Introducing Thaddeus Black Ch. 07

"Johnny Elwood," said Thad. Constance looked at him shocked and surprised and speechless. "That's the guy's name right?"

She mumbled at first, then began to speak straight. "Actually it's John, that's his name. He gave me Johnny, though he made us promise to use his name. Emmet opted to name him Johnny. He was like an uncle to Johnny; we always invited him during Johnny's birthdays. We kept this as our little secret, Emmet and I. We were happy about it."

"When did it all go to hell?"

"When Hilda came back into the picture," she said. "There's two things Hilda loves the most—sex and money. She was always running out of boyfriends and older men to stay with, and a lot of times her way of life left her broke. She came back to hitting me for money. I gave her some, but when she started asking for more, I fended her off. We had a loud row the last time she came by Loftus Garden three months ago. She said she was going to get back at me somehow. I never took her words serious because that's how she often is whenever she doesn't get her way. In any case, I had Emmet at the time and I felt strong with him around. I just never foresaw him being dead weeks later."

She was sniffling, wiping tears off her eyes. Thad reached into his jacket and took out his handkerchief and gave it to her. She thanked him for it and gave a nervous laugh.

"You're being way too kind to me, Thaddeus, even with all the bullshit I've given you."

"I've got a tough skin, don't fret about it. Besides, I promised getting you your son, and that's what I'm doing. That's where we're going to right now. Your son's been with his uncle all this while."

She was again surprised. "How ... how do you know that?"

"It was in that tape recorder we got from Blondie last night when he dropped it. The way I see it, they were holding your son, wanting to use him to fleece money off from you, but somehow he ran off. That was why your sister never called you right away to let you know she had Johnny. They recorded your son's voice on tape, but somehow he slipped from their grasp and ran away, went to a food and homeless shelter over in District L. He had a bruised arm at the time. Your son left us a sort of message in the tape recorder, maybe by accident, I don't know really. Anyway, I called a buddy of mine at the police department and he checked through the city phone records and gave me five addresses of a John Elwood. I went by the addresses one at a time this afternoon. One of them happens to be our man, I think."

"Oh my God," she gasped. "I never knew where John lived."

"Seriously, you don't know where he lives?"

She shook her head. "No, I really don't. Emmet made me never that. He was worried that John and I might start something serious behind his back. I guessed he was paranoid about losing me for someone he paid only to fuck me."

"Was there money involved?"

"Nothing that much, more like a stipend, sort of. More like a parting gift. But if I didn't know, then how come Johnny knew?"

"That's what I thought before I arrived at the club this evening. This whole thing wasn't just about your sister and Blondie. It's why I said that he wasn't the other half of it. There was someone else pulling the strings. Don't you get it? It's the reason how your son went missing. He had help. Someone was using him to get to you."

"But ... who?"

"That we'll know for sure, soon enough. Your sister and Blondie panicked after Johnny fled the scene. They didn't know where to find him, which means she too knew nothing about John. That was when she called you, wanting to know what you knew, and then when you mentioned my name to her and she reckoned she could use me as some type of leverage when she wanted. My guess is she and Blondie couldn't come to an agreement as to meeting you for the ransom, but he went along with it. Only thing was they never expected things would go down the way it did with me showing up instead of you. Hilda wanted to still see if she could pull your strings, which was why she invited you to the club tonight, knowing I would be there as well. Her goal wasn't always about getting your money. All she wanted was to be able to control you."

Constance weighted everything in her mind. She reclined her head on her arm, dabbed tears from her eyes. "I can't wait for this night to be over."

Thad grinned at her. "It almost is," he said.