I was more confused than relieved when the driver of the SUV pulled into the ramp leading to the underground entrance to the Thomas Eagleton Federal Building. My relief that my kidnappers weren’t David Tran’s goons gave way to the realization this particular goon squad belonged to the Federal Government. I couldn’t imagine what we had done that could account for this kind of treatment.
The SUV pulled next to a bank of elevators. We were hustled into separate cars that took us to the eighth floor, where we were hustled into separate interrogation rooms and told to sit down. It was the strangest feeling, sitting there looking at the mirror on the wall, knowing someone on the other side was probably staring at you. I was still scared, but there was also a little slow brewing anger building. I was also worried about Cindy, whose fragile mental health concerned me.
After the longest 10 minutes of my life, a short but very buff looking man wearing a suit walked in the room, slapped a file on the table, and sat down across from me. If that was intended to intimidate me, it worked.
“My name is Special Agent Douglas Prentice,” he said. “Why have you been following Nguyan Thj Dung?”
I thought about asking for an attorney and refusing to talk, but I couldn’t think of anything we had done that could be considered remotely illegal. Besides, I was really starting to get pissed off.
“Why were we kidnapped on a public street?” I countered.
“This will go a whole lot better for you if you just cooperate. There are any number of things you could be charged with.”
“Why don’t you enlighten me then?” I asked. “Because honestly, I can’t imagine anything we’ve done that’s illegal.”
Prentice breathed heavily, as if I were being a pain in his ass, and finally said. “Nguyan Thj Dung is the subject of a federal investigation. You could be charged with interfering with a federal investigation.”
“OK, was that so hard?” I asked. “I’m a private investigator. My agency was hired by Matt Daniels at Tri-State Insurance. Dung filed a workers’ comp claim and Matt thinks it’s fraudulent. We were hired to check it out. Look, my brother Dave Meyer is a member of the Major Case Squad. Why don’t you call him and check me out?”
Conversation seemed to be a problem for Agent Prentice, who sat there considering my response. Finally he stood up, closed the folder, and headed for the door.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “What about my companion? What about my one phone call?”
The door closed behind Prentice and I was left alone again to contemplate the next stage. I decided I was going to play the lawyer card the next time Prentice returned. I figured any further admissions on my part would only get me in more trouble.
Thirty minutes later, to my intense relief, my brother Dave walked in the room with a sardonic grin on his face. I had seen that look on his face during our childhood and it usually meant I was the victim of some kind of prank.
“So, Dave, what the hell is going on?” I asked, summoning as much indignation as I could muster.
“They’re letting you go.”
“That’s big of them,” I said. “They kidnapped us on a public street for God’s sake. Where’s Cindy?”
“Let’s get out of here. I’ll explain everything, but there’s a problem.”
“What’s the problem?” I asked.
“Cindy had a meltdown,” he said. “She’s sitting in the corner of the interrogation room muttering about snakes.”
Chapter Sixty
Billy Diamond passed the cement trucks as they left the lot. He waved at the drivers, assuming they had just completed pouring the foundation for his new house. He felt it was essential to visit the site every day to insure the work was completed properly even though his enthusiasm for the project had been diminishing in recent weeks.
Marian had insisted they have lunch at the club though Billy would have preferred a big cheeseburger at Fast Eddie’s, a local bar featuring great appetizers and burgers. Lunch had ended badly when Marian started complaining about financial issues again, and then suggested that maybe they couldn’t remain married if Billy wouldn’t show her all his assets.
As he stepped out of the car, Billy tried to picture the completed house on the site. He walked to where the front door would be and looked through the back at the view. It was going to be a fantastic view of the river just as they had hoped. He knew he was being unreasonable with Marian, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. The constant nagging brought out his stubborn streak, something he supposed he had hidden during the dating process. There was also something he couldn’t quite put his finger on that disturbed him about the questions.
Admittedly, Marian also hid a lot during the dating process. She didn’t seem to care one bit about finances and was very interested in having sex, sometimes in some fairly surprising places. So Billy, totally confused by her sudden, intense interest in show me the money, while simultaneously cutting off sexual activity, considered what his next move should be.
Billy wondered if total capitulation was the answer, though it went against his nature. Another thing that concerned him was whether that would even fix the problem. Would surrender now mean he should expect every disagreement to end the same way?
Everything seemed so easy and peaceful when he first met Marian and her children. It was so much fun back then, when his life was filled with parties, dinners, picnics, and constant activity. There was very little pressure except for the gentle teasing about getting married.
For the first time, Billy wondered if he had made a big mistake. Until now, he had resisted that line of thought. Quitting or bailing out was also against his nature, but the thought of facing these battles for whatever time he had left was repugnant. Maybe it was time to issue an ultimatum of his own.
Billy thought of Roni and wondered if he should talk to her about his problems. He would have to figure out a way to tell her to back off and get along with Marian. What a mess, he thought, as he got back in the car. A better strategy might be to wait until he had a better handle on what he was going to do. Bad mouthing Marian now and then staying married might make everything worse. He decided to feel out Roni over lunch, vowing to avoid telling her how he really felt. Billy pressed Roni’s name on his favorites screen.
“Hey, Dad, how’s it going?” Roni asked.
“Ok, I guess,” Billy said. “I’ve missed you. When can you do lunch?”
“I’ve missed you, too,” Roni said. “How about Saturday?”
“That sounds good,” he said. “How about noon at Fast Eddie’s?”
“That works,” Roni said as her phone beeped, indicating she had a call from Kitty. Look, Dad, I’ve got a call on the other line. I’ll see you Saturday.”
“Is everything OK, Kit?” Roni asked after she pressed end call. “I know this is third time you called. I’ve been driving back and couldn’t get service until the last couple of minutes.”
“No, everything is not OK. Cindy and I got kidnapped by the FBI while we were tailing Ho Chi Minh. Turns out Ho is one of the leaders of the biggest sex slave operation in the country.”
“Wait a minute,” she said. “Did you say they kidnapped you?”
“Yeah, Cindy and I were following Ho. They blocked our car, pulled us out, put us in separate vehicles, and took us to the Eagleton Building. Cindy freaked out. To be honest, I freaked out, too, but I got past it. Cindy hasn’t. I brought her to my condo instead of the office. Can you come here?”
“Sure, Ben and I will be there soon,” Roni said.
“Who is Ben?”
“Technically, I guess you’d have to say it’s Ben’s ashes,” she said. “Sitting next to me are the cremated remains of Marian’s second husband in Sikeston.”
“I get it. So, you think it’s time to play the Mary Clare card?”
“You betcha,” she said. “Do you want to set it up? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Chapter Sixty-One
Roni and I took Cindy home, spent the night at
her house, and eventually calmed her down after her meltdown. Overnight thunderstorms mirrored our emotions as we struggled to find the right words. The incident had left me shaken somewhat as well and I think when that realization dawned on Cindy, she finally began to get past the experience. Sleep overtook us all in the early morning hours.
The next morning we slept in and felt relieved when Cindy began joking about our kidnapping. By the time Roni and I left for out lunch date with Mary Clare Flaherty, a friend from high school, Cindy seemed to be in good spirits. The drive to Charlie Gitto’s was completed in silence. I can’t speak for Roni, but my thoughts centered on memories from long ago.
High school did not represent a happy time for me. In addition to the usual issues teenagers face, my mother had been headed for another hospitalization. I can remember sitting in class wondering if this was the day she would decide the mailman was really an FBI agent and needed to be killed.
Most people I know either think high school was the greatest time in their lives or remember feeling awkward and not really fitting in. Other than with Roni, I chose not to fit in. Ours was not a house you could ever feel comfortable bringing your friends to, so for me it was just easier not to have any. Roni was the only exception, and it was only because she refused to be rebuffed.
I wish I could say I was the attraction, but I think our friendship began because Roni had a crush on my older brother. Also, since Roni was an only child, she was fascinated by the sight of 10 children interacting. She would sit at the dinner table, amazed at the huge bowls of food necessary to feed 12 people. My mother liked Roni, who was smart enough to charm her into acceptance. When Roni was around, my mother mostly was able to hide the crazy parts as if she somehow needed Roni’s approval.
Roni has that effect on a lot of people and was easily one of the most popular girls in high school. She belonged in almost every group and even managed to pick up strays like me and Crazy Cindy. Mary Clare Flaherty was the smartest girl in the whole school with perfect test scores.
Smart girls aren’t so popular in high school. It’s much better to be a handsome jock or a good-looking cheerleader. That’s the ticket in high school. Lucky for most of us, that’s not the case later on. Plain, smart girls figure out how to maximize their looks, get an education, and the really smart ones aren’t obsessed with marrying well.
Black clouds to the north threatened again as I pulled into the parking lot of Charlie Gitto’s in Chesterfield. I hadn’t seen Mary Clare for years. She fled Hillsboro after high school, and never looked back. With scholarships to Washington University from undergrad to medical school, she finished Summa Cum Laude. She was well known throughout the area as the St. Louis County Medical Examiner.
After I parked, Roni and I entered the restaurant, headed for the hostess stand, and immediately spotted Mary Clare sitting at a table near the entrance. This was the new and improved Mary Clare; stylish clothes, great haircut, and perfectly applied makeup. The dishwater blond hair I remembered from high school had been replaced by a tinted blond hue with highlights and the big, black glasses were long gone in lieu of contacts or lasik. Roni and I settled in across from Mary Clare, who was the first to break the silence.
“You guys look great,” Mary Clare said.
“You do, too,” Roni said.
“The revenge of the nerds,” I said as we all laughed.
Our waiter arrived, took drink orders, and left as we traded personal history updates. Mary Clare joked about being married to the job and seemed fascinated by our career-changing conversion from nursing to private investigation. After the waiter took our orders, we plunged ahead with the reason for our lunch date.
“So, I’m guessing this lunch isn’t just about old friends catching up,” Mary Clare said.
“That’s true,” I said. “Although I think we should do this on a regular basis.”
“I agree,” Roni said. “I’ve been doing some personal investigation on my father’s new wife. Four of her previous husbands are dead. I don’t want my dad to be number five.”
“How do you think she’s doing it?” Mary Clare asked.
“Some kind of poison,” Roni said.
“Are there bodies we could exhume?” Mary Clare asked.
“No, that’s the problem,” Roni said. “She’s had them all cremated.”
“That’s not good,” Mary Clare said. “I don’t see how I can help you.”
“What about cremated remains?” Roni asked. “I have possession of husband number four’s remains. Ben is out in the car right now.”
“Well, I don’t want to totally kill, pardon the pun, your enthusiasm,” Mary Clare said. “We can test for some poisons and heavy metals in cremated remains but a lot of them we can’t detect, at least at this point in time.”
“The technology gets better?” I asked.
“All the time,” Mary Clare said. “Why don’t I test it now and see what I come up with? You’ll just have to accept if it’s negative, it doesn’t necessarily rule out poisoning. There’s another factor also in play here. Successful cremains testing is tied directly to the level of efficiency regarding the cremation process.”
“You make the chances sound dismal,” I said.
“They are kind of dismal,” Mary Clare said. “I’d rather have a body any day. Even then, though, it’s tricky. If she uses something fast acting that dissipates quickly like insulin or potassium chloride, you wouldn’t find that even in a body.”
“I get it,” Roni said. “If it’s negative, why don’t you keep Ben’s ashes? If some new technology comes along, you can try it out.”
Chapter Sixty-Two
Roni looked tired the next morning as she finished marking on the whiteboard in our office. Cindy was back at work and in good spirits. This would be Roni’s show and she had laid out the facts of the case on the whiteboard. Lionel and my brother Dave had agreed to attend. Roni had run out of people to interview. It was time to go over everything and see what, if anything, could be done.
Dave and Lionel arrived simultaneously, carrying go cups from Starbucks.
“Hey Lionel,” Dave said. “What are your intentions with my sister?”
“Whoa, Dave,” I said. “Since when did you become my protector?”
“Since Mom and Dad died,” he said. “I’m a cop and your big brother. What did you expect?”
“My intentions are honorable,” Lionel said. “You don’t have to worry.”
“Jeez, I can’t believe we’re having this conversation,” I said.
“You and Lionel have good auras today,” Cindy said as she took a seat.
“How’s my aura?” Dave asked.
“Kinda red and stressed out,” Cindy said.
“How about those FBI guys the other day?” Dave asked.
“Some of them had some very dark auras,” Cindy said. “I think that’s what freaked me out so much. I didn’t think they were the good guys.”
“I didn’t always think that, either,” Lionel said. “Especially the members of the assault teams.”
“They actually made some complimentary remarks about you guys,” Dave said. “I mean you are the ones who really broke the Sloan case. They also wanted me to tell you they took down the Shaw House last night. Your workers’ comp cheater will do hard time. Dung is actually Sandra Ho. David Tran and Ho ran one of the biggest sex slave operations ever busted in this country.”
“Any news on Sloan?” Lionel asked.
“Not yet,” Dave said. “I think we all know that won’t last. He’s regrouping somewhere else. He’ll get some new identities and start all over.”
Roni finished her whiteboard task, listing all five husbands and the outcome of the marriages. She would fill in the rest of the details as she went along.
“Thank you all for coming,” Roni said. “I’ll tell you what I found out, and then you can tell me what you think.”
“That sounds good, Roni,” Dave said. “We’re all friends here.”
&
nbsp; “All stories start at the beginning,” Roni said. “Husband number one was George Fitzgerald back in Lexington, Kentucky, where Marian was born and raised. I spoke with her only living relative besides her children, her brother, Anthony Cirillo. He described her as cold, and claims he hasn’t spoken to her in 40 years. He is convinced she got pregnant on purpose, forcing George to marry her to get out of their unhappy home.”
“How old was she at that point?” Cindy asked.
“She was 17,” Roni said. “That was in 1965. George was a drinker and couldn’t keep a job. Marian had to work and became even more angry and bitter. George fell down the stairs and was cremated in 1975. Marian collected a $200,000 life insurance pay out and left town with the two kids. George’s brother was suspicious but couldn’t prove anything.”
“So, her own brother doesn’t like her?” Lionel asked.
“That’s right,” Roni said. “He described her as manipulative and looking for a free ride. Marian told me her mother died when she was 10, but her brother said it was just the opposite. That her father died when she was young.”
“Why would she lie about that?” Dave asked.
“I’m not sure,” Roni said. “The only thing I can come up with is that Marian thought it would be a kind of bonding thing. When she told me that, she wasn’t married to Billy, so maybe she was trying get my sympathy because my mom died. That’s the only thing I can come up with. Any other ideas?”
“That’s as good as anything I can come up with,” Lionel said. “Just more proof she’s a good liar.”
“Marian moved to Springfield, Missouri, that same year,” Roni said. “She married husband number two, Dennis Barton, in 1978. He had two sons who don’t like Marian. One of them is a lawyer and probably smarter than Marian. He figured out a way to manipulate Marian and steal a lot of his father’s money right out from under her and his brother. Dennis died, and was cremated in 1980. Marian got a million-dollar life insurance pay out, but not much else.”
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