Not at Liberty

Chapter 4

Daniel Baumgard possessed one of the loveliest Federal-Colonial houses in Randolph Hills.The front of his two-story manor offered a red brick veneer with a white portico and a porch supported a quartet of Corinthian pillars.The front garden offered a variety of rose bushes, all in bloom now, the rest of the lawn, a lush emerald green, manicured precisely.Red granite flagstones led up to the porch and a beautiful copper and crystal light fixture offered a warm, inviting glow to visitors.

The doctor himself answered the door when Liberty rang the bell."Welcome, my dear," he greeted with a genuine smile."Please come in.I think we should talk in the study where it's comfortable and conducive to conversation."

He stepped aside to let her pass, his manner seemingly more relaxed now that he was home, in his own comfortable environment.He had changed from his business suit to a tan sweater with elbow patches, a cotton shirt, casual slacks, and leather slip-ons.

Liberty followed her host as he guided her inside, her gaze drinking in the various areas they past, from the foyer with its marble floor, to the grand sweeping staircase, and the front parlor that offered polished colonial-style furniture, wall paper of green-watered silk, and a large fieldstone fireplace.

"Right in here," the doctor directed as he opened twin oak doors. "Please have a seat."As he indicated, the study offered a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere with walnut wainscoting, Duncan Fife tables, and wing back chairs of soft ox-blood leather.His elaborate desk of polished oak took up one corner of the room and featured a brass lamp and an antique pen and ink set.Book shelves flanked the desk, filled mostly with medical books and journals.

Liberty took a chair near the fireplace, the hearth cold now because of the warmer spring weather.The mantel featured a collection of pewter and silver mugs used in colonial ale houses, now the doctor's cherished antiques.Daniel Baumgard went over to the large globe on a rich mahogany stand, and then opened its middle to reveal a fully-stocked bar.Liberty had only seen this type of hidden bar set-up in the movies.The exposed crystal decanters and cocktail glasses shimmered in the soft lamp light.

"Would you like something to drink, Libby?A brandy, perhaps?This is a fine Rémy Martin royal cognac."Retrieving one of the decanters filled with rich caramel-hued brandy, he poured the liquid into a large snifter, but returned the decanter to its place when she declined his offer.

"Thank you, but I better not.I'm driving, and I tend to be skittish enough when I drive at night.Alcohol just heightens my anxiety."

"As a doctor, I certainly understand and agree."Warming the brandy with his hands, the doctor came over to Liberty and took the chair opposite her.Despite the relaxed atmosphere he had donned a pensive look.

"What can I do for you, Daniel?"

"I don't really know how to put this, but I've been threatened, or should I say the clinic has been threatened.Well, when I show you the text message, you'll get a clearer picture."Reaching into his sweater pocket, Daniel pulled out an android phone and brought up the message in question.

"Let me preface this," he added before handing Liberty the phone."About seven months ago, a young woman named Amber Thewes, age eighteen, came to the clinic complaining of abdominal pains.She had been referred to us from the homeless shelter where she had been staying.At the clinic she began to hemorrhage severely and the doctor in charge that day, Dr. Malinda Patel, tried her best to stop the bleeding.You see, Amber was five months pregnant and had a spontaneous miscarriage."

The doctor paused to take a long drink of his brandy."Of course, our staff called for an ambulance right away to take the girl to the hospital.Unfortunately, she bled to death before emergency personnel could do anything for her.Actually, Ms. Thewes died as a result of a series of complications, but I won't get into the technical details."

He handed the phone to Liberty."We called the police, of course, to make an official report.The officer in charge felt satisfied that Dr. Patel and our staff did everything they could for Amber.Thankfully the story didn't make the news.Not that I would try to kill any negative publicity.Maybe kill is too harsh a word.But the poor girl suffered and I would have hated to see her exploited because of such a tragedy."

He sighed."Yet, I suppose a homeless young woman, pregnant and alone, doesn't warrant any news coverage."

Liberty took her time reading the message and noted the misspellings.

"We know you are negligant in the death of Amber Thewes.You killed her by inducing labor, thereby forcing the fetus out of the womb.That constituts murder.We have the proof, and also the information concerning two other women who received abortions from your clinic, two prominant women who would not wish for their names to be linked with your killing services.We have the records.Cease murdering babies right now or we will release this information and you will suffer the consaquences."

"My first and most obvious question," Liberty began as she glanced at the doctor, "concerns the phone number of the person or persons who sent this."She tried to find a sender source, but to no avail, although she did find the date the message had been sentfour days ago.

Daniel shook his head."Unfortunately, it came up 'number not available.'I haven't gone to the police with this yet, but I did ask a friend of mine, who is a private detective, to do a little digging.He told me the person who sent the message had one of those temporary phones and so finding the source would be extremely difficult."

"My next question concerns your staff.Do you feel confident that no one who works or volunteers at the clinic would take files to use against you and the clinic?"

"I thought of that, too," the doctor acknowledged."But I just can't see any of my staff or even our volunteers doing something so cruel as to blackmail me into closing down the clinic and therefore ceasing health care services to women in need."

Liberty sat forward in her chair."You say blackmail.Have you had any other messages or a phone call demanding money?"

"No, not anything like that, at least not yet."

"Have you questioned any of your staff and volunteers?"

"Yes, I did the next day after I received the message, discreetly, of course.And I went through all of our files, both hard copies and computer data.Most of the paper files are now on computer, but anyone could make copies if they had the right pass code to get into the computer."

"Does everyone related to the clinic know the code?"

Again the doctor shook his head."No, not every one, but the nurses and office personnel know it because they frequently refer to patient information.Of course, people are human and someone might have inadvertently let it slip in passing.I'm afraid to say we've been a bit lax in that department, but I'm now working with our office manager to tighten our measures to secure files."

"Does your office manager know of the threat?"

"Yes, I had to tell Beverly, Beverly Simpson, because it involved her area.She read the text and wants to help anyway she can.Plus, I decided to take our head of nursing services into my confidence, Kelly Borrego.Like Beverly, Kelly wishes to help, and both woman promise to be discreet."

Right now Liberty wished she had that drink, if only to help her clear her mind of her busy day and help her concentrate on the problem at hand."Now about your private detective...will he be doing a more in-depth inquiry of your staff and volunteers?"