A Reluctant Hero by Dara Girard

Author:Dara Girard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kimani Press
Published: 2012-05-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“Did you get my notes?” Daniella asked Pascal that evening.

“Yes, great stuff.”

“I’ve reached a dead end. He refuses to talk and I still need more.”

“Talk to the people involved with the case. They’ll give you a different perspective.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“I know. And talk to his parents again and see what more they can tell you.”

Daniella returned to the Sheppards’ house a few days later. “He’s safe,” she told them. “He’s living in a small mountain town and he looks healthy. I gave him your message.”

“I knew you’d find him,” Mrs. Sheppard said.

“He’s still not ready to discuss anything. I offered to help but he shut me down,” she said, feeling beaten and sounding defeated.

“He won’t see us?”

“He’s wary.” To say the least, Daniella felt like a failure. In this short time she’d come to care for the Sheppards and wanted to help them reunite with their son. She knew how important family was. She couldn’t imagine not seeing one of her sisters for years.

Their faces fell.

“But I’m not giving up,” Daniella said, trying to rally their hopes. “Tell me more about the trial.”

“Everything was against Trenton. He complained that something mechanical was wrong with the plane, but when the mechanic checked he said that there was no evidence that anything had been wrong with it.”

“There are a few things you should know. Recently our housekeeper told us about a man we’d trusted. Dr. Brooks. He’d hired her to spy on us.”

“Why?”

“She doesn’t know and her story seems a bit far-fetched.”

“But she sounded earnest,” Mrs. Sheppard said.

“Who’s Dr. Brooks?” Daniella asked.

“He testified at the trial.”

“Slandered you mean,” Mr. Sheppard corrected.

“He did his job.”

“To think I’d ever given him a recommendation.”

“You knew him?” Daniella said.

“Most of his life. He was my protégé. I saw something in him that I’d wanted to nourish because as a young man he had been interested in medicine as much as I was. Also, he and Trenton had grown up together. They’d been friends.”

“It’s too awful to think that he had anything to do with what happened, he was like family.”

“Yes, but as time passed I saw that he seemed more interested in money than in helping people.”

“You couldn’t tell that from his first practice?” Marnie sniffed.

Daniella frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Brooks’s medical practice was in, let’s just say, an unsavory part of town. Most of his patients were drug addicts, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it made things hard for him at the time. One time a patient broke into the office and stole drugs. There was an article written about it in the paper.”

“And the prosecution used him?” Daniella said, surprised by their choice.

“Yes. They came up with a valid reason, but I don’t remember it right now. I think you should find out why he hired our housekeeper, Bonita, to spy on us.”

Daniella believed the housekeeper’s claim was a little far-fetched but decided to follow up on it. She spoke to her, but couldn’t get much more information.

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