“It had nothing to do with his capability. He was simply not ready for being the Managing Director,” Jeffrey Hansen retorted.
Kiara looked at him and smiled. “I knew you’d say that. But, his incapability is what led to her kidnapping, isn’t it?”
Jeffery couldn’t say anything. Kiara stared at him for a moment and then turned toward Bob.
“This is the first call that he got from Lorenzo. It was made around two weeks before your kidnapping,” she said and pushed a paper with circled phone numbers. Cynthia didn’t bother to say anything. Kiara looked at Shirley, who looked in the other direction.
“Lorenzo was hired by someone whose money Shawn had lost and he…” Kiara said, but couldn’t finish.
“We know Lorenzo was threatening him. Why are you telling this again?” James asked in frustration.
“Because he told the half-truth,” Kiara said sternly. “He gave us a list of clients whose money he had lost. But, those names aren’t the one that led to her kidnapping.”
“What?”
“Let me finish before pointing fingers at our investigation,” Kiara said firmly. James nodded and gestured her to continue.
“So, as I was saying. Lorenzo threatened Shawn, and when you told him about your Europe trip, he thought of using the opportunity to meet Lorenzo in person. The issue was that he didn’t know about Lorenzo’s whereabouts. That’s where Michael Campbell came into the picture.”
“Are you mad? Do you even know what you’re talking about?” Shirley asked angrily. “If he comes to know…”
“He won’t do anything,” Kiara said calmly and looked toward the observation mirror. “He only gave him information about Rafael, who in return helped Shawn meet Lorenzo. Rafael traveled to Rome a few days before you and Shawn did. Even he had to trace Lorenzo. Once he found Lorenzo, he arranged a meeting with Shawn. He even met Shawn thrice at his hotel suite before the meeting with Lorenzo.”
“What?” Cynthia asked in disbelief. Bob pushed another page, one with Rafael’s phone location history. She took it reluctantly.
“Lorenzo didn’t agree to any offers made by Shawn, and eventually he went ahead with his plan of kidnapping Cynthia,” Kiara said. “But, the way the kidnapping happened and the way it was told to us are entirely different. Aren’t they, Cynthia?”
Cynthia’s hands started trembling. Her throat became dry with fear.
“Are you all right? What are you doing?” Shirley said while holding Cynthia’s hand.
“Let me enlighten you on that,” Jake said and walked to Kiara. “It was my discovery, after all,” he whispered in her ear. Kiara shook her head in frustration and stepped aside.
“She’s getting nervous because she was kidnapped two days before it was reported,” he said casually.
Everyone looked at him with surprise and then toward Cynthia, who had buried her face in her palms.
“She was kidnapped from the airport itself,” Jake added. “And, before you all get surprised again, let me ask something to Amy.”
Amy’s face turned crimson. “What … what have I done?”
“Nothing. You were made a scapegoat. I just wanted to ask you about the time when you went inside Liberty Plaza and when you came out,” Jake asked.
“I went inside with Shawn at around eight in the morning, and he drove me to my place by … by eight in the evening. Why? Is there something to these timings?” she asked nervously.
“There definitely is. Both are the shift changing times for the security guards,” Jake said casually, but her words shook Amy entirely.
“You … you’re right. Both the times, the main gate was unguarded. The guards were at their office, and when they walked toward the gate, Shawn gestured them to stop and he opened the gate himself,” she said with fear in her voice. “Why would he do that?”
“Now you’re asking the right question,” Jake said with pride, making Carlson and Kiara wince. “He did that because the guards can’t identify the people from where they were standing. They could only see a man and a woman in the car. When they came to check, Shawn came out and showed his face. They identified Shawn and thought that the woman with him was…”
“Cynthia!” Shirley exclaimed. “He hired the kidnapper and then he hid it for two days. He should rot in hell.”
“You are wrong again. Just think it this way: we’ve already established that Shawn loves Cynthia, and we’ve also hinted that he’s not the mastermind. The actual questions you should be asking are: if he cares so much for Cynthia, why didn’t he call the police and waited for forty-eight hours? Did he know that she will be safe? But how would he know that if he didn’t plan it?” Jake said with a faint smile and gazed across the room.
“He doesn’t have to be a part of the plan. He had to be just aware of it,” James said thoughtfully.
“Or better, if he knew who made that plan and was informed by the mastermind that he had no option but to go ahead with it,” Jake said and again stared at everyone.
“You’re enjoying our misery, aren’t you,” Philip Campbell spoke for the first time.
Kiara almost pushed Jake away before he could have retaliated.
“See, Shawn was framed by someone. He didn’t plan anything,” she said while looking at Philip. “He told us that he had lost the money of his three Italian clients. When we cross-examined the list, we did find that those clients of his had made losses—but those losses weren’t huge. This raised our suspicion, but we were still not very sure. However, when Scarlet hired Karl, and he got the proof of Shawn’s alleged affair with Amy, we found something amiss. There was a note threatening Shawn. He got so scared by it that he agreed to the affair. We were further surprised when we found out that he thought that Michael and not Scarlet sent the note.”
Michael looked at Carlson, who nodded.
“Now, the affair wasn’t real. Shawn knew if he could speak to Cynthia, he could clarify that to her. That meant the note was useless. That didn’t make sense. So, we investigated it further. It’s then that we found about the investors arranged by Michael, but none of them had any connection to the Mafia. However, when Bob dug deeper, he found that there was another silent investor that wasn’t arranged by Michael.”
“What?” Michael said angrily and punched the observation mirror. “That son of a…” Everybody looked at the mirror with surprise. Kiara knew what had happened. She coughed, bringing everyone’s attention back to the matter at hand.
“This secret investor has links to the Mafia, and he’s the one who hired Lorenzo, but not to threaten Shawn. In fact, he had nothing to do with Shawn because he hadn’t invested a single penny in Shawn. Instead, he had invested his money somewhere else,” Kiara said and then turned toward Jeffrey Hansen. “Am I right, Mr. Hansen?”
Jeffrey Hansen got up at once. “What … what are you saying? Are you mad?”
“My husband will never do this to his son. He loves Shawn more than anything in his life,” Scarlet said in Jeffrey’s support.
“You … you’re the one who put my daughter through this?” Shirley shouted. By now, Cynthia had started to sob, and Kiara noticed that. She gestured to Jake, who walked to the other side of the room and stood between Shirley and Jeffrey before they could’ve started throwing things at each other.
“Please, let her finish,” he said. Shirley nodded and stepped aside, but Jeffrey stood there motionless. He didn’t know what to say. Jake almost pushed him into his chair.
Kiara took a deep breath and looked at Scarlet. “You’re right that being a father, he should love Shawn. But money blinded him.”
“What money?” Shirley retorted.
“To be precise … ten million dollars,” Kiara said with a faint smile.
“What?” Shirley asked with confusion. “I don’t understand. What has the ransom got to do with Jeffrey?”
“Everything, actually,” Kiara replied. “When we found out that Piero Marconi, the fourth investor, was behind this kidnapping, we wer
e surprised by the ransom demand. We checked and found that the other investors had given a hundred million each. If Piero had also invested equally, then why was he bothered for a small amount like ten million? Then something struck me about that amount. It was the same amount that Jeffrey had received as the retirement bonus. On further investigation, we found that Jeffrey’s employer had never paid such a huge retirement bonus to a man of his position before. And, we were right. This evening, Bob and I called some of the top management officials, and once we threatened them, we found out that Piero sponsored the bonus.”
“What?” Scarlet said in a frail voice and looked at Jeffrey, who couldn’t look her in the eye.
“We too had the same reaction, but only for a moment. The fourth investor wasn’t arranged by Shawn as the company books say; Jeffrey arranged him. Jeffrey had a deal with him. Jeffrey would help him with investment in Shawn’s company and in return, Piero would sponsor his retirement bonus. Jeffrey’s employer agreed to this arrangement, as they also got a part of the amount. Didn’t they?” Kiara asked Jeffrey, who looked at her for a moment. He knew that his game was up. There was no point hiding anything.
“Thirty percent,” he said feebly.
“See, there. They were richer by three million without doing anything. Jeffrey paid the taxes and got to keep a large sum to himself – legally. But, you know what the sad part is?” Kiara said, looking at Scarlet. “Shawn doesn’t even know about this transaction. He only helped his father earn his retirement bonus without knowing that it was a vicious plan. For him, by helping Piero buy a few stocks in his company, he was going to help his father overachieve his targets and get a fat bonus.”
“What have you done?” Scarlet asked and began to cry.
“Jeffrey had told Piero that Shawn’s company’s shares were at their lowest point and within a year he was going to be richer by at least twenty-five million as he knew about the bailout planned by Michael. But, Shawn’s ineptitude led to a lot of wrong decisions, which in turn resulted in losses. Finally, Piero had enough of it and demanded his ten million from Jeffrey. But, Jeffrey refused to part with it. Finally, Piero hired Lorenzo, who threatened Jeffrey with dire consequences. Jeffrey got scared and reached out to Shawn and told him the truth. Shawn knew about the Italian Mafia and also knew that they weren’t going to spare Jeffrey. Shawn agreed to help Jeffrey out, and when Cynthia planned the Europe trip, he made a plan. He went to meet Lorenzo in Italy and tried to get Jeffery out of his misery. He wasn’t scheming against Cynthia; he was there to save his father.”
Cynthia felt as if someone had pierced a knife through her heart. Shawn was innocent after all. She looked angrily at Shirley, who avoided her gaze.
“Piero was told about the offer, but he got mad and called Jeffrey. Piero threatened him and told him that if he didn’t pay in two days, he would kidnap Cynthia,” Kiara said.
“What?” Scarlet shouted at Jeffrey. “You knew this?”
“Not only that,” Kiara said. “He even approved of it, knowing beforehand that if Piero hurts Cynthia, Michael Campbell will go after him. That way, he will be saved for once and all. And, you know how we came to know about it?”
“How?” Jeffrey asked in a quivering voice.
“You planned everything, but made a mistake—a very silly mistake. When we came to know that Shawn used Amy to fool the guards, we found something amiss. Why was Shawn driving his car? If he were coming from the airport, he would have called his driver or hired a cab. We checked with the security guards and guess what we found? You took his car from Liberty Plaza two days before the kidnapping. You knew everything. You also knew that Shawn will call you for help, and you were ready for that too. You assured him that if he went ahead with your plan, Cynthia would come back safely. That’s why he hid it from the police for two days.”
Jeffrey felt as if life had been sucked out of his body.
“When Piero came to know about Michael, it was too late; the NYPD, FBI, and Italian police were already after Lorenzo. It was a matter of days before Lorenzo was caught. So, he played his final card. He paid Lorenzo even more and in return, Lorenzo told the police that Shawn hired him. Piero didn’t get his money back, but he hurt you where he wanted—he gave you a lifelong wound.”
Scarlet got up and threw her bag at him, but he didn’t move an inch even after the blow. “You used me too. You told me that if I hired Karl, you'd get Shawn and Cynthia separated.” With that, she began to sob. “What have I done to my son?”
“Shawn was right: his mother isn’t that smart to carry out all of this. It was you all the time, and he kept protecting you till the end. He even accepted the double murder charges for you. Not a Perfect Crime after all from your point of view.”
“The money blinded me, and I thought once Lorenzo is caught and … and Cynthia comes back home safely … everything will end.” Jeffrey repented, but it was too late. Kiara looked toward the observation mirror. Carlson knew what she wanted.
In a minute, Jeffrey was cuffed and was taken out of the room. Scarlet, Amy, and James knew that their turn was also around. It was a matter of time before the charges were pressed against them.
No one moved an inch or uttered a single word. Everyone was fighting their demons and had no courage left to look at anyone in the room.
Shirley knew she had hurt Cynthia by pushing her toward the divorce; Cynthia knew that even if she forgives Shawn for using her as a ladder to success, she can’t forgive herself for making present decisions based on past prejudices; Scarlet knew that even though Jeffrey made her do what she had done to Shawn, her faults were no less; Amy was in shock knowing that she was paid to be a part of the whole setup and was being eaten away by the guilt that she wanted to cash it further; James was thinking that he had helped the Campbell family, but by doing so he had also betrayed his profession.
And, above all, Michael Campbell was wondering about the real color of all the people he had considered the most important part of his life.
The next morning Kiara reached the office before anyone else. She had spent the whole night tossing and turning in bed. She knew she won’t catch a wink till she gets closure on this case. She wanted the report to be submitted to Carlson before he even asked for it.
By the time Jake arrived, she was back to her cheerful self. He was surprised, but he knew why she was relieved.
“The report?” he asked with a smile.
“Done and dusted,” Kiara said and pointed toward Carlson’s office.
Jake walked to his table and switched on his computer. “So, what else?” he asked casually while looking at the monitor.
“Two … no, three things,” Kiara said, drawing his attention. “First, Jeffrey is in, and Shawn is out; second, Piero is in custody and is willing to cooperate, and third … well it’s the best one.”
She said and pushed a folder toward him.
“What’s this?” Jake asked with surprise. “New case?”
“Nope,” Kiara said with a wide grin. “This file has the names of our new partners.”
“What?” Jake asked with a shock on his face and looked at her. “We’re being removed as a team … and you’re happy about it.”
With that, he read the whole page in one go. By the time he finished it, he also had a wide grin just like her.
“This is going to be awesome!” he exclaimed and looked at Kiara, who nodded with a smile.
Afterword
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Other books by the author
“LOOSE ENDS” Excerpt
When Agent Kiara Davenport and Agent Jake Carter were assigned new partners, they had hoped the cases would also be new. But, a serial killer is back in town, and Jake has to follow his trail. The only clue left behind is the dying words of the thr
ee victims.
And, before he could have asked Kiara's help, she is sucked into a high political game that is spread across continents. Will they be able to solve the cases without each other's help and that too using their new, inexperienced partners?
Chapter 1
Seven years back
‘The hype surrounding the news of Donald Coleman alien abduction came to a premature end today when the Doctors monitoring the case concluded it to be nothing but the fertile imagination of Mr. Coleman’s brain. The news had taken the whole nation by frenzy and had made Mr. Coleman the hero of the conspiracy theorists overnight. Mr. Coleman’s firm belief that last Saturday, he was abducted by the aliens and was tested by them using various mechanism couldn’t be substantiated when he failed to detail them out. As per him, he was tested for hours by the aliens, and then they wiped out the memories of that day using bright lights. All he remembers is being exposed to eight Suns followed by losing consciousness.
Mr. Coleman’s car broke down while on his way to Arizona on a hot summer day, and he was found lying a few yards away from it. The heat and exhaustion along with Mr. Coleman’s history of drug abuse has been cited as the possible reason for this behavior. The conspiracy theory groups, who stood by Mr. Coleman during the last few days, have also withdrawn their support post this revelation. We reached out to the Doctors monitoring Mr. Coleman, and they have concluded that hallucinogens found in his blood sample made him see the images, hear the sounds, and feel the sensations that seemed real to him but were mere hallucinations. Mr. Coleman, on the other hand, has gone into hiding since this morning. He lives alone and has no known family members who could be approached for any statements. ’
Present Day
“The… eight Suns,” the old man said as he was being taken to the O.T., “They will come again.”
Davenport Mysteries 03-Perfect Crime Page 20
