Extracted - Chapter 10 – Hello Mudda’ – Part 1 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 10 – Hello Mudda’ – Part 1 of 2

 

It wasn’t until later the next morning that Wanda was able to walk into Doctor Montcliff’s office, while Nancy waited with Emily in a private unused room.

“Mrs. Stiller,” the doctor said, standing up as the woman entered.  “Please,” she said, motioning toward one of the chairs.  “Have a seat.”  She herself came around and sat in the other chair in front of her.

“We were supposed to talk about Nancy’s problems,” Wanda told her, and then you called yesterday and said there was another problem.”

“Yes.  Something I want to very much to discuss with you.”

“What’s that?”

“Nancy seems to honestly believe that she’s the son of the District Attorney in Philadelphia.  A boy named Stephen Marsh.”

“Believe me,” Wanda told her.  “I’m more than aware.”

“Of course you are,” the doctor replied.  “But are you aware that the Philadelphia District Attorney really is someone named Henry Marsh and that he has a son, probably in his upper years of high school by now, who is named Stephen?”

That stopped Wanda, but only for a moment.  “I haven’t had time to look into anything like that yet.  I’ve been so busy catching up with things.  What of it?  I would imagine it’s common knowledge.  Nancy could have picked that up from the internet.”

“Exactly!” the doctor replied.  “But are you aware that Henry Marsh’s son Stephen was abducted at exactly the same time as Nancy, and that he was returned on exactly the same evening, and that he was found in exactly the same circumstances as your daughter?  Left outside of a restaurant where anyone could easily notice him.”

That information really threw Wanda.  “What?”  She stared at the doctor, not believing it.  “What are you saying?”

“What I’m saying, is that it almost sounds like too many coincidences for there not to be some connection between the two abductions.”

“Damn!” Wanda muttered.  “Why didn’t I come talk to you when you called yesterday?”

“Something about a dinner party.  How did it go by the way?”

“Fine,” Wanda replied with a wave of her hand, dismissing the subject.  “What are you proposing?” she asked.

“What I’d like to know is a number of things,” Doctor Montcliff told her.  “First, has anyone else noticed this coincidence, and are they looking into it?”

“I don’t know.  Not at all,” Wanda admitted.  “I can check with my husband though.  Anything else?”

“I’d like to know if Stephen Marsh is exhibiting any kind of mental disorders, and if so, are they in any way similar to Nancy’s.”

“How could anyone have….”  She stopped.  “Sorry.  You’re right of course.  Someone needs to look into this.  It’s something I’d like to know myself.”

“If there are any similarities in the case, I know we have all these very important security concerns to consider, but if Stephen Marsh is having similar symptoms to what Nancy is experiencing, it might be wise for his doctor, and me, to get together and…I hate to say this, discuss our cases together.”

Wanda shook her head.  “That much I’m not sure about at all, even though I can see why you would want to do that.  It’s just the…”

“I know.  Security,” the doctor finished.

“Yes.  Exactly.  We can’t have anyone thinking anything is wrong that could affect my husband in any way at all.”

“I fully understand,” the doctor told her.

“Thank you,” Wanda said.  A thought occurred to her.  “If this…Stephen really does have a problem like Nancy, do you think there could be others?”

The doctor nodded.  “I’ve thought about that, but I’ve yet to find any case exactly like Nancy’s.  I’ll keep looking though, but if Nancy and Stephen are exhibiting similar symptoms, then I think it could be likely that there might be more somewhere.”

“But what would that mean?” Wanda asked.

“Mrs. Stiller, believe me when I say I haven’t a clue.  The implications of it are…mind boggling.  I mean, we’re talking about mimicking the symptoms of a complete mind and personality transfer.  Something that even in theory would be impossible.  There’s simply no way it can happen.”

“And yet,” Wanda said.  “We have Nancy’s problem with knowing far too much about being…Stephen Marsh.”

“Yes,” the doctor agreed.

Wanda chuckled.  “I wonder if Stephen Marsh might be enjoying believing that he’s a twelve year old girl who loves ballet?”

“I doubt it,” Doctor Montcliff replied.  “If Stephen had symptoms like Nancy does, he…or she in that case, would most likely be absolutely miserable because she’s in the wrong body, just like Nancy, or maybe Stephen is for you.”

Wanda nodded.  “It’s…confusing.”

“And how confusing is it for Nancy, or Stephen?”

“Nancy did complain the entire time she was in the hospital about how confused she was.  And it was like, the longer she was there, the more confused she seemed to get.  I guess things could still be that way for her.”

“Yes, they could,” the doctor agreed.

“I’ll call my husband,” Wanda told her.  “He can find out if anyone is checking up on this.  If the situation allows, I’ll let you know.”

“Thank you,” the doctor told her.

“Now.  Anything else?  What did you want to talk about besides that?”

“Most of what we talked about last time, in fact, the only thing we were able to talk about, was all about Stephen, not Nancy.  Your daughter seems to have no knowledge at all of being Nancy.  She believes that the body she feels stuck in is due to some kind of massive hallucination.  As bright as I’m sure Nancy is, I’m not sure how much she knows about hallucinations.  Would you have any idea?”

“Um…I really don’t know,” Wanda admitted.

“Anyway, there were a number of things like that that I noticed.  One of them being that Stephen claims to have an active sexual life, despite being only seventeen.  Remember, this is not your daughter we’re talking about.  This would be Stephen Marsh.”

Wanda shook her head.  “You’re a doctor, you have to know the number of kids that have active sexual lives, far younger than seventeen.”

“Believe me, I’m very aware.  It’s a major part of my job.  I just wanted to let you know, because this…person…inside your daughter, seems to know a lot more about sex than I’m sure your daughter does, despite the fact that she’s got an older sister who might have, and probably has, told her things.”

“Emily?”

“Perhaps,” the doctor suggested.  “I just wanted you to be aware of that in case something about it comes up in the future.”

“Fine,” Wanda told her.  “I’ll keep it in mind.  What else?”

“Have you listened to her speak?  I mean really listened to her?”

“What do you mean?”

“I grew up in Philadelphia,” the doctor told her.  “I’m very aware of the way people speak.  It’s a major factor in my job so that I can listen for things that may or may not be said.  But how much time has Nancy had listening to anyone from Philadelphia speak?  And I mean she would have to hear it a lot!”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about?”

“Your daughter, Mrs. Stiller, or at least whatever seems to be inhabiting her brain, speaks with a Philadelphia accent…all the time!”

“Um…I did notice that she speaks differently.  I just didn’t realize it was a Philadelphia accent.  She’s certainly not talking like Nancy used to.  I can confirm that.  It’s like she’s…older.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“How can that be?” Wanda asked.  “Where would she learn something like that?  She’s only twelve!”

“I know,” the doctor agreed.  “It’s as if someone managed to inject someone else’s entire personality and memories into your daughter, and then also managed to completely block the old personality and memories that are who Nancy really is.  And from what I’ve learned about your daughter’s hospital visit from the doctor who referred her to me, the process couldn’t have been instantly, or even fast.  As you yourself mentioned, she was very confused the entire time she was in the hospital.  A confusion that increased the longer she was there.  Which means it happened slowly enough that whoever did it was so confident of what was happening that they could dump the kids and let it happen right in front of you.”

“Wait!  You’re saying that this was deliberate?  That someone actually did that?  Injected a different personality into her?”

Doctor Montcliff shook her head.  “It sounds like I’m saying that, and it really does seem that way, but such a thing simply isn’t possible.  Not by any of the rules of the universe as I know them.”

“Then what’s going on here?  Nancy thinks and acts like some older boy named Stephen.  And maybe there’s someone else out there who might think and act like…Nancy?  That’s just crazy!”

“Yes!  It is!”

A few minutes later, while Stephen, in Nancy’s body, was in with Doctor Montcliff for her second visit, Wanda pulled out her phone and managed to reach her husband.  “Mike,” she said.  “The doctor just alerted me to something about Nancy’s condition that you need to look into right away.”

“I need to look into?  Why me?”

“Because according to the doctor, Nancy may not be the only one affected.”

“What’s that mean?”

“The person that Nancy thinks she is, Stephen?  There really is a District Attorney in Philadelphia named Henry Marsh, and he has a son named Stephen.  But Mike, get this.  That Stephen was abducted at the same time as Nancy was, and he was returned at the same time, and in the exact same circumstances.  The doctor wants to know if anyone else has noticed that and looked into it yet.”

“Yeah,” Mike Stiller replied, thinking that through.  “It does sound a bit strange.  Tell you what, I’ll call our FBI contact and ask if they know about it.”

“Good.  Thanks Mike.  See you later?”

“Yeah.  Later.  I’ll let you know.”

Michael Stiller ended the call and sat considering things.  His daughter’s weird psychological problem just got a whole lot weirder.  The boy she believed to be was kidnapped at the same time?  And returned at the same time.  And in the same circumstances?  What exactly was that supposed to mean?  But still, it just sounded…weird.

From his wallet, he pulled out the business card that he had gotten from that woman FBI agent who had interviewed Nancy after the abduction.  He still got updates from the team looking into it, but those updates had been few and far between.  In fact, so far, it sounded like they had nothing at all.  Why hadn’t they mentioned this Philadelphia angle?  As far as he was concerned, they should have known about it and told him.

He called the number for Ellen Rosenberg, FBI Agent.

“Rosemberg,” the curt voice returned.

“Agent Rosenberg.  This is Congressman Stiller.”

“Yes sir,” the agent replied.  “What can I do for you?”

“Why weren’t we told about the other abduction at the same time as my daughter’s?  The one in Philadelphia?”

“Other abduction, sir?” I’m not aware of another abduction.

“I was told by my wife that District Attorney Marsh’s son Stephen was abducted at the same time as Nancy, and he was returned at the same time and in the same circumstances.  I’m not sure what all that means, but my wife seemed to think someone should look into it.”

“I can check sir, but most likely our Philadelphia office handled it, or since it was the District Attorney, I have a feeling that he would have preferred the local police to take care of it since he would work more closely with them.”

“True,” the congressman conceded.  “Any chance you can at least check and see if there’s anything there that can help shed some light on what happened to Nancy?”

“Absolutely, sir,” Ellen Rosenberg told him.  “I’ll look into it right away.”

“Thank you.  Anything new on your end?”

“Nothing yet, sir.  But I promise you, we are still looking.”

“I’m sure,” the congressman replied.  “I’ll leave you to it.  Please keep me informed.”

“As always, sir,” Ellen replied.

Ellen hung up the phone.  Another abduction with a lot of similar characteristics?  How interesting.  She would have had one of her junior agents make the calls to get the information, but she already had her phone in her hand.  It took her five minutes to get in touch with someone who knew what was going on as to the second abduction.

“Agent Rosenberg?” an agent from the Philadelphia FBI office finally answered.

“Yes,” Ellen replied.

“I heard you want to know about Stephen Marsh’s abduction.”

“Yes.  What can you tell me?”

“Not much.  The Philadelphia police are handling that one.  Stephen’s father insisted.  He’s the Philadelphia D.A.”

“I guessed that might be the case,” Ellen told him.  “Any chance you can get me the contact information for who’s working that case?”

“Not a problem.  Let me get it and call you back.”

“Perfect,” Ellen agreed.

Twenty minutes later, Agent Rosenberg’s phone rang.  “Agent Rosenberg,” she answered.

“Agent Rosenberg?  This is Detective Nolan with the Philadelphia Police Department.  I was told you’re interested in one of our abduction cases.”

“Yes,” Ellen told him.  “I understand that the son of your D.A., Marsh, was abducted recently.”

“I can confirm that, but that’s all I can tell you.  Why?”

“Because we’ve been looking into our own abduction case here in New York.  A girl was abducted on the eighth of this month, kept for a few days, then was returned, left outside of a restaurant where she could easily be found.  She was unconscious when she was found, and according to the doctors, it looks like she was drugged to keep her unconscious for the entire duration.”

“Wait a minute!” Nolan said.  “Are you sure about that?”

“Absolutely.  Why?”

“Because everything you just said is our case exactly with the exception of just one thing.  Our abduction happened on the seventh, the day before.  Everything else sounds exactly the same.”

“An abduction, especially the way it was done, would take time,” Rosenberg realized.  “Plus, there’s a bit of a drive from Philly to New York.  That could explain why the abductions were done on different but succeeding days.”

“Without a doubt!” Nolan agreed.  “Can you tell me who was abducted up there?”

“That’s just it, I can’t.  There are major security issues involved.”

Nolan realized that whoever it was had to be someone important…kind of like Stephen Marsh.  “Agent Rosenberg,” he said.  “Our case file is impossibly thin right now because there simply isn’t much at all that we’ve been able to dig up.  Since there is a chance that these cases could be related, would you have any problem with me coming up there this afternoon so we can discuss it?  One of the things I’d really like to talk to you in person about is exactly how you managed to find the link between these two cases.”

“I have no problem with you coming up here,” Rosenberg told him.  “I’m just not sure how much I can tell you.  Again, because of the security.  Tell you what though, while you’re getting here, I’ll try to get some answers about that.”

“Good enough.  Thanks.  See you in…I guess a couple of hours.”

“I’m on the eighth floor of Twenty-Six Fed in the middle of Manhattan.  Just ask for me.  Agent Rosenberg.”

“I’ve been there,” Nolan told her.  “See you in a little while.”

Rosenberg hung up the phone.  Nolan had said his case was almost exactly like her case.  She had no choice but to wonder, were there more?  It was time to set the junior agents working on that, looking for similar abductions in the past.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---