Jennifer Morey - Cold Case Manhunt

“Thanks for seeing me.” Cal sat on a chair, taking in the stacks of files on the desk and cluttered windowsills. Outside, the snow had picked up, flakes hitting and melting against the glass.

“My receptionist told me it was important...related to a missing person who may have been a patient of mine?”

“Yes. Payton Everett.”

The doctor’s interest perked up. “She wasn’t a patient of mine. She was referred to me but never came to see me. Seems I can’t help you after all.”

“I think maybe you can. What can you tell me about Dr. Benjamin?”

“What do you want to know?”

Rather than say he needed to know everything, Cal started with “Did he ask you to meet him and Payton for lunch?”

The doctor hesitated. “Yes, but I refused.”

“You refused or didn’t show up?”

The doctor leaned forward, elbows on the desk. “Mr. Chelsey, Dr. Benjamin asked me to meet with a potential patient. I found that ethically insulting, not to mention a risk to my practice.”

“Why did you think it was ethically insulting?”

“Because I don’t have personal relationships with my patients. If he intended to refer her to me, then why do it over lunch?”

“Why did Dr. Benjamin ask you to meet her?”

“Maybe he liked her. I don’t know.” Dr. Faulkner leaned back.

“What was the nature of your association with Benjamin?”

“I worked for him when I opened my practice, but I went out on my own because I didn’t agree with his philosophy...like meeting patients for lunch.”

Cal believed that. “Do you know if he had any kind of personal relationship with Payton beyond meeting her for lunch?”

“No. Like I said, she never came to see me and I went out on my own shortly after that incident.” He tapped his fingers on the end of the armrest.

“If you worked for him, why the need for a referral?”

“His company is large and includes several clinics and practices. He had a referral program set up between them all.”

He seemed agitated. “Why did Benjamin ask you to meet him and Payton for lunch? Why not just refer her to you like a normal doctor?”

Faulkner grunted derisively, his fingers stilling. “You just answered your own question, Mr. Chelsey. There’s nothing normal about Dr. Benjamin. He’s not a man who lives by any rules other than the ones he makes up himself.”

A lot of criminals embarked on their wayward careers with that kind of mentality. Could Dr. Benjamin be behind Payton’s disappearance? If he liked her as Dr. Faulkner suggested, that would be highly unlikely. Unless Payton posed a threat to him, but what threat could she pose? Telling his wife didn’t seem enough for a motive. Maybe Faulkner just disliked the doctor.

“Can you tell me of any other incidents he caused?” Cal asked. “Do you think Dr Benjamin was having an affair with Payton?”

“It’s possible. That wasn’t the first time he took a patient to lunch, if that’s what you mean. He had a way of treating his practice like it was a personal extension of himself. He grew a very successful business on charisma alone. He owns several clinics across the country now, including two home health care services companies. Many doctors and nurses work for those clinics. He’s a multimillionaire. I give him credit for being smart, but I found his personal interactions with his patients too risky. I wanted no further association with him.”

Dr. Benjamin did have a way of presenting himself as friendly. He had been kind and patient and cooperative up until the end, when he’d refused to answer any more questions. Jaslene had noticed that, too. But was that all a show?

“Did you remain in contact with Benjamin?” Cal asked.

Faulkner’s fingers started tapping again. “No. He wasn’t very happy with my decision to leave his company.”

“Did he know why?”

“I didn’t publicly condemn him for his ways. He wouldn’t have liked losing the business. He lost most of my patients when I left.”

“So, you were gone before Payton disappeared.”

“Yes I was. I left shortly after he invited me to that lunch. I heard about Payton in the news.”

“Do you think Dr. Benjamin could have been responsible for her disappearance?”

“I knew him but I didn’t know him that well. I wouldn’t make an assessment either way. I’m not even sure how involved he was with her.”

He asked the chiropractor a few more questions about the day Payton disappeared, but he had already branched off on his own by then and had no contact with Benjamin or Payton for quite some time before that. He thanked him and left.

Time to go pick up Jaslene from her lunch with her friends. He wondered if she had cooled down yet, and part of him wanted to make it up to her.

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