Extracted - Chapter 18 – Can I Ask You A Question – Part 1 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 18 – Can I Ask You A Question – Part 1 of 2

 

Special Agent Rosenberg was the first one that the panel asked to speak with.  When she walked into the room she was faced with a table with three men sitting on the other side and a single seat for herself.  She sat and faced them, ready to answer any questions they might have.

“Agent Rosenberg,” Curmett said.  “Thank you for seeing us today.  I’m Daniel Curmett, the president’s National Security Advisor.  This is Doctor Holfstrom, professor of Theoretical Physics at MIT, and this is Doctor Blake, Chief Neurologist at John Hopkins University.”

Rosenberg was impressed, but she made no sign of it.

“We understand that you were leading the team looking into the abduction of Nancy Stiller.  Congressman Stiller’s daughter.”

“I’m still leading that team,” Rosenberg replied, “and we’re still working on it.”

“Good,” Curmett said.  “We’d like you to first tell us everything you can about that abduction.  Right from when you first heard about it.”

“Congressman Stiller’s chief aide called us at Twenty-Six Fed on the eighth of the month, shortly after his family had searched everywhere for their missing daughter.  My team was assigned immediately, and we rushed to his home.”  From there, Rosenberg spent the next forty-five minutes relating everything she could and answering all their questions.

The team of experts were particularly interested in what had been done about the group that had sent the ransom demand, the Planetary Eco Alliance.  Rosenberg was forced to tell them that so far, it looked like nobody in the group had sent any kind of ransom note at all.  Not only that, but the FBI believed that what had taken place with both children had to involve not only a lot of funding, but a huge amount of technical power and possibly machinery.  The Planetary Eco Alliance simply didn’t have any of that.

“Our current theory,” Rosenberg told them, “is that the ransom demand to have Henry Marsh pardoned and removed from prison may have been nothing but a smoke screen.  Unfortunately, we don’t know if it was a smoke screen to mask details of Stephen Marsh’s abduction or Nancy Stiller’s.”

  By the time they were done, Agent Rosenberg felt like she had been through one of the most intense questioning sessions of her life.  She was glad to be out of there.  Once free, she was tempted to go home, but her job at this resort get-together wasn’t done yet since the families were still there.

 

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Detective Nolan was next on their list.  As they had done with Agent Rosenberg, they took him through every little thing they could think of that had to do with the abduction of Stephen Marsh, including what he knew about the Planetary Eco Alliance who had sent the only ransom demand.  Nolan knew far less about the group than Rosenberg had been able to tell them.  Still, they questioned him enough that it took a long time and also took a lot out of him.

He breathed a big sigh of relief the moment he walked out of the room.

 

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Doctor Isabelle Montcliff was next on their list.  She had been working harder on this little trip than she had thought she would.  She was only happy that everything had seemed to go as well as it did.  So far.

As she entered the little conference room, she carried a file folder in her hands.  There was a table in the room with three men sitting on the far side of it.  She didn’t recognize any of them, but they each gave the impression of being important.  She sat in the single seat centered in front of them and put her file folder on the table in front of her.

“Doctor Montcliff,” the man in the center said.  “Thank you for taking the time to see us today.  I’m Daniel Curmett, the president’s National Security Advisor.”  He turned his head slightly to the left.  “This is Doctor Holfstrom, professor of Theoretical Physics at MIT”  He turned his head a bit the other direction.  “And this is Doctor Blake, Chief Neurologist at John Hopkins University.”

Important people indeed, Montcliff realized, as if having the president’s National Security Advisor in front of her wasn’t enough.  Each of these men were probably at the top of their fields.  “Nice to meet you,” she said to the three men.

“We were told,” Curmett continued, “that you had come up with a possible explanation for this situation, however, we were purposely not told what that explanation is so that we can each come to our own conclusions.  Since you were the psychiatrist working with one of the children, do you think it’s possible that you can answer our questions without divulging any of your explanations?”

“Hm,” Montcliff hummed.  “I guess you don’t want this then,” she said, putting her hand on the folder in front of her.”

“What is it?” Blake asked.

“Before coming here, I attempted to write up everything I had observed, everything I had concluded, and all the logic I went through to arrive at those conclusions.  I had a feeling that someone might want to see it.  Of course, since we’ve been here, I’ve observed a lot more.  This is just what I knew before this little trip.”

All three men were obviously a bit startled at that.  “Perhaps we’ll take it,” Holfstrom suggested.

“But we won’t open it to read any of it at all until we’ve finished drawing our own conclusions,” Curmett added.

Montcliff pushed the file across to him and noticed how quickly he seemed to grab it.  Something told her he would be looking at it sooner than he claimed.

“Doctor,” Curmett said.  “If you will, walk us through your involvement in this situation, and try to tell us everything you have observed.  And as I mentioned, please do your best to not relay any of your conclusions so we can safely draw our own.”

Montcliff nodded.  “I was first contacted by one of the staff members for Congressman Stiller.  I was told there was an urgent mental issue with his daughter Nancy, but I was not told what it was.  I was however, told that security concerning the issue was of paramount importance to the congressman and I had to give my assurances that I wouldn’t divulge anything to anyone without prior permission.  I can assure you that for this meeting only, Congressman Stiller has given his permission for me to tell as much as I can.”

“We have an entire briefcase full of warrants if we need them,” Curmett told her.

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Tell us about your first meeting with Nancy,” Blake suggested.

“From my first meeting with Nancy, she insisted right from the start that she wasn’t Nancy.  She said she was a boy named Stephen Marsh, and that his father was the District Attorney for Philadelphia.  He, Stephen, considered his entire new life to be one big hallucination, and that none of it could be real.  Now, after knowing what I do, I wish he was right.”

They talked for a very long time.  Each of the three men constantly asked questions, searching for more information.  Before they were done, Curmett said, “Doctor, yesterday we interviewed another psychiatrist.  His name is Christopher Faucet.  Have you heard of him?”

“Nobody has said anything about him,” Montcliff replied.  “But I’m guessing he was Stephen’s original psychiatric doctor.”

“That would be correct,” Blake confirmed before moving on.  “He had quite a different opinion as to a diagnosis for Stephen.”

“What’s that?” Montcliff asked.

“He seemed very sure that Stephen is suffering from multiple personality disorder.”

Montcliff’s eyes bulged.  “He what?  Is he an idiot?  How can he possibly think that?”

None of the men showed any sign of it, but all three of them immediately remembered Faucet being more interested in talking about ghost hunting.

Montcliff shook her head.  “Okay,” she said.  “I guess I can get that.  In some aspects, it could almost be a reasonable explanation.  But when you take everything as a whole, it doesn't come close to making sense.  I mean, how do you explain that Stephen in Philadelphia thinks he’s Nancy, and at the same time, Nancy in New York thinks she’s him, and that doesn't even take into account all the matching abduction issues.  He’s insane!”

“Doctor,” Blake cut her off  quickly.  “We just wanted your opinion of this other possible explanation.  That’s all.”

“My opinion?  He’s insane!  I’m glad the Marshes dropped him.  What was he thinking?”

Holfstrom almost said the word “ghosts,” but he managed to stop himself.

Curmett checked with the two other men to see if they had any more questions.  When they didn’t he thanked the doctor for her help.

 

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Congressman Stiller told all he knew, followed by his wife.  Emily was separate, and seemed to have a wealth of testimony to share as to how she knew that Stephen Marsh was indeed her sister.  Her examples were things that the three experts listened to closely.

The Philadelphia District Attorney, Henry March came next.  His testimony lasted fairly long, only because of his position and his association with the police who had been investigating his son’s disappearance from the start.  His wife Agatha came last.  Like all the others, she told all three men that after being here and having a chance to talk with Nancy Stiller, she had absolutely no doubt at all that the person inhabiting Stephen’s body was indeed Nancy, and that her son was somehow stuck inside of Nancy Stiller.  By that time, the things the experts were hearing came as no surprise to any of them.

“Thank you Mrs. Marsh,” they finally said to her.  “That just leaves your son and Mike Stiller’s daughter.  But I think we’ll get to them after lunch.”

Agatha wanted to scream, but she realized that it was getting late, and she was hungry.  Those two kids involved were probably hungry too.  Knowing her Stephen, no matter which one it was, he would be starving.  He always ate a lot.

 

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