| |
When Liz got back to the station, Alice was still busy searching old police records. Liz did a little search of her own, on the state medical licensing website. She found that Dr. Ellen Goodman’s medical license was inactive. She had received her medical degree from the College of Medical Evangelists, now known as Loma Linda University, in San Bernardino County. Liz also found that she had grown up in Lindsay, a small town in Tulare County, just south of Fresno County. Her family owned orange groves there, and her nephew still had property there. Late in the afternoon, Alice came to her.
“It looks like there were never any convictions,” she told Liz. “But not for lack of trying on the part of the police department. I didn’t find anything on baby-selling, but they did try to get her on charges of performing illegal abortions over the years.”
“There was probably a lot of that going on before it was legalized.”
“Yes, and they were also investigating Dr. Floyd Ramsey. Goodman worked for him from ’41 to sometime in ’46, when she opened her own practice.”
“Linda Graly mentioned ‘Old Doc Ramsey.’ That must be him. So, was she ever charged?”
“A couple of times, but the charges were always dropped. Seems it was impossible to get anyone to testify against the good doctor.”
“Why? Did witnesses disappear? Did they find them sleeping with the fishes,” Liz joked.
“No,” Alice laughed. “More like everyone wanted to canonize the woman. I went through old newspaper articles, too. There were plenty about Dr. Ellen Goodman and the work she did for the women of Fresno. Lots of charitable causes, most involving disadvantaged or disabled children. She had rich women flocking to her, but always had time to take care of poor women, too.”
“Any chance you got me the names of people the police interviewed?”
“Well, of course! Who do you think you’re talking to? Mostly it was staff at her clinic. And of those, most have moved away or died. There is one woman, though. Jessica Carson. She started out as a receptionist, got a degree in business management, and ended up as Goodman’s office manager until the doctor retired. Then she moved on to that huge clinic... The Santa Rosita Medical Clinic... and was the manager there until she retired just last year. She’s still here in Fresno. Here,” Alice said, “I wrote down her name and current phone number and address.”
“You're a doll, Alice.”
Liz took the paper, sat down at her desk and dialed. She got a recorded message from Jessica Carson that she could not come to the phone right now. Liz left a brief message, asking her to call and leaving her name and the number of the cell phone she carried for police business.
Alice had sent her an email with links to the newspaper articles she had found about Ellen Goodman. Liz spent some time reading those. They were mostly from the society pages from the fifties and sixties. They seemed to peter out in the seventies. Charity events, awards for helping poor women and children... Dr. Goodman seemed to have her fans.
Liz was interested in a few pictures showing her with a tall, handsome man. Angelo Goldberg, owner of Goldberg Construction. That rang a bell and Liz did a quick search and found that Goldberg Construction was still in business. She made a note to check into it. Maybe someone there remembered Angelo and Ellen.
Finally, Liz stopped and put Dr. Goodman on the back burner. She had other cases to work that involved crimes more recent that 65 years ago. She went out to do some interviews and got back to the station in time to make a few notes and put everything away. She and Steve had plans for dinner with friends. There was nothing that could not wait until Monday.
She always enjoyed getting together with Jack and Melinda Padilla. Jack and Steve worked at the Fresno Fair where Jack was the head of security. He was over six feet tall, dark brown curly hair and soft brown eyes. Lean and muscular, he carried himself with authority. Melinda was a CPA for a large firm. Tall, blond, blue-eyed, and voluptuous, Melinda exuded a glamour that, in comparison, made Liz feel mousy.
Jack chose Basque restaurant. The restaurant served the courses family style and the food just seemed to keep coming and coming. Liz bypassed the pork dishes, but enjoyed the roast lamb tremendously. Steve’s job as manager of the fair was sometimes very stressful and Liz was always glad to see him relaxed and laughing with his friend. When they had all eaten more than they thought they could hold, and were preparing to leave, Jack suggested Steve and Liz stop by their house for coffee.
“There’s something I want to show you guys,” Jack said. “I think you're going to be impressed.”
Jack and Melinda’s house was a large, older home in a quiet neighborhood. The front door opened into a small foyer, with the hallway leading to the three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and laundry room to the left. To the right was the large living room with a stone fireplace. The dining room and kitchen were beyond. A few years earlier, Melinda had decided she wanted tile floors and they had taken up the carpeting everywhere except the bedrooms. Liz loved the clean, open look the tile gave the house. A large area rug in the living room gave the room warmth, as did the overstuffed furniture in muted, neutral tones.
Liz helped Melinda make the coffee and carry everything out to the living room. Jack was showing Steve a phone, and seemed to be demonstrating how to take pictures with it.
“Yeah,” Jack was saying. “Just point it at the couch over there, and push that button on the side.”
“What the hell?!” Steve looked up from the phone in amazement. “Liz, come and look at this!”
Liz rolled her eyes and moved over to stand behind the men. They both towered over her, so she was unable to see the phone itself.
“Wow, a camera phone,” she teased. “There’s a new concept.”
“Not just a camera,” Steve told her, moving so that she could see. “Look at this.”
Liz frowned, not understanding what she was seeing. The image was grainy and filled with dark gray spirals and lighter gray puffs of what looked like clouds.
“I don’t get it... what is this? Wait,” she looked from Steve to Jack to Melinda and back to the screen. “Is... is that the inside of the couch?”
“Yeah!” Jack cleared the image and handed Liz the phone. “Point it at the wall and push that button on the side.”
Liz did as he instructed, bringing the wall with its tasteful pictures into focus. However, when she pushed the button, the pictures and wallpaper seemed to dissolve into another grainy view of boards and wires.
“This thing can see through walls,” she asked incredulously. “Where did you get this?”
“This friend I went to college with. He’s a researcher at UCSF. We got together when Melinda and I went to San Francisco last weekend. He let me have this prototype of a phone they are working on. It has a microchip that uses a frequency on the electromagnetic field called 'terahertz.' It falls between microwave and infrared frequencies. It can see through wood, plastic, that kind of thing.
“So is this going to be the next generation of smart phones?”
“They're still working on it,” Jack said as Steve took the phone and began pointing it at different objects and taking pictures. “But, yeah, it could be ready for commercial use one day."
“Great,” Steve said, even as he continued taking pictures. “One more way the government can invade our privacy.”
"The range is only four inches, so spying is going to be difficult," Jack said. "But it can find studs in walls, detect counterfeit money. Most exciting, though, is that it may have medical uses. They could use it to detect tumors without the cost and exposure of X-rays."
“How does it work?” Liz was following Steve around the room, looking at the pictures he took of the insides of walls, cabinets, chairs, even the table. “Is it like an X-ray machine? Are we all exposing ourselves to radiation right now?”
“Honestly, I don't know,” Jack said with a laugh. “He did say there’s no danger of radiation. But you know, there is still some question about the safety of cell phone use."
“OK... and if Steve points that thing at me, are you all going to see me naked?”
Melinda coughed and started laughing. "That was my first question,” she told them.
“And the answer is no,” Jack added. “It’s not that sensitive.” He grinned. “But we might see what you had for dinner tonight.”
They spent the next hour playing with the phone, drinking coffee, and talking. Jack and Melinda’s son was away at college and only their daughter was still at home. When Anita came in from her date, Jack carefully put the phone away. He asked Liz and Steve not to mention it to anyone. The researchers were not anxious for the word to get out about the phone until they were satisfied with its performance.
Home in their apartment later, Liz sat on the bed watching Steve undress. She loved the way his dark blond hair stood up after he pulled his shirt over his head. When he was down to his boxers, she stood and walked over to where he stood in front of the dresser. His brown eyes watched her in the mirror as she ran her hands over his back. Leaning on the dresser, he let her touch every inch of his bare skin. Her hands slipped inside his boxers. Steve closed his eyes and groaned. Finally, he could not stand still any longer and gently pulled her hands away and hungrily turned to kiss her. She eagerly returned that kiss and as he lowered her onto the bed, he covered her with fevered kisses. As Steve entered her, Liz cried out, but his mouth smothered those cries of ecstasy.
They woke late Saturday morning and made love again. After a breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, juice and coffee, they packed an overnight case. The fog had lifted and weak sunlight broke through the clouds in spots as they made the hour-long drive to his parents’ dairy in Tulare.
There was nothing about Steve’s family that Liz didn't love. From the moment he introduced them, she adored his mother and father. His mom was short and heavy, leaving Liz to wonder how she could have given birth to babies who grew to be the size of Steve and his two brothers. Her dark hair was streaked with gray and her hazel eyes seemed brown or green, depending on the light and her mood. His dad wasn't quite as tall as his sons, but they had inherited his dark blond hair and brown eyes.
His brothers, his sister, and their families had welcomed her with open arms. His children had been more reserved and took longer to warm to her, but she felt they did really accept her place in their father’s life. She loved the frequent family get-togethers at the dairy. It was not always possible for everyone to be there, but there was always lots of family, food and laughter. This weekend was no different.
Liz pushed aside thoughts of the cases she was working on and just enjoyed being with family in the large adobe house where Steve had grown up. It was a beautiful house. Eighteen-inch white adobe walls, complimented by high open-beam ceilings and dark hardwood floors polished until they gleamed. The living room and dining room were one long room bisected by a built-in dark wood cabinet about waist-high. Throughout the house were numerous, large windows, framed in dark wood. All of the bedrooms were large and roomy. Liz’s favorite room was the master bedroom and bathroom. It was airy and spacious, even with a king-sized bed, two oversized dressers, two chairs, and a television. The walk-in closet was the size of a small bedroom.
They slept in his boyhood room, and bed. And, as always, when he pleaded to make love, she told him what she always told him. “I am not having sex with your mother just down the hall!”
She got up on Monday morning and went for a run. Steve left breakfast burritos for her before going for his own run. They had tried running together, but found they had different paces. Liz preferred running alone, anyway. She liked to let her mind roam. Often she was able to come up with ideas on cases she was working that panned out.
By the time she got to work at eight, she was refreshed and ready to pick up her cases where she left off. She sat in on the morning briefing, settled at her desk to go over the emails Alice had sent with the newspaper and police reports concerning Ellen Goodman. It was just before 10 when her cell phone rang. It was Jessica Carson.
“I just got your message,” she said. “I was at the coast for the weekend. What was it that you wanted?”
“Ms. Carson, I would like to ask you a few questions about Dr. Ellen Goodman. I believe you worked for her before she retired?”
“Yes, I did, but what do you need to know about her? She’s been retired for about 30 years now.”
“It has to do with an investigation of an old case. Would it be possible for me to stop by and talk to you? I can be there in about half an hour.”
“Well... I don’t know. I can tell you now that you aren’t going to hear anything bad about Dr. Goodman from me. That woman is one of the best people I’ve ever known.”
“That’s fine, Ms. Carson. If that’s what you have to tell me, then that’s what I want to hear. Is now a good time?”
“I suppose.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
Liz hung up the phone and told Sarge where she was going.