Finding 01 Finding Kaden

by Jean Reinhardt

  In his clinic, in Mexico, Henry Brubaker called into the 3D Bio Print Lab. Only very wealthy people could afford to avail of the service it offered. He ultimately wanted every sick person to receive the help they needed, but for now the technology was way too expensive. However, in time, with the gold from Antarctica making it possible, hope of a new liver, kidney, heart or whatever organ was needed could be offered to anyone, regardless of wealth. Henry looked into the chamber where a machine was duplicating Kaden’s heart from the sample the clinic had received the day before. He was amazed at how little time it took.

  “Technology has come a long way since 3D printing was invented about thirty years ago, hasn’t it?” he said to Simon Boyd, the lab technician in charge of the procedure.

  “It sure has, Doctor Brubaker. This is one very lucky patient to be able to afford a new heart duplicated from the cells of their own diseased one. To think that not too long ago transplant recipients often died because their bodies rejected a donor heart. They still do if they can’t afford this.”

  “Well now, it won’t be long before this technology is widely available at a reasonable cost. Think of what that will mean to mankind.” Henry patted the man’s back, “You are doing a fine job, Boyd. I’m very pleased with this particular specimen.”

  The lab technician beamed, delighted to be praised by the man who was responsible for one of the greatest advances in medicine in the last twenty years.

  Henry Brubaker did his usual tour of the clinic. The kind words and gratitude he received from his patients helped to strengthen his determination that nothing should be allowed to jeopardize his program. He had sacrificed years of his life, devoting it to research and study, even taking risks that could have put him in jail. Henry firmly believed that one young man’s freedom was insignificant in comparison.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  A stack of posters piled high on the breakfast bar almost toppled over as Ethan moved them to make room for more. Amelia picked one up and struggled to keep from crying as she looked into her brother’s eyes. Touching his face with her fingertips she traced his wide smile.

  “How come boys always have such great lips,” she said, trying to be light hearted.

  “All the better to kiss you with, my dear,” Ethan’s mouth brushed her forehead.

  “Call that a kiss? Come here you,” placing the poster back on top of the pile, Amelia put her arms around his neck.

  At that moment the door swung open and Estelle gave a surprised gasp.

  “What exactly do you two think you are doing?”

  Ethan quickly pulled away from Amelia.

  “I’m…umm…really sorry, Estelle…emm…I don’t know what came over me.”

  It took a few seconds before he realized that the two women were laughing at his discomfort.

  “Its okay, Ethan. Mom knows how we feel about each other. Dad on the other hand….” she looked towards her mother, who was still smiling.

  “He just needs to hear it when the time is right. After all, you’re still his ‘little’ girl, always will be. Fathers can be like that, especially Lloyd.”

  Picking up one of the posters Estelle did what Amelia had done, touched it gently with her fingertips.

  “These are really good, Ethan, thank you so much for going to all this trouble.”

  “It’s the least I could do. I’ve rounded up a few college friends to help distribute them this afternoon. Amelia was planning on coming too, if that’s okay with you, Mrs Seager.”

  Estelle knew that Grant would be livid, but they couldn’t keep their daughter a virtual prisoner for fear of someone taking her. She knew Amelia would be in safe hands with Ethan and his friends.

  “Please call me Estelle, Mrs Seager is so formal. I think it would be good for Amelia to have a part in trying to find her brother. Give me some too, I’ll do the same.”

  ******

  Standing outside the police station, Ethan looked at Amelia and they both shook their heads, they might be told to stop distributing the posters.

  “The cops will think we’re taking over their jobs, let’s go there instead,” said Amelia pointing across the street to the library.

  At the desk a middle aged woman gave them a friendly smile and asked how she might be of help. Ethan held up one of the posters and wondered if he could leave it with her. Martha was shocked to see Kaden’s face smiling back at her. She gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

  “Who are you, why are you showing me this?”

  “I’m sorry,” said Amelia taking the poster from Ethan, “This is my brother, Kaden Seager. You might have heard about him on TV or in the papers. He’s been missing for a few weeks now.”

  Martha regained her composure. She looked around to see if anyone was watching, then wrote something on a piece of paper. Taking one of Amelia’s hands in hers, she patted the back of it in a sympathetic gesture.

  “I am so sorry for what has happened to your family. Leave some of those with me and I will see to it they are distributed to everyone coming in. I can put one up on the notice board too.”

  Then she lowered her voice and whispered.

  “Be careful, you might be followed.”

  Once they were some distance from the library, Amelia read the note Martha had given her. Without showing it to Ethan, she folded it and put it back into her pocket.

  “Come on, I know a place we can go for a coffee,” she said.

  “Strange behaviour for a librarian, don’t you think,” Ethan said as he stirred his latte. Amelia was looking through the window onto the busy street. Glancing around the cafe she seemed very distracted. Taking the folded note from her pocket and placing it on her lap, she quickly read it once again before passing it under the table to Ethan. Reading the scribbled words, he felt a shiver go down his spine.

  “BE VERY CAREFUL. I HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR BROTHER, BUT YOU MUST NOT GO TO THE POLICE OR TELL ANYONE. MEET ME IN MILANO’S COFFEE HOUSE TWO BLOCKS EAST.”

  Ethan could see why Amelia had been so jumpy.

  “There’s something seriously wrong here. How do you know that woman isn’t involved in Kaden’s disappearance? I’m not sure I like this, Amelia.”

  “I really think she can help us, Ethan. There was something in her eyes. I can’t explain it. Please, just let’s wait here till she comes,” she said, scanning the faces around her.

  “I promised your mother I would look after you, Amelia. What if someone tries to take you, too? Maybe they intended to look for a ransom for Kaden, but he put up a struggle and it all went wrong. They might do the same thing to you.”

  Ethan stood up so abruptly it drew the attention of the people at the next table.

  “Come on, let’s go, now.”

  Before Amelia could decide on what to do, Martha walked through the door, looking around the cafe.

  Ethan was holding his chair, ready to push it back under the table. The woman spotted them and walked over.

  “Thank you, young man, I’ll have a white coffee please,” Martha said.

  She sat on his chair and glanced into their empty cups.

  “Maybe you should have another yourselves, while you listen to what I have to say.”

  After telling them about Jasper, the shelter and the loss of her own son, Martha sat back trying to gauge their reaction.

  “What do you think about that?” she asked.

  The young couple looked at each other without saying a word. Ethan was the first to speak.

  “I’m really sorry about your son, ma’am, but surely it was an accident, a coincidence.”

  “It was no accident, believe me.”

  Martha looked around before continuing in a low voice.

  “I received a recording from him after the funeral. He made it so that if anything should happen to him I would know what he was doing that might endanger his life. It confirms what I’ve just told you. My son paid dearly to pass this on to me.”

  Amelia was so pale that Martha, who was fac
ing her, thought she might faint.

  “Do you need some water, sweetheart?” she asked.

  The girl shook her head.

  “I’m scared that my father might be involved, he is a patron of that charity. But he would never do such a thing to his own son, I know he wouldn’t.”

  “But what if his hands are tied, it would explain why he is so paranoid about you going missing. Maybe he is being threatened with that, too,” Ethan said.

  They all agreed to wait for one week and see what developed. Amelia said she would keep an eye on things at home. Ethan promised to keep in touch with both of them, and in the meantime try to discover what was going on at the shelter.

  Martha went back to work, leaving the young couple lost in thought. Amelia was first to speak.

  “Please don’t go to that place, it’s too dangerous,” she pleaded.

  Ethan took her hand in his and kissed it, as he had done before.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful and I definitely won’t be staying the night.”

  Three days later, Detective Matthews arrived at the Seager home, a grave look on his face. As the family of three sat together on the sofa, holding hands and facing him, he took a deep breath.

  “There’s no easy way to tell you this. I truly believe Kaden is dead.”

  “No, it’s not true, I won’t believe it,” Estelle cried out.

  Lloyd put his arm around her and swallowed hard.

  “Jake, we’ve known each other a long, long time. I know you would never say that with such conviction if you didn’t have proof to back it up. Please tell us the truth, what have you uncovered?” he asked.

  “I’m not supposed to give out this sort of information until the lab results come back, but I feel you really need to prepare yourselves for bad news.”

  Jake looked at Amelia and a lump formed in his throat.

  “Is this something you want your daughter to hear from me, Lloyd?”

  It was Estelle who spoke in a controlled, calm voice.

  “We may be in no condition later to tell her anything, so if you are okay with this Amelia, stay. We need to be together now more than ever.”

  The three of them looked at Jake, waiting for him to speak.

  “Apart from the time my wife died, this is the worst thing I have ever had to tell anyone. Today a package was delivered to the station, addressed to me. Obviously I wasn’t allowed open it until security checked it out.”

  The detective, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead, looked Lloyd straight in the eye as he spoke.

  “Inside was what looked like a human heart.”

  He waited for this to sink in. Of all of them, it was Amelia who remained totally unaffected by this news. Jake thought she might be in shock.

  “This is a trademark of kidnappers in the south. Usually, if they don’t receive a ransom this is what they do. I know you were never contacted by anyone implying this was a kidnapping, but it’s possible that before they got a chance to get in touch with you something happened and Kaden lost his life.

  Maybe he tried to escape, or met with some sort of accident. I don’t know why they would do this now. These are sick people. Nothing surprises me about them.”

  Jake looked at Amelia with concern and saw that she was composed and expressionless. Her parents, on the other hand, were beside themselves with grief.

  “I’ll leave you alone to try and come to terms with this,” he said.

  He stood up and Lloyd walked him to the door, leaving his wife holding onto their daughter. Amelia was staring after them, a strange look on her face. Before leaving the house, Jake turned to his friend, there was something he needed to say.

  “I think Amelia is in shock, Lloyd, you should get a doctor over, just in case. She’s not reacting in a normal way, in fact she isn’t showing any emotion whatsoever. Let me know if you need anything.”

  Amelia took her mother by the hand leading her towards the stairs, saying there was something she needed to be told, urgently. In her room sitting next to Estelle on the bed, Amelia explained that their conversation might be overheard. On a notepad, she wrote down everything she could remember about Martha and what she had told them at the cafe.

  While her mother was reading, Amelia’s thoughts were racing through her head. She had heard every word Jake said, but it wasn’t making sense. Somehow she just knew deep down that her brother was alive. She was sure the tests would prove it wasn’t his heart, but one belonging to some other poor unfortunate, victim. Having decided it was scare tactics, Amelia made up her mind to continue her search for Kaden until he was found. She said this to her mother and they held onto each other, willing it to be true.

  Ethan arrived at the house early next morning. Amelia wouldn’t leave her room and Estelle asked him to go up and reason with her. Lloyd threw his wife a puzzled look. She beckoned him to follow her to the kitchen. As she made them some coffee, and tea for the officer on phone duty that day, Estelle explained to her husband how fond their daughter was of Ethan.

  “I hope he doesn’t think he can take advantage of her in the state she’s in, I don’t think it’s a good idea for them to be alone up there, do you?”

  Estelle handed him his coffee, and steered him out of the room, into the study.

  “Spoken like a father only could,” she said. “They have liked each other for a long time now and if they wanted to do something about it they would have done it already. So can we please put that scenario out of our minds, Lloyd? Ethan is exactly who she needs right now. He is grieving, too. Kaden was like a brother to him.”

  Lloyd pulled away from his wife.

  “What do you mean by was? Have you resigned yourself to believing he’s dead?”

  “Maybe I have, at least that way if the lab tests show a DNA match I might be able to take it better than if I have my hopes up,” said Estelle.

  Lloyd was disgusted to hear this and said so.

  “I will never believe my son is dead until I have physical proof, and I don’t for one minute expect that DNA test to prove anything,” he shouted, slamming the door as he stormed out of the room.

  Estelle picked up a photo frame. It held a picture of Kaden when he was sixteen holding the keys to his new red pick-up.

  Upstairs, Ethan and Amelia were pretty sure the house was bugged so they communicated with pen and paper.

  “I checked out that shelter. Most of the guys there believe the place is okay but a couple of them said some of their friends had gone missing the day after they’d stayed there.”

  Amelia read what he had written on the pad. She took the pen from him.

  “That’s exactly what Jasper reported. I don’t care what the test says, there’s some sort of cover up and someone is faking Kaden’s death to protect themselves. I hate to say this, but I really think Jake Matthews is involved somehow. Maybe he knows who it is and is trying to negotiate a deal, but why would he be so upset if he knows my brother is alive?”

  Amelia handed the pen back to Ethan. He tapped it against his leg, thinking before he wrote.

  “It’s possible that if we delve too deep we could be putting Kaden in more danger and Detective Matthews wants to avoid that, so he isn’t telling us the whole truth. Whatever the result of that DNA test, we know Kaden is most likely alive otherwise his body would have turned up, not his heart.”

  Amelia read this and nodded in agreement. She was ready for whatever Jake Matthews told them, because she believed it would be a lie.

  ******

  The next day, Jake read the results of the test to the Seager family.

  “I was hoping this was a mistake, so I had them check it again. I’m so sorry, but the results are positive. The DNA sample of the heart matches Kaden’s. I wish there was some way I could change that, but I can’t. I’m so sorry, I loved that boy like a son.”

  It was Amelia who came over and put her arm around him.

  “It’s okay, Uncle Jake. We know how much he meant to you. I’ll go m
ake some coffee for us all.”

  When she left the room, the two men looked at each other, amazed at the matter of fact way she had spoken.

  “Did you have a doctor check her out, Lloyd, like I said yesterday?” Jake wiped his eyes.

  “She refused to see one. She’s almost eighteen years old. We can’t force her, for crying out loud.”

  Estelle put a hand on her husband’s shoulder to calm him down.

  “I can pretend that I need something to help me get through this and ask her to come with me. Doctors can tell a lot by how a person acts, even if they refuse help,” she said.

  As she walked towards the door, Estelle spoke in a clear, even voice.

  “Jake, I think you should stay here with Lloyd for a while, he’s taking this worse than any of us.”

  She looked pityingly at her husband, who was slumped in a chair, hands covering his face, weeping bitterly. Estelle Seager, however, was the picture of composure as she left the two devastated men behind her.

  “Lloyd, I think your wife and daughter need medical attention. They’re not making sense. It has to be the shock of all this. When reality kicks in they’ll be in a bad way. Better to get your grief out of your system now, my friend. They are going to need you to be strong for them soon.”

  Estelle called Amelia out from the kitchen and asked her to come upstairs. They went into one of the bathrooms and ran the shower.

  “Do you seriously believe the house is bugged,” Estelle whispered.

  Her daughter nodded her head vigorously.

  “Martha told us to either write down what we want to say or speak with the shower running, just in case. Maybe Kaden has escaped or is trying to get in touch with us. He may be afraid to make contact in case it would put us in danger. I think that lab test was tampered with. Why would Jake not tell us everything Jasper had reported? Why is he covering up for the shelter, and more importantly, why is he having secret meetings with Grant Brubaker?”

  Estelle sat on the edge of the bath, trying to make sense of it all.

  “Grant funds the charity that runs that shelter. The only connection I can think of between him and Jake is the fact that he got his father, Henry Brubaker to help Leona when she was ill. Do you remember her, Amelia?”