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"Right boss, we're on it." Jacob replied.
They pulled up in front of a very nice, two story townhome in Tribeca at the end of the block. Jacob noticed something odd about the townhome though. The place next door had no front door. He suspected that Patrick's residence was two town homes connected. If so, that would make this address very, very expensive.
Sara opened the door and flicked on the lights. Jacob noticed that all her movements were natural, telling him that she had intimate knowledge of the residence. Their footfalls on the polished hardwood floors echoed eerily through the empty rooms.
Sara sniffled, "All the beautiful furniture is gone, all the art. I just don't understand."
Angela walked down a hall toward the back of the house, her expert eye looking for area's the forensics team should look, "What kind of art did Mr. O'Connell have."
Jacob thought Sara looked lost, her eyes wandered as she absently walked through the house, "Some Picasso's and Rembrandt's I know for sure. Jackson Pollock, sculptures and such. He periodically changed things around."
Jacob followed Sara, watching her reaction.
"He as a vault at 1st Manhattan? He stores things there." she said quietly.
Jacob stood staring around the completely empty home. He was right, this townhome and the one next door were connected, creating one residence. That meant money, a lot of money in New York.
Angela whistled, "Looks like the fucking Grinch came through here."
Jacob chuckled as he moved through the first floor. The place had been cleaned, but not thoroughly. There were spots on the walls where paintings probably hung and there were round impressions on the floor, where pots might have sat.
Jacob was looking for any indication of blood spatter or evidence of cleaning up blood. So far, he had not seen anything with his eye, but he was now wanting CSI to come in and give the place a look.
"I'm going to give Dwyer a call Ange" Jacob called out as he saw her heading up the stairs.
When Dwyer answered, Jacob said, "Boss, I think we're gonna need forensics over here to give it a once over. The place is cleaned out. I don't see any blood spatter but the place has been cleaned. Not great, but cleaned."
Dwyer sighed and replied, "K, I'll make the call and get them over. I sure as shit hope this isn't turning into some mess."
"Me too boss. Me, Leah and the kids are supposed to go to her mom's this weekend. I might have to call that off and she will not be happy" Jacob grunted.
"If she gets really pissed, tell her I'll have Marcie make her some cannolies." Dwyer laughed.
"You got it" Jacob replied with a smile.
When he got upstairs, he whispered to Angela that Dwyer was requesting CSI.
"What all was up here?" Angela asked Sara.
She pointed to one doorway, "The master suite was through there. Over there and over there were guest beds." Pointing to the end of the hallway, Sara said, "The library was back there."
"Do you know if there are any safes here?" Jacob asked.
Sara replied, "There's one in the library."
They entered a large carpeted room with floor to ceiling, built in bookcases on all the walls. The deep, dark mahogany blended in with the browns and greens plush of the carpet under their feet. The room was dimly lit with two bare bulbs in the ceiling.
"I'm assuming there were light fixtures in here?" Angela asked.
"Chandeliers" Sara replied, tears in her eyes.
Jacob noticed she kept glancing to a bare spot on the wall as she fidgeted with her hands.
Jacob walked over to the wall and looked up, "What was here Sara? You keep looking over here."
Sara looked down, tears dripping onto the carpet. "A fresco" she replied quietly.
"Of you?" Angela asked, wondering why Sara had such a reaction to an empty space.
Sara raised her head, sniffed back her tears and wiped her cheeks, "No, of her. Livia. Patrick's late wife. It's a small fresco, the size of a large dinner plate. If we were gone more than a day, he would lock it in his safe. I know on some of his longer trips, he took it with him."
"Interesting" Jacob said. "Can you show us where the safe is?"
Sara went to a bookcase near the back of the room, felt along a shelf, then the whole top of the shelf swung out. Jacob whistled when a recessed safe was revealed.
"Do you know the combination?" Angela asked. Sara shook her head no. Angela knew that if CSI could not open the safe, she knew some who could, for a fee.
The harsh ringing of Jacob's phone broke the silence. He quickly answered and after a few comments, hung up and said that CSI was here. The three went back downstairs and out the front door. There, the forensic techs were getting their gear together.
Jacob turned to Angela and said, "Take her back to her parents and I'll get these guys going."
He turned to Sara and said, "Miss Anderson, we're going to do everything we can to find Mr. O'Connell."
She said, "Thank you Detective. I need to find him, I need to know what happened."
At 8AM the next morning, Jacob and Angela, both dead tired, were in a second floor conference room. Their boss Dwyer, the Precinct Captain, Mike McDonald and, the deputy Chief of the NYPD, Chief Takahashi, were waiting for their report.
"I know you are both tired, so just an initial report and what your gut feelings are" Chief Takahashi said.
Jacob nodded and started, "The subject is Patrick O'Connell, a white male, 52, who's been missing since Thursday, April 17th. His girlfriend, Sara Anderson, reported it last night. As you know, Miss Anderson works for Senate Leader Stevenson, so, that's why we informed Detective Dwyer last night. I didn't want him blindsided by anything."
Jacob went over what little they had learned and that CSI only found some hair samples in the bathroom drains in Patrick's residence. There were no fingerprints on any of the surfaces in the whole house, which was very odd. He also informed them that warrants were ready for O'Connell's phone records, electronic records and financials.
"What's your gut telling you Detective?" Chief Takahshi inquired.
Jacob leaned back and exhaled slowly. He glanced over at Angie, this was a question they had discussed all night and the were in basic agreement. Jacob decided to stick only to subjects the two partners agreed on.
Jacob organized his thoughts and began carefully, "It's still too early to say if Mr. O'Connell is gone of his own volition. Miss Anderson's statement about her last communication with Mr. O'Connell is troubling, but unverified. We looked at the tax records for his residence last night and it's valued at ten million. I don't care who you are, a ten million dollar property is not something you walk away from unless you have a very good, life saving reason."
Angie reviewed her notes and piggybacked on Jacob's comments, "At first glance, Mr. O'Connell is well off, but we'll know more once we can review some financials. His phone records might help corroborate Miss Anderson's statement about his last location. If he's simply ghosting her, for whatever reason, it's a very expensive ghost."
Chief Takahashi gazed at the far wall, appearing to seriously contemplate what the detectives had said, "You're going to get the resources you need, but we're going to be quiet on this. Your investigation is going to be strictly need to know. If you need to go to another jurisdiction, you let me know, any time, day or night. I have some favors that are owed and some strings that can be pulled."
Jacob nodded and replied "Thanks Chief."
"I don't know what you're going to find at the end of this Detectives, but follow the leads. I smell something unpleasant in all of this." Chief Takahashi looked at Angela shaking his head and stated, "Walking away from a ten million dollar property in this city doesn't happen every day. Find out why."
Detective Dwyer said, "You two go get some sleep. By the time you get back, the warrants for the records and finances will be served. Hopefully some good will come from that."
As they were leaving the precinct house, Angela said, "How 'bout 3 at Kelly's? I'll need a bagel, then, off to visit Sasha?"
Jacob rubbed his eyes and yawned, "Sounds good. We were supposed to go to Leah's mom's with the kids this weekend. I'm starting to think it's just going to be them going."
"She gonna be pissed?"
"Probably, but, if we do well on this, doors might open up for us" he said.
"I have no desire to go back to homicide, but maybe something else would be nice" Angela said.
"Get some sleep, I'll see you in a few hours."
While picking up bagels and coffee at Kelly's, Jacob informed Angela that they had an appointment with Sasha Davis at 4PM. Her office was only a few blocks from Kelly's, so they decided to walk over. The storms of the previous day were long gone and the sun was shining brightly for a late April afternoon. The temperatures had cooled off into the upper 50's, but at least the humidity had dropped.
As they made their way along the sidewalk amid the throngs of New Yorkers rushing this way and that, Jacob told Angela that Leah was pissed about the upcoming weekend, but she recognized that the case might be important enough to get Jacob out of missing persons and onto something else.
"She's a shrink" Jacob said flatly.
Angela snickered, "This should be fun. I wonder if everything will be client privileged?"
Jacob chuckled, "I sure as shit hope not, I really want to find this guy."
They waited patiently by the receptionist desk in Sasha Davis office on the eighth floor of the Hartman building. Jacob had scanned the building directory while waiting for the elevator. He noted that the buildings tenets were a mix of commercial and residential.
Sasha Davis was not what Jacob had been expecting, based on her voice when he spoke to her earlier. Instead of a mid thirties woman, they were met by a very elegant woman in her early fifties. When she rose from her desk as Jacob and Angela entered, he noted she was about 5' 8" and slender. Her brunette hair was long and loose, with streaks of silver running through it. Her soft voice was pleasant and reassuring. As Jacob and Angela sat on a comfortable couch opposite Sasha, he felt surprisingly at ease and content.
"So detectives, what do I owe this pleasure of two of New York's finest?" Sasha asked courteously.
Jacob cleared his throat and smiled, "As I mentioned earlier, we are investigating a missing persons case. Patrick O'Connell has been reported missing and we are interviewing anyone who might know him."
Jacob could see some tension in Sasha's face and wondered how long it would be before she invoked the client privilege.
"I haven't talked to Patrick in a week or so" she said as she rose from her chair and walked over to her desk. She picked up her phone and began to tap and swipe the screen.
Sasha sat down gently in her chair, crossing her ankles, "Ah, here it is. I talked to him on Tuesday of last week. He said he was thinking of going to see a show on Broadway since Sara was going to be in Albany all weekend. He asked if my husband and I wanted to go."
"And did you?" Angela asked.
"No, we didn't. We went to my sisters in Atlanta Wednesday. My great nephew was christened this weekend" she replied smiling.
"When did you return from Atlanta?" Jacob asked.
"Monday afternoon."
"Do you know if Mr. O'Connell has had any issues lately? Personal or business that would cause him to leave town?" Angela asked flatly.
"Patrick doesn't discuss his business affairs much. I know he enjoys what he does and he's good at it. He enjoys talking to people and learning about them. But as for problems, personal or business, I'm not in a position to say anything really." she said guardedly.
Jacob looked at Angela and caught the look in her eye. They both suspected Sasha knew something and she wasn't sharing.
"How long have you known Mr. O'Connell?" Angela asked.
Sasha laughed, "Some time." She then added, almost as an after thought, "He introduced me to my husband."
Giving Sasha a quizzical look, Angela countered, "And how long have you been married?"
Jacob watched as Sasha took a moment to compose herself, "Detectives...if Patrick is unavailable at the moment, it's because he wants to be unavailable. I do not know where he is or how to get in touch with him. If he did have some personal issues that might concern him, I could not discuss them. He is a patient."
"I hope you understand our concern Mrs. Davis. Mr O'Connell has vanished, his residence is completely empty and the person who reported him missing has not heard from him since Thursday the 17th. And, the last people he said he was...interacting with, may not be peaceful people" Jacob said in measured tones.
He noticed Sasha's eyes were misted over, but his last comment caused her to laugh out loud.
She leaned forward fixing her eyes on Jacobs, her elbows on her knees, her hands clasped under her chin. He could see her eyes light up and a smile form on her lips.
"I can say this without breaking any confidences Detective, if anyone thought of harming Patrick or someone he loved, they would rue the day the thought ever crossed their minds. And I can say this with conviction, Patrick is deeply in love with Sara."
She glanced at the clock and stood up "I'm very sorry detectives, but I have a 4:30 appointment with a very distressed patient.
"I have one quick question" Angela asked, "Why would he empty out a ten million dollar townhome in Tribeca?"
"I don't know detective. Perhaps he's repainting" she replied.
Before Sasha could close the door, Jacob asked, "Doctor, whose Livia?"
Jacob noted the shocked expression on Sasha's face morph to sadness. "Patrick's late wife detective."
As the elevator doors closed behind them, Jacob looked at Angela, "Do you have a bad feeling about this?"
Angela leaned back against the wall of the elevator, her hands behind her and exhaled strongly and closed her eyes, "I suspect Sara is going to be at the center of this, whatever 'this' might be."
"We need to go over O'Connell's records, but, we need to take a very close look at Miss Anderson. Like the Deputy Chief said, there's something fishy going on here."
By the time they returned to the precinct house, O'Connell's phone records for the last six months were available. Dwyer told them them the financial statements were a black hole at the moment, since they had no idea who O'Connell banked with. He told them to contact Sara and see if she hand any information.
While Jacob poured over the phone records, Angela made several calls.
"Senate Leader Stevenson's office. This is Kathy. May I direct your call?"
"Sara Anderson please" Angela replied.
The voice giggled, "She's not available right now. She's...ah, indisposed with the Senator, probably for the rest of the day...and night. Can I take a message?"
Angela paused and remembered Chief Takahashi's reminder that the case was need to know, "Ah no, I'll try an get in touch with her tomorrow."
"Um JJ? We have an issue" Angela said flatly.
Jacob looked up from his monitor, "What's that?"
"I just tried to contact Sara and the bubblehead on the other end said, and I quote, 'she's indisposed with the Senator for the rest of the day, and night'. I'm really starting to get a bad feeling about this case."
Jacob stared into space, "As long as it's not illegal, no one is going to give a shit what two adults do, but, what if one rival is trying to get rid of the other rival? Did you try her cell?"
"Yeah, straight to voice mail. I left a message telling her to call you."
"Fuck me!" Jacob exclaimed. He leaned back and ran his hands down his face. He turned his monitor toward Angela and pointed at the screen, "Ange, take a look at this."
She looked at the screen intently, "His last call was Thursday from her?"
"Yeah. I plugged the geo tag in from the call into the map and, look where it was" he said, pointing at the map displayed on his second monitor.
"Oh shit. The Star Social Club in Queens? That's Ricca territory." Angela slumped back in her chair. "What the fuck is going on?"
"I'm going to request all the IP traffic over his phone for the last thirty days. See if we can see any patterns. You know anyone over in Organized Crime?"
Angela nodded, "Yeah, but it'll have to be in person. I don't want to discuss this over the phone."
"Agreed. We're going to need some help, but I'm wondering if this will even be our case anytime soon."
Angela shook her head, "No JJ. At the moment, this is still just a missing persons case, nothing more. We can't let our imagination run away with us." She stood up and grabbed her coat, "I'm going to go over to Clancy's. Someone who works OC is a regular there. I'll see if there's any rumors running around."
Jacob stretched his arms. This case, not even 24 hours old, was beginning to get signs of being ugly. He did not want to find himself at the center of scandal without a crime that could be prosecuted. "OK, be careful and I'll see you tomorrow."
The station house was beginning to come alive when Jacob entered the Missing Persons office. He fumbled for his phone as it rang just as he was setting his coffee down and trying to take is coat off.
"Detective Jakubowski 1st Precinct Missing Persons."
"Hi Detective, Sara Anderson"
"Good morning Miss Anderson. We tried to get in touch with you yesterday, it's really quite urgent" he replied matter of factly, but couldn't get all the irritation out of his voice.
"Yes, I'm sorry about that, but I was with the Senator last night" she replied, he could detect something in her voice, but could not determine what it was.
"Miss Anderson, we are in need of Mr. O'Connell's banking information. Do you have any idea who he banked with?"
"Yes, he actually uses a couple of different banks. I know his business account is with 1st Maryland and one of his personal accounts is with Mahattan-Chase. That's the one he would send money to me from."
"Do you happen to have an account number for that?" He asked.
"Sure, I can send it to you. But I know I've seen statements from the Bank of England, Well's-Chicago and Deutschlander Bank. I don't know what the account numbers were or if he still has active accounts there."
"Thanks Miss Anderson, this is enough information for us to get started on. And, by the way, did Mr. O'Connell's business have a name? It's something I forgot to ask yesterday."
He heard her giggle, "It's latin, Amor Aeternus LLC."
"Eternal love?" he asked.
Sara giggled, "Yeah, he likes to play with words."
"Ok. Thanks for this Miss Anderson. We'll be in touch if we find out anything."
By late afternoon, Jacob and Angela what few records they had. Jacob had already requested an accountant to help them go though the financial documents quickly, once they received them. They were both surprised to find out that they were to send daily updates on the case to Dwyer who had to forward them to Deputy Chief Takahashi. While they didn't enjoy doing that, they did hope they would have some cover if things went sideways.
In the late afternoon, Jacobs phone chirped.
"Hi, um, I might have some information on Pat?" the voice said hesitatingly.
"And whom am I speaking too?" Jacob asked.
"Do I have to give my name?" the voice said with a bit of fear.
"No, not at all. If you are more comfortable being anonymous, that's OK. How did you find out Mr. O'Connell is missing?" he said.
The voice hesitated, "Sara posted a plea on Instabook that if anyone had seen him, to call this number."
"Where and when did you see him?"
"Wednesday night at the Fantasy 4 club. He was with two young women. To be honest, I was shocked. I thought Pat and Sara were exclusive" she replied breathlessly.
