by Rose, Karen
‘They’re here,’ Mercy said, coming back into the apartment, Farrah and André on her heels. And following them was Tom Hunter, who’d apparently driven them from the Sokolovs’ house.
Luckily Sasha had brought plenty of food, because they had none left by the time they’d all eaten their fill.
‘That was so good,’ Mercy moaned, and Rafe wished everyone were gone so he could hear her moan like that again, but kicking them out would be rude, so he gritted his teeth.
And gave Sasha the finger when she smirked at him.
Tom put his napkin down. ‘So. I know some things now.’
Everyone stopped talking. ‘Like?’ Mercy prompted.
‘Like what’s in that safe-deposit box,’ Tom said. ‘The box held a spiral notebook, handwritten. Two different writers – Ephraim and Edward. Or Harry and Aubrey, if you prefer. It was a list of all the things they’d done – in Eden and before. But it wasn’t just a detail of the brothers’ activities. The sins of Pastor and Waylon were noted as well. In graphic detail.’
‘Why?’ Farrah asked. ‘Why would they write that down?’
‘It’s a dead man’s switch,’ André said, ‘or an insurance policy. If one of them gets killed mysteriously, the records will be shared, usually with the newspaper or law enforcement. It’s a way to keep order among the criminals. Otherwise they would have turned on each other years ago.’
‘Which is why Belinda Franklin said she hadn’t used the key,’ Mercy murmured. ‘She said her baby was dead, but she didn’t use the key. Because Aubrey wasn’t killed by one of the other Founders.’
Gideon’s mouth tightened and Daisy hooked her hand around his arm, pressing a kiss to his biceps. ‘I’m glad he’s dead,’ she said fiercely, but Gideon’s gaze flicked to Mercy before looking away.
‘Gideon. Look at me.’ Mercy leaned across the table to grab a handful of his sleeve, yanking until he met her eyes. ‘Now listen to me. I’m glad you killed him. I’m glad you got away. And if I’d known the truth back then, I still would have been happy you got away.’
Gideon swallowed hard. ‘But you didn’t get away.’
Inclining her head, she let go of his sleeve and clasped his hand. ‘Yes, I did. Eventually. And it was awful, I’m not gonna lie. But I’m also not lying when I say that had I known then what I know now, I still would have been glad. Now wrap your mind around that, because it’s the truth and until we put this behind us, we can’t move forward.’
Gideon’s mouth twitched up at the corners. ‘Yes, ma’am.’
Mercy gave him a hard nod. ‘All right, then. Tom, what else did the notebooks say?’
Tom cleared his throat, his expression momentarily shaken by the exchange. Rafe knew how he felt. He loved Gideon like a brother, and Mercy . . . well, not like a sister at all. The two had suffered so much and Rafe desperately wanted to make them okay, but all he could do was be there for them.
And help them track down the assholes who’d hurt them. One down, two to go.
Tom squared his jaw, a determined gleam in his eyes, and Rafe had the feeling that this guy was going to be key in taking Eden down.
‘All right,’ Tom said, having regained his composure. ‘The parts you need to know at this point are that Pastor and Waylon met at Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution. Pastor was arrested as Benton Travis for forgery and money laundering, and that does appear to be his real name. He met Waylon in prison, just as you suspected. They were, according to Aubrey Franklin, running drugs in the prison. Aubrey came along a little later and they became friends, so when Aubrey botched the bank robbery, he reached out. Waylon and Pastor had already fled to the first Eden site. They gave Aubrey a very rudimentary map, which Ephraim re-created in the notebook, so in time, we may be able to find that first site.’
‘Why would you want to?’ Mercy asked. ‘They aren’t there any longer.’
‘But Amos said that they reuse locations, so maybe they’ll go back,’ Gideon said, clearly excited. ‘What else don’t we yet know?’
‘That Pastor transferred all the money he was given by his new members to offshore accounts, which, again, is something we suspected, but they’ve been sitting on that money for thirty years. The money was to be split between the “Founding Elders”.’
‘Who were Pastor, Waylon, Ephraim, and Edward,’ Gideon said.
Tom shook his head. ‘Apparently there was a fifth Founding Elder. Ephraim wrote about him in the notebook. Called him “Doc”. Said he died three years after they started the community, but that he was really old, so no one suspected foul play.’
‘That’s news to me,’ Gideon said, ‘but I arrived a few years after that. I never heard him mentioned. But back to the money. How do you know that they’ve been sitting on it? They could have spent it.’
Tom shook his head. ‘Not according to Ephraim Burton. He visited the box regularly to make updates in the notebook, using his Eustace Carmelo ID. The last time he updated his record was about six months ago. Pastor had shown them the ledger and their account had grown to more than fifty million dollars. With Waylon and Aubrey gone, the money would be split between Pastor, DJ, and Ephraim.’
Mercy gasped, and she wasn’t alone. ‘Fifty million?’
Rafe whistled quietly. ‘That is one helluva motive for Ephraim and DJ to want to kill each other.’
‘Especially since DJ obviously lied about my death,’ Mercy said, still shaking her head in disbelief at the amount the founders had hoarded. ‘Once Ephraim found out, he had leverage on DJ. All Ephraim needed was to haul me back to Eden and DJ would’ve been toast.’
Rafe sucked in a breath so sharp that it hurt. ‘Sonofabitch.’
‘And all DJ needed was for Ephraim to be dead so he couldn’t tell,’ Gideon said grimly.
‘We would have been icing on the cake, Gideon,’ Mercy said. ‘Still might be. As long as I’m alive, I’m a risk to his position. I mean, it’s only a big deal if Pastor finds out, I guess, but DJ has to know now that we’ll be actively looking for Eden. Fifty million is a lot of reasons to keep us quiet.’
Farrah’s eyes narrowed in dismay. ‘Mercy Callahan. Don’t talk like that.’
Rafe’s blood went ice cold. ‘We need a safe house for you.’ He’d thought about it the night before, but he’d been too tired to articulate it to Mercy, knowing she’d be resistant. But his fear from the day before returned and he blurted it out in a rush.
Mercy reached for Farrah’s hand while shaking her head sadly. ‘No. I know you want us to be safe, but we could hide forever and he could wait us out. That’s not living, Rafe. I’ve come too far to hide now. What we need is to find Eden and stop DJ and Pastor. And then set everyone in Eden free.’
She was right. He knew that she was, even as the chicken and waffles churned in his gut. He’d finally found her. He couldn’t lose her now. But locking her away wasn’t the answer, either. ‘Then let’s find Eden.’
Tom nodded once. ‘That’s my job.’
His dismissive tone had Rafe biting back a Hell, no.
Gideon sat up straighter, frowning. ‘Not just your job, Tom.’
‘But technically not your job, Gideon,’ Mercy pointed out. ‘You recused yourself, remember?’
Gideon frowned. ‘I know, but . . .’ He sighed. ‘You’re right. Why do you have to be right?’
‘It doesn’t happen often,’ she said dryly. ‘Let me have my moment.’
Gideon chuckled. ‘What can we do to help you, Tom?’
Tom rose from the table, smoothing his tie. ‘Stay alive. Be there when I need answers to Eden questions and stay alive. Be careful. Be aware. Don’t take chances and don’t go anywhere where you’re out in the open. Like Snowbush. For now you’ll have protection. But I can’t guarantee how long that’ll last, and the new guy isn’t promising one way or the other. He’s just keeping Molina’s seat warm.
’ He lifted a brow at Gideon. ‘Or so I’ve been told.’
Gideon coughed. ‘Yes, I said that. I’d prefer that the acting special agent in charge doesn’t hear that I did, though.’
Tom chuckled. ‘My lips are sealed.’
‘But we will get updates on the regular?’ Rafe asked, annoyed to be sidelined. He’d thought Hunter was on their side. And when did I regress to being a little kid? There are no sides. There’s justice for Mercy and Gideon, and that’s it. ‘You won’t do the “my lips are sealed” over that, too?’
Tom smiled. ‘I might get chatty if I was filled up with your mother’s cooking.’
Rafe smiled back, mollified. ‘Consider yourself invited every Sunday at two. Bring Liza.’
‘She’ll like that.’ Tom pushed his chair neatly beneath the table. ‘I’ve got to go. Text me when Amos wakes up? He’s a good guy.’
Mercy walked him out, again like she belonged here, and that made Rafe smile. He was still smiling when she came back and sat beside him. ‘What?’ she asked.
‘He’s besotted,’ Farrah said with a happy laugh. There were still shadows in her eyes, but that was to be expected. She’d suffered a near-death experience the day before. André looked slightly better, but Rafe knew they needed to get back to New Orleans, where family could help them heal.
‘And if I am?’ Rafe asked her, completely okay with being besotted.
Farrah became serious. ‘Then I’m happy. I’d be happier if you lived in New Orleans, but . . .’
Mercy cleared her throat, hesitant. ‘I’m going back for Quill’s celebration. Rafe said he’d go with me.’
‘I’ll go, too,’ Gideon said. ‘I want to meet Farrah’s family. And of course John and the others.’
‘And then you’re all coming back here, including Mercy,’ Farrah said calmly. She squeezed Mercy’s hand. ‘I figured that out already. It’s okay, Mercy. I understand.’ She smiled then, and it was a true smile that brightened her eyes. ‘You’ll come back to see me, because we’re having a big family. You know that you’re going to be a godmother eventually.’
André’s eyes widened. ‘She is? I mean, we are?’ His deep voice actually squeaked. ‘When?’
‘Not now, thank God. That would be really bad timing with that bastard causing us all this stress.’ Farrah shook her head. ‘But soon, okay?’
André looked at her like she was the moon and all the stars. ‘More than okay.’
Mercy wiped her eyes. ‘Darn it, Farrah. You had to go and make me cry.’
‘But good tears,’ Farrah said smugly.
Mercy laughed. ‘Very good tears. Now, once Amos wakes up, everything will be perfect.’
Epilogue
Granite Bay, California
Sunday, 28 May, 3.00 P.M.
Karl Sokolov tapped a spoon to his glass of sparkling cider. ‘I’d like to make a toast.’
Rafe was so happy that he didn’t groan – not even on the inside. His father was one for toasting and typically embarrassed whoever was unlucky enough to be the toastee, but he knew his father wouldn’t embarrass Mercy. Maybe me, but not Mercy.
In six weeks she’d wrapped his father around her little finger, and Rafe loved it. He loved her. He hadn’t said the words yet, but they battled for freedom every damn day. At first he’d resisted because he didn’t want to rush her, but now he was waiting for the perfect moment. Because she deserved every bit of perfection he could muster.
‘I’m going to need a chair,’ Damien muttered. ‘Move over, Meggie.’
Meg gave him a shove. ‘Get your own chair.’
Because it was standing room only in the Sokolov kitchen this day. Karl glared at Damien and Meg and they stopped bickering. ‘Sorry,’ they muttered together, as if they were their kids’ age and not grown-ass adults.
‘We’re all gathered here today,’ Karl began, ‘to celebrate our Mercy’s birthday.’ He paused to let the hoots and hollers die down, smiling down at Mercy, who was blushing beet red and looking very flustered.
And very cute, but Rafe allowed that he might be biased.
‘We’ve waited a long time to welcome you into our family,’ Karl went on, ‘and we couldn’t be happier that you’re here. We adopted Gideon years ago, so now we have a matched set.’
Mercy laughed and half covered her face with one hand. Rafe pulled it away from her face and kissed her palm.
‘Besotted,’ Farrah said, rolling her eyes. She and André had arrived the evening before, surprising the hell out of Mercy when Rafe had led her into his parents’ house, blindfolded. But it hadn’t just been Farrah and André. Mama Romero and half the Romero clan had shown up.
So had John Benz, his family, and three more of the ‘sibs’. The others hadn’t been able to make the cross-country trip but were tuning in via Skype. Rafe had met them all and liked them. Gideon and Daisy had too, and for Gideon it meant being immediately engulfed in more family than he’d been able to handle. At that first reunion, Rafe had taken his friend off to the side, standing with him while Gideon watched his new family, overwhelmed and cuddling Brutus while trying not to cry.
Rafe had been so damn happy for Gideon that he’d been the one to cry. Which Mercy had thought was precious and had earned him some very hot sex when they’d returned to her apartment to pack her things.
Because she’d moved to Sacramento. She’d really done it, quitting her job with NOPD and applying for a position in the SacPD crime lab. She started work on July first and she couldn’t wait.
‘Not only do we welcome Mercy, though,’ Karl said, ‘we welcome her family as well. All the “sibs”, the Romeros, and Amos and Abigail.’
Amos bobbed his head, smiling, his arm around Abigail. Amos had woken up after a few days and they’d all been thankful that there had been no permanent damage caused by DJ’s bullet. Amos was still weaker than he wanted to be, but he’d put himself to work, rehabbing the fixer-upper that Rafe had bought around the corner from his Victorian.
It was a two-story and one of the first things Rafe and Amos had done was to install an elevator. Rafe continued physical therapy, but he’d come to accept that it was unlikely he’d gain back enough range of motion to return to the force. At least as a homicide detective. Some days were harder than others, but he’d signed up with Tom’s old therapist and it was helping. He hadn’t lost hope and was keeping busy. He and Mercy had joined Karl and Irina in a few of their fundraising ventures.
In the meantime, he and Amos had made a lot of progress in a few short weeks. The man was a master carpenter and would be able to command top prices anywhere in the city, but for now, he was fixing up a home for his daughter. For Mercy.
And in exchange for labor, Amos and Abigail had taken over the top floor of Rafe’s Victorian. They’d gotten Abigail a puppy, so her life was pretty complete.
‘Are you finished, Karl?’ Irina asked, poised to strike a match and light the candles on Mercy’s cake.
‘Almost, maya lubimaya,’ Karl said with a sweet smile. ‘I can’t forget Tom and Liza.’
Rafe almost laughed out loud at that. His father had a serious crush on Tom Hunter, the former basketball pro. Karl was all sports, always, so having a pro in their midst made him as giggly as Abigail with her puppy.
Tom shook his head, looking embarrassed. Liza looked . . . sad, and Rafe made a mental note to talk to her. They’d gotten to know the younger woman fairly well over the last few weeks. She almost never missed Sunday dinner and seemed to thrive on the family atmosphere.
They knew she was originally from Minneapolis, that she’d served in Afghanistan, that she was going to study nursing at UC Davis starting in July, and that she had an adoptive family of her own back in Chicago, but none of them understood the relationship between Tom and Liza. The two claimed to be ‘just friends’, but Rafe wasn’t buying it.
‘And,’ Karl said d
ramatically, ‘we also welcome Geri and Jeff.’ He turned to Jeff’s mother. ‘Geri, you are welcome anytime.’
‘Dad!’ Zoya whined, but Jeff Bunker shook his head and laughed.
‘You know I’m kidding, Zoya,’ Karl said fondly. ‘I don’t think Jeff is in any danger from any of us.’
‘For now,’ Rafe said darkly, but it was an act. Mostly. Bunker had proven himself to be a smart guy with a truly soft heart. ‘Just . . . you know.’
‘Rafe,’ Zoya hissed.
Jeff faked a shudder. ‘I know. Touch your sister and you’ll break my fingers, yada yada yada.’ He held up both hands. ‘I’m not touching.’
‘I know,’ Zoya grumbled.
Rafe laughed. ‘Finish your toast, Dad. Mom’s about to light herself on fire with those matches.’
Irina shot him a withering look and Rafe sank down in his chair, but he was unable to hide his grin. ‘You are the one to watch yourself, sinok rodnoy moi.’
‘Ooh.’ Mercy elbowed him. ‘She three-named you. With sarcasm even.’
Sasha cleared her throat loudly and pointed to Erin, who scowled back at her.
‘And Erin,’ Karl said. ‘Although I feel like you were part of our family before, because of your friendship with Rafe. However, now we welcome you as nashe dochke.’
Sasha gulped audibly, turning to Erin to whisper-shout, ‘Daughter.’
Erin turned four shades of purple and her eyes filled with tears, but she nodded her thanks.
Karl lifted his glass. ‘Assuming I have forgotten no one . . . To us – the family we’re born into, the family we make, and the family we collect along the way. And happy birthday to Mercy!’
Irina lit the candles and put the cake in front of Mercy, who looked a little alarmed. ‘I can’t blow that much.’
To which the entire family, except for poor Abigail and the younger grandkids, died laughing.
‘Oh my God,’ Farrah gasped, fanning herself. ‘Merciful heavens, Mercy.’
Too late, Mercy realized what she’d said, and she closed her eyes and muttered a Russian curse that made Irina start laughing again.
