Measure of Darkness

by Chris Jordan

  “What kind of contact?”

  “Emails. Information she forwarded about other missing children. Mostly stuff she pulled off various websites. There are, like, a zillion sites about missing kids. From the tone of the emails, Mrs. Mancero sounds obsessed with the idea that she can do something for other missing children. My sense is, she wanted to help Shane somehow, as she had attempted to do, and failed, in her own daughter’s case.”

  “How sad,” says Naomi, maintaining an expression of studied indifference. “Did he encourage her?”

  Teddy shakes his head. “Just the opposite. He was really nice about it, but it’s clear that Shane wanted her to stop looking into what he called ‘the abyss.’”

  “The abyss?”

  “He doesn’t explain it. It’s like part of a continuing discussion. Something they talked about when she was in the psychiatric hospital.”

  “He visited her there?”

  Teddy shrugs. “Don’t think so. My impression is, he spoke to her by phone.”

  “Had they communicated recently?”

  “The last exchange of emails was two months ago. She forwarded yet another missing-child story, taken from one of the websites, and he politely but firmly declined to get involved.”

  “And the video clip that Professor Keener forwarded to Shane? What’s the date stamp?”

  “The day Keener was killed. It logs as being downloaded into Shane’s email server at 5:12 a.m., at about the same time the professor called him. Which makes sense, assuming he was calling Shane’s attention to the clip. Maybe he just got it and wanted to share.”

  Jack says, “So the first Shane knows of the Mancero involvement is the video clip. And the world blows to hell before he can do anything about it. That explains a lot, actually.”

  Naomi leaves her empty glass on a table by the door, for eventual collection by Mrs. Beasley. She takes her seat behind her desk, catty-corner to where Teddy has been working, and leans back in her chair with her slender arms folded, as if in a posture of defense. “This is a particularly awful example of the dark side experienced by anyone who investigates missing children. By that I mean what Shane referred to as ‘the abyss.’ When things go wrong they stay wrong forever and the survivors are sometimes dragged over the edge, into a cycle of grief and despair that’s very difficult to escape. Clearly that’s what happened to Kathleen Mancero. Just as clearly, she would never have willingly participated in the abduction of someone else’s child. There must be another explanation. Theories, anyone?”

  I resist raising my hands, which isn’t strictly required during informal discussions. “Maybe she came across something about Keener’s case, forwarded it to Shane and somehow got involved? Trying to help?”

  “Any evidence of that on the laptop?” Naomi asks Teddy.

  Giving me a “sorry” look, he shakes his head. “There’s a bit of emailing between Shane and the professor, but it all seems to have occurred after Keener first contacted him by phone. There’s no mention of Mrs. Mancero. And for that matter no real specifics about the professor’s case. Mostly Shane’s notification of when he’ll arrive, where he’ll be staying.”

  Jack, sprawled in one of the narrow chairs, says, “Randall would never discuss the specifics of a case by email. No way. And he would have been particularly cautious, knowing there were national security implications.”

  “And how would he have known that?” Naomi asks.

  “Experience and instinct,” Jack says, sounding slightly defensive of his old friend. “Genius scientist with a top-secret project and a missing kid? Stands to reason he’d be monitored by the kinds of people who read emails and tap phones.”

  After a pause she nods and says, “Agreed.”

  “Yeah, sure, okay,” I say, jumping back into the discussion. “An experienced guy like Randall Shane wouldn’t have discussed specifics in his email or texts or whatever. But what about poor Mrs. Mancero? Would she have been so careful? Maybe someone flagged her emails to Shane, did a little background research and decided she could be exploited.”

  “Good point,” says Jack.

  Naomi purses her lips, gives it some thought. “That theory has considerable merit,” she decides. “Teddy, we need deeper background on what Kathleen Mancero has been up to recently. See what you can find in Olathe. It’s an upscale suburb of Kansas City, surely her neighbors would know her story. There may be those willing to share.”

  “Or gossip,” I add.

  “You know I hate that word.”

  “Just because you hate it doesn’t mean it can’t be useful.” I happen to glance across the desk to where our resident hacker is hunched over his keyboard. “Teddy? You’re blushing.”

  “I, um, already contacted a few of her neighbors on Facebook,” he admits. “As if I was, um, trying to reconnect with my cousin, Kathleen.”

  If he’s been expecting disapproval, he’s wrong.

  “Excellent ploy!” Naomi leans forward, elbows precisely planted on a foam mat situated on the glass surface of her desk. “What did they say?”

  He shrugs. “Not much, really. Expressions of sympathy, but I got the impression Mrs. Mancero made people uncomfortable just by being there. She left Olathe about a month ago, supposedly to care for a sick relative, and it’s like nobody is exactly eager to have her back.” Teddy appears flustered, as well as embarrassed. “I don’t get it. It’s like she has an infectious disease or something.”

  “In a way she does,” Naomi says. “She’s a reminder that bad things, unimaginable things, can happen to ordinary people. Sometimes, in some cases, a kind of shunning occurs, intentional or otherwise. In this instance the victim may have made it worse by being so openly disturbed, by showing and sharing her pain. It’s similar to social reactions experienced by individuals with terminal disease. Healthy people don’t want to be reminded that death is always around the corner, and find ways to avoid meaningful contact. An ugly and often cruel reaction but, alas, very human.”

  “Same thing happens on a football field when a player get injured,” says Jack. “Nobody wants to look at the injured guy, or talk to him, like it might be catching.”

  Naomi, who normally loathes sports analogies, does not object. She’s more interested in the timing. “For purposes of this investigation let’s work from the assumption that Kathleen Mancero was somehow drawn into this case by subterfuge. Her connection to Shane is clear, and very public. There are two possible explanations. Either Randall Shane is himself involved in the kidnapping of Joey Keener and involved Mrs. Mancero as an accomplice, or he has very powerful enemies who went to great lengths to link him to this case. Any thoughts?”

  “No way Shane is a kidnapper or a killer. Cross it off the list,” Jack says adamantly.

  “I tend to agree,” Naomi says. “Shane as villain has always been a low probability. At this point we’ll proceed on the theory that Shane has a powerful enemy, one willing and able to frame him as a kidnapper/killer. Our task is to identify this enemy and that will lead us to the boy, if he still lives. Are we in agreement?”

  We all agree.

  Naomi says, “Teddy, Jack, we need to go deeper into Shane’s past. A client who holds him responsible for a child’s death, or his failure to solve a case. Someone in a high government position who feels threatened by him. A friend who believes himself or herself betrayed. Someone who hates him enough to take great risks. Someone with power enough to do the types of things we’ve been witness to of late.”

  Teddy hunches over his keyboard, fingers flying.

  Jack closes his notebook, and prepares to leave the command center, cell in hand. He pauses, gives boss lady a sideways look. “On the subject of enemies in high places, have we been swept recently?” he asks, holding up his phone.

  Naomi cocks an eyebrow. “This morning, as a matter of fact. Just as a precaution.”

  “And?”

  “As expected, your pals in the helicopter left a few presents behind. Also as expected, no
ne of the devices were able to broadcast. Bear in mind that cell phone calls originating outside of the residence have no such expectation of privacy.”

  “Big bro could be listening.”

  “Always best to proceed under that assumption.”

  Which makes me feel all warm and virtuous for having taken such precautions in the last few hours while out in the field, acting like a real investigator. Shaking tails, locating lost laptops, helping to break the case wide open. Until, moments later, I realize that unlike Teddy and Jack, I haven’t been given an assignment.

  “Hey,” I say. “What about me?”

  “Case notes,” boss lady says, without hesitation. “Bring the timeline up to date. It’s crucial that at this juncture we remain organized and coherent in our purpose.”

  “So you want me to be a secretary,” I say, not sure whether to be indignant, insulted or disappointed, or a combination of all three.

  “Recording secretary and chief factotum,” Naomi says with the hint of a smile. “None better. Now get to work.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Avoiding the Abyss

  The Murder of Joseph Vincent Keener,

  Ph.D. Investigation Timeline, updated:

  DAY ONE

  5:15 AM (approx.) Distress call

  5:30 AM (approx.) Shane arrives Keener residence

  5:35 AM (approx.) State police alerted

  5:42 AM (exact) 911

  5:57 AM (exact) Shane calls Jack

  7:00 AM (approx.) Rendezvous warehouse

  8:25 AM (approx.) Rendezvous Nantz residence

  8:55 AM (exact) Smash & grab

  9:10 AM (approx.) INVESTIGATION BEGINS

  Staff: Naomi, Alice, Teddy

  Operatives: Jack, Dane, Milton

  DAY TWO

  9:05 AM (exact) Milton enters QuantaGate

  9:26 AM (exact) Teddy monitors QG interoffice system

  10:05 AM (approx.) Alice confirms existence of missing child

  10:20 AM (approx.) Jack interviews Jonny Bing

  11:55 AM (exact) Dane confers with Monica Bevins, FBI

  7:00 PM (approx.) Milton reports

  9:40 PM (approx.) Jack interviewed re Jonny Bing murder

  DAY THREE

  8:46 AM (exact) Randall Shane admitted to Mass General

  9:27 AM (exact) Shane reveals name of missing child

  1:10 PM (approx.) Shane reports seeing video of boy on bridge

  2:40 PM (approx.) Alice interviews Clare O’Malley at MIT, establishes backstory re mother & child

  DAY FOUR

  9:05 AM (approx.) FBI AD Monica Bevins visits Shane at MGH

  12:10 PM (approx.) Shane tells Dane missing laptop location

  12:45 PM (approx.) Alice reports to MGH, confers with Dane (see above)

  1:40 PM (approx.) Alice & Teddy shake tail, assumed to be FBI

  2:16 PM (exact) Jack recovers missing laptop

  3:50 PM (approx.) Teddy ID’s mystery woman, Kathleen Mancero

  4:15 PM (approx.) Operatives given assignments

  4:16 PM (exact) Alice miffed, compiles boring timeline

  Okay, maybe not so boring. And laid out like that, hour for hour, it does give me a much clearer picture of what has transpired since the case first began, and where the ongoing investigation has taken us. At a glance, the most important break in the case by far is the identification of Kathleen Mancero. As Naomi was quick to point out, that’s a game changer. Establishing a connection between Randall Shane and a woman involved in an abduction means one of two things. Either the legendary kid finder is up to his neck in a murder/kidnapping—guilty as sin itself—or he’s an innocent victim with a very powerful enemy who wants to destroy everything he stands for.

  “We don’t know if this enemy is also responsible for Professor Keener’s murder, or if he simply seized on the opportunity to do Shane further harm,” Naomi says as she looks over the updated timeline. “We don’t know if those who interrogated Shane were involved in the assassination, or if they were simply doing what covert agencies do, investigating a possible security breach. Much is yet to be determined.”

  “Or she,” I say, just to be snippy.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You said ‘he.’ ‘He’ framed Shane. Why couldn’t it be a she? Hell hath no fury like, that sort of thing.”

  Boss lady nods agreeably. “I stand corrected. He or she. Either is plausible, assuming that whoever has done this has attained a position of power, enabling them to orchestrate or take advantage. Mrs. Mancero doesn’t seem to have that much power at first glance.” Naomi pauses, gives me a thoughtful look. “It might be useful if you make a list of what we know and what we don’t.”

  I’m still in a mood, and therefore resist. “We can’t know what we don’t know. Quoting the great philosopher Donald Rumsfeld.”

  “Not even slightly true,” Naomi says, amused. “I’ve just pointed out a couple of things we don’t know. There are many more, and they’re all pertinent to the case and may help clear the way to a solution. Right and left columns, please.”

  “You’re serious.”

  This warrants a stern look. “When am I not?”

  True enough. Fully aware there is merit to her suggestion, I begin to lay out the knowns and unknowns.

  KNOWN

  - MIT Professor Joseph Keener founds Quanta Gate, top-secret research facility, with financial backing of investor J. Bing

  - Keener meets Chinese female, Ming-Mei (stage name?)

  - Keener brings Ming-Mei to Boston

  - Keener and Ming-Mei have baby, born in Cambridge

  - Ming-Mei returns to Hong Kong with boy, Joey

  - Ming-Mei reports Joey abducted from Hong Kong mall

  - Keener goes to Hong Kong & China, searching for missing son; no result

  - 18 months later, Keener contacts Randall Shane

  - Keener receives video of Joey in custody of K. Mancero

  - K. Mancero known to Shane from previous case

  - Keener executed with Shane’s gun

  - Blood evidence planted, Shane’s motel

  - State police alerted via Homeland

  - Shane abducted by covert ops, for purposes of enhanced interrogation

  - J. Bing killed shortly after interview with Jack

  UNKNOWN

  - Did Prof. Keener pass secrets to foreign agents?

  - Ming-Mei’s real name

  - Ming-Mei’s relationships (if any) in Hong Kong

  - Who abducted Joey in Hong Kong

  - Why Joey was abducted

  - Where Joey’s been held for the last 18 months

  - Who brought Joey back to U.S.

  - How K. Mancero got involved

  - Present location of Joey

  - Who killed Professor Keener

  - Who framed Shane for the murder

  - Why Shane is being framed

  - What covert agency grabbed Shane

  - Who killed J. Bing

  - Why J. Bing killed

  Very discouraging. Listed like this it makes it look like we don’t know much of anything worth knowing, but that can’t be true, can it? Surely it matters that we’ve identified the mystery woman, that we’re virtually certain Randall Shane has been framed by powerful enemies, that the boy is alive, that…wait, hold on.

  Going back to the boy, five-year-old Joey, my pencil hesitates over his name like a nervous dowsing rod. Alive? Do we know that? We know he was alive when the video was shot, but that was before the professor was executed in his own home. At which point everything changed, did it not? With the father dead, is there any reason to keep the boy alive? Whatever leverage the child may have represented, surely that no longer applies. Would he not be expendable?

  Taking my shorthand pad, I quick-walk back to the command center, drop it on Naomi’s desk. Busy at the phone, she barely gives me a glance.

  “Alive or dead, your call.”

  She looks up, cups her hand to the phone. “Alice?”
/>   “Joey Keener, age five. Which column? Alive or dead?”

  Naomi hangs up with a crisp “I’ll get back to you.” She glances at the shorthand notebook, which I’m ninety percent sure she can’t decipher, and leans back in her seat, signaling me to continue.

  I say, “Whoever took the boy had a reason. To pry secrets out of his father, to make him cooperate, whatever. Didn’t that reason end when Keener died?”

  “Quite possibly, but we knew that. We’ve known it all along. Nothing has changed.” Naomi’s expression remains maddeningly neutral, as if the subject under discussion is purely theoretical. “Not an hour ago, when we were discussing recent developments I said, ‘if he still lives,’ in reference to the boy. Odds for his survival can’t be calculated. He is either in one state or the other, alive or dead, and speculation on our part will have no effect on his survival. True, we have not yet established a scenario in which it makes logical sense for the abductors to keep the boy alive. Also true, we do not know the precise motivations for kidnapping the child in the first place, therefore our predictive results may be flawed. And the third truth, the one I suggest you cling to, is that Randall Shane believes the boy is alive. Those were among his very first words, upon regaining consciousness.”