by K. J. Dahlen
“Oh my God,” Emma whispered in horror as she read the message.
Sable shook her head and glared at Gabriel. Nick turned to Greg and asked, “How did the police miss this?”
Greg shrugged. “I guess the door was open and they never thought to close it. I only found it myself a few minutes ago.”
“Now do you believe that you and your family are in danger?” Sable asked Gabriel.
Gabriel suddenly looked old. His face lost its color and his hands began to shake. He couldn’t stop staring at the door. He turned and glanced at the blood stain on the floor. He hadn’t meant for this to happen, and he was at a loss how to stop it. He glanced at Sable and saw in her eyes the same look he saw all those years ago in Micah’s eyes. He saw condemnation and anger. Only in her eyes there was something else. He didn’t want it to be pity he saw so he closed his heart and asked, “What do you want us to do?”
A short time later they reached the office. Nick ushered Gabriel, Emma and Greg into the conference room while Sable went directly into the office she shared with the rest of the team.
“I see you got the Judge down here. What did you have to do, arrest him?” Max asked.
“I wish I could arrest him. He’s not a very nice man,” Sable told Max. “I think we found out who Oscar is.”
Max looked uncomfortable. “Yeah well we found out several things while you were gone.”
Sable frowned. She didn’t know if she wanted to know what they found out or not. “So what did you find?” she finally asked.
“We found out that you and Oscar are related but that you and Jill Reardon are as well. You and she carry the same mitochondrial DNA,” Max told her.
Sable nodded. “That makes sense. Oscar could be Greg Reardon’s oldest son while he has no direct lineage to Jill Reardon.”
“The blood tests don’t reveal a direct link but you do seem to share some of his DNA.” Max told her.
“Oscar must be Richard Kline. He can’t be Micah otherwise it would be a direct link with mitochondrial DNA. Both boys would share Greg’s DNA but only one
would have Jill’s as well,” Sable reasoned out loud. “This is all starting to make sense now.”
“Well hang onto your hat, this next part doesn’t make any sense at all,” Max said.
“What are you taking about?” Sable asked.
“We double checked with the Quinn’s family in Texas and it seems that Hope Quinn is alive and well, living in Sulfur Springs.”
Sable frowned. “What did you say?”
“The woman who claimed to be Hope is a fake,” Max informed her. “And we have no idea who she really is.”
Sable’s head began to hurt. “So much has happened today I forgot about Hope. We still don’t know who she is or where she is. Richard got to her this morning.”
Nick came in the office and looked angry enough to spit tacks. He glared at Sable and said, “That man is nuts.”
Sable held up her hand to stop his tirade. “I know. He’s a pig but we have more pressing things to worry about.”
“Such as?” Nick growled.
“Do you remember the woman who presented herself as Hope Quinn?” Sable reminded him. “It seems she lied again. Hope Quinn is alive and well living in Texas.”
Nick sat down in his chair hard. “Then who the hell was she?”
Sable shrugged. “A better question would be how did she know so much about what happened that fall? How did she know so much about me and where the hell did she get the box she gave me this morning?”
The phone rang and Sable picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
“Sabella, how was your day?” Oscar asked.
“My day was an eye opener, Richard, how was yours?” She answered.
Richard laughed. “I see you did find some answers, didn’t you? The question is did you find out the right answers.”
“What does that mean?” Sable frowned.
“I have found that people will give you the information you request only if you ask the right questions. They very rarely give you more than you need to know, just what you ask about.”
“Who was the woman that posed as Hope Quinn?” Sable asked.
“You see if you know which questions to ask, you’ll get the information you seek,” Richard told her.
“Who is she?” Sable repeated her question.
“She’s not important.” Richard said.
“What is her name?” Sable insisted.
Richard hesitated then decided to be honest. “Her name is Maggie Host. I met her about the same time Micah met your mother. We dated for awhile then I left. It wasn’t until after I left that I realized she took something that belonged to me. When I went back to get it, she and the items I went back for were gone. It wasn’t until today that I found her again.”
“So Micah is my real father. And you, you are my uncle, aren’t you?” Sable told him.
“The old man told you about me huh?” Richard was amazed. “I never thought he would admit my existence to anyone.”
“He didn’t do so willingly, but like you said, we asked the right questions,” Sable admitted. “Where did you put Maggie?”
“That would be telling now wouldn’t it?” Richard teased. “I won’t tell you but I will give you a hint. I put her in the same place I put you all those years ago. I do hope you find her soon. She might not live too much longer. She’s not as tough or as resilient as you were.”
Sable held out the phone and just glared at it. Richard had hung up on her again and she was beginning to get annoyed at his habit. “He said he put her in the same place he put me all those years ago.”
“Did he say who she really is?” Max asked.
Sable nodded. “Her real name is Maggie Host and they dated while Micah and my mother dated.” Sable shivered. “I guess I really am related to those people. Micah was my father.”
Chapter Twelve
“Well that news is certainly the pits,” Sable said.
“Why do you say that?” Brandi asked. “It certainly doesn’t hurt to come from a family with money.”
“Money isn’t everything when you consider the family also has at least one serial killer in it, possibly two,” Sable reminded her. “I don’t think my father was an angel either.”
“The only thing is Chicago is a big city. Where do we go to find a serial killer? I mean it’s not like he’s going to advertise where he is,” Brandi said.
“Maybe he’s already told us,” Max pointed out.
Sable swung her gaze over to Max and asked, “What do you mean? Have I missed something here?”
Max held up a finger and his mind went over everything they knew about Oscar. “Remember what Oscar said about where he put Maggie? He said he put her in the same spot he put you, all those years ago. Maybe we have to go back to the very beginning.”
Sable frowned. “But we don’t know where the beginning is. I was found on the Navy Pier but that may not be where he put me.”
Nick nodded. “But maybe if we go back there, you’ll see something that does look familiar. It’s worth a try.”
Sable shrugged her shoulders. She hated the idea that this investigation was pinned on her. She couldn’t remember pieces of her past for a reason. She glanced to the room the Reardons were in and found Gabriel staring back at her. She felt like a bug under a microscope. Part of her wanted to finally know the truth but a bigger part of her didn’t.
She grabbed her purse and told Nick, “Let’s go before I change my mind.”
Nick and Max joined her but didn’t say a word. They knew this was going to be hard for her, and they wouldn’t have put her through it if it didn’t mean they could find Oscar.
The late afternoon sun was casting shadows when they finally got to the Navy Pier. Sable sat in the car and stared ahead as she gathered the courage she would need to go out there. Nick and Max waited patiently. Finally Sable reached for the door handle and got out of the car.
The Pier stunk li
ke dead fish and she almost gagged on the smell alone. With her heart pounding in her chest Sable forced herself to walk toward the Pier. Her eyes darted from place to place but nothing looked familiar to her. The big boats in the shipyard meant nothing to her either.
“This is a waste of time,” she muttered as she glanced over at Nick and Max. Throwing her hands up in the air she commented, “I don’t feel anything. Nothing here means anything to me.”
Nick looked disappointed. Max suggested, “Maybe you should wander around a little bit. Maybe something will spark a memory.”
Sable felt a little foolish as she wandered around the Pier. She walked a little ways up the Pier and then back down. She walked toward the loading dock and then back again. She turned to the area beyond the Pier and saw what remained of the water treatment plant in the distance. She frowned as she looked toward the plant. She even took a couple of steps toward the building and then she stopped.
Something clicked inside her. She had seen that building before but she couldn’t remember when. She stared at it for the longest time before Nick came up behind her. Touching her elbow he asked, “What is it?”
Sable nodded toward the water plant, “I’ve seen that building before, somewhere.”
“You probably pass it everyday on your way to work,” Max muttered. His idea seemed a bust.
Sable shook her head. “No, it’s more familiar than that.” She took a step toward the plant before Nick caught her arm.
“It’s getting too dark to explore anymore tonight. Let’s wait and come back in the morning.”
Sable shook her head to clear away her memories. “OK, this place is creepy in the dark anyway.” She was about to turn away when she felt something stir
inside her. She glanced back at the water treatment plant. Goose bumps rose on her arms.
Nick gave her a questioning look but she shook her head. They were on their way back to the office when Nick finally asked, “Did you remember something back there?”
Sable rubbed her upper arms. “I don’t know. That place did seem familiar but something about it wasn’t quite right.”
Nick shrugged. “We can go back in the morning and try again.”
Sable didn’t say another word as they drove back. She had something on her mind, but she didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up.
When they got back to the office, Sable glanced at the conference room the Reardons were in and to her dismay it was empty. She quickly turned to Brandi and asked, “Where are they?”
Brandi shrugged. “Greg and the old man had words. Greg stormed out then Gabriel stormed out a few minutes later.” Brandi nodded toward the room. “The only one left is Emma. For some reason she doesn’t want to leave, so I put her in another room to try and get some sleep. I had a doctor friend of mine come by and give her something that would let her rest.”
Sable nodded. “That might be best. She wasn’t looking so good earlier.”
“She is really pissed at her husband. Not only didn’t he tell anyone about Richard, he didn’t tell them all this time about the money he’s been giving Micah. When we questioned him about the last few dozen withdrawals, he finally admitted that he hoped it was Micah using the money but that he had no idea who was receiving the money. He set up the funds just after Micah disappeared. Micah called him and told Gabriel he couldn’t come home. He had to work something out for himself. Gabriel said he told Micah he would always have a place with his family but he understood the standing on his own feet part of Micah’s dilemma too. Gabriel set up a million dollar account and gave him access to it through a password. Gabriel said as long as Micah continued to make withdrawals, he was assured the boy was ok," Brandi told her.
Sable made a face. “Oh, the power of the all mighty buck.”
Brandi nodded. “That’s when the shit hit the fan. Greg was livid with his father. He even went so far as to punch his old man right in the mouth.”
“What happened then?” Nick asked.
“That's when they stormed out. We haven’t heard from either of them since.” Brandi told them.
“At this point they both deserve what they get.” Sable stated. She yawned. “I’m tired. I’m going to see if I can get any sleep. If they bother to come back, please don’t wake me up. I can do very well without seeing either one of them again tonight.”
Sable stopped at the Ladies room on her way down the hall. Glancing in the mirror she noted the dark circles around her eyes and the paleness of her complexion. The strain of the last few days showed, and she hoped she would be able to sleep for a few hours at least.
She quietly opened the door to the conference room and saw Emma Reardon curled up on one of the couches. Sable lay down on the opposite couch and closed her eyes. Surprisingly she fell asleep and the nightmares didn’t come back.
Hours later it was Emma’s whimpering in her sleep that woke Sable. As she laid there in the dark listening to the other woman, a slight memory flashed in her mind. One minute it was there and the next it was gone again.
The flash of memory had to do with the water treatment plant. In her mind’s eye she could see the scene, but before she could see the picture clearly it was gone again. Sable pushed herself up to a sitting position and glanced at Emma. She was tossing and turning, chasing her own demons.
Sable yawned again and knew from experience she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep so she got up and left the conference room. The clock in the hall told her it was about three a.m. and she wondered where everyone else was.
As she walked down the hall, her gaze went to the conference room, and she saw someone sitting there. She paused in front of the door and identified Greg Reardon sitting at the table with his head down. He appeared to be asleep. Sable didn’t want to talk to him at that moment so she went to her office.
Pushing open the door she noted that most of the lights were off and glancing around the room she found Brandi asleep on the sofa and Nick and Max were asleep at their desks. The only member of the group who was awake was Quentin. He was sitting at his desk working on his computer.
Sable walked over to him and whispered, “Don’t you ever sleep?”
Quentin glanced up at her and shook his head. He pushed back from his desk and nodded, “I had a nap earlier.” He nodded toward the conference room and told her, “One of our guests returned.”
“I noticed. I wonder where the old man is.”
Quentin shrugged. “Jr. came back about an hour ago looking like he’d lost the war. He didn’t say where he’s been but he did ask about where Mom was. When I told him she was just down the hall, he wandered into the conference room and went to sleep.”
“What are you doing on the computer?” Sable asked trying to get off the subject of the Reardons.
Quentin picked up a report on his desk and handed it to her. “The forensics report on the clothes you were found in came back. I was running down the possibilities of places in the area the soil and trace samples could come from.”
“And you found what?”
“The blood on the clothes was your own, but the soil and trace elements were ones consistent with the Pier area.” Quentin told her.
Sable thought for a moment, “Did you find anything that could possibly be associated with a water treatment plant?”
Quentin frowned thoughtfully. “What do you mean?”
Sable walked to the window, pausing for a moment before she spoke. “When we were down at the Pier last night, nothing there made an impression, but not too far from there is an abandoned water treatment plant. The longer I looked at it the more sure I became that I’ve seen that place before. There’s something that rings a bell. I just can’t figure out what. It’s like the angle of the place is wrong or something like that.”
Quentin hit the keys on his computer for a second and brought up a map of the area around the treatment plant. “I don’t have any idea what I’m looking for here. Any more hints?”
Sable looked at the map and shook
her head. “Not really. I have no idea what I’m looking for either. It was just a thought.” She shrugged.
The quiet of the early morning hours was disturbed when they both heard a car accelerate down the street in front of the building. Sable jumped up from the desk and ran toward the windows. She saw the dark sedan coming straight
toward them, suddenly the driver hit the breaks and the tires squealed in protest. The car was in front of the building when the front passenger door flew open and something was pushed out of the car. It looked like a body and Sable and Quentin ran for the front door.
All they could see of the car was the tail lights as the car rounded the corner. They both rushed over to the body in the street. Turning it over they found it belonged to Gabriel Reardon. Whoever had thrown the body from the car had beaten him up pretty badly.
Sable turned her head to find Brandi and Nick watching from the door. “Call 911, He’s hurt but he’s still alive,” Sable shouted at them. She glanced back at the body in her arms. The pulse in his neck was still beating.
A few minutes later the ambulance arrived and while the EMT’s worked on Gabriel, Sable stood back. Nick and Greg joined her and Emma stood watching in the doorway. Brandi had kept her from running out into the street.
“Who would do that to an old man?” Greg asked.
Sable glared at him. “We told you there was a killer out there looking for your family. Gabriel’s just lucky Oscar didn’t kill him, although it could still happen. Oscar isn’t known for his compassion. Gabriel might not make it as it is. He’s hurt pretty bad.”
Greg watched helplessly as the EMT’s worked on his father. He glanced over his shoulder at his mother and shook his head. He looked back at Sable. “I think there’s something you should know…” Greg told them
Sable looked at him and asked, “Oh, what’s that?”
“The man you’re looking for might be Micah, not Richard,” he told them.