As Noah was creating the profile of a thirty-year-old love-starved insurance salesman who hated Ivy League snobs, a point he thought Ava might appreciate, he was alerted to an incoming email. Since he wasn’t finished with Harvey’s profile, he used his phone to see who had emailed him, hoping it might be Roberta Hinkle, and it was.
Dear Dr. Rothauser: Thank you for your inquiry about possibly retaining my services to undertake a confidential, in-depth background check of Dr. Ava London. I can start tonight with my online sources if you decide to move forward. If you know actual dates of her personal history and the name of her high school, it would be helpful to make sure I am researching the correct individual. Any other pertinent information you might have would also be of assistance for the same reason.
Amazed at the rapidity of Roberta’s reply, Noah minimized his profile of Harvey Longfellow and immediately began a long email back to Roberta:
Dear Ms. Hinkle, I appreciate your rapid reply. Here is what I know, although all the dates might not be accurate. She was born in 1982. I do not know where she went to elementary or middle school, but I was told she went to Coronado High School, where she was a cheerleader and took AP courses. I believe she graduated in 2000. Between 2000 and 2002 she worked for a dentist by the name of Winston Herbert, who became dean of the newly created Brazos University School of Dentistry. She then attended Brazos University for a six-year combined B.S./M.D. curriculum from 2002 to 2008 with a major in nutrition. After obtaining her M.D. degree, she took a residency in anesthesia at the Brazos University Medical Center from 2008 to 2012. Following her residency, she was offered a position as a staff anesthesiologist at the Boston Memorial Hospital beginning in 2012. Some of these dates are guesses, but they should be close. Other important information: her oil-executive father committed suicide when she was a junior in high school, and she was briefly married around 2000 to a Serbian medical doctor. Although we will find all information about her pertinent, what we are mainly hoping to learn are details about her residency training, and the more detailed the better. We would be particularly interested in whatever any of the faculty remembers about her, which seems would have to be significant for her to get the kind of recommendations needed for her to be hired by the Boston Memorial Hospital. If anyone asks, you can say that she has earned high praise from the BMH chief of Anesthesia. Last point of information is that she is a devotee of Facebook, which she avowedly uses daily but only via aliases named Gail Shafter and Melanie Howard. For a current picture of Dr. Ava London, please check out her LinkedIn page. Does this sound like a job you would be interested in accepting? I must emphasize that confidentiality is key.
After rereading the email and making a few minor changes, Noah sent it off. He then brought up the profile he had been creating for his fake Facebook account. No sooner had he reread what he had written about Harvey Longfellow when a second email came in from Roberta Hinkle.
Dr. Rothauser: Thank you for the information. I am very interested in accepting your proposed investigation, and I can assure you that it will be done in strict confidentiality, as is the case with all my work. Let me know if you want me to begin.
Noah went back to staring up at the ceiling, trying to decide what to do. He had an immediate good feeling about Roberta Hinkle and liked that she was eager and could start right away. With the same impulsivity that had encouraged him to respond to Roberta’s website, he decided to go ahead with hiring her. He knew that if he changed his mind overnight, he could stop her efforts. He emailed her back to give her the go-ahead. Almost immediately a reply came back:
Dear Dr. Rothauser: I am looking forward to this project and will start immediately. I will email you tomorrow what my initial inquiries uncover. This should not be a difficult assignment as I also attended Brazos University and have maintained close contacts by continuing to teach an introductory criminal justice course.
Impressed with Roberta’s rapid responses and seeming professionalism, Noah emailed her back that he would be looking forward to her email. Once again, he cautioned her that discretion was paramount. She responded that she understood perfectly and emphasized that strict confidentiality was the nature of the business. She told him not to worry.
After the final email with Roberta, Noah tried to go back to his fake profile, but found he couldn’t concentrate. He kept wondering what Roberta might find above and beyond all the complimentary stuff he expected, since Ava certainly had to have done extremely well. Despite Roberta’s reassurances, he worried if her questioning might somehow get back to Ava and, if it did, what effect that might have. Would Ava suspect that Noah was behind it? He doubted she would, but who was to know? For a few moments, he thought about emailing back and canceling the investigation, but then he changed his mind again. He’d wait for her morning email. Tonight, Roberta was only going to see what she could learn online.
At that point, Noah noticed it was after midnight. More important, with the feeling he had done something that was potentially promising to dispel once and for all his misgivings about Ava, he felt as if he could finally sleep. He turned off his laptop and the overhead light in the living room, pushed his couch against his broken door for an attempt at security, and went into the bedroom.
33
TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2:52 P.M.
For the first time in a week Noah had slept reasonably well and woke up refreshed. He attributed it to having hired the private investigator in Lubbock. Engaging the PI gave him the feeling he was doing something positive about Ava, and he was comfortable with the decision. He would have much preferred she was willing to discuss the nettlesome questions he had about her performance in her three deaths, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen. Short of his hacking into the Brazos University computer system, it was the only way it might be accomplished. He justified it as ultimately being in her best interests. Just as he expected to be reinstated at the Advisory Board meeting, he was hopeful that Ava was going to ultimately accept his heartfelt apologies and let bygones be bygones. They were too well suited for each other and had been too close in mind and body for any other outcome. And the next time she voiced any thoughts about leaving clinical anesthesiology, he wanted to be sure of her competence.
At 8:00 A.M., Noah surprised himself by going out for eggs and bacon at a local greasy spoon. He’d even read The New York Times like a normal person. He’d also gotten some bread and cold cuts for a later lunch before returning to his apartment. His plan had been to finish creating his Harvey Longfellow sockpuppet and then go on Facebook to try to friend both Gail Shafter and Melanie Howard. His hope had been that, come evening, he could be messaging back and forth with an unsuspecting Ava.
It was at 2:52 in the afternoon that the reasonably pleasant day started to fall apart when his mobile phone went off, startling him. Snapping it up, he looked at the screen, hoping it might be Ava. But it wasn’t. It was the MIT Library.
“Is this Dr. Rothauser?”
“Yes, it is.”
“This is Telah Smith calling. I got a note from Gertrude Hessen that you were interested in finding out why a copy of your bound thesis had been removed from the thesis room. Are you still interested? Because I was the assistant librarian responsible for letting it circulate.”