Chapter 12 #5
“Yes,” she said clearly. “They were Korean. He told me it was a very important dinner. He took me. There were three men. They never spoke to me all evening, just among the men. I was kind of there for decoration. A few days later, he said they were giving him ten million dollars to open a center in Dallas. But he didn’t do it.
He leased a plane and we went on a two-week cruise on a yacht he chartered in the Caribbean for two million dollars.
I think he spent some more of the money but I’m not sure.
A couple of weeks ago we met with some people from Hong Kong, who were much nicer.
They talked to me too. They wanted to invest twenty-five or thirty million dollars in a big beauty center in Hong Kong and they wanted Alex to create it for them, but I don’t think they made the deal yet. ”
“I think the men who killed him today may have been sent by the Koreans, because of the money he spent, and that he got exposed as being a fraud and not a doctor,” Kelly said.
“It’s just a theory, a possibility we’ll explore along with some others.
You’ve been very helpful, and I’m sorry you’ve gone through such an ordeal.
There are some bad people out there, Michaela.
You need to watch out for them.” He said it to his daughter all the time.
Then he turned to Patricia. “Ms. Scott, may I speak to you for a moment, and Michaela can rest for a minute? Thank you for speaking to me,” he said kindly to Mickie, and left the room with Patricia Scott right behind him.
Patricia followed him outside the suite and they conferred in the hall.
“The guy is lucky he’s dead, he’d have a sex slave case on his hands.
For God’s sake, she’s a kid off a farm in Iowa, and he had her prostituting herself for shopping while he made a sex slave of her.
He’s every parent’s worst nightmare. I can’t prove it yet, but I think his Korean associates got him for blowing their money and not delivering the goods, and turning out to be a fraud.
And I’ll bet you there was money laundering involved,” Lieutenant Kelly said, looking irate at what Mickie had told them.
“Michaela wanted me to ask you if she can have her clothes from his apartment. She brought all the clothes she owned when she moved in, and everything he bought her is there,” Patricia, her attorney, asked in a businesslike tone.
“She earned them. They were gifts to her, if you can call it that. Give me a time and I’ll have two of my female police officers there and she can take everything that’s hers. Everything else is going to be sold for the benefit of the women he damaged.”
“In his defense,” Patricia Scott said fairly, “I never knew that he was turning Michaela into a sex slave for shopping money, but I was a patient, and he was one of the best doctors I’ve ever gone to. He was amazing.”
“He had the skill apparently, but not the training, the degree, or the license, and I don’t think those five women would agree with you. But clearly, he was very convincing. A true sociopath.”
Patricia wondered if all of Michaela’s story was true.
She had always looked very happy whenever Patricia saw her.
But anything was possible. Some people appeared normal and had strange addictions, and apparently Alex Addison was one of them.
Still, Patricia had always been pleased with her treatments.
She was there to help Michaela get her things back, and get her through the interrogation, and she thought it had gone very well.
Michaela had handled it masterfully. She had been open and straightforward and hopefully honest. And Alex was dead now.
What Michaela said about their sex life would do him no harm.
None of his nurses were bringing MeToo charges.
Alex had been assassinated, and he had left five women disfigured for life.
Michaela was getting to keep all her clothes.
The lieutenant thanked her and went to talk to his men.
And he was sure that Jason Bell was in the crowd of reporters outside.
Patricia told Michaela that her wardrobe was safe.
She did a little dance around to celebrate it, and looked like the kid she was.
She didn’t seem heartbroken over Alex’s death, but if what she said was true, who could blame her.
She was free now. Mickie said she wanted to pick up her clothes the next day.
The police told her she was free to go, and she booked a room at the Beverly Wilshire, on Rodeo, so she could shop to her heart’s content until she figured out what to do next.
She had Alex’s hundred thousand dollars to coast on for a while.
She thanked Patricia, took an Uber to the Beverly Wilshire, and checked in.
Dan Kelly called Jason when he got back to his office.
The story was going to be on the news at six o’clock.
There had been a bulletin on the one o’clock broadcast that there had been a fatal shooting at the Beverly Hills Hotel and one man was dead, but no further details were available at the time.
“I assume you were at the hotel.”
“I was,” Jason said.
“My personal guess is it’s the Koreans he did business with.
Apparently he was blowing their money, and when he got exposed as a fraud, they must have taken care of it.
It’s the most logical conclusion,” Dan Kelly said.
“And I spent almost two hours with Michaela Banks, who must be the person you mentioned to me earlier, your girlfriend’s sister.
The bastard turned her into a sex slave for shopping money.
He was a piece of work. We’re done with her.
I’m going to let her keep all the clothes he bought her.
The victims will get whatever assets he has split evenly among them.
A judge has to approve it. But if he has no heirs, it won’t be a problem.
She had an attorney with her, oddly enough, a patient of Addison.
And I hope Michaela has better luck and better judgment next time. ”
“So do we,” Jason agreed.
“I’ll keep you up-to-date on the details, so you can write the conclusion. He sounds like a sociopath to me,” the lieutenant said, and hung up, and Jason reported the latest news to Billie when he called her.
“I think they were an even match,” she said sadly about Alex and Mickie. “I think he may have been the sex slave, if I know my sister. She comes out smelling like a rose every time. Did she have an attorney with her?”
“Yes, apparently a patient of Alex’s who agreed to help her.
And she gets to keep everything he bought her.
The rest will be sold for the benefit of the victims, since there won’t be a court case now.
His investors are the losers. It’s an incredible story.
It really is amazing that he pulled it off for as long as he did, and never had a mishap till now. ”
Jason wondered if Billie was right, if Michaela had tailored the story to her benefit, so she was the victim, and walked off with everything Addison gave her.
Something told him that Billie was right.
She knew her sister, and it rang true to Jason too.
Even after seeing her lover murdered, she kept a cool head, and took care of herself.
Two officers met Michaela at the apartment the next day, and they used all of Alex’s luggage to pack her extensive wardrobe.
She had to get a van to take her back to the Beverly Wilshire.
And she had taken the business card she wanted out of one of her evening bags.
She remembered exactly where she had left it.