The 3rd Victim

by Sydney Bauer

  And then it came to him – the gem she had unwittingly offered amongst her pompous pontifications. She told him when she had screamed in pain, and he knew exactly who would have heard her – and he realised that finding that person, and encouraging them to read into those screams something more than the goddamned obvious, could be exactly what Katz needed, to put her superior ass away for good.

  55

  Sienna was back where she started, in the emergency department of Massachusetts General's busy ER. And despite her predicament, and David and Sara's concern for her health, David saw the advantage in their being here, alone, in the examination room with his nursing sister Lisa – the two deputies stationed safely out of earshot beyond the big swing door.

  ‘Are you sure you're okay?’ asked Sara for the umpteenth time.

  ‘I'm fine.’ Sienna managed a smile. ‘This is a lousy way to take leave but to be honest, I think it is doing me a world of good to be out of that place. I feel – you know, free.’

  David went to respond but Lisa interrupted. ‘I hate to be the bearer of bad news but if we are going to do this, we have to do it fast.’ Lisa blew a stray strand of black hair away from her pale green eyes before checking the watch that was pinned to her uniform.

  David nodded – it had been his idea, but they hadn't yet had time to explain it all to their client.

  Sienna looked at him. ‘You plan on playing Jack Bauer and breaking me out of here?’

  Sienna's reference to David mimicking the lead character from the hit TV show 24 was said in jest, but David read the confusion in her eyes. He got to his feet and moved closer to the bed. He was not sure where to start. He and Sara had had a good twenty-four hours to mull over their theory – in fact they had talked of nothing else since David had arrived in New York – but they weren't the ones whose very make-up had been violated. Sara had told him of her hypothesis late on Thursday night after he had finally arrived at JFK, and he knew as soon as she told him that she had to be right, for her theory was the first one that really made sense – every last piece of evidence chinking together like the image of a mirror shattering in reverse.

  ‘Okay,’ he faced his client. ‘Like Lisa says, our time is limited so I'm afraid I'm going to have to give this to you in shorthand.’

  ‘All right,’ a perplexed Sienna nodded.

  ‘This isn't about insider trading,’ he said.

  ‘It's not?’ she asked him, but not in shock – more in acceptance.

  David shook his head. ‘We were too focused on Hunt's business, which is really just a front.’

  ‘For …?’

  ‘For the trade of another type of commodity – specific orders for specific clients.’

  Sienna pulled herself up against the pillows, trying not to wince at the pain. ‘Slow down, David, I need to take this in. You saw Judge Baker, and Sara,’ she turned to Sara who was perched on the end of her bed, ‘you went to New York.’

  Sara nodded. ‘David met with Ted Baker and I, well … in the interests of brevity let's just say I ran into Markus Dudek's family, or more specifically his wife and their three children.’

  ‘Dudek has kids?’ Sienna asked.

  ‘Three under three.’

  ‘But he must be …?’

  ‘Seventy-two,’ said Sara. ‘His wife is young but the kids aren't hers, just as Ted Baker's grandson is not Ted Baker's grandson after all.’

  Sienna looked at David so he continued. ‘Baker and I locked horns – he said Jim never approached him and even if he did he wouldn't have acted on it. But that doesn't surprise us – at least not any more given we don't think Jim had Baker's name in his diary because he wanted to report Daniel Hunt for insider trading.’

  ‘But then why was Baker in it?’

  ‘For the same reason Dudek was in it, because he was Hunt's client.’

  ‘Baker was Hunt's client? I'm sorry, I still don't understand. Maybe it's the painkillers but I …’ Suddenly her eyes shot up to meet his. ‘This is about their children.’

  David nodded. ‘Three to Dudek and one to Baker. The kids are special, smart, attractive, genetically blessed.’

  Sienna looked at Sara. ‘Dudek's wife told you this?’

  ‘In her own way but she really didn't have to. One look at her kids and you could tell they were special. They were bright, exceptionally so, and they were definitely related – from the same genetic pool. Maybe Dudek is their biological father and maybe not, but whatever the case these kids were ordered – like shiny new toys.’

  ‘And Baker?’ she said, turning to David.

  ‘He had a picture of a little boy I assumed was his grandson on his desk. But we made some calls. The kid isn't his grandson, he's his son. The details are scant but it appears the child's adoption was organised privately.’

  Sienna began to see it. ‘Davenport,’ she said, ‘the IVF expert.’

  David nodded. ‘Our guess is the client orders their child in advance and Davenport and Hunt find the parents to match the order – you know, appearance, abilities, talents, specialties.’

  ‘Like they do at sperm banks?’

  Sara nodded. ‘Except we believe, in Davenport and Hunt's case, the egg and sperm donors know nothing of their donation.’

  ‘God, that's sick,’ said Lisa, who was also hearing the details of the story for the first time.

  ‘Maybe so, but it fits,’ said David before turning back to Sienna. ‘Think about it. Davenport has a lot of upmarket patients, men and women. He convinces them they are infertile or cannot conceive without his help. Maybe he sells it to them – promising sex selection or the like. He gains access to their sperm and their eggs and he fertilises combinations that suit his and Hunt's clients – one female client's egg with another male client's sperm – not necessarily the partners but different combinations to fit the orders on their docket.’

  He held his breath as she took it in, waiting for the cold, hard truth to hit her.

  ‘Oh god,’ she said then. ‘Eliza. The paternity – it wasn't a mistake but pre-designed.’

  David nodded. ‘We think the mistake was made later, when he transferred the embryo back into your body. Maybe they gave you the one that was meant to go to somebody else.’

  ‘My child was destined for another mother?’ Sienna went pale, so Sara moved up the bed to take her hand.

  ‘Eventually, but not for the period of gestation. We think Davenport must be using surrogates. It keeps the deal clean, enables him to deliver the babies whole. Keelie Dudek did not give birth to her three children. Her three had the same parents, three that were probably even fertilised at the same time. We think Davenport fertilises the eggs and freezes sets until the client asks for a sibling. So Dudek's kids are triplets born a year apart.’

  ‘This is crazy,’ said an obviously disgusted Lisa. ‘These guys should be shot.’

  ‘Lisa's right. They're playing God,’ said Sienna.

  ‘And most likely making a lot of money in the process,’ said David. ‘Our problem is, how do we prove this. Hunt is clever, careful. Any money that changed hands would have been disguised as corporate transactions.’

  Sienna sighed before looking at David and shaking her head. ‘Why didn't Jim tell me?’

  ‘He was probably trying to protect you,’ said Sara. ‘Perhaps he knew the child you were carrying might not turn out to be his.’

  Sienna's cheeks began to redden. ‘You think my genes were specifically ordered?’

  Sara nodded. ‘Think about it, Sienna. Your family line is genetic gold – your grandfather, your mother, your father's legal acumen. You're smart, attractive, healthy.’

  ‘And you think they paired me with a suitable genetic complement?’

  ‘We think so,’ replied David. ‘This theory explains everything, Sienna. Davenport's role, Eliza's paternity, the adoption of four young children to two of Hunt's sixty plus year-old clients, and Jim's mention of the numeral 3 next to NYC in his diary.’

  ‘Dudek's thre
e children.’

  ‘Yes. Jim went to New York to check out Dudek and DC to check out Baker. He was building his evidence against Davenport and Hunt.’

  Sienna nodded. ‘But somehow they found out that Jim was on to them.’ She paused to consider it, the harsh hospital halogens casting shadows across her face. ‘So they had Jim killed, but … the accident report, it still gives us nothing, unless …?’

  She looked at David. He knew what she was thinking. They had told her Joe Mannix was going to Baltimore to interview the truck driver who ran into her husband on the night this tragedy began. David had spoken to Joe, who had told him about Vincent De Lorenzo and the difficulty in finding his brother Marco, and while David knew Joe was on to it, there was nothing new to report as yet, so he checked his watch before responding to Sienna, aware they were running out of time. ‘Joe Mannix is on to something, nothing concrete as yet, and it may get us nowhere but for now, at least on that front, we are going to have to wait.’

  Sienna nodded. ‘This still doesn't explain why they killed Eliza,’ she said. ‘If my daughter was genetic gold, why the hell didn't they just abduct her and give her to the parents who placed the order?’ She swallowed, perhaps shocked at the words that were escaping her. ‘If you're right, they killed a … a high-quality product.’

  David looked at Sara, wondering how the hell he was going to tell her. And so Sara stepped up to the plate.

  ‘We think Eliza was expendable.’

  ‘Expendable?’ Sienna's voice began to rise.

  ‘She was collateral damage. We think they already had the embryo to fill the order and that, most likely, that child had already been delivered.’

  ‘You think I have another child … out there … in another mother's home?’

  Sara sighed. ‘It's a possibility we have to consider, Sienna. We think their murdering Eliza was … well, a sort of two birds with the one stone strategy. They murdered your child and framed you for it – and in doing so also destroyed the one piece of evidence that links them to the morally corrupt, illegal business they have been running.’

  ‘Her paternal DNA leads right back to the culprits,’ said Sienna, seeing it then. ‘If my daughter's biological father is on their books, one of their clients …?’

  ‘Then perhaps we could prove that the paternal anomaly was not a mistake after all,’ said Sara.

  Sienna swallowed. ‘We have to stop them. If I have another child out there I have to …’ She pushed up on the bed as if she physically needed to get out, but her ribs must have shifted, causing her to cry out in pain.

  Lisa went to her. ‘You have to trust my brother,’ she said as she lowered Sienna back down onto the bed before turning to look at David. ‘I have Lucas Cole on standby. You just tell me what you want me to do and I'll get it done.’

  David nodded in gratitude before turning to Sienna once again. ‘Dr Lucas Cole is a friend of my sister's. He specialises in genetic research. We want to give him a sample of your blood and cross-reference it with the DNA Joe's guys extracted from Eliza. Cole will then eliminate the alleles on your DNA leaving him with a genetic imprint of the alleles which came from Eliza's biological father. Then we can start trying to find the man Davenport linked with you to create your daughter.’

  ‘Can't Superintendent Mannix do that?’ she asked.

  ‘He can't order these tests without detection. He's meant to be working for Katz.’

  She nodded, her lips pressing together in anger at the mention of the DA's name. ‘I'm not sure how this helps us,’ she said then. ‘Surely the father's DNA means nothing if we don't have a subject to compare it to.’

  ‘You're right,’ David agreed – it was the one piece of the puzzle they could not slot into place. ‘But Joe can run the DNA through every databank in the country.’

  ‘The father isn't going to be a criminal, David.’

  ‘I agree,’ said David, frustrated at the problem. ‘But at the very least we have it there if we need it. We're not going to let this go, Sienna. Right now Joe has no legal reason to go after Davenport's records but he's trying to go at this through a back door – by tracking down Davenport's old PA.’

  ‘Esther Wallace,’ said Sienna. ‘Superintendent Mannix asked me about her. He said she'd gone on indefinite leave.’ She blinked. ‘My god, do you think she knew what was going on? And that was why she …?’ The reality of it hit her. ‘Do you think Mrs Wallace is all right?’

  ‘Joe's on to it, Sienna,’ he said, before the deputy knocked and they all jumped as he pushed his way into the room.

  ‘The transport is here,’ he said. ‘We need to take Mrs Walker back to County.’

  ‘Not before I draw some blood. The doctor has ordered a routine analysis,’ said Lisa before turning to David and Sara. ‘You attorneys need to give Mrs Walker some privacy. This is a hospital not a courtroom.’

  David and Sara got to their feet, giving their best impression of being disgruntled. ‘We'll see you tomorrow,’ said Sara to their client.

  Sienna nodded. ‘I … thank you,’ she said, swallowing back the tears.

  Lisa shut the door behind them and David moved out into the corridor. He took his wife's hand and squeezed it tight as they walked slowly toward the exit. And then his cell began to ring and he pulled it from his pocket. The caller on the other end was the last person on earth he expected it to be.

  56

  Boston's Millennium Park in West Roxbury is a one hundred acre block of green on Charles Park Road. Covering more ground than Boston Common, the park is the result of the city's keen interest in recycling – in this case taking one city dump, filling it with soil left over from the city's Big Dig project, returfing it with local grasses, and ‘decorating’ it with six miles of trails, four hundred trees, several soccer and baseball fields and picnic areas that take in some of the finest views of the city.

  On this sunny Easter Sunday morning, Joe Mannix was standing, sleeves rolled up and cap peaked down, looking out over a baseball field that contained two of his four boys – Joe Jr – the ‘natural’ – and his younger brother Stephen, who made up for in enthusiasm for what he lacked in talent.

  ‘Atta boy, Stevie,’ called Joe to his twelve-year-old son. Stephen had just managed a nice hit into left field and, to Joe's shock and delight, was tracking around the bases with determination. ‘Bring him home, Joe,’ he called to his eldest son, now standing feet wide and knees bent over the dusty home team plate.

  ‘You training them all up to play for the Red Sox?’ asked a familiar voice from behind him.

  ‘Have to – the police retirement fund isn't gonna cover our villa in Barbados,’ replied Joe, without bothering to turn around. ‘You know someone in the team, Simba?’ he asked his FBI friend, suspecting that this meeting was more than just a coincidence given Leo King and his attorney wife Janet were the parents of teenage twin girls.

  ‘Nah, Elena and Micaela are on the lower field – they play weekend soccer,’ replied King. ‘Seriously, Joe, they look like ballerinas but they kick ass like Patriots,’ he said, referring to New England's football heroes. ‘They say it's all in the ankles, but I suspect it has more to do with –’

  Thwack! Joe Jr hit a homer, the crack of ball against bat so loud that it cut King's comment short.

  ‘He's born to it, Joe,’ said King. ‘They say it's in the genes.’

  Joe blinked at the word, understanding King was more right than he thought.

  ‘Marie must be hiding something from me then,’ he replied, finally shifting his eyes from the game as a triumphant Joe Jr slid across the home plate. ‘Katz still diverting Ned Jacobs from his real job in Quantico?’ he asked, figuring he may as well open the door given he suspected King was probably keen to get an update on the Walker case.

  Simba smiled. ‘The Kat is like a dog after a ball – if that makes any sense. He probably began scripting Ned's testimony before he even walked in his door.’

  Joe didn't doubt it. Roger Katz was known for
his enthusiastic witness coaching techniques.

  Joe wondered then how much he should divulge to his friend Simba. King was a good man – smart, fair – but he was also the FBI's top man in Boston, and that meant he had an obligation to assist the local law enforcement authorities as much as was possible. He considered the risk. He could certainly use the FBI's assistance when it came to identifying Eliza Walker's biological father's DNA, and Simba could also help when it came to tracking down both Esther Wallace and Vincent De Lorenzo's missing brother. But mentioning such names at this point was more than a little precarious, especially since Joe and David were only just starting to fit the pieces together. And so Joe decided to hold off, at least for the time being. His immediate priority was to work out why Leo King was showing an interest in the Walker case in the first place given the matter was one for the Commonwealth, not the FBI.

  ‘I heard the medical report confirmed there was no evidence of post-partum depression,’ said King.

  Joe nodded.

  ‘So Katz is after a motive,’ he said.

  ‘Like a spider after a fly,’ said Joe, perhaps giving too much of his current sentiments away.

  Leo shifted so that he could meet his detective friend's eye. ‘None of this is sitting right with you, is it, Joe?’ he asked, cutting to the chase.

  Joe chose his words carefully. ‘You're a father, Leo – and a good one. If Sienna Walker is as Ned Jacobs describes her – smart, even-tempered, dedicated to her kid – well …’ Joe frowned. ‘Let's just say I am having a little trouble getting my head around why she did what she supposedly did.’

  Supposedly, Joe had said supposedly, and he saw by the expression on his FBI friend's face that he had picked up on his choice of words. But given what Joe was learning about this case, he was somewhat over lying to protect the assholes responsible. And if he expected Leo to query his doubts on the matter, it was his turn to be surprised.