Thicker Than Water

by Maggie Shayne

  Sean nodded. “We should phone Jax, let her know where they—”

  “No!” Julie slapped him with the word.

  “But, Jones, they’re going through a list of more than a hundred possible locations. This would speed things up.”

  “Just exactly what do you think it would speed up, Sean? The moment when a couple of hundred soldiers with machine guns and explosives surround my innocent child and her insane father? Jesus, if the cops get to them before we do, history will repeat itself. He won’t let them take her alive. I have to get to her first. I have to.”

  He nodded slowly, then shot a look at Rodney.

  The old man held up his hands. “I won’t say a word to anyone if you don’t want me to.”

  Sean pursed his lips, looking again at Julie. “If we leave, they’re going to be after us. You know Jax is keeping an eye on you.”

  She nodded. “How far is it?”

  “By car, nine to twelve hours, depending on where it is in the state. I can give you a better idea with a map.”

  “Then let’s go get one.”

  “We could fly down there. Save time.”

  She nodded. “Jax will check the airlines the second I’m missing. And as soon as she knows where we went, she’ll be that much closer to setting loose the hounds of hell on my kid.”

  “She’s going to figure it out anyway, just by the process of elimination, Jones.”

  Julie sighed, and he knew she was wrestling with the weight of the decision.

  “Come on. Let’s get this show on the road.” Sean handed her the crutches. She’d been putting weight on the bad ankle and barely aware of it, he thought. “We’ll have you call Jax to check on things just before we leave. That way she shouldn’t think to check on your whereabouts for a while.” He glanced at Rodney. “Can we use your car? That way ours will still be in the driveway and they may not realize we’ve skipped out quite as soon.”

  “I’ll do better than that,” he said, getting to his feet as if it were an effort. “I’ll drive you to the airport. That way they won’t know you’re gone or notice my car missing, either.”

  “Then it sounds like we have a plan.” Sean looked at Julie. “Okay?”

  “We should have weapons. We should have a gun.”

  “We’d never get it on the plane, Julie,” Sean said.

  She lowered her head. “Then I’m going to have to find a way to kill him without one. Because one way or the other, I swear to Christ, Mordecai Young is not going to live to torment me or my daughter again.”

  The scary part was, Sean didn’t doubt for one second that she meant it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Dawn didn’t sleep. She lay awake in the bedroom with the lights blazing brightly. She’d never been afraid of the dark before, but here, in this strange place, with this insane man—her birth father—she was terrified. God, she still couldn’t believe it was true. That Mordecai Young, one of the most famous cult leaders she’d ever heard of, was her father. It might be. She supposed it made some kind of sense. But she didn’t want to believe she was genetically related to a lunatic. Didn’t that make her part lunatic, as well? She’d never felt crazy.

  Maybe he didn’t feel crazy, either. Maybe crazy people never felt as if there was anything wrong with them.

  She wanted her mom. She wanted her nice house and her own room and some of Rodney’s chocolate chip cookies. She wanted Kayla.

  There was no telephone here, no computer and Internet. She’d kept her eyes peeled for any way to get a message out, but she’d found none. There must be at least a telephone somewhere in this house, though. She’d planned to slip out of her room and search the mansion for it, but her so-called father had locked her in.

  She closed her eyes against a new rush of tears as she wondered if she would ever see her mom again. Then she dashed those tears away with an angry swipe of her hand. Julie Jones was her mom, no matter what biology or insane kidnappers might say. And she was the most aggressively protective mom on the planet. She was probably doing a house-to-house search right now. She would kick this man’s ass all the way back to Cazenovia when she caught up to him. She would never stop searching until she found her. Never.

  Poor Mom, she thought, aching for the pain and terror her mother must be suffering right now. Thank God she had Sean around to help her through this.

  There were footsteps outside the bedroom door, and Dawn sat up straight in the bed. It was 3:00 a.m. God, what could he want at this hour? She fixed her eyes on the door, her mind racing, her heart pounding, as the knob moved. Slowly the door opened.

  But the woman who stood there was the last person she expected to see. “Ms. Marcum?” Dawn leaped from the bed and ran across the room, flinging her arms around her favorite teacher. “Oh, God, how did you find me? I’m so glad to see you! Did you bring the police?”

  “Easy, easy, Dawn.” Her teacher hugged her hard. Behind her, Dawn saw Mordecai Young, looking at the two of them, his eyes damp, his smile unsteady.

  “You two have a lot to talk about,” he said. “I’ll leave you alone.” He pulled the door closed.

  Dawn pulled out of her teacher’s embrace all at once and stared up at her as she backed away. “What is this? Do you know him?”

  The woman nodded slowly; then she looked around the room, spotted the French doors. “Let’s sit outside, shall we? It’s a beautiful night.”

  “I don’t want to go outside, I want to know what the hell is going on! That man kidnapped me! I want to go home.”

  “I know. Everything’s going to be all right, Dawn. You just have to trust me.” She crossed the room, opened the doors and stepped out onto the balcony, then turned, waiting for Dawn to join her there.

  Dawn couldn’t remember ever being more confused in her life, but she went outside. Ms. Marcum closed the doors after her.

  “Why don’t we sit?” she asked, nodding toward the patio chairs. “It’s so much warmer here than at home, isn’t it?”

  “I guess.” Dawn sat down, tried not to shiver. It wasn’t cold, and she was still fully dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater she’d found among the clothes in the closets and drawers. There were tons of them, in a wide range of sizes. He must have been stocking up for years.

  “Dawn, I know that you’re already aware of that fact that your mom didn’t give birth to you. I, um—I was there, with her. At the Young Believers’ compound all those years ago.”

  Dawn shook her head. “Mom never said she knew you.”

  “She doesn’t know who I am.” Ms. Marcum shrugged. “I always manage to be absent when she’s coming in for a school event or open house. Haven’t you noticed that?”

  She waited for a response, but Dawn didn’t give one. She was busy recalling all the times Ms. Marcum had vanished just as her mom arrived at the school and the way her mom had just said the other day how badly she felt for never having met Dawn’s favorite teacher.

  And then she remembered something else. “Mom said everyone who was with her there was dead.”

  “She thought I was. I was shot, and I collapsed. She dragged my body into the escape tunnel and left me there. I guess she just couldn’t bring herself to leave me behind in the burning building. I was found there, still alive, though barely. I spent months in a coma, and when I woke, I had no memory of who I was.”

  “That’s awful!”

  She nodded. “Yes, it was awful. But gradually, things started coming back to me. Bits and pieces of my life before. It took years, and my memory is still very sketchy in some areas, but I do remember my time at the Young Believers’ compound. I remember your mom. And I remember you, Dawn.” She smiled a little, and Dawn went stiff in anticipation of what was coming next. “My name is Elizabeth, Dawn. Lizzie, back then. I was your mother’s best friend. I’m the one who gave birth to you, and who begged Jewel to take care of you because I thought I was dying.”

  Dawn shot to her feet. “No!”

  “I know it sounds crazy,
Dawn, but it’s true. I’m your mother.”

  “No!” Dawn shouted the word. “Stop it, stop all of this. I don’t want to hear any more!” She pressed her hands to her ears, turning away from the woman who was suddenly just another threat to her.

  “Please, Dawn. Don’t be childish. You have to be strong, be brave. You have to face the truth.”

  “Truth?” Dawn whirled to face her again. “What do you know about truth? I’ve known you since seventh grade! Why wouldn’t you have said anything before now?”

  Ms. Marcum lowered her head. “Years went by before I remembered enough to even begin searching for you. By then I’d gone back to school, earned a degree in English. Then I found you—quite by accident. Your mother was covering a freak storm, a tornado in central New York, and it was picked up by the wire services. I saw it, saw her byline. Julie Jones, WSNY in Syracuse N. Y. It was like…it was like kismet. Like fate wanted me to know where you were.”

  “Now you sound like him.”

  She shrugged. “He’s not entirely wrong, you know.”

  “Not everything is a sign from above, Ms. Marcum. It’s like Mr. Bonwell in psychology says. ‘Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.’”

  She smiled. “This time, it was a sign. So I moved to Syracuse, looked you up. You were so happy. I decided the best thing to do would be to just stay out of your life. But I couldn’t bring myself to do that, not entirely. So I got a job as a substitute teacher in your district while I worked on my teaching certification. I never planned to tell you the truth, Dawnie. Just to watch over you from a distance. As long you were happy, I saw no need to disrupt your life.” She lowered her eyes. “But now…things are different now.”

  Dawn felt her eyes widen, but Ms. Marcum went on. “Now that I know Mordecai is alive, we can be together, as a family. Just like we always planned.”

  Her hand came out to stroke Dawn’s hair, and Dawn closed her eyes and wondered if the entire world had gone insane.

  * * *

  Lieutenant Jackson waited while Julie Jones’s telephone rang and rang, and then she heard the unmistakable clicking sound on the line, and a new ring, sounding slightly different, began. She pursed her lips. Jones had her call forwarding activated. That meant she wasn’t at her house.

  The new ring sounded several times before voice mail picked up and asked her to leave a message. It sounded like the cellular voice mail message she used herself. Jax hung up the phone, got to her feet and pulled her coat from the back of her chair.

  “Where you going?” Chief Strong asked. “We’re still waiting to rule out eighteen sites!”

  “Gotta check on Jones,” she said. “She’s not at Channel Four, and there’s no answer at MacKenzie’s place, or at Jones’s, either. She’s got the call forwarding on.”

  “To where?”

  “Her cell, I’m guessing. But she’s either out of range or turned off.”

  The chief pursed his lips. “Your case, your call. How do you want to handle it? I can have a warrant issued. Just say the word.”

  Jax hesitated. She would hate like hell to put out a warrant for Julie Jones’s arrest while the woman’s daughter was still missing. It seemed heartless, and despite popular opinion, Jax was far from heartless. She did have feelings; she just didn’t indulge them the way some did. She wasn’t a sap. She was fairly certain Jones had murdered Harry Blackwood. She was equally certain the bastard had it coming. But it wasn’t her job to justify crimes, just to solve them. She was going to have to lock Julie Jones up, sooner or later. She wasn’t going to like it, but she damn well was going to do it. It was her job.

  She pursed her lips. “You know, I doubt she’d skip town without a good reason,” she said. “She knew I’d come after her the second she did, and she seemed to want to avoid a jail cell as long as possible.”

  The chief lifted his heavy brows. “You think she may be going after the girl?”

  “Maybe. Why don’t you have someone check the airlines for me while I drive out to her place?”

  “Done. Call in when you get there.”

  She nodded once and headed out the door. Within twenty minutes, she was at Julie Jones’s place, because she’d done eighty most of the way, even though she hadn’t bothered with lights and noise. No one bothered her. When she pulled in, MacKenzie’s car was parked in the driveway. A palm to the hood told her the engine was cold. She peered into the garage, saw the Jeep parked there. No damp tire marks behind it, so she didn’t think it had been moved lately. The roads were wet this morning. Jones’s Mercedes was either still over a ravine up in the mountains or sitting at some roadside garage waiting for her to come and claim it. She hadn’t driven that. She hadn’t driven anything, by the looks of the place. But it was locked up tight and looked empty, despite the lights Jones had left on to make it look occupied.

  Jax pulled her cell phone from her pocket and called in, asked for the chief and waited while she was put through. He picked up. “Well?”

  “Nothing. They’re not here, either of them. All vehicles are accounted for.”

  “Someone drove them, then.”

  “Drove them where? Did you get a hit for me, Chief?”

  “Yeah. They’re in Virginia. Hopped an American Airlines flight from Hancock to Norfolk that left around 4:00 a.m.”

  “Hell.”

  “We’re already on the horn to Norfolk. Wait a sec.” His voice became muffled as he yelled to someone else in the room; then he came back a moment later. “Yeah, they rented a car when they arrived at Norfolk. We have the make, model and plate number, but where they’re going is anyone’s guess.”

  Jax narrowed her eyes. “Check the list.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Check the list of properties associated with Mordecai Young, the one we’ve been going over. See if any of the ones we haven’t checked out yet are in the state of Virginia. Or anywhere close to it. Maryland, D. C., maybe West Virginia.” She heard papers rustling. “I mean, maybe they got a lead we didn’t know about, though why the hell they would take off like a couple of vigilantes instead of letting us handle it is beyond—”

  “Bingo.”

  She stopped speaking. “You found it?”

  “Number One, Pine Tree Lane. Someplace called Heaven, Virginia. It changed hands just before the raid. Ten to one the new owner is just another alias.”

  “I’m hopping a flight to Norfolk.”

  “I’ll let the locals know you’re coming. He’s crossed state lines, now, Jax. The feds will be there in droves.”

  She swallowed hard. “We don’t know that he’s crossed state lines. We’re guessing. Why not let me confirm it before we notify them, huh?”

  “Jax—”

  “I’m thinking about the raid, Chief. I’m thinking about what happened the last time the feds got involved with this maniac. We want the kid back, don’t we?”

  He was silent for a long moment. Then, finally, he sighed. “Get down there, find the place, and stay in freaking touch. You’re bound and determined to cost me my job, aren’t you?”

  “Only if I get to replace you, Chief.”

  He told her to do something that would require a marital aid and hung up.

  Jax clicked the cutoff button and drove north, past the city and toward the airport.

  * * *

  Julie was tense and stiff, her ankle aching as much as her head did. Sean, she thought, looked like hell as he drove the rented car, and he kept rubbing the back of his neck with one hand as if his muscles ached.

  “You didn’t have to come with me, you know,” she told him.

  He glanced sideways at her, his eyes tired. “Yes, I did.”

  “Why do you say so?”

  “You telling me you don’t know? Think about it, Jones.”

  Pursing her lips, she tipped her head as she thought. “Oh,” she said at length. “You’re still trying to make up for what you think you did wrong sixteen years ago, the day of the raid.”

  He fro
wned. “Funny. I hadn’t thought about that in quite a while.” He shrugged. “But it’s not why I came.”

  “Why, then?”

  He sent her a searching look, then finally just shook his head. “Not now. It’s not the time.”

  “Come on, Sean. You must have an angle.”

  He looked a little sad for a moment, but then he sent her a wink. “Always. Besides, I promised the kid she could take her driver’s test on my car. And she needs a lot more practice.”

  Julie swallowed hard and wondered. For a while last night, when he’d touched her the way he had, she’d started to think he might have something long-term in mind for the two of them. But she didn’t know who the hell she was kidding. He wanted her sexually. She wanted him that way, too. She supposed there wasn’t going to be anything more than that.

  It was a good way to pass the time, wondering if she would give in and have a brief, sexual affair with him, turning it over in her mind. It didn’t keep her from worrying about Dawn, didn’t even calm her roiling stomach or sooth her frayed nerves. But it passed the time.

  “What’s the name of that road again?”

  “Pine Tree Lane,” she said, glancing down at the map that was open on her thighs. “We should get off in about two more exits.”

  “Great. We’ll be there before you know it.” He nodded at her bag on the floor. “How about the cell phone? You have a signal yet?”

  She pulled the phone out of her bag. “Nope. Not even a weak one.”

  “It’s the mountains,” he said.

  He drove a little farther, and she saw the next exit sign, confirmed the number against her map and nodded hard. “Should be the next one. Off the ramp, straight about ten miles, then hang a left onto Pine Tree. It winds its way up a mountainside.”

  “It’s up ahead, I can see the sign from here.”

  She nodded, glancing at the dashboard clock. It was early morning, the sun was barely up. But she would be with her daughter soon, she told herself. Soon. What the hell was she going to do when she got there?