Wednesday, April 14th
Rosary hospital, 9 am
John and Neil arrived at the hospital to talk to Olivia Murray. They had called in advance, and the doctors had told them that they had been able to reduce the hematoma, that the girl was stable but still unconscious.
Olivia was sitting outside her daughter’s room and looking at her mobile phone. She stood up immediately when she saw the two policemen walk along the corridor. She was visibly tired and worried, but she tried to smile.
“Hello, Mrs Murray. How is your daughter?” Neil asked, after shaking her hand politely.
“The doctor is visiting her now, but yesterday night, after the operation, they told me that they hope she will regain consciousness in the next few days, now that the hematoma is reduced.”
“I am glad to hear that…” He exchanged a glance with John, and he asked:
“Could we sit down for a minute, Mrs Murray? We would like to show you something.”
The serious countenance of the two officers alarmed the woman. She sat down on one of the plastic chairs in the corridor. Neil sat down next to her and took out his mobile phone. He found the photo of Luke Brown, and he showed it to Olivia.
Even if Neil had expected a similar reaction, he had still hoped against hope that he was mistaken, that his suspicions would prove wrong.
Olivia stared at the photo and exclaimed:
“Where have you found this photo of my husband?”
Neil and John refrained from looking at each other and tried to remain calm, even if the news was definitely upsetting.
Neil had to decide in a few seconds how much to reveal to that poor woman, who was assisting her daughter in a hospital and in a few days would see her life shattered. At that moment, the doctor came out of the room, and he called her.
Neil said:
“Think about your daughter now. Have you been able to talk to your husband?”
It was evident that Olivia was on the verge of tears. She said quickly:
“No, but I must confess that I stopped looking for him in the last two days because I was worried about Rachel. I am sure he will call as soon as he can…”
Neil thought with a wave of sadness and sympathy for that poor woman: ‘How long are you going to justify him?’ She was stubbornly sticking to her love for a man, who didn’t deserve so much…
She went to talk to the doctor. John was going to say something when Neil’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He answered:
“Hi, Billy… Oh, ok, we are coming…. Yes, Billy, she recognized her husband … Yes, unfortunately I was right… No, we just showed her the photo for now… See you!”
He turned to John and said:
“Mr Clancy is waiting for us at the Police Station… Let’s hope to learn something more…”
***
Rosary Police Station, 10 am
When Neil and John arrived at the Police Station, the receptionist told them that Mr. Clancy was waiting for them in one of the rooms downstairs, usually destined for interrogations and meetings.
When he saw them enter, the old man stood up and they shook hands. Neil could read tension and worry on the manager’s face, and he was eager to hear what he would say.
“Mr. Clancy," John started, “we have just been to the hospital, and we had the impression that your granddaughter is improving.”
The man in front of them was evidently used to managing and obtaining what he wanted through power and money, but his slumped shoulders and the dark circles beneath his eyes spoke volumes about what he had been going through in the last few days.
He sighed deeply, and he looked at the two policemen for a few moments, trying to gather his thoughts.
“I am sorry if I have come to you only now!” Neil had the impression that apologizing was not something he was used to. He felt that what the old man would say next was really serious. He exchanged a glance with John, and he waited.
“What I am going to say now is something my daughter and granddaughter don’t know. I wanted to talk to my son-in-law and hear his side of the story first, but, since he hasn’t come back and is constantly unreachable, I have to come forward, because what I have discovered may have a bearing on what happened to Rachel.” This long introduction was giving Mr Clancy encouragement, so Neil let him talk without interrupting or urging him.
“A few weeks ago, some of my employees came to tell me that they had seen Murray in a diner just outside Amherst. He was there with some guys, and they were menacing him because he owed them money. My employee has a brother who has gambling problems, and sometimes he has to pick him up before he loses all his money, that’s why he happened to be there. I had had doubts about his job before, because he was away from home longer and longer, and the days he spent with Olivia and Rachel had become fewer, sometimes only one day or even just a few hours.” He stopped with his gaze downcast. He was looking so dejected that Neil asked: “Do you need a glass of water or a cup of coffee, Mr Clancy?”
He nodded slowly, and he said: “I would like a glass of water, please…” Neil sent a quick message on his phone, and, after a few minutes, Billy knocked on the door and came in with a bottle of water and a glass. Neil motioned him to remain, and Billy went to sit near the door.
The old man poured water into the glass and sipped slowly, before going on:
“I am sorry, but I keep on thinking of my daughter. She has always been deeply in love with that man, she has constantly justified him in every way … I don’t know how to tell her what I am going to say to you now!” He fought back tears and he went on:
“I hired a Private Investigator. I had talked about it with my daughter once or twice, but she had said that she trusted her husband, and that she would never agree to do such a thing. But I had to protect my family, Inspector!” He exclaimed with an anguished voice, turning to Neil, as if he was expecting to be judged for his actions. Neil waited for him to go on without commenting.
“Last week the Private Investigator sent me an envelope with the results of his investigation.”
From the internal pocket of his jacket, Mr Clancy took out a folded paper. He handed it to Neil, and he said: “Together with this report there were photos, but I don’t want to show them to you until I have talked to Olivia. I can assure you that they are clear and unequivocal, and they reflect the content of that report.”
Neil unfolded the paper and put it on the table, so that John could read it too. While he was reading, he exchanged a glance with John, but he still didn’t speak. He gave the paper to Billy and told him:
“Billy, call this Mr. Gatti. I want to talk to him as soon as possible.”
Mr. Clancy nodded and said immediately: “Tell him that I authorize him to talk to you about everything. I will call him and tell him personally…”
Billy nodded and left the room.
Neil turned to Mr. Clancy and told him with a calm voice:
“Mr. Clancy, unfortunately we already had suspicions about a part of this report, the part that will be the hardest for your daughter. This morning we showed her a photo, and she recognized her husband, but it was not, at least for us, Brian Murray. That man is the father of a girl who lives here in Rosary, Daisy, who looks so similar to your granddaughter that they could be sisters. The name of that man is Luke Brown, as this report says.”
Mr. Clancy was shaking his head and murmuring: “No, no, no”
Neil went on:
“Daisy’s father used to work in a company in Fredericton, which moved to Rosary a few years ago. We have already called the Company. They confirmed that they fired him three years ago. What we suspected but we didn’t know for sure was that he was a gambler and had a lot of debts with …” He pointed to the paper he was reading, “Mr. Clancy, this name is known to the Police. He is a gangster, a very powerful man. If he owes money to that man, everyone connected to him could be in danger…”
Seeing that Mr. Clancy was more and more agitated, Neil stood up, he moved his chair next to the man, he put his hand on his arm, and he said:
“Mr. Clancy, I know it is a hard blow for your daughter and for you… But, please, sir, you must promise that, if he gets in contact with you, you will NOT” Neil’s firm voice obliged the man to turn and look at the policeman, “ You will not act on your own initiative. You will immediately call us, and we will deal with him, ok?”
Mr Clancy nodded slowly, and he said:
“How can I tell Olivia?”
“I think your daughter must know the truth, however painful it is… But we didn’t tell her anything this morning, so it’s up to you to find the right moment… But what I have just told you applies to her, too!”
It was painful to see that elderly man, used to being in control, leave the police station with his shoulder slumped and a dejected look.
John and Neil remained in the room, and Neil said:
“It will be hard for Mrs. Murray, but I will have to tell Daisy, and it will be hard for her, too. How can some men be so selfish? A lot of people will suffer because of this, John.” John was nodding slowly, and Neil went on: “I have never had a family, and you can’t imagine how much I have always wished I had a father and a mother. How can some people destroy their family like this?”
John put a hand on Neil’s arm and thought that it was true: a family was a gift that many children didn’t have…
Neil’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He looked at the message and said:
“Mr Gatti is ready to talk to us now… will you come with me?”
John nodded and they left.
***
St. John, Bruce Gatti’s office, 11:30 am
The Private Investigator Bruce Gatti had his office in a tall building on the outskirts of St. John, not far from the luxurious villa of the Clancy family.
Neil and John were told on the intercom to go to the second floor. They took the elevator, and they found themselves in a long corridor with doors on the left and on the right. They spotted an open door towards the end of the corridor. They saw that, beyond it, there was just a messy big room with an enormous desk, and shelves full of books and papers. Papers and folders were scattered everywhere, on the desk, on the chairs, on the little sofa in the corner and even on the floor.
When John knocked kindly on the open door, they saw a short man appear from behind the desk and come towards them with a smile. He was in his late fifties, with a short gray beard and short gray hair, rectangular red-framed thick glasses which made his dark eyes look very small and a short large nose. What attracted the attention was, not only the fact that he was really short, but that he had a pleasant smile, which put the prospective client immediately at ease.
When he approached Neil, the difference in stature could have caused him embarrassment, but he smiled warmly and said:
“Inspector McKinley, when I saw you on TV, I thought you were tall, but in person … Oh, but for me, even children are tall!” He started to laugh, and Neil and John couldn’t help but smile at his self-irony.
Neil introduced John, and Mr. Gatti got busy trying to free the chairs from all the papers, so that his guests could sit down. After a few minutes, he grinned at them and invited them to sit in front of his desk. He sat on a corner of the desk and looked at the two policemen with curiosity.
He started:
“I am sorry for the mess, but I am writing some reports, and I am looking through the papers and the photos..” Neil wondered how he could find the right papers in that confusion, but he reflected that everyone had his own mental order, and that not all the people were tidy and meticulous as he had always been.
John asked:
“Has Mr. Clancy called you? He told us that you were free to tell us everything about the investigation on the life of Brian Murray…”
The expression on the face of Gatti became suddenly very serious, and he said:
“I was so sorry, because in all my career I have never found anything like this. Yes, I have had various cases of cheating husbands or wives, but never a person who has two different families…” He sighed and added: “I think that this will be the most difficult part to accept for his family, or, to be more precise, for his families. In my opinion, however, the gambling part is really dangerous, because I have witnessed menaces and threats. Our ‘hero’ has risked being beaten more than once, but he seems really addicted, because he can’t stop.”
“How long have you followed him?” Neil asked.
“More or less two months… Yes, Mr. Clancy called me almost two months ago, at the end of February. One of his employees had seen his son-in-law outside a certain diner, the one that is mentioned at the beginning of my report. He had had doubts about him for some time. He gave him his personal phone number, and he asked me to call him only at a certain time and never at the weekends, because he didn’t want his daughter and granddaughter to hear. I remember that I had the impression that he was really concerned, but not for Murray, but for Mrs. Murray and her daughter… And now I can understand why… How can a wife accept something like this? How can she even conceive of anything like this?”
Neil was looking at the report Mr. Clancy had given him. He asked:
“Here you mention motels, and I can see that everytime Murray goes back to the same town, he never goes to the same motel. Does he always live in motels, never an apartment, a bungalow…?”
“No, sir, the only home is the one where he lives most of the time, where the other family lives, in Rosary… When he moves, he always uses inns or hotels, very cheap ones. He moves from the Clancy luxurious villa to his modest flat in Rosary, to motels around the Province. I must say that he is very adaptable…” There was a hint of sarcasm in the last comment, but Neil pretended not to notice.
“Why did you stop your investigation and deliver your report? Do you think you have found out everything there is to discover about this man?”
“In reality Mr. Clancy had given me two months. He had told me to send him a report, and then he would decide if he wanted me to go on. He hasn’t told me yet, but I think my report was quite a shock, and, if I were him, I wouldn’t want to learn anything more.”
“When exactly did you stop shadowing him?”
“Ten days ago, more or less… Oh, I see, if I had been investigating in the last few days, I could know where he was when his daughter was attacked, or whatever it was that happened to her… Mr. Clancy told me on the phone…”
Neil nodded, but Gatti said:
“I am sorry, but I was waiting for Mr. Clancy’s decision…”
John asked:
“Mr. Clancy gave us the report, but could we have the photos?”
Gatti went to a cabinet in a corner, and, to Neil’s surprise, he didn’t fumble through the files, he just took out a green envelope, and he gave it to the policemen.
“These are all the photos, even the ones that were not so clear and I didn’t include in my report for my client. I hope you will arrest that man… I wouldn’t like to be Mr. Clancy when he will have to tell his daughter…”
John added bitterly:
“We will have to notify the other family, and it will not be much easier…”
***
When Neil and John were back in the car, Neil opened the envelope, and they took a look at the photos. They could only imagine the reaction of the poor old man, when he had seen some of them. The PI had done a good and thorough job, he had been meticulous and his documentation didn’t leave any doubts. When they saw Louise and Daisy in the pictures, the two policemen exchanged a sad glance.
Neil stared ahead for a few moments, and then he took out his mobile phone, and he called Anna. He knew that the Trattoria was open at that time, but he couldn’t wait.
He put the phone on speaker, and, when Anna answered, he could hear in the background the sound of dishes and chatter.
“Anna, I am really sorry. I just have to ask you if you could call Louise and tell her to come to your Trattoria this afternoon. Is Daisy there?”
“Don’t worry, Neil!” Anna’s kind voice didn’t soothe his apprehension. “What’s up?”
“We have to talk to both of them as soon as possible, Anna.”
“Oh, my God. Has anything happened to Luke?”
“We haven’t found him yet, but it is something about him…”
“Unfortunately Daisy has not come here today. Louise had a planned visit at the doctor’s today, and Daisy asked me to accompany her. They have gone to a clinic just outside town, where Louise is having her arthritis treated. I don’t know when they will be back, but the visit is in the afternoon.”
Neil and John exchanged a glance, and Neil said:
“I think we can wait until tomorrow. Will Daisy be at the Trattoria tomorrow?”
“Yes, she will be here… Do I have to contact her?”
“No, don’t worry… See you soon, Anna, and thanks…”
Neil turned to John and said:
“I will go to Louise and Daisy’s home tomorrow morning. Will you come with me?”
“Of course, Neil. It will not be easy for Daisy, and it is better if her grandmother is present…”
Neil put the key in the ignition and he said: “I really hoped I was wrong. It seemed such an absurdity…”
John put a hand on Neil’s arm and they left without another word.
***
Vincent Clancy’s villa, 8 pm
Olivia had never left the hospital since Rachel had been taken there on Monday morning. A friend of hers had offered to spend the night there, in order to give her the chance to go home and try to rest. She had promised to call her if there was a change. The doctors had told her that it was useless for her to remain there, since the situation was now under control, it was just a matter of time.
She parked her car in the drive, and she saw that her father’s car was in the garage, and there was a light in the living room. She climbed the five steps that led to the porch, and she opened the front door. She took off her jacket, and she put her bag on the little table in the foyer, before joining her father. She was agitated, and she had a foreboding that her father would tell her something difficult to accept. He had been very taciturn in the last days before Rachel’s accident, and he had hinted at the fact that he wanted to talk to Brian first. About what? Only money problems?
Vincent was standing next to the window, and, when she entered, he turned and went to embrace her affectionately. For a few moments they just enjoyed the comfort of each other’s presence, the warmth of their mutual affection.
“How is Rachel?”
“The doctors say that, in a few days, they will reduce the medications, and she will be able to wake up. For the time being she is still sedated. But they say that she is better now that the hematoma is reduced.”
Vincent let out a sigh of relief. He led his daughter gently to the sofa, and they both sat down. The old man had already prepared a glass of red wine on the side table. Olivia took a sip of wine, she put down her glass, and she turned to her father.
“Dad, this morning the Inspector showed me a photo of Brian that I had never seen before…”
Vincent had feared this moment for some days now, but he had hoped that his son-in-law would explain the situation to his wife. Now he was the one who had to try to find a delicate way to communicate what he had discovered, if there could be a delicate way…
He took his daughter’s hand and he said:
“Olivia, unfortunately I have recently found out something about Brian, that will be difficult for you to accept. You must be strong…”
As he proceeded to tell her more or less the content of Mr. Gatti’s report, he read a sequence of emotions and feelings on her beautiful features. Shock, incredulity, denial, rebellion, and, eventually, hatred and anger. Finally she buried her face in her hands, and she started to sob desperately. Vincent prayed she would be able to overcome this moment of disillusionment, and he couldn’t help feeling resentment for a man, who had been welcomed in their home as a son, and had betrayed their trust and their love. ‘Please God’, he prayed while he was holding his daughter in his arms and gently caressing her hair, ‘let the police find him before we do, because I don’t know if i would be able to control my emotions…’
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