Mean Evergreen (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Twelve)

by A W Hartoin

  At some point during the summer, Madison started talking about bitcoin and how they could make a ton of money in the market. Mr. Big as she called him was teaching her all about how to invest and she told Jake they should take their college money and put it into bitcoin. Jake said he hadn’t really been listening to her up until that point. She liked to talk and he let her, usually while he was gaming or whatever, but when she started talking about taking the college savings out he perked up quick.

  “What did you tell her?” I asked.

  “I said no freaking way was she doing that,” said Jake. “That was all I had for college and I’m not going to risk it like some moron.”

  “What did she say?”

  Jake pursed his lips and said, “She got kinda funny about it. I don’t know. It made me nervous, so I told her that if she didn’t give it up, I’d tell Mom.”

  “And that worked?” I asked.

  “I thought so. I told her I had the passwords to our accounts and she better not do anything. She just laughed and told me I was right. We couldn’t risk the college money.” Jake’s eyes filled again and said, “I never thought she’d take Mom’s money. I mean, Jesus, who does that?”

  “I’m sure it was Nadelbaum’s idea,” I said. “When did you find out?”

  “Not until it was all over. I mean, all over all over. Mr. Thooft died and she was hysterical. I couldn’t believe it. I freaked. I didn’t know what she was doing.”

  “How did you end up at the café when she was there with Anton?”

  Jake took a breath. “I’m so stupid. Madison said she’d get me a computer for SCPs. She knew I wanted to check them out, but Mom blocked the sites on our router, using a firewall. Somebody at work told her they were a bad influence or something.”

  “So you had to go to the café?”

  “Yeah. First, it was at home in Weil der Stadt, but then Madison said that people might see me, so I had to go to Sindelfingen. I didn’t really care. I just wanted to work on my stories.”

  “You never saw Anton there?”

  “I wasn’t paying attention at first, but then I did see the two of them at a table. I asked her what was going on, but she just said he was helping with her college classes. He did stuff like that.” Jake got choked up and said, “He was really nice. I believed her.”

  “Why do you think she wanted you there?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I saw her point at me one time and Mr. Thooft looked upset, but when I asked her, she blew it off.”

  Outside the squad car, the scene had calmed down. Our cars had been moved to a side street and traffic resumed. The tense discussions had died down, too, but in a way that made me nervous. Jake and I looked out and saw what looked like a very senior cop turn red in the face, stick a finger in Koch’s chest, and then do an aboutface to march back to a black Mercedes.

  “What do you think is happening?” Jake asked with a quaver in his voice.

  “I wish I knew,” I said.

  “I’m going to get arrested. They should arrest me. I totally freaked out.”

  “You did, but I think the only harm done was to some cars.”

  “I hope so. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I just…I saw you and I thought that Mom’s going to find out about everything. Madison’s a freaking thief and a kind of murderer and what am I going to do. I should’ve stopped her.”

  “It wasn’t your fault,” I said. “Hold on. Here we go.”

  Koch left Moe haggling with another Polizei, trying to get his license and passport back, and came over to our squad car with an expression that was a mixture of confusion and relief. He opened the door and said, “Come on. Let’s get you out of here.”

  “Where are we going?” Jake asked, his voice tremulous.

  “Back to the Army post.”

  We got out and I asked, “What’s going on? That was a lot of arguing.”

  “Yes, it was,” said Koch.

  “But you’re not arresting me or Jake or Moe?”

  “We’re not. You’re free to go.”

  Jake and I looked at each other. Now I know you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and all that, but sometimes the begged question just has to be answered. “Why not? I don’t know how many laws we broke, but it has to be a lot.”

  “It was, but it came from up high,” said Koch. “You’re free to go. I’m going to escort you back to the US military and they get to decide what to do with you three. It’s out of our hands.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Who do you know?”

  My mind was a blank and I know it showed because the certain stiffness in Koch’s face relaxed. “Somebody put in a word and you get to leave without charges or any problems of any kind. With us anyway.”

  “Well,” I said. “I don’t get it, but alright.”

  “I wish I knew how you pulled it off,” said Koch.

  “Me, too.”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “You are trouble and you don’t even know what’s going on.”

  “I have some clue but not a lot. Did Moe tell you what we found out?” I asked.

  “He did, and I’m not sure what to do with the information since you didn’t get it from any legal channel.”

  “Ah, there’s the rub,” I said, folding up our blankets and putting them in the squad car.

  Moe hurried over and said, “Let’s hit the bricks before they change their minds.”

  “They won’t,” said Koch, “because they can’t.”

  “Let’s not push it.” Moe shook Koch’s hand. “You’re a good man, and I hope this doesn’t reflect badly on you.”

  “You know, I don’t think it will. It might actually help me.”

  “Why? I mean, they know that you know me and I’m not looking so good,” I said.

  “You are looking connected,” said Koch. “And so am I. That doesn’t hurt.”

  We said goodbye and walked down a couple of side streets to get in the Mercedes.

  “What about my mom’s car?” Jake asked.

  “You banged it up pretty good and it was leaking fluids. They’re towing it.” Moe gave him a card for the towing company.

  “I wish I hadn’t driven today. Nothing would’ve happened if I didn’t drive.”

  “The world turns on the small choices,” I said, twisting in my seat to look at Jake sitting in the backseat. His eyes were big and scared. “I will explain it to her. She will understand.”

  “She won’t understand about Madison,” he said. “I don’t.”

  “What happened to Anton is beyond me, too, but we’ll figure it out.”

  Moe waited for Koch to get to us in his car and I smiled to see who was in the passenger seat. Claudia waved at me. Something good had come out of all this and I held onto that.

  We got turned around and entered A81 going the other direction. Traffic, of course, was now backed up on both sides of the road. It couldn’t have been that way when we needed it. Oh, no. Of course not.

  I turned on my seat heater and got comfortable as we snailed it toward Böblingen.

  “Don’t forget to send those photos to the Pizza Hut kid,” said Moe. “He did you a solid.”

  I’d totally forgotten about the very helpful Gareth and quickly sent him a thank you with the selfies we took. He was surprised that I meant what I said and was very happy. At least someone was.

  That done, I took a breath and said, “Since we have time, Jake…”

  “Yeah?” The boy sounded like I was about to hit him on the nose with a newspaper and I smiled over my shoulder at him quickly for reassurance.

  “How did you know Anton’s secret?” I asked.

  “Oh, that,” he said with a bit of pride and plenty of regret. “I’m a science guy.”

  “You lost me, kid,” said Moe as we exited A81 toward Waldenbuch and Böblingen. We didn’t have long before we reached the post and once we were there, I’d have lost my chance to interview Jake. The Army and his mother would take
over.

  I twisted around and said, “We’ll be there soon. Tell me quick.”

  Jake pushed back in the seat and clasped his hands in his lap.

  “You’re not in trouble, but I probably won’t get to interview you again before I go to get that douchebag Nadelbaum.”

  He gave me a hint of a smile and Moe slowed way down. Like his niece, he knew what to do without being asked.

  “I want to be a bioengineer or geneticist,” said Jake. “I take all the science classes and I always get As.”

  “I know,” I said.

  His hands relaxed. “You do?”

  “Everyone knows how smart you are.”

  “Not that smart,” his voice filled with pain again.

  “Some things aren’t about smart. They’re about betrayal. Don’t get lost in the sauce,” I said and that got a smile. “So science showed you his secret?”

  Science had and I marveled at how easily Jake Purcell had uncovered a secret that Anton’s own family and those around them had missed, but love is like that, I guess. It blinds you to the obvious. Jake didn’t love Kimberly or know her at all, so he could see her, but he couldn’t see his sister and what she was doing.

  It was all about the face Jake told me. Anton had pictures of his family on his desk, the ones I’d found under the blotter. Jake had found them when he was cleaning the room. Anton gave extra credit for cleaning up and Jake always did all the extra credit in case he didn’t get his A the regular way. He was very thorough, he assured me. Nobody else really was. He Lysoled the desk and there they were. Jake recognized at once that it was odd that the pictures weren’t framed or pinned to a board like the other teachers’ family photos. In science, you look for patterns or things that are missing that shouldn’t be missing.

  “Like a detective,” I said, and his smile grew. Science. He was comfortable again.

  Jake came back to those pictures over and over again, looking for the reason they were there. He and Anton were close. They talked every day and Jake considered him a friend, so he’d heard all about Kimberly and her wonderful voice. He knew about the love in the family that was supposed to be so close so why were they under the blotter?

  After closer examination, Kimberly’s face told him that she didn’t match. Jake knew about genetics. There should’ve been some commonality between the siblings but there just wasn’t any. He took pictures of the pictures and studied them at home on his computer, analyzing the bone structure, height, and coloring. He knew Kimberly wasn’t a blonde right away. Her skin tone wasn’t right for it and so the boy concluded that Kimberly was either adopted or Anton’s mom had had an affair. Jake wasn’t bothered by either conclusion. He just wanted to know if he was right and he worked on Anton until he figured it out or at least he thought he had. He concluded that adoption wasn’t shameful and an affair was, so it was an affair. Through many conversations Anton got the picture that his favorite student knew the secret, even though Jake never came out and said it.

  We stopped at the last light before the post and Moe asked, “He wasn’t mad?”

  “He was kinda freaked at first, but then he was okay. He told me once that it was nice to be known when you’ve never been known before,” said Jake. “But I never knew the real truth that his mom had traded his brother for Kimberly. That’s crazy.”

  “How long ago did you figure it out?” I asked.

  “About a year ago.” Jake’s voice got quieter. “I told Madison about it. I thought I was so smart. I didn’t know she’d hurt him with it.”

  “Do you think that’s what she did?” I asked. “She threatened to tell people about Kimberly?”

  Jake didn’t answer and we arrived at the gate with Koch right behind us. I got out my pass, expecting to be turned away, troublemaker that I was, but the guard didn’t say anything. He checked the IDs and my pass and waved us through.

  I turned around to wave at Koch. Claudia waved back happily and kissed Koch’s cheek before they did a U-turn and went back the way they came. On the other side of the gate was a military police car. An MP stood beside it and signaled for us to follow him. We did and drove slowly through the post that was exactly the way it was before. I don’t know why I expected it to be different, but I did.

  “Did she tell you that she threatened Anton with the truth?” Moe asked.

  “Yeah, but I didn’t really believe her,” said Jake. “I mean, I think she did that, but it was like she knew something else, too.”

  “Any idea what?” I asked.

  “She wouldn’t tell me.” Jake came up between the front seats. “She thought she was going to get a bunch of money for kidnapping you. Did you know that?”

  “I figured,” I said. “What did she say when I got away and Anton died?”

  “She was totally freaking out. I don’t think she thought anything bad would happen.”

  “She had Mercy thrown in a trunk so she could be sold,” hissed Moe.

  “I know. I don’t understand it. She was crying about Mr. Thooft and she was crying about the money and just crying all the time. That’s when she told me and I knew it was my fault for telling her Mr. Thooft’s secret. She couldn’t have done it without me.” Jake touched my hand. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I forgive you,” I said. “I really do.”

  “Do you think he would forgive me?”

  “From what Kimberly has told me, Anton would.”

  He squeezed my hand. “Why do you call him Anton and not asshole or something? He hurt you pretty bad.”

  “When I started investigating he became a real person and a victim, too,” I said.

  “Do you forgive him?”

  “I’m working on it.”

  We walked into the MP station and the first person we saw was Hobbes. The big marine was pacing back and forth in front of the front desk, looking like a grenade with a pin about to be pulled.

  “Hey,” I said.

  He looked up, saw Jake, and ran over to grab the boy up, smothering him in that great big chest. “Thank God. Thank God.”

  “You really care?” Jake asked.

  “My man, I care so much I’m about to go crazy,” said Hobbes and he looked over Jake as if he expected to find an arrow sticking out of his back or something. “You’re okay? I mean physically.”

  “Yeah,” said Jake shyly.

  “Were you really going to do it?” Hobbes asked bluntly.

  The boy didn’t hesitate. “I think so. I was planning it before I saw her and then it all exploded.”

  I admired the honesty, naked and right out there as much as it hurt to see a kid say that.

  Hobbes hugged him again and asked, “Is that why you had the car? You don’t usually drive.”

  “I was going to Obi for rope.”

  “Jesus, you can talk to me. I’m here for you.”

  “The last teacher I talked to got killed,” Jake said simply.

  “That’s not your fault,” said Hobbes.

  “It kinda is, but I didn’t mean it to happen. Is my mom here?”

  Lisa Purcell was there. The MPs and Hobbes had told her what they knew, which wasn’t much. Jake was safe and that was the most important thing.

  An MP interrupted and said that they were working on the accidents that Jake caused and he had to surrender his license. He did and kind of seemed relieved about it. Less ability to get rope, I guess.

  “He needs serious counseling,” I said.

  “I’m a licensed therapist,” said Hobbes, turning to Jake. “You can tell me anything and I won’t say a word.”

  “I already told her everything,” said Jake.

  “Do you feel better?”

  “I think so. What did Madison say?”

  Madison had said nothing. She was in the wind as my dad would say. Gone and not responding to calls or texts. The Polizei were looking for her in case she was looking for an overpass herself, but I didn’t think that was her goal. She was probably looking for Sebastian Nadelbaum, the cause of e
verything and the only port in the storm she helped to create.

  “Are you ready to see your mom?” Hobbes asked.

  Jake moved closer to me and said, “Yeah. How mad is she?”

  “Scared more than mad.”

  “Did you tell her what you know?” I asked.

  “I gave her the broad strokes, but she didn’t believe me,” said Hobbes.

  “Of course, she didn’t,” said Jake. “Madison’s her favorite. She’ll think it’s my fault.”

  I took his arm. “She won’t when she knows the truth.”

  Jake got glum and then said, “Okay. Let’s go.”

  The MP held up his hand. “CID are here.”

  Jake’s eyes went wide. “Why are they here? I thought I was just losing my license?”

  “What’s CID?” I asked.

  “Criminal Investigation Division,” said Hobbes. “Don’t worry. They had to come. There were crimes committed.”

  “Not by me,” said Jake and his voice got tight.

  I put my arm around him. “No, not by you. I will handle it.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Promise.”

  Just then a pair of men wearing blue windbreakers with badges printed on them came through the doors. Every federal law enforcement branch seemed to have those jackets. The government must’ve got a hell of a discount. The men inside the jackets were government issue, too. Clean-shaven, boring hair, and stern expressions. All so familiar. They could’ve been the FBI and the thought made me inwardly groan. I was never going to get free of their sort.

  They flashed badges and introduced themselves. I wasn’t really listening. It all just got more complicated and would take forever as all government-run things did.

  “We will be interviewing you separately,” said the lead. “Miss Watts, this way.”

  Jake leaned into me and I held him tighter. Hobbes got on the other side of Jake to make a united front.

  “That’s a hard pass,” I said.

  “Are you declining to be interviewed?”

  “Nailed it.”

  “Why?”