A Horse with No Name Pt. 02

Brian and I got to the restaurant at 6:45. Brian told the hostess that we were waiting for someone else, so we went over to the bar and ordered a beer.

"How are you going to handle this?" Brian said.

"I don't know. If I can't tell Lisa the real reason, I disappeared she is not going to be very forgiving."

"I know, but right now it's best that we stick to the story. You don't remember anything before waking up in the hospital."

"This sucks. I am engaged in my old life, and I have a girlfriend in my new life."

"We will get to the bottom of this. Then you will have to make some decisions. You can try to repair the relationship with Lisa or go back to Brodricksburg and see if you have a future with Kate.

"By the way, when I was talking to Chief Pasiak he told me to tell you to get a lawyer as soon as you can."

"Why do I need a lawyer? I didn't do anything wrong."

"You need a lawyer to protect your rights. You never quit your job, so you are entitled to whatever benefits SA gives to its employees. They will owe you back pay and possibly medical insurance coverage that could pay for your medical care in Brodricksburg. You will also need legal help to get some of your belongings back from the police. Just get a lawyer, tell him your whole story and let him or her take care of whatever problems come up."

I recognized her as soon as I saw her. Her hair was shorter than it was in the picture in my bedroom but it was her, and she was not alone. I had no idea who the guy was, but he had his arm around her waist in a possessive way. The thought that ran through my mind when I saw them was strange. I was looking at the girl who was supposed to be my fiancée and thinking that I would be pissed if I saw Kate with some guy's arm around her, acting as if she belonged to him, but I didn't seem to have any feeling about Lisa and the guy with his arm around her.

The two of them spotted us at the bar and came over. I got a cold reception by both of them. "Lisa, just let me say how sorry I am about everything..."

Before I could finish what I was saying, the guy cut me off. "We aren't here to listen to your lies. We just came so that Lisa could tell you that she is over you and you should just go back to wherever you were and leave us alone."

That pissed me off. I looked him in the eye and said, "And who are you?"

"You're shitting me, are you trying to tell me you don't know who I am?"

"It's George," Lisa said. "Don't you remember anyone?"

"You're George? Didn't Mr. Stanley explain my head injury to you yesterday," I said.

"He told us that you claim to have amnesia, but nobody believes it."

"Well, it's the truth. I woke up in the hospital in Brodricksburg, Pennsylvania and have no memory of my life before that moment."

Lisa looked sympathetic, but George wasn't buying it.

"Well maybe that's true, but it doesn't forgive what you did. Stealing from the company and running off on Lisa. I used to look up to you, but now I don't have any respect for you," George said.

"Where are you staying?" Lisa asked.

"I am staying in a hotel right now, but as soon as I can, I'll be back in my house." I wasn't sure if I should have said that, but Brian didn't react, so I guess it was all right.

George put his arm around Lisa and said, "You've had your meeting, now Lisa and I are going to get something to eat, by ourselves."

I watched Lisa and George leave the restaurant then I turned to Brian and said, "Well that went pretty well, don't you think?"

I didn't let on how much I was hurting. The girl that was supposed to be my fiancée and the guy that was supposed to be my best friend thought I was a liar and a thief. Hopefully, I would be able to tell everyone the whole story sometime soon.

After eating dinner, Brian and I returned to the hotel. I turned on the television and was getting ready for bed when my phone rang.

"So, how did it go today," Kate asked.

I debated with myself on how much I should tell Kate and in the end decided to tell her everything. She seemed to take everything calmly until I told her I was engaged.

"Engaged? Are you kidding me?" Kate said.

"I am not engaged now, or at least I don't think I am."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

I told Kate about our meeting with Lisa and George. "I think Lisa is done with me and is with George, now."

"That's because she thinks you dumped her and stole that Interapp thing from SA. When she finds out what really happened to you she will feel terrible and want to make it up to you."

"I don't know about that. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens."

Kate didn't speak for a minute then said, "I am kind of tired tonight, so I think I'll go to bed now."

Everything around me was turning to shit, and I didn't have a shovel.

Chapter 14 - The Investigation Drags On

After breakfast Wednesday morning, Brian and I met Detective Monroe at a Starbucks near the police station. When we sat down, Detective Monroe handed me a bag and said, "The crime lab released these and I figured you might need them."

In the bag were my wallet, my credit cards and my blood donor card, a keychain, and a cell phone that I didn't know I owned. The keychain had my car keys, house keys and a key to my post box. Then Detective Monroe handed me two copies of the list of all of the items taken from my house and my car by the crime scene techs.

"You need to sign one copy at the bottom to acknowledge that you were told what was taken into evidence and the other copy is yours," Detective Monroe said. "Items not needed for the investigation and any prosecution will be returned to you."

I noticed that Detective Monroe had another sheet of paper with a list of phone numbers and names. Most of the names were of people that I had spoken with in the last two days. There were maybe ten names I didn't recognize. "What is that list for?" I said.

"These are the names and numbers of all of the contacts in your cell phone," Detective Monroe said.

I looked at the list and saw that all of the contacts except one were from area code 919 which was the area code for Raleigh. The only number that wasn't from 919 was from 315 which Detective Monroe informed me was in the central part of New York State. The name on that number was Patrick Murray. Was he related to me? I was going to have to call that number to find out.

"What are we going to do today?" I said.

"As soon as we finish our coffee we are going to the UPS store in Cameron Village to pick up your mail and see if there is anything pertinent to our investigation contained in your post box."

I was beginning to wonder if Detective Monroe thought that I might have been involved in the plan to steal my project from SA and that my partners double-crossed me. He looked through my cell phone, and now he wants to look through my mail.

I would have to mention that to my lawyer as soon as I got one.

More than six months of mail made a pretty big pile on the table in the conference room at the police station. Most of the items were either advertising or charity solicitations that we threw in the trash. The next biggest pile was made up of bank statements, credit card statements and account statements from utilities, cell phone carrier and such. In addition to my account statements, there were several documents I would need for filing my taxes for the previous year.

There weren't many personal letters, and they were not significant. Two of those letters were from Lisa. In the first letter, she said that she hoped that my mail would be forwarded to me and she went on to ask why I had run away like I did. The second letter could not be read in polite company. She called me names that made Brian and Detective Monroe wince.

With the mail reviewed, Detective Monroe said that he was going to go down to the crime lab and see what they uncovered so far.

"Are you going to need my fingerprints and a blood sample for DNA comparisons?" I said.

"We got your fingerprints and DNA when you were in the hospital in Brodricksburg," Brian said. "While Detective Monroe checks with the lab, I am going to call my contact at the FBI.

When Brian and Detective Monroe left the room, I started reading through my bank statements again. I was surprised by how much money I had in my accounts. I had just over ten thousand dollars in an interest-bearing checking account and over fifty thousand in my savings account. There were no deposits listed since January in either of my accounts, but there was a payment for my Master Card on January 10th. Then there were recurring payments for all of my regular monthly bills.

There were no balances on either of my credit cards. The statement from a brokerage firm worried me a little. The value of my account as of June 30th was over $600,000. Financially I was secure, but I worried about how I accumulated so much money. Maybe that's why Detective Monroe seemed to be suspicious of me.

Brian returned to the room before Detective Monroe and said that he had a problem. "I called Agent Van Horn, the FBI agent I mentioned and told him the whole story. He said that he would not be able to work with us, but he did agree that the FBI would want to take a look at the investigation to see if they needed to get involved. He said that he would pass on the information to another agent and have that agent contact Detective Monroe.

"My problem is that the reason that Agent Van Horn isn't available is that his team was going to raid the First Bank of Brodricksburg today. They have evidence that the Bank President and Vice President were using the bank to launder drug money. The bottom line is that I am going to have to fly back home in the morning to liaise between the Brodricksburg Police Department and the FBI during their investigation.

With Brian headed home and feeling that Detective Monroe still considered me as a possible suspect I was feeling more stressed than ever.

It was another half hour before Detective Monroe returned to the conference room. "Good news from the lab," Detective Monroe said. They got hits on two sets of prints. One print belongs to one Henry Pruitt. He is a nasty customer. He has two convictions for assault and is currently serving time for robbery. It turns out he was out on bail awaiting trial for the robbery charges in January when you were abducted. We questioned him last night, but he had nothing to say. He wants immunity for cooperating, and the DA said no way. The second print belongs to a Jeff Peterson. His record is mostly for small-time drug offenses. We don't have a current address for Mr. Peterson, but we have a BOLO out for him. It may take some time, but we will find him."

"So now we know the kidnappers," Detective Monroe said. "Next, we have to get one of them to tell us who planned your abduction because the two individuals we have identified are not smart enough to have planned this caper."

When he said that, Detective Monroe gave me a look that said, 'And it might be you.'

Brian told Detective Monroe about his phone call with FBI Agent Van Horn and that he was going to head back to Brodricksburg in the morning.

"I was kind of wondering what would happen if we went back to SA and told Mr. Stanley the whole story, but not mention that we think someone inside his company is responsible for the theft." Detective Monroe said.

"Mr. Stanley would most likely tell the other employees what happened to Mike and that he didn't steal Interapp, which would tip off the person or persons that did steal it," Brian said. "Then they might decide to disappear."

"Then we would know who our suspect is," Detective Monroe said.

"Might work, but it might also put Mike in danger," Brian said. Both men looked at me.

"Let's do it," I said. "I just want this to end."

An hour later, we were back in Mr. Stanley's office. Brian started the discussion by telling Mr. Stanley that he was Captain Hobbs of the Brodricksburg Police Department and then went on to detail the events of Saturday, January 24th, and Sunday, January 25th. It took a minute for Mr. Stanley make the connection with the dates.

"So, you are saying that Mike didn't send me that email," Mr. Stanley said.

"That's right. Mike was at Brodricksburg Memorial Hospital recovering from surgery when that email was sent to you. Mike's injuries and his amnesia are as I described them to you on our previous visit," Brian said.

Then Detective Monroe joined in the conversation and told Mr. Stanley that he had proof that I had been abducted from my house on the morning of Saturday, January 24th. Without giving away too much, he told Mr. Stanley that we had identified the two men that had abducted me and expected that he would soon know who planned the theft of the Interapp program and arranged for the two suspects to kidnap me and try to make me disappear.

When Detective Monroe finished, Mr. Stanley sat looking down at his hands for a long minute. When he looked up at me, he had tears in his eyes.

"I am so sorry this happened to you, Mike," Mr. Stanley said. "I don't know what else to say to you. It was bad enough that someone stole Interapp from us, but to find out they tried to kill you too. If there is any way I can help you; please let me know."

"Thanks, Mr. Stanley."

"Just call me Dave like you used to. I guess you don't remember that we are not that formal around here," Mr. Stanley said.

"There are some things we are going to have to talk about, but they will have to wait till next week," I said.

After we wrapped up the meeting and left Brian, Detective Monroe and I gathered in the parking lot to discuss our next moves. I was left with no moves to make as far as the investigation was concerned, and Brian was going home in the morning, so that left only Detective Monroe to carry on.

I decided it was time for me to check out of the hotel and go to my house. On the ride home I wondered how I was going to get around after Brian left. I had a car and a driver's license, but I could not remember ever driving a car, so when we got to my house, I asked Brian if we could take my car out and see if I knew how to drive.

When I got in the driver's seat, I had the same strange feeling I had when I boarded the plane in Philadelphia. Sitting behind the wheel felt familiar, even though I didn't remember having driven before. Brian acted as my driving instructor, but as it turned out, I didn't need much instruction. After fifteen minutes of driving around my neighborhood, I felt confident enough in my driving skills to take the car out onto the beltway around Raleigh. I felt comfortable even at speeds sometimes exceeding 70 miles per hour. When we returned to my house, I was feeling better about the idea of being left on my own. I was ready to move forward with my life.

Brain stayed at the house with me for most of the day. We cleaned the spoiled food out of my refrigerator, fixed the lock on my back door and cleaned up my office. We went out to eat around six o'clock, and after dinner, Brian was ready to go back to the hotel.

"Mike, it feels odd to call you Mike, anyway, remember what Chief Pasiak suggested about getting a lawyer," Brian said.

"I am planning on doing that tomorrow."

"Keep me informed of what's going on here. That may be difficult once the FBI gets involved. They won't be inclined to talk to you about their investigation. Normally, Detective Monroe and I would not have allowed a victim of a crime to tag along during an investigation. We let you because your amnesia made your situation unique. Stay in touch with Detective Monroe; he may be willing to tell you what's happening."

"I'll do that."

After Brian left, I felt lonely for the first time in months. I busied myself looking around the kitchen. I had no idea how I had arranged my kitchen, so I spent some time opening drawers and cabinets to see what was in them. On a lazy-Susan in a corner cabinet, I found a prize. On the shelf was an unopened bottle of Makers Mark Bourbon. I poured two fingers into a glass, added some ice, carried it into the family room and sat in the most comfortable looking chair in the room. I took a sip of the Bourbon then; I called Kate.

I told Kate the news of the day. Detective Monroe had said that fingerprints in the car and on the baseball bat had led to the identification of two men. I told Kate about the one already in prison and that he refused to say anything that would identify the leader of the operation unless they gave him immunity. I told Kate how Detective Monroe, Brian and I had gone to SA and told Mr. Stanley the whole story, hoping that when the story got out the guilty party inside SA would panic and do something to give himself away.

"What will the three of you do tomorrow?" Kate said.

"I'll be on my own tomorrow. Brian is flying home in the morning, and Detective Monroe will be working the case by himself until the FBI contacts him. Apparently, I won't be allowed anywhere near the investigation now.

"Oh, by the way, I learned to drive today. Well, I knew how to drive, I just didn't know that I did until I got behind the wheel of my car." I said.

"That must make you feel good, but please be careful."

"I will."

"Can you take some pictures of your house? I would love to see it," Kate said.

"I don't have a camera."

"Use the one on your cell phone."

"I forgot about that. I'll have to figure out how to use it and how to send the pictures to you."

Kate spent the next ten minutes explaining how to use the camera on my phone and how to attach those pictures to an email.

Kate and I talked for nearly an hour, and after the call, I decided to watch television. I found three remote control devices for the entertainment center, and it took me almost twenty minutes to figure how to get everything working. I watched TV until the late news was over and then went to bed.

Chapter 15 - Taking Care of Business

I woke up early the next morning and took a shower, and then searched my closet and dresser for clothes to wear. All the pants in my closet were a bit big in the waist, indicating that I had lost weight since January.

I got in my car with the intention of going out for breakfast. When I pulled out of my driveway I realized I didn't know where to go. I could not remember any restaurants near my house, so I just drove around until I found a McDonalds. I wondered as I ate an Egg McMuffin with a cup of coffee if I had ever eaten at a McDonalds before. I guessed that for a while it would seem that a great many things I did would feel like it was the first time.

Back at the house I got out a phone book and started calling law offices trying to find a lawyer that could see me that day. On my fifth try, I found someone that would see me that morning. At ten o'clock, I walked into the offices, or should I say the office of Perry Wilson. The office consisted of just Mr. Wilson and his secretary. When I met him, I felt like I might have made a mistake. Mr. Wilson looked like he should have retired 20 years ago. My first impression was that Mr. Wilson might fall asleep before I could even explain my situation to him. I felt a bit better when Mr. Wilson stood up and gave me a firm handshake and spoke with a steady, authoritative voice, "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Sullivan, why don't you sit down and tell me how I can be of assistance to you."

For the next hour, I told him my story, from finding myself naked in a snow storm up to the meeting at SA with Mr. Stanley the day before. That's when it became clear that Mr. Wilson was sharp and up to the task. Before I could even begin to explain what I thought I needed him to do, he started telling me what needed to be done.

"We need to meet with Mr. Stanley and make sure he understands that you are still an employee of his company and are still subject to all of the benefits that were in place at the time of your abduction. That includes back salary and sick pay. Also, we have to notify your health insurance carrier that they will be responsible for coverage of your injury-related health care. Do you have the phone number for SA with you?" Mr. Wilson said.