CHAPTER NINETEEN
It wasn’t until they sat down on Mrs. Freemont’s porch that Rachel realized that Dr. Lucas reminded her a bit of Alex Lynch. He seemed unflappable and somehow in control of his thoughts, emotions, and faculties even in the face of potential trouble. Lucas’s hair, which was almost a total shade of white, eerily resembled Lynch’s as well. Lastly, though, it was the way the man looked at the world. His eyes seemed to hardly blink and he stared at things—passing cars on the street, the back of Jack’s head, the little glider-style rocket he sat down in on the porch—as if he were trying to study every feature.
Lucas did not put up a fight, nor did he argue or complain as he sat down and waited for whatever they had to talk about. He was remarkably cool and collected, something that made Rachel feel slightly uneasy.
“Dr. Lucas, before we get into our reasons for needing to speak with you today,” Rachel said, “I’d like for you to tell us what happened in Tennessee. We know why you lost your license, but we’d like to hear your side of things.”
He gave a little shrug, as if they were talking about some mild crime, maybe a parking ticket or something insubstantial. “If you read about it and know about it, there’s nothing I can add. I screwed up a morphine dosage and it killed my patient.”
“Triple the usual amount doesn’t seem like a mistake that a practiced doctor would make,” Jack said.
“You’re absolutely right. But in my defense, I had been sleeping poorly and this patient was having some of the worst pain symptoms I’d ever seen. Bone cancer with osteoarthritis thrown in for a sick little bonus. Did you happen to read that in your research? The screams of agony this woman would belt out gave me nightmares. She begged for death daily and even fought for medically assisted suicide, but as I’m sure you know, that’s a very touchy subject.”
“Was this your way of giving in to her wishes?” Rachel asked.
“Absolutely not,” he said, showing real emotion for the first time since they’d arrived. “Oh, there were days where it crossed my mind, but those thoughts were fleeting and selfish. But no…as I told the courts and the jury, it was a terrible mistake on my part. I wasn’t paying attention, I was tired, and the trauma of it all was just…it was gut-wrenching. There was never enough evidence to even begin to argue against any of this. That’s why having my license stripped was the only punishment. No jail time, no fines.”
“When did you move to Virginia?” Jack asked.
“About three years ago. I moved here specifically to start working with Life Fulfilled. There are other organizations and foundations that do the same thing, but they are very personal and relatable. They really go the extra mile to make sure their clients are treated like real people rather than fragile little death-sentences.”
“And they had no issue with your past in Tennessee?” Rachel asked.
“Of course they did,” he said. More emotion was climbing into his voice and she couldn’t help but wonder how many more blunt questions might make him transform completely. “It was a very heated conversation and I nearly didn’t get the job.”
“So tell us how this works, exactly,” Rachel said. “You have no license, so how are you on staff as a medical doctor?”
Lucas drew in a deep breath and when he let it out, he seemed to deflate, as if he were a balloon someone had stuck with a pin. “It comes down to technicality,” he said. “In the course of my time with Life Fulfilled I have not once, not a single time, practiced medicine. The overwhelming majority of my job comes down to checking records and simply giving opinions on the well-being of clients.”
“You were taking Mrs. Freemont’s blood pressure when we came in,” Jack pointed out.
Lucas’s mouth thinned into something that was part grimace and part grin. “That’s again a technicality. Either of you could go to any pharmacy right now and buy a low-quality blood pressure cuff. And anyone that’s been to the doctor a single time or knows how to run a Google search can figure out how to take the reading. I’ve also taken blood, for the record—something anyone with basic nursing knowledge can do, as is evidenced in the multiple blood drives in this area every year.”
Damn, he’s good, Rachel thought. It was quite clear he had this argument at the ready at all times. She was pretty sure he’d had to explain it numerous times based on the ease of delivery.
Jack glanced over at Rachel as he sat forward in one of the other chairs on the porch. She gave him a nod, indicating she, too, thought it was time to go ahead and show their hand. Given how practiced and calm he now seemed to be, his facial expressions might go a long way to letting them know his level of involvement in these recent murders. Rachel wasn’t sure if she thought he was their man yet, but she was not at all convinced he was not.
Let me tell you why we came to speak with you, Dr. Lucas,” Jack said. “We’ve been speaking with Life Fulfilled in regards to a case we’re working on. So far, three people on their waiting list have been murdered. Being that the waiting list and recent terminal illnesses are the only links between them, it is very likely that the killer has access to the Life Fulfilled waiting list. Take that circumstance and set it next to your history and maybe you can see why you’d be a person of interest.”
As Jack spelled everything out to him, Rachel watched Lucas’s face. It remained fairly stable and flat up until Jack mentioned the link of terminal illnesses and the Life Fulfilled waiting list. He didn’t look simply shocked; he looked mortified.
“How…how long has this been going on?” Lucas asked.
“Five days,” Jack said.
“I can assure you that I have nothing to do with it. If you…” He stopped and did his best to gain control of his thoughts. “If you can tell me when these murders supposedly occurred, I will do my very best to give you my location at the time.” He looked to both of them with shame in his eyes. When he looked away, down to his hands, Rachel saw a single tear race down his face, leaving a thin, wet trail. “I understand why you’d think I could, though. With what happened all those years ago…I get it. But I’ve lived with that for so long—and this job with Life Fulfilled is supposed to be my way to make up for it. To right that awful wrong.”
“You speak about it as if you knew what you were doing back then,” Jack said. “That it wasn’t really a mistake.”
“She begged me,” Lucas said, matter-of-factly. “She begged me several times to help her slip away. She asked me to not tell her when, but to maybe up her meds, maybe do something that would put her peacefully under. I…I spoke with her therapist and we tried to figure out the morality of it all. I don’t know that I ever flat out ignored the idea. It was always there in the back of my mind. I suppose I could have subconsciously done it…maybe convincing myself that I had made a mistake. I just don’t…I don’t think so. But either way, I did not kill her.”
Once again, Rachel and Jack shared a look and a nearly telepathic thought. This time, it was Rachel who spoke it out loud. “We’re going to need you to give us a pretty accurate detailed schedule of your whereabouts over the past five days,” she said. “After that, you’re free to go, but we’ll need you to not leave town until your alibis have checked out.”
“I understand. I do have to ask, though—and I hope you’ll forgive me. But Life Fulfilled isn’t going to take any dings because of my involvement, are they? Once you find out I’m clear of this, does anything need to be said about my past in the public eye?”
“I don’t see why not,” Jack said. “That’s between you and Life Fulfilled. So long as you aren’t actively practicing medicine, I don’t see where any laws are being broken.”
“Thank you,” Lucas said, looking genuinely grateful. And then, slowly and as if to make sure he didn’t leave out a single detail, Dr. Lucas started to give a very deep breakdown of his past week or so. Within a few seconds, Rachel started to feel certain he was innocent. He was giving too many details and exact names and times for it to be a line of bullshit. This number of details would certainly lay several traps for anyone who was lying.
She watched as Jack took down notes and names, the humbled look on his face indicating that he was also coming to the conclusion that this was not their man. She also knew, though, that Jack had the assurance of knowing that he could go right to work on digging up new leads and he could do it without any real hindrance. As for her, the fact that they were questioning Lucas on Mrs. Freemont’s porch was a clear indicator of what sort of hoops she was going to have to jump through to stay on the case.
The easy solution, she knew, was to just go back home and let Jack handle it. He was fully capable, after all. But she knew that was wishful thinking. Not only was she in too deep to turn away now, she was starting to take the case personally. Someone was out there killing people based on bad bills of health—people who had committed no wrongs other than being dealt a very bad hand when it came to their health. To say that she could sympathize with these victims was an understatement. And she fully intended to ride this case out until the end, no matter what the consequences might be.