The Killing Ground: A Foxx Files Thriller (18 page)

“We, uhh, met at the gym. Megh…Dr. Mercer and I sparred together a couple of times.”

Meghan quirked an eyebrow at the politically-correct explanation that Jordan offered Detective Foxx regarding their past. She picked up on the energy between the two women and wondered at their connection. She chuckled at the confused look on Rebecca’s face. “Boxing. Agent Gray was kind enough to box with me one evening.”

If Rebecca thought anything happened beyond that, she didn’t show it. “I’m sorry to have to bother you again. We’ve had another murder, and it seems that the only connection between the victims is their tie to the sperm bank.”

Meghan dismissed her apology with a wave. “I’m happy to help out anyway I can. I’ll let my employees know that their full cooperation with the CDD is expected. Please have a seat. Can I get you anything?”

Rebecca and Jordan took the offered chairs and declined her other offer.

“Thank you, Dr. Mercer.” Rebecca pulled a small recorder from her pocket. She waived it in the air. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

Rebecca pushed the record button. She settled back in the chair. “Do you mind stating your name, for the record?”

“Dr. Meghan Mercer. Director of the Helping Hands Fertilization Clinic.” She met Rebecca’s inquisitive glance. “Sorry, second time around. I seem to have the questions down to a science now.”

Rebecca laughed and studied Meghan. There was a distant look in her eyes, as though she was distracted. “I know you’re busy. We won’t take much of your time.”

Meghan smiled slightly, but it stopped at her eyes. “It’s fine.”

“Congratulations on your promotion.”

“Thank you. It came as a bit of a surprise.”

“Oh? What happened to Dr. Stein?” Rebecca checked to make sure the tape was moving.

“Retired. Rather abruptly I might add.” Meghan's eyes bounced between Rebecca and Jordan. She still couldn’t quite make out the underlying connection between them. It was almost as if they were sleeping together, but she didn’t think that was the case. Her eyes met Jordan’s, and she toyed with the idea of once again bedding her. She was exceedingly handsome, and she wondered what it would be like to have Jordan fuck her for real this time.

Jordan must have sensed where her thoughts were going because her face reddened again, and she coughed nervously.

“Are you okay? Sure I can’t get you anything?” Meghan asked innocently enough, but Jordan heard the underlying meaning, and she shook her head quickly.

Rebecca watched Jordan’s reaction to Meghan, and she felt a pang of jealousy. She shook her head, berating her foolishness. They boxed with each other, not slept together. She dismissed her doubts as quickly as they arose.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what were the circumstances of his retirement?”

“Not at all. I’ve nothing to hide.” Meghan was just as willing to help this time as she had been before. Almost too helpful, Rebecca thought, like she couldn't wait to give us information. She hadn’t recognized the name at first, but once Dr. Mercer had mentioned knowing her, she was starting to put the pieces together. They had interviewed so many people regarding the murders, and if her memory served her correctly, Rick had handled Dr. Mercer's interviews. “Dr. Stein was caught substituting donor samples.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.” Rebecca’s brow furrowed with confusion.

“Let me give you a quick summation. Most of our clients are married women whose husbands can’t impregnate them, whether the reason is physical or psychological. We use artificial insemination or assisted reproductive technology to help them conceive. A woman’s cycle is followed and when she is ovulating, sperm is inserted into her uterus. It can be either sperm collected from her husband or donor sperm. In any case, the sperm is inserted into the woman in hopes of conception.”

“And Dr. Stein was in charge of the procedure?”

Meghan shook her head. “If he didn’t do it personally, he at least oversaw the procedure. What he was doing was substituting his own sperm in place of the sperm that was supposed to be used.”

“How did they find out?”

“He got caught.” Meghan leaned forward and laced her fingers together. “This is a multi-million dollar business, Detective. Aside from that, the women who use artificial insemination aren’t in an emotional state to deal with this kind of surprise. We take the process very seriously, and when a technician alerted me that he suspected Dr. Stein of deception, I can assure you, that is not looked upon lightly.”

“What made the technician suspect him?” Rebecca wouldn’t accept something as simple as Dr. Stein getting caught. No, she needed more. She was building a case again him and she needed to know his behavior leading up to and during the murders.

“I’m not sure.” Meghan replied quickly.

Rebecca’s brow furrowed. “It seems rather careless to accuse a man of wrongdoing based on a guess.”

Meghan frowned and let out a loud sigh. She was tiring of Detective Foxx and her questions. “I’m sure it would be difficult to explain given that you have no knowledge of the insemination process.”

Rebecca felt her face get hot and she bit her lip to keep from saying what she really wanted to say to the bitch sitting across from her. What she didn’t need in the middle of this investigation was Dr. Mercer playing high and mighty. Several deep breaths later, she met Meghan’s eyes. “Give me the sperm donor for dummies version then.”

The slight eye roll at Rebecca’s request was not lost on anyone in the room, least of all Rebecca. “The insemination process is such a tightly controlled process that even the slightest deviation raises some eyebrows. Dr. Stein had started rejecting vials of sperm as unusable. He would then request vials that were not marked according to our normal coding system. This happened several times before the technician brought it to my attention. We investigated further and found missing vials of sperm that Dr. Stein could not explain. When he was questioned about it, he couldn’t offer an explanation and in the end, confessed to switching the vials before doing the insemination procedure.”

“If things are so tightly controlled and monitored, why weren’t the missing vials or coding errors found earlier?”

Meghan’s eyes narrowed slightly. Being questioned about Dr. Stein was one thing, being questioned about the clinic was entirely different. When she spoke, her tone had a decidedly chilling edge to it. “The technician was fairly new to the clinic and as such, was not aware of inconsistencies in our processes.”

“And after all of the
inconsistencies
were discovered, that’s when Dr. Stein was forced to retire?” Rebecca asked.              

“The board wanted him gone. The chance for a lawsuit against the clinic outweighed any tenure that Dr. Stein might have had, not to mention the moral issues his actions brought up. Once he was gone, they named me the interim director and I have been here ever since.”

Jordan rubbed her chin. “What was Dr. Stein’s personality like?”

Meghan smiled. “He was God, or so he thought. His position here went to his head. It was almost as if he believed he was the one that was getting each woman pregnant. His last few months here, his behavior was very erratic. He never got over his wife leaving and, eventually, he took it personally when a woman wouldn’t conceive.”

Rebecca scribbled on her notepad. “Did he ever act out physically that you know of?”

Meghan shook her head. “Never physically. But there were times I would see him, and he looked like he wasn’t here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like he was somewhere else. I could tell by his eyes, and he would mutter under his breath all the time. Always about his wife leaving him. He looked crazy and then something would happen and just as quickly, the old Dr. Stein was back.”

Jordan leaned forward. “Sounds like the guy was delusional, maybe even suffering from some dissociative identity disorder.”

“Multiple personalities?” Meghan asked. “It’s plausible. Like I said, there were times when it was clearly not Dr. Stein in the room, but some out—to—dinner version of him.   Look, all I know is someone who misuses his power the way he did is dangerous.”

“Dangerous enough to kill?” Rebecca sat up quickly. They had interviewed him before and had not found a reason to suspect him, but the new information was painting him in a completely different light.

“Perhaps. He was volatile, but the day the board let him go, he was furious.”

“Did he threaten the board? What about you? As the interim Director and the person responsible for getting him fired, he had to be particularly resentful towards you.”

Meghan chuckled. “I won’t say he didn’t threaten me once or twice, but I dismissed it as idle threats made by a desperate man.”

“And you’ve had no trouble since then?”

Meghan shook her head. “None. I haven’t heard from him since.”

“So you wouldn’t know where we can find Dr. Stein, do you?”

“I’m sorry. That I don’t know. You might try calling our attorney. As part of the deal we made with him, he was required to provide us with a forwarding address, in case we were sued by any of the clients that were treated by him.”

“And have you been contacted by any?”

“Thankfully, no. I can’t imagine the backlash a scandal like that would have on this business.”

“If you hear from him, I’d appreciate it if you let us know immediately.”

“Of course.” Meghan stood up, a clear signal that she was putting an end to this interview.

Jordan’s mind was working overtime. Suddenly, it seemed as though they had hit on something. “Was Dr. Stein married?”

“No, divorced actually.” Meghan leaned back again. “Dr. Stein’s wife left him for another man. He confided in me that it was their inability to conceive that had driven them apart. He never remarried. Instead, he buried himself in his work here, and in the end, I think it drove him mad.”

A knowing look passed between Rebecca and Jordan. Was it that simple? Had the murderer been under their noses the whole time? Was it as easy as tracking him down?

Rebecca stood up, thanked Meghan for her time and shut off the recorder. She picked up a frame off the desk and smiled at the young faces in it. “Yours?”

“No.” Meghan’s face clouded over then she smiled just as quickly. “My nieces. This means I get to spoil them rotten.”

“They are adorable.” Rebecca put the frame back down and started for the door then stopped. “One more thing. Does Dr. Stein have any connection to Richard Hudson? Would he have any reason to go after him?”

Meghan walked around the desk and stopped in front of them. Her carefully schooled features showed no recognition. “Not that I know of. Mr. Hudson was a client here?”

“Yes.” Rebecca was surprised that she didn’t realize that. Given the extensive time that each client received, at least according to Richard Hudson, that alone should have at least warranted her remembering his name. “His wife was one of the women who was murdered.”

“Oh.” Meghan tried to look surprised. “I guess I didn’t make the connection.”

“Odd.” Rebecca added to herself. “Mr. Hudson led us to believe that the reason he chose Helping Hands, despite the cost, was the personal service. He actually came here with his ex-wife as well. He mentioned the in—house counseling, as well. I would have thought as exclusive as the clinic is, you would make it a priority to know your clients.”

Meghan reddened slightly. “I’m sure you can understand we maintain a large client base. I can’t possibly get to know each one on a personal level.”

“No, I suppose not.” Rebecca opened the door. “If you don’t mind, we’ll come back and interview everyone again. I’d like to see if anyone else knew of a reason that Richard Hudson might have been a target, and get more information on Dr. Stein.”

“Certainly.” Meghan shut the door behind them and hit her fist into her palm.
“No, I suppose not.”
Detective Foxx’s words rang in her ears. What did that uppity detective know anyway? She was suddenly furious. She couldn’t risk the negative publicity it would bring to the clinic if the word got out that its former Director was involved in the killings. “Fuck!”

She yanked open the bathroom door and rolled her old Ever flex sparring partner into her office. She pulled gloves on and cinched them tightly. When her first punch landed, she felt her anger start to subside. Twenty minutes later, she sank to the floor exhausted. “Oh, Dr. Stein, still managing to fuck this place over, aren’t you?”

Chapter 19

Rebecca unlocked the doors to her sedan and glared at Jordan over the hood.

“What?” Jordan’s irritation at the morning’s turn of events was still boiling just beneath the surface.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” There was no mistaking the warning in Rebecca’s tone. “Something that will jeopardize my investigation?”

“No.” Jordan pulled her eyes away, flinching under Rebecca’s penetrating gaze. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she might have heard Matt snort underneath his breath. She resisted the urge to tell him to fuck off. She was in no mood to put up with his shit, especially after this morning, and running into Meghan was not helping any.

Rebecca didn’t let it drop. “I saw the bullshit look that she was giving you. What I don’t want is some past indiscretion to give me any problems.”

“I told you, there is nothing to worry about.” Jordan’s tone was hard. It wouldn’t matter anyway. Meghan ran the clinic and there was no guarantee the killings were tied to that anyway.

Rick cupped her elbow in his palm and shot Jordan a smile. “Listen, Agent Gray, don’t pay her any attention. She gets this way anytime we work a big case. Day after it’s over, you’ll be best friends again.”

Jordan snorted loudly. The likelihood of that happening was about as possible as her getting eaten by a shark in the middle of Lake Michigan. She caught Rick’s wink, and knew without a doubt, he knew about their relationship outside of the case. She felt her cheeks color and dropped her eyes, unable to keep his gaze.

“Maybe this will make you feel better.” Rick leaned against the car and crossed his arms over his chests, his face breaking into a knowing grin. “Agent Riley here managed to make friends with our receptionist, and I don’t think it had anything to do with his dimples.”