1
00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:06,880
Speaker 1: Novel.

2
00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,680
Speaker 2: Hey listener, I just wanted you to know what to

3
00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,880
Speaker 2: expect from this series before you dive in. At its core,

4
00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:22,200
Speaker 2: this is a story about solidarity and sisterhood, but it's

5
00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,840
Speaker 2: also a story about domestic violence. There's going to be

6
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,120
Speaker 2: mentions of physical and emotional abuse, as well as murder

7
00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:33,840
Speaker 2: and suicide. But at the center of all of it,

8
00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:38,040
Speaker 2: there is a woman who I celebrate in life and death.

9
00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,760
Speaker 2: This is her story, my story, and the story of

10
00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:47,120
Speaker 2: lots of other inspiring and brave women who often choose

11
00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:50,559
Speaker 2: to laugh instead of cry. So you can expect some

12
00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,640
Speaker 2: humor and joy too. If you want to taste her

13
00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,000
Speaker 2: before we get into the deep stuff, then this first

14
00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:03,120
Speaker 2: episode is mostly just fun. Check it out and then decide.

15
00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:06,319
Speaker 2: If you do listen and are impacted by any of

16
00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:09,920
Speaker 2: our themes, you can reach out to No More, a

17
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,640
Speaker 2: domestic violence charity we've partnered with. They have lots of

18
00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:18,160
Speaker 2: great resources to help you or your loved ones. You

19
00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,319
Speaker 2: can find them at no More dot org. That's no

20
00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:29,120
Speaker 2: Moore dot org. Oh, and just one final thing. I

21
00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,120
Speaker 2: happen to swear like a sailor, and so do some

22
00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,880
Speaker 2: of the other people in this show. That's just who

23
00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:37,920
Speaker 2: we are, so no problem if it's not for you.

24
00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,759
Speaker 1: Did you find his old house? No, okay, so it's

25
00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:52,000
Speaker 1: around here, but I don't remember where I know the vicinity.

26
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,480
Speaker 1: When I met him, he was already in this house

27
00:01:54,560 --> 00:02:04,240
Speaker 1: that like never really like like you had an unfinished

28
00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:08,560
Speaker 1: backyard and boxes that never got unpacked, and it was

29
00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:09,480
Speaker 1: kind of weird.

30
00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,679
Speaker 3: Just because he never go around to it. You know.

31
00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,400
Speaker 1: I just think that he never could settle his life.

32
00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,320
Speaker 1: I think he was always running from the truth and

33
00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,000
Speaker 1: it was all about the image. So the house from

34
00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:26,799
Speaker 1: the outside look good.

35
00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:30,240
Speaker 2: You know. I'm Carol Fisher. I don't usually spend my

36
00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,240
Speaker 2: time lurking around my ex boyfriend's houses. I actually live

37
00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,000
Speaker 2: a fairly normal life. I work an end of life

38
00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:41,200
Speaker 2: healthcare I'm also a mother, a grandmother, and a wife.

39
00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:46,280
Speaker 2: What I'm not is a podcaster. So everything about this

40
00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,560
Speaker 2: is so new to me. But I have my producer, Anna,

41
00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,880
Speaker 2: who's here to help me with that. And it turns

42
00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:56,040
Speaker 2: out the first thing I need help with is time keeping.

43
00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,760
Speaker 4: Oh I'm like, I don't ever remember.

44
00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:03,160
Speaker 2: You're not even light.

45
00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:04,760
Speaker 1: Coming into my messy feet up car.

46
00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:06,560
Speaker 3: You should see my car.

47
00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,520
Speaker 2: The reason Anna's here is because I'm ready to talk

48
00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:13,120
Speaker 2: about my boyfriend, Bob, the one with all the boxes.

49
00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:19,320
Speaker 2: Everyone has exes that they think about after the breakup,

50
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,880
Speaker 2: but this one it's unique. I've been thinking about Bob

51
00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:28,360
Speaker 2: for nearly thirty years, and it really did start with

52
00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:34,440
Speaker 2: that unfinished house of his in Pocoldi Ranch, Las Vegas, Nevada.

53
00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,960
Speaker 2: I remember finding it so odd because the house was

54
00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:42,240
Speaker 2: so nice downstairs, with the fancy kitchen and a comfortable

55
00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:47,120
Speaker 2: living room, but upstairs, most of the rooms were unfinished.

56
00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,600
Speaker 2: They were stacked high with moving boxes from when he

57
00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:54,840
Speaker 2: had arrived five years earlier, and sometimes, well I'd go

58
00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,760
Speaker 2: into one of the rooms to get something, or just

59
00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,880
Speaker 2: to be nosey, or both, and that's when I saw it.

60
00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,880
Speaker 2: Hiding amongst the boxes, a trunk with the luggage label

61
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:14,240
Speaker 2: on it that read Gail Kats, Beer and Balm. I

62
00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,400
Speaker 2: never asked Bob about that trunk. In fact, I didn't

63
00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,840
Speaker 2: ask Bob a lot of things. But now here we are,

64
00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:24,719
Speaker 2: twenty eight plus years later, and I am finally ready

65
00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:25,920
Speaker 2: to open that box.

66
00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,159
Speaker 5: Everybody thought he was the greatest thing since slice bread.

67
00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:38,599
Speaker 4: He spoke several languages, he did medical missionary work. He's

68
00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:40,679
Speaker 4: a doctor, He's a doctor. That's all she talked about.

69
00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,159
Speaker 6: He was a pilot, he had his own claim.

70
00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,040
Speaker 4: He was Jewish, he was a shift How much better

71
00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:50,719
Speaker 4: could it get? She said, Oh, you obviously don't know

72
00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:56,599
Speaker 4: about the skeletons in his closet. And I go, what

73
00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:01,159
Speaker 4: skeletons in the closet? Run?

74
00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,400
Speaker 6: Run, girlfriend, Run, Now ship's getting real.

75
00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:07,599
Speaker 7: My mother said to me, have you spoken to Gail?

76
00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:09,280
Speaker 7: Do you know where Gail is?

77
00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:10,400
Speaker 6: I'll be honest with you.

78
00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:12,000
Speaker 7: If I saw him right now, I'd spit on him.

79
00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,640
Speaker 7: We very quickly began to realize what a sick fuck

80
00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:16,640
Speaker 7: Bob was.

81
00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:26,800
Speaker 2: From the teams at Novel and iHeartRadio, you're listening to

82
00:05:26,839 --> 00:06:07,640
Speaker 2: The Girlfriends episode one, The Good Jewish Doctor. Our story

83
00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,400
Speaker 2: starts in nineteen eighty nine in my small hometown of

84
00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:19,040
Speaker 2: Las Vegas, Nevada, which it's New Year's Eve and the

85
00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,960
Speaker 2: entire city was celebrating the start of a new decade.

86
00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:26,279
Speaker 2: Gina Perry's throwing one of her famous parties over in

87
00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:31,800
Speaker 2: Spanish Oaks, which is this new Mediterranean inspired townhouse complex

88
00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:35,120
Speaker 2: just off Sahara Avenue in the middle of Las Vegas.

89
00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:44,600
Speaker 2: Think terra cotta tiles, swimming pools and heavy iron doors.

90
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,760
Speaker 2: Now Gina's real Las Vegas old stock. Her grandfather came

91
00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,960
Speaker 2: over from Italy in the nineteen twenties, when the town's

92
00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:57,040
Speaker 2: population was just less than five thousand. He wound up

93
00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,720
Speaker 2: in Vegas, founding our first luxury hotel, the Hotel Apache.

94
00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:07,040
Speaker 2: Then there's Gina's mother. She was an original Las Vegas showgirl.

95
00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,440
Speaker 2: It's the kind of heritage that really teaches you how

96
00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,880
Speaker 2: to always buy one champagne bottle too many, and how

97
00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:18,200
Speaker 2: to turn the music up just loud enough. Here's Gina.

98
00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:20,640
Speaker 5: There was a lot of people in the house in

99
00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,960
Speaker 5: the living room. It was very convivial. People were laughing

100
00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:25,400
Speaker 5: and drinking.

101
00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,679
Speaker 2: But like any party in Las Vegas, it wasn't all social.

102
00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:32,600
Speaker 2: Gina's brother worked in real estate and had invited some

103
00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,760
Speaker 2: of his commercial investors over to schmooze, many of which

104
00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,119
Speaker 2: were physicians from around the city.

105
00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,200
Speaker 5: My brother's friend invited Bob Berenbaum.

106
00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:48,240
Speaker 2: Bob's been brought here by his childhood friend, Scott Behrenoff,

107
00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:51,720
Speaker 2: a urologist who really made it big in Las Vegas.

108
00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:56,200
Speaker 2: He'd recently managed to convince Bob to move over from

109
00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:58,520
Speaker 2: New York to take up a new residency as a

110
00:07:58,520 --> 00:07:59,480
Speaker 2: plastic surgeon.

111
00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:03,560
Speaker 5: I had no idea that Bob was going to be there.

112
00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,680
Speaker 5: I didn't know who Bob was. I remember that he

113
00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,040
Speaker 5: was dressed really nice. I think he had on like

114
00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:14,640
Speaker 5: a tux or something, and everybody was dressed sharp. But

115
00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,600
Speaker 5: it was not necessarily a tuxtite situation.

116
00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,400
Speaker 2: Bob was tall and he had cropped, dark, curly hair,

117
00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:25,200
Speaker 2: but the thing everyone seemed to notice about Bob was

118
00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:27,400
Speaker 2: his piercing dark eyes.

119
00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,880
Speaker 5: You know, he was just the town's newest, most eligible bachelor.

120
00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,800
Speaker 2: Gina starts introducing him to her friends, including her neighbor,

121
00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:41,120
Speaker 2: a local chiropractor named Stephanie Youngblood.

122
00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:47,440
Speaker 5: Her look was, you know, cool, and she that's kind

123
00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:49,439
Speaker 5: of how I think of her, as like a European

124
00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:54,439
Speaker 5: model type. But she came in looking good and Bob

125
00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:55,360
Speaker 5: was already there.

126
00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:58,560
Speaker 2: They seemed to really hit it off, and throughout the

127
00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:01,400
Speaker 2: evening Gina would pass by them sitting on her big

128
00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:02,160
Speaker 2: white couch.

129
00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:14,120
Speaker 4: No no, no, no.

130
00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:22,000
Speaker 5: After the party, I went to see Stephanie for chiropractic

131
00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,720
Speaker 5: and she said, you remember that guy Bob you introduced

132
00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,960
Speaker 5: me to, And I said, the one that came to

133
00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,400
Speaker 5: the party was Scott and she said, yeah, he's unbelievable.

134
00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:37,120
Speaker 5: He's too good to be true. He speaks five languages,

135
00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:40,680
Speaker 5: he's a Gorman. He's got a plane. He asked me

136
00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:43,040
Speaker 5: if I wanted to get high, and I didn't understand

137
00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,120
Speaker 5: what he meant, but he meant go flying. I had

138
00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:50,440
Speaker 5: never saw Stephanie excited like this, but she was like,

139
00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:53,319
Speaker 5: when you fall in love with whoever you happen to

140
00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:54,920
Speaker 5: fall in love with them, you go through that little

141
00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,200
Speaker 5: giddy phase where it's just like, oh my god, this

142
00:09:57,280 --> 00:09:58,480
Speaker 5: person's so fantastic.

143
00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:02,800
Speaker 2: It wasn't just Stephanie that noticed him. We all did.

144
00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:03,600
Speaker 3: Well.

145
00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:06,600
Speaker 2: Anybody listening to the description of this guy would think

146
00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:10,040
Speaker 2: he was incredible. For us single Jewish ladies in Las

147
00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:14,280
Speaker 2: Vegas in the nineties, he was the holy Grail. And

148
00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,280
Speaker 2: it wasn't just us. Our mothers also wanted us to

149
00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:21,280
Speaker 2: find that rare gem a good Jewish doctor.

150
00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:24,360
Speaker 4: Which is like, not the easiest thing in the world,

151
00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,559
Speaker 4: because we all know all the same We know.

152
00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:31,760
Speaker 2: People, this is my friend Mindy Shapiro. We were all

153
00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,880
Speaker 2: on this hunt for love together, and so everyone sort

154
00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:38,320
Speaker 2: of played matchmaker. I mean, moms would introduce us to

155
00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,199
Speaker 2: their sons as we broke the fast. At jam Kapor,

156
00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,320
Speaker 2: couples would host blind dates. They would disguise them as

157
00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:50,600
Speaker 2: dinner parties, but still zilch until there was Bob.

158
00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,240
Speaker 4: The word was out and another Jewish doctor had arrived.

159
00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:00,960
Speaker 6: I don't know. I know how you met Bob.

160
00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:05,359
Speaker 4: Oh. I met him in the garage of Sunrise Okay.

161
00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:08,640
Speaker 1: Sure, are you like in the garage stock on him?

162
00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,480
Speaker 4: No, I was walking into the walking into it. It

163
00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:13,960
Speaker 4: was totally innocent.

164
00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:19,600
Speaker 2: The first time Mindy set eyes on Bob was at

165
00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:24,680
Speaker 2: work in the doctor's parking area at Sunrise Hospital. Though Mindy,

166
00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,800
Speaker 2: like everyone knew who Bob was, it was his janky

167
00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:31,680
Speaker 2: car that caught her attention. First, busted up but really

168
00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,960
Speaker 2: objectively cool, mustard yellow dots in two forty z with

169
00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:40,520
Speaker 2: a personalized number plate that read Nip and Tuck.

170
00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:47,120
Speaker 4: In Las Vegas. Your car is a very important symbol

171
00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:52,520
Speaker 4: of who you are. I drove a Honda Civic Sedan

172
00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:57,240
Speaker 4: with close to one hundred thousand miles on it, and

173
00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:02,679
Speaker 4: my first day at work, I proceeded into the garage

174
00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:08,760
Speaker 4: by a Rolls Royce. So that there was someone who

175
00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:15,280
Speaker 4: also had a unfashionable car was something I could relate

176
00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:22,199
Speaker 4: to this is doctor reserve parking. So I introduced myself

177
00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:26,920
Speaker 4: and he introduces himself, and he's wearing a suit, which

178
00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,960
Speaker 4: in Las Vegas is a very odd thing. That he

179
00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:35,319
Speaker 4: was carrying his jacket and you could see an Armani

180
00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:40,920
Speaker 4: label out of the jacket pocket. And here's this tall,

181
00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,480
Speaker 4: good looking guy with a beat up car and a

182
00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:49,400
Speaker 4: label and his shirttail hanging out. And I thought, yeah,

183
00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:55,920
Speaker 4: he's more East Coast than this should be a welcome change.

184
00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:58,280
Speaker 4: So that is how I met Bob.

185
00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,760
Speaker 2: The only problem is Stephanie latched onto Bob first, and

186
00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:06,880
Speaker 2: to be fair, their relationship looked perfect. They went on

187
00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:10,720
Speaker 2: ski trips and Stephanie spent time with his family. They'd

188
00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,560
Speaker 2: go flying all over the country in Bob's plane. In fact,

189
00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:16,800
Speaker 2: it was not uncommon for them to go to San

190
00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:21,040
Speaker 2: Francisco just for the evening for dinner. Eventually, the news

191
00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:25,640
Speaker 2: got around that they had gotten engaged, and just like that,

192
00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:49,200
Speaker 2: another Jewish doctor was off the market for now. Over

193
00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:53,000
Speaker 2: the next few years, Bob and Mindy worked together regularly

194
00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:55,720
Speaker 2: on the different floors at Sunrise Hospital.

195
00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,160
Speaker 4: I was a doctor who worked in the intensive carry unit.

196
00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:05,080
Speaker 4: Often people who were in the ICU have wounds that

197
00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:08,880
Speaker 4: need care, and so I might run into him there.

198
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,000
Speaker 2: More often than not, their past would cross in the

199
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,920
Speaker 2: doctor's lounge, which, true to Gray's anatomy, is where all

200
00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,560
Speaker 2: the juiciest gossip is shared. After a few years of

201
00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:22,920
Speaker 2: Stephanie and Bob dating, word got out in that lounge

202
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:27,280
Speaker 2: that their engagement was off. Mindy had just gone through

203
00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:28,880
Speaker 2: a breakup herself.

204
00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:32,480
Speaker 4: And he said, well, we should go out to dinner sometime,

205
00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:38,480
Speaker 4: and I said, yeah, that would be great. I just thought,

206
00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,520
Speaker 4: we know each other now, four or five years. Time

207
00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,200
Speaker 4: is gone, bye, we could go to dinner as friends.

208
00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:47,800
Speaker 4: And I said, you picked the place.

209
00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:53,480
Speaker 2: So Bob picks this little known restaurant called the Garlic

210
00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:57,800
Speaker 2: Cafe down on Decatur Boulevard and Twayne Avenue, and as

211
00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:01,880
Speaker 2: the name suggests, garlic creeps into every dish, from the

212
00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,240
Speaker 2: drinks to the dessert. There's even garlic in the ice cream.

213
00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,480
Speaker 2: They talked about work, friends back east, and what it

214
00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:12,440
Speaker 2: was like to be new to Las Vegas, and by

215
00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:15,320
Speaker 2: the end of the evening and three courses of garlic down,

216
00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:22,920
Speaker 2: they call it a night, nobody offers up a kiss.

217
00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:30,160
Speaker 4: Next day, I'm still reeking of garlic, and it's like

218
00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:33,040
Speaker 4: one of those smells. It's in your pores, you just

219
00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:37,560
Speaker 4: can't get rid of it. And I'm in the doctor's

220
00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:42,400
Speaker 4: lounge and someone comes up to me and says, oh,

221
00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:45,880
Speaker 4: I hear you went to dinner at the Garlic Cafe,

222
00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:54,440
Speaker 4: and start sniffing myself, thinking that I stink my garlic. Still,

223
00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:56,760
Speaker 4: he goes, No, Bob was here, and he told me

224
00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:00,960
Speaker 4: you two had gone out and and that you're his

225
00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:06,360
Speaker 4: new girlfriend. Oh, at which point my eyes did one

226
00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:13,760
Speaker 4: of those boing things, Because as chatty as I may be,

227
00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:20,600
Speaker 4: I'm pretty private about my life, especially separating my professional

228
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,640
Speaker 4: and personal life, and so that for me was like

229
00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,520
Speaker 4: a real red flag.

230
00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,800
Speaker 2: But Mindy chalked it up to a little over enthusiasm

231
00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,280
Speaker 2: after a successful date. Doctors, are you know, on the

232
00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,960
Speaker 2: whole a socially awkward crowd. It wouldn't be fair to

233
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:46,000
Speaker 2: pass Bob up completely because of one indiscretion. So when

234
00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:49,720
Speaker 2: you called up to arrange date number two, she said, yes.

235
00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:54,880
Speaker 4: He called and said, let's do something different. Have you

236
00:16:54,960 --> 00:17:00,200
Speaker 4: been out to the Red Rocks. There's some amazing petroglyphs there.

237
00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:04,560
Speaker 4: You should really see them. I'll make us a picnic

238
00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:09,359
Speaker 4: and we'll go out to the Red Rocks.

239
00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:17,640
Speaker 2: On the day of their picnic, Bob pulled up outside

240
00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:21,040
Speaker 2: Mindy's house in his grand Cherokee jeep, this time with

241
00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:24,960
Speaker 2: the license plate Nip and Truck. It was red with

242
00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:29,080
Speaker 2: gold wheels and decked out without back gear, lights, bars,

243
00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:33,720
Speaker 2: and cranks. Mindy clambered into the high seat and they

244
00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:37,919
Speaker 2: set off west off road and into the desert, the

245
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:45,280
Speaker 2: bright lights of the strip disappearing behind them.

246
00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:55,400
Speaker 4: It was totally barren, beautiful iron or Red Rocks, glorious

247
00:17:55,600 --> 00:18:04,360
Speaker 4: in the way that nature seasons geology. You know, he

248
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:09,240
Speaker 4: made this very lovely picnic with no garlic. But it

249
00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:20,159
Speaker 4: started to get dark, and my New Yorker instinct is, like,

250
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,040
Speaker 4: you don't like to be in isolated places at dark.

251
00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,800
Speaker 2: Bob walked over to the jeep and switched on his beams,

252
00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:31,080
Speaker 2: spotlighting Mindy as she picked up an emergency call from

253
00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:35,600
Speaker 2: the hospital. One of her patients was in critical need

254
00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,440
Speaker 2: of some care, and nobody could agree on what course

255
00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:42,400
Speaker 2: of action to take, and Mindy was getting really pissed.

256
00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:48,480
Speaker 4: Off, and he says, you know, you shouldn't get that angry.

257
00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:54,960
Speaker 4: Your anger doesn't help in those situations. And I said,

258
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,960
Speaker 4: I know, I can't help it, but that's just the

259
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:02,399
Speaker 4: way I'm wired. And he goes, I understand, but you

260
00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:08,320
Speaker 4: can change that. And I thought that is a very

261
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:11,400
Speaker 4: interesting comment.

262
00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:18,880
Speaker 2: Mindy sat with Bob's comment the whole journey home out

263
00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:20,879
Speaker 2: of the dark desert and back to the lights of

264
00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:28,200
Speaker 2: our Neon city. Was he speaking from experience? It felt

265
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:29,880
Speaker 2: like such an odd thing to say.

266
00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:32,480
Speaker 1: Oh, no, no.

267
00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:43,479
Speaker 4: Again. The following day in the doctor's lounge, like twenty

268
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,879
Speaker 4: more people, Oh, I hear you went out hiking with Bob.

269
00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:49,520
Speaker 4: I hear you went hiking with Bob. I hear you went.

270
00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:54,200
Speaker 4: It's like to the point where I ran into him

271
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:59,440
Speaker 4: at the doctor's lounge and I said, I enjoyed our evening.

272
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:05,959
Speaker 4: It was lovely. I really do not like people to

273
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:12,680
Speaker 4: know my whereabouts outside of the hospital. Please don't relay

274
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:16,480
Speaker 4: that again. And he looked at me like a wounded

275
00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:21,280
Speaker 4: puppy like I had just you know, slapped him on

276
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,479
Speaker 4: the nose. She didn't say he was sorry. He said, okay, okay, okay, yeah,

277
00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:30,719
Speaker 4: I don't want to be identified as Bob's girlfriend, to

278
00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:34,040
Speaker 4: the point where one of the docs who knew him

279
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,919
Speaker 4: in the doctor's lounge said, oh, has he given you

280
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:37,600
Speaker 4: the ring yet?

281
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:42,080
Speaker 2: What?

282
00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:48,800
Speaker 4: I've been on two dates with the guy. And then

283
00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:51,240
Speaker 4: I said, you know, I don't know that this is

284
00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:55,520
Speaker 4: gonna work, but I have this girlfriend that I think

285
00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,439
Speaker 4: you really might like to need. Her name is Carol.

286
00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,280
Speaker 4: So I give Carol's number out and then I called

287
00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,639
Speaker 4: Carol and I said, I've given your name to this doctor.

288
00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,840
Speaker 4: I think you might get along. He's perfect on paper.

289
00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:14,119
Speaker 2: See what you think, Carol. That's me and this phone

290
00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,240
Speaker 2: call from Mindy is how I started dating Bob.

291
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:44,840
Speaker 3: Oh, all right, so you need to finish off telling

292
00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,080
Speaker 3: me about the first date though, because we skated past

293
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:47,679
Speaker 3: that one.

294
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:48,960
Speaker 6: Okay, so first date.

295
00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:52,680
Speaker 2: So that's my producer Anna again. And while this show

296
00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:56,920
Speaker 2: is about investigating Bob, I've really also had to investigate myself.

297
00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,520
Speaker 2: And Anna was She's here to keep me on track

298
00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,879
Speaker 2: with that. The truth is, I have a tendency to

299
00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,239
Speaker 2: want to forget about this period of my life, and

300
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:07,840
Speaker 2: I've really done a pretty good job of ignoring it

301
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,080
Speaker 2: until now. But I guess this is a moment where

302
00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:13,800
Speaker 2: you shit or get off the pot. And I've been

303
00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:17,480
Speaker 2: sitting on this podcast pot for at least twenty minutes now.

304
00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:20,960
Speaker 2: So here we go, just still.

305
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:21,520
Speaker 6: At the beginning.

306
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,520
Speaker 3: If you were nervous what you were wearing, as much

307
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,160
Speaker 3: as you can remember what you ate.

308
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 6: So you want me to touch on all that, Yeah.

309
00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:30,680
Speaker 2: If you could just paint a picture as much as possible.

310
00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 6: So I remember being very excited to go on a

311
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,119
Speaker 6: date with Bob and to meet him. It was an

312
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:40,960
Speaker 6: interesting situation because I already knew what.

313
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:41,520
Speaker 2: He looked like.

314
00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:46,119
Speaker 6: I had met him before, we had been at similar events,

315
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:49,840
Speaker 6: but you know, I had never spent time with him,

316
00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:53,000
Speaker 6: you know, in that way of dating someone. And the

317
00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:57,320
Speaker 6: first phone call was a lot of fun where he

318
00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 6: certainly let me know things about him.

319
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:01,439
Speaker 2: You know.

320
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,439
Speaker 6: I think I made a comment, oh, you're bilingual, and

321
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:07,520
Speaker 6: his comment was, you know, I speak like five or

322
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:11,520
Speaker 6: seven languages, and you know, so he always had like

323
00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:15,680
Speaker 6: a comeback to my remarks in a very fun, playful way.

324
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,520
Speaker 6: And he showed up and he had that really nice

325
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,640
Speaker 6: red Cherokee jeep that I had always wanted and read

326
00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:26,919
Speaker 6: was always my favorite color. Back then. He opened my

327
00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 6: door and put me in the car and got me

328
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,680
Speaker 6: out of the car. He certainly was intentive. We went

329
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,000
Speaker 6: out for Indian food and it was kind of a

330
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,640
Speaker 6: little joint that was owned by a cardiologist. So we're

331
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,440
Speaker 6: at the restaurant and we're in a booth and we're

332
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,480
Speaker 6: sitting in the back of the restaurant. I want to

333
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:47,760
Speaker 6: know more about him. He knows a little bit more

334
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,480
Speaker 6: about me than I know about him, and so I

335
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:55,479
Speaker 6: start to suggest that, you know, hey, we're of age

336
00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 6: here and we all have baggage, and you know, he

337
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 6: knows I have a daughter, and so a mask him,

338
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,560
Speaker 6: you know, tell me about yourself. And he's been a

339
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,440
Speaker 6: little vague, and you know, it's very comfortable talking about

340
00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:11,000
Speaker 6: his practice as a plastic surgeon, but not real comfortable

341
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 6: talking about his past. So I'm asking him these questions

342
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:18,040
Speaker 6: and I, in a joking way, say to him, well,

343
00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:24,600
Speaker 6: what did you do murder your wife? And his response was, well,

344
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 6: what do you know? He's kind of squirming and you

345
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:43,800
Speaker 6: could just sense that he was uncomfortable, and he said, Okay,

346
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:44,840
Speaker 6: I'm going to tell you this.

347
00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:48,679
Speaker 2: Story, but you can't tell anybody. This isn't a story

348
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:56,160
Speaker 2: that people in Las Vegas know. And he proceeded to.

349
00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:00,520
Speaker 6: Tell me that he had gone through a really intense

350
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 6: residency as part of his training in New York. At

351
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:10,159
Speaker 6: the time, he had been married, and his wife wasn't handling.

352
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:10,760
Speaker 4: The long hour as well.

353
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:16,080
Speaker 6: She was really uncomfortable with being alone a lot, and

354
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:21,480
Speaker 6: she was very needy. She had dabbled in drugs, and

355
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:25,119
Speaker 6: she had developed a drug problem. She was using more

356
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:29,400
Speaker 6: and more drugs. She was partying a lot with friends

357
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:33,360
Speaker 6: and sometimes wouldn't come home, or she'd be intoxicated when

358
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:40,440
Speaker 6: he got home, and that things were really tense and uptight.

359
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:46,919
Speaker 6: And so the conclusion to that story is that she

360
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:53,800
Speaker 6: just was missing. She was nowhere to be found, and

361
00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:58,840
Speaker 6: he made assumptions that she either killed herself because she

362
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 6: had a history of the depression coupled with the drug addiction,

363
00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 6: or she met someone and went off partying and just

364
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:18,720
Speaker 6: never came home. But he then explained to me that

365
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:23,680
Speaker 6: he had been accused of murdering her. It had been

366
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:27,440
Speaker 6: suggested that he was part of foul play, and he

367
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,240
Speaker 6: came to Las Vegas to get a new start and

368
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,160
Speaker 6: to not bring that with him, which is why he'd

369
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,439
Speaker 6: never wanted me to tell this story or talk to

370
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:37,280
Speaker 6: people about it.

371
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:42,720
Speaker 2: This was a new chapter, with the new beginning, and

372
00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:49,520
Speaker 2: he was leaving that ending behind, you.

373
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:53,080
Speaker 6: Know, it sounded like a plausible story. It certainly was

374
00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:54,919
Speaker 6: a story that I wanted to believe.

375
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:02,360
Speaker 2: Okay, I know it, thinking, why didn't I run out

376
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 2: of that restaurant? I get it, And I don't know

377
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,160
Speaker 2: if I have the words to explain why I stayed.

378
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 2: But I felt bad for Bob, and to be perfectly honest,

379
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,679
Speaker 2: I had a crush on him. Here I was thirty

380
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,760
Speaker 2: six years of age, I had burned through two marriages,

381
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 2: I was raising a daughter on my own, and there

382
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 2: was no way I was about to pass up on

383
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 2: a Jewish doctor with a plane who spoke five languages.

384
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:32,640
Speaker 2: So I took his word for it and parked the conversation.

385
00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,159
Speaker 2: We headed back to his house. We went upstairs. I

386
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 2: glanced into the spare room to see piles of boxes

387
00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,600
Speaker 2: and that trunk with the name on it. Gail Kat's

388
00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:52,359
Speaker 2: beer and Baum Bob's missing wife. Oh, coming up on

389
00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 2: the girlfriends.

390
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 4: We created our own little game of clue.

391
00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:59,000
Speaker 7: You know, one of our favorite sayings is scalon, I

392
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,439
Speaker 7: wear the opposite side of the same coin.

393
00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:04,440
Speaker 4: We were very popular in school.

394
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,160
Speaker 7: I was into boys. Gail was into love.

395
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:08,919
Speaker 4: She had met this doctor.

396
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:10,720
Speaker 6: She was very excited about it.

397
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,360
Speaker 4: Doctor sergeant pilot. She was enamored.

398
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:17,400
Speaker 7: She's weeping and I'm like, what's up, and she said,

399
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 7: Bob tried to kill the cat.

400
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 4: Owaine called me and asked me if I had talked

401
00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 4: to Gail now, why she went for a jog and

402
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,480
Speaker 4: she never came home. I remember her screaming at the

403
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:33,080
Speaker 4: top of her lungs. We need to find her. I said,

404
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,919
Speaker 4: Oh my god. I knew right away he killed her.

405
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,320
Speaker 7: I would call him and I would say, I know

406
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 7: you killed my sister. Everyone knows she killed my sister.

407
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,560
Speaker 7: And you're not going to get away with it. I

408
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 7: will always hound you and haunt you.

409
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 2: The Girlfriends is produced by Novel for Ourheart Radio. For

410
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 2: more from Novel, visit novel dot Audio. The series is

411
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 2: hosted by me Carol Fisher and produced by Anna Sinfield.

412
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 2: Our assistant producer is Julian Manu Gera Patten, and our

413
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:32,600
Speaker 2: researcher is Madeline Parr. The editor is Veronica Simmons. Max

414
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:37,680
Speaker 2: O'Brien is our executive producer. Our fact checker is Valeria Rocca.

415
00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:43,720
Speaker 2: Production management from Sharie Houston and Charlotte Woolf. Sound design,

416
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:49,840
Speaker 2: mixing and scoring by Daniel Kempsen and Nicholas Alexander. Music

417
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:55,080
Speaker 2: supervision by Anna Sinfield. Original music composed by Luisa Gerstein.

418
00:29:55,800 --> 00:30:00,520
Speaker 2: Story development by Isaac Fisher. Willard Foxton is creative director

419
00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:06,200
Speaker 2: of Development. Special thanks to Shawn Glynn, David Waters, might

420
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 2: Lee Raw, Katrina Norvel, David Wasserman, and Beth Anne Mcaluso.

421
00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:19,600
Speaker 2: We did reach out to Bob and his legal team

422
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 2: to ask if he'd like to comment on the podcast,

423
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 2: but we never heard back. Novel