Chapter 12 - Kathleen's Warning
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Ten minutes later, three police cruisers arrived at my apartment.
Detective Vance bagged the dropped cell phone and the pry bar as evidence.
"The phone belongs to a local private investigator named Gary Vance," Vance told me as officers dusted my door frame for fingerprints. "He was hired by your mother two days ago."
"She sent someone to assault me again in my own home," I choked out, wrapping a blanket around my trembling shoulders.
"We have an active arrest warrant out for Amanda Wellman as of twenty minutes ago," Vance assured me firmly. "She won't get away with this, Monica."
The next morning, while an officer stood guard outside my apartment door, I received an unexpected visitor.
Kathleen Hilliard walked into my living room carrying a cardboard box full of old paper folders.
"Kathleen?" I asked, surprised to see her. "What is all this?"
"After I spoke to the police about Austin's bigamy," Kathleen explained, setting the box down on my table, "I went through the old storage boxes Austin left in my garage three years ago."
She pulled out a stack of medical supply invoices.
"Look at these, Monica," Kathleen said, her eyes filled with distress. "Austin opened three different medical equipment distribution companies using my name and my Social Security number while we were still living together."
I scanned the invoices.
The companies were billing San Diego Health Network for hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of orthopedic hardware—titanium plates, screws, and joint replacements.
"These hardware orders were approved by Dr. Richard Hayes," I noted, my eyes widening.
"That's not all," Kathleen added, pulling out a faded photograph from ten years ago.
The photo showed a young Austin standing on a fishing boat beside Dr. Richard Hayes and my mother, Amanda Wellman.
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They were all holding glasses of champagne, laughing like old family friends.
"Austin didn't just meet Dr. Hayes through the hospital," Kathleen whispered. "Dr. Hayes has been in your mother's life for over twenty years."
