“If Ned and Jere were half-siblings, who was Jere’s father?” Bur wanted to know.
“Penfield Johnson.”
“As in the mastermind of the ‘Take It Back’ movement?”
“None other.”
“So, Katherine had a kid by the man who advocated rejecting capitalism and returning to life at its most primitive, and she had a kid by the man who advocated reclaiming the wealth borne of manufacturing by stealing it?”
“Well,” Max commented sagely, “at least she was consistent in her choice of partners. Which explains why we didn’t know until yesterday that either suspect had changed his birth name.”
“Holy Toledo, that means our family name wasn’t just picked out of a hat,” my brother decided. “We were picked because of the Four Oaks Pressboard Company.”
“You were indeed picked for that reason.” Mary Anne nodded thoughtfully. “And some of this is old history, the result of the labor unrest in the silk mills in Manchester. It quickly spread to the other manufacturing plants and textile mills across New England, whether they were making shoes, paper, thread, or woolen fabric. Once the labor organizers got started, manufacturing went south quickly.”
“In more ways than one,” said Kenny with a slight, sardonic smile. Mary Anne settled back in her chair, folded her hands in her lap, and continued.
“Jacoby’s grandfather was a unionist at the Worcester Shoe Company, before he was run out of town for inciting riots. And Johnson’s grandfather was an enforcer who was killed trying to save workers during a terrible fire at the Windham Thread Factory. Jacoby and Johnson grew up in East Hartford, where their fathers worked as machinists for Pratt and Whitney. During the Vietnam War, both employees were investigated for industrial sabotage. It was no surprise when Jacoby became leader of the New Luddites. And Johnson, as leader of the bank heist that sent Katherine to prison, was well known for his hatred of the American system of governing and his violent antiwar activities.”
“Wow, Ned was born to be bad,” Boynton said, only half-jokingly. It was true. With such radical parents, it was nearly inevitable he would be indoctrinated into eco-terrorism.
“How did Katherine come to know them?” I asked, curious.
“Jacoby and Orlov were introduced at an antiwar rally in San Francisco and later spent time in New York, where Johnson was working. The two men had gone to East Hartford High together, so they recognized each other on the street and joined forces. Johnson was always a suspect in the bank job, but never charged.
“But how come all of this never came to light before now? How come no one knew about the Cheswick connection to Four Oaks?” I demanded. “Surely Ned Sorkin had been investigated over the years, given his anti-industrial activities and protests.”
“Sure,” Max agreed, “but you have to remember that he was legally adopted by the Sorkins, and as far as anyone knew, they were Ned’s parents. About ten years ago, Mother Hubbard did a profile on him, citing the fact that he was given up by a single mother to a pair of her friends, while she languished in jail on political charges.”
“When I saw that, I knew it was a big clue as to who and what Ned had become,” Mary Anne told the assembled group.
“Wow.” Bur put his water bottle to his lips and took a big swig. Then he directed his gaze at Jim Jordan. “That’s amazing. Does this mean we can get our money back now?”
Jim gave my brother a half-hearted, somewhat apologetic shrug. Bur grimaced in response, his anger barely held in check.
“But Jere wasn’t really like Ned,” I said, piping up. “They were two very different men.”
“I think I can answer that, Scarlet.” Larry leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and punctuating her sentences here and there with her index finger. “You have to remember that Jere’s adoptive parents changed their minds about their involvement in the radical movement, and once they went on the run under their assumed identities, Lisa and Chester Wellstone did everything they could to live a normal life. Their son got his Social Security number as a teenager, so he seemed to have a legitimate identity. They tried to shelter Jere. He never found out he was adopted until his half-brother looked him up in college. When Jere found out he had been deceived, his whole world collapsed. Ned used that to manipulate him into turning against his adoptive parents.”
“Boy, you couldn’t write this kind of crap if you tried,” I sighed, shaking my head in amazement.
“Actually, Scarlet, I’m hoping to do just that,” Mary Anne announced. “The more I look at all the evidence, the more I think I can actually turn this into a bestseller.”
“Good luck with that,” Bur told her, rolling his eyes. “It’s just bat crap crazy stuff.”
“Think of the movie they could make,” Boynton suggested, arms up to form the big picture. “Two crazy half-siblings find each other and try to take down the free world....”
“Who will they get to play me?” my brother speculated. “George Clooney?”
“Too debonair,” Kenny countered. “What about Zak Galifianakis?”
“Or David Schwimmer?” Boynton gave a big grin.
“I wonder who will play me,” I sighed wistfully. “Probably not Julia Roberts. What do you think, Kenny?”
Chapter Twenty Three --
“I think that’s a loaded question, Miz Scarlet, and I prefer not to answer it on the grounds that you might clobber me if I pick an actress you think unworthy of such an important role.”
“I hope I get a decent mention in the story,” Larry said. “Make me the hot detective with the heart of gold.”
“You’ve got it,” laughed Mary Anne. “Maybe I’ll come back to the Four Acorns when you’re back in business again.”
“Oh, the inn...do you think it’s possible we’ll eventually be able to reopen? Will people leave us alone when the truth comes out?”
“We can only hope.”
“And the case is solved just in time,” said my cousin. “The Googins girls are due back in a couple of days, and the truth will help to set their minds at ease.”
“Does this mean we can go home now?” I looked around the table. The FBI agents didn’t seem to be enthusiastic about the prospect.
“Maybe not just yet,” Tim Focazio replied. “We want to make sure we have our case ready to prosecute. It will be a lot better if we can get Jere to take a plea deal.”
“Which reminds me,” I said, speaking up. “I was thinking about how long Jere tried to convince me to go out with him, and how he took that job at the community college. Did anyone think to check the computers he had access to there? Just in case there are other victims?”
There was a short, telltale gasp from the junior agent across the table, and the moment she opened her mouth to speak, her superior stopped her with a glare, before smoothly turning to me.
“I assure you, Ms. Wilson, that we are doing everything in our power to develop and pursue all potential leads in this case.” As soon as Tim Focazio finished his speech, he stood up and his fellow agents followed suit. That’s fed speak for we’d better move our asses and get on it before anyone figures out we’re a day late and a dollar short.
“Great,” I replied with a knowing gaze. He had the decency to look away from his own lie and rally the troops out to the multi-SUV caravan in the driveway.
Jim Jordan paused on his way out the door. He looked to me with a silent plea for understanding before he had his final say on the matter.
“I promise you that I will have all your money back in your accounts as soon as we can safely do it. The FBI will be in touch. You’ll need to establish protected accounts, so they can be monitored for unusual activity. The hackers will probably keep at this for years to come. They won’t give up and go home any time soon.”
“My firm can help with that,” Kenny promised, “we’ve got some good IT people.”
“I’m glad,” Jim smiled. His arm was still casted, but that didn’t stop him from raising it in farewell as he walked aw
ay. I took a step closer as the door began to shut, still torn between being angry and wanting to forgive. I decided I’d go for middle ground.
“Jim!” That stopped him in his tracks. He turned at the sound of my voice. “You take care of your family. Make sure they have a good life.”
“I will, Scarlet. You, too.”
“Aw, how sweet,” huffed Bur, half under his breath. “Why don’t you just give the guy a big, wet one on the lips while you’re at it!”
“Why don’t you take your sorry....”
“Children, children, please! Let’s remember our manners,” said Boynton in a near-perfect imitation of his mother, as we all laughed. “No more of this nonsense! This is not Googins behavior!”
“Do you have to leave?” I asked Mary Anne, Max, and Larry as they rose to follow the feds out the door. Having been cooped up here for so long, I hated to lose any connection to the outside world. I hungered for conversation and company that diverted my attention away from the nightmare that Ned brought to our family. “Can’t you stay for dinner? I made a pot of beef stew. The vegetable chopping was part of my physical therapy this morning.”
I saw the three exchange looks. Was that hesitation on their part?
“Well, it is a long drive,” Max reminded them. “As it is, we won’t get home until close to midnight.”
“Yes, but we have to stop to eat anyway,” Larry pointed out. “And I’ve been smelling that damn stew for the last hour. It’s driving me nuts.”
“I know!” Mary Anne agreed. “Doesn’t it smell wonderful? I miss the Four Acorns Inn! You made some delicious meals, Scarlet. I remember that grilled shrimp with the mango salsa....”
By seven-thirty, everyone had finished eating. We walked them out to their car and promised to be in touch when we arrived back in Cheswick. The trio waved to us as Max steered the car out of the driveway.
At eight, Bur and Boynton had the dishes dried and put away, Kenny and I had taken the dogs for a walk, and we were all relaxing by the fireplace.
“As much as I’ve loved this place, I’ll be glad to get home,” I told them. “Especially now that we know why Ned and Jere did what they did.”
“The real challenge will be moving the money back into secure bank accounts,” said Kenny. “Hackers are still looking for avenues to exploit. We’ll probably have to create some new family trusts for the Wilsons, just to make sure this can’t happen again.”
“You know, Jim Jordan is a really lucky bastard. We might have had four more dead bodies on White Oak Hill.” Boynton pointed out.
“If you hadn’t been kidnapped, Miz Scarlet, we might never have found them.” Kenny looked me right in the eye when he said that. Was that my cue to announce it was a noble sacrifice on my part? It was worth all the pain and suffering? I was still black and blue. Maybe with time I would come to see it that way, but right now I was just pissed. A part of me still felt cheated of the justice for what amounted to years of harassment and deception.
Was I just finally coming to understand the complete tally? The last few weeks were horrifying enough, but finding out just how far back all this went was disturbing. That two men had seduced me, not because they cared, but because I was a pawn in their game, shook my confidence as a woman. How was I ever going to trust a man again, even one like Kenny?
What if he just wanted to be with me as a substitute for his late wife? What if Jillian was still the great love of his life? And what would Kenny do if his kids decided they hated me? Maybe it was too soon, and our love affair would quickly burn itself out. Should I save myself the pain of yet another failed relationship by ending it here and now, before it hurt so much that my heart would never mend?
“Miz Scarlet?” I heard a voice calling my name as I stared at the fire, mesmerized. “You okay?”
“Maybe she’s just tired,” Boynton suggested. “She’s had a long day.”
“She’s just in one of her moods,” my brother decided. “You can’t disturb her when she’s like this. You just have to let her be. So, who’s up for some cards?”
The men played poker until eleven. I got up from my chair and harnessed the dogs for their last trip of the night as the game broke up. I made it as far as the door when a hand reached past me and opened it.
“Allow me,” Kenny smiled chivalrously.
“You don’t have to come,” I said woodenly. I didn’t want to feel anything.
“You mad at me?” He followed me anyway. “If you are, you should just tell me. I’m no mind reader.”
“Look, I know you’re a swell guy and you want to do right by me, but it’s okay. You don’t have to pretend any more. I’m a big girl. I’ll muddle through.”
“Muddle through what, Miz Scarlet?”
“This life. I’m tougher than I look.”
“Are you?”
“I am,” I sniffed. My chin quivered as I made my mental farewell to the boy who got away before and was about to get away again.
“Know what I think? I think you’ve lost your faith in men and it’s not going to come back anytime soon. You went through hell, and now that’s all hitting the fan. I know blowback when I see it.”
“Do you?” January got tangled up in Huck’s leash because I was too distracted. Kenny reached over and straightened the two dogs out.
“I do. That’s why I’m not going to make you any promises, Miz Scarlet. What I’m going to do is prove to you, over time, that I’m worthy.”
“But what if I’m not?” It slipped out of my mouth, that unspoken fear, and suddenly the tears became a torrent. “It’s not like I’m a good judge of men, given my personal history.”
Those big, strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me close, close enough that I could hear Kenny’s rhythmic heartbeat. Calm and steady, just like the man himself.
“You’re worthy, Scarlet. Nobody knows that better than me. And as for your past, you never had a prayer when they played you that way. It would be different if you had been free to choose your own path. Ned made sure that men who found you attractive got warned off.”
“Right. What did he do, tell them horror stories about me?”
“Something like that,” was Kenny’s reply.
“Something like what?” I leaned back and gazed up at his face, outlined in moon glow. He was serious.
“The other day, I contacted the guys you dated, looking for information we might be able to use to help convict Jere. They all told me the same story. Things began happening about a month after you started going out with each of them. Unpleasant things. Tires slashed. Nasty notes. Anonymous calls in the middle of the night. Items missing from their homes. And then they were contacted by a man on the phone, who didn’t want to give his name. He just wanted to warn them you were unbalanced and they should be careful around you, because you could be dangerous. After they cooled it with you, events escalated. And any new women in their lives reported similar harassment.”
“No!”
“Afraid so. In other words, you never had a chance with any guy once Ned started this evil plan,” Kenny insisted. Evil plan. That’s what it was. Cyberstalking. Harassment. Total destruction. For what? Revenge. A lifetime lost by bitterness and selfishness. Ned and Jere never blamed their parents for the mayhem they brought about with their radical ideas and insistence that the rest of the world bow to them. It was always everyone else’s fault. George Toms. The Four Oaks Pressboard Company. The industrial world. “He saw you as the bad guy and you had to be annihilated. Nothing short of that would be satisfactory. It was an obsession with him.”
“An obsession. It wasn’t me....” I took heart in those words. I didn’t cause all this to happen. There was nothing I could have changed about my own behavior that would have prevented the monster from going on his rampage. I thought about all of my brother’s teasing over the years and his own dismal record with women. “What about Bur?”
“Ah, you figured it out.”
“Oh, geez. Did you tell him yet?”
“I was waiting a bit on that. He’s still pretty pissed about Jim Jordan. If it’s any consolation, Miz Scarlet, at least you didn’t marry either of Katherine Orlov’s boys.”
“Right. Thank heavens for small miracles. I might have given birth to the heir apparent of that dreadful dynasty!”
“You’ll feel better when you’re back home, safe and sound.” Even as he said that, I think Kenny knew how dumb it sounded. It was going to be a long, long time before I ever felt comfortable in Cheswick again. “We’ll leave in the morning.”
Kenny was true to his word. At nine, the two vehicles were packed with our belongings and we were in the seats, ready to roll. Our law enforcement escort checked in, filed our route plan with his superior, and we were off. Bur rode with Agent Plummer. The dogs and I hitched a ride with Kenny.
The trip was uneventful. In a little over three hours, we were back in Cheswick, pulling into the driveway of the Four Acorns Inn.
It looked the same, save for the scorch marks from the firebombing and some spray-painted graffiti on our front porch. I made out one word, ‘pigs’, in red letters. I wondered if we would be able to remove the damage with a little power washing. Too bad I couldn’t power wash the little bastards who left it there.
I took the dogs for a quick walk in the backyard while the men unloaded the cars. I came back to the porch in time to find Kenny heading back out for another load.
“I put the mail in the library. Make me a shopping list and I’ll get some groceries,” he promised.
“Thanks, I will.” The mail. It seemed like a year since I had been here, had done normal things like shop for groceries and open mail. I wondered what the inside of the refrigerator looked like after nearly a month and shuddered at the thought.
Huck was sniffing around, rediscovering his home. January was already at the kitchen door. Maybe she was thirsty after the drive from the Poconos.
Miz Scarlet and the Imposing Imposter Page 20
