The Immortality Plot

The Immortality Plot - chapter 28

“The young women who were abducted were taken back to their home towns or close by to be murdered,” Delaney told Ryan. “We have to get to Chesapeake by dawn tomorrow to have any chance of saving Rachel Maclean. I don’t want to speak to Lena until I know she is safe. It’s where The Priest is going to turn up and it’s where I want to be when he does.”

They were standing at a busy intersection near Broadway. “We bought return tickets to Washington,” she said. “I suggest we get back there right away. We can freshen up at my place then take my car. It’s about 190 miles to Norfolk and then a few miles to Chesapeake. You know the location?”

“I do,” said Delaney. He thought quickly. He agreed with Ryan. This was the best plan. It was better than hiring a car in New York then driving down past Philadelphia and Washington to Norfolk. He stepped into the road and waved for a taxi. After about ten minutes he got lucky.

“La Guardia,” he instructed the driver as they piled inside.

They sat in silence for a time then Ryan looked at Delaney. She was conscious that this was a sensitive subject and she had been working out how to broach it.

“What you said to Rattin, about Maria. Was that true?”

Delaney looked out of the window. He could see the weather closing in. They were in for a sudden cold front. He had a remarkable ability to forecast weather conditions. He didn’t look at Ryan.

“Maria wrote me a letter but never sent it. It was saved on her hard drive somewhere. When I read it last night and remembered what you told me about what happened at that conference in Washington, it all made sense. I had no idea, not an inkling. There were moments when I used to catch her looking at me, especially if I’d been talking about the baby or about the birth or about what our lives would be like as a real family. Sometimes she would leave the room. I never knew why and I was too stupid to realize something was wrong. I just never thought anything like this would ever happen to us. It must have been torture for her, not knowing if the child was mine – or his.”

“It’s torture for you now, isn’t it?”

“Torture is mild compared to the way I feel.”

“You can be proud of yourself,” Ryan told him. “You could have killed Rattin. I thought you would for a moment. I’ve never seen anyone killed in cold blood before. I’ve seen dead bodies but never witnessed a murder. I’m glad I didn’t have to.”

“So, who did kill him? And who killed Craig Martin? I saw nobody in the immediate vicinity. The hired hands were gone and they’d have no reason. Dorsey used the term, martial arts expert. He meant me. But there are a lot of martial arts exponents out there.

Who else knew I would be there?”

Silence.

“You booked online,” said Ryan. ”A lot of people could have had access to the information. It couldn’t have come from the website, maybe?”

Delaney looked at her. “No, I told Bob Messenger in confidence. No, whoever had access to that booking information knew I would be at the conference. That was the point as far as I was concerned. I wanted them to know. I wanted to see if I could shake a few rats out from under the floorboards. Who would have a reason to kill Rattin and Martin?”

Delaney didn’t know.

What would the law enforcement team do now? What would Delaney do if he were in their shoes? First, double-check everything, every piece of evidence and information. Second, find Mike Delaney. He was the only source of new information. Third, profile Claude Rattin and dig out everything they could about his background and contacts. They’d turn Lifeforce International inside out to find out anything they could. Delaney was prepared to bet that would be very little, except if they could obtain a list of the organizations it sponsored. Fourth, investigate Craig Martin and his link to the Renaissance Project – but how? What could they possibly find out? Did Lester Draper know anything? Delaney doubted it. They could check the financial records of Rattin and Martin in the hope that they would lead them somewhere but Delaney suspected that would be a long haul and might take months or even years to uncover what he was prepared to bet would be a network of offshore accounts and companies. No immediate leads there.

Ryan seemed to read his thoughts.

“The whereabouts of Rachel Maclean wasn’t all Rattin told you, was it?”

Delaney didn’t reply.

“My guess is that you know,” Ryan persisted. “You know who’s behind the Renaissance Project, don’t you?”

Delaney looked at her and smiled.

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