Wife's Bitter Revenge Against Neglectful CEO Husband-Chapter 135: The Schumaker Sisters

I kept digging. It was close to midnight when I noticed the pattern we should have seen all along.

I’m not sure how many times my phone rang before it broke through my concentration. I picked up without identifying the caller, but my focus was still on Dorsey and Candice.

"Teela?"

"Teela?"

"Tee, can you hear me?"

"Um," I responded.

"Hun, I need more than that. Give me at least three words," Alec said.

"I’m alright. Bye."

I hung up. The Schumakers had income coming in from a side source. Each month, an additional payment hit the account, which was the exact amount of one of Candice’s paychecks. It was spaced out, so the extra payment landed right about the same time as the rent payment while still being spaced out from her bi-monthly wages from her teaching job. That kept the account from spiking an unusually high, at least high, bank balance for the Schumakers.

The phone rang again.

"What?" I said in the way of a greeting. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Alec’s voice held an edge of warning. "Do I need to fly back tonight?"

"No, that would be stupid."

"What has gotten into you? You never speak to me like this."

I shook my head hard enough to break my concentration. Alec was right, but I’d found a lead. After all these months, I had something and didn’t want to lose momentum.

"Sorry, Alec. I’ve got a lead. Can we talk tomorrow? I’ll make it up to you tomorrow."

"Dammit, Teela. Not even a day away from you, and I’ve lost priority status in your eyes."

My brain was about to split in two as I tried to break away from work. But this was so hard. This was a unique situation. It was CK’s brother, and we’d all worked so hard and faced so many delays and obstacles.

Only I’d never told Alec any of this. How could he understand?

I sighed and started over. "I’m sorry. I know I said that before, but I mean it. I was focused on a special project. It took me a minute to break out of my train of thought, but Alec, for the first time since he disappeared, I may have a lead to finding Ck’s brother."

"That’s good news, Tee. Congratulations."

"Thanks. How was your day?"

"Other than leaving my fiancée, not bad. I let Doctor Mark do a full diagnostic. He was right. I tore tendons in my foot and ankle. I’ll be in a cast for six weeks."

"He put you in a cast?"

"He did. A walking cast."

"That is good news."

I couldn’t resist tapping away at my keyboard while talking, but at least Alec had most of my attention.

"I won’t keep you, baby, but I’d like to hear more about your project next time, okay?"

"Absolutely. If this pans out, I’ll literally scream my success from the mountaintop."

"Deal. Love you."

"Love you too."

I let Alec end the call while I returned to tracking the source of the extra payments the sisters had received. Finding a Cayman Islands joint bank account registered in both sisters’ names didn’t take long.

What were two lower middle-class women doing with a Cayman Islands bank account? Offshore accounts were typically only used by people with a lot of wealth that they were trying to protect.

The phone rang again. I was beginning to regret owning a phone. Life was much more peaceful without one.

I was surprised to see that it was Stiff. For the sake of reuniting with him, I had to take the call.

"Hello."

"It’s tomorrow."

I glanced at the time. Technically, he was right. It was the middle of the night, but all new days started in the middle of the night.

"It is. How are you?"

The silence left me wondering if Stiff had changed his mind. Unfortunately, I had no clue what to say to improve the situation.

"Forget what I said. Okay, Teela? I was angry and hurt. Come back. I need you. Crazy Code needs you."

"We both were Stiff, and I felt guilty for dragging Bea into my mess. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have been killed."

"I felt guilty for not locating you sooner and for not protecting you better. I should never have let Bea leave without security. We were all at risk after bringing down the Heavenlys, but I was so focused on you that I didn’t protect Bea. I should have been doubly as cautious after her accident, but I wasn’t. I was too pissed off that you wanted Alec and not me."

"Maybe we should both forgive ourselves?" I asked.

"That is what the grief counselor suggested."

"You saw a counselor?"

"Yes. Your boyfriend sent one over from his facility. For weeks, she held sessions at the church for anyone who wanted them. Since Alec was offering the help, I refused for a long while, but Father DiMarco insisted. No one can say no to him."

"I’m glad you had help."

I made a mental note to thank Alec for caring for my friends in my absence.

"I didn’t wake you, did I?"

"No. Stiff, I found a clue to Colby’s disappearance. At least it feels like I did."

I filled him in.

"Yeah, that sounds like a lead. Have you told CK?"

"Not yet."

"Let’s pull him in."

By dawn, we knew the Schumakers had another income source related to their annual out-of-state trips. Each trip resulted in a large deposit to the Cayman bank account, which was then filtered to their local account monthly. This method appeared much less suspicious than a large deposit, which is why we missed it before.

When we tracked down the source of the large payments, my heart dropped. The women received payments from Bright Future, a medical organization that specialized in locating hard-to-find human organs for emergency transplants. It was similar to the organizations King had contacted to find Bea a kidney.

If Dorsey kidnapped Colby, then all indicators pointed at her selling him as an organ donor. If that were the case, the little boy’s life may well have ended long ago, and all our work was in vain.

One factor may be in our favor, though. Colby’s blood type was AB negative. It is one of the rarest blood types known to man. As callous as it sounded, if I were stealing children for their organs, I’d keep these rare blood-type kiddos alive as long as possible. I’d sell off their less vital organs, like the second kidney first. I’d keep the kids fed well so I could harvest their blood and spinal fluid long before I put a vital organ, like a heart, on the market. Those children were worth more as extra parts than as a whole body.

There was one flaw with my thought process of how this would keep Colby alive. If the right wealthy person came along and wanted a vital organ, they’d pay more than the worth of all the parts.

What if Dorsey took Colby specifically because she knew he was AB negative, and she’d been explicitly contracted to find vital organs for that blood type?

I really hoped CK hadn’t jumped to the same conclusions I did. Besides, the whole basis for this conjecture was still theory. For all we knew at this point, Bright Future might be the brainchild of a great uncle to the Schumaker women. He may be giving them an annual allowance just because they were his favorite nieces. But then, why would it run it through his business and not his personal account?

I couldn’t think clearly. I needed more coffee. Or, more likely, I needed a few hours of sleep. Everything would make more sense with a fresh head. Unfortunately, my fingers kept typing, digging into the background of Bright Future even as my brain begged for a break.

Bright Future had a reputation for locating hard to find organs. They didn’t charge for the organs, per se. Instead, they charged for the ancillary services related to organ transplants, like the care for the donating patient, flight arrangements, surgeons, surgery suites. They even offered a line of nutritional supplements designed to help a recovering patient avoid organ rejection. These ancillary services were priced well above market prices, as were the research and consulting fees charged by the Bright Future staff. Those fees were astronomical.

In comparison, I charged less than these guys and that was saying something.

Stiff texted: Close it down, Tee. You’ve been at it since when? Yesterday evening?

Teela: Midafternoon.

Stiff: I’m tired. You must be tired. We can pick it up again in a few hours. I already sent CK to bed.

Teela: Just a little longer.

Stiff: No. If you don’t shut it down now, I’ll do it for you with a timer to lock you out for twelve hours.

Teela: You’re not my mom.

Stiff: Good lord, I hope not. I look horrible in a dress.