A Necessary Evil(29)
The phone rang, and Frankie answered it immediately. “What’ve you got?”
“Looks like Julian McAllister had a son, born January 4, 1978, named Collin Ray McAllister.”
“Good. Great. Where does he live?” Frankie knew it was highly unlikely Collin had Mollie held where he lived, but it would be a start in tracking him down.
“That’s the weird part, boss. The last time Collin McAllister registered any sort of address was over two years ago. Back then, he lived in the Chinoe Creek Apartments, number 213. But after that, he just sort of…disappeared.”
“Keep looking. Check out any property ever registered to anyone in the McAllister family. He’s somewhere close. Concentrate on any property out in the county. He had Mollie out on Delong Road at some point, so check out that way.”
“Will do.”
Frankie slid his phone back into his pocket and slowly slumped down into the chair. It suddenly struck him that Kurt had probably thought to track down Julian’s son too. He cursed himself for sharing what he’d learned with the detective. Hopefully, though, Frankie was ahead of him by a nose, and Kurt hadn’t thought to track down any family property yet. Kurt was one hell of a detective, but he didn’t have the resources Frankie had. Plus, he had to work within the confines of the legal system.
Frankie hoped he would find Collin McAllister before Kurt and his partner did, because he knew this time his old friend wouldn’t stand and let him “handle” the son the way he had the father. The honorable detective would insist on bringing Collin in and letting the court system deal with him. But there was no way Frankie was going to let that happen. He couldn’t stand idly by while he blabbed the truth about Julian’s “disappearance” to anyone who would listen. Collin had to be dealt with, swiftly and permanently.
All Frankie could do now was sit and wait.
Chapter 15
Kurt
Back at the precinct, Kurt was leaning close to his computer screen.
“Don’t tell me you’re going blind too,” Lonnie quipped from his desk across the open room.
Kurt didn’t take the bait this time. He didn’t want to admit to his partner that he was, in fact, in need of bifocals. But Kurt had staunchly refused his optometrist’s recommendation, telling him he’d rather go blind than wear glasses. Plus, he was too busy concentrating on what was on his screen to exchange insults with Lonnie.
As soon as he’d arrived back at the precinct and entered Mollie’s diary into evidence, Kurt had shot over to his desk and immediately entered Julian McAllister’s name in the database. He would look at the diary later. Right now, he needed to identify her kidnapper.
In a matter of seconds, he’d found the investigation file regarding his so-called disappearance. It made Kurt’s insides twist into knots every time he thought about what Frankie had done. Though he never learned the details, he knew Julian McAllister had not simply vanished into thin air. He also knew his former best friend probably tortured the man before finishing him off and likely dumped his body in the river or somewhere no one would ever find him.
According to the file, which Kurt hadn’t read since he first joined the force, Julian Allan McAllister, age thirty-seven, had been reported missing by his wife Martha on March 27, 1979 when she woke up that morning to discover her husband hadn’t come home the night before. The detectives on the case had interviewed the employees at his gym, but they had no idea where their boss had gone. All they knew was he’d gone to take the trash out the previous night, but never returned. They’d assumed he’d gone home.
Canvasing of the neighborhood had turned up nothing, other than a few comments from people in the area that Julian was “a bit odd” and “kind of creepy.” One business colleague even mentioned his propensity for attractive girls half his age. The wife said he’d never stayed out all night in the five years they’d been together, and his vehicle had been found parked right in front of the gym where he’d left it. Though the detectives suspected foul play, there wasn’t enough information to figure out who took him and where and why.
Until the day an unmarked envelope was delivered without postage to the police headquarters, which laid out the truth about Julian McAllister. It claimed he was a sick, sociopathic pedophile, responsible for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of several young girls. The detectives on the missing person case apparently did some digging and were able to confirm the letter’s allegations. Soon thereafter, the case regarding Julian McAllister had been abandoned, though never officially closed.
Kurt already knew all this, so he continued his research. He eventually found tiny a newspaper article announcing the birth of one Collin Ray McAllister, born to Julian and Martha McAllister at Central Baptist Hospital on January 4, 1978. The article went on to say Martha and Julian had barely made it to the hospital in time, thanks to the infamous ’78 blizzard.
Kurt switched screens and entered “Collin Ray McAllister, Lexington, Kentucky,” into the Google search bar and waited for the department’s ancient dial-up internet to bring up a new page. When it finally came up, there were over two thousand results, but only the first five or six appeared to be the man he was looking for. The first result was on an alumni page for Lexington Catholic High School. Collin had apparently graduated in 1996, but Kurt could find no mention of the teenager on any sports rosters. His graduation photograph showed the face of a rather goofy looking kid with light-colored hair, glasses, and a reticent look on his face. Collin was obviously not a popular kid, and Kurt remembered boys like him when he was in school—shy, reserved loners. It was always the weird ones who turned out to be creeps, and Collin had been no exception.