Chapter 2

She called me one day, excitement pouring through the phone. “Ohmigod, Mark! Bobbie just came over! He has the best, the very best, news! He found your ex, and just emailed both her attorney and yours with her address, car license plate number, and her new employer! I’m so, so, so proud of my brother, and so happy for you! If this works out, you may see your kids again!”

I did not know what to say. Ashley noticed. “Are you there? I would have expected you to be jumping up and down with joy!”

“Yeah, I’m here. I do not know what to say. I’ve ... I’ve waited so long for this, and now, it’s hard to believe that this may be getting resolved. I just don’t want to get my hopes up, only to get them crushed again.”

Ashley had a muted conversation with someone on her end of the phone, and returned. “Mark? Bobbie wants to talk to you.”

“Put him on. I really have to thank him in person, but this is a good start.”

A new voice came on. “Mark, this is Bobbie. The information you gave me last week really paid off. When you call the board of Nursing and ask where a licensee has had her Board scores sent, well, that really shortens the list of calls you have to make. It turns out, they even record changes of name, which is really handy when you call another state, oh, let’s pick one out of the air at random, like, er, Kentucky, just as an example, and ask about a licensee newly practicing in their state. Once you know what town they are in, you can find their employer pretty easily. It turns out that there are only so many hospitals in any county. I was really surprised at how helpful your attorney, and your ex’s attorney, thought that information might be!”