True Deceit (Blindsided Book 1) (16 page)

“I do,” Lexi spoke up. “He looked genuinely surprised. He’s only just come back into his life too, what motive could he have?”

“Coincidence?” Jenkins pursed his lips.

“One hell of a coincidence, then.” Elliot shook his head. “No. Michael has the motive. His wife had walked out on him. Maybe he wanted revenge.”

“But we don’t have the watch?”

Elliot frowned. “No. CSU are turning over his house as we speak. If it’s there, they’ll find it.”

“What about his mother’s house? We got that covered too?”

Lexi nodded. “Yeah. I’ve got the locals handling that. They’ll let us know if they find anything.”

“Okay, looks like you’ve got it all in hand. Has he asked for a lawyer?”

“No, he says he doesn’t need one.”

“Well, get in there and start talking to him then before he decides that he does. Keep me informed.”

“Yes, Boss,” they both said in unison.

“So, do you want to lead the interview?” Lexi asked after he’d left.

“Yeah.” He paused. “But it may have to wait.” He jerked his head in the direction of the door. “We have a visitor.”

***

It didn’t take her long to get across town and she was quickly shown up to the detectives’ room. She spotted Elliot and Lexi straight away stood talking near one of the desks.

“Hi,” she approached.

“Hi, Sarah.”

Sarah caught the glance that passed between them and her sense of unease grew. “Look, what’s going on? Where is Michael?”

Lexi gave her a small smile. “Sarah, Michael’s here. We’ve got him in custody.”

The words were like a punch to the gut. “What? For what?”

“We think he’s responsible for your sister’s disappearance and that of all those other women.”

She felt herself sway then and spotting it, Elliot quickly grabbed a chair and helped her onto it.

“Are you serious?” her voice came out as no more than a whisper.

Elliot nodded. “It looks that way.”

Michael.
No, it was all wrong. Although she’d accused him of the exact same thing, she’d never really believed it, not Michael. She’d dated him, knew him intimately, would have known if he was capable of something like this. And the last few days proved to her how much he loved her sister. No. She was sure he didn’t do this.

“You’ve got it wrong, there’s no way Michael has anything to do with this.” Her voice had recovered and was strong this time. “You’ve made a mistake.”

Lexi looked at her patiently. “I know this is hard to take in, but we’ve got some evidence that points to his involvement.”

“What evidence?”

“I’m afraid we can’t tell you that at this point in time.”

“Has he admitted it?”

Lexi shook her head. “No, he’s claiming his innocence but we haven’t had the chance to interview him yet. We were just about to when you arrived.”

The phone on the desk shrilled, interrupting the conversation. There were no other detectives around so Elliot leaned over and picked it up.

Sarah sat stunned as he spoke to someone on the phone. There had to be some other explanation.

“I’m sorry, something’s come up that we need to deal with.” Elliot put the phone down and looked at Lexi pointedly.

“Sarah, we’ll call you as soon as we’ve got any more news,” Lexi said moving toward the door.

Sarah’s legs were steady as she stood. “You’re wrong,” she said simply before turning and walking out of the office.

***

“Who was on the phone?” Lexi asked curiously as soon as Sarah was out of earshot.

“It was one of the officer’s carrying out the search at Mrs Trent’s house.”

“They found the watch?”

“No.” he was frowning. “They found something under the floorboards in her bedroom. A shoebox.”

“And?”

“Hang on a minute and you’ll see for yourself.” He answered, taking his phone out of his pocket and staring at it.

“I’m confused, what are you waiting for?”

His phone picked that moment to ping, indicating the arrival of an email. Elliot opened the attachment, holding the phone close to his face so that he could see the attached image in detail.

“Will you tell me what it is already?” Lexi snapped impatiently.

Without a word Elliot turned the phone so she could see what he was looking at for herself.

“Oh my God.” she looked up at him, shocked. “Do you think they know?”

Elliot shook his head. “I’m certain they don’t. So, who do we break the news to first?”

They decided to tell them both together. They called Mike’s father who, once they explained the urgency, agreed to immediately travel down to meet with them. Once he arrived they ushered him and Michael into an unused office where they wouldn’t be disturbed.

“So what’s this all about, Detectives?”

Elliot had downloaded the image that he’d received on his phone and had made two copies, one for each of them. Now he silently handed them one each.

“You both need to see this.”

Elliot watched as both men’s expressions changed from curiosity to shock.

“I had two sons?” Patrick was the first to break the stunned silence. “Twins?”

Elliot nodded. “So it seems.”

“I have a twin brother?” All the blood had drained from Michael’s face. He turned to Patrick. “You didn’t know?”

He shook his head, unable to drag his eyes off the picture of the birth certificate he held in his hands. “No, I had no idea.”

“This was in the box with the certificate.” Elliot held out a letter. “We had to open it, I’m afraid.”

Patrick reached for the letter and started reading, turning the page slightly so that Michael could read it at the same time. When they were finished they both looked up and Michael spoke. “So she gave the watch to my brother as some kind of apology for giving him up for adoption?” he sounded angry. “As if that would somehow make up for it?”

“I’m sorry, this must have come as a terrible shock. I have no explanation for why she did what she did, but from the viewpoint of our investigation, this obviously has implications.”

“Do you know where he is?” Patrick looked utterly devastated.

“We’re looking into that now,” Lexi replied gently. “We’ll find him.”

“So does that mean I’m free to go?” Michael questioned.

“Yes, now we know that you were never in possession of the watch you’re no longer a suspect.” Elliot gave him a small smile. “I hope you understand that we were just doing our jobs.”

Michael held out his hand. “Of course, and I’m just glad that my wife has you looking out for her, Detective. No hard feelings.”

Judge Carver looked at the red dial of his watch. It was almost time to hear his next case.

Standing in front of the mirror he checked his robes before pausing and looking at his own face. The face that stared out at him was exactly the same as Michael’s.
Michael.
The brother that his mother had wanted. The one that hadn’t been sent away.

He’d thought his parents were dead, why else would he have been in a children’s home? It wasn’t until he turned 18 and had to leave that he’d found out the truth. The people at the home had given him some money to get set up somewhere and a package addressed to him. They’d had it for years, they told him, but weren’t to tell him about it until then, as they’d been instructed by the accompanying letter.

As he left the children’s home for the last time, he sat on the front steps and carefully untied the string that wrapped it, peeling away the paper delicately almost fearful of what he might find inside.

There had been a letter and a box. He opened the box first, slowly lifting the lid to reveal the watch he wore on his wrist that he hadn’t taken off since that day. He’d then turned his attention to the letter.

In it his mother described how she had been unable to care for two children on her own and that she’d made the painful choice to put him up for adoption, knowing in her heart that he would find a good home, with a loving family.

How wrong she had been.

He’d been adopted quickly, babies usually were, by what appeared to be the loving family described in the letter. He didn’t remember when he’d learned that they weren’t, he was too young. He soon realized when he started school that things were different for him. The other children didn’t go to school dirty and hungry with bruises over their bodies. The other children didn’t have to steal from their classmate’s lunchboxes just to stave off the hunger pangs. It didn’t take long for his teachers to start raising concerns and then he was simply taken out of school. His life got much worse then. His days were spent locked in a closet, often forgotten about for days at a time. There were no school friends to steal food from and he struggled to survive. The beatings got worse, too. He tried to be good, but he had no idea how to please them.

When he was eight the sexual abuse started and carried on until he was 11 when a lucky break saved his life. A neighbour called round to deliver a package that had been left at her house by mistake. Somehow she spotted him through the open front door and shocked by what she saw, she immediately called the police. He was quickly removed and his parents were convicted on multiple counts of child cruelty and he was sent to the children’s home. Though they attempted to place him with foster families over the years, it never stuck, so he remained there until his 18th birthday.

In all honestly, he thought wryly as he adjusted his collar, he should thank his mother. It was because of his upbringing and the realization that she’d discarded him so casually that had given him the determination he needed to put himself through law school. It was the same determination that had seen him being named one of the youngest judges on the circuit.

And it was that determination that drove him to set up the Kings Club. His childhood had damaged him in some way, he knew that. But he also knew he couldn’t fight who he was. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t have a good life, too, as long as the darker side of him was controlled, allowed to take over when it needed to, so that it only surfaced when he let it.

He smiled at he looked in the mirror.
Thanks, Mom.

It didn’t take them long to track down what had happened to Michael’s twin and soon they had a name. Daniel Carver. Judge Daniel Carver to be specific.

“A judge? Damn, are we sure that this is our guy?”

They’d gone to see Jenkins as soon as they had a name. “We can’t be sure, obviously, but based on what we know? Yeah, I think it’s our guy.”

“There are too many coincidences, Boss,” Lexi picked up as Elliot paused. “The watch, Michael’s brother, the motive,” she ticked them off her fingers.

Jenkins sighed. “Okay. Well, go get him. Let’s hope we’re right this time because if we’re not we’re in deep shit.”

Elliot smiled. “We’re not wrong boss, I feel it.” He turned and strode out of the office.

“I’ve checked with his clerk and he’s in court all day today,” Lexi told him as she walked beside him. “How do you want to handle it?”

He stopped and looked at her. “The same way we handle everyone else. We go and arrest him.”

“In court?” she raised her eyebrows.

“If we need to, yes.” He started walking again.

***

Daniel was at his office window in the courthouse when he saw them coming. He recognized them immediately from all the surveillance photos he had of them coming and going from Michael’s house.

He’d known the time would come and he’d planned for such an eventuality. Immediately removing his robe, he took a set of keys from his pocket and opened a locked drawer in his desk. Removing several large bundle of hundred dollar bills he put them in his briefcase. Going once more to the drawer he removed a passport. It had cost him several thousand dollars and would stand up to the most intense scrutiny. Putting it in his briefcase along with the money he snapped it shut. He had to be quick, it wouldn’t take them long to clear security and make their way up here. Flicking on his computer, he went online to the Bank of America website. Typing quickly, he transferred all his funds to a numbered bank account in the Bahamas. He waited a few tense seconds until the transaction was confirmed before running a programme that he’d had installed. It wiped everything from his computer leaving nothing behind.

Grabbing his briefcase he stepped out of his office and headed down the hall to the stairwell. The door was just closing behind him as he heard the elevator ping. Taking the stairs two at a time, he made his way to the parking garage and got his car. Checking his rear view mirror he smiled.
Better luck next time.

***

“He’s not here.” Elliot said to the clerk who had shown them to Daniel’s office.

“Are you sure?” The clerk leaned round him to look. “We’re on a short recess so he should be. Maybe he’s in the bathroom?” he offered.

“I’ll check.” Lexi turned and jogged down the hall.

“Miss, you can’t go in there!” The clerk called after her as she disappeared round the corner.

“Don’t worry about her, there’s nothing there she hasn’t seen before.” Elliot told him.

A moment later she reappeared. “He’s not there.” She told them when she got close.

“He can’t know we’re on to him, so where is he?”

“Detective?”

Elliot turned to see the clerk holding up a pile of black cloth. “These are his robes.”

“He’s rabbited,” Elliot hissed through gritted teeth. “How the hell did he know we were coming?”

“Does he have a car?” Lexi shouted at the confused clerk.

“Yes, down in the parking garage. A black Porsche.”

They didn’t wait to thank him as they took off towards the stairs. Elliot pulled ahead as they ran and was first through the door to the underground garage, just in time to see the back end of the Porsche as it pulled out onto the street.

“Dammit!” He smashed his fist into the door just as Lexi caught up. “We missed him.”

She bent over, catching her breath. “Don’t worry,” she huffed. “We’ll get him.”

***

He was furious. He couldn’t believe Judge Carver managed to give them the slip so easily, like they were a pair of rank amateurs.