He hoped that somehow Michelle had very selective amnesia and had forgotten that it was he who had delivered the heartless baby to Hilburn. He feared that if he mentioned those first days to her, that her amnesia might evaporate, and she would realize what a monster of a person she had married.

He kept everything buried deep inside, and though the memories often tried to escape, he was resolute in his convictions to keep what he had been a part of hidden.

The only time that Alexander Black was mentioned after Michelle left Hilburn was the night after he told her that he had cancer.

“Maybe my disease is my punishment,” he told her.

When Ralph Fox called Michelle and told her about the murders, she didn’t react the way Ralph probably expected her to react. The fact that people she knew had been murdered and that her husband’s name was on a list of probable victims just increased her determination to keep Stanley safe. She knew that ignoring the repeated calls from Ralph Fox and from the number her caller ID told her was coming from the New York State Police, was probably making them suspicious about Stanley and her. Yet she didn’t care what anyone thought.

When she read about Mark Rinaldo and Henry Zudak being found dead, she didn’t care. They were distant memories for her, and while they were close with Stanley, he didn’t need to know that they had been murdered. He didn’t need to know anything that was going on around him.

Each morning since receiving that first call from Ralph Fox, Michelle would replace the battery in her phone, certain to leave it in for only the time it took to check for messages. Then the battery was pulled so that no one could trace where she and Stanley were. She paid for the resort room and every purchase she made using cash,

Leave no clues.

She thought about contacting Ken O’Connell and pleading with him to leave her husband alone.

“He doesn’t have much time left,” she would tell him. “Killing him won’t give you any feeling of revenge. He’s dying because of what he did to your son. Isn’t that enough?”

But she never called. Calling wouldn’t stop anything. Her husband was going to die. Soon. And there was nothing she could do about it except choose the cause of his death.

She thought for a fleeting moment that perhaps Alexander Black killing her husband would allow him to avoid the pain that would certainly be coming. But that thought was banished. Though she knew she couldn’t prevent his cancer from killing him, Michelle knew that she could prevent Stanley from being murdered.

And that was exactly what she intended to prevent.

As she heard him stir in the bedroom, she wiped her eyes clean of the few tears that had formed, adjusted her hair and clothes, and prepared the smile that would greet her husband to this new day.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“If he didn’t get on the plane, then his wife is in on whatever it is he’s been doing,” Derek said, still shocked.

“And maybe their son, your client,” Smith said. “Though I have a feeling that this is all Ken O’Connell’s plan, and his wife is just going along with things to keep him happy. His son is probably in the dark.”

“Y’all have any idea where Doctor William Straus is?” Ralph asked.

“No idea. Derek?” Smith asked, nodding at Derek.

“No idea. But if he’s not involved in assisting the O’Connells, he is probably hiding somewhere and isn’t likely to reveal his position anytime soon. Have you been able to contact Stanley or Michelle Mix?”

“Called the cell phone registered in their name. No answer. I checked with their service provider, and they told me that their phones haven’t pinged any towers since the day after the bodies were discovered here. Either they have pulled the batteries or have disabled network data and location services. Or, they’ve been visited by our suspects, and their bodies just haven’t been discovered yet.”

Derek glanced again at his iPhone and saw that he had received another text from his client. It read “have you called my father yet???”

“I assume that you want me to call Mr. O’Connell now?” Derek asked Smith as he sent a message back to his client stating that he was about to make the requested call.

“Not yet,” Smith said. “We first need to get things set up so we can get a location on O’Connell’s cell. I’ll need to borrow your phone for a few minutes. When you do call, you just need to do and say exactly what I tell you to say. If he asks you a question that we haven’t prepared an answer for, look at me, and I will write out what you need to say. Do not even think of going freelance on his, Cole. I know that freelancing is your thing, but it will not be tolerated. I hope you understand.”

Nothing was making sense to Derek. In every one of his previous cases, there was a line that needed to be followed. Every line had a starting point and an end point. The starting point was created when someone did something which made someone else upset, concerned, or downright pissed off. End point was providing the client a satisfactory resolution. Connect the two points with as straight of a line as possible, get paid, and move on.

But with this case, Derek didn’t know what or where the starting point was nor what ending would be considered a desired resolution. While he did work closely with police departments in many of his cases, this case had now found him under the control of the authorities. He was expected to do exactly what Captain Smith wanted him to do and to suppress his own instincts.

As Smith stood, arms crossed, waiting for him to comply, Derek decided to do what Smith expected. Then, as soon as possible, he would get as far away from Piseco Lake as possible and run his case the way he knew the case should be run.

“So,” Derek said, “how long till I can make that call?”

“Twenty minutes,” Smith said.

Smith left Derek and Ralph alone in the entry room. There, the two men sat in absolute quiet. Both were processing the information that they had just learned from Smith, and both were wondering how Ken O’Connell came to learn about Alexander Black.

“We seem to still have some pieces missing to this jigsaw puzzle,” Ralph said, breaking the silence that had lasted several minutes. “But this new information also some pieces together nicely.”