Chapter 7
Perry gave Jim the list of names Erica had provided, and he’d just input them when Ralph Simms stopped in front of his desk.
“What ya working on, Jimbo?” Ralph asked trying to look at the screen. Luckily Jim had a filter over his monitor that blacked out the screen to anyone who wasn’t sitting directly in front of it.
“Nothing special, Ralph, something for Clark, like always,” he said nonchalantly.
“You’re always doing stuff for him, why don’t you do stuff for me?”
“One, you never ask. Two, I don’t do background checks on sleazy politicians. I have too much to do already.”
“Gee, you don’t have to be so snippy,” Ralph said, walking away. “I have stuff to do too.”
“Yeah, right.” Jim said under his breath.
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Throughout the week Jim fed Perry information on the names from Erica’s list. For the most part he found that most of these people didn’t exist before five years ago, which was suspicious in itself. The only one he found that had any prior history was Melissa Navé. She had a boring background, no priors, lived in various cities, held low level jobs in multiple companies, she didn’t even have a savings account! The only thing that was suspicious were her visits to Metropolis Women’s Prison. While the log of visits was online, who she saw was not. It was going to take a visit to the prison to sus that out. Perry told him that Clark would check out that lead and report back at the next meeting.
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Clark hadn’t been able to make the time to visit the prison until Thursday morning, his ‘other job’ had kept him far too busy. Walking into the reception area he found a prison officer he knew and had worked with in the past.
“Hi, Jerry, how are you? How’s your wife and the kids?”
“They’re great, Clark, thanks for asking. So, what brings you here today?”
“I need to see your visitor’s log. I’m looking for who Melissa Navé has been visiting.” Clark said. The guard pulled out the log, handing it to Clark. “Thanks, Jerry.” Flipping through the log Clark quickly scanned the last six months of visits, at last finding the information he was looking for. There in front of him was proof that Melissa Navé was connected to Intergang. Grinding his teeth, he worked to get control of the rage he was feeling. Handing the log back Clark thanked the officer then headed back to Metropolis.
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That evening the four friends met at their usual hangout. Everyone was in high spirits, buoyed by the progress each of them had made. After the first round of drinks arrived Jim spoke first.
“I found at least a dozen more transactions, now that I know what to look for it’s gotten easier. The latest transactions have totaled over $200 million. They seem to be coming weekly, but not always from Costa Rica. It seems our gang is using banks in a number of Central American countries to further hide their tracks.”
“That’s great, Jim,” Perry said, proudly. “What do you have for us, Erica?”
“I found new shell companies involved, Kirche Corp and Chiesa LLC, both of which have links directly to Melissa Navé.”
“Kirche is church in German and Chiesa is church in Italian,” Clark interjected. “At least they’re consistent in their pseudonyms.”
“All of them funnel money from one tax shelter country to another and then, ultimately to Metropolis National Bank under Iglesia Partners. I don’t know what they’re up to for sure, but they are certainly building up a ‘war chest’ of sorts.” Erica said, frustrated.
“Well, keep on them, we need to know where that money goes and comes from. If there’s any irregularities the Feds can use them when they prosecute, if we can dig up enough evidence.” Perry took a sip of his beer then turned to the last member of the team. “What have you found, Clark?”
“I went to Metropolis Women’s Prison today to look at their visitor’s log. Our ‘friend’ Melissa has been a consistent visitor, weekly for the last six months at least without fail. What is interesting is who she’s been seeing.”
“Don’t keep us in suspense, Son, who’s she seein’?’”
“Mindy Church!” Clark said, gritting his teeth in anger. “I knew that woman was still involved even though she’s in prison. She’s running Intergang through Melissa Navé.” Clark paused a moment, pondering, his eyes losing focus. “You know, now that I think about it Navé without the accent is the same as nave, a part of a church!”
“I’ll be darned! The Churches are poppin’ up all over this investigation. I want to know more about this Melissa Navé, Jim. Do a deep dive on her, I want to know what she eats, drinks and wears! Also, see if you can’t find out who the other officers of Iglesia Partners were before they changed their identities. But be careful, they obviously don’t want people to know their real identities.”
“On it, Chief!” Jim replied, making a mental note.
“All right, seems like we’ve made some progress, let’s keep it going,” Perry said, calling an end to the official part of their evening. The four friends chatted for another hour, as they usually did, before calling it a night. As they were walking out of the bar Clark drew Erica aside.
“Erica, I was wondering if you might be able to trace transactions back a number of years?” Clark asked curiously.
“Possibly, how far back do you want to go?”
“Five years. I’m thinking there may be a financial trail to the person who murdered my wife,” Clark replied hopefully.
“I’ll look, but I can’t promise anything, Clark. If there was a hired assassin there may not be anything to find.” Erica said trying to not give Clark false hope.
“I know it’s a long shot, but I had to ask,” Clark replied dejectedly.
“I’ll do my best, Clark, I know how important this is to you,” she replied, laying her hand on his arm, the familiar tingle once more present. Clark nodded his understanding, flagging down a cab for Erica, he waved goodbye then headed for home.
**********
When Clark got home he picked his son up, hugging him tightly to his chest.
“How was your day, Son,” Clark asked, kissing his son’s cheek.
“It was great, Daddy! We went on a field trip and got to see dinosaurs! Then I went over to Jamie’s house after school and his mom made cookies, they were good, but they’re not as good as grandma’s.”
“I’m glad you had a good time. How about I help you with your bath then read you a story?” Clark said, hoisting Jon onto his shoulder, making his way up the stairs to the bathroom. After the bath, Clark settled Jon into bed then chose a book from the shelf.
“How about ‘Horton Hears a Who!’” Clark asked. Jon nodded his assent, snuggling down in his bed. Clark read the story of the elephant that learned a person’s a person, no matter how small to the great enjoyment of his son. No matter how many times Jon had heard this story he always enjoyed it.
“Daddy, I wish I had a mommy,” Jon said softly, sniffling. Clark stiffened, his son’s wish cutting him like a knife.
“Your mommy would be here if she could, but she’s in heaven. She’s watching over all of us, I know she is,” Clark whispered kneeling down to kiss the top of his son’s head.
“I know she is Daddy, I can feel her sometimes, but I still miss having her here, with us.” Jon yawned, closing his eyes. Clark stayed kneeling until Jon fell into the sleep of an innocent child.
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Clark went downstairs, finding his parents in the living room, his mother was knitting Jon’s sweater and his dad was reading a farming magazine. Though Jonathan had been living in the city for five years now he still subscribed to a couple of farming magazines, maybe they gave him ideas for the small vegetable garden they had in the back yard.
“So, is Jon asleep?” Martha asked, concentrating on her knitting.
“Yeah, Mom, he’s asleep. He wished he had a mommy,” Clark said sadly.
“Oh, honey,” Martha said, forgetting the sweater for the moment. “You are a great dad, he couldn’t ask for more love than we give him.”
“I know that Mom, it’s just a boy needs a mother. You and Ellen are wonderful substitutes but you’re his grandmothers. You should be filling him with cookies and sending him home bouncing off the walls,” Clark said with a rueful chuckle remembering Perry’s words.
“He has friends for that,” Martha replied. “He came home today so full of cookies he didn’t want to eat his dinner.”
“I heard, he mentioned that Jamie’s mom had baked cookies. He said they were good but not as good as yours.” Clark chuckled sadly. “If Lois were here he wouldn’t be comparing her cookies to Jamie’s mom’s favorably, that’s for sure.” Both of them remembering Lois’s lack of expertise in the kitchen fondly.
“Goodnight, Mom, I’m going to make a quick patrol then hit the hay.”
“Goodnight, sweetie,” Martha replied, kissing Clark’s cheek as he passed by. Seconds later she heard the soft whoosh of her son as he flew away.
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Climbing into bed after an uneventful patrol Clark lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Stretching out his hearing he heard his son and his parents sleeping soundly. Listening to the soothing sound of Jon’s heartbeat, relaxed him even further. His thoughts returned to Jon’s wish earlier in the evening and tears began to flow down his cheeks.
“Oh, Lois, I miss you so much!” Clark said, swiping at his eyes with his hand. “Jonny misses you too, you should be here with me, taking care of our boy. I promise you, Lois, I will find who did this to you, I will bring him or her to justice!” Sometime later Clark fell into a restless sleep.
“Clark, honey, listen to me. This wasn’t your fault. I took risks all the time, you know, I always did. You allowed me the responsibility for my own life and the rewards were most definitely worth it. I too wish I could be there with you and Jonny but that’s just not possible. My issue with you is you’ve ignored my last letter to you. Did you think I wrote that for my health?” ‘Lois’ smiled lovingly, taking some of the sting from her rebuke. “Seriously, Clark, you’ve grieved long enough. I know you love me, as I do you, but you can’t keep mourning all your life, it’s not good for you. What is going to happen when Jon grows up and moves out? I don’t want you to be alone, Clark. Our parents aren’t going to be around forever, you need someone to share your life and all the love you have to give. Of course I wish it were me, but it can’t be. Please, my love, open your heart, allow someone in. You won’t be dishonoring me or our marriage, not at all, you’ll be honoring my final wishes, Clark. Please, if you ever loved me, allow yourself to fall in love again, for yourself and for Jon.”
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When Clark woke the next morning he felt better than he had in a long time. He tried but failed to remember what his dream had been about though the substance had stuck with him.
“Good morning, Honey, how did you sleep? You seem more rested than usual,” Martha said when Clark walked into the kitchen. Pouring himself a cup of coffee Clark sat down, across from his mother.
“Morning, Mom. I guess I slept well, there were no calls in the night at least. I had a dream, but I can’t seem to remember it, but I do feel better somehow.” Clark said contemplating. “Where’s dad?”
“He’s outside, weeding the garden. We should be getting some fresh tomatoes in a few days.” Martha said, sitting across from her son.
“How’s your investigation going? Making any progress?”
“Some, but it’s really slow going. They are covering their tracks in such a way that it’s hard to unravel all the clues. Erica has been a god send, without her I don’t think we’d be half as close as we are.”
“I’m glad she’s been able to help. She struck me as a lovely person too,” Martha said offhandedly.
“Mom, don’t read more into this, we’re work colleagues, nothing more.”
“Someone else was just a work colleague if I remember correctly, look how that turned out.” Martha said with a wry smile.
“This is different, Mom,” Clark said exasperated, rising from the table. “See you this evening. If nothing comes up I’ll be home on time for a change.” Clark kissed his mom on the cheek and headed out to work.
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TBC in part 8
