy witch hunt with my nephews when Abigail died. Now that her offspring has met with the same end, well…"

"But they concluded that your nephews were innocent," Yolanda said calmly.

"Of course, that Sheriff Miller got a DNA test and it came back not the father. So he had to go sniffing elsewhere. But something like that, the suspicion, never entirely goes away."

"Neither does being murdered, ma'am." Audra felt her blood begin to boil as Principal Shelley loosely veiled herself as the victim of all of this.

"I understand." Principal Shelley seemed to think better of her words. "I'm sorry. All the information I have is complete hearsay. It would take entirely too much time to relay even that much to you right now and, as you can see," she pointed to her stacks of files on her desk, "I am swamped trying to get these files ready to transfer students."

"When would be a better time for you to talk?" Yolanda asked peaceably.

"Well, I'll be having a small dinner party at the house this Saturday so please come dressed appropriately. You'll need to question people in the family personally for more information," Principal Shelley stated. "Just so you know, I do consider Margret my favorite niece. However, she was born out of wedlock. My brother and his wife adopted her as their own."

"Do you know who her birth mother is, Principal Shelley?" Audra asked.

"I have no idea who she was. I don't want Margret dragged into that mess either," Principal Shelley scolded.

"Alright," Yolanda said.

Principal Shelley scribbled out an address on a piece of paper and handed it over. "Bring dates with you. If they believe I just happened to invite you, they'll be less suspicious."

"Who will be less suspicious?" Audra asked.

"The family of course," Principal Shelley breathed exasperatedly.

"Right," Audra said, standing. "Thank you for your time, and we'll see you tonight at the town hall meeting?"

"Oh dear, I don't do politics." She sniffed. "Talk about nasty business."