“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.”
“Do you find the fact that no list was found on either Rinaldo or Zudak interesting?”
“I do, indeed. I do find that peculiar.”
“We haven’t been able to contact Mix. He’s either gone very dark, or his body hasn’t been found yet.”
“I was actually planning to give them a call,” Ralph said. “In fact, since we’re all here together, how about I make that call right now?”
Ralph retrieved a folded sheet of paper from his wallet that sat bulging in his back pocket. As he dialed the numbers read from the sheet of paper, Smith told him to put the phone on speaker.
“I doubt that anyone will answer, but just in case, I’d like to hear every word said.”
As the connection was made, and Ralph’s cell phone’s speaker reported rings, Derek glanced down at his iPhone to both make sure that he hadn’t accidentally deleted the text message from his client that contained Ken O’Connell’s cell number and to check for any other messages that may have come through. The text from Thomas was still there, along with a notification of five missed calls and four voice messages.
“Ain’t gonna answer, seems. But, the fact that it is ringing tells me that Mix’s cell phone is on. Isn’t that correct, Captain Smith?” Ralph asked as he closed his flip phone and buried it back into the front pocket of his khakis.
“If you are suggesting that we try to ping his phone, we’ve been trying that for the last two days.”
“Any reason why you can’t locate his cell phone?” Derek asked, after having checked the missed calls and not recognizing any of the numbers of the missed calls.
“Verizon suggests that Mix may be in an area with poor coverage. His phone may ring on our end, but he may not be receiving any notifications. His phones are both somewhat current Samsung models that have been on his account for over a year. They are not burner phones, so he isn’t trying to hide using technology.”
Derek thought about calling his client’s father with Ralph and Smith but felt that doing so may violate his confidentiality clause he signed and lived up to with every one of his clients.
“There’s one more thing that I think you two will be interested in hearing,” Smith said, talking more to Derek than to Ralph. “Ralph said that you were hired by Thomas O’Connell to protect him and his parents from whomever is going around killing people?”
“Yes,” Derek confirmed.
“Before I ask why you think coming all the way up to Piseco Lake instead of staying around your client is a good way to offer client protection, I want to ask you what your client told you about his parents. Specifically, his father. Where they are, anything they plan on doing, etcetera.”
“My client told me that his parents flew to the Bahamas to get to a safe place. Just this morning, my client told me that he had spoken to his mother last night who told him that they landed safe and sound and were headed to whatever resort they are staying at. My client also told me that he spoke with his father early this morning. He said that his dad wants to get updates directly from me regarding my progress with the case.”