“I spoke with my mother last evening after they got to their resort and with my dad just a few minutes ago.”
“Perfect. You were saying something about your father?”
“Yes. He knows where I am staying and knows I’m safe, and since he and my mom are together and very safe, he wants you to call him and give him updates on your progress.”
“Fine. Text me over the number where I can reach him.” Derek glanced at Ralph who was still holding his gaze on Derek’s cell phone. “You probably didn’t hear yet, but Doctor Mark Rinaldo was killed late last night.”
“Oh, I did hear,” Thomas said. “I won’t tell you where I am, but just know that I can get Chicago news and Chicago police radio on my cell phone. What I heard was that his head was bashed in, unlike what happened to Zudak.”
“What happened to Zudak?” Derek asked. Ralph lifted his gaze and met Derek’s eyes.
The questioning look in his eyes let Derek know that Ralph had no idea what happened to Henry Zudak.
“Looks like my brother has crossed off more names. Zudak was found in a hotel outside of Chicago. I guess he was strangled to death. His wife found him dead in their hotel room.”
“If it’s your brother who killed these two, that means he is in Chicago and is probably actively looking for you. You need to assure me that you are in a very secure location and that you have an exit strategy in case your brother pays a visit.”
“If you saw where I was and knew who was around me, you wouldn’t worry at all.”
Ralph shot a strange look to Derek and mouthed “who was around me?” to Derek. Derek shrugged his shoulders and made a mental note to try to find out more about Thomas’s location if and when knowing became important.
“Listen Thomas, I’ll call your father as soon as I can, but I need to know if you let anyone know that I was headed to Albany?”
“No one. Why?”
“Did you call Hertz and have them leave a note for me, welcoming me to Albany?”
“Hell no,” Thomas said. “If you got a note, that means that someone else knows you are on the case. That really concerns me.”
“Me too,” Derek said.
“Any idea who it could have been who left that note?”
“I have a short list of possibilities,” Derek said.
“Well I’m sure my name is on that list, but I promise you that I had nothing to do with it. I hope you believe me.”
“I do,” Derek said honestly. “Wouldn’t make sense for you to hire me only to set me up.”
“Listen,” Thomas said after a short pause, “I need to get running. Please make sure you call my father and keep me informed about any developments. I assume that you will be headed back this way soon?”
“You text me his number, and I will call. As far as my next steps with this investigation, I will let you know when I figure it out. You stay safe.”
“Talk with you soon.”
It was the relaxed tone of Thomas’s voice that most worried Derek. While he was happy that his client believed he was safe and protected, Derek couldn’t help but wonder why Thomas seemed to be a man without a care in the world. Maybe his attitude was the curse of being the only child of wealthy parents, or maybe his parents were overly protective since they had already lost, or thought they’d lost, their other son, and had no interest in ever losing letting anything happen to Thomas.
Whatever the reason for Thomas’s apparent relaxed nature, Derek assumed that a relaxed attitude was better than a paranoid one, though the latter seemed to Derek to be more appropriate.
The two men walked back into the diner just as their food was being walked over to their table.
“I’ve always had good timing when it came to food,” Ralph joked. “So, you headed back to the Windy City?”
“I don’t know,” Derek said. “I’m surprised that you didn’t hear about Zudak.”
“Shouldn’t be,” Ralph said as he shoved a folded piece of toast, heavily dipped in egg yolk into his mouth. “You should understand the filters involved in police work. See, once the state police took over my investigation, they started handling all communications between other departments. I know they contacted Chicago, and I also know that Chicago is gonna send any intel back to the state police. Hell, they probably don’t even know that some police department of a tiny town is involved. And that is just fine with me!” Ralph paused to drink a swallow of coffee and to take another bite out of his toast. “So when something happens in Chicago, the powers to be out there call the powers that be here, that being the state police, and I get filtered out. I betcha I get a call before too long from the state police letting me know about Zudak and any details that they deem me worthy of knowing. Till that happens, I focus on what I can focus on. And that is solving this mystery.”
“The fact that two of the doctors whose names were on the list you found at the lodge were killed in Chicago confirms that Alexander is not working alone,” Derek said.
“Well, I think we agree on that matter. But how do the murders in Chicago prove that?” Ralph asked.
“I highly doubt that Alexander learned how to drive a car while he was held up in those rooms of his. Which means that for him to get to Chicago as quickly as it appears he has, that he either took some form of public transportation or was driven there. And based on those pictures of him in that file, I don’t think the public transportation option is likely. And, while I don’t like to make any rash assumptions, I am liking Straus as the accomplice.”
“Now that is something that I’d like to hear more about. Your figuring that Straus is the guy behind this whole mess. You keep talking, and I’ll get to eating. Don’t mistake my not asking questions as me not paying attention. My mamma told me never to eat with food in my mouth, which I plan on having for the next few minutes.”
As Ralph gave his focus to the plate of food in front of him, Derek began talking about his suspicions.
“First off, Straus is a major player in this whole Alexander Black thing. It was his lodge where Alexander was living and his lodge where three men were killed. Now why in the world would those doctors be at his lodge and Straus not be there? Second, his car is spotted speeding away from the crime scene around the time the murders happened. Based on what I’ve read about Alexander, I highly doubt that Straus, who must be in his fifties, could have defended himself against someone strong enough to drive a knife through Roger Fay’s neck and three inches deep into a tree. Third, that whole path and supplies mystery almost certainly points to someone helping Alexander. And fourth, what I found outside under Alexander’s bedroom convinces me that either Alexander was able to go outside at will or that someone else removed those screws and made the hidden trap door. And if Alexander was allowed to go outside at will, then he wouldn’t have needed a trap door.