True Deceit (Blindsided Book 1) (13 page)

“Absolutely. Now, I’ve spoken to all the other captains and they’re happy for us to take the lead on this for now.”

I bet you’re loving that,
Elliot thought but didn’t say out loud. “Okay, we’ll get on it. And we’ll go and give Michael the good news.”

“Keep me informed.”

“Yes, Boss.” Elliot turned to leave the office but Jenkins stopped him.

“Oh, and Elliot?”

“Yes, Boss?”

“I got a call from your old captain in Boston. It’s all been cleared for the time off you need.”

“Thanks, Boss.” Elliot could feel Lexi looking at him so he studiously avoided meeting her eyes as they left the office.

“So what do you make of that?” Lexi asked as they walked down the corridor back to their own office, not mentioning his need for time off.

“They were right. I can’t believe it took a couple of civilians to pick up on this.” It seemed so obvious now that they were starting to get a bigger picture. “If Sarah hadn’t stumbled on that website, we may never have known.” he shook his head. “Jesus, Lexi, how big is this thing?”

“I don’t know but we need to shut it down. Now.”

“First thing we need to do is tell Michael.”

“Okay, you do that and I’ll get started on looking into who carried out the ID’s in each of the cases. Let’s bring these women home.”

Michael put the phone down slowly. It wasn’t unexpected but somehow it seemed to make it more real now it had been confirmed by the police. Jennifer was alive. Well, she wasn’t in the wreck at least so she
could
be alive.

Quickly he punched in Sarah’s number. They hadn’t spoken since they’d got back into town and as her phone rang, he once again felt guilty for what they’d done.

“Sarah? Michael.”

“Hi Michael,” she paused. “Any news from the police yet?”

“That’s why I’m calling. I’ve just had detective Mitchell on the phone. You were right, Sarah. It wasn’t Jennifer in that car.”

“I knew it!” she shouted, and then started crying. “Oh God, I shouldn’t feel so happy when some poor soul obviously died but I can’t help it. She’s alive Michael, I just know it!”

Her excitement was contagious and he couldn’t help but smile. “I know, I feel it too.”

After the last few days and the meeting with his father it was nice to have something to smile about. “Look, why don’t you come over and we can celebrate?” He had no idea why he suggested it as the words slipped out of his mouth.

There was a slight hesitation before she replied. “Sounds great. I’ll be there in an hour.”

He was still smiling when he put the phone down.

***

The doorbell rang exactly an hour later and he opened the door to find Sarah brandishing a bottle. “I thought we could drink this. It’s been in my fridge for a few weeks.”

She brushed past him and into the kitchen, immediately uncorking the bottle and pouring them both a glass.

“Here’s to Jennifer coming home.” She clinked her glass against his.

“Sarah, we don’t know that Jennifer is coming home yet, we just know that wasn’t her in the car.” He didn’t want to let her get her hopes up too high.

“I know,” she frowned. “Just let me have my moment, will you?”

He felt like a heel. “Of course, I’m sorry,” he said smiling. “Come here.” he pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “We’ll get her home, Sarah.”

He hadn’t meant the hug to be anything other than a supportive gesture but after a moment he felt something change and his body start to respond. He quickly let go and took a step back hoping she hadn’t noticed.

“So what happens next?” she asked and he was relieved that she didn’t seem to have noticed how uncomfortable he was.

“Well according to the detective, they have a lead they’re going to follow.”

“What lead?”

“They wouldn’t say but he sounded excited.”

“God, I hate not knowing what’s going on.” She took her glass and went to sit at the kitchen table. “Do you think she’s okay?” Her mood had slumped dramatically and now she looked like she was about to cry.

He pulled out a chair and sat next to her. “Honestly, I don’t know. But I do know that I can’t let myself think that she won’t be.”

She put her hand on top of his. “When this is all over things will be different.”

“What do you mean?” he gently removed his hand on the pretext of having a sip of his drink.

“I mean I’ve punished you for too long and it’s made things difficult for Jennifer. I can see now that you genuinely love her.”

He nodded. “I do,” he said, smiling again. “And I’m really glad that we’ve got past the other day.”

“So,” she drained her glass and went and got the bottle, bringing it back to the table. “What have you been up to for the past couple of days, did you get all your mom’s stuff organized?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Um, most of it.” He thought of the pile of papers he’d brought back with him from the house that were still in the living room. “I had a bit of a shock actually when I started going through them.” He had no idea why he told her that but something about the combination of the good news, the wine and the moment made him blurt it out.

“What kind of shock?” she was looking at him curiously.

“I found my father.”

“What? You always told me when we were dating that you didn’t know who your father was?”

“I didn’t, and my mom told me she didn’t either. Turns out she lied.”

“Oh Michael! How did you find out?”

They finished the bottle while he told her everything about the secret box and what he’d found. It felt good to share what had been going on and he was glad he decided to tell her.

“So are you going to call him?”

“I already have. Twice.” He confessed. “And I met him for a coffee this morning.”

“Mike, oh my God, how could you not tell me?” she shrieked excitedly. “Tell me everything, don’t leave anything out.”

She appeared genuinely interested as he repeated the conversation he’d had with his father.

“So what are you going to do? Are you going to see him again?”

“I don’t know. I’m really not sure what I want to do.”

“Michael, you have to see him again.” her tone brokered no argument. “I don’t think you realize how much you used to mention it. It was obviously a huge deal for you and now you get the chance to deal with that. You’d be mad to pass it up.”

He knew she was right. Regardless of what he’d done, or what his reasons were, Patrick Brady was still his father and he really did want to get to know him.

“You’re right,” he nodded.

“So what’s he like?” she pressed for more details.

“Well he’s obviously got money. You should have seen his clothes, they practically screamed expensive. And he was wearing a Rolex, they don’t come cheap.”

“Even more of a reason to stay in touch,” she laughed.

“Sarah!” he scolded half-heartedly, enjoying the moment of light relief.

“Did you tell him about Jennifer?”

He poured himself some more wine before answering, taking a moment. “No, it just didn’t seem like the right time, I’m not sure why.” He shook his head. “No, that’s not true, I do know why. It’s because I wanted it to be about me and him and not Jennifer, does that make me awful?” It sounded terrible even to his own ears but Sarah surprised him by agreeing.

“No, not awful. Everything has been about Jennifer since the accident, as it should be, but this is different. This is huge for you and it needed to be
about
you. I get that.”

I’ve really misjudged her
, he thought as he looked at her. He’d resented her intrusion into his life with Jennifer but he realized now the problem wasn’t her, it was him. Him and his guilt over what had happened in the past. He could see now what he hadn’t been able to see then. That Sarah was special and deserved better.

“Thank you, that means a lot.”

“Anyway,” she looked at her watch. “I need to make tracks. I’ve got a couple of freelance jobs that are due to be completed this week and I haven’t even got started. I need an early night and an early start.”

“Okay and hey, thanks for listening.”

“No problem, and listen, Mike, do yourself a favour and call your dad. Tell him about Jennifer. Maybe he’s been waiting for the chance to be a proper father?”

Her words echoed around his head as he waved her off. Maybe she was right. He’d been seeing it from his point of view all this time, but it can’t have been easy on him knowing his son was growing up without him.
Maybe it’s time to see what it’s like to have a father to lean on.

“Elliot, I think I’ve found something.” She’d spent the last couple of hours doing research online and making phone calls and she’d finally hit pay dirt.

“What have you got?” He came over to her desk and leaned over her shoulder so he could see her computer.

“Well the wrecks are too far apart for the ID’s to have been carried out by the same person so I immediately ruled out the local ME’s.”

“Makes sense,” Elliot agreed.

“So who else would be involved in the process?” Lexi asked.

“The dentists?”

“Well done.” She sounded like she was talking to a small child.

“Watch it,” he chuckled.

“So I looked into all the dentists but again, the same thing. No one dentist is going to be working in all those places so it can’t be that.”

“Okay, so you’re telling me what it’s not. I thought you said you’d found something?

“I have. Look.” She pointed at the screen. “This is a list of all the dentists whose patients were killed in the wrecks. Notice anything?”

“They’re all part of the same chain.”

She smiled. “Yes. Exactly. Every one of them is part of the Dentico Group.”

“That can’t be a coincidence.”

“Of course not,” she grinned. “And guess what else?”

“Go on.”

“The HQ for the Dentico Group is just an hour’s drive away.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Good job, Lexi.”

***

“So what was that all about back in Jenkins’ office?” Lexi asked as they left town and pulled onto the highway.

“What do you mean?” he knew exactly what she was talking about but had hoped that she’d forgotten about it.

“About your old boss calling and arranging for you to have some time off?”

He took a minute before answering, not sure how much he wanted to tell her. “It’s an old case of mine. He needs me back in Boston to testify.” He glanced over at her. “It’s nothing, really.”

“So if it’s nothing, how come you haven’t mentioned it, seeing as I’m your partner and everything?”

“It just didn’t seem important,” he gave her a smile, hoping his answer would satisfy her. “But now you know.”

She was looking at him as if she didn’t believe him but he kept his eyes firmly on the road. He wasn’t ready to tell her more just yet.

“Okay.” she said, but he knew that the subject was going to come up again.

“So what’s the plan when we get to this place?” she asked instead.

“We shake the tree and hope something falls out.”

The rest of the drive passed in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. The time seemed to pass quickly and they were soon pulling into the Dentico parking lot.

The building was not very big and appeared to be set over three floors, each floor surrounded by glass windows reflecting the sun that had made an appearance for the first time in what felt like days.

“Hi, I’m Det. Mitchell,” Elliot introduced himself as he approached the desk. “And this is my colleague, Det. Constantinou.”

The woman gave them a polite smile. “How may I help you today?”

“We’d like to see whoever is in charge of your Human Resources Department, please.”

“That would be Miss Dever, I’ll see if she’s available. Please take a seat.” she waved them over to a grouping of steel and leather chairs in the lobby before picking up her phone.

“Miss Dever? I have some police officers here to see you,” they heard her say as they sat down. They didn’t have long to wait before the elevator opened and a woman strode over to them.

“Officers?” she held out a perfectly manicured hand. “I’m Miss Dever. How can I help you?”

Elliot explained why there were there.

“Well, normally, our records would of course be confidential, but under the circumstances I’ll see what I can do. Please accompany me.”

They stood and followed her to the elevator where she pressed the button for the third floor.

She didn’t speak again until the elevator doors opened once more. “This way, please.” She led them to a large office and gestured at two comfortable chairs arranged across from her desk. “Take a seat. I’ll get those records up for you.”

They sat in silence as she tapped some keys on her keyboard. “Ah, here we go.” She turned the screen around so they could all see. “So what exactly are you looking for?”

“We’d like to know if anyone works at all of these locations,” Elliot said, handing her a piece of paper with the addresses of the dentists on it. “Obviously not at the same time,” he added unnecessarily, earning him a funny look from Lexi.

“Obviously,” Miss Dever smiled. She tapped a few more keys.

“No, sorry. There is no one who works at all these places,” she handed the piece of paper back to Elliot. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Wait a minute,” Lexi said. “Just before we go, can you explain the process to me when a dentist gets a request for dental records? I mean one of your dentists.”

“Yes, of course. All records for Dentico dentists are held centrally. So if an old x-ray or some such is needed, the dentist puts in a request and it is overnighted to them. When they are finished, they simply send them back. It’s much more efficient that way.”

Lexi looked at him pointedly and the implication of what Miss Dever was saying hit him. “Miss Dever? Who sends out the dental records when they’re requested?” He felt a tingle go down his spine, it felt like they were about to hit on something.

A few more taps and she gave them a name. “Kevin Longley.”

“Thank you. And where would I find Mr Longley? Is he in the building?”

“Oh yes. He works down on the second floor. Would you like me to take you to him?”