Sweet Vengeance

by Fern Michaels

  “Do you want me here when Rosa shows up?” Jill asked. “It might make things easier. For both of you.”

  Unsure, Tessa looked to Sam for direction. “A good idea or not?” she asked.

  “Jill knew her, too. It might make it a bit easier, but that’s not my decision to make,” Sam said.

  “Stay.” Tessa decided that having Jill present for the interview with Rosa was best for her, and she didn’t care what Rosa felt. Sadly, she had really admired the woman at one time. Enough to leave her in charge of her girls. But knowing she might have been witness to what happened to them and had not gone to the authorities, whether she was in the country legally or not, she no longer felt any such admiration.

  “I’m going to call Darlene, so she can start searching for the person who packed up the house. She wasn’t working for Jamison Pharmaceuticals at the time, but she will know how to find out. Be right back,” Sam said, then left her and Jill alone in the kitchen.

  Neither woman spoke as they waited to make sure he was out of earshot.

  Jill was the first to speak. “Do you trust him?” She nodded toward the living room, where they heard Sam talking in a hushed voice on the phone to someone Tessa presumed was Darlene.

  “I do. Very much. He’s a good man. I never really gave him much attention when Joel was alive. Once I left Jamison Pharmaceuticals, my entire focus was on the girls, my family. He had been friends with Joel since college.” Tessa didn’t know why she added that last bit of information, but she needed Jill to know that Sam was legit. Odd that they weren’t familiar with one another as Jill had visited all the time and had attended a few of the dinner parties she had hosted. She felt sure that Sam had been in attendance, too, and probably more than once.

  “I think I remember him,” Jill said. “From a party way back in the day. He’s a real hunk, don’t you think?” She grinned. “That’s not very appropriate, Tessa. I’m sorry.”

  Tessa thought him quite easy on the eyes, too, as any woman in her their right mind would. Was Jill looking for an introduction? A fix-up? She couldn’t remember if that was the right terminology, but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to play matchmaker. Sure that Jill was only trying to lighten the somber atmosphere that hung over all of them, still, Tessa wasn’t sure she liked the idea of Jill and Sam together. As in a couple. He wasn’t Jill’s type. Or was he? She had been away for a very, very long time. People change.

  “What’s troubling you?” Jill asked, going all psychiatrist on her again.

  Shouldn’t it be obvious? Her life troubled her.

  “You of all people should know,” Tessa said, her voice sharpened with just the slightest trace of an edge, borderline smart-ass.

  Jill drained the last of her tea. “You would think so, but I am not a mind reader. You’ll have to tell me.”

  No way was she going to reveal her thoughts about her and Sam. Realizing that it was juvenile of her to even be having these thoughts about two people she cared for, she pinched the bridge of her nose, looked at the drops of condensation streaming down her glass, and shook her head side to side. “We would be here all night, and then some if I were to tell you all the raging thoughts going through my head right now. I’m pissed, and trust me, that’s putting it nicely, that Rosa kept quiet about whatever it is that she knew. She could have gone to anyone. I doubt they would have asked for her green card. It was wrong, Jill, and you know it. She might have information that could have kept me out of prison for the past ten years. Wouldn’t you feel . . . anger, something, toward the person who might have held your life in their hands and just let it drop, as if it were a worthless piece of nothing?”

  “Of course I would. It’s perfectly normal to feel that way. I can’t explain the whys of Rosa’s behavior, but I do know that fear is a very strong motivating factor for most people. Given the fact that she wasn’t in the States legally, in her mind, maybe she thought that what she saw wasn’t enough to prove your innocence, so why risk the authorities’ discovering she was here illegally? I don’t know that any of this is true, but it’s a good guess. Tessa, they never had any physical evidence against you. All they had was circumstantial. The odds are in your favor now.”

  Tessa rolled her eyes. Leave it to Jill to try to make sense of Rosa’s actions or lack thereof. “They sure as hell weren’t before, and I don’t really know that she can offer anything now, at least anything of value.”

  “With Poppy’s drawings, Rosa’s coming forth, and the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling, I think the advantage is all yours. You’re afraid, aren’t you?” Jill asked.

  Afraid was putting it mildly. Night after night, week after week, year after year, she had spent most of her days and nights reliving what she should have done, what she could have done to save her daughters. Visions of them lying in the pool, in all that blood, tormented her. Joel was not Joel, even in death. It’d taken her almost three full years after their murders to regain her memory of that day. The bits and pieces that hovered on the edge of her consciousness had been enough. Then the full memory of finding them that day exploded in her mind, like a million fireworks going off, and she had lost it for a while, but somehow she had managed to push the memories into a place in her mind that was safe, and any hope of ever proving her innocence was lost. She had learned to get through each day minute by minute, and planned her eventual death, and now she knew it wasn’t meant to be.

  “Tessa,” Jill said. “Are you all right?”

  “Sorry, I’m not used to . . . this”—she waved her hand—“freedom. Conversations. Normal people. However, I heard your question, and yes, I am afraid. I have been since May fourth, two thousand and eleven.”

  Sam chose that moment to return to the kitchen. “Darlene contacted the company that packed up the house. Luck is on our side. Apparently, the owner’s nephew was working for the company at the time. Said he remembered the day well because he’d heard about the . . . murders. Darlene has arranged for him to come to the house tonight. I called Lee. He’ll be here to question him. He will come before Rosa gets here.”

  “That’s excellent news,” Jill said. “Tessa, are you good with this?”

  She sighed. “Yes, if it helps find out what happened to my family, do whatever you have to. I would like to talk to him, too. I never came back to the house once I was taken into custody and arrested. It’s so damned bizarre. I’m asking strangers to remember what they might have seen in my child’s bedroom when I should have known. I hope he can help.”

  Tessa suddenly felt overwhelmed. The day had been emotionally exhausting, and it was just beginning.

  “It was big news here, so if this man says he remembers packing the rooms, I’m guessing he has information of some value. As you said, you never came back to the house after your arrest,” Sam said. “You were in shock. You wouldn’t have recalled anything standing out.”

  Tessa thought about this. Sam was right again. “I have tried over the years, nothing other than—” She stopped. “I’d just lost my family. I only recall the blood, their bodies.”

  Jill placed her hand on top of Tessa’s. “I can’t even begin to imagine. If you were a patient, and you’re not, plus I have never treated anyone who has lost their family in such a horrific manner, but if I had, I would tell them whenever a memory of a tragedy overcomes them, try to consciously replace it with something positive. A special memory, one that brought joy, one that makes one smile.”

  “Makes perfect sense. I have tried over the years, and I recall dozens of special times with the girls, and Joel, but returning to this house, it’s hard not to think of why I had to leave in the first place.” Tessa thought at least she could now say this without crying. That was an improvement, but her anger seethed with a mounting rage so strong, it frightened her. She remembered the five stages of grief she had read about in so many books during her prison stay. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. She would never accept what had happened to her family. Though she could ack
nowledge the loss for what it was, there was no way in hell she would get past the anger. She could tuck it away in that safe place, as she had taught herself, but never could she obliterate it completely. In her mind, the murders had never been solved, and until that rotten bastard Liam was put to rest, she knew that her anger would continue to play an active role in the person she had become. It was as much a part of her as her eye color, the shape of her hands, the curve of her hips. Her gaze darkened with the pain of the past decade, and Tessa knew happiness would not come easily, if at all. She focused her attention on Jill.

  “I wish it were as easy as you say. Then my life would be tolerable. But it isn’t, and all the happy thoughts and memories of the past will never change the images burned in my mind. I will try, though, I promise. When Liam is—” She had almost made a slip of the tongue and said “dead” but caught herself. “Brought to justice.” Yes, that sounded better. And she really hadn’t had time to plan, to plot what she would do when she located him, and there was no doubt in her mind that she would find him, no matter what she had to do. If she went back to prison, so be it. At least she would know her children and husband’s murderer would pay for the crime he had committed against them.

  At that very moment, Sam’s cell phone started to ring. “Yes?” he said.

  Tessa and Jill listened to his end of the conversation.

  “That’s encouraging, Lee. I’ll tell this to Tess,” Sam said, then disconnected the call. “Lee spoke with Michael Chen. He’s agreed to look at Poppy’s drawings. If this packing guy has anything to add, he’s also said he would listen to what he had to say.”

  “Listening and doing something about it are two different things,” Tessa said. “It doesn’t mean he’ll do anything yet.”

  “He won’t have any choice if there’s new evidence that wasn’t presented at trial,” Sam said. “Evidence of value,” he added.

  “Those drawings are vital. I’ll stake my professional reputation on it,” Jill said. “Make sure and tell Lee to say so to the DA,” Jill added. She then said her good-byes, as she had to get back to her office and catch up on paperwork.

  Once she’d left, Tessa and Sam sat together quietly for a few moments before Tessa said, “Thank you, Sam. I appreciate all you and Lee are doing. I just hope it’s worth all the time and effort you have put into my case. No matter what the outcome.”

  “You have thanked us more than enough. We need to get down to business, get this case resolved.”

  Tessa was about to respond when a knock on the sliding glass doors interrupted her.

  Chapter 16

  “What did you find?” Tessa asked, after letting Harry inside. Her tone was doubtful.

  “A bone,” Harry said. “I believe it’s the proximal phalange, the bone closest to the hand. Index finger from the looks of it. The pristine condition surprised me. Florida’s heat, though that’s not always a consideration with bones. But still, one has to take the elements into account.”

  “Give me your unofficial report,” Sam said.

  “In layman’s terms, I’d say the finger was sliced off. The bone is sharp, sliced clean where it shouldn’t be. There is no sign of a break. It belonged to a fairly young person. Most likely a male.”

  “What does this mean?” Tessa asked Harry.

  “We don’t know yet, but we’re working on it. We’ll extract DNA from that bone and possibly we can find out who it belonged to, decide if it’s relevant to your case.”

  “What is that supposed to mean? You don’t think this is an important find?” Tessa asked.

  “It’s very important,” Harry replied. “The only problem is matching the DNA. It could be some random find. A fisherman whacks off his finger cleaning a fish. The finger winds up in the soil, through who knows by what means, and we have found it. A drug dealer in a speedboat tosses out a finger he’s removed from a rat, and, hoping to hide all traces, it winds up here.”

  “It’s a good find, Tess,” said Sam, “but only if we can match it to someone in your family, which we know isn’t going to happen since Lara has all of her fingers, and Harry said it was most likely from a male.”

  “Why wasn’t this discovered before?” Tessa asked. “I don’t get it.”

  “I don’t know, Tess,” Sam said. “As soon as Harry examines them, we’ll know how long they have been here. It’s more good news, Tess. A finger is one thing, but several bones, that’s a whole different ball game.”

  “We have to have a match, right? I’d like to know where to start,” she said.

  Sam seemed to consider her question. “Family first. I’m going to have Lee call Rachelle,” Sam told her. “Excuse me.”

  “I have to head out as well,” Harry said, “and head back to the lab.”

  Tessa waited a moment after both men had departed before she called Jill to fill her in on these latest developments.

  “You think she knows more than she testified to during the trial?” Jill asked once Tessa had explained everything.

  Tessa nodded. “Darned right I do. There is no way in hell she would sit idly by, waiting all these years, without knowledge of his whereabouts. He’s her only son. She’s well financed, he’s well financed. Enough to take care of him for the rest of his life. That old saying ‘money talks and bullshit walks’ would apply to the two of them. I never knew her well, but I did know, according to Joel, that she was a good mother and that Liam was the light of her life.”

  “And all these years he’s been off the radar?”

  “Yep, all those investigators Randall had searching for him, or at least that’s what he told me, and I have my doubts, but nevertheless, I would have thought they could have located him, but nothing. When people don’t want to be found, they can make it happen. I learned this in prison from women who sounded like they knew what they were talking about. I feel sure he’s living a life of luxury, probably lounging on some exotic beach as we speak, all courtesy of his mother since he has never touched a penny of his trust-fund hoard. He’s a low-life son of a bitch,” Tessa said, doing nothing to hide the hate in her voice.

  “Any man who touches a child is beyond low. Below whale crap, if you ask me. I see a lot of kids in my practice. Their lives were ruined by these sick-ass perverts. Of course, I can’t say this to them, or to the family members, but it’s rare when a child overcomes this type of tragedy.”

  “So you think Poppy and Piper would have been . . . ruined, tainted, for the rest of their lives? I thought you told me they would be all right with therapy.” Her voice rose a notch.

  “I think your girls were strong, Tessa. Like you. They kept their abuse secret for a long time. When I spoke to them, they didn’t act like your typical victims. They knew that what had happened to them was a very bad thing. They also knew that telling you was the right thing to do even though they’d been terrified, and justifiably so. Poppy was very angry, as she should have been. Piper was . . . I think she was more damaged. But with your love and support, and intense therapy, I think they would have been okay as adults.”

  “We’ll never know, will we?” Tessa asked, and felt another round of tears fill her eyes. She wiped them with the cloth napkin and blew her nose. “All these years I have beat myself up, over and over, wondering how I could have been so stupid? So blind. It was more than obvious they were suffering. Afraid, as they reverted to their five-year-old patterns of behavior. I will never forgive myself.”

  Jill cleared her throat. “It wasn’t your fault, you know that. Joel wasn’t aware of what they were going through, either. I realize I don’t have children of my own, but I work with all kinds of abused children, of all ages, and more often than not the parents blame themselves. Unless it’s actually a parent doing the abuse, it’s not their fault, not your fault. Your case is unlike any I have dealt with. You were whisked away, tried and convicted by a system so convinced they had the right person that they never bothered with a serious criminal investigation. They wanted this case out of the news.�
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  “And why? There was no evidence against me,” Tessa said, her anger causing her pulse to race.

  “Your trip to San Maribel, the large insurance policy Joel had taken out, plus the company. You planned the trip so quickly, the media thought you had a lover, had something to hide. They found you in the pool with their bodies. You wouldn’t speak to the police once they arrested you. In their minds, this was a perfect case of circumstantial evidence. There was no DNA, nothing to connect you to this crime. You had no obvious defensive wounds. Anyone in their right mind should have known you were innocent.

  This isn’t a large town. Lots of local ass-kissers in the political field. Michael Chen wanted your ass on a platter, and he got what he wanted. When you refused to speak, it sealed your fate. And now, it just might be the key to overturning your conviction. Getting all charges dropped. This is all good, Tessa. Despite the past ten-plus years, you’re still young. You can have a full life—”

  “Don’t you even dare say I can have another family. I cannot and will never have children again! No matter what the court decides.”

  “I know you feel that way now, but I say, never say never.”

  “Let’s not talk about this, okay? Please?” Tessa begged. Yes, she knew she was just young enough to start over and have a family again, but she would never betray Joel and the girls.

  “Fair enough, but it’s going to come up in the next few days. Just do what you have to in order to prepare yourself. Michael Chen and the local police are going to do their best to convict you again, regardless of what the Florida Supreme Court says. An exoneration or, perhaps worse for them, having the charges dismissed because the investigation your private detectives are doing turns up evidence of your innocence and someone else’s guilt would embarrass them no end. Expose their utter incompetence.