Chapter 13
Ronan
“Food’s here!” Ronan shouted from the front door. He was carrying three pizza boxes. Jude was behind him with salads and apps.
“Daddy!” Everly shouted, running to Ronan’s side. “I want to hear all about what happened today.”
Ronan smiled down at Everly. “Let’s all eat a bit first, then we can talk.”
“Okay,” Everly agreed, looking disappointed.
After the day Ronan had dealing with the St. Agnes House, the last thing he wanted to do was rehash it all over again.
“Well, there’s our hard hitting news man.” Ten got up from the table and took the pizza boxes from Ronan.
“I never want to do that again.” Ronan slumped into his seat. “I knew exactly what they were going to ask me, but it was hard to keep my emotions under control and give people the information they need.”
“I checked in on social media and we have so many tips about this case,” Fitzgibbon said, grabbing plates and adding pizza and salad to each one. He headed for the living room.
“We’re gonna have our hands full tomorrow. That’s for sure,” Jude said, serving Ronan and Cope.
“Starting with Andrew Savini,” Fitz said, walking back into the kitchen. “It was a good tactic not to mention his name during your press conference or network interviews.”
“Men like Savini think they’ve got the world on a string. They can do anything they want, when they want, how they want, and there are never any consequences to their actions.” Ronan shook his head.
“I put in search warrant requests and am just waiting for confirmation that they’ve been signed,” Fitz said. “We need to do everything by the book. We’re only going to get one chance to nail this fucker.”
“You have to find the scrapbook,” Everly said, walking into the kitchen with an empty plate.
“What scrapbook?” Ronan asked, his eyes glowing with excitement.
“Dr. Bikini kept a scrapbook of the babies he sold.” Everly took an empty seat at the table and reached for a piece of pepperoni pizza.
“Do you mean Dr. Savini?” Ronan asked.
“Yeah, that’s his name,” Everly agreed. “When the parents came to pick up the babies, he would take a picture of the new family sitting together in the church.”
“Lucy Maxwell mentioned the same thing,” Ten said. “She told us that Kitty witnessed a child being sold and that a picture was taken of the family.”
“Can you tell me anything else about the book? What it looks like or where it is?” Ronan felt reenergized. Finding this book could blow the case wide open. There might not be a way to criminally charge Savini for what he’d done, but that didn’t mean there weren’t civil remedies to be had.
Everly shut her eyes and reached for Tennyson’s hand. “It’s black and long and looks like it’s tied with string. Each page has an old timey black and white pic and writing in white ink.”
“What does the writing say?” Ronan asked, hoping that his daughter’s gift was strong enough to allow her to get more information.
“Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Bowerman, 225 something Avenue, Boston, MA. 3/18/1955. Millicent Carter. Baby girl born 3/17/1955.”
“Can you see the name of the street?” Ten asked, sounding breathless.
“Yes, but I can’t pronounce it. I’ll spell it. C-O-M-M-O-N-W-”
“Commonwealth?” Jude asked.
Everly nodded. “Yeah, that’s right.”
“I hate to ask, honey, but where is the book?” Ronan felt horrible using his daughter’s gifts this way.
“Umm,” Everly paused, shutting her eyes even more tightly.
“There’s a library in the house. Lots of shelves with books and pictures.
There are cabinets beneath the books. It’s in a box with a lid.
” Everly’s eyes opened. “It’s well-loved, Daddy.
He takes it out all the time to look at it and remember the good old days.
” Her eyes filled with tears. “He’s a very bad man, Daddy, but this scrapbook can help the stolen babies find their Mommies. ”
Ronan scooped his daughter into his arms. “I’m so proud of you, honey. Thank you for helping us. All of these families will have a chance to find each other and start to heal. When that happens it will be because of you.”
Everly nodded her head against Ronan’s shoulder. “Thanks, Daddy.”
“Are you ready for more salad?” Ronan asked, poking Everly’s side.
“No!” Everly shrieked, trying to pull away from her father. “No salad, must eat pizza.” She wriggled out of Ronan’s grip and grabbed her plate before running out of the room.
“She’s amazing,” Jude said. “It shouldn’t surprise me that a man like Savini would have kept a record of his crimes, but it does.”
“Like Ronan said, this was a man who felt he could do anything, like he was above the law.” Fitz grinned. “I’m not one bit surprised that he takes the book out and goes through it all the time. It’s like a has-been musician listening to their greatest hits on repeat.”
“Savini might think he’s above the law now, but tomorrow morning we’re gonna show him that he’s not,” Jude said. “Any chance there’s a page dedicated to Kitty Maxwell in that book?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him. Narcissists do all sorts of fucked up shit to remember when they were king.
” Ronan grimaced, just think how disgusting it was for a man to sell a child under any circumstance and this asshole had gone and made a scrapbook of his exploits, like he was a parent preserving summer vacation memories.
Come tomorrow, Savini was going to get a taste of his own medicine. He was going to lose his freedom and Ronan was going to be the one to take it from him.