by Jaden Skye
The hug felt good, brief though it was. “I feel funny anyway,” said Olivia, wishing they could remain closer.
“You’re just feeling uncomfortable because we’re about to see all of them meet each other. Nerve-wracking for sure.”
*
When Olivia and Wayne got to the police station the main interrogation room was crowded. Both families had just arrived. Each family was standing on opposite sides of the room, gazing at one another fitfully. Both Angie and Andrea were also present. Olivia could understand why Angie would be there, but seeing Andrea there surprised her.
“Have any of you ever met?” Chief Dowl had taken charge and was running the meeting.
“Never, ever, ever.” Christine waved her arms wildly over her head. “And I don’t believe a word of this. They’re lying, all of them.”
Heidi stood a bit behind Calia, staring at Mort’s flamboyant other wife.
Officer Dowl turned to the other members of the family and asked each the same question. Had any of them ever seen each other before? One by one they all denied it.
“These are not my husband’s children,” Christine burst out again, pointing to Calia and Nate. “I officially deny this insane story.”
Calia took great exception to that. “Deny it all you want.” Her voice now suddenly became authoritative. “There are many people in Nashville who can confirm it. We’ve lived there as a family for years.”
“Are there documents to prove this?” Lance asked Dowl then, in a balanced tone. “Are there marriage certificates and certificates of birth?”
Somehow Lance’s question upset Andrea. “What difference does that make?” she interjected. “Something written on a piece of paper doesn’t really make someone a husband or father.”
“What are you talking about?” Calia shuddered. “Who are you anyway?”
“I’m Andrea, a part of the family, and I’m saying that someone can be a great father to you, even if he’s not your father legally.”
“Maybe,” Calia uttered, “but Mort Townsend was my natural birth father!”
“Don’t even bother to fight with her, honey,” Heidi whispered to her daughter. “Obviously, she’s delusional. Who knows who these people really are?”
Angie raised his hand forcefully then, to calm everyone down. “Let’s not get sidetracked here,” he insisted. “Of course we need legal documents to see who’s who and what’s what. There’s lot of money at stake in Mort’s inheritance.”
“Is that what you’re concerned with? Only that?” Heidi’s eyes shot fire at him.
“I’m concerned with much more than that,” Angie answered, “but that’s a part of it as well.”
“Bigamy is not permitted in our nation,” Lance informed them calmly. “Only one wife here is the legal one. Only one family receives my father’s inheritance.”
Heidi stared at Olivia unbelievingly. “That’s all they’re concerned with! Money, money,” she breathed.
“A great deal depends upon when you and Mort married,” Lance continued. “And from the look of it, from the age of the children, it seems my mother was his first wife.”
“Which means you are not even Mort’s wife,” Christine said loudly. “You’re simply a mistress of some sort.”
“She’s insulting you, Mom,” Calia retorted. “Don’t pay any attention to what she says.”
“Heidi is not a mistress.” Penny tried to calm the waters. “It’s possible that all along she’s believed that she’s Dad’s wife. Don’t rip everything away from her at once, Mom. We have to sort out this confusion slowly.”
“What am I ripping? I’m just speaking the truth,” exclaimed Christine.
“My mother is definitely Mort Townsend’s wife and I am his daughter,” Calia insisted.
“According to who? Only to you!” Andrea shot back at them, as though she were in charge of the meeting.
“Shut the hell up.” Nate lunged toward Andrea.
“Who are you to talk to me that way?” Andrea snapped back.
“Calm down, Andrea.” Penny tried to stop her. “Andrea’s my best friend,” she explained to Calia. “She’s been like a sister since we met.”
“That counts for nothing,” Nate murmured, his face growing distorted.
“I am not like a sister, I am Penny’s sister,” insisted Andrea. “And even though I’m not a sister by birth, I’m better than most sisters she could have.”
Penny put her hand on Andrea’s shoulder. “It’s all right,” she told her.
“No, it isn’t.” Andrea shook her hand off. “All of a sudden people have arrived from out of nowhere, claiming to be Mort’s children. It more than I can bear.”
“Claiming?” Nate’s eyes narrowed as he practically lunged at her again.
“Calm down, Andrea.” Lance was now growing uneasy. “This will all be checked into thoroughly, to see when and if marriage certificates were filed. From my research so far I do see that Morton A. Townsend, our father as we know him, filed a marriage certificate with my mother. I’ve also noted a Morton J. Townsend filing a marriage certificate in Nashville. We have to check further to make sure that’s the father of Nate and Calia, and that he’s the same man.”
“Of course he is.” Nate let loose.
“Shut up, Nate. Shut up.” Andrea glared at him.
“Let Andrea say what she wants.” Christine now seemed to be enjoying this. “She’s not a daughter, but she is a good friend of the family, definitely!”
Christine’s comment only incensed Andrea further, however. “Who can say who is and isn’t family?” Andrea shot back.
“Seems you’re the most upset about meeting Mort’s second family.” Dowl turned to Andrea then.
“It’s not that,” Andrea breathed, “I just hate it when people act as if everyone has a father but me.”
“Maybe you don’t deserve one,” Nate hissed at her.
Startled by Andrea’s behavior, Olivia jumped in. “You had absolutely no idea about Mort’s second family?” she asked her.
“Of course not, how could I?” Andrea answered. “Even though I worked closely with Mort, he never mentioned them, ever. Not a word. To anybody.”
“How closely did you work with Mort?” Olivia pursued it.
“Very,” Andrea said, boldly claiming her place. “We interacted every single day. Even when he was in Nashville.”
“Have you ever been there?” Dowl jumped into the conversation now.
“Yes, I was actually,” Andrea responded, “two or three times only, though.”
Everyone looked at Andrea differently then.
“Why?” asked Dowl, uneasy.
“Business, of course,” Andrea quipped.
“Do the people at Mort’s clinics in Nashville know you?”
“Some might remember me, I have no idea,” said Andrea.
Dowl threw a strange glance over at Wayne then. “We’ll look into this,” he said.
“I’ll check this out with Len Radson,” Wayne commented.
“I don’t know Len Radson,” Andrea spoke loudly. “I did other things up there.”
“What?” asked Dowl.
“Other things,” said Andrea, “all just business.”
“Monkey business,” Nate chimed in.
“You have no choice but to tell us exactly what you did,” Dowl continued.
“I looked over one or two of the clinics that Mort had some questions about,” Andrea reported. “There were some questions about the medical assistants and Mort wanted me to check on it.”
“You have proof of that?” Nate suddenly shouted.
“What’s it to you?” Andrea spun around.
“It’s my dad who was killed, not your dad,” Nate yelled.
“And maybe he deserved what he got,” Andrea suddenly spit out, growing more flushed and agitated.
“Maybe he did.” Nate suddenly laughed.
Everyone stopped cold then and stared at both Nate and Andrea.
Dowl raised his hands. “Okay, okay, enough of this for now. The general meeting is over. We’re going to want to talk to each of you separately in a little while. But first Nate and Andrea.”
It was obvious to Olivia that right on the spot, both Andrea and Nate had turned into suspects. Olivia felt deeply unsettled. The meeting was far from over for her. Dowl could talk to Andrea and Nate alone all he wanted, but she personally wanted to interview both Christine and Heidi in a room together. The meeting between the two wives would be pivotal. Olivia could not help but feel that she would learn much of what she needed to know by watching them interact with each other.
“Before we adjourn the meeting I’d like to speak alone with Christine and Heidi together now,” Olivia piped up.
“Terrific idea,” Wayne agreed, looking at Olivia with interest.
Olivia quickly turned to Dowl. “How about it?”
“Of course, go right ahead,” he replied. “The second room to the right is empty. The three of you can go there now. Stay as long as you like.”
*
Olivia, Christine, and Heidi stood facing one another in a small room with a high window through which rays of sun managed to shine in. As soon as Olivia closed the door behind them, she pointed to narrow wooden chairs that were placed around a square table.
“Please sit down,” Olivia suggested.
“These lousy chairs won’t hold me. I’d rather stand,” Christine said in a rough tone as Heidi went to sit as requested. Today Heidi seemed even more frail and unhinged as she placed her beautifully manicured hands on the table. She kept tapping her fingers together again and again.
Christine, though, seemed stronger, as though somehow Mort’s death had given her an odd power and the right to dominate everyone. Christine looked at Heidi with scorn.
“I was married to Mort longer than you. Our children are older,” she said.
Heidi did not answer, just looked over at Olivia, in pain. “I miss him terribly,” she managed, somehow strangely suggesting that Christine did not.
“Do you miss him, too, Christine?” Olivia asked.
“I did terribly until today when I have to meet his so-called second family,” Christine uttered.
“The thought of not seeing Mort again is not bearable,” Heidi continued. “I don’t care who I do or do not have to meet.”
Christine’s face grew red and hot. “I can’t listen to this,” she burst out. “Another woman is sitting here telling me she misses my husband. Another woman has memories with him. How can I live with this? I can’t. He deceived both of us!”
Suddenly, the two of them stared at each other as if two flaming arrows shot in different directions had suddenly met and collided midstream.
“There had to be some sign that Mort lived a double life,” Olivia uttered. “A person can’t go on like this for years without exposing it somehow. Mort must have wanted to expose it! He must have needed to tell the truth!”
“What makes you think he didn’t tell the truth?” Christine’s voice boomed out. “What makes you think the little side trip he had in Nashville meant anything to him at all?”
“Little side trip?” Heidi seemed totally offended.
“Heidi had to be something to pass the time while he was away from us.” Christine breathed heavily.
“Just pass the time, for almost twenty years?” Heidi flared up. “There had to be something wrong in your relationship and you know it. He might have met me after he knew you, but he never left me. And he couldn’t leave you obviously, even if he wanted to.”
“Mort was brutally beaten,” Christine flung back, wanting to see Heidi squirm. “He died a terrible death.”
Heidi remained calm, though, seeming only to want to block Christine out.
“I’d hoped the two of you would join together to help us find Mort’s killer,” Olivia said then out of nowhere. “Someone knows something that can unlock the case.”
The two women stopped and looked at one another. They couldn’t have been more different, thought Olivia. They probably represented two completely different sides of Mort and what he needed.
“It seems to me that Mort could have possibly been quite ill mentally?” Olivia started probing.
Christine laughed loudly at the suggestion, while Heidi clenched up tighter.
“Mort was clear, simple, loyal,” Heidi said. “He never showed any signs of mental illness at all.”
“Living a total lie is mental illness.” Christine seemed happy to say it.
“Yes, it is,” agreed Olivia. “How else did he express this illness?” She turned to Christine.
“What illness? What are you talking about?” Heidi stood up from her seat then, frazzled. “I refuse to listen to this kind of nonsense. Say what you want about him, but Mort was not mentally ill. He was a fantastic businessman, smart and kind. Respect the dead, please. He deserves that much at least.”
Christine’s eyes narrowed painfully. “I did respect him, I used to respect him.” She crouched over as she spoke. “But now I don’t. How can I? Mort lied to me! He lied to you!”
“He must have gotten caught in a trap he couldn’t get out of.” Heidi began crying. “He got in over his head. We’ve all done that, and then we’re sorry.”
“Making excuses for him?” Christine laughed. “I used to do that too, in the beginning.”
“What did you make excuses about, Christine?” Olivia jumped in.
“Every little thing he did that upset me,” she said.
“Like what?” Olivia needed to know.
“Nothing so important, not something like this.” Christine backed off promptly.
“But what?” Olivia wouldn’t let go.
“He wouldn’t come home at night when he said he would. I’d be there waiting with dinner,” Christine murmured.
“Me, too, me too,” Heidi echoed.
“I’d tell myself it was fine, he was working so hard for us,” said Christine.
“You didn’t press him about where he was?” Olivia was fascinated.
“Sometimes I did,” Christine agreed, “but it just backfired. Mort was not a man who liked to be pressed. So I let it go and moved along.”
Heidi was staring at Christine, mesmerized.
“As time went on it became a pattern,” Christine continued. “I didn’t press him. I didn’t look deeply. Recently he wasn’t bringing home as much money. I asked him where it was going and he looked at me blankly.”
Heidi sighed deeply. “Oh my God, my God,” she whimpered.
“You too?” Christine faced her head on.
“Exactly, exactly,” said Heidi.
“Obviously, some other financial need has arisen for him. This would explain the money that was unaccounted for at his company,” said Olivia.
“What are you talking about?” Christine grew rabid suddenly. “What unaccounted-for money?”
“Mort had a personal bank account through the company,” Olivia reported. “Taxes were paid on it fully, but where the money went was unaccounted for.”
“There could be another one of us! Another woman?” Heidi’s head flipped backward in horror. “There was less money for our family as well.”
Christine closed her eyes tight and stomped her foot on the floor. “He’s lucky he’s dead right now, I can tell you. Or I would have killed him myself if he was alive and I found all this out.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Olivia spoke with Christine and Heidi a few minutes longer and then decided to give everyone a much needed break.
“Is this all there is?” Heidi asked disconsolately as Olivia said they would be stopping now.
“No, of course not,” said Olivia, “we’ll talk more later. There are other things I have to check on now.”
“Like what?” Christine turned to Olivia suspiciously.
“I want to see what calls are coming in on the tip line, for one.” Olivia wanted to be as transparent as possible. “I’m also interested in speaking to N
ate.”
At that Heidi shivered. “Why Nate?”
“He interests me,” said Olivia.
“He’s just a young boy, he’s just lost his father.” Heidi took exception.
“I’ll be careful with him,” Olivia assured her.
“I thought Dowl wanted to talk to him and Andrea,” Christine interrupted.
“Yes, he does,” agreed Olivia. “But I do, too.”
Christine and Olivia looked at one another harshly. “You’re pretty aggressive, really,” Christine suddenly said to Olivia. “You look so mild and pretty, but that’s not it at all.”
Olivia wondered why Christine was turning on her now. “No, you’re right, I’m not the least bit mild,” Olivia retorted.
“Well, I’m glad you admit it at least,” Christine added.
“What’s the point of attacking me, if I may ask?” Olivia went on.
“I’m not attacking you, I’m not attacking anyone,” Christine muttered. “I just want to keep things straight. Call something what it is. I’ve had it with being tricked and deceived.”
“Why in the world would I want to deceive you?” asked Olivia.
Christine looked at her oddly then and smiled. “There are a lot of people here besides Nate who could be hiding something. Why aren’t you talking to them? Why are you picking on a kid and the grieving widow?”
Christine’s comment unnerved Olivia. Her suspicions of Olivia were totally unwarranted and they led Olivia to wonder what Christine was hiding herself.
“I don’t like your talking to Nate either,” Heidi chimed in sadly.
Olivia had enough. “Well, whether you like it or not, there’s no choice about it. This is a murder investigation and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
*
After Christine and Heidi left, Olivia immediately texted Dowl that she wanted to speak to Nate as soon as he was available. To her delight, Dowl texted back instantly.
Nate’s waiting outside. I haven’t talked to him yet, I’m busy with Andrea. She’s a piece of work. You go ahead. Wayne is talking to Lance, and, by the way, Justin is here, too, talking to some of the other folks now.
