The 6:20 Man(89)

His phone buzzed. It was a number he didn’t recognize.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Devine?”

“Yes?”

“This is Dr. John Wyman. You called my office seeking information on Sara Ewes?”

Devine tensed. “Yes, I did. I worked with her. We were friends.”

“So you said in your message. What exactly do you want to know?”

“I know that she was pregnant but she ended up aborting the baby.”

“I knew about her pregnancy, I didn’t know she had terminated it.”

“I talked to the doctor who helped with the abortion. Sara wasn’t that far along, so it seems no medical procedure was necessary.”

“So a medication abortion, then,” said Wyman. “Probably done at home.”

“Yes. Sara gave your name to the abortion clinic. Are you her ob-gyn?”

“Not exactly.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Can you tell me of your interest in all this?” asked Wyman.

“As I said, I worked with her, and, well, the police and her mother seem to think that I was the father. Even though I didn’t meet Sara until after she became pregnant. I’m not sure they believe that. Quite frankly, I think they want to make me out to be her murderer.”

“I thought that might be it.”

“What?” Devine said sharply.

“I know you’re not the father of Sara Ewes’s baby.”

“How?”

“Because she underwent artificial insemination and utilized a donor in acquiring the sperm. I run a practice pretty much devoted to that. I told the police this when they came by to see me as well, which is why I’m telling you. They mentioned your name, not understanding at that point how Sara became pregnant. When I told them, they were quite surprised. They wanted to know if you had donated the sperm. I told them that you had not. I told them that Sara never mentioned you to me. When I saw your name on the message my receptionist took from you, I put two and two together and decided you needed to know the truth.”

“Well, I appreciate that, Dr. Wyman. Do you know who donated the sperm?”

“No, I do not. Sara provided it. I told the police that, too.”

“Then how do you know it wasn’t me?”

“About six weeks after she became pregnant through insemination, Sara told me that the sperm donor had died. You obviously are very much alive.”

“Was it Detectives Shoemaker and Ekman who talked to you?”

“Yes. And they seemed very disappointed to know that you were not the father.”

“I’m sure they were. Did Sara have anyone with her when she consulted you, or when she had the insemination done?”

“No. But I got the sense that she was not going through this alone. That there was someone who was partnering with her in this process.”

Devine thought of Jennifer Stamos, and then Brad Cowl. Cowl said he hadn’t had sex with Ewes. But with artificial insemination, he wouldn’t have had to. “She didn’t mention any names?”

“She didn’t, but from the little she volunteered, I had the impression that she was going to take time off to be with the child.” He paused. “Was there someone like that in her life that you knew of?”

“Possibly,” said Devine vaguely, and he meant to be very vague.

“Do you know how far along Sara was when she terminated her pregnancy?” asked Wyman.

“I was told about eight weeks. So, shortly after she told you the sperm donor had passed away.”

“She seemed so excited about being a mother. I wonder what changed her mind?”

So do I, thought Devine.





CHAPTER





60


DEVINE HEARD TAPSHAW’S CAR PULL into the one-car garage. Shortly thereafter he heard her come up the stairs. He listened to her open and close her bedroom door a few moments later. He sat on his bed and thought about things. The problem was there were too many things to think about.

Later, he heard the front door open and the sound of footsteps came up the stairs. He could tell by the footfalls that it was Speers. Her door closed as well. Then he heard her bedsprings squeak.

He looked at his watch. Six thirty. Speers would not expect him to be home. He walked over to the wall separating their bedrooms and put his ear to it. He heard clicking. She was on her laptop. He stood there, hoping that she might make a call and he could attempt to listen, but that didn’t happen. The clicking stopped. A minute or so passed and her door opened and she passed down the hall. He opened his door a crack to see her at the top of the stairs dressed in her yoga clothes. She went down the steps.

He slipped out and quietly moved over to her door. He tried the knob. It turned. She had forgotten to lock it or thought there was no need. He slowly opened it and glanced back at the stairs. Normally Speers would take a good forty-five minutes for her yoga routine.

He stood in the doorway, looking around. The clothes she had obviously been wearing were lying on the floor. He glanced at the bed and thought for a moment of that sex-charged night and then pushed that right out of his head. This woman he’d thought was a friend was a potential enemy. He eased into the room and closed the door softly behind him. He could also hear clicking coming from Tapshaw’s room; she was obviously humming away on her monster screens.