Mark of the Wiseman (The Wiseman Series Book 1)

by Hightower, R. Caresse

  “I have to tell you, most people don’t find it an honor to be murdered.”

  “You moron. My use of them was those girls’ biggest accomplishment.”

  Agent Roswell’s chair scraped the floor when he stood. “And I assume you used your own semen to create these test tube babies?”

  “I told you they weren’t test tube babies!”

  “Oh, right.” Agent Roswell walked to the door. “You’ll have to excuse us morons.”

  “Hey!” Dr. Chang leaned over the table. “What about my deal?”

  “What about it?” Agent Roswell asked as the door closed behind him.

  Klahan was hiding in an abandoned shack in Thailand. He called his boss, Soto, from a disposable cell phone. “I got tipped off the Americans are looking for me.”

  “How close?” Soto asked.

  Klahan wiped sweat off his upper lip. “I’m probably about an hour ahead of them.”

  “Who snitched?”

  Klahan tongued his gold tooth nervously. “Not sure. I think it might be that Chang guy. He paid double for the girls because he needed them fast.” Klahan craned his neck to take a quick peek out of a broken window. “Lost contact with him a few weeks ago.”

  “What are you going to do about this?”

  “I-I…” Klahan swore silently. “I had to shut down operations.”

  “Everything?”

  “I didn’t have time to tell you. I’m sorry.”

  “What about our take?”

  “I still need to collect.”

  “How much?”

  Klahan hesitated. “A lot.”

  “Tell me. Now.”

  “Quarter million.” Klahan swallowed. “U.S. dollars.” He cringed as Soto called him a string of names. “Sorry, boss.”

  “I’m sending a car for you. When you get here, you’ll figure out a way to get my money. Tell me where you are.”

  “No time. Can’t stay here. I have to go underground, boss.”

  “Stay there. I’m sending a car.”

  Klahan trembled when he spoke. He’d never disobeyed Soto before. “I can’t. Sorry.”

  Klahan threw the phone on the floor and crushed it under his boot. After another glance out the window, he burst out the back door and broke into a run toward the forest.

  Four days later, Agent Roswell had him in custody.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  A crash startled Agent Roswell from his sleep. He sat up in bed and yelled, “Missy?”

  A voice answered from downstairs. “Sorry, Dad. I knocked the candy bowl off the table.”

  He waited for his heart to stop pounding and checked the clock. Yawning, he got out of bed and stretched. Downstairs, he found his teenage daughter leaning over the armrest of her wheelchair.

  “What happened, Sunshine?”

  Missy’s live-in caregiver, Carmen, came bustling out of the kitchen, drying her hands with a towel. “Oh crap. I wiped off the table and didn’t put the candy back where it was.”

  “I bumped into the table… again,” Missy said.

  Agent Roswell kissed the top of Missy’s head. “It’s okay.” He started to pick up the pieces of glass.

  “Jake, I’ll get that.”

  “It’s okay, Carmen. You look like you were busy in the kitchen.”

  “But-”

  “No, seriously, it’s okay. I got this.”

  Carmen lingered for a moment. “Well, okay. Missy, breakfast in ten.”

  “Okay,” Missy said.

  Carmen smiled and went back to the kitchen. Agent Roswell threw the candy dish pieces into the trash. “Did you hurt yourself, Sunshine?”

  “No.” She gave a clandestine glance toward the kitchen door and grinned.

  “Missy, don’t start.”

  She giggled. “Dad, seriously, when are you going to ask Carmen out?”

  “Okay, one more time.” Agent Roswell sat in an armchair next to his daughter. “I’m not going to date your caregiver.”

  She rolled her eyes. “There’s no rule about dating caregivers.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be eating breakfast?”

  “I’ve seen the way you look at her and I know for a fact,” she said “fact” in that gossipy teen way, “that she thinks you’re a hottie.”

  “Missy!”

  “What? Women talk about you all the time. My legs might not work, but I can hear just fine.”

  Agent Roswell sighed. “We already discussed this.”

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re too busy to date. That’s why Carmen is so perfect. She knows how nuts you are about your job and she still likes you.”

  “You don’t-”

  “Plus, she’s so awesome with me. Even you said so.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “And we need a woman around. Let’s face it, I’m going to need some guidance, and that puberty talk you gave me was just, well… it was a disaster, Dad.”

  They both laughed.

  “Missy!” Carmen called.

  Missy started to roll to the kitchen. “Coming!”

  Agent Roswell walked to the stairs. “Tell Carmen I’ll be back in twenty. I’m going for a run.”

  “Okay. Love you.”

  “Love you more, Sunshine.”

  Agent Roswell felt better as soon as the crisp morning air hit him. He jogged down the street and tried to forget Missy’s pleading. Did he like Carmen? Yes, but after Missy’s mother walked out, he’d been hesitant to date seriously. And he didn’t have time to think about it now.

  He was still trying to figure out how Dr. Wiseman fit into Dr. Chang’s madness. Because Dr. Chang was a narcissist, he took credit for everything including, Agent Roswell suspected, things he hadn’t actually done. On the other hand, Dr. Wiseman wasn’t taking credit for anything, and Agent Roswell found that just as suspicious. Now he had to distinguish what roles these two doctors played in the trafficking, and why in the hell they were growing babies.

  It wasn’t lost on Agent Roswell that Dr. Wiseman had an interest in Iris Meesang. When she had been questioned by a translator the day the girls were discovered in the basement, Iris hadn’t given any indication of Dr. Wiseman’s involvement, but then again, her memory gaps were pretty extensive.

  Agent Roswell ran up and down the neighborhood park stairs a few times before running laps on the track and then back home. He thought over the details of the case as he showered and dressed.

  He noted the somewhat recent release and disappearance of Penelope Patton. The timeframes of Dr. Chang’s trafficking and her time in town overlapped. Plus, Dr. Wiseman definitely knew her. Agent Roswell had seen a picture of them together at a fundraiser. He needed to check for any communication among the doctors.

  He heard Missy’s chair roll onto the hardwood floors behind him.

  “Carmen’s taking me to the mall. Wanna come with us?”

  “I can’t, Sunshine. I’m working on a case.”

  “Today is supposed to be your day off.”

  “Day off?” He laughed. “What’s that?”

  Missy gave him her that’s-not-funny look.

  “I’ll go next time,” he said.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Missy swiveled around. “You always say that.”

  “Missy?”

  She turned back around.

  “Are you happy?”

  “Of course, I’m happy.”

  “I feel like maybe I should have… I mean with your mom gone, I should have-”

  “I’m happy, Dad.” She laughed and cocked her head to the side. “You’re such a worrywart.”

  Agent Roswell cleared his throat. “I have to be when I have a daredevil for a daughter.”

  Missy did a wheelie and spun around. “Whoo-hoo!”

  “God, I hate it when you do that.”

  The wheelchair’s front wheels landed with a thud. Missy smiled brightly. “I know. I’ll probably do it again in the driveway.”

  “Missy.”

  She started rolling out of the room. “Sorry, can’t hear y
ou.”

  “Be careful!”

  “Bye, Dad. Love you.”

  He chuckled. “Love you more, Sunshine.”

  He watched Carmen’s van back out of the driveway and stared at the street long after they’d driven off.

  The phone rang.

  “Hi, Agent Roswell. It’s Gwynn from the hospital.”

  “Hi, Gwynn.”

  “You wanted us to call you if Dr. Wiseman came back?”

  “That’s right.”

  “He just walked in.”

  Agent Roswell grabbed his coat. “I’m on my way.”

  When William and Demetri walked into Iris’s room, she sat up and waved.

  “Sa bai dee.”

  Demetri laughed. “Someone’s feeling better. She says hello.”

  William sat in the chair next to Iris’s bed. Demetri took his place at the window. Iris’s huge smile was at odds with her appearance. She seemed paler and even thinner than she had been the first time. He was about to ask her if she was up for a visit, but she spoke first.

  “I hoped you would come back,” Demetri translated.

  “Yes, we heard that you were very sick,” William said.

  She nodded and spoke.

  “I am doing better every day now,” Demetri said.

  “I’m glad.” William rested his elbows on his knees. “Iris, can you tell me anything else about your time in the basement? Any other people, or anything that happened?”

  Iris’s smile faded as Demetri translated.

  “It was cold… dark,” Demetri said after Iris had spoken.

  “Did you ever leave the basement?”

  “Yes. I rode in a car to… to… a place.” She started to look upset. “There was a woman there.”

  “What did she do?”

  “They put me in a chair with things,” Iris drew two circles in the air as Demetri spoke, “to put my feet in.”

  “Did they use a sonogram machine?”

  Iris stared at him and Demetri in turn. William scanned the room, looking for a way to get his question across. He finally picked up the telephone receiver and rubbed it on his stomach like a transducer.

  Iris nodded. William placed the receiver back onto its base.

  “How many times?” he asked.

  Iris shrugged.

  “What happened to the other girls?”

  “Jake told me my friends are gone.”

  “Your friends?”

  “Ratana and Khone were with me in the dark place. They talked to me and made me feel… like I wasn’t alone.” She twisted the corner of the sheet around her finger. “Now they are gone.”

  William took a deep breath. “What do you want, Iris? I mean, if you could have whatever you wanted, what would it be?”

  Iris thought a while before responding.

  “I want to finish school. I like learning. I… want to live somewhere where there’s no yelling, where no one calls me names.” She smiled weakly and Demetri returned the smile, translating. “Get married maybe.”

  “How are you with children?”

  Demetri gave William a curious look, but translated.

  “Very good. I had six cousins, all younger than me. After work, I’d come home and care of them.”

  William shifted in his seat. “My wife… is having our first baby this year.”

  Instead of translating, Demetri said, “Really? That’s great, man. Congrats.”

  “Thank you. Tell Iris that and ask her if she would consider being our nanny.”

  Demetri stared at William.

  “What?” William asked.

  “I know this is none of my business, but are you sure about this?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re offering her a job as a nanny, but what if Eve has another miscarriage?”

  “Let me worry about that. Just ask her, please.”

  Demetri did so hesitantly and waited for Iris’s response. “She wants you to ask Jake.”

  “Jake?”

  Iris pointed to the doorway.

  William turned around. Agent Roswell was leaning against the door as if he’d been there forever. William could have kicked himself. In all the chaos, he’d never gotten Agent Roswell’s first name.

  “How long have you been here?” William asked.

  “Long enough,” Agent Roswell said. “May I speak to the two of you in the hall?”

  Iris waved at Agent Roswell and he gave her a nod and a smile. The three men walked out of Iris’s room.

  “Dr. Wiseman, what exactly are you trying to get out of my witness?”

  “Nothing. I feel compassion toward this girl. She’s been through a lot and I want to help her.”

  “What was it you and Dr. Chang cooked up, huh?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Agent Roswell leaned closer to William. “There is something you aren’t telling me and I’m going to find out what it is. I know Dr. Chang had his dirty, little hands in this gnarly shit, but there is no way that idiot did it without you.”

  William laughed uneasily. “I told you, Dr. Chang did it all on his own.”

  Agent Roswell lifted his chin. “I never took you for a coward, doctor.”

  “I’m not a coward!”

  A nurse poked her head around the corner. “Gentlemen, please!”

  William walked away. “Excuse me.”

  Demetri followed him to the elevator.

  “Play insulted all you want,” Agent Roswell said to his back. “Make no mistake. I will be watching you like a hawk until I find the missing piece. Understand?”

  When the elevator doors opened, William rushed inside and punched the main floor button repeatedly.

  “Wow,” Demetri said, “what was that?”

  “Just a pretentious government agent.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Not really.” They walked to the parking deck. “That guy makes me so angry.”

  “He was quite accusatory.”

  “Exactly.” William pulled out his keys from his pocket. “Listen, if Iris ends up working for me, I’m going to need your help. I’ll pay you.”

  “I don’t know. This seems a little weird to me, William. I feel like maybe you aren’t thinking straight.”

  “I’m fine. I know this seems unorthodox to you, but I know what I’m doing.”

  Demetri cocked his head to the side. “Do you?”

  “Yes. Can you help me or not?”

  Demetri shrugged and said slowly, “I mean, if you’re paying…”

  “Great. I’ll call you later when I know more.”

  William looked over his shoulder before getting into his car. He had a feeling he’d be checking over his shoulder for a long time to come.

  Eve opened the bag William had just given her. “What’s this?”

  “It’s called a Lunar Bump.” William pulled out the brown prosthetic belly. “It’s made of silicone. I got it custom matched for you. Feel.”

  Eve touched it.

  “Just like skin, right?”

  She hesitated. “Sort of. It’s cold.”

  William turned the belly over. Embedded in the silicone was a small dial. “It has a heater. Once it warms up, no one will be able to tell the difference.” He pointed to two more bags. “You have other sizes too.”

  Eve tried on the smallest belly. “Wow.” She turned to the side and looked in the mirror. “Do you think it can fool Agnes… and my sister?”

  “I hope so.”

  Eve smoothed her shirt over the belly. “How do I look?”

  “Beautiful.”

  She smiled back at him and took off the belly. “So, I guess I can start wearing this one around mid-March?”

  He held the bag open so Eve could put the belly back in. “Sounds about right. Oh.” William handed her a folder.

  Eve opened it. “A sonogram?”

  “Yet another feature of the pod. Now you have something to show. You were right. We’re having a b
oy.”

  Eve squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”

  “Didn’t I tell you I’d fix it?”

  “You did.” She looked at him. “Agnes is folding laundry downstairs. Let’s go up and see him.”

  William held her still. “Evie, I told you we can’t go running to the attic when Agnes is here.”

  “But she’s downstairs.”

  “She saw you coming from the east wing last night when you thought she was in the kitchen, remember? If you want to see him when she’s here, use the remote access on my phone.”

  She grimaced, but nodded. William handed her his phone as he waited for her to enter the password.

  “Ah… I can’t wait to meet him.”

  “Evie, I need to ask you something.”

  She wandered to her chaise without taking her eyes off the screen.

  “I’m going to ask you to keep an open mind about this.”

  She put down the phone. “What is it?”

  He sat on the bed and rested his elbows on his knees. “Remember that girl I told you about? Iris?”

  She nodded. “The one in the hospital.”

  “Yeah, she’s doing better.”

  “Good.”

  “She is really nice.”

  “Nice?”

  “Yeah.”

  Eve narrowed her eyes.

  “And she has a lot of childcare experience.”

  “What are you getting at, Will?”

  “I told Iris she could work for us… as a nanny.”

  “Say what?”

  “Evie”

  “Did you bump your head?”

  William held out his hands. “Hear me out.”

  Eve shook her head. “This is crazy.”

  “Listen. When we were testing the pod last year, Fai was in charge of providing us with embryos. He was supposed to be using a cryogenic bank in Atlanta.”

  “He didn’t?”

  “He did, but I can only find release forms for four.”

  “How many did you use?”

  “More than four.”

  Eve rested her fingers on her forehead like she was getting a headache. “Don’t say it.”

  “He was using those girls in his basement and Iris was one of them. I owe her.”

  “Why just her? And why does she have to have such a huge responsibility? Can’t you, I don’t know, give her money or something?”