Revealed (The Found Book 1)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  “Who is she?”

  Cyrus shut the drapes again, and Sierra turned the projector back on.

  “Meet Jade Melling. She is one hell of an artist, who happens to own eleven galleries around the world. She also represents some of the most influential artists of our generation.” Kali looked at the woman on the screen. She was older and nondescript. There was not one thing about her that stood out, then Sierra flashed to a benefits program where Jade was presenting a check to a hospital. She was on stage with three children, and her entire demeanor changed, she was animated and effervescent. Her interaction with the children was delightful to watch, it was clear she managed to make them comfortable and happy, even though they were on a stage in front of hundreds of people.

  “This can’t be the person behind my kidnapping.”

  “We agree,” Noah said. “But Sierra has been digging into her financials, and besides the money spent on the office park, there have been many other large withdrawals made and unaccounted for.”

  “How much are we talking?” Cyrus asked.

  “Millions,” Sierra answered. “I sent a text to the lieutenant this morning. We were thinking someone would contact her when she returns from Europe tomorrow, but now I think one of us needs to go to New York and talk to her face to face.”

  “If you don’t think this is the person behind Kali’s kidnapping, why are you going to meet with her?” Sarah asked.

  “Because we think she’s being used, and probably by someone she knows. Meeting with her face to face will shake her up, get her to tell us what she knows,” Nate explained.

  “Then, I need to go with whoever is going,” Kali said looking around the room. Kali’s statement was met with silence, and everyone turned to look at Noah.

  “Why do you think you need to go?” Noah asked. She felt only support coming from him, support and love.

  It’s all you’ll ever feel.

  “If you think she is being duped, then she needs to know what her money caused, the harm it did. It would be best if she hears it from me.” Sarah leaned in closer, and took her hand in solidarity.

  “She’s right.”

  “Sierra, I guess you’re buying tickets again,” Kota said.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The gallery was beautiful. Noah felt out of place. He had expected it to be like one of the many galleries in Hawaii where beautiful, wildly expensive, works of art were sold to tourists in shorts and flip flops. Here in New York, it was like he stepped into an eighteenth century men’s club with wood paneling and dark lighting. Hell, to get in they’d had to make an appointment. How in the hell did they expect to sell anything to customers, if the customers couldn’t come into the shop and browse at their leisure?

  He could feel Cyrus clearly enough to know he thought the same thing. He and Kali joked about it in their bedroom while the appointments were made. The only one who wasn’t surprised was Nate. As a matter of fact, when the assistant came over and asked them if they wanted anything, he had immediately asked what kind of champagne they had, and the girl named three different vintages. How had Nate known to ask for champagne? Noah knew he’d grown up well to do, but this was ridiculous. Nate winked at him.

  “Ms. Melling is currently on a call. She asked me to seat you in our conference room.” They followed the woman into a lushly appointed board room.

  “Do you have anything to eat, to go with the champagne?” Nate asked.

  “Certainly.” Minutes later a tray of cheese, crackers, smoked salmon and pastries were on the table.

  As soon as the woman left, Noah leaned toward Nate. “Why didn’t you ask for a ding dong?”

  “Actually, I’m disappointed they didn’t bring in some caviar,” Nate said. Noah looked at him, and he be damned but his friend was absolutely serious. They all watched in awe as Nate proceeded to fix himself a huge plate of food.

  After twenty minutes, and two plates of food for Nate, Jade Melling finally made her way into the room. She smiled, but she looked like she would have preferred to be home with her feet up.

  “Ms. Melling, we’re here under false pretenses. We are not interested in purchasing art,” Nate said bluntly. They had agreed he would do the talking, since he dealt the New York Gallery scene in the past. Apparently, he preferred them to soup kitchens.

  “If that’s the case, I’d like you to leave. I don’t have time for subterfuge.”

  “We’re here because of your interest with the found.”

  Kali leaned forward, she had been sitting back in the large leather chair, hidden by Noah’s big body. As soon as she noticed Kali, Jade froze.

  “Kelly Wachowski,” Jade breathed. Noah thought the woman might pass out. Bingo. Any question as to her involvement flew out the window. Cyrus stood by the door of the conference room, to ensure they weren’t interrupted.

  “Ms. Melling, I think you have some explaining to do,” Noah said in a deadly tone. It took everything he had not to block himself from Kali. He wanted to kill this woman, and he didn’t want Kali to feel his rage, but he had promised.

  * * *

  “Noah,” Kali said, her hand on his forearm.

  “No Kali, she’s responsible for you being kidnapped and tortured. She’s going to be held accountable.”

  She shivered, this was not the man she knew. When she looked around the room, she saw the same look on all the other men’s faces.

  “I’m so sorry,” Jade Melling said, as she placed both hands on the conference room table. She reached towards Kali, and her expression anguished. “I never thought you would be taken. Jared told me we needed answers. He promised he would find answers for me.” Tears dripped from the older woman’s eyes. Fury emanated from Noah and the others, but Kali felt genuine sorrow coming from Jade Melling.

  “I don’t understand. Can you explain why you had me kidnapped?”

  “It was never my intention. I gave Jared the money he said he needed. I read all the reports, I knew you had no memories of where you had come from, and I knew you weren’t lying. But Jared convinced me he had resources and methods at his disposal to get the answers.”

  “Do you know what he did to her?” Noah slammed his hands onto the table, causing Jade to jerk in her seat.

  “Of course I know about the kidnapping and the starvation. I can never forgive myself. I can’t. Please know it was my grief because of Joey. I wouldn’t have done this, except for Joey.”

  “It wasn’t just starvation,” Noah’s voice was a roar. He went to grab Kali’s arm, and at the last moment, touched her gently. “Baby, show Ms. Melling your wrists?”

  “Who’s Joey?”

  “Who in the hell cares? Show her your wrists.” He picked up her arm where it rested on the table, and pushed back the cuff of her blouse. “Do you see this scar?”

  Jade Melling blanched. “Yes,” she said, in a quavering voice.

  “This is where Kali tore at her bindings to escape the electro shock therapy they gave her. The pain was so bad she ripped her flesh down to the bone. They thought she would be blind and brain damaged when we found her.”

  “No, no, God no. Tell me it’s not true,” the woman begged. She rocked back and forth in her chair, frantically looking around, then she ran for the trash can and threw up. Kali wanted to go to her, but this was the woman who was ultimately responsible for her pain and suffering. Still, she couldn’t help herself. She grabbed some napkins, and went to the kneeling woman.

  “Don’t touch me. You can’t. If it weren’t for Joey, I would have turned myself in when I realized you had been kidnapped.”

  “Did you have information on where to find her?” Cyrus demanded.

  “I couldn’t get ahold of Jared. It was as if he disappeared from the face of the Earth.”

  “You still could have given a name, stopped funneling him money.”

  “I did. I didn’t give him one red cent after Kelly was kidnapped. I closed the account. I…I…” She burst into tears. “I can’t believe I was�
��” She fell to the floor. Each man in the room stared at the woman. Kali looked at them with disbelief.

  What do you expect?

  Kali tried to lift her.

  Leave her.

  “Help me.” She looked around, still nothing. “Please.” Finally Noah relented and motioning Kali aside, helped Jade to the chair she had vacated. Kali gave her a napkin from the table. Jade wiped her mouth with a trembling hand.

  “Who is Joey?” Kali asked quietly.

  “Joey Mirelli?” Noah asked?

  “Yes, he’s my Godson.”

  “We thought he died.”

  “Who’s Joey Mirelli?” Cyrus asked.

  “He’s one of the found. He was identified by the US government years ago. But we thought he was killed in a car crash with his parents eighteen years ago. What happened, Ms. Melling?”

  “He suffered extensive brain trauma. I’ve brought in every specialist from around the world. But they haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong. The brain trauma he suffered, isn’t significant enough to account for the reason he never progressed past the age of seven. It has to be because he is one of the found.”

  “And that justified torturing Kali?”

  “No. Of course not. God no. You have to believe me, please believe me.” She grabbed another napkin off the table, and shoved it against her face, trying to stem her tears.

  “Then what the hell were you thinking?” Nate demanded.

  “Jared told me he had a way to help Kelly recover her memories. I read all the accounts of Kelly, Sarah, Niko, Mai and Alfred. Not one of them had any memories of their time before coming here, but Kelly was closest to where Joey was found. They even looked alike…” Jade started sobbing again.

  Noah, she doesn’t know anything, and she feels such guilt.

  She fucking well should feel guilty!

  “Where did you meet this Jared?” Cyrus asked.

  “He found me. I was visiting Joey. He said he was coming to visit the patients in comas. He felt his methods could assist them.”

  “What methods were those?”

  “He had different holistic methods, where he would put headphones on them, and provide massage therapy. They seemed to respond. I saw one patient move their feet. Another patient blinked. He was making real progress.”

  The men exchanged glances.

  “Anyway, I asked him to spend time with Joey, to see if he could make any headway with him. He knew right away Joey was special.”

  Of course he did.

  “They spent hours together. Even though he wasn’t supposed to, Joey finally explained how he was found in the woods behind his parent’s estate in Boston. He was playing in the snow. He was having a grand old time playing in the snow.”

  “They were Senator and Mrs. Scheffield. Their estate was closely guarded, and damn near impenetrable.”

  “Yes, Sofia and I were sorority sisters. I was staying with them that day. I ended up being Joey’s Godmother. I was the only other person on Earth who knew his story, until he told Jared. In all those years at Rosewood, he hadn’t told a soul.”

  “Jared sounds like a peach,” Cyrus said.

  Jade’s tears dried up, and now her tone was steely. “I should have known from the beginning he was a charlatan. He kept saying he had to spend time alone with Joey, it should have been a red flag.”

  “Yes it should have,” Cyrus said, no give in his voice.

  “When he confronted me saying Joey was found, I was so stunned.”

  “How did he find out Joey was found?” Cyrus asked.

  “Joey told him. Like I said, he is basically a seven year old boy, still his parents and I had drilled into him he couldn’t discuss this. He needed to say he was adopted. He always told everyone he was adopted. Jared was the first person he talked to about being found in the snow. Jared continued to probe until he got the entire story from Joey.”

  “Then what happened, Ma’am?” Cyrus prompted, in full cop mode.

  “He started using the techniques he had used on the coma patients. Bio Feedback and massage therapy. He suggested mild shock therapy, but I was appalled. I said of course not.”

  Kali shuddered.

  “He assured me it would be the mildest form of shock, like used by a massage therapist to stimulate nerve endings in the lower back and neck, but I said unequivocally no.”

  “Good. But then he told you something else, didn’t he?” Cyrus probed.

  “It’s when he told me it was the reason Joey hadn’t progressed. Not because of any organic problem with his brain, but because of something to do with his being one of the found children.” She paused for a long time, obviously lost in thought.

  “And then?”

  “He said we needed to talk to another one of the found.”

  “I’d extensively researched all of the found children. I knew none of them ever recovered any of their memories from where they had come from, they were all like Joey. Jared said Joey was a special case, and all it would take was some deep questioning and hypnotherapy of a high functioning adult to regain their memories…” Jade’s voice trailed off.

  “Ms. Melling, why Kali?”

  “Jared said we needed to contact the found who most closely resembled Jared. That was Kelly.”

  “And you believed him.” Cyrus just shook his head.

  “He said the kind of equipment and neuroscientists would cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I told him money was no object. As soon as I said that, he started talking about the research hospital he wanted to set up for coma patients. He had been talking to other parents at the facility. Of course I said he could have funding for that as well.” She looked around the room, obviously pleading with people to understand the decisions she had made.

  “Why was everything done in secret?” Cyrus demanded ruthlessly.

  “Secret?”

  “Shell corporations.”

  “Shell corporations? I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I set up a fund for him. Of course we didn’t want to use my name, because it might be connected back to Joey. It’s imperative to keep Joey Mirelli dead. We were going to use my mother’s maiden name for the hospital.”

  “Why?”

  “I knew eventually the found would become targets, they were different. It was bound to happen. As much as Sofia and the Senator intended to keep Joey’s origin a secret, eventually it would leak. So this was one more way of keeping his secret forever.”

  The woman was right, Kali thought. The hate group from Idaho was a perfect example of people wanting the found dead.

  “Well, he duped you again Ms. Melling, he used three different shell corporations to purchase a business park in Indiana where Kali was held.”

  “Why would he purchase such a large piece of property to keep one woman?”

  “It’s one of the many questions we’ll ask the son of a bitch when we finally catch him,” Noah ground out.

  “I have to know, what did he do to you Miss Wachowski?” Jade asked in a whisper.

  “I only met him once. He had this woman…this sadist named Tara, who kept me in a tiny cell, and only took me out to strap me to a table where they applied higher and higher dosages of electro shock therapy. I wanted to die the pain was so bad.” As she told Jade, she remembered, and tears rolled down her cheek. Nate handed her one of the napkins from the table. Noah pulled her into his arms.

  “She was almost dead when we found her,” his voice was gentle as he talked over her head.

  “Now you know about Joey, will you take care of him when they take me away?”

  Kali whipped her head around. “What are you talking about?”

  “I need to be arrested.”

  “You definitely aided and abetted after the fact,” Cyrus concurred.

  “Cyrus, she didn’t know what Tara and Jared were doing to me.”

  “She knew Jared was behind your kidnapping and she didn’t come forward. She is culpable,” Cyrus’ voice had no give.<
br />
  “He’s right, baby.”

  “Miss Wachowski, I can never make up for what was done for you. I deserve to go to prison. All I ask is you look in on Joey. I’m begging you. Will they allow me to continue to pay for Joey’s care at his facility? Will I be allowed to explain things to Joey?”

  “Couldn’t there be another way of handling this Cyrus?” Nate finally spoke up.

  “What in the hell are you talking about?” Cyrus asked angrily.

  “Couldn’t Ms. Melling help us put Jared behind bars, and therefore cop a plea or something?”

  “You’ve watched too many TV shows,” Cyrus said with disgust.

  “Please Cyrus,” Kali said. “She was only guilty of trying to help her godson.”

  “How in the hell can you say that, Kali? You almost died. She was fine throwing you to the wolves, doing anything she needed to save him. She turned a blind eye. In my book that’s worse. You don’t get to say you’re a good person and have good intentions, but then let someone else do shitty things on your behalf. It’s un-fucking-acceptable.”

  “He’s right Ms. Wachowski. Just don’t take this out on Joey, I’m begging you. Let me explain to him I’m going to be leaving him. It’ll confuse him too much if I just leave him like his parents did.” She started to cry again. So did Kali.

  “Cyrus, we have to get our hands on Jared, he’s not going to stop. Melling is our best bet. We need her. You’ve got to cut her a deal,” Nate said.

  “She’ll work with us, even if we don’t cut a deal, won’t you?” Cyrus asked.

  “Of course, I’ll do whatever I can to stop that man.”

  “Please Cyrus, we can’t let her go to jail,” Kali begged.

  “Kali, it won’t be up to me, it will be up to the DA. However, if she cooperates I suppose there might be some leniency.”

  “I don’t need leniency.”

  “It won’t be your decision to make either,” Cyrus said in an icy tone. They spent the rest of their time asking Jade Melling question after question about Jared Spellman until finally they had a lead they could work with.