Page 64 of Protecting Silver
“Wow, other than beating you, was there any sexual assault?” Decker asked.
“No, none of my fosters ever did that. I was only beaten one time. I went into a home for a couple of months, then went to another family. About a month after going into their care, both of them were transferred out of state for their jobs. All of what I said earlier took place in the state of Colorado. The new foster family was able to take me with them when they transferred to Montana. I was ten. When I was twelve, they divorced and because I wasn’t adopted, neither of them wanted custody of me. It was a huge battle. I talked with the judge and asked to be placed in a group home. After telling him of my life until that point, and the fact that I didn’t want to leave my best friend, he did his due diligence and granted me my wish. I stayed there until I was eighteen, graduated from high school. Went to college for three years, then enlisted in the Marines. I was in for almost eight years.
“While serving my country, I was able to finish my degree online. When I was discharged, I found out because of my years in the service as a medic, I could fast-track myself through most of the hands-on training. I spent three years as an emergency-room trauma surgeon in Helena, Montana. Eighteen months ago, I transferred to the new ER department in Elks Junction, Montana. That was where I was from the age of twelve to eighteen.”
Patch sat back and stared at the others’ stunned silence. Taking note that they weren’t saying anything, he continued, “While I was in Helena, I was visiting Elks Junction, and that best friend I mentioned earlier, and happened to meet up with Patty, the daughter at the first foster home I remember being at. I know it’s not very original, but their last name was Foster. That’s when I learned that they had adopted her, and were in the middle of adopting me when I disappeared. A little while later, I met the Fosters again, and they told me everything was fine until they requested a copy of my original birth certificate from Merrick. It was for the official adoption, and they only had a smudged copy. They needed the one with the raised seal.”
Into the silence, Silver spoke silently, because she’d seen the toll retelling his life story to these strangers was having on Patch, if his pinched mouth, and the tightness around his eyes were clear indications of his stress.
“That’s why we’re here. We need to look into Merrick. What Douglas failed to mention earlier was that when he disappeared off the face of the earth when Merrick took him from his school, Merrick himself disappeared, so the cops and FBI couldn’t contact him. Through an exhaustive effort of a friend of a friend, days ago we learned that Silas Jackson Merrick is posing as Joshua Samuel Merriweather right here in Chicago. Through this investigation, we’ve learned Merrick is working with Child Protective Services right here in Chicago. We also have proof that he’s working on the side with an illegal adoption agency.” Once Silver dropped that bombshell, Patch picked up the thickest file before them and passed it to the man who could be his twin. Other than the scar Patch had high up on his forehead from Patty years ago, he could be looking in the mirror. Atwater leaned forward and took the file. The three FBI agents huddled around and began to read what was presented to them.
Thirty minutes later, Atwater looked up, and asked, “What are you proposing?”
“We do a sting. Whether it’s me and Silver going to this adoption agency posing as a couple wanting to do anything to adopt, or you and Babcock, or me and a female agent. Whatever you need to do to get this asshole off the streets. If the information in that report is true, and he did everything I mentioned to me, how many other children did he do it to?” He paused long enough to look both Atwater and Decker in the eye before he dropped a bombshell. “And how many children did he sell on the black market, or have killed and because they had been kidnapped, and their families already thinking the worst, what else did he do? This man needs to pay for his sins.”
Chapter 30
“Wow,”Patch said as he and Silver entered their hotel room, and he flopped back on the bed with his arms spread wide. After bouncing a few times, he brought both his hands up and scrubbed his face. “Just wow,” he said behind his hands.
Silver sat on the bed beside him, and brought her leg up and gripped her knee. She waited for him to uncover his face and look at her before she grinned at him. “Which ‘wow’? The one where they listened to you and will get back to us about taking Merrick down? Or the one where Atwater could be your identical twin sans the small scar on your forehead.”
“Both, but did you see this?” Patch asked as he pulled out his phone and began punching buttons. With a nod, he turned his phone and said, “I snapped this picture when I took a short break. I’m assuming it’s Atwater’s family. I look almost identical to one of the older men. I wonder if it’s his father.”
“And possibly yours too. Did you notice that Decker didn’t say a word after you gave him that letter from the website with his phone number on it? At least I’m assuming it’s his number.”
“Yeah.” Patch reared up and wrapped his arms around her and brought her down with him, holding her close. “As much as I wanted to ask Atwater questions, I feel that Merrick needs to be taken down first. In my mind, if we can get him behind bars, then we can ask him questions. With those answers, I can move forward with getting to know my family.” Patch kissed the side of her head and held her closer. “I don’t know if I should be offended or not that both Atwater and Decker requested a sample of my DNA before we left.”
“I wouldn’t be. I feel it’s their way to double check that paper you gave them. Besides...” Silver reached up and cupped the side of his face in her hand. “...you can always ask your doctor friend to compare the results, because if you recall, Atwater had his DNA taken also.”
Patch grinned. “I thought that technician was going to shit bricks when he saw the two of us standing together.” They shared a laugh, and as they continued to hold each other, it wasn’t long before Patch fell asleep. Ever since receiving that phone call from Tex four days ago, he hadn’t slept. He’d either been called into surgery, talking to his bosses about getting a leave of absence, then compiling and re-reading the information Tex had sent to him. Then, they had driven his truck from Montana to Chicago. Silver lay there and let him sleep, not realizing she had fallen asleep, until there was a knock on the door several hours later, only to find out that it was the bell hop delivering their luggage they had stored while they waited for a room to be cleaned and ready while they were at the FBI building.
* * *
“What do you think?”Daniel looked over at Decker and Babcock when he looked up from the last page of the report the man with his face had given them earlier. Before they could answer, he shook his head and held up his hand. “I’m not talking about him looking like me, or the fact that he may in fact be my long-lost brother, I’m talking about this information he gave us regarding this Merrick character. Do you think it might be possible he was behind Mikey’s kidnapping?”
“Who’s Mikey?” Babcock frowned at her boss.
“My oldest brother that was kidnapped from our home the day I was born. He was twenty-six months old.”
“Oh.” Babcock didn’t know what to say after that. It was Decker that answered Daniel’s question.
“I think everything is legit,” Decker said. He had his head buried in a report as he spoke, and only lifted his head when no one answered him. “I’ve been re-reading my original notes and reports from the time of the kidnapping. Not once did we ever make the choice to look over state lines. Your family’s ranch is three hours north west of Cheyenne. Fort Collins, Colorado is only fifty miles, if that. Then, there’s Nebraska about the same distance. We concentrated on the area surrounding your family’s ranch. I know it’s not an excuse, and you don’t remember, but the day your father discovered Mikey missing, there was one hell of a snowstorm and it lasted for days. That’s why the investigation was so slow back then, and why when we realized the case had gone cold, that we never even thought about the kidnapper crossing state lines.” He waited for them to catch up with him, then nodded. “Who’s to say that the kidnapper didn’t go over into Nebraska, and wait for a few weeks or months before going to Colorado.”
“Wait,” Babcock held up her hand and began flipping through pages. “Atwal said his first memory was when he was four, and was placed with the Fosters. Would the age of Mikey meet that timeline?”
“No,” Decker said as he rifled through the pages before him. He grabbed what he was looking for and held it up with a grin. “According to the copy of Atwal’s birth certificate, he was four when he went to the Fosters, and we have their statement, along with Atwal’s as to when he came to live with them, but according to a copy of the birth certificate I received from Anna and Douglas Atwater, and the timeline, Atwal would have been two months shy of three when he arrived at the Fosters.”
“So, someone kept him for a few months...” Daniel began, and looked at Babcock. ”...before taking him to the Fosters. Because Mikey was twenty-six months when he was taken. Someone fudged the birth certificate, but not only changing the year of his birth, but they transposed his name. I’m guessing the kidnapper kept him for ten months before turning him over to Merrick.”
“What do you mean transposed his name?” Babcock asked with a frown.
“Original name was Michael Douglas Atwater,” Decker said as he passed over the two birth certificates to her. “Copy Atwater has, it’s Douglas Michael Atwal.”
Tamara looked at them, then frowned at her boss. “Is there any significance to the names in your family?”
“Yes, Mikey was named for my father, who is Douglas Michael. The name on the, what we’re assuming is the fake certificate, my older brother Bruce was named for our great-great-grandfather. I’m named for our grandfather, he goes by Dan, I use Daniel. My two sisters, Ellie and Nancy were named for ancestors also.” Daniel scrubbed his face, jumped to his feet and paced. After several trips around the room, he came back and stood before the wall that held his family photos. While looking at his parents, he said to the others in the room, “After talking with Atwal, and watching him, I know now deep in my heart that he’s my missing brother. However, I agree with him. We need to take this Merrick or Merriweather character down first. Once we get him and have him in custody, then I feel we’ll be able to get the answers we’ve been waiting thirty-three years for.” He turned and studied the two people before him. “First, I will not tell the rest of my family what I’ve learned today until we get those answers. Second, how are we going to get Merrick in custody?”
The other two were silent for a long time, before Babcock spoke, “How long you willing to wait?”
