by Terri Reid
“Katie,” he was finally able to say. “That’s Katie Brennan.”
“No,” Mary said, and then she bent forward and looked closer. “You’re right. It is Katie. Boy, I bet she hates this picture.”
Ian chortled. “Well, the eighties weren’t kind to many. I wonder if she knew Hope.”
“It’s a small class,” Mary said. “And if she didn’t know Hope, I bet she’d know Nickolas.”
They quickly put the food away and walked down the block to the Brennan’s home. A few moments after they rang the doorbell, Katie answered the door. She was wiping her hands on a dishcloth and her house smelled like cinnamon.
“Sorry, just made some cookies and I’m cleaning up,” she said, as she invited them in. “What’s up?”
Ian sniffed the air. “Well, this might take a while,” he said. “We might be in need of nourishment.”
Katie laughed, led them into the kitchen and invited them to sit at the table. “Snickerdoodles,” she said, pushing a plate piled high with cookies toward Ian. “Try one.”
He winked at her. “Well, if you insist,” he said, snatching a large one from the top and biting into it.
Closing his eyes as he ate, he slowly nodded his head. “Oh, yes, Katie, these are amazing.”
Looking over at Katie, Mary rolled her eyes. “You would never know we just had lunch,” she said. “I don’t know how he eats like that and stays trim.”
“It’s a curse,” Ian said. “A pure curse.”
“Well, curse or not, we’re actually here to ask you a question about a case we’re working on,” Mary said. “Did you know Hope or Faith Foley?”
“Wow, I haven’t heard Hope’s name in years,” she said, shaking her head sadly. “We were all so shocked. We never even thought that she would take her life.”
“Were you friends with either girl?” Ian asked.
“Yes, Faith and I were…well, not exactly friends,” she admitted. “I was in Choir with her and she and I were folder partners. She was actually nice to me, unlike how she was to many of the others.”
“Were you friends with Hope?” Mary asked.
“No, I wasn’t,” she said. “They had a rivalry and if they thought you were friends with one, the other wouldn’t speak to you. It made things a little awkward in school.”
“Did you know Nickolas, Hope’s boyfriend?” Ian asked.
“Really? Nick liked Hope? I never knew that,” she said. “But that explains a lot.”
“Why?” Mary asked. “Who’s Nick?”
“Nick Kazakos. He runs the cemetery at the far end of town,” Katie said. “He’s a real loner and has been angry for a long time.”
“Angry, kill people kind of angry?” Mary asked.
“No,” Katie responded instantly. “He doesn’t seem dangerous, just sad. Intensely sad.”
“Like someone who lost their one true love?” Ian asked.
Nodding, Katie turned to Ian. “Exactly.”
“Did you know any of the girls who killed themselves later?” Mary asked.
“Yes, I knew them all,” she admitted. “And once again, I never saw it coming. Mandy, the second girl who died, had just spoken with me at the grocery store the night before it happened.”
“This might sound a wee bit odd,” Ian said. “But can you remember what she was buying?”
Katie paused for a moment and thought about his request. She remembered it was near a holiday and she had been shopping late at night, at the last minute. “Yes, I do remember, because we laughed about both of us running out at the last minute to get our turkeys,” she said. “Her cart was filled with Thanksgiving food. I commented that it looked like she was going to be cooking for a huge number of people and she told me her family was going to be coming.”
“And then what happened?” Mary asked.
“Her family got to her house the next afternoon and found her,” Katie said. “It was awful.”
Mary placed her hand over Katie’s. “I’m sorry, Katie.”
She took a deep breath and wiped a tear from her eye. “It was a long time ago,” she said. “But it really makes me aware…”
She paused as the door burst open and her children ran into the house. She got up to meet them at the door, but half-way there she turned back to Mary, aware she had left off mid-sentence. “I’m sorry,” she laughed. “The kids come in and I forget everything I’m doing. It really makes me aware of how horrible bullying can be.”
Maggie, standing in front of her mother, gasped at her mother’s words and then looked past her to Mary and Ian. “How did you find out?” she asked. “I didn’t mean it. I was just angry.”
“Didn’t mean what, Maggie?” Katie asked.
“I was mean to Clarissa today,” she confessed. “I told her she was still ‘dopted. I told her Bradley wasn’t her daddy and everyone was just being nice to her ‘cause she was an orphan.”
“Maggie, I can’t believe you would say that!” Katie exclaimed. “Clarissa is your friend. She has gone through so much. How could you hurt her like this?”
Mary and Ian rose from the table and walked towards the door. “We’d better get home and see how Clarissa is doing,” Mary said. “Thanks for your time, Katie.”
Maggie turned, tears streaming down her cheeks, and ran to Mary. “I’m so sorry,” she cried. “Will you still be my friend?”
Mary knelt down next to Maggie and put her hands on her shoulders. “Maggie, I’m disappointed in you,” she said. “What you did was hurtful and Clarissa needs friends right now. I will always be your friend. But I think you should be worrying about your friendship with Clarissa, not me.”
Maggie nodded. “Can I come over and say sorry?” she asked.
“Why don’t you come over in an hour,” Mary suggested, “after we have some time to talk with her. Okay?”
Maggie nodded. “Okay.”
Ian and Mary arrived back at the house just as Bradley’s cruiser was pulling up to the driveway. He stopped the car and Clarissa jumped out and ran into the house without greeting any of them.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Bradley said, as he walked toward Mary and Ian. “She seemed angry when I picked her up and didn’t say a word to me all the way home.”
“She gave me the cold shoulder after recess,” Mike said. “Didn’t talk to me all the way home.”
“I think her little heart was given a bruising today at school,” Ian said.
“I’ll talk to her,” Mary suggested. “Ian, why don’t you fill Bradley and Mike in on the rest?”
Chapter Twenty-six
Mary followed Clarissa into the house, pretending she didn’t realize anything was wrong.
“How was school?” she asked, as she slipped her coat off, hung it in the closet and walked into the kitchen.
Clarissa was sitting at the kitchen table, her backpack open and homework in front of her. “Fine,” she said softly.
“Good,” she said. “It must be a little strange to be back in school in Freeport.”
She reached for a cup and plate from the cupboard and proceeded to fill the glass with milk and make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “Anything interesting happen today?”
Clarissa paused, remembering her argument with Maggie and the man in the playground. But she wasn’t ready to share that information. “No,” she said, with a quick shake of her head.
“Ah, well, good,” Mary said, carrying the treat over to the table and placing it next to the little girl.
She pulled out a chair and sat down next to her. “I had to go over to the Brennan’s this afternoon,” she said conversationally. “I was there when Maggie got home.”
Clarissa reached over and picked up one of the four sections of the sandwich. She took a small bite and ignored Mary’s comment.
“Yes, Maggie seemed pretty upset,” Mary continued. “She realized she had been jealous and it caused her to say some things to a good friend. Things that weren’t true.”
P
utting down the sandwich, Clarissa glanced up at Mary. “Weren’t true?”
Mary shook her head. “Not even close to being true,” she replied, looking directly into Clarissa’s eyes.
Both of Clarissa’s hands dropped into her lap and she stared off into the corner of the room. “Why didn’t he keep me?” she whispered hoarsely. “Why didn’t he want me?”
Her heart breaking, she forced herself to not gather the little girl up in her arms. Clarissa needed truth, not comfort.
“Your daddy, Bradley, was so excited to know that he and your mommy were going to have you,” she said. “The last time he saw you, was in an ultrasound at the doctor’s office. You were still inside your mom, not ready to come out yet. But they could see you were a little girl, so they stopped at the paint store and bought pink paint for your room.”
Mary paused for a moment, remembering her experiences of living through Jeannine. She took a deep breath and continued. “Then an awful thing happened. A very bad man took your mommy and kept her away from your daddy. She tried to leave, tried to escape, but she couldn’t. Your daddy searched and searched for both of you for a very long time. The bad man brought your mommy to another hospital, far away from your daddy, when you were born. Something happened and your mommy died at the hospital. The bad man gave you away. That’s how Becca and Henry were able to adopt you. But your dad kept searching and searching for you. He just finally found out what happened to you.”
“He really wants me?” she asked carefully.
Mary nodded. “One of the things that showed me how much he wanted you was when he was searching for you, when he was doing all he could to figure out where you and your mommy had gone, instead of sleeping at night, he would go into your nursery and paint it. He wanted to be sure you had a pink bedroom when he finally found you and brought you home.”
A small smile grew on her face. “He did that? For me?”
“Oh, sweetheart, he never ever stopped searching for you,” she said. “Even though he never got to hold you or even see you when you were born, he always loved you. And he always will.”
The door opened and Bradley, Mike and Ian walked in. Bradley hurried across the room and knelt down next to Clarissa, placing one hand on the back of her chair and the other on the table in front of her. “Clarissa,” he said softly. “I’m so sorry Maggie hurt your feelings today.”
She launched herself into his arms and flung her arms around his neck. “I thought you didn’t want me,” she whispered against his shoulder.
He kissed her head and hugged her. “Oh, Clarissa, I can’t begin to tell you how much I love you,” he said. “But I promise I will spend the rest of my life showing you.”
She nodded.
“But there’s one thing you have to promise me,” he continued.
She stepped back and looked at him. “‘Kay,” she said.
“You have to promise me that when you are troubled or hurt or even confused you come and talk to me or talk to Mary,” he said. “Unless you tell us how you are feeling, we can’t help you feel better.”
“But Maggie said you were lying to me,” she replied. “She said you were just saying stuff to be nice to me.”
“I don’t think lying is nice or right,” he said to her. “I won’t lie to you, Clarissa. If you ask me a question, I will tell you the truth.”
She looked over her shoulder at Mary and then back at Bradley. “Why did you paint my room?” she asked.
He gathered her back up in his arms and cleared his throat before he could speak. Mary could see the moisture gather in his eyes.
“I painted your room because I hoped that I would find you and I wanted everything to be perfect for you when you came home,” he said. “And I promised your mother that she would have a pink nursery for her little girl.”
“My mommy wanted pink too?” she asked.
Nodding, he lifted her back up into her chair. “She wanted you dressed in pink from head to toe, she wanted you to have a pink stroller, a pink carseat, a pink bed and she even tried to talk me into painting the whole house pink, just for you.”
Clarissa laughed. “I do like pink,” she confessed.
He reached up and cupped her cheek in his hand. “So did your mother,” he said.
Clarissa turned to Mary. “Do you like pink?” she asked.
“I do,” she said, “but maybe not as much as your mom.”
The doorbell rang and Ian hurried over to answer it. Maggie stood on the doorstep and looked into the room. “Can I come in?” she asked, her eyes already red with sorrow.
“Aye, you can,” Ian said.
“Maggie, I think you have some apologizing to do,” Mike said.
She nodded and started forward until she saw Bradley. Then she froze in her steps and tears formed in her eyes. Bradley stood up and walked over to her. Maggie’s eyes followed him and she gulped when he stood towering over her. “Maggie, I’m glad you came,” he said, “And after you talk with Clarissa, I’d like to speak to you.”
Eyes as wide as saucers, she bobbed her head up and down, she slipped past him and hurried over to Clarissa.
Mary joined the men near the staircase, so the two girls could have their privacy.
“I’ll go upstairs and see if I can’t make myself busy for a while,” Ian said with a sympathetic smile and then he whispered to Bradley, “Don’t be too hard on the lass, she’s feeling a wee bit replaced.”
Bradley nodded in agreement. “Yes, I know,” he whispered back. “I won’t terrorize her, I promise.”
“Aye, then I’m off,” Ian replied. “Call me when it’s safe to come down.”
In a few minutes, the girls were laughing and hugging each other. It seemed to the adults standing by the door that the issues had been resolved and their feelings were confirmed when Clarissa looked over at them, smiling broadly and said, “We’re still the ‘doption girls, ‘cept we’re going to have a new name.”
“That’s a great idea,” Mary said. “What’s your new name?”
Clarissa and Maggie glanced at each other and giggled. “Mike’s girls,” they said together.
Mike grinned broadly. “I think that’s the best name I’ve ever heard.”
“That’s great,” Bradley agreed. “But now Maggie and I need to have a conversation.”
“Uh, oh,” Clarissa said.
“Come on, Clarissa,” Mary said. “Let’s go upstairs so you can change your clothes.”
“Do you want me to stay?” Mike asked.
Bradley shook his head. “No, this is just between Maggie and me,” he said.
When they were alone, Bradley walked over and sat down at the kitchen table next to Maggie. The chair scraped the floor as he pulled it out and Maggie jumped in her chair.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” Bradley said. “I just wanted to clear some things up between us.”
She nodded her head, but kept her eyes focused on the table.
“Maggie, you have played such an important part in my life and in Clarissa’s life,” he said. “I just wanted to thank you and let you know that you will always hold a special place in my heart.”
Her head jerked up and she stared at him. “What?”
“You helped Clarissa when she lived here in Freeport by telling her what her mom wanted her to know,” he said. “And then you told Mary and me about her, so we could find her. You helped us save Clarissa. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
“You couldn’t?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, you are a very important part of our team,” he said. “You’re like part of our family – just like Ian and Mike are. I hope you always remember that.”
“I’m part of your team?” she asked.
He nodded. “Oh, yes, you’re very important to us and I will never forget how much I owe you for what you did.”
She looked back at the table for a moment. “I thought you’d forget about me, ‘cause you had Clarissa.”
Bradl
ey put his hand on Maggie’s shoulder and waited until she looked up at him. “Maggie, I could never forget about you,” he said.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked.
“No, I’m not mad,” he replied. “But I really didn’t like what you said to Clarissa. It made her sad. And if we’re a team, we shouldn’t make each other sad. We should be working hard to make each other happy.”
She nodded. “I’ll work hard to make us happy,” she said. “And I won’t make Clarissa sad, so she talks to the strange man in the playground ever again.”
Bradley froze. “What strange man?”
Chapter Twenty-seven
“Clarissa!” Bradley called from the bottom of the stairs.
Mary and Mike looked at each other from across Clarissa’s room.
“He doesn’t sound very happy,” Clarissa said, as she closed her dresser drawer.
Mary shook her head. “No, he doesn’t,” she said, as she picked up Clarissa’s coat and began to hang it up. “He almost sounds…”
She stopped as an envelope fell out of the pocket on to the floor. She bent to pick it up and saw it was addressed to Bradley. “What’s this?” she asked Clarissa.
“Ohhhhhh,” she replied.
Mary walked back across the room, leaving the coat lying over a chair. “Oh?”
“A strange man talked to me at recess,” she said. “And he told me to give the letter to my daddy.”
“When did that happen?” Mike asked. “Where was I?”
“You were talking to Maggie,” Clarissa explained. “He was only there for a few minutes.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t see him,” Mike said.
Mary put her arm around Clarissa’s shoulders. “Well, let’s go downstairs and give this to you daddy,” she said. “I have a feeling it’s not going to make him much happier.”
They met Bradley at the foot of the stairs. “Where’s Maggie?” Clarissa asked.
“I walked her home,” Bradley said. “She had homework to do. But she told me that at recess you walked away from her and spoke to a strange man.”
Clarissa nodded her head. “When I was mad at Maggie, I walked away to the other side of the playground. A man was on the other side of the fence and he talked to me.”
