Chapter 6

Wednesday morning was more or less the same. The only exception was that the number of victims became more accurate. The rumor was that the rescued women were a mother and daughter, and both of them were pregnant. When that news came out, our town just died for a moment. The reporters would have liked to have questioned some people, but suddenly, there was nobody available. Nobody wanted to answer any kind of questions. So, the only source of information the media had was the feds. They decided to take all the publicity they could get, and repeated the message about ‘technical excellence and hard investigative work’.

It was Wednesday afternoon when Sean’s name finally came out. I was sitting in my office, trying to work and follow the news flashes from the net, when my phone rang. The number was an unidentified one, but I had my suspicions.

“William Hart.”

“Could you come and see us at lunchtime? Same place.”

“I’m sure I can arrange that.”

“Good.”

When I walked down the bank’s hall to the parking lot door, I could see that Mrs. Bonner would have liked to talk to me, but I just waved to her and was soon on my way. I stopped to pick up several sandwiches and a few coffees, since I was sure that they wouldn’t be offering me anything.

It turned out that I had it right. The agents thanked me for the coffee and the sandwiches, but after a few minutes, two of the agents guided me to a meeting room and it was all business. The younger of them was the one who had recognized me, but the older one was the one who oozed authority, and he was the one who took charge.

“Look, William, we have a court order that, in this case, the federal charges have the priority.”

I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Even if it means that there is a huge possibility that you’ll never get any compensation from him?”

“If you can nail him for kidnapping and murder, everything else is just peanuts.”

I paused. “I guess you both know who I am - or was?”

“Yes. But as far as we know, nobody else has made the connection.”

“Good, I hope it remains that way, at least for a while. After all, I hope that, after some weeks, I’ll be able to move away from this area, myself.”

“But aren’t you the manager of the local bank here - and married?”

“We’re divorcing. And the bank will be left in capable hands.”

It took them a moment to process what I had said to them. I could almost see the wheels turning inside their heads. Finally, the elder of them also nodded. It was only a flash, but I was almost sure that I saw his eyes hardening.

“I see. Well, I’m quite sure that we can nail him for good. Look, this is not official information, but almost all the victims we have found have been at least a few months pregnant. We have already sent some samples for DNA analysis, but there is no way that he’ll walk away from this.”

It took me a moment to process the full meaning of his words. My stomach turned cold, and I am sure that my jaw tightened, but otherwise, I was able to keep myself in control. However I didn’t quite trust my voice and I just nodded to show that I had understood. Suddenly, the older agent looked quite as old as I felt, myself.

“I’m sorry. I thought that you deserved to know, as I’m quite sure that it would come out sooner or later.”

“Thank you, I appreciate your gesture.”

Bullshit. He didn’t like me, or what I was doing here. One thing came to my mind, and I asked before he had time to continue.

“The mother and the daughter you rescued. Are they getting some real support?”

The older agent actually grimaced.

“Hardly. They are illegals. I’m quite sure that a high-level decision has already been made that they’ll be transferred south of the border as soon as the dust settles.”

“Would your bureau be offended if they got some real legal help?”

“Hell, no! We have already identified her husband as someone who was killed months ago, and it makes me sick...”

He stopped abruptly, obviously afraid that he had already revealed too much. I just nodded at him.

“I’ll see what I can do. I’m quite sure that some good Human Rights attorney will take care of their case, pro bono.”

“Why would you care?”

I sighed. “Look, I know that you think that I’m a heartless bastard because of the way I operated here. Maybe I am, but at least I’ve not broken any laws - or my vows.”

I was almost surprised to realize that saying that out loud, hurt. In fact, it hurt a lot. Especially in my youth, I had been quite a bastard at times, but I had always been an honest bastard. I had never broken somebody’s relationship nor had I ever strayed.

This time, it took a moment for my words to sink in, but once the older agent looked at me and nodded, the message in his face was clear. Sometimes there just were no winners.

It was that same evening when the agents drove me to the hospital. Sean would be transferred to a high security hospital early the next morning. An interesting addendum was that his family was abandoning him. In a way, that was no surprise, since suddenly all kinds of officials started getting very interested in their family businesses. I was already sure that the security company would roll over. They were struggling to save what they could. Highly-paid attorneys for a probable rapist and serial killer weren’t high on the family’s list any more.

The local policeman who was on guard outside Sean’s door was happy to get a break when the two feds arrived. Once the hallway was clear, the older agent turned to me.

“You have a few minutes, now. Please, don’t get too close to him. We’ll keep an eye on you from here.”

I just nodded and opened the door to Sean’s room. He didn’t look too good. Both his arms were in casts, just like his right leg. Then there was his jaw that was secured with a complex-looking device. But those dark eyes were awake, following me. I stopped at the end of his hospital bed, and kept my gaze on those eyes.

“Sean Patrick Donaghue, son of Thomas Donaghue. I’d guess your ‘supposed to be’ father was the first person you killed. Him being the asshole he was, you probably would have gotten away with it with a slap on the wrist. Only, he wasn’t your real father, and his body has never been found. But I can’t really blame you for killing him, as he really was an asshole.”

I gave him a few seconds to process that I knew something about him. Something that nobody was supposed to know.

“Then, there is another twisted relationship you have in your life - your mother. A slut who just can’t keep her legs together. A slut who is the self-proclaimed matriarch of your family. I guess that’s why your father never confronted her for cuckolding him, but instead, made your life hell - and your mother just smiled and allowed it all.”

He didn’t move, but I could see the murder and hatred in his eyes. I smiled at him.

“Yes, I think I know almost all there is to know about you. You have had some sort of sixth sense, when it comes to staying under the radar of all the official investigations, but the people I bribed had no such ‘official’ limitations. They changed often, each of them picking up little pieces of information, here and there. Of course, none of that could be used in court; but I was sure that if I was patient enough, I’d find your weaknesses, and sooner or later, you’d make a mistake. For over a year and a half, the only purpose of my existence has been to make you pay - and trust me, this is only the beginning.”

He didn’t move, but did I see the look in those eyes change?

“Why am I here, now? Two years ago, I wasn’t called William Hart, but John Farris. John William Farris. Hart was my mother’s maiden name. Of course, that doesn’t mean much to you. But maybe you do remember Clyde Farris, my father? I’m quite sure you also remember Kaitlyn Farris - my mother - and Emilie Crowell, my fiancée. They probably looked more like sisters, or mother and daughter, than anything else. In the beginning, we had hoped that the feds might find them in time, but by the time the next women disappeared, I knew that my mother and my fiancée were dead. The feds opted for the easy solution. They suggested that my father had killed them and then shot himself, and that he burned the car they were riding in, ignoring the small traces of foreign DNA found on the scene. That got me pissed.”

His breathing turned bit shallower, but I could feel his eyes following me.

“Yes, our own investigators were able to find some of your DNA on the scene. The only problem was, nobody had your DNA on file - or they didn’t have until you voluntarily gave it to me while visiting the bank. That was a serious mistake. You must have realized it, yourself, because you panicked. Yes, breaking into the bank IS panicking. I’m happy you did it, since now the feds won’t just take you out, they’ll take out several people from your family, also. The Donaghue dynasty will become history.”

I cocked my head a bit. “I’ve kept on wondering why that family of yours is so important to you. After all, you are barely half-Irish, and your father’s some unidentified Latin gigolo.”

Now he was clearly angry. However, I had to continue, since my time here was limited.

“I’m sure that you had no idea that I had secured the drinking glass you used in my office, and I sent it to analysis long before the break-in. After it had been analyzed, both Emilie’s parents and I were sure.”

Was it worry that I could see in his eyes?

“You might have guessed that my family was rich. Not filthy rich, but comfortably rich. But Emilie’s family is filthy rich ... really, really rich! And, when you have enough money and time, you can eventually find out things. The first mistake you made was to give Emilie’s ring to your mother. I found out about it more than a year and a half ago. After that, I had enough financial support to start this mission.”

Thinking about Emilie still hurt, and I had to stop for a second before continuing.

“You know, I can hardly wait ‘till I can go to your mother and rip that ring off her finger.”

That got a reaction out of him. I smiled.

“The only problem was, the feds had to follow the letter of the law while collecting evidence; and if you want to go to court, the evidence needs to be collected properly. However, with money, you could buy investigators who got results. We might have been able to use that glass, alone, but we had to be sure. The drawback in that situation was that I was sure that you’d had me followed after I’d got the glass, and I couldn’t easily ask for support. But, I was sure that if I stayed patient, you’d make another mistake - and you didn’t disappoint me.”

That clearly had some effect on him. For the first time, I could see that there really was some fear in those eyes. My smile got grim when I moved a bit closer.

“You should not have touched Emilie. She was my soul-mate, my other half - the person who saved me from myself and made me complete. As soon as I became sure about you, I just wanted to kill you, but after some thinking I decided that death would be too easy, much too easy. For more than a year, I’ve been hustling some money for one single purpose, only! No matter where you may end up, in whatever penitentiary, there will always be a reward for those who’ll rape you. It can be a dick, a broomstick or whatever tool they wish! The only thing that will not happen, is that you won’t die, since that would cut the reward in half!”

I took a pause, since I wanted him to have time to think about his future, and I looked around the room before looking back at him.

“You were so sure that you were so damned clever. Hell, the house I bought was selected almost a year and a half ago. Everything out there got legally recorded and registered. We even have evidence of you instructing how to compromise the security of the house. But that wasn’t the point - the point was to get a DNA sample from you, legally. So, even if your minions managed to scramble some of the evidence of you attacking me, it would only put them behind bars, as well.

This is the end of your dynasty. I’ll also make sure that when I divorce Caryn, she’ll get a good separation package; but only if she agrees to move far away from here, and that little Judy will never hear a word about you or your family. Caryn and Judy were collateral damage, but they also fall to you, since you could not leave Caryn alone. Besides, I’m sure that they’ll be better off without you.”