“Sounds good.”
Derek gave a quick glance at his cell phone and saw that he had received a message from his client.
“Thomas must take orders well. His text message includes his dad’s cell number and a reminder that his dad wants updates right away.”
“I’d sure like to listen quietly to that call, if you don’t mind?”
“Not at all.”
Derek and Ralph arrived back at the lodge ten minutes after breakfast was paid for. Parked in the driveway of the lodge were three New York State Trooper cars.
“Either something is about to be filtered down to me, or we have ourselves yet another problem,” Ralph said.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Add a new officer to your team, Chief Fox?” Captain Jared Smith asked as Ralph and Derek were walking up the driveway to the lodge’s front door. Smith was a twenty-two year veteran of the state police and believed that rules and protocols were in place for damn good reasons.
“Not that my department is any of your concern,” Ralph said through a smile, “but this is Derek Cole. Good friend of mine and an experienced private detective.”
“You haven’t shared any case information have you?” Smith asked as Ralph reached the front door of the lodge. Instead of giving way, Smith stood, with arms on hips, blocking access to the inside of the lodge. “Ralph, I asked you a very simple question.”
“Now, I have not known you all that long, Captain Smith, but I have to believe that simple questions is about all you can ask.”
“I’ve been hired by Thomas O’Connell to protect him and his parents from whomever killed the men in this lodge,” Derek answered, hoping to ease the palpable tension in the air. “Chief Fox has not divulged any case information, despite my repeated requests. Perhaps you can help me with my case, Captain?”
“I don’t even want you near this scene,” Smith said to Derek though his eyes were fixed on Ralph’s. “Nothing personal, but I prefer to work with professionals, not people who pretend to be something they aren’t.”
“Well now, that attitude of yours is concerning,” Ralph said to Smith. “So concerning in fact, that I’ve changed my mind. Derek Cole,” he said to Derek while extending his hand, “as the Chief of Police of the town of Arietta, New York, I’d like to extend you an offer to become a temporary officer of my department.”
Smith stood shaking his head, clearly not impressed with Ralph’s impetuous way of managing a police force but also fully aware that his position with the state police did not give him any authority over how Ralph, or any other department chief, ran their business.
“What you do with your little department is your problem, not mine,” Smith said as he cleared the entrance into the lodge. “I came by to do a bit more investigation and to let you know the latest developments. Can you and your newest officer give me ten minutes or your time, or do you have to run over to HR and fill out some new employee forms?
“I suppose we can spare you the time,” Ralph said, moving into the lodge and over to his zip lock bag containing his cigars. “Shall we sit right here, or would you be more comfortable elsewhere?”
Over the next ten minutes, Captain Jared Smith let Ralph and Derek know that both Mark Rinaldo and Henry Zudak were killed in the Chicago area.
“Chicago PD found no notes on either of the bodies.”
Smith then discussed the statewide search for Doctor William Straus.
“Straus’s car was captured on several traffic cams. Seems that he headed back down towards Long Island. We have images of his car on the Tappan Zee, the GWB, and at a stop light on the island.”
“He have a house or an apartment on the island?” Derek asked.
“Ex-wife lives in Stony Brook. Our people met with her and believe her story that she hasn’t seen or heard from Straus in over a year. He did have a leased apartment on the island, but his neighbors say they haven’t seen him in several weeks. We went through the apartment wall to wall. Didn’t find anything. Straus has a son, but he moved to Kentucky. We contacted him, but he stated that he hasn’t spoken with his father in six years.”
“Thinking he’s hiding out somewhere on the island?” Ralph questioned while drawing deeply on an Arthur Ave Maduro.
“Trail goes cold. Based on the direction he was traveling when we last caught an image, he is either on the island, or he continued heading south. We have departments up and down the coast keeping a sharp eye out for him.”
“Well, we sure do appreciate you keeping us informed and up to date, Captain,” Ralph said. “but we already knew about Rinaldo and Zudak. Words travel fast in today’s age.”
“I figured you might have found out through whatever communication methods you have, but I wanted to keep you up to date. And there are a few other things that I’d be surprised that your network has informed you about.”
Derek straightened his back and silently hoped that Ralph wouldn’t say anything that would either delay or prevent Smith from telling them about the other developments in the case.
Ralph stood silent.
“We had three pings to Straus’s cell phone. Three pings of interest, that is. He made a call to the main number here at the lodge at zero-9:33 the day of the murders. Call was never connected. Next we have a call received from the lodge thirty-six minutes later. That call lasted less than five seconds. The last ping we discovered was from Straus’s cell phone to a hospital in Manhattan. Traced it to a Doctor Brian Lucietta, whose name should sound familiar since it was on the list found at this crime scene. We contacted Lucietta, who is either very stupid or very smart. He denied talking with Straus and contends that he hasn’t spoken to him since they stopped working together at Hilburn Psychiatric over ten years ago.”
“Ain’t surprised by any of what you said,” Ralph said. “Either Straus called this lodge to find out if the murders were all taken care of, meaning that he was involved in their planning, or he wanted to see if Curtis or Adams would pick up the phone.”
“And the call back?” Smith asked.
“Either from his accomplice or from someone who wanted to know where he was headed to so that he could take care of Straus as well.”