CHAPTER 3

"They took everything. Who the fuck even called them?" Mauller was pissed. His face was red and he kept putting his hands on the top of his head, pacing around.

"It was one of the cops we talked to, she said so. I just don't know which one." Heike and Natalie looked at each other with disbelief that one of them would have called. "Seriously, they did NOT take our story seriously"

"Well someone believed it, and they called the CDC. They must have sounded very scared of it, or they would not have come all the way down to Dayton Fucking Ohio" Calper was starting to show his frustration, leaning back in his chair, shaking his head.

"Heike, who questioned you, after we left the police station?" Natalie asked trying to make some connection.

"Uh, oh it was Bryan - the one that took us home. He called and told me that he needed to ask a few more questions, could he stop by. It was odd though, he said he was getting ready to go in to work and wanted to ask me before he went in." She confirmed.

"So, what exactly did he ask you?" Calper leaned in.

"He asked me what I thought happened, I stuck to the story. He looked a bit rough but I just figured, 'he's a cop'. He asked me before he left if I was worried about the whole thing. I said 'hell yes I am it was the craziest shit I have EVER seen.' Then he gave me his card and left."

"It sounds like he was second guessing himself." Natalie said. "May be we should call him, just tell him we wanted to talk about the case and see what he says?"

"That’s not going to help us with the diagnostic process." Dr. Reins added.

Calper replied "No, but it could help us with the legal part, he could let us know if anything else has come up with the case".

"So, it's settled then, I'll call him." Natalie reached for her phone, Heike handed her his card. She asked him if he was free to talk about the case, not at the station. He said yes, he could meet somewhere in an hour, asked if her apartment was okay. She said yes. "Okay, so I should get home. Do you want to wait here, come over after?" She was asking the room.

"Yes. We're all in now." Mauller was right.

Natalie returned to her apartment about 40 minutes later, it was nearly 8pm. He arrived shortly after. She started with small talk, weather and other pleasantries; got him a coke and then he asked her why she wanted to talk.

"Well, I was thinking that the whole situation was bad, and I was so shook up that I may be acted like a big baby. I first wanted to apologize for that then I wanted to go back over it, to see if I missed anything. I hope that’s okay, I'm not wasting your time am I?" She tried looked at him with concern and a little bit of fear to let him know she was serious.

"No, that’s great actually. You were the only reliable witness, and as a professional you ARE a very reliable one. We just need to get you and your information on the same page. So, was there something in particular you wanted to tell me or do you just want to start from the beginning?"

"Let’s start from the beginning. You ask I tell, or do you just want me to start talking?" She asked, unsure of the best way to get information from him while sharing her own.

They started talking, from the very beginning. She went over the same basic story with him; he was asking a lot of off the wall questions. Finally she stopped, and asked him what he really wanted know. He stated very simply "I want to know what you were trying to tell me, before I pissed you off". He sat up uncomfortably in his chair, serious face. "I could not stop thinking about how freaked out you were and that you lied. You don't seem like the lying type of health care professional. So, even if you have to tell me 'off the record' what you really think happened, I want to know."

"Oh", she was stunned, "Can you excuse me for just a sec, I'll be right back". She went to the bathroom, in the back of the apartment, called Heike and told her what was happening. She said “He really seemed like he just wanted to know, the case was pretty straight forward anyway, well at least the murder part was.” Natalie said she was going to tell him what happened. They were resistant to the idea at first. She told them she would start slow, feel him out and if it felt safe, she'd continue.