Righteous Obsession (40 page)

“Caitlin, Detective Madison has some questions for you
about something they found in Dave’s room.  I told him I have no objection to
you answering his questions.”

 “Can I ask you something first?”

“Go ahead, Caitlin,” Madison urged.

“Why are you taking Dave’s clothes?”

“They’ll be taken to our lab where they’ll be examined
for hair samples from Miss Simpson and fibers from the clothing she was wearing
on the night of her attempted murder.”

“I just can’t believe this is happening!”

Madison took out his micro cassette recorder, set it
up then spoke into it, “Detective Paul Madison, badge number 7103, conducting
an interview with Miss Caitlin Michaels.  She is the sister of Father David
Michaels, the suspect in the attempted murders of Debbie Simpson and Colin
Matthews and aggravated assault of Liam Matthews.  The date is August fourth.” 
Madison extended the file folder to her.  “Caitlin, do you have any idea why
your brother has a file on Colin Matthews?”

She took the file and riffled through its contents. 
“This is the file my father had on Colin, but how did Dave get it?  Daddy kept
it locked in the bottom drawer of his desk in his study.”  Caitlin shivered
when she saw all the photos of Colin had been slashed.

“Your father has a file on Colin?  Why?”

She handed the file back to him.  “I just found out
recently that Daddy was married before and Colin is his son by that marriage. 
The marriage broke up before Colin was born so daddy never knew him.  He’s been
searching for him for a long time with no luck until he saw a copy of People
Weekly with Unforgiven on the cover.  He thought Colin might be his son so he
hired a private investigator to check him out.”  She pointed to the file. 
“That’s the information he got for daddy.”

“Are you sure this is the same file?”

“I’m sure, but I’ll check.”  She went into Jeff’s
study.  The envelope containing the file was still where her father had placed
it before leaving for New Orleans.  A quick look through it told her there was
nothing missing.  She took it out to Madison.

He examined it carefully, comparing the contents of
Jeff’s file to those of the one Father Michaels had.  “It looks as if your
brother copied your father’s file.”

“But how did he find out about it?  Daddy said he
always kept it locked in that bottom drawer.”

“Did your mother know about it and could she have told
your brother?”

“Mom knew daddy was married before and had a child,
but I’m sure she didn’t know it was Colin or that daddy was searching for him.”

“Where is your father?  I’d like to speak to him so we
can tie up some of these loose ends.”

“Daddy’s in New Orleans with Colin.  He’s coming home
later tonight so you can probably talk to him tomorrow.  He isn’t in trouble,
like mom, is he?  I mean you’re not going to arrest him too, are you?” 
Caitlin’s lip quivered and she swiped at the tears on her cheeks.  “I’m sorry.”

“No.”  Madison patted her shoulder.  “Don’t apologize,
Caitlin.  I know this has been a terrible shock for you.”

“I always knew Dave was kind of uncompromising, but …”
She swiped at her tears again.  “I can’t believe he’d actually try to kill
three people just because he found out one was his half-brother.”

Detective Wickersham hurried into the police station
at five-fifteen in a state of complete exasperation.  She’d spent a whole day
in court, watching a lawyer trying to get his sleazebag, drug-dealing client
off with a misdemeanor sentence.  Fortunately, the jury wasn’t swayed and gave
him the maximum allowable sentence.

“Evening, Sergeant,” She said, stopping by the front
desk.  “What’s new?”

“Well, it quiet now but when I came on at three –
Whew!”  He replied, rolling his eyes upwards.

“What happened?”

“Two guys got into it over a girl outside the
Esplanade Mall.  Before anybody could act, there were close to twenty kids
involved.  We took them all in.  Some of them are still here waiting for their
parents to come and get them.”

“Glad I missed that one!”  Wickersham laughed.  “Any
messages for me?”

“Yes.  A Detective Paul Madison from Brunsville,
Minnesota, called.  He said it was urgent and to call him when you got in, no
matter what time it was.”

“Thanks, Sergeant.”  She took the slip of paper,
hurried to her desk and immediately put through a call to Madison.  “Detective
Madison, please.  This is Detective Marie Wickersham returning his call.”

There was a wait of a few seconds then Madison’s voice
filled the line.  “Detective, thank you for calling back so promptly.  I have a
name for your composite.  He’s been identified as Father David Michaels.”

“You said Father as in a Catholic priest?”

“Yes, and it gets even better!  He’s Colin Matthews’
half-brother!”

Wickersham whistled and leaned back in her chair then
something occurred to her and she sat up straight again.  “His last name is
Michaels?  There’s a Jeff Michaels down here, visiting Colin.  Any relation?”

“He must be the father.  Caitlin, Father Michaels’
sister, told me he’d gone to New Orleans when he’d heard about Colin’s
stabbing.”

“Do we have a location on the perp?”

“Unfortunately, he appears to have skipped town. 
Caitlin said somebody called yesterday and shortly after the call, she heard
her brother leaving the house with their mother.  He hasn’t been seen since.”

“You questioned the mother?”

“Yes.  She said it was all a plot to slander her son’s
reputation and refused to tell us where he’s gone.  She’s been arrested. I was
hoping it would scare her enough to shake her tongue loose, but she’s clamed up
and refused to say anything more even to her lawyer!”  The frustration in
Madison’s voice was more than obvious to Wickersham.

“Do you have any idea where he’s gone?”

“Possibly.  Caitlin mentioned that her brother was
leaving for Rome in a couple of weeks.  I confirmed this with the Diocesan. 
Caitlin thinks her brother left early.  I agree and I’ve contacted both the FBI
and Interpol.”

“You’re thinking the phone call his sister mentioned
had something to do with his sudden decision to leave?”

“It looks very suspicious, Detective.  I have a strong
feeling somebody tipped him off.”

I think I know who it was – Jeff Michaels!  He was in
the room when I showed the composite to Colin and he left suddenly, pleading a
migraine.”

“He’s supposed to be coming home tonight.  I’m
interviewing him tomorrow.”

“Call me after you talk to him.  If he warned that
bastard off I’m going to make it my personal business to see that he’s sitting
in a jail cell right next to his wife!”

“I agree and he will be if I find out that’s what he
did!  I’ll give you a full report after I interview him tomorrow.”

“I’d appreciate it.”  Wickersham hung up the phone. 
She felt frustrated and angry.  She couldn’t believe how people were helping
this suspected murderer at every turn!  People had helped him leave New Orleans
and now other people had helped him leave the country, thereby, considerably
reducing his chances of being captured.  She glanced at the clock on her desk,
sighed, and rose.  There was nothing more she could do tonight so she may as
well head home.  Tomorrow she’d have to see the Matthews family and tell them
their worst fear had come true.

Jeff pulled into the garage, got out and hit the
switch to bring the door back down again.  He unlocked the door and came into
the family room.  “Cait?”

“Out here, Daddy,” she called from the kitchen.

He walked into the kitchen.  Caitlin was at the stove,
stirring spaghetti sauce and Jemma was setting the table.  She put down her
spoon, ran to him, and gave him a hug.

“I’m so sorry you had to face this by yourself, Cait,”
He apologized, giving her a hug.

“It’s okay, Daddy.  I know you would have been here if
there was anyway you could have.”

“I think I’m going split and go home, Cait.” Jemma
said.  “Call me if you need me, okay?”

“I will,” Caitlin promised as she walked her to the
door.  “Thanks for staying with me.”  She walked out into the kitchen again. 
“Did you have a chance to talk to Mr. Taylor?”

“Yes, I called him from Chicago.”  Jeff shook his
head.  “Your mother’s being charged for obstructing justice and aiding and
abetting a fugitive in his flight from the law.”

“Those are serious charges, aren’t they?”

Jeff nodded.  “Yes.”

Caitlin started to cry.  “How could this have
happened, Daddy?  How could our family be destroyed practically overnight?”

“I guess I’m to blame, Cait.  None of this would have
happened if I hadn’t decided to search for Colin.”

“No, Daddy, that isn’t true!  You had every right to
look for Colin.  It’s mom and Dave’s sick reactions that caused this!”

“Thank you for saying that, Cait.”

They got supper on the table and sat down to eat, but
neither of them had any appetite and mostly toyed with their food.  Jeff looked
up at Caitlin.  “I know this sounds strange, but do you know what sounds good
to me?”

“What?”

“A hot fudge sundae with the works.”

“Me, too!”  Caitlin replied, smiling for the first
time that evening.  They rounded up the necessary ingredients for their treat,
sat down, and started to eat.

“Josh said your mother’s arraignment is scheduled for
tomorrow at nine.”

“How does he think it will go?”

“He seems confident he can get both charges dropped
since she doesn’t have any previous criminal record – not even a traffic
ticket.  Thank God, she wasn’t one of those arrested at Colin’s concert and
she’s never been arrested at any of those anti-abortion demonstrations she’s participated
in.  The judge is will ask her where Dave is and if she refuses to tell him…”

Caitlin played with her spoon.  “She’ll go to jail for
contempt, won’t she?”

“Probably.”

“What will happen to Dave?”

“When they do find him, he’ll be arrested.  There’s
some very compelling evidence against him. Liam Matthews’ identification of
Dave as his kidnapper, Colin’s, his bodyguard’s and Alethea’s identification of
him as the one who stabbed Colin.  Also, Debbie Simpson’s identification of
Dave as the person who tried to kill her.”

“The police took all the clothes Dave left behind as
evidence.”

“I imagine they’re looking for more evidence to
connect him to both crimes.”

“I don’t understand why he tried to kill Debbie,
Daddy.  Did he really decide to kill her because he thought she’d slept with
Colin when he heard about them coming out of Colin’s hotel together?”

“Or else he thinks that anyone who comes in contact
with Colin becomes his enemy and deserves to die.”

“Did Mr. Taylor tell you Dave had a duplicate of your
file on Colin, but all the pictures were slashed?”

“Yes.”

“How did he find your file?”

Jeff sighed.  “I thought about that during the layover
in Chicago and I could only come up with one thing.  Shortly after Dave arrived
at Our Lady of Grace he told me the parish council wanted to set up an
investment program for the parish funds.  He asked me if I could recommend one
to fit their needs.  I did some research and I designed an investment program I
felt would best suit goals they wanted to achieve.  I used to keep this
information in that bottom drawer of my desk until I had the wall safe
installed.  Dave must have come over to pick up the investment research, and
not knowing about the safe, he looked in that drawer and found my file on
Colin.”

Caitlin dipped her spoon in and out of her melting
sundae.  “I don’t understand why Dave didn’t talk to you about it.”

Jeff shook his head.  “I don’t know, Cait.  Until now,
I’d always thought we had a really good relationship, but I guess I was seeing
something that wasn’t really there.”

“No, Daddy.  You and Dave did have a good
relationship,” Caitlin affirmed.  She paused for a second then continued, “I
guess I’d better tell you this because I don’t want you to hear it from some
stranger.”

“Hear what?”

“The knife Dave used to stab Colin was the knife you
gave him for Christmas last year.”

Jeff looked very sad after hearing that.  “I guess
that really shows how much contempt Dave had for me.”

“Why does he hate Colin so much?  Is he afraid Colin
was going to replace him in your affections?”

“I wish I knew, Cait.  Maybe, I could have headed this
off before it got started.”

“Daddy, you can’t hold yourself responsible for
this!”  She argued.  “Mom and Dave have to take responsibility for their own
actions!  I can’t believe how much mom has changed!  Daddy, you should have
heard the awful lies she told Dave!  She told him she didn’t know you’d had a
child and if she had known, she wouldn’t have married you!  She kept calling
Colin a bastard, saying his mother was a whore and you and her weren’t
married.”

Jeff was silent for a moment then said, “You know,
when I first met your mother, one of the things I most admired about her was
her deep religious faith.  Amanda wasn’t even remotely religious.  She despised
organized religion.  She always said they’d spent centuries oppressing women.” 
He smiled faintly.  “I guess you could say she was a feminist even before the
term was coined or a movement founded.”

“And Mom?”  Caitlin prompted.

“She had a sincere belief that God had a plan for
everyone and all you had to do was put your complete trust in Him and
everything would work out fine.”  His expression saddened again.  “I don’t
understand how that message of love, tolerance and forgiveness she’d always
believed in got so twisted.”

Seeing how sad her father was becoming, Caitlin tried
to cheer him up by changing the subject.  “Daddy, tell me about Colin.”

Jeff smiled, gave a little laugh and shook his head. 
“Well, I can definitely tell Colin is Amanda’s son!  They’re more like best
friends.  I can see how Colin’s been very influenced by her beliefs.”

“Is that good?”

“Very good, I’d say.  He has a very active social
conscience and he gets it from his mother.”

“Probably his stepfather, too,” Caitlin added.  “Most
of the things I’ve heard about Peter Matthews involve social issues.”

“That’s true, Cait.”  Jeff admitted.  “Otherwise, your
brother has a sharp tongue, a short fuse and he’s stubborn as hell!  He gets
that from his mother, too!”

“I don’t think so, Daddy,” Caitlin teased.  “It seems
to me you’re pretty stubborn, too!”

Her father laughed.  “Maybe, you’re right!  I will say
his mother and adoptive father did an excellent job of raising him.  Once you
win his trust and respect, his loyalty follows right behind.  When he’s made a
mistake, he doesn’t seem to have a problem, admitting he was wrong and
apologizing for it.”

“What did he say when you told him about me?”

“He’s really anxious to meet you.  In fact, we tried
to call you once but you must have been gone.  He told me he always wished he’d
had a sister.”

“What’s Alethea like?”

“She’s very nice.  She introduced herself and kept me
company even when nobody else wanted me around.  Was Jemma upset when she heard
Colin had gotten married?”

“No.  She said she was happy Colin had married someone
who’s as smart as she is beautiful.”

“I think she’ll be very good for Colin.  She as
stubborn as he is and she doesn’t appear to have a problem telling him what she
thinks or if she thinks he’s wrong.  It’s very obvious to me how much they love
each other.  Colin promised to send me a DVD of their wedding.”

“Wow!  I can’t wait to see it and I can’t wait to meet
them!”

Jeff glanced up at the kitchen clock and yawned. 
“It’s been a long and exhausting day.  I think I’m going to turn in early.  We have
to be in court at nine tomorrow for your mother’s arraignment.”

“Mom probably doesn’t want us there,” Caitlin remarked
glumly.  “She thinks we’re traitors.”

“Well, we’re going to be there anyway to give her our
support and show her we love her.”