“Yes, trusting of strangers. It is possible someone else grabbed him Ms. Proctor and you are going to need to deal with that. We are doing all that we can in order to find him.”
“It doesn’t seem like you are doing a damn thing!”
“We’re aren’t going to get anywhere arguing with one another. Please let me handle this the way it needs to be handled. We are doing everything we can do. I assure you of that.”
Shaking her head, she watched as a taxi pulled up in front of her house. Getting out of the cab was Emily. Macey had called her at the same time she had called Detective Wilshire, and she was getting here as quickly as she could. Macey felt as some weight was lifted from her.
“Detective Wilshire,” she said. “My name is Emily Valentini and I am conducting my own investigation alongside of your own.”
“You hired a PI?” he asked, as if it was funny. “They are virtually useless.”
“My partner and I put away William Gemangini and his family among others for their crimes less than six months ago. Completely due to our investigation, not something the cops did. You see, I have a personal connection here and I will do anything to find that boy, which evidently you are ill equipped to do.”
“Are you insulting me?”
“It sure seems that way,” she said, somewhat darkly. “Now, I can take over matters from here, unless you would like to stick around to see if you can actually contribute instead of just listening. A real officer would write down what she is saying, and look,” she said, as she took his notepad, “this is blank. Imagine that. Now you should think about what you are doing next rather carefully.”
He shook his head at her and he began to walk away. Emily shot him a look of disgust and watched as Macey turned and they walked back into the house together. She could sense how tense Macey was, and was unsure of what to do. Comforting people was not her strong suit.
Stepping inside, she walked with Macey into the sitting room, who said, “Clearly, they have not been the greatest of help. I should have come to you from the start.”
“Macey, you trusted them to do their job, but not all cops are well funded and are stretch too thing, or in some cases, they just don’t give a damn. There are only a few that are really good, but apparently there may be a shortage in your county.”
“I can’t think. Delilah said that her son was watching them give him free ice cream. Why would they do that? That just seems so suspicious. They drove away when I started asking questions. I mean, who the hell does that?”
“Someone who is trying to hide something,” Emily said. “I will be doing all that I can, alright? I am here to help you.”
Macey could only nod.
Chapter 29
Meghan saw Quinn standing there in front of her. The door was left open, as if testing her to see if she would make a run for it, but she wanted to hear what Quinn had to say. “What is it you want,” she asked harshly. “Or are you just staring at me hoping to see what I was like as a kid?”
Quinn rose an eyebrow and she broke her gaze. “You have no idea what I regret. But one of my biggest regrets was having you fathered by that man. For your information, I left him instructions, and I have a copy of everything. Come out here and see it all for yourself.”
Hesitating for a moment, curiosity finally got the best of Meghan and she fell in behind. The rest of the basement looked to have been flooded at one point, and she could smell how musty it was. However, the wall dedicated to her father was what got her attention. There were newspaper articles and pictures of him and some of his clients. There were pictures of her growing up as well.
“Where did you get all of these?”
“From a reliable source who was working with me to get your father for his crimes.”
“Was?”
“He died in a car accident the year before I was released.”
“I thought the charge for first degree murder was twenty-five years to life.”
“I had help getting out of prison.”
“Oh yeah,” she asked tartly. “What, did you seduce a guard or something?”
“I don’t see why you are mad at me. Besides, your father thinks I’m dead. There are a lot of people who were wrongly accused and I have all of their case files. Or do you want to just keep pretending that he was a good man?”
“Why would he frame you?”
“I was working to expose him and he found out. When I went to court, I had no proof, I had nothing to get myself out of that situation. The circumstantial and physical evidence were manipulated to make it seem like I was there. It is true that my brother and I were not close, and that we fought, but I would never have killed him.”
“And who did kill him?”
“Alison Peterson.”
“You mean the woman my father is dating? Please, you are delusional.”
“Am I, or are you just hoping I am? Your father is no saint and you know it. He was controlling, manipulative and self-absorbed. The moment you did something without clearing it with him, you were put in your place. Your place was serving him and you listened and tolerated his sexist remarks.”
Meghan laughed. “You have no idea who he is. All of this is utter garbage.”
“Is it? I sent him instructions and here is the copy. Turn the television to channel seven. See what he says.”
Looking at him she shook her head. “And what is going to stop me from just walking out of here?”
“Nothing,” she said. “But if you are anything like me, you would stay here and find out for yourself.”
Standing there alone she was free to go, but Quinn, her mother, was right. She wanted to know. She had to know. She turned on the television and saw a news reporter, and she could see her house behind her.
“This is Stacey Treadwell, live from outside Derek Malone’s residence. We were called here because we were told he had a very important announcement to make about some of his past cases.”
She watched as her father opened the door and he looked to Stacey Treadwell. “Mr. Malone,” she said, as she was putting a microphone into his face. “Someone has reported that there were inconsistencies in past cases. What do you have to say to that?”
He looked into the camera and spoke. “There have been no inconsistencies in my work… ever. That is why I am considered one of the best attorneys in the state. There will always be a few who feel as if their loved ones have wrongly been accused, but no one would want to believe that their loved one had the potential to murder another.”
“So are you stating that you have never had second thoughts about sending someone to prison for life, or even to their death?”
“I have never second-guessed anything. Everyone I sent off to prison deserved to be there for their crimes. That is all I have to say,” he said, and he turned to walk away.
Meghan was looking over the instructions that were left for him, and he was choosing his career instead of her. She felt sick. All her life she knew he had been self-absorbed, but for him to choose himself over her was something she could not swallow. Then again this could be a set-up to make her go to Quinn’s side. She decided to go through all the case files first, and began to read over everything.
There were thirteen cases here and she knew it would take a while to read over all of the transcripts. Taking in a deep breath, she knew she needed to know the truth.
###
Alison had remained in his living room while he spoke with the press. She had been told the entire situation and was not too thrilled that someone had been poking around his past case files. Sitting down across from her, he knew that they needed to talk about this. It was going to be handles, but he didn’t want to know what she had planned.
“You know I am attached to five of those cases,” she finally said. “Now, I want to know who is behind this, and take them out.”
“Honey, there is no need for you to go to jail, I promise you that. Whoever this is has left me a bur
ner phone, and I am sure I will be hearing back from them shortly.”
The burner phone was on the coffee table and he was watching it almost as if it was going to ring, but it did not. Maybe they weren’t going to call him. Good. Maybe they had accepted this was all over and in the past. He was more than happy at that.
Looking back to Alison, she did not seem to be convinced that she wouldn’t be exposed. Each of her kills was totally logical. He knew exactly why she did it, and he would be lying if he said he didn’t understand. No, Derek Malone had never really been him, but no one, even those with a trained eye knew that he was not who he said he was.
“You don’t think they know anything of real importance?”
“No, nothing whatsoever. We were careful, and in each of those cases they were convinced that the others were guilty.”
“I know. You don’t think they would be looking into it after this newscast?”
“No. I have been working as a prosecutor for too many years. I am one of the most important figures in this city.”
Alison nodded. He remembered growing up with her. Ever since they were children, they had been close. Their parents had been close as well, and he remembered the day he had been taken elsewhere after the accident. He had been in child protective services until his father was well enough to take him back and Derek Malone had been born. They had moved and his entire life changed.
“I know you are and that is exactly why I trust you.”
He watched as she walked towards him and sat down beside him. Her hand was on his knee and a glass of wine was in her other hand. “We will hit this head on,” she said. “I trust you. I always have.”
###
David was in the electronics section and was having the most difficult time figuring out what tablet to get Emily. There were so many different models and the terminology was overwhelming. He did not want to buy her the wrong one, or one of inferior quality. A young gentleman walked up towards him. He was wearing a blue shirt and he smiled somewhat awkwardly at him.
“Is there something I could help you with?” he inquired.
“Uh, actually yes,” David mustered. The man he was speaking with had an accent he could not quite place.
“Alright, so what is it that you are looking for?”
“A tablet, my girlfriend has a cracked screen on hers right now, and it is also an older model. I am just wanting to surprise her.”
“I understand. What does she use her tablet for?”
“Checking e-mails, searches, anything you can use a tablet for I guess. She is always using it.”
“Ah, you would want to look at this model. It has our best memory storage. It is very quick in loading and the screen is extremely durable.”
David touched the screen and he saw how slim and sleek it was. The price tag was also something that he was not anticipating, but he knew it was well worth the money. “Yeah, I’ll take it. And then whatever warranty comes with that sort of thing.”
“Great, just follow me and I can ring you up.”
Following behind him, David realized he was taller. They got to the desk and he watched as the man was typing in a few things. “I’m sorry, I did not catch your name.”
“My name is Kingsley,” he said politely. His eyes had not looked up from the monitor and he finally did. “Everything is on the screen for you,” he said pointing. “Now this comes with a two year warranty. So, if anything goes wrong with it we will take care of it for you free of charge. And if it cannot be fixed, we will explore a replacement option for you.”
Nodding, he did not care about all the details, just the product he was getting today. He would worry about the rest down the line. Swiping his card, he heard as the receipt was being printed out. He watched as Kingsley stapled the receipt to the pamphlet of the warranty. He stuck it in the bag with the tablet and handed it over to him.
“Thank you for your business today, and if there is anything else that you need, feel free to come back.”
“Of course, and thank you,” David said, as he was walking out. He knew Emily was not in town at the moment and he wished it was different. However, she had a good reason for not being here. He was selfish though and would rather have her by his side throughout the night, instead of off in another county with a woman he had never met. The situation that Emily was dealing with for her was one he would love to have more details about, but she was being tight lipped about it.
As he was walking into the congested parking lot, he heard his phone ringing. Fumbling it from his pocket, he quickly answered, “David Orlando speaking.”
“Hey, this is Emily. I’m calling on Macey’s landline.”
“Are you doing alright?”
“Yeah, I can’t say the same for Macey though. I’m just going to stay here until we finish this.”
David did not want to inquire about the ‘what if he isn’t found’ scenario, because hopefully they would be able to find him. “You do what you need to do, and if you need anything, you let me know.”
“I know that. Hey, the photos from Meghan’s are in an e-mail I sent you and I left her daily planner on your personal desk in the house. It is coded and I didn’t have time to look at everything.”
“That is fine. So, did you make any observations while you were there?”
“She was not really close with anyone. There is a single picture of her father, but her personality is seen in all of her furnishing. I did not find anything suspicious or completely wrong.”
“That’s something at least,” he said, as he was getting into his car. “Emily, can you not hang up on me this time?”
“What do you mean?”
He knew that tone. She knew exactly what he was talking about, but he was not going to point that out. “I love you, alright? So you stay safe, and if you need anything I will be there for you the moment you need me.”
“I would never expect anything less. I love you too. I have to go for now. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Sounds great, bye.”
The line disconnected and he was slightly anxious. He could not believe he had actually told her. He had wanted to tell her that for a while now, and now that he had, it just felt—different somehow. He didn’t know how to explain it, but he somehow knew that everything was fine. Emily was all he had ever wanted, and all that he needed.
Chapter 30
Sitting comfortably on the seat, Ashlynn looked at her monitor intently. She had not attempted to contact the man who had the little boy, she needed to wait for an opportune time. Looking to the timer in the right hand corner, she saw that there were still fifty-two hours and six minutes left in the auction and she was more than certain that it would end before the time ran out. Most of them would communicate directly with the potential buyer and if the bid peaked their interest they would close it all. Hopefully no one had made an interesting offer.
Ellie was sitting across from Ashlynn and she had three monitors up. She shook her head. “I can’t track anything,” she said with anger. “I so dislike it when they are smart.”
“Well, that only tells us that the guy has done this before.”
“Yeah, well if that is the case we know we are going to be dealing with someone who knows the system. What do you think, a previous offender?”
“Not in Russick County,” Ashlynn said. “No, this guy is probably from a neighboring state or even county. I think we should go over all the missing children in the state that fit the description of Blake.”
“That has to be dozens of kids.”
“I know.”
Her fingers were flying over the keys and she paused for a moment. She had too many passwords for all of these dang systems. Finally, she remembered it. It took a moment to load and she was typing in all of her keywords. Her system took a moment and it turned over only three files that were close enough to match.
“What do you have?” Ellie asked, as she began to nibble at her bag of pretzel
s.
“Isaiah Joiner, Riley Baxter, and Samuel Carson. They were all toddlers when they went missing from their homes. Each of the parents was wealthy and seemed to have nannies watching the kids while they were away. Only one of the nannies, a Johanna Pampi, was assaulted and reported the crime within minutes. She gave a full description of the man, but no one ever caught him.”
“Did he even come up in the database?”
“No, but look at this,” she said, as she turned the monitor towards Ellie. “He matches each of these boys, doesn’t he? Not in a paternal way, but they share the same hair and eye color.”
“Do you think he was someone lost in the system?”
“I don’t think so. He was probably ignored by the system.”
“What makes you say that?”
“It is just a hunch, but all of these kids came from the upper class. It seems as though he is targeting them out of spite.”
Ellie shook her head. “We are going to figure this out.”
“Hopefully before it’s too late,” Ashlynn said, with the final word. Both of them were lost in thought about past cases where they had failed. Each of them was determined to get this kid back to his mother.
###
David was looking through everything that evening and he was mostly trapped by the planner that Emily had left. He did not understand what it all meant, but it had to mean something. Taking a break, he decided he needed to get away from this for a moment. Hopefully, by taking a step back from this situation he would be able to decode what she had scribbled there. He knew he needed to stop thinking about all of it for that to happen.
Fiddling on the computer, he was concentrating in complete silence and nearly jumped out of his skin when the phone rang. The caller ID was blocked, but he answered it regardless. “Orlando speaking.”
“Yes, David, this is Derek Malone calling, and I just want to let you know that I will no longer be needing your services.”
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