Chapter 15: Day 63

When I arrived at work, I went to get a cup of tea. Returning to my desk, I found a very large manila envelope marked 'personal'. Upon closer examination, I found that it was from the investigator that I had hired. I broke the seal and pulled out a number of smaller manila envelopes. The smaller envelopes were marked, 'Renwick', 'Barrington', 'Dwyer', and 'Smith'.

I opened the one marked 'Renwick' first. A number of 8x10 black and white glossy photos fell out, along with a stapled sheaf of papers. I glanced over the photos and saw that they were marked 'Ren1' through 'Ren9'. The sheaf of papers was a narrative report with references to the photos. I began reading and looking at the photos as they were referenced.

'Ren1 - Subject: Michael Adam Renwick. Age 48. Married to Barbara. Natural father to Sean. Adoptive father to Carol, Samantha, and Denise. Employed as Cable Television Installer for past 12 years.

Ren2 - Subject: Barbara Jean Renwick. Age 47. Married to Michael. Third wife. Housewife.

Ren3 - Subject: Sean Patrick Renwick. Age 25. Son of Michael & Wilma (First wife to Michael). Unemployed.

Ren4 - Photo of Michael, Barbara, and Carol Renwick. Approximate date: June 1984. Carol Renwick declared runaway by police on Aug. 4, 1986.

I looked closely at the photo. It was an enlargement copy of a faded picture. It was definitely Carol in the picture. Her adoptive parents were smiling, but she was not. She looked like the very unhappy little girl that I knew she was. This was three years after her adoptive father had started to abuse her. I returned to the photos and narrative.

Ren5 - Photo of Michael, Barbara, and Samantha Renwick. Samantha adopted October 1, 1986. Samantha Renwick declared runaway by police on June 26, 1990.

Another runaway. A pattern appeared to be developing.

Ren6 - Photo of Michael, Barbara, and Denise Renwick. Denise Renwick adopted August 16, 1990. Current whereabouts unknown.

Ren8 - Adoption agency photo of Carol Renwick.

Ren9 - Adoption agency photo of Samantha Renwick.

Ren10 - Adoption agency photo of Denise Renwick.

I looked closely at the three agency pictures of the young girls. All were pretty, and had engaging smiles. The three pictures of them with their adoptive parents showed their obvious misery. What was wrong with that adoption agency? Couldn't they see what was going on?

I opened the envelope marked 'Dwyer' and another picture of Carol as a little girl dropped out, along with a copy of an old picture of another teenager. The teenager turned out to be Carol's mother. She had died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Carol had not been in the car. She was with a baby-sitter at the time. Carol's mother was not married and the authorities could not find any relatives. She was buried at the expense of the City of Buffalo. A copy of Carol's birth certificate was in the packet.

The package marked 'Smith' yielded a biography of Samantha Smith, the second daughter that the Renwicks adopted. I didn't know how the investigator had uncovered the facts about Carol and Samatha's backgrounds since adoption records are 'sealed', but he had. On my second look I realized that the information he gave me was public domain, so he must have uncovered it in the county clerk's office, or a newspaper morgue. It turned out that Samantha's parents had also been killed in an automobile accident. No surviving relatives had been found.

The last package was marked 'Barrington'. It also contained the most information. I noticed immediately that the subject's address was Greenwich, Connecticut. "So this is the bastard who has hurt my Carol so badly. OK, let's have a look at the creep." I looked at the first photo and my breath caught in my throat. The picture was an 8x10 B&W glossy of a man exiting the house in Greenwich that Carol had identified. I quickly looked through the reports for a description of Mr. Barrington. I found the bio, and read 'subject is approximately 6 feet, 6 inches tall, muscular build, tan complexion, black wavy hair, weight about 240 pounds. Then I looked at the photo again. The man was so similar to my former appearance as Peter, that from a distance, or even in low light, we could have been mistaken for twins. In bright sunlight, with a telephoto lens that could zoom in on the face, one could perceive the differences. But in a police line-up, I wouldn't want to have to depend on the imprecise memories of a victim. I began to speculate. Suppose Peter, dressed just like Mr. Barrington, was to do something illegal, such as rob a bank, just minutes before Mr. Barrington showed up at the bank to meet someone. What do you suppose would happen? I looked at the rest of the photos. Yep, no doubt about. 99 witnesses out of a hundred would confuse the two. Interesting.