The Immortality Plot

The Immortality Plot - chapter 5

“I know,” said Delaney.

“The Internet café is in New Jersey.”

“New Jersey? Maria was murdered in San Benito.”

“Mike, do you want to bring me up to date?”

Delaney nodded. “Maria was murdered two months ago. The same day she was killed someone tried to burn down her office at our beach house. I managed to keep the damage to a minimum until the fire service arrived and I’ve stashed the remains of her files and her computer away from the house. After the funeral I just couldn’t stay there a moment longer. That’s why I went back to the monastery.”

“So they carried out an autopsy, but they decided against an inquest, correct?”

“Correct, because in the circumstances the coroner’s office felt an inquest would serve no purpose. The tape identified Maria, and me as next of kin, but they still needed a non-relative to formally identify her body. I told them to call her New York agent, Miles Dunning. There were no witnesses and the circumstances of her murder were bizarre, out of the ordinary.I was giving a Tai Chi class at time of Maria’s death. I have witnesses. That’s a cast iron alibi. And then there was the fire. It took place around about the same time she was murdered. I was there and so were a team of firefighters.”

“So, what have we got?” asked Messenger.

“Not much. Maria left for an appointment. She was excited. She was working on something big but she never discussed it with me. She never came back. They found her body in a disused chicken shed about fifty miles outside of Monterey on the way to San Juan Benito. It was part of an old disused Catholic mission. I returned home from the beach and found our house on fire. Neighbors helped and we managed to contain it until the fire department arrived. There was still no word from Maria. She didn’t come home that night and there was no response from her cell ‘phone.”

Delaney paused and sipped some wine. Messenger could see how tough this was. He’d never seen Delaney near to cracking before.

“A couple of days later, after I had been tearing my hair out, calling anyone who might know where she was, officers from the San Benito police called, led by a Lieutenant Nachez. That’s when I knew.”

“A chicken farm. Must have been covered in chicken DNA and a mountain of chicken shit. That’s where they found her but is that where she was killed?” said Messenger.

“He carved the sign of the cross, vertically down along her spine and horizontally across her back and arms. A blow with an unknown weapon to her neck snapped her spinal cord and was the cause of her death,” Delaney said hoarsely.

“And, of course, it gets worse,” said Messenger quietly.

Delaney had to pause for a moment.

“She was three months pregnant, Bob. We were going to have our first child. It would have changed our lives completely.”

Both men remained silent for a few seconds.

“Who found her?” asked Messenger.

“A couple of sixteen year olds looking for somewhere to make out. They called the police on a cell phone.”

“Making out in a chicken shed? They must have been desperate. And it’s almost impossible not to leave traces at a crime scene. To do so indicates a remarkable level of attention to detail,” remarked Messenger. “Have they searched your house?”

“First thing they did. But they haven’t checked through the stuff I salvaged. They’ve carried out house to house canvassing, checking us both out.”