Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn Book 6)(67)

Josie narrowed her eyes at him. “That doesn’t always stop people.”

“I can assure you, ours was a doctor-patient relationship only.”

“Why didn’t you go to the police when you realized she had lied to you about her identity?”

“The very same reason I didn’t want to discuss any of this in the first place,” he grumbled.

“Patient privacy.” Josie didn’t want to get back into the same argument now that he was speaking more freely. “Why did Tessa come to see you?”

“Post-partum,” he said. “She thought she had post-partum depression. She had given birth about seven weeks before that. She felt she was having difficulty bonding with the baby.”

“Was she?”

Graham nodded. “I believe she was. I’m not sure this was due to post-partum, however.”

“Then what?” Josie asked.

“Tessa refused to discuss her childhood other than to say that her father was absent, and her mother was neglectful. But I believe that she experienced significant trauma at some point in her life, which hindered her ability to bond with her child. At least at first. We worked very hard on it, and she did bond with Lucy eventually. It was quite the triumph for her.”

“Could that trauma have been an abusive relationship in early adulthood?” Josie asked.

Graham shrugged. “I suppose, yes. I could never get to the bottom of it all. She never spoke of anything before her daughter was born, or if she did, it was only in the broadest strokes.”

“Did she ever talk to you about being in an abusive relationship?”

“No,” Graham said. “She said her husband was very loving. That was part of her issue. She had everything, but didn’t feel happy.”

“I’m talking about before her husband. Did she ever discuss relationships before she got married?”

“No. She refused. I tried hard to get her to discuss her past. I truly believe that processing events that have happened in a person’s past goes a long way to assisting them in living better, fuller lives in the present.”

“She didn’t talk to you about her childhood or any of her other relationships?”

“No.”

“What did she talk about?”

“Tessa had a great deal of anxiety. Crippling anxiety. She told me she was a stay-at-home mom. At first, when her daughter was an infant and then a toddler, she struggled greatly. She was alone with her child most of the time. She didn’t believe she was capable of taking care of an infant or a toddler on her own. She was… afraid all the time.”

“Of what?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know. She was just… terrified. I tried to work with her on deep breathing exercises, meditation, things she could do to manage those feelings. For a long time, she was taking medication. It was prescribed by her family doctor. As I’m sure you know, I can’t prescribe medication. I urged her to see a psychiatrist to manage her dosages, but she simply went to her family physician.”

“Did she tell you which meds?” Josie asked. “Xanax?”

“For her acute episodes, yes. I believe she was taking some other anti-depressants as well. Medications for her long-term, underlying depression. She was eventually able to wean herself off them. Her anxiety did improve over time.”

“When did she go off the anti-depressants?” Josie asked.

“Oh, maybe two years ago? When her daughter was five, I believe.”

“When Lucy started school?” Josie asked.

“I really don’t remember,” Graham said. “I just know that she’s made great strides in the last couple of years.”

“Was it her idea to stop seeing you?”

“Yes. She felt she had reached a stable point. I told her that she was welcome to come back at any time, and I wished her good luck.”

“When was that?”

“About four or five months ago. The next time I saw her was at the park. That’s when I realized that she was using a different name.”

“Do you believe she was telling the truth about being Tessa Lendhardt?”

He smiled sadly. “Oh Detective, I don’t think that poor woman has ever known who she really is.”





Forty-Four





While Mettner arranged for Bryce Graham to stay at a hotel under guard, Josie went upstairs to the great room which held the detectives’ desks crammed together in the center of it. Along one wall Chitwood’s office door stood closed. She wondered if he was inside or if he was off handling the day-to-day business of the city now that all of his detectives were tied up with the Lucy Ross case. Josie sat down at her desk and pulled up the TLO XP database used by law enforcement to search various records. Gretchen appeared behind her as she typed in ‘Tessa Lendhardt’ along with ‘Buffalo, New York’.

Gretchen said, “The volunteer searchers have finished looking in the area of the hunting cabin that was broken into. They didn’t find anything. Oaks is done at Bryce Graham’s house. He’ll be here any minute.”

“Great,” Josie said. “Let’s wait for him and we’ll do a briefing. I need Mett and Noah as well, and if Chitwood wants an update, now would be the time.”