Cold Case - 8. Chapter 8

"I called my informant. The man said he had news. Reginald Osborne asked for a special service in one of the clubs. He booked a girl for Saturday night. My informant talked with her. Osborne had already once booked the woman. She said Osborne will pick her up at the club on Saturday evening and will drive with her to a secluded place. She said he was a dirty skunk, but paid a lot of money. She was not scared. She said she could cope with his liking as long as he paid her well. And she said she knew where he would take her to, a deserted mansion in or near Witham. Last time they had driven there, Osborne had bandaged her eyes all the way from the London outskirts to the house, but the dirty skunk had forgotten to plug her ears. He had made a brief call in the car. It had not made much sense to her, but Osborne had said I’m going to Witham right now, and the woman had made a mental note," Steve recounted.

"That’s the connection between Osborne and O’Neill," Adam said.

Steve nodded. "I’ll write a report and fill in the forms. We have gathered enough information," he said. "Reginald Osborne is under strong suspicion of being involved in illegal activities. Even if the woman consented to Osborne’s game, the game will not be considered normal prostitution. Osborne risks the woman’s death. The date could well be lethal. Murder by negligence or intentional murder. We must do what we can to stop the potential crime."

Like he had expected, an operation team was set up, motions were filed and approvals obtained. The operation was planned fast and yet carefully. Two men were sent to the place again in order to take pictures of the house and the surroundings with a special camera. Although taken from the distance, the pictures were exact and distinct. The men hadn’t detected any signs of an alarm system, but the security experts worked out a safe way to the house anyway. The operation team internalized the results.

Adam and Steve continued investigating on Rory O’Neill, but whatever they tried, the man remained a phantom, just a name written on various papers. Many had had to do with him in the past, but nobody had seen him or heard of him in the previous two years.

"It seems he has disappeared from the scene," Steve said.

"He was in Rome a couple of weeks ago, assuming he killed Jeremiah Irons," Adam said. "Hasn’t anybody seen him in Rome? What has Sassetti found out? No reports?" he asked.

Steve shook his head. "Perhaps he had to drop the case. I’ll call him," he said.

He informed Adam a short time later.

"Sassetti continued investigating on Reginald Osborne, but has not found out much. Osborne sold his house near Rome two years ago to an Italian investor group. The manager remembered the eccentric man, but had no useful information. They have not found out more about the murder on Jeremiah Irons. The corpse will be transferred to England next week. Not a single witness, not a single trace. Sassetti was pleased with the news on Rory O’Neill. He’ll investigate on him, but most likely won’t come back to me before the end of next week," Steve said.

Adam called his father in the evening. David Johnson had cautiously asked around. Reginald Osborne was said to be on a vacation and his assistants seemed to be pleased he was gone. One woman told him in confidence that she thought Osborne needed psychological treatment. She thought the man was a sex addict who made a dirty pass on every woman who came across his way. She said that a couple of months ago he had invited her to a tête-à-tête dinner on the countryside, but she had of course reclined the invitation. It seemed to her that, fortunately, Osborne had lately stopped his pick up tours in the university. Adam’s father had tried to subtly find out if Osborne was a member of a secret sect, but his research had delivered no results. He had also asked an elder faculty member if the man remembered Rory O’Neill. The man in fact remembered the eccentric student and said that he had heard that O’Neill had left England a couple of years ago.

Adam told his father that his findings were in accordance with their results. He asked his father to stop his research, which his father reluctantly promised. They ended the call. Adam took a deep breath. He had to get prepared for the operation on Saturday evening. Neither racking his brains nor worrying would serve well this purpose. Adam reached out and picked up a book from the coffee table, a crime thriller that he had started to read the day before, a book Steve had highly recommended, and that in fact had instantly drawn him in.

***

The operation team met on Saturday afternoon. The team consisted of five men in total, including the head of the team. Steve and Adam were part of it. The head of the team repeated the plan of action.

"We’ll put on camouflage suits and apply the minor devices. The rest of the equipment will be placed in the trunks of the cars. After we have changed clothes and applied the devices, we’ll leave London and follow the route we have worked out. We’ll approach the mansion from the north."

The man unfolded a map and showed it to the others.

"Here’s the mansion. That’s the dirt track that leads to the back of the house. We suppose Osborne will take this way. There’s a wood about five-hundred meters from the gate. We have seen the pictures of the wood and the path. We’ll park the cars in the forest and we’ll hide there until Osborne arrives and drives by," the man continued.

The men nodded. They had visualized this part of the operation many times in the previous hours. They knew it by heart.

"We cannot plan the following steps. They’ll depend on the situation. Any comments or suggestions?" the head of the team asked.

Everybody agreed on the way of proceeding. The man turned to several items and backpacks that were placed on the floor.

"Please take your backpack, take out your camouflage suit and put it on," the head of the team said to the four men.

The men stepped forward, seized the backpacks and opened them. Adam pulled out his camouflage suit. He hesitated for an instant, but then started to undress. Steve gazed at him, but turned away quickly and also changed clothes, but Adam had seen the look in Steve’s eyes and finally he had no doubts any longer. The truth had revealed to Adam in the blink of an eye.

They prepared their night-vision goggles and their headsets with the radio and tracking devices. They tested the devices and then they prepared their guns. They placed all items into their backpacks, and then left the building and went to the two cars that had been prepared for the operation. Steve and Adam climbed into one car, the other three men got onto the other. The cars left London and drove north-east. A short time later, they left the main road and drove north on a smaller road until they reached a crossroad. They took a small road east that led through fields of crop. Finally, they arrived at the dirt track that led south again and to O’Neill’s house. They approached the mansion from the north.

They drove into the wood where the men intended to hide their cars and lie in ambush. The men climbed out of the cars and covered them with camouflage canvas planes. They opened the trunk of the car and took out the rest of the equipment, ropes, a bolt cutter, false keys and other tools and devices. They opened the backpacks and took out the headsets and the night-vision goggles. They put them on, attached several devices and tools to their bodies, and placed others into their backpacks. They put on their backpacks and then they took their guns.

The men moved towards the edge of the wood. They lay down on the ground, hidden by bushes, yet with an excellent sight on the path. They were early and they had to have patience. It was eight o’clock, but Osborne was soon to come with his victim. It was only a question of time.

At ten past ten they heard the noise of a car. A man drove the car and another person was sitting in the passenger seat. The car drove by slowly. The men rose to their feet and moved along the dirt track. They stopped and viewed the house from the distance. Their monitoring devices showed that Osborne’s car was parked near the house. Osborne and the other person had already climbed out. A few minutes passed, and then the light went on in a room on the first floor and shone faintly through the drawn curtains. The men moved on and followed the barb wire to a point far in the east of the house. A man took off his backpack, took out a wire cutter and cut a hole. They slipped through the hole and looked at the house. The head of the team pointed in a direction. The men nodded. They moved on slowly, following the way the security experts had worked out in order to avoid motion detectors. The head of the team walked ahead and now and then indicated a change of direction. The men communicated via their headsets.

Forty-five minutes passed until they finally reached the house. The light was still on in the room on the first floor. Everything was quiet. Osborne and the other person had probably retreated to the illuminated room. Two men moved on to have a look at Osborne’s car while Adam and Steve surrounded the house. The head of the team remained near the backdoor. The men met again fifteen minutes later and exchanged their observations. The car was definitely Osborne’s. The men had checked the car sign. They had seen nothing inside of the car that raised suspicions. No other car was parked in the place. They agreed that Osborne and the other person most likely were the only visitors to the house. No door or window was broken. Osborne apparently possessed a key to the mansion. The men stood for another couple of minutes, observing the house, when suddenly a woman cried out loud. The head of the team raised his hand.

"Open the door," he commanded.

Steve tried to open the backdoor, but it was locked. He reached into a pocket of his camouflage suit and pulled out a false key, unlocked the door and opened it quietly. He stood for an instant and listened, and then entered the house. The others followed him. The night-vision goggles worked well and they saw the interior of the house clearly. The men moved on and reached the entrance hall of the mansion. They stopped at the bottom of a staircase. They heard another loud scream. The woman called out in obvious pain. The head of the team raised his hand.

"Change action," he said. "Imminent danger. We’re going to enter the room."

The men seized their guns and then moved up the stairs. They moved quietly down the hallway. They heard noises from inside a room. A man moaned and a woman whimpered. The men positioned left and right of the door and opposite of it. Suddenly, the woman screamed out again, now in obvious terror. The head of the team raised his hand. The men seized their guns tighter. The head of the team seized the knob of the door and turned it slowly. The door opened, unexpectedly. The man pushed it open forcefully and pointed his gun at the man in the room. Another man of the team entered right behind the first man. Reginald Osborne stood in the room, dressed only in bondage pants and with a knife in his hand that he was lowering from the woman’s throat. The woman was naked and tied to wall bars. The skin of her breasts and thighs was cut. Blood streamed down her body.

"Drop the knife," the head of the team shouted.

Osborne gazed at the man, made a step back, but then seized the knife tighter and ran towards them. He raised his hand with the knife and yelled loudly. The second man of the team shot his gun. Osborne fell to the floor and pressed his hands on his thigh. His knife had dropped to the floor. The head of the team kicked it out of Osborne’s reach. The woman gazed at the men with widened eyes and then started to yell hysterically.

An hour later, the operation had ended. Two ambulances had arrived and had taken the woman and Osborne to a hospital. The doors of the house were sealed and the men returned to London.

***

O’Neill’s house was searched and a horrible discovery was made. The basement had been converted into an Aztec temple. The main room was decorated with Aztec artifacts. Smaller rooms in the basement contained clothes and items that were used for the ceremonies and rituals. One cellar room was filled with weapons and knives. The most horrible discovery, however, was a tzompantli, a skull rack that was erected in one of the rooms. They counted fifteen skulls, the skulls of the victims the sect had sacrificed over the years.

Confronted with the discovery, Reginald Osborne confessed the crimes. He had joined Rory O’Neill’s sect soon after he had met the man at the university. At that time, O’Neill had already practiced his cult for more than three years, together with a small group of followers. Osborne said O’Neill himself chose the victims, mainly young and naive women who trusted the group members. The members of the group were all men. A man usually approached the woman that O’Neill had picked. He seduced and manipulated her until she was a willing slave to him. Osborne and the other men shared the same liking. They were into sadomasochism and bondage games with a special thrill, which was the killing of their victims. Osborne confessed that Joseph Peterson had helped the group with their financial transactions and had received a precious obsidian knife in exchange. Intrigued by the artifact, Peterson had bought the Aztec vases from Jeremiah Irons. After Peterson’s death, a man had broken into Peterson’s house to get the knife and the vases for O’Neill’s group.

Rory O’Neill had disappeared. Neither Osborne nor the other members of the sect, who were all found and arrested within a week, knew about O’Neill’s whereabouts. The interrogation of the seven arrested men brought more details to light. Jeremiah Irons had delivered the Aztec items over the years and the man had become increasingly suspicious. His allusions and remarks had alarmed O’Neill’s group and they had decided to kill the man. O’Neill and Irons met in Rome like they always did. O’Neill killed the man and then disappeared from the scene. None of the men had heard from him. An international arrest warrant was issued for Rory O’Neill.

Police researched on the victims. Gradually, after repeated interrogation, the men gave the victims’ names away. All women were reported missing. Family members and co-workers described the women as timid and shy, secretive and withdrawn. They had all been singles and they had all kept their affairs with O’Neill’s men a secret. All the women had disappeared without a trace. The skulls were examined and tooth imprints finally revealed the victims’ identities. The men were interrogated again. They confessed they had killed one woman each year. They had kept the skulls, yet burned and buried the rest of the corpses. Cannibalism had not been part of their ritual.

They had started the rituals in the basement fifteen years ago, after O’Neill had bought the mansion. In the beginning, only three men had performed the ritual with O’Neill. The other men had joined the group at a later time. When interrogated on Angelo Falcone’s murder, the men confessed that Falcone had been a member of the group for a year or so, yet had planned to leave the group. His decision had sealed his death. O’Neill himself had murdered him.

Reginald Osborne finally confessed that he had attacked Adam’s mother in order to scare and silence David Johnson. They had considered his open letter a threat. He also confessed that they had planned to sacrifice Kia, the woman Osborne had an affair with. He had taken her to the ritual, but another man had brought a woman also, a woman O’Neill had spotted only a week ago and considered the perfect victim. O’Neill had ordered Osborne to kill Kia off, but Osborne had refused to murder her. O’Neill had threatened to kill him, but Osborne had finally won him over. O’Neill gave in and Osborne arranged that Kia was declared insane. He later arranged her departure.

Rory O’Neill was arrested two months later in Malaysia. He had picked up a girl and had taken her to his hotel room. Police caught him in the act. The girl was tied to the bed and O’Neill had just started cutting the skin of her legs.

Adam received the news in his father’s house. Steve sent him a text message.

"Thank God!" David Johnson said with relief. "I could not stop worrying. I’m glad you’ve finally caught him."

Adam looked up. "The Malaysian police caught him, Dad," he said.

His father made a dismissive gesture with his hand.

"If you had not investigated, then they would continue killing girls in the mansion near Witham. Just imagine! Reginald Osborne was part of it. We invited him and his wife to our house. Words cannot express my disgust," he said.

He poured Adam more coffee. Adam gave his father a nod.

"Thank God you investigated that cold case. What’s the name of the man who insisted on investigating on it?" Adam’s father asked.

"Steve. Steve Mills," Adam replied.

"Do you like him, Adam?" his father asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

Adam gazed at his father. His father put the cup down and gave a laugh.

"I could read it from your face when you read his text message. It’s rather plain to see, Adam. Even I can see it," his father said. "And besides, I always knew. Your mother revealed it to me when you were sixteen."

"Mom?" Adam asked in total bewilderment.

"The bond between mother and child. You can never deceive your mother," his father replied.

He leaned back in his chair and smiled at Adam. Adam relaxed and returned the smile.

THE END