Chapter 11. Maxine Lafleur Remembers

The next Saturday morning Mary takes the two appointment books to Maxine in the nursing home. Again she finds Maxine sitting in her chair watching TV. Mary says, “Good morning, Maxine. I hope I’m not interrupting a good program.”

Maxine turns the TV off and answers, “No, it was just something to occupy the time until lunch. You’re Mary White, right?”

“Yes, but Mary Anderson now. I’ve brought the appointment books from your time as Doc Arra’s receptionist.”

“Good, now what was that family you wanted me to tell you about?”

“The Ericsson family that had a son called Buddy. Do you remember them?”

“Let me see the appointment book. Oh you have two.”

“Yes, we are interested in the period 1975 to 1980 and those years are in two books. Would you like to start with the earlier one? We tried to read the books but it looks like you used a shorthand or code for the names and we couldn’t figure it out.”

“Yes, I used a simple code for names to save time. Being both the receptionist and nurse didn’t give me a lot of time for detailed appointment notes. I can tell you my code if you like or I can just look up what you want.”

Mary hands Maxine the appointment book from 1974 to 1978 and says, “Start with this book and tell me if you find appointments for Buddy Ericsson or Elliot Ericsson or any other brothers or sisters of Buddy.”

Maxine opens the book and runs her finger down each page. She smiles or chuckles now and then as she sees something that brings back memories. After about 20 minutes she’s halfway through 1974 when she exclaims, “Here’s one of the appointments for Buddy. See it says ESS. ES means it’s an Ericsson and the second S means it’s a son of the Ericsson’s.”

“See if you can find any appointments for another brother or sister.”

Maxine continues to scan for a page or two then says, “Oh my, I found another. See ESD. That’s for the Ericsson’s daughter. Now it’s coming back to me. What a mess that girl caused. I think this is the appointment for the first time she came to see the doctor. She was about 17 or maybe 18 and she was immediately infatuated with the doctor. She started coming in regularly with made-up stories on why she needed to see the doctor. I knew she was making up these stories and told the doctor I should not give her any appointments unless she was actually sick. But she was a pretty girl and the doctor liked pretty young girls so he would see her no matter how silly her story was. I don’t remember him asking me to send her parents bills for her visits. He’d talk to her for a while, listen to her heart and give her some story. She’d go away happy for a couple of weeks then she’d be back with another crazy story.”

“Do you remember her name, Maxine?”

“Let me think. You know it would be on her medical file. You can check that.”

“We think a file is missing Maxine and we think it might be this girl’s. Try to remember her name.”

“Her face is coming back. She had long blond hair like yours and a lot of those Swedes. Did you say you’re an Anderson? I thought you were a White.”

“My maiden name was White. I married one of the Andersons from out on Swede road but I got my blond hair from my mother’s side of the family. They were French not Swedes.”

“Your husband must have known the Ericsson’s. The Anderson’s lived on the farm next to the Ericsson’s.”

“Yes, but my husband was living in town when I met him and we visited his parent’s farm only a couple of times. I didn’t know they lived next to the Ericsson’s. Have you recalled the Ericsson girl’s name?”

“Yes, now I remember, it was Lois.”

“That’s wonderful, Maxine. Do you know anything else about Lois that might explain why her medical file isn’t with her brother’s?”

“I know more than I should about that girl but not why her medical file is missing. Most of her visits weren’t medical. I could tell you a lot more if you promise not to tell anyone where you heard the story.”

“I can keep it quiet, Maxine.”

“Well, as I said this Lois kept coming in to see the doctor because she was infatuated with him. I am pretty sure it led to an affair between them. She stopped coming in regularly. Most likely because she and the doctor were meeting somewhere. Next thing I know she shows up at the end of office hours on a Friday night. She went in to see the doctor. Then he came out and told me I could go home. He said to me, ‘I’ll finish up with Miss Ericsson and close up. You go on home and enjoy your weekend. I’ll see you Monday’. Now that made me suspicious because he never let me go home until the last patient left for the day. Anyway, when I came in on Monday and looked around it looked to me like a patient had stayed in the clinic overnight. Now you can guess as well as I can why a girl like that might have been in the clinic secretly in those days. I never said anything to the doctor and he didn’t say anything to me. I thought it best to keep my mouth shut. That girl Lois never came back. I heard she left town, joined the military or went to college. Four or five years later she comes back, marries one of the Taylor’s and starts a political career with the help of old John Taylor, her father-in-law. She never came back to Doc Arra’s. I guess she got another doctor.”

“That’s a big help, Maxine. Tell me, if Lois had the procedure you suspect would the doctor have put it in her medical file?”

“You know, I’m sure he would have. He kept meticulous medical records. He was deeply concerned with any question of malpractice. He said his best protection was complete and accurate medical records.”

“Thank you, Maxine, you’ve been a big help.”

“Glad to help. Now don’t go spreading any rumors based on what I said. You know how rumors spread in this town.”

“I’ll be careful, Maxine. Thanks again for your help.”

Mary takes the two appointment books and leaves the nursing home.

Pam asks Mary to report what she learned from Maxine Lafleur at the next Wednesday night meeting of the board. When she’s finished Pam says, “Why didn’t we think of Senator Lois Taylor when we were trying to identify L.T.? She’s the most well-known person in our county.”

“She’s only here when she’s campaigning now so it’s hard to think of her as local anymore,” answers Peter.

Pam says, “Let’s sum up what we know. George intended to call someone with the initials L.T. The most recent calls on George’s phone log are to and from the capitol in Lansing where Senator Taylor has an office. Lois Taylor’s medical file is missing. The file drawer where her file should have been could have been opened recently. She may have had an affair with Dr. Arra when she was young. She could have become pregnant. There was an opportunity for the Doc to perform an abortion for her. Senator Taylor’s political opportunity to be a candidate for governor is largely based on her support from pro-life voters. If all of the ‘could be’s’ are facts then she has a motive. We have a lot of possible evidence but nothing that would stand up to a lawyer’s questioning.”

“You’re right, Pam. We don’t have facts, just high probabilities that make Lois Taylor a prime suspect. Now we have two suspects. What should we do next?” asks Mary.

Pam replies, “We keep digging, Mary. First, I suggest we think of how we might prove or disprove the speculations about Lois Taylor. And we should broaden our search for the missing letters that point to Brother Thomas.”

“It would help if we could get more information on Brother Thomas. I haven’t called him yet as we discussed. I can make it a casual call and lead into asking about the missing letters. His answers might clear him or increase our suspicions,” says Joe.

“That’s a good idea, Joe. We haven’t had any luck finding those letters or knowing for sure if they are gone. A conversation with Brother Thomas might help,” replies Pam.

Sam says, “I can help broaden the search for the letters. I’ll contact auction houses that deal with such items. It’s possible someone else took the letters and is trying to auction them off for money. I know that’s a long shot but you never know, it might tell us something. I can also contact the libraries of the universities in the state to see if they have acquired any letter collections recently.”

Joe offers, “Let’s examine the appointment book more carefully at the time Lois Taylor came for her last visit to Doc Arra. Maybe Maxine wrote something that will indicate what her visit was for. For example, if Maxine sent Lois’s parents a large bill it will point toward more than a casual visit. If no bill was sent that’s suspicious also.”

“Good idea, Joe. We could use what is or isn’t in the appointment book as leverage with Lois Taylor. If she took her medical records to cover up an abortion she may think she has destroyed all the evidence. We could make up a story that the appointment book has damning evidence to try and trap her if it comes to that,” Pam states.

Mary offers, “I’ll examine the appointment book. I learned Maxine’s shorthand for names on the entries.”

Peter speaks, “For our suspicions against Lois Taylor to hold water we need to know if George somehow found and read Lois Taylor’s missing medical file.”

Joe interjects, “Couldn’t resist the opportunity for a plumbing pun, eh Peter?”

Everyone chuckles then Pam says, “That’s a critical point, Peter. Can you think of anyone that George might have confided in if he had such information?”

“No, except I know George was pro-choice on abortion and highly opposed to Lois Taylor’s pro-life views. He might have offered the medical file information to a political rival of Lois Taylor.”

“What about his sister? Was George likely to share gossip about a successful local with his sister who probably knew Lois Taylor?” suggested Sam.

Peter answers, “No, if he had shared that kind of information Laura would have suggested Lois Taylor when I asked her if she knew an L.T.”

Pam jumps in with, “If we don’t know if George shared the medical file information with anyone else it’s likely that Lois Taylor doesn’t know either. Another thing we could use if we get to the point of accusing her.”

Joe says, “I’m not sure about that idea Pam. If she suspected George told anyone else it wouldn’t be worth the risk of killing George.”

“Good point, Joe, but sometimes a suspect doesn’t think clearly or logically either when committing a crime or being questioned about a crime they committed. Let’s keep Peter’s idea in mind. We may be able to use it. Now we have two directions for our investigation to go. Mary will check the appointment books to see if there’s more information on Lois Taylor. Sam is going to check auction houses and university libraries for the missing letters. You are going to call Brother Thomas. Until we meet next week the rest of us should think of how we can learn whether or not George saw the Ericsson medical files. I don’t see how we can make any more progress tonight, let’s go home. “Pam says.