Mistaken Identity

By: Amanda Higgins

higginsclan@centuryinter.net

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Disclaimer: I did not create these characters. I'm just using them in

this story. No money is being paid to me for writing this; I just did

it for fun. Thanks for reading!

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Jesse Travis was stuck in morning traffic, absentmindedly drumming his

hands on the steering wheel. It seemed as though the local radio

station he had been listening to had been playing commercials for about

fifteen minutes. "Enough of that," Jesse said to himself. He reached

over and changed the station. No one seemed to be playing any music

that morning. Jesse settled for Dr. Frasier Crane's talk radio show

broadcast from Seattle, WA. Why not pass the time by listening to other

people's problems? Looking at the long line of cars ahead of him, Jesse

knew he would be late getting to Community General Hospital.

From the radio, Frasier announced, "Go ahead, Caller. I'm

listening."

A familiar voice came on and said, "Doctor, life just isn't going my

way anymore. My boyfriend's in Europe, my friends seem disconnected to

me, and my family doesn't seem to care about what's going on in my

life."

Jesse was shocked. He recognized that voice! It was Amanda! He

turned up the radio.

Frasier asked, "Why do you feel that your friends are disconnected from

you?"

Amanda answered angrily, "I don't know why! Everyone is against me all

of a sudden. I have nothing to live for."

"That's no way to talk. I think we all sometimes feel as if no one

cares about us, but they really do. Sometimes other people just get too

concerned with their own problems, and don't seem to care about yours."

"No, that's not it. They really don't care anymore. After all we've

been through together and all I've done for them, it's like I don't even

exist."

Frasier began to talk, but Amanda interrupted him. "I can't handle

this anymore. Today is my friends' and family's last chance to show me

that they care, or I'm out of here." She hung up.

After the briefest of pauses, Frasier commented, "You heard it here

first. If any friends or family members of that caller were listening,

you'd better show her that you care. All right, go ahead, Caller. I'm

listening."

Jesse turned off the radio, stunned. How long had Amanda felt this

way? Well, he was going to hover around her and shower her with

compliments if that was what it took to show that someone cared.

Finally, traffic began moving. Jesse was impatient to get to the

hospital. He had to let Mark know what was going on. And, then they had

to tell Steve.

Once Jesse arrived at Community General, he hurried into the building.

He saw Mark at the front desk leafing through some charts. "Mark, we

have to talk!" Jesse said urgently. He grabbed Mark's arm and pulled

him into the doctors' lounge.

"Well, good morning to you too, Jess," Mark greeted with a smile.

His

smile soon turned to a worried frown as Jesse told him what he had heard

on the radio that morning. "Let's go talk to her."

On the way to the Pathology Lab, both men talked about what they could

do to help. "How about inviting her to Barbecue Bob's with us

tonight?" Jesse suggested.

"That would work. We'll have to really let her know how much we care

about her," Mark agreed.

In the Pathology Lab, Amanda was grumbling to herself as she was

beginning an autopsy. There was a knock on the door. "Come in," she

said with annoyance.

Mark and Jesse entered the lab. Jesse said cheerfully, "Good morning,

Amanda. Doing an autopsy?"

Amanda gave him a withering look. "What does it look like?" She

sighed and added, "I'm sorry, guys. I have a lot on my mind, and I have

a million things to do."

"Don't apologize. Tiredness and busyness together aren't a fun

combination. Is there anything we can do to help?" Mark asked

sympathetically.

"No, but thanks anyway," Amanda replied. She went back to work.

Jesse

walked over to her with a big, understanding smile on his face. Amanda

looked up slowly. "What's the matter with you?"

"Did you know that you're special?" He asked.

"Yes, but thank you for the reminder," she replied dryly.

"Mark and I want you to know that we care about you," continued

Jesse.

Amanda put down her scalpel. "Okay, what do you guys want?"

"Your company at Barbecue Bob's tonight," Jesse said.

"If you can make it," Mark interjected.

"I can't. As I said before, I have a million things to do. Next time

maybe," Amanda answered. "I don't mean to be rude, but could you guys

leave so I can do this autopsy? I'd like to finish before Christmas."

She practically shooed them out of the lab.

"We'll talk to you later," Mark said before she closed the door in

their faces.

"That went well," Jesse commented.

"Let's keep trying to think of some way to cheer Amanda up," Mark

replied.

And that's what they did. Any time Mark or Jesse wasn't busy, he would

go see Amanda. But instead of cheering her up, she got more and more

irritated. When her shift was over, she headed toward the elevator.

Mark and Jesse were talking by the front desk, and hurried over when

they saw her.

"I don't know what is wrong with you two today, but you're acting very

strangely," she said, getting into the elevator. The door closed,

leaving Mark and Jesse feeling dejected.

"So much for that," Mark stated.

"I hope she knows how we really feel," Jesse said. "Do you

think we

should call her later?"

"If anyone calls, I think it should be Steve. If she hears one of our

voices on the phone, she'll probably hang up," answered Mark.

At Barbecue Bob's that evening, Jesse and Mark told Steve about what

had happened with Amanda. Steve was concerned and agreed to call her.

A few moments later, he came back to the table.

"What happened?" Mark asked.

"Well, as soon as I said hello, she said, 'Steve, I don't know what

game you all are playing, but leave me alone.' Then she hung up."

"What should we do?" Jesse questioned aloud.

"I wonder if she'll call Frasier again tomorrow," Mark said.

Jesse reported, "The show is on from nine o'clock 'til noon. She

called around nine-thirty today."

"I don't have to work until one," Mark said. "What about you

two?"

Jesse replied, "I start at three."

Steve said, "I'm going in at eleven, so I can listen until then."

Mark told Jesse, "Why don't you come over to the house tomorrow at

nine, and we can see if she calls?"

Jesse said, "Sure, that'll be fine." He started to say something

else,

but Mark beat him to it.

"I'll make breakfast."

The next morning, Steve, Mark, and Jesse were sitting at the table

eating pancakes while listening to the radio. After telling several

corny jokes, Frasier started taking calls. It was almost ten forty-five

and still no Amanda. Steve had to leave for work, but planned on

listening to the show on the car radio.

Right after Steve left, Frasier said, "Go ahead, Caller. I'm

listening."

Amanda's voice came on and said, "That's it. They had their chance and

blew it."

Frasier replied, "Excuse me?"

Sounding annoyed, Amanda refreshed his memory. "I called yesterday.

No one cares about me, and yesterday was their last day to show me that

they did care."

"And they didn't show it?"

"Of course not. I hope they're sorry for how they've treated me. Nice

talking to you, Doctor." A loud gunshot rang out over the airwaves.

Frasier exclaimed, "Roz, call the police!" The station went dead-air

for several seconds.

"Amanda!" Jesse and Mark yelled in unison. Mark said, "Come

on!"

Mark and Jesse made record time getting to Amanda's house. Mark pulled

out Amanda's spare key that he kept in his locker at Community General.

He unlocked the door. Both he and Jesse ran through the house searching

every room for Amanda. She wasn't there and there were no signs of

blood anywhere. CJ wasn't there either.

Jesse caught a glimpse of Amanda's calendar on the refrigerator. He

called Mark over. "Read what's listed for today."

Mark read the four scrawled words aloud: " 'I'm out of here.' "

"She could have called from Community General. Maybe she's already

being treated," Jesse suggested hopefully.

"Let's go," Mark said. They rushed to the hospital. She wasn't

being

treated or in the Pathology Lab. Mark asked the nurse at the front desk

if she knew where Amanda was.

The nurse replied, "She took three personal days off work starting

today. She didn't say why."

Jesse and Mark were puzzled. Jesse mused, "Why would Amanda take three

days off if she was going to kill herself?"

Mark answered firmly, "We don't know if Amanda's dead. She may have

just fired the gun. Or maybe someone else fired it. Remember when

Shawna, one of the authors of 'Munchies, Snacks, & Spreads', pretended

to be dead just so she could get the profits from the book using that

fake company as a cover? Amanda's just not the type to commit suicide;

although, why she would pretend to be dead is beyond me. We have to

hope for the best."

Jesse said sadly, "I know, but sometimes people are driven to do things

they wouldn't usually do."

"Not Amanda. Not this."

Jesse went on as if he hadn't heard Mark. "We've all been busy

lately. Steve and I are always at Barbecue Bob's. You've had a lot of

conferences to go to." Jesse could have gone on, but it was only making

things worse. He changed his tune. "I don't think Amanda killed

herself either." Even though there were a few doubts in Jesse's mind,

he wanted to believe what he said.

Mark responded, "For no, let's assume that Amanda has gone away for a

while. We should try to find out where she could be. Why don't you

call CJ's nanny? Her number is in the top drawer of Amanda's desk. I'm

going to call Steve and see what he thinks."

Jesse called the nanny's house and found out that Amanda had hired her

to keep CJ for three days, but she didn't say where Amanda had gone.

Jesse thought of calling Amanda's family or her boyfriend Ron, but he

didn't want to worry them until he knew what had happened for sure.

Steve talked to the Seattle PD and found out that a young, black female

had committed suicide in a Seattle hotel at the time of the call to

Frasier's show. The woman had no identification on her. Steve verified

the location of the morgue. He and Mark decided to take the late

afternoon flight to Seattle to view the body. Jesse insisted on going

along as well.

In the meantime, Steve checked the telephone company's records from

Amanda's house and the Pathology Lab. The phone records were dead

ends. No calls to Frasier's show had been made.

The trip to Seattle was pretty grim. Steve, Mark, and Jesse juse kept

going over how Amanda had seemed the day before. Jesse had learned his

lesson about suggesting that Amanda may really have killed herself, but

Steve hadn't learned yet.

"I never pictured Amanda to be the type to commit suicide," Steve

commented sadly.

"She didn't, Steve," Mark said. Steve glanced over at him, surprised

by the sharpness of his father's voice.

"Dad, I'm just trying to be realistic. We heard her on the radio

sounding depressed, and then we heard a gunshot. What does that say to

you?"

"It says to me that we don't know enough about the situation to start

assuming things. I know that Amanda wouldn't do anything like this,"

Mark answered determinedly.

"She certainly sounded like she would when we heard her on the

radio,"

Steve said. "Look, I hope she didn't kill herself either, Dad. I'm

just going by what I heard."

"I'm trying to think positively," Mark said before turning towards

the

window.

"Just a worst case scenario," Steve finished. Jesse looked at his

watch and counted the minutes until their estimated time of arrival.

They all hoped that Amanda was all right, but even Mark was thinking

about the 'worst case scenario.' It was a long, silent trip from then

until they landed in Seattle.

While Jesse was arranging for their rental car and a map, Mark spoke

up. "Steve, I'm sorry for snapping at you on the plane. I'm just

concerned about Amanda."

"It's okay, Dad. I shouldn't jump to conclusions. You were right; we

don't know what really happened."

"Well, I shouldn't try to fool myself. If Amanda did commit suicide, I

need to face up to it."

"No, you were right about thinking positively," Steve said. He

smiled. "What are we doing? Now we're arguing while apologizing."

Mark smiled too. "We hardly ever argue. When we see Amanda again,

we'll have to tell her what she did to us."

Jesse rejoined them, and the three set out for the morgue, praying that

the body wouldn't be Amanda's.

When they pulled up in front of the building, they took their time

going up the steps and down the hall. Steve introduced them to the man

at the front desk. The man led them down another hall to a room. The

medical examiner pulled the slab out from the vault and uncovered the

woman's face.

Steve, Mark, and Jesse breathed huge sighs of relief. "It's not

her,"

Mark said quietly. The men headed out to the car for the drive back to

the airport.

Jesse brought up a good point. "Wait a minute," he said. "Then

where

is Amanda?" Everyone's relief faded, but the trip going home wasn't as

silent or grim as the trip coming to Seattle had been.

A couple days had passed and Mark, Jesse, and Steve were at the beach

house having dinner. They didn't hear the footsteps coming up the back

stairs or the back door open. "Why wasn't I invited for dinner?" A

familiar voice teased.

The three jumped up from their chairs. "Amanda, where have you

been?"

Mark exclaimed as he swept her into a hug. Jesse and Steve took their

turns next.

"One of my friends in San Jose was having a big emergency. She had to

go out of town immediately because her father had a massive heart

attack, and she couldn't take the kids with her. None of her other

friends could take care of them, so she called me. I needed some time

off anyway, so I agreed to help her out. I thought it would be best to

leave CJ here because I knew things would be hectic in San Jose. By

staying here, CJ would be able to keep to his normal routine."

"Why didn't you tell us you were leaving?" Jesse asked. "Did

you

write 'I'm out of here' on your calendar because you were just leaving

town?"

"Yes, that's why I wrote 'I'm out of here.' I didn't call at first

because I was in a huge rush. I had a lot to do before I left. When I

got time I called you, Mark, and left a message on your answering

machine."

"Oops," Mark said sheepishly. "I didn't think to check."

Amanda replied with a grin, "Didn't you learn anything from that time

we went to the conference in Switzerland?"

Mark chuckled and said, "I guess not." Then, he, Steve, and Jesse

told

Amanda about the mistaken identity situation.

"What a weird coincidence! So that's why you all were bothering me

that day!" Amanda exclaimed. "I wondered what that was all about.

You

actually thought I would call Dr. Frasier Crane? No way!" Amanda's

attitude got a bit more serious. "If I had a problem, I would talk to

you three about it. We've all been pretty busy and haven't gotten to

spend much time together recently. Let's try to get together more

often."

"I agree," Mark said, and Steve and Jesse nodded.

"Can I take you up on your offer for Barbecue Bob's for tomorrow

night?" Amanda asked.

The next night at Barbecue Bob's, Mark went through his occasional

habit of accidentally choosing one of the spicy ribs, and there was the

dash for ice water. The four had a lot of fun and enjoyed being

together.