by Hadena James
Michael frowned at his laptop. He looked up at me. He looked back down at the computer. For a moment, he reminded me of a bobble-head doll. He looked back up at me.
“What is it, Michael?” I snapped at him.
“Well, I couldn’t find an Al, Allen, Albert, or Alfred with a medical license. I did find a Marcus Alfred Welbourne with a medical license.”
The world swam for a moment. I shook my head. He was in Nyleena’s apartment when I left for this trip. Would he have had the time?
“Tell me you’re joking?” My throat felt dry.
“No, I’m not.”
“He was in Nyleena’s apartment when I left,” I sat down. “She has this thing though, she hates when they spend the night, so she came downstairs and slept in my apartment until he left. She was incredibly drunk. I mean just hammered. She would have wandered off a cliff if I had told her it was the way to the bedroom.”
“The thing is the marriage certificate has his middle name listed as Jeffery.”
I thought for a moment. My head uplifted, my eyes staring at a spot on the wall. The wallpaper trim was done in reds and oranges. The design had no real shape; the mind searched for a pattern but failed to come up with one.
“Multiple middle names?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Xavier asked.
“I mean that sometimes when you have multiple middle names, they will only put the first one on a document. Or clerical error. I have a friend whose passport has her middle name listed as ‘Preator’, but it is actually her maiden name. However, because of the error, she eventually changed her middle name to Preator instead of what it was.”
“You have friends?” Lucas raised an eyebrow.
“She was actually a professor I had at the University of Michigan. I tutored several of her students.”
“He doesn’t have the same social security number.” Michael offered.
“Hm,” Lucas frowned at him, “there is a way to get your social changed.”
“Witness protection?” I asked.
“That would be a really good way, but no. If you steal an identity,” Michael grimaced. “He would have had to steal the identity after Welbourne married Jessica.”
“If Jessica helped, it would be easy.” Lucas shook his head.
“The concept makes my head hurt,” I told them.
“I’ll explain...”
“Please don’t, it is already complicated enough. I get it, but it means we are missing a body. Where is the real Marcus Welbourne if he isn’t sleeping with my cousin?”
“Good question,” Lucas answered.
“Yep and I’m open to suggestions. Are all your cases this complicated?”
“You’re familiar with Occam’s Razor?” Xavier asked.
“Of course,” I frowned at him.
“Toss it out the window.”
“I like Occam’s Razor.” I told him.
“Yes, but in our line of work, it is usually the opposite. The weirder the theory, the more probable it is correct.”
“That’s not exactly correct,” Lucas gave him a look. “We theorize until we get a better theory or another piece to work from. At the moment, it seems likely that Jessica and another are our serial killers. The coincidence of Marcus Alfred Welbourne being Marcus Jeffrey Welbourne is a pretty big coincidence. So we work with the theory that they are one in the same. That begs the question: is Al Welbourne real or is he someone else? Since he is a doctor who is also half-siblings with Jessica, it seems likely that he is real. But that doesn’t mean we can’t discount the theory that Jessica replaced the real Marcus with a different psychopath. Someone she could control. Being a doctor would explain where they are getting the money from. It would be even better if he were a judge or an FBI agent, but a doctor gets paid pretty well too.”
“And the different socials?” I dreaded asking.
“That lends credence to the theory it is a stolen identity.” Lucas stopped to look at Michael who had started making guttural noises from his spot at his computer.
“What?” He finally snapped at the younger man.
“Uh, it’s the same social. He inverted it on his employment forms.”
“Oh god,” I moaned. “My cousin is fucking a serial killer.”
“In her defense, she doesn’t know he’s a serial killer.” Xavier grinned.
“Not helpful,” I scowled at him.
“And he’s in Chicago.” Michael added.
“Well, that’s something, I suppose.” I grabbed my cell phone.
“Aislinn?” Nyleena’s voice came over the receiver on the third ring.
“Tell me you are still in Missouri and that you are with Malachi.” I sighed.
“I am in Missouri, but not by choice. Al asked me to go to Chicago with him, but then Malachi showed up and busted it up, told me I was being held in protective custody, but no one will tell me why.” She sounded pissed.
“You’re sleeping with a serial killer,” I told her, “actually, a suspected serial killer who is currently operating in Chicago. You cannot call him about it. Let’s just say, you are probably the target and it would be best if you didn’t contact him anytime soon or take his calls.”
“What?” The anger drained from her voice, replaced by something else.
“Al Welbourne is really Marcus Alfred Welbourne, half-brother of Jessica Thompson. We think they are killing women who look an awful lot like you and we think they have gotten access to information through you. Have you shown Al my thesis?”
“Yes, of course, I was so surprised when you gave me the draft of the manuscript that I showed it to him ages ago.”
“Define ages?”
“When you first sent it to me.”
“So, years actually. Was he ever in your house when you had a copy of my book on torture?”
“Of course.”
“Ok, found the pieces. Thanks, listen to Malachi, I’ll be back when I can.”
I hung up on her before she could pump me for more information. Malachi was about to catch hell, but that was Malachi’s problem. Mine was catching our serial killers.
“Found what pieces?” Lucas asked.
“Nyleena is the link. When I first wrote my dissertation, it turned itself into a book. I gave it to her to edit down. It read even more like a how to manual on torture in the Middle Ages. She also speaks German; it is our code language and she has borrowed my book on torture a few times when putting together cases against modern day torturers. Al Welbourne had access to all that information, plus whatever info he wanted on me, Nyleena and Malachi.”
“Found the trees?” Lucas asked.
“Sadly and Nyleena is terrified of rats. Al asked her to come to Chicago with him. Malachi showed up in time to stop it. I’m terrified of being burned alive.”
“And he knows this?”
“I imagine he does.”
Chapter 47
