Alain liked the small town at the foot of the remarkable mountain. It made him feel warm and safe. He was of two minds, murderer and poet. He came to America for the opportunities to make a quick buck and a better life.
After all Caterina captured the golden ring why not Natalie and him?
It was Natalie’s idea to visit Caterina ten years ago and get the lay of the land. Perhaps stay in America and reap some of its rewards. Of course Caterina’s husband would have nothing to do with them. But Caterina did not forget her old friends and the three of them became quite an item around town. Because they were always short of money Caterina introduced Alain to Tony McCane and the money started to flow in. He was such a stand out in the looks department that he was in demand and soon the picture of his face and perfect body were everywhere. Though very handsome, McCane made him up in many disguises, a mustache, a beard or both. Natalie took some of the money they saved to put a down payment on a house in South Philly and they used it as their base of operations The house was only in Natalie’s name, no reference to Alain at all and that is how he liked it, anonymous. She felt loved and wanted and an owner of a house of her own.
Then the unforeseen happened Natalie got pregnant and she wanted to go back to Russia to have her baby. She was adamant. He could not dissuade her. So they returned to Russia and raised their son. Alain worked in the Gulag, that barren wasteland for wages, and dreamed of going back to America where his good looks were appreciated and he made big money for little effort.
“What are we doing here” he screamed at her daily, “we should be in America where the streets are paved in gold. We have a whole house not a small apartment that we share with two other families. The boy is sickly. He needs the medical care that he can get in America.” When she would not listen to him he left them both to their fate and hopped a freighter for America.
His plan was to get in touch with McCane and pose, photograph, explore every angle he could to make a killing. Little did he know that he would become a killer.
He embraced it all, the country club where he played tennis with the fashionable ladies about town and the camera club he started in McCane’s basement.
Alain enticed the ladies of fashion to pose with him and the fact that they were mostly ignored by their husbands and bored out of their mind made them fair game to turn from society ladies to sluts. Liquor flowed and the club membership grew, until everyone wore masks to hide their identity.
Most had a go at the girls with their bodies or their cameras and the woman were having a blast. When the festivities ended they were driven to their homes in a limo with little or no noise. Mostly their husbands had retired for the evening or were closeted in their dens, and were not disturbed.
When The White Owl entered the picture and started whispering in the ear of the masked president of the mostly innocent camera club, things started to change. They started punishing the women and demanding obscene acts. When the woman refused indignantly, they were shown the glossies of their infidelities and an envelope with their husband’s address boldly written in black ink, they quickly agreed and poured another drink or lit up a joint. The one exception was Sally Summerton who got out of the quagmire before she lost her virtue and left on a round the world cruise with her future husband, the ship’s captain married them on board, and a big celebration followed. If she missed her girlfriends at her wedding, no one noticed.
To make matters worse for the women and better for the club members new women, mostly exotic types were initiated and this brought more men into the club. Dues hit the Thousand Dollar mark but the members started demanding more bang for their buck. So the club became a cult and every member had to swear allegiance to The White Owl. Blackmail and Death soon followed. The membership was becoming rich beyond their wildest dreams and no one cared if the owl landed on one shoulder or the other or no shoulder, in fact they would prefer it. Never the less every one carried a large pearl wrapped in a leather draw string pouch just in case they were chosen. One member chose a counterfeit pearl and still carries the scars. All life lessons, as per the dead girls and the dead member who disobeyed and nearly brought the whole organization down {It still may happen} It all added to the obedience of the members and control by the white owl.
Alain finished his coffee and pie and tipped the waitress well and left the restaurant to the ringing of the door chimes, alerting Murphy who was semi out of it from lack of sleep.
“Here we go” thought Murphy, “my God he is walking, should I? No question about it,” as he quietly opened the car door. “Boy at these altitudes it is cold as a witch’s tit.” Creeping along in the shadows of the deserted streets, his quarry never looked back. Perfectly at home in his neighborhood from years of walking freely.
“It certainly is amazing when your house of cards starts falling what a mess it does create. Holy smoke what is he doing?”
Murphy ran forward as Alain fell to he ground, “Hey man you okay? Can I help you?”
“Get me home.”
“Where is it? Where do you live?” Murphy looked around at the landscape trying to see a house. On a hillside overlooking the road where Alain was lying was a house with a dim light emitting from the first floor window, “that has to be it.” Murphy thought. He tried to lift Alain up and he was dead weight. “I’ll never get him up that hill and into his house.” Murphy sat back down on his heels and debated what to do. “This actually might be a gift from God so why not take advantage of it and get the car and drive back to Philly. Good thing I didn’t unpack.” Looking closely at him he figured he wasn’t going anywhere, Murphy left him and went for his car at a fast clip.
Rushing back to Alain he hauled him onto the back seat and bunched a car robe under his head. He stepped back and surveyed his handy work.“ Man,” he thought, “this guy is really sick, I only hope I get him to the city before he croaks,” as if stating the obvious Alain let out a low painful moan.
This spurred Murphy on and Jake would be very upset if Murphy lost his man now, after all he went through to find him.
“Come on buddy stay with me, I am taking you to the city to Jefferson Memorial they are going to fix you up fine. All you have to do for now is breathe.”
Murphy opened the car window and a rush of cold air entered the car to help the guy breathe easier. “What could have happened to him? It must have been that tainted blood that Jake found on Caterina’s shoe.
Anemic or worse leukemia. What do I know? I’m no doctor I’ll deliver him to Jefferson and call Jake and go home myself. Hug Gerda and praise God I made it back alive, and left my feelings for Crystal in the gutter where they belonged,”
Crystal walked away from The White Owl and the inner circle of the cult with doubt in every step. The atmosphere was charged with panic and unrest. The bird was flapping her wings and hooting with exasperation as the central committee could not agree as to where to go and what to do.
The Keeper of the Keys wanted to stay at the new facility in Wayne, because the membership had already been apprised as to the new location. The committee wanted to go back to the gothic church on the mainline saying it was no hotter than the restaurant that was still under surveillance. They had a point, it was more comfortable but the owl wanted to move forward not back. There was no denying the power of Minerva. So it was settled the restaurant in Wayne was the new location for the White Owl Cult and Jake be damned.
CHAPTER 23
Annie could tell Jake was very proud of his large, well thought out and comfortable house. The furnishings fit the rooms perfectly and any adornment seemed to blend in rather than take away from the relaxed atmosphere of the rooms. She was anxious to get her hands on the redecoration but Jake never invited her to do so. He just assumed that it would stay the way he designed the area. Of course there would be a baby’s room and Annie intended to make it her project. She looked over at him totally unaware of his thoughts, smug in his do
main, the world according to Jake.
Jake’s eyes were closed but his mind was in high gear thinking about the package he finally opened. It was a moot point now that he was married and would become a father in the near future, and she engaged. But what a tease, Kendra had sent him a robe monogramed with the initials of the hotel they last stayed in together. “What a woman.” He thought to himself as a small smile played across his face. “Forget her, she is in the past. A past where we both thought there would be a future to explore. Man proposes and God disposes. Had she found out that he was now married? Would it make any difference to her? Does it make any difference to me? Of course it does, I like the idea of this marriage, and I am not about to screw.”
Jake’s mental musings came to an abrupt halt as the telephone started ringing non stop. “Get the phone, for God’s sake.” He started to get off the chair in anticipation.
“It’s for you, I think it’s Murphy.”
“Murphy it’s about time, you had me concerned. I will be right there wait for me.”
“Of course Chief,” thinking, so much for home and a hot bath and sleep, glorious sleep. He glanced back at his passenger still semi unconscious, tossing his head from side to side, groaning and mumbling to himself. “Just don’t die, at least till I get you to the hospital and the chief sees you.”
The emergency room staff was curbside as Murphy pulled up and they rolled the gurney forward to transport the Russian into the safety of the hospital. As a precaution Jake had ordered a police guard to stand by as well, and he was there hand on the gurney leading the team into the emergency room.
“We’ll take it from here sir.” The head nurse used her squat, block shaped body to hinder Murphy’s forward progress from following them into a curtain shrouded room. Murphy could look over her head but it would take a full-nelson to get past her. He chose to let Jake deal with her while he and the officers stood guard outside the curtained doorway and waited for him to arrive. Jake had organized the hospital preparation and knew what to do. He had the patrolmen dispersed around the hospital in case there were leaks at the station that a major player had been captured and the killer’s plan a retaliation. It was the same at Llankenau hospital where McCane was still comatose,
“I can not believe what a stellar job you’ve done here Murphy and in record time. I expected you to be gone at least a week, and here you are back in a week-end.” Jake was shaking his hand profusely as he congratulated him.
“I had a bit of luck figuring out his location and picked Camelback. It had the feeling of Russia to me and obviously to Alain. Pure luck, sir,” Murphy ended modestly. “While I had him on surveillance he collapsed on the street and I took that opportunity to bring him back to the city and the hospital. He put up no resistance as he was out like a light the whole time.”
“You have dome a great job and your dead on your feet, go home and call it a night. Give my regards to Gerda. Go on get out of here.” Jake smiled and punched him on the arm as Murph rushed pass him out the door.
“What’s going on behind the curtain?” Jake asked an officer as he stepped forward and put his hand on the curtain about to gain entrance.
“I would belay that Chief. There Is a very feisty nurse on the other side guarding her patient like a pit bull.”
“Oh yeah, she has yet to meet her match.” Jake stepped through the curtain.
Badge in hand Jake met the head nurse who blocked his way but not his view,
“Madam, I don’t want to interfere with your patient care but you must know he is wanted for multiple murders so there will be a significant police presence. I see he is being worked on what is the prognosis?”
The nurse knew that Jake would not be bullied by her, so matter of fact she went over the procedures of how they would proceed in order to diagnose his condition.
“How long will your evaluation take?”
“Now that we have him stable probably four or five hours.”
“Thank you, madam, my men will be in evidence, please let them know the diagnoses as soon as you find out. Detective Burns will be in charge.
“Who ‘s in charge here? I was told to give the diagnoses about Mr. Mr. k a kao Mr. Alain, who can pronounce these foreign names?”
‘Yes what is your name, Sherrill? The chief left me in charge, Detective Burns and its Mr. Kosonov, not so hard to pronounce really.”
The nurse “hhmpff’ and then continued the explanation, “It is my pleasure to take care of your prisoner and give you the report the head nurse asked me to deliver to the chief detective before she went off duty, I will give you the short version. The gentleman is afflicted with a virulent form of leukemia called chronic myelogenous leukemia which primarily affects adults. It is an uncommon type of blood cell cancer that begins in the bone marrow. The disease develops slowly and becomes progressively worse as the bone marrow makes many white blood cells and platelets crowding out normal white cells and taking over red blood cells. The victim suffers from fatigue, night sweats, unexplained weight loss, fever and bone pain.” Sherrill finished and was about to turn away when Burnsey asked the question that was on all the officers minds.
“Will he live.”
“I am sorry but he is in decline as we speak. He can’t last more than a few days the doctor’s say. We have no medicine to treat him at this time and his disease is rapidly progressing.” Sad she turned away again…
Burnsey asked, “Nurse Sherrill Is he conscious? Can he be questioned?”
“He is conscious and the doctors gave permission to allow the chief detective to question him. But he is very weak and tends to fall asleep in mid sentence.” This time Sherrill stepped behind the curtain and was gone.
Detective Burns went to the nurse’s station in the ER and telephoned Jake, then turning his back to the nurse’s station, made another call.
“Chief” Burns said when he arrived, “Kosonov is conscious and the doctors say he can talk to you. He has some deadly disease, he is not contagious, it is leukemia a virulent form, and he is terminal. Better hurry.”
“Mr. Kosonov, Alain,” The thin pale, wraith of a man turned in Jake’s direction and tried to smile;
“The jig is up, as they say. I had a good run and believe it or not, no regrets.”
“Spoken like a cold blooded murderer. When you get out of here ‘Old Sparky’ is waiting for you, the electric chair.” Jake explained seeing the confusion on Kosonov’s face.
He laughed which turned into a spasmodic cough and he gasped “You think I’m getting out of here alive? Then you are not talking to the right doc’s. No sir I have a one-way ticket to hell.”
“If that’s the case then why not make a clean breast of everything and tell me who the White Owl really is and who else is involved in your murder cult.”
“Why should I? I have nothing to gain, I am a dead man walking.” He tried to turn on his side away from Jake but the pain was to great and he let out a moan.
“Listen man I can do something in return for you, I can make your passing a lot easier on you. The right drugs to alleviate the pain would go a long way in making you more comfortable. Not that you deserve any kind of mercy, but you have me over a barrel and I need the name of that murderous scum.”
“He talks to his owl, he thinks it is a reincarnation of the goddess Minerva and it tells him what to do and who to kill next. I will bargain for some opium. I will tell you who the next victim will be. Get me the opium and maybe the next time I will give you the name of that sick son of a bitch. No opium no deal.”
“Why opium? That is not currently carried in hospital pharmacies.” Jake asked slightly puzzled.
Jake mentally ran over in his mind what he knew about the characteristics of the drug, as Kosonov struggled with his terminal illness.
The Poppy flower, the red variety was the most potent, and was found in Mesapotamia 3500 years ago. T
hrough the eons it was cultivated as a money crop for impoverished peasants, the black poppy seeds were pressed into a liquid and used as a medicine, besides opium, heroin, codeine, oxycodon as it is used today, plus morphine were all derived from the black seed red poppy.
The drug was introduced into the United States during the California gold rush by the Chinese. Opium dens were formed and the paraphernalia such as the opium pipe which was long and heavy, so the most effective way to inhale the drug was to lie down on the beds provided, balancing the pipe on the pillows. The more luxurious dens were attended by woman who filled the pipes and took care of the needs of their patrons.
“I have abused my body with so many substances that now I need relief from pain that is bone deep, opium might do the trick, any way it’s worth a try. Get the nurse will you, I need something now. NURSE help me.”
The nurse Sherrill ran into the room in response to the desperate cry from her patient and appraised the situation, “Sir, you will have to leave the room this man needs my help.” She had a hypodermic needle in her hand, but she waited for Jake to leave.
“Where are the administrative offices?” Jake asked, his hand on the curtain.
A wreath of sweet smelling opium clouded the room and Jake covered his face with an oxygen mask so he would not get any in his system. The hospital room door where Alain was moved was closed and guarded and Jake was waiting for an answer to his question. Who is the White Owl?
Alain was in a dreamlike state and drool was dripping off the side of his mouth. A groan escaped his mouth indicating the pain was still there but masked by the opium.
The Cult of the White Owl Page 21