She's Not Coming Home (24 page)

Chapter Forty-Nine

Limping slightly, Matt
slowly made his way over to the fire escape where Weber was waiting. The Lieutenant was leaning on the iron banister. He seemed out of breath. He said nothing as Matt approached, out of breath himself.

Matt opened his mouth to speak, but stopped as two other men appeared at the top of the fire escape. They joined Weber on the roof. One was in police uniform.

‘What’s happened up here, Sam?’ the officer out of uniform asked. Matt glanced anxiously at Weber.

‘The suspect attacked Mr Gibbons here,’ Weber answered. ‘Lost his balance and fell through the skylight. Mr Gibbons tried to save him, but…’

The officer nodded. ‘Okay. I see.’ He looked at Matt. ‘Do you need medical attention?’ he asked.

Matt looked down at the scratches on his hands. Shook his head. ‘No, I’m okay.’

‘Go to the hospital,’ said Weber. ‘Take your son. Get both of you checked out. Be there when your wife comes round.’

The NYPD officers stood aside as Matt climbed back down the fire escape, followed by Weber. Matt could hear Weber puffing as he followed him down. When they had gotten down to the fifth floor, Matt turned to speak to Weber, but the Lieutenant spoke first.

‘Take Nathan downstairs. There’s a second ambulance there. Go with him; both of you get checked out.’

‘But -’ Matt stuttered.

‘There’s nothing else to say. Get.’

Matt gave Weber a brief nod which the Lieutenant acknowledged, then limped over to Nathan, who was sitting with a female uniformed officer. Nathan ran over to him as Matt kneeled down to hug him.

‘Daddy,’ he said.

‘It’s okay,’ Matt whispered into his son’s hair. ‘Daddy’s here. It’s all over now. All over.’

Then he picked his son up and carried him downstairs.  Outside, on 58
th
Street, an ambulance was waiting. The two paramedics helped Matt and Nathan climb into the back. Matt laid Nathan down on one of the gurneys and sat next to him, holding his hand and stroking his hair. The paramedics closed the doors and Matt felt the ambulance move away.

Chapter Fifty

After 9/11, when
over 1,500 victims needed treatment – the largest disaster response in American history – a campaign was launched to construct a new, state-of-the-art facility.

The new Emergency Center at New York Downtown Hospital was officially opened five years later. It is the only emergency facility in Lower Manhattan, and is vital to the community’s millions of residents, workers and tourists.

Matt sat back in the chair in the waiting room. He looked down at Nathan, who was asleep, resting his head in Matt’s lap. Matt gently stroked his hair. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

‘You look like you could use a coffee,’ said a familiar voice. Matt looked up at Lieutenant Weber.

‘Oh, it’s you,’ he smiled. ‘Yes please.’

‘Soda for your boy?’

‘No thanks. Let him sleep.’

‘Okay.’  Weber left, to return a couple of minutes with two paper cups.

‘Any news on your wife?’ he asked as he sat next to Matt.

‘Still in surgery. Just waiting for news,’ replied Matt as he took a cup from the Lieutenant.

‘Okay.’ Weber sipped his coffee and leaned forward in his chair. ‘Gail Smith has made a confession,’ he said.

Matt looked over. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah. She and that asshole Clark had been holding your wife under duress. A kind of duress.’

‘A kind of duress? You mean she didn’t leave voluntarily?’

‘No. Not really. Let’s start from the beginning.’ He sat back and took a deep breath. ‘Her real name was Ruth Dubois. At least till she married you. Though I wonder if her using a false surname when you guys married invalidates….’

‘Mm,’ said Matt. ‘Maybe it does.’

‘Anyhow, she was originally Ruth Dubois. Raised in Rochester with Ira and Elisabeth Dubois. She was still in High School when she met Gail Smith.  They became friends. One Saturday night, the two of them were out. Ruth was driving. She was DUI. On the way home, they hit a guy. Killed the poor bastard outright. Buried the body.’

‘What? You’re kidding.’

‘No, not according to Smith. The body wasn’t found until a year or so later. Naturally it was decomposed. Now, in those days, forensic science was pretty much in its infancy, so the victim was never identified.’

‘But wasn’t he missed? Dental records?’

Weber shrugged. ‘I don’t know at this time. Remember, this is what she told the NYPD officers.’

Matt nodded, staring into space.

Weber continued. ‘Well, it seems they – your wife – got away with it. Then Gail and her sleazy boyfriend -’

‘Danny Clark?’

‘Right. Daniel Clark. They had the bright idea of blackmailing her. Said they would go to the police if she didn’t do things for them.’

‘What kind of things? What was she doing?’

‘Computer stuff. Apparently Ruth is quite a genius on a computer.’

‘First I’ve heard of that. She’s okay, better than me. But not what I’d call a genius.’

‘Well, it appears she is. They had her hacking into personal and company bank accounts, getting personal details, and taking victims’ identities. Then making withdrawals – phantom withdrawals I understand is the term – and using the stolen identities to launder the money. Of course, in those days online security was nowhere near as robust as it is now.’

‘Jesus Christ.’

‘All coming as a shock to you?’

‘What do you think?’

‘I get that, Matt. Well, after a few months of this, Ruth had had enough. She was apparently out walking one night, when she witnessed a bad automobile accident.’

‘The car wreck?’

‘That’s it. She saw the car blow up. Incredibly, she climbed down to the highway, underneath the overpass where the car was burning and threw her drivers licence on some burning wreckage. Then, she ceased to be Ruth Dubois. Caught a Greyhound to Boston, got a job waiting at tables, and became Ruth Levene.’

‘But she had a responsible job at Cambridge Pharmaceuticals. What about social security numbers and stuff?’

‘By that time, Clark had moved to Boston himself. Weird coincidence or what? He happened to bump into Ruth there one day. By that time his relationship with Gail was on-off-on. And I think she was seeing someone else at the time. But they joined up again, and started over blackmailing her. Gail’s new partner – Ryan somebody…’

‘Ryan Wilson. I know him. They’re still together.’

‘Not now they’re not. He was living in Boston already, so Gail moved there. To tighten their hold on her, he gave your wife a job – quite highly paid – at Cambridge Pharmaceuticals, where he, as you know, is an office manager. Provided her with false social security details. Once again, that type of thing was easier back then. Once she was settled they started up their old game again. And he could speak with the authority of a manager when he denied she worked there.’

‘More hacking?’

‘Yes. They started off with customers of Cambridge Pharmaceuticals, then expanded. Made millions, apparently.’

‘She did all that? Ruth did that?’

‘At first, no. She apparently told them to screw themselves and go to the police if they wanted. Then they began to make implied threats to you and to your son.’

‘Oh, Jesus Christ.’ Matt stopped stroking Nathan’s hair and held onto his body.

‘Which was why,’ Weber went on, ‘Ruth left. Wanted to make her way here to start afresh, maybe. Maybe call for the two of you later. Or return to Boston. But Gail caught up with her before she even left Boston. She and Clark decided to go to New York with her, away from you, to set up somewhere to do this online stuff. Somewhere the ISP address couldn’t be traced.’

Matt shook his head. ‘I – I’m not very IT minded.’

‘Me neither. But the upshot is: she left you and your son here, to protect you.’ Weber paused. ‘A lot to take in?’

Matt looked over and said slowly, ‘When…if she recovers, what’s she looking at? In terms of jail time?’

Weber shrugged his head. ‘Too early to say. There’s the DUI, the various frauds; we’ve no idea as to the extent of what happened.’

‘Oh.’ Matt looked down at Nathan and continued stroking his hair. Nathan stirred slightly.

‘But,’ Weber continued, ‘at this time we only have Gail Smith’s version of events. If Ruth denies what she told us, then – then we’ll have to see. There are some mitigating circumstances.’

‘What circumstances?’ Matt asked.

‘Well, the threats Clark and Smith made against you. And that text message she sent you. The one which led us to them.’

‘Do you think she knew you could trace it? That she did it on purpose?’

Weber shrugged again. ‘A good defence attorney would claim that.’

‘What about that Japanese girl? The one I saw with Clark in that bar. Akira…’

‘Akira Watanabe? Yes, well; she was his girlfriend. Or at least they were sleeping together. It’s quite simple: she discovered what the three of them were doing. Challenged Clark – he must have been at her apartment at the time – and he killed her. The clever son of a bitch made it look like an accident. I guess he just held her head underwater in the bath until…. Or just hit her with the shower head.’

‘You said there were marks on the back of her neck.’

‘Yeah, I did. The initial theory was that they were caused by the impact of the shower head. I wasn’t convinced.’

‘Where he held her down?’

‘Possibly. She said Clark did it all on his own. Not sure about that. But we’ll see. After he or they killed Ms Watanabe, they removed all traces of him from the place. Nobody would know he’d even been there.’

‘The son of a bitch.’

‘Yeah.’ Weber put his hand on Matt’s shoulder. ‘You never did like him, did you?’

Matt shook his head.

‘No death penalty in Massachusetts, I’m afraid,’ said Weber.

Matt shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter.’

‘What are you going to do now?’ Weber asked, standing up.

‘Not sure yet. Wait around here, I guess.’

‘It could be ages before there’s any news. You look dead beat. Why not book into a local hotel, get some rest, and come back in the morning? You can leave your number with them here.’

‘Yeah. I might just do that.’

‘Look, I need to go now.’

‘Back up to your sister-in-laws?’

‘Jeez, no. Back to Boston. But you have my number, don’t you? Just in case.’

‘Yeah. I do.’

‘See you then. Look after yourself.’

Weber stretched and began to saunter off.

‘Sam?’ Matt called out. Weber turned round. ‘Thanks. For everything.’

Weber winked. ‘You just stay out of trouble when you get back home.’

Matt smiled and nodded, and looked back down at his son. Nathan stirred again and muttered something unintelligible.

Matt looked around. Around at the medical staff and members of the public milling about. He could hear a female voice over the PA system, trying to page a doctor.

He took a deep breath. Weber was right: he should book him and Nathan into a hotel. Somewhere near here.

He looked down at Nathan and stroked his hair again.

He would get a hotel. But later.

Chapter Fifty-One

‘you want eggs
?’ Matt called out a few days later, his voice competing with the sound of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny on the television and the first batch of eggs cooking on the stove.

No answer. Matt shrugged and continued stirring the eggs.

‘More Coco Snaps, Daddy,’ called out a voice from the table behind him.

‘Hold on a second,’ said Matt, quickly turning some eggs over.

‘I’ll get them, Daddy,’ came the reply.

‘No, wait. I’ll -’ Matt moved the pan off the stove and turned round, just in time to see his five year old son lean over and knock the cereal box on the floor, spilling its contents over the floor.

‘Oh, Nathan, no,’ Matt wailed as he knelt down to pick up the box.

‘Sorry, Daddy,’ said Nathan quietly.

Leaning over, Matt reached under the sink and pulled out a small dustpan and brush. He swept up the mess and emptied the grains into a bin. Stood up and put the box back on the table.

‘More Snaps, then?’

Nathan thought for a few seconds, then said, ‘No. I don’t think so.’

‘Fine. Want some eggs then? Or just toast?’

‘Just toast please, Daddy.’

‘Okay. Let me just finish the eggs.’

Matt turned back to the pan of eggs.

‘Just toast please, Daddy.’

‘Yes, I heard, sport. Just hold a second.’

‘And jelly.’

‘Is it nice to be back at Bambinos?’ Matt asked, through a mouthful of toast.

‘U-huh.’

‘Well, don’t forget you won’t be there tomorrow.’

‘Won’t I? Why not?’

‘I told you. We’re going away for the weekend.’

‘We are? Where are we going?’

‘Have you forgotten already? We’re putting a few clothes and things in a bag, and first of all we’re driving over to New York to see Mommy.’

‘Ah, yes. I remember.’

‘Maybe we’ll stop off on the way and get her some flowers. To keep by her bed.’

‘And some chocolate?’

‘Maybe. As long as you don’t eat it on the way. And as long as the doctors say it’s okay for her to eat it.’

‘Everybody eats chocolate, Daddy.’

‘Hm. Then – once we’ve visited Mommy, we’re going to drive over to see your grandma.’

‘What about Grandpa? Won’t we be seeing him?’

‘No. Different grandma. Remember what I told you?’

‘Er…’

‘Grandma Estelle and Grandpa are my mommy and daddy. But Grandma Elisabeth is Mommy’s mommy. Remember now?’

It came back. ‘Yes, you told me yesterday.’

‘Good.’ Matt stood up. ‘Now eat up your toast while I go upstairs for a minute.’

‘So that means I have two grandmas?’

‘That’s right. You have two grandmas.’

‘Cool,’ Nathan said, taking a huge bite of toast.

‘Back in a minute.’ Matt turned and left Nathan alone in the kitchen finishing his breakfast.  A quick bathroom visit, then time to take him to kindergarten. He paused on the stairs, smiling as he could hear Nathan in the kitchen, talking to himself.

‘I have
two
grandmas. How cool is that?’

THE END