He dialed Thomas O’Connell’s cell number and listened as the ringing ended with Thomas’s voicemail message. Next, he dialed Ken O’Connell’s cell and again, heard his call answered by a voicemail message. His final call was to Ralph Fox.
“Well, hell, I just spoke with you. Now what do you want to ask?”
“Any way you can get Janet O’Connell’s cell number?”
“I suppose doing so is possible. What are you planning?” Ralph asked.
“I want to find out how many O’Connells are involved in this case.”
“Give me a bit to get her number. Your buddy Captain Smith ain’t been around, but he did leave his files behind.”
“Thanks, Ralph,” Derek said.
“Yup. You just make sure you don’t go running into any situations that are likely to get yourself all dead. Hear me?”
“Freelancing is tough work sometimes, but I’ll be smart.”
Ten minutes after hanging up with Ralph, Derek received a text message from Ralph with Janet O’Connell’s cell number. Derek dialed the number and hoped that he wouldn’t hear another voicemail message.
“Hello?”
“Janet O’Connell?” Derek asked.
“Yes. Who is this?”
“My name is Derek Cole. I’ve been hired by your son, Thomas, and your husband to assist in locating the doctors that perpetrated the crime against your family twenty-two years ago. Janet, I need to ask you some questions. Is that okay?”
“If you are referring to the doctors who told us that our son Alexander died after birth, then you can ask any question you want,” Janet said, her voice stern and crisp.
“I know this may be hard to understand, but I think Alexander Black is being assisted by your husband and your son. Have they told you anything that might lead you to believe that they are assisting Alexander in these murders?”
“They would never!” her voice assumed the tone of someone intentionally revealing their being offended. “How dare you suggest such a thing. My husband is paying you, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Then as his employee, you should be showing more respect. I can assure you that I will make my husband aware of your accusations and will see to it that whatever payment you are expecting is not sent.”
“I am not making accusations up from my imagination, ma’am. If you’ll listen to me. I am concerned that your husband and your son are in danger.”
“My son is on a boat out on Lake Michigan, being well looked after by my husband’s employees, and my husband is quite busy working with his lawyers in Chicago.”
“Neither are where you believe they are, ma’am.”
Her voice, hesitating, suggested doubt. “And just how do you know that?”
Derek went on to explain everything that had happened from the time he met with Thomas in Grant Park to the last call he had with Ken O’Connell. He told Janet about what the police had found in Brian Lucietta’s office and how Ken told him that his resources had a good idea where to find Straus.
He told her about Stanley Mix and Michelle and how he had spoken with Michelle. He told her that he helped them remain hidden from her husband and how he would continue to keep them away from her husband for as long as he could.
He told her everything he knew as she listened in absolute silence.
Finally she spoke. “Ken was furious when that Michelle Mix told him what the doctors in Chicago had done. I was too, but I was more heartbroken than angry. Imagine, all these years I’ve been grieving for a son that was still alive. I should have known.”
“Janet, what those doctors did was horrible. There’s no excuse for their actions. But now, Alexander Black is out in the world somewhere, and there are six people dead because of it. I need you to help me.”
Janet paused before speaking. “What do you need me to do?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“Really, Doctor Straus, I thought it would be much harder to see you face to face again. I have only been waiting for you here in your luxurious automobile for less than two hours. I was expecting a much, much longer wait.”
“Alexander,” Straus said, “Whatever it is that you want or need, I can help you. What those doctors did to you by lying about your death and smuggling you to me all those years ago was wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. But I did my best to keep you safe, didn’t I?”
“Indeed you did, Doctor Straus. Indeed you did. You kept me safe from having a family. You provided me the safety of never having a friend or, dare I say, a love interest. You kept me safe by reminding me that the world would never accept me. You locked me away, fed me, instructed me, and saved me from any resemblance of a normal life. And now, Doctor Straus, I am here to repay your kind acts. It’s you who needs safety now.”
“Is your father telling you what to do?” Straus asked, his hand finding the door handle. “If your father is behind all those murders and this whole scheme, I will defend you to the authorities.”
“My father reached out to you in good faith just a few days ago, but you rejected his offer of negotiation.”
“I saw what happened at my lodge. I saw you walk outside covered in blood, and I saw what you did to that man walking up the street. Your father didn’t want to negotiate, he wanted to kill me.”
“No, no, no, Doctor Straus. I was the one with the desire to kill you. It was I who killed Jacob Curtis and that pathetic Peter Adams. Though I cannot claim Mark Rinaldo’s and Henry Zudak’s demise, as you certainly should know, I can proudly say that I’ve dispensed of your entire team. Poor Brian Lucietta. He was so innocent, wasn’t he? Just a simple doctor, wishing to be left alone as he experimented with my body. So immune from guilt. Beyond reproach, I believe his journal stated.
“Oh yes, yes, yes, Doctor Straus. I read his journal. Each page, including those that referenced your Plan B should I ever become a public figure. How brave of you, Doctor Straus, to say that Doctor Lucietta was nothing but gallant in his quest to learn the secrets of my life. And what a martyr you were willing to be by proudly saying that you would defend his honor and ensure that he would suffer no repercussions as long as he followed your prescription. Tell me, Doctor Straus, did you extend that same, noble promise to Jacob Curtis? How about to Michelle? And speaking of her, I do miss her. Have you kept in touch with nurse Michelle?”