He didn’t know what came over him in that moment. Whether it was the stress of the last few days, the whiskey, the trauma of the event at the hospital; whatever it was as she looked at him then he felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her. Bowing his head to hers he looked her in the eye and saw her pupils widen as she realized what he was about to do. But she didn’t pull away. Instead her lips parted, welcoming his kiss. Pressing his lips to hers, she felt familiar, welcoming. With a small groan he broke off briefly, putting his glass on the coffee table before giving her his full attention.
***
The moonlight illuminated the room as he watched her sleeping in the bed next to him. He couldn’t believe that he’d been so weak. He loved his wife. Had no idea whether she was alive or dead, and here he was in bed with her sister.
Pushing the covers back gently so as not to wake her he stood up, picking his pants up from where they’d been dropped on the floor. He quietly opened the door, slipped out and went back to his own room.
Sitting on his own bed he didn’t bother to lie down, knowing that sleep would evade him.
The business card he’d retrieved from the desk now caught his eye. He’d left it on his bedside table and it sat there now, calling for his attention.
He checked his watch. Just past midnight. He’d promised himself he wasn’t going to look into finding out more about his father until all this was over but he needed to do something different. Something to take his mind off his car crash of a life.
Padding downstairs as quietly as he could, he went into the living room and retrieved his cell phone and took it back upstairs, closing his bedroom door.
What are you going to say? He thought as he looked at the card in his hand. The number was really old though and the chances were high that it would no longer work in any case. Taking a breath he punched in the numbers and waited.
It rang. Surprised, he quickly pressed the end call button before anyone picked up.
He was thinking about the implications when the phone vibrated in his hand. He lifted it to his ear. “Hello?”
“Hello, Michael.” The male voice on the other end of the phone addressed him by name.
“Hi.” That’s great. You speak to your father for the first time and ‘Hi’ is the best you can come up with.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. I’m so glad you called,” the deep voice carried on.
“How did you know it was me?”
“You’re the only person in the world who has this number,” the voice explained. “I wanted you to have a way of getting in touch with me.”
“You’ve kept the phone all these years on the off-chance that I would?” Michael asked in disbelief.
“Yes. I hoped one day that you would. I asked your mother to give you the number when you were old enough. I had no idea if she had done as I asked.”
Mike was suddenly overcome with the absurdity of his situation. His wife was missing, he’d just slept with his sister-in-law and now he was on the phone to the father he hadn’t known he had until a couple of days ago. “Look, I’m sorry, I think I’ve made a mistake.”
“No, please. Don’t put the phone down.”
The desperation in his tone stilled his hand. “I really do have to go.”
“Will you please call me again?”
Mike didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know if he would or not. “I can’t promise I will, but I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I can ask. Thank you.”
Mike didn’t speak again before putting the phone down. His head hurt. The stress of the last few days had left him mentally exhausted and a wave of tiredness suddenly washed over him. All he wanted to do now was lie down and sleep, and maybe this time he would.
Nineteen
The phone was ringing as Elliot stepped through the door to his apartment. He briefly considered letting the machine get it but he knew that if he did that and they didn’t leave a message, it would just bug him.
Flinging his jacket onto the couch, he quickly grabbed it and answered. “Hello?”
“Hey Elliot.”
He recognized the voice immediately. “Frank, hey. Long time.”
“Too long, buddy. How’s life treating you in smallsville?”
Elliot let out a short laugh. “It’s not that small, but yeah, it’s taking a bit of getting used to. How are things in big bad Boston?”
“Not the same without you, that’s for sure. The guy I had to replace you with? Jeez, I’m surprised he ever made it through the academy.”
Though it was nice to hear from his old boss, Elliot knew that he wasn’t calling just to shoot the breeze. “So to what do I owe this pleasure? You coming down for a visit?”
He heard Frank let out a long breath and knew this wasn’t going to be good news. “We got him Elliot.”
Elliot walked over to his couch and sank down onto it. He didn’t need to ask who he was talking about, he knew already.
“Johan. We got Johan.”
“How?” he croaked, his voice raw with emotion.
“There was a big drug bust and we got lucky. He wasn’t expected to be there. You can imagine how surprised we were to see him. He was supposed to be in Columbia, we had no intel that he was back on US soil.”
“Has he been indicted?”
“Yes, he going to stand trial on charges of murder, drug trafficking, extortion, blackmail ... the list goes on. Thing is, we’re going to need you back here for the trial. I’ll clear it with your bosses there.”
“Okay, let me know the details and I’ll be there.” he paused. “Thanks Frank, I owe you one.”
“Nah buddy, what he did to you, he did to us as a family. Now it’s time for him to pay.”
Elliot put the phone down and realized that his palms were damp and his hands were shaking. They’d got him. The man who had kidnapped and murdered his wife and baby boy was in prison.
Going into his bedroom he sat on his bed and picked up the photo frame that had pride of place on his bedside table. With his fingertip, he traced the outline of the woman in the picture before touching the little boy who stood at her feet, his arms wrapped around her lower leg. The picture had been taken when Robert was just two years old while they were on vacation at Disneyland. Both of them were smiling at the camera widely, happy to be spending some much needed time together as a family. Two months later they were both gone.
He had been working on a special drug unit in Boston and had spent much of the previous two years undercover, tracking a particularly violent drug cartel that was shipping in large quantities of cocaine from Columbia and distributing it through a network of fast food restaurants. The local man in charge, Felipe Gonzalez, was a particularly nasty piece of work who’d earned his elevated position in the cartel by ruthlessly despatching all his enemies.
Elliot’s team, and in particular Elliot himself, had managed to build a solid case against him and he was arrested and sentenced to life.
After the sentencing he, and a few of the others, had gone to a local bar to celebrate. His phone had been switched onto silent while he was in court and he never heard it ring. It rang fifteen times by the time he got up to leave and noticed the missed calls. But by then it was too late. He tried to call her back but there was no reply. Panicked, he raced home to find the place ransacked, his wife and son missing.
He immediately called it in and the place was crawling with police minutes later. Against his wishes he was whisked off to the precinct for his own safety and it was there that got the message from Johan. It had been brief, to the point and untraceable. He had Elliot’s family, and he was never going to see them again. Payback.
In the following weeks, they came down hard on every known drug dealer in the city, every confidential informant they had, but they came up with nothing and no trace of his family.
Finally, about two months later they arrested a prostitute who told them that she had information to trade. She had a long rap sheet a
nd this time she was facing serious time. A deal was made, and she told them that his wife and son had been murdered, their bodies thrown in the river. She told them she’d witnessed it and that Johan himself had carried out the killings.
He had no idea how he’d gotten through the next few months, and he was sure he wouldn’t have without his blue family. The memories were just too much though and if he was to stand any chance of healing, of living again, then he needed to start again somewhere new.
Holding the picture he felt the familiar pain in his heart at the thought of never seeing them again. It was a pain that never completely went away. He carried it with him wherever he went and whatever he did and he was sure he always would.
Twenty
For a brief moment when she opened her eyes that morning Sarah had forgotten the events of the night before. But then she rolled over and the smell of his aftershave on the pillow next to her brought the whole shameful episode rushing back and she felt like she was going to be violently sick.
Sitting up and dropping her legs over the side of the bed, she leaned forward over her knees and took several deep breaths. After a minute, the nausea passed and she was able to stand up.
Going to the window she parted the curtains and looked out across the sun-bathed countryside and started to cry. What were you thinking?
She felt a shame she knew would never go away. She had betrayed her sister in the worst possible way and for what? To make herself feel better?
Going back to the bed she sat down and let the tears come. She had been foolish to think that they could handle this by themselves, yesterday had shown her that. They didn’t know what they were doing and emotionally it was taking a devastating toll. They needed to involve the police, let them handle it. And then she wouldn’t have to be in such close proximity to Michael.
The truth was she had never really gotten over what he had done to her. On the outside she pretended that she was okay with it, had moved on, but the damage he had done had left a permanent scar. She had truly believed that they would be together forever, that he loved her as much as she loved him.
She loved her sister more, though, and it was because of that she was able to get past it, accept it. Jennifer was as much to blame for what happened as he was. But Sarah’s love for her sister had given her the ability to forgive.
Was last night my way of getting back at them? The thought took her by surprise. Could it have been? No, she really didn’t think so. It was just a case of too much whiskey on top of a broken heart, no more, no less.
A sound from downstairs told her that Michael was already up and moving around. Knowing she had to face him at some point she decided to get it over with. Going into the bathroom she rinsed her face with cold water before getting dressed.
***
He was making breakfast when she got downstairs and she paused for a moment in the kitchen doorway before going in. He must have heard her coming because he turned and gave her a small smile.
“Morning.”
“Morning. Michael...”
“Sarah ...”
They both spoke at the same time.
She took a deep breath. “About last night. I don’t know what came over me, but I feel terrible about it. It should never have happened.”
“Yeah I know. I feel exactly the same way.”
She was glad to see he looked as uncomfortable as she felt. “Can we get past this? Pretend it never happened?”
“I certainly intend to try.” He put two mugs of coffee on the table. “No offence, Sarah, but I love Jennifer, with all my heart. Last night was a huge mistake.”
Sarah nodded. “I’ve been thinking.” She wanted to change the subject, put it behind them as fast as she could. “I think we should go to the police after all.”
He stopped what he was doing at the cooker and turned, a surprised look on his face. “You do?”
Sarah nodded. “Yes. It’s too much for us to handle. I don’t think I can go through something like yesterday again.”
Michael nodded. “I get that, I really do, but what about what you said before? About what they might do if they find out the police are on to them?”
“I’ve been thinking about that and I don’t think we have any choice. I mean, what do we have really?” she ticked off her fingers. “We think there are some accidents that are related, we have a mad woman who was kidnapped and then somehow got away or was released who then kills herself, some kings, whatever they are, and a website.” She let out a frustrated sigh. “Do you know what to do with any of that? Because I certainly don’t.”
Michael put two plates of bacon and eggs on the table and sat down. “I think you might be right.”
“You do?” she was surprised he didn’t argue.
“Yes,” Michael said thoughtfully. “They have way more resources than we do and they may well already know something about this group. We don’t have access to the police computers so they might already have a ton of information that we don’t know about.”
The thought hadn’t even crossed Sarah’s mind. “You’re right, I can’t believe I never even thought of that.” She took a mouthful of bacon. “God that’s good after last night.” She immediately realized what she’d said and looked up to find Michael looking at her. “I meant the whiskey.”
“Yeah, I know,” he smiled. “Are we gonna be okay?”
She shrugged. “As okay as we ever were. All I care about right now is finding my sister, I’ll deal with all the other crap once we have her home safe.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Michael agreed. “So what do we do next then? Just go to the nearest police station and tell them our story?”
Sarah shook her head. “No, that makes no sense. The detective that dealt with Jennifer’s case, what was his name?”
Michael paused, thinking. “Mitchell. Detective Mitchell.”
“Yeah, that was it. That’s who we need to contact.”
“Okay, well let’s finish up here and I’ll get my things together and we can head back into town.”
“I’ll go on ahead. As soon as I get back I’ll call the detective and ask him to come to your house this afternoon. Is that okay?”
“Yeah. I’ve got to get mom’s papers together and tidy up here so you’d better make it late afternoon.”
Sarah stood up. “Okay, if he agrees I’ll text you the time and see you at your place later.”
It only took her a few minutes to round up her stuff and less than five minutes later she was in her car heading back to town. She was glad that she had her own car with her so that she didn’t have to ride back with Michael. Although they’d agreed to forget about the night before, it wasn’t going to be that easy in reality and the less time they spent together, the happier she would be.
***
Elliot and Lexi pulled up outside Mike’s house just before 4pm.
“You’re far too soft you know,” Lexi chided. “If it was that important for them to see us, they should have just come down to the precinct. Why should we come running to them?”
“Have a heart Lexi, these aren’t criminals. I’m sure if we’d insisted then they would have, but we’ve got nothing urgent going on.”
He had tried to get Sarah to tell him what it was about over the phone but she refused, insisting that she needed to seem him in person as a matter of urgency.
The door opened as they walked up to the front of the house and he could see that Michael’s sister-in -aw was already there. “Mr Trent, this is Lexi Constantinou, my partner.”
“Hi, thank you for coming.” Mike shook both their hands before ushering them inside and leading them through to the kitchen.
“So how can we help you?” Elliot looked from Michael to Sarah. They seemed on edge, anxious but at the same time filled with a nervous energy.
This time it was Sarah who spoke. “We think my sister is still alive.”
He exchanged a look with Lexi. They’d both dealt with this kind of situation before. Loved
ones not willing to accept that they’d lost someone dear to them. “I’m sorry, Miss−? I know it’s hard but it will get better with time,” he said gently.
“Oh for God’s sake,” she threw him a frustrated look. “I’m not losing my head through grief, we genuinely think she is alive. And we can show you why.”
Elliot searched her face. She obviously believed what she was saying and the least they could do was listen to her.
“Okay, I think you’d better start at the beginning.” He pulled out a chair and sat at the kitchen table, indicating to Lexi to do the same. “We’re listening.”
***
It was over an hour later by the time they’d finished and Elliot sat back in his chair, stunned.
“So can you help us?” Sarah asked.
“Hang on a minute, you two have had a few days to process this, we’ve just found out about it.” He turned to where Lexi sat, equally stunned. “Lexi?”
“Well I’ve heard about this sort of thing on the deep web but I’ve never seen it for myself. If what you’re saying is true, then this thing is huge. Way above my pay grade.”
“Look, I think what we need to do is go away and look into this. We’ll need to speak to our boss, see where we take it from here.” Elliot stood up. “Can we take your laptop?” He asked Sarah. “I’ve got no idea if we’d be able to find this again.”
“As long as I get it back.”
Elliot nodded. “You have my word.” Tucking the laptop under his arm he turned to leave. “We’ll be in touch. Soon.”
“So what do you think?” Elliott asked Lexi as soon as they got in the car. “Can she really still be alive?”
“I don’t know how, the dental records matched remember?”
“But what about the picture on the website?”
“That’s why I didn’t say anything in there. Because it seems that both things can’t be real and I don’t know what to believe.”
“What’s the tech department like down this neck of the woods? I’ve not had to use them yet.”
Lexi laughed as she pulled on her seatbelt. “Well, it’s not so much a department as one man and his computer. But Sid is okay, a bit of a strange one, but great at his job.”
True Deceit (Blindsided Book 1) Page 8