The Immortality Plot

The Immortality Plot - chapter 33

Lena Maclean threw her arms around Delaney’s neck.

He hugged her, understanding her joy and relief. After anticipating yet more heartbreak in her life she had been handed a reprieve. Ryan watched smiling and, she chided herself, feeling suddenly and inexplicably jealous. It was a pang that vibrated within her like a lurking rattlesnake. It surprised her. The normally tough, street-wise lawyer used to dealing with the most appalling cases of human suffering, suddenly quivered like a lovelorn teenager.

She commanded herself to regain composure as she saw Delaney gently unlock himself from Lena’s embrace. It was obvious to Ryan that Lena wanted to take Delaney up to her bedroom right there and then but Delaney didn’t seem to understand this. He was clearly preoccupied. It took another woman to notice Lena’s body chemistry.

“I tried to call you but there was no answer,” Lena said. “I wanted to tell you how grateful I am. Words can’t express it. I really didn’t believe I’d ever see Rachel again.”

Delaney had looked in on Rachel who was awake but floating in a half-world. She seemed happy and unworried.

Delaney resisted explaining that he had been otherwise engaged and that the call had ruined the slim chance he had of discovering the truth about his adversary. He bathed in her adulation for a few more moments and then said.

“Lena, let me know how Rachel is once she’s been seen by a doctor. We need to tell the police she has been recovered. I’d like to do that in my own time later today. But now, I’m afraid, Grace and I have to go. We have to head back to New York. It’s urgent.”

Lena nodded. If she’d spoken she’d have broken down in tears. Delaney hugged her again and Ryan felt another pang. She wanted it to be her in his arms she admitted it. She wanted him between her legs. Stop it, Grace. Get a grip.

Once Delaney had extricated himself, Ryan hugged Lena and kissed her cheek. She was a nice woman – a good woman. Ryan shouldn’t feel envious of her but she did.

They left the house and Lena watched them walk down the path.

“Are you going to be okay driving?” Delaney asked her. “You haven’t had much sleep.”

“I’ll be okay. Tell me what happened.”

Delaney related the events that took place at the chapel. She remained silent and listened as they pulled away, both waving back at Lena.

“So, what now?” asked Ryan. “Where to?”

“Long Island,” Delaney told her.

As Ryan drove, Delaney called Bob Messenger. The Englishman told him that interest in the case had been revitalized by the breaking news of the murders at the Harvard Club. Speculation and theories were now starting to escalate. The attacks on website personnel had also helped to drive The Priest murders back near the top of the agenda.

The police and FBI had been in contact and were becoming more and more frustrated with the apparent leads emerging from the site. Amateur investigators had been calling the police in Brooklyn, Boston and Monterrey as well as the Criminal Apprehension Unit with their own theories. But many regular users of the site seemed to have become as entranced by The Monk versus The Priest contest as solving the crimes themselves. In fact, Messenger told him, a kind of Monk fan club had been building up driven purely and simply by the people.

Messenger and Farrell had been non-committal when it came to divulging the whereabouts of Mike Delaney to anyone. They still could not confirm to the authorities that Delaney and The Monk were one and the same; anonymity was everything on Confess-Confess. As long as communication from The Monk went directly through the U.K., the U.S. law enforcement authorities had no jurisdiction, although there were now threats of involving Interpol to obtain court orders to reveal information. Delaney was now wanted for questioning in relation to the Rattin and Martin murders, the police had told Messenger. They also told Messenger he was quite at liberty to publish the information if he wished, before they fed Delaney’s name to the press. It was part of the pressure building up on the website.

Claude Rattin was a nobody as far as the media were concerned. Their story was that Rattin had simply got in the way of an assassination. He was a simple do-gooder who ran a humanitarian charity. Martin had enemies, lots of them. He had business rivals who would be glad to see the back of him. This view was also permeating the law enforcement high flyers that had been dragged in to make statements. How could these murders have any connection with a serial killer with a religious fixation?

Lieutenant Raymond Dorsey and one or two others on the task force could see the connection but their views were not shared by the whole team. Dorsey knew that the link was Mike Delaney, whose involvement at the Harvard Club had gone unreported in the media, but noted by the police. He was also being sought so that he could explain why he posed as a potential business partner to Martin’s media guru Lester Draper claiming that he knew his client.

The other connection was that, apart from forensic evidence that must exist linking Delaney to Rattin given his admission that he’d been there, roughed up Rattin and left him tied up and secure, forensics had not, so far, linked the murders of Rattin and Martin and that, in Dorsey’s view, would appear to clear Delaney. Why would he have called Dorsey if he had committed one or both murders? And what could possibly be the motive?

A fresh team of investigators had been formed to handle the Craig Martin slaying. Country detectives like Dorsey were being sidelined. In the next two days, Craig Martin’s life would be taken to pieces and examined minutely. As of now, there were two parallel investigations taking place that involved officers from several forces plus the FBI and the Criminal Apprehension Unit.

For everyone involved with both investigations, the name Mike Delaney kept cropping up like a nagging toothache. His whereabouts was now a matter of urgent interest. So far, a warrant for his apprehension had not been issued but it was under serious consideration. Dorsey, with Levinson in close support, was the only officer who had had any contact with Delaney and so had been charged with locating him.

A few journalists had managed to get interviews with John Farrell in Chicago. Messenger had refused all contact with the press.

Delaney asked him how he was keeping following the attack and was told in no uncertain terms that he was a tough old bird and it would take more than a couple of hoods to intimidate him. Delaney smiled as he glanced out of the car window.

Delaney was considering all the options including the prospect of a warrant being issued for his arrest. He wasn’t too concerned. If he didn’t want to be found he could vanish and leave no trace. Besides, the first objective, and in many ways the most important, had been achieved. Rachel Maclean had been rescued. That gave Delaney a huge sense of achievement. One way or another the whole affair was likely to be concluded this very day and then Delaney would call Dorsey and tell him everything he knew and be available for interview.

The way Delaney saw it, the search for The Priest as serial killer had now merged with the search for the murderer of Craig Martin and Claude Rattin. New blood on the investigative team under pressure from the boys in the big building and the media were taking a fresh look at both cases and picking up the name of Mike Delaney as a possible suspect to be questioned. Forensics would pick up Delaney’s DNA traces on Rattin but not on Martin. That would upset any nice, easy theories regarding his involvement.

But right now, he had to leave the most intriguing post from The Monk so far. Delaney had to keep his cover as The Monk intact and had to write in the third person just giving away enough information to set the investigative juices boiling and the case itself high on the agenda.

He dictated his piece to Bob Messenger who was clearly relishing the information. The Monk was asking: who is Chantelle Dubois? What is her connection to The Priest? Is Long Island the epicenter of the Renaissance Project?

And the biggest headline of the post?

The revelation that the missing Rachel Maclean had been located and reunited with her family before The Priest could make her his next victim. The Monk intimated that she was the donor earmarked for the recently murdered Craig Martin.

The post concluded with the punch line that The Monk was closing in on The Priest. It was only a matter of time. Today could be D-Day.

Delaney could almost hear Messenger licking his lips as he prepared his copy. He knew what Delaney was doing. If he couldn’t get to The Priest then, why not tempt The Priest to get to him.

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