by Justine Davis, Amy J. Fetzer, Katherine Garbera, Meredith Fletcher, Catherine Mann
She led the woman to the nearest chair, and when he brought a cloth with ice, she pressed it to Cleo’s cheek.
Her left eye was already darkening with a bruise, and her neck bore deep red finger marks. Big and wide. A man had tried to strangle her.
Jack offered her a glass of water, and Cleo sipped.
Darcy glanced at Jack. He didn’t look happy about this and sat down beside her.
“Tell us what happened,” Darcy said.
Holding the compress, Cleo gave her a one-eyed stare. “I was at my place, just got there and hadn’t even opened the door yet. They came outta nowhere. One guy grabbed me and slammed me against the door. He held me by the throat, and every time he spoke, he smacked me.”
“What did they want?”
“Nothing. It was just a little reminder to keep my mouth shut.”
Jack went for his pistol, checking the load and putting on the holster.
Darcy knew it wasn’t all because of her part in the investigation. Five other Cassandras were looking into the egg mining and Rainy’s accident. She hoped they were all okay.
“I gotta go,” Cleo said, trying to stand. “They’ll come here and hurt you.”
Darcy easily pushed her back down. “I won’t let that happen.”
“Neither will I,” Jack said. Cleo’s gaze landed on the pistol in Jack’s holster. “And someone already attacked her.”
“But this is the second warning,” Darcy said and Jack’s eyes narrowed. He’d confessed to being there as her backup when she’d met Touchy.
Slowly Cleo lowered the ice pack. “When?”
“I was meeting with Touchy and two men got to him first. I managed to get the little pig away from them.” Cleo eyed her. Darcy wasn’t a big person, and clearly Cleo didn’t believe that was possible. “I needed Tony alive and talking. And I’m stronger than I look.”
“She kicks like a damn mule,” Jack said but his look said it wasn’t enough. Darcy agreed.
This was more dangerous than they’d thought and if any of it came back to hurt Charlie, she’d never forgive herself. She took a damp rag and began cleaning the cuts on Cleo’s face.
“How did you get away?” Darcy asked.
“Kneed one guy in the balls, then smacked the other in the head with my purse. I have a brick in there, just for that.”
“Ouch,” Jack said. “Good thinking.”
Darcy smiled. “How about you tell me everything?”
“What’s to tell? They tried to kill me. The first man had a knife and said he was going to finish what the other man started.”
“What other guy?”
Cleo looked away, then let out a harsh breath. “The one who did this.” She held out her hands, palms up. Her wrists had been sliced. The scars were old and silvery. To make it look like suicide?
“Good God.” Her gaze flicked up. “I think you better start from the beginning.”
Cleo shook her head. “I tell you any more and you two will be in some real danger,” she said. “I wouldn’t risk it.”
“Then why did you come here?” Jack asked.
“I had to warn you.”
And she had nowhere else to go, Darcy thought. “I’m aware of how dangerous asking questions has become, but I can protect you. I can. Don’t look at me like that. I do it all the time. You just have to trust me—us,” she said when Jack laid his hand on her shoulder. She glanced up at him and a well of peace rose in her. He would help her. She wasn’t alone anymore.
She looked at Cleo. “I can slip you into a network where no one will ever find you.” She leaned close and gripped her hands. “I swear to you, we can help you.”
Cleo stared for a long moment, coming to grips with trusting complete strangers, then finally nodded. Darcy went for her tape recorder, setting it on the table between them. They sat in the corner of the hotel room, Jack beside her.
Cleo looked at the recorder, then at Darcy. “I did answer that surrogate ad twenty years ago.”
Darcy felt a weight slide off her shoulders.
“I wanted out of the business and I needed cash to start over. The only way to get Touchy off my ass was to promise to pay him for not working.”
“Walking away from him wouldn’t have been profitable to him.”
“Oh, yeah, he’s all about the money, the little weasel. Anyway, I called for the ad, and they sent me to a doctor. They did a physical and blood test, then they impregnated me with three embryos.”
Darcy felt her hands start to sweat.
“I got pregnant with one, and they set me up in a nice apartment with strict orders to stay there and not talk to anyone about the baby.” She shrugged. “I didn’t know anyone, so it didn’t matter. I wanted a clean break. Sitting on my butt for fifty grand was a whole lot better life than I’d had before then, so I was real game for it.”
“Did they monitor you?”
“Oh, yeah, real close, and I was driven to and from Dr. Reagan’s office each time by some guy who didn’t talk at all.”
“Reagan? You’re sure?” Rainy, Justin Cohen’s sister, Kelly, and now Cleo were all tied to the same dead doctor. What were the chances? Darcy thought, excitement coursing through her. “Did you notice any other women while you were in the offices? Maybe another surrogate?”
“Aside from the staff, most times there wasn’t a soul in there while I was there. It was usually after normal office hours. But once I saw a girl with really clear blue eyes. I noticed her because of the color. Brilliant. She was blond, about your size, and looked sorta nervous. Like she really didn’t want to be there. I heard the receptionist call her something like Tamara or Tanya.”
“I wonder if she was being impregnated as a surrogate, too.”
“I only saw her that one time, so I don’t know if that’s why she was there. Reagan was an OB-GYN, so there must have been many other women who saw him, I guess. If he did one, he could have done a lot more.”
Cleo reached for the water, but her hands shook, so she set it down.
“Cleo?”
The woman looked at her.
“Did you deliver a live baby?”
“Yes, I did.”
Darcy sagged into the chair. So there were potentially two children, Cleo’s and Kelly Cohen’s. But was either baby created from Rainy’s eggs?
“When I went into labor, I called Dr. Reagan. He came and got me, but we never made it to the hospital.”
“Why not?”
“A black car cut us off, and a couple guys got out. They forced Dr. Reagan from the car. They cracked him on the head and put me in their car. I wasn’t in the condition to struggle. I was going to have that baby any second and I didn’t care where.”
“This man who took you, what did he look like?”
Cleo leaned her head back, closing her eyes and drawing on a twenty-year-old memory. “He was average, dark eyes, and I think he wore a wig. He didn’t talk much and when he did, his face was sorta frozen.”
“How so?”
“Like his facial muscles were paralyzed. His eyes would look angry, but his face didn’t shift even a fraction. It was really creepy.” She shivered. “They took me to a warehouse.”
“Do you remember where it was?”
“No. I tried. It must have been somewhere near the hospital, because we didn’t ride for long. But I was in hard labor and all I cared about was pushing that baby out.”
“I understand that,” she said, glancing at Jack. “What happened after you delivered?”
“The instant I pushed that baby out, they took her.”
“Her?”
“Yeah, that much I know. It was a girl. A white baby, too. Strange. But she was so beautiful.” Cleo’s eyes welled up. “Pretty eyes. I never even got to touch her. Some other man took the baby. It wasn’t the guy who brought me there and hurt Dr. Reagan. This other dude, he just stood by as if waiting for a package.”
This is getting more twisted, Darcy thought, checking the tape. Cleo had seen
two men, one was obviously the muscle, and the second wanted the product. A human being they’d created? From Rainy’s eggs, or another’s?
“The guy with the wig took me back to my place. I thought he was going to kill me.”
“Why would he do that? You’d fulfilled your promise.”
She shook her head. “It didn’t matter. As far as they were concerned I was a machine and I was no longer useful. This was some top-secret stuff. No one trusted each other. I had nightmares about what they did with the baby.” Cleo shifted the ice pack, continued. “The guy held a knife to my throat, then he did this.” She offered her slashed wrists as proof. “But then he helped me stop the bleeding.”
Darcy’s eyebrows shot up.
“Sick, ain’t it? But I thought for sure I was going to die right there, so I promised not to ever talk about the baby. He told me if I did, he’d know. He’d find me and kill me. And make it hurt.”
“Did Dr. Reagan ever come to you?”
“Yeah, Dr. Reagan came to the apartment with some other guy. I heard him call him Peters. They asked me what happened, and all I said was that the baby was kidnapped. I told them those other guys drugged me and that I didn’t remember even having the baby. I didn’t even tell them it was a girl.”
“Do you think they believed you?” Jack asked.
“I don’t care if they did and I didn’t ask. They were pissed. I gave them back most of the money and left town fast.”
“This man, Peters. Was he a doctor? Can you describe him for me?”
Cleo looked at the notepad, then Darcy. “He was older, maybe sixty, sixty-five. Tall, skinny, with snow-white hair. I don’t remember his eyes, he stayed back from me like I had some disease or something. He had a lot of creases in his face and acted real superior, like he was better than anyone on the planet and Dr. Reagan was his flunky. He wasn’t concerned that the baby could have been harmed or killed or that I was cut up.”
Cleo clamped her lips shut, her smooth forehead knitting.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking he was the boss. Because Dr. Reagan did whatever he said. Dr. Reagan checked me to see if I was okay, you know, after the birth and my wrists, but the Peters guy was annoyed and impatient.”
“Has anyone besides me and the bastards who did that—” she pointed to the new bruises and cuts “—ever contacted you since then?”
“No, not outright. But they’ve been around.”
“Really. Did you see them? Did they send a message or something?”
“No, they never talked, never called or nothing, but I was a hooker, I can spot a cop or someone who doesn’t belong somewhere real fast.” She snapped her fingers. “And once in a while I’d see some guy hanging around, smoking a joint on the street corner or drinking with the winos, watching me. And I knew they weren’t part of the crowd, you dig?”
“Yeah, I dig.” It was why Darcy used disguises and makeup and had for years watched the way people behaved. She’d pattern herself after someone she’d seen and slide into the role.
“Did you see anyone else besides that one girl at the doctor’s office, a technician maybe or a nurse?” Darcy thought if she could pinpoint someone working there back then, she might be able to get more information on how and why Reagan had done this. Clearly, he’d been the one to harvest the eggs, or at least given someone a heads-up on a prime candidate to harvest.
“Yeah. Reagan had an assistant, a nurse. She wasn’t there all the time. Maybe two or three. Late forties, blond hair with bad roots and blue eyes.”
“A name?” Though she could have told Cleo herself.
Cleo thought for a second. “Stand…no, Stone.”
Darcy’s features pulled taut. She looked at Jack and stood.
“You’ve made a connection,” Jack said.
“Yes, to Athena. Betsy Stone is the Academy’s nurse.”
“You need to warn your friends.”
“I will when we get home, but first we have to get Cleo to a safe place. She’s the only one so far who can confirm that there were surrogates and they were connected to Betsy Stone and Dr. Reagan.”
Jack stared down at her, his hands on her arms. “You need to contact the police.”
“I can’t. Not yet. It’s not up to me alone, Jack. The Cassandras have to be told all this first. But I have to get Cleo into hiding.”
He agreed, reluctantly. “I didn’t want that badge back, anyway.”
“Oh, jeez, Jack. Don’t get involved if it will ruin you.”
“We’re in this together now, baby.” He rubbed her arms, his voice low, almost intimate. “Your friends, these Cassandras, they know about what Maurice did to you?”
“They hadn’t back then. Only Rainy did. I was too ashamed to admit it or get them involved. I think they’ve guessed, though. Kayla knows some of it. Alex, too, I think.”
“You need to talk to them, baby. They’re your friends.”
“I—I will.”
“I’ll be there if you want.”
She smiled, touched. “Thanks, Jack. But that will wait. We have to get organized. I need the case out of the back of my trunk.”
“Makeup?”
She nodded and started dialing the network. She looked at Cleo. “We have to get you hidden, deep. You can’t go back to your apartment.”
“What about money? I have money.”
“Got an ATM card?” Jack asked and Cleo nodded. “Give me the number and I’ll draw out money for you. They’ll be looking for you two, not me.”
Cleo handed it over. “I’m trusting you with my savings.” She gave him an amount to take out.
“I’ll be back in a few, there’s a machine downstairs.” Jack slipped on a jacket, then kissed Darcy.
“Get some clothes, Jack, men’s clothing, too. I can’t disguise her well, but we can make it less obvious that she’s a showgirl.”
Jack glanced at Cleo’s long legs and short skirt. “That will take some doing. I won’t be long.”
When she locked the door after him, Cleo said, “He’s cute. You love him?”
She blinked. “I don’t know.” Did she?
“He loves you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He never questioned you, doubted you, and now he’s risking his life for you. Girl, that’s love.”
Darcy allowed herself a small smile, then went to work, packing everything up and dialing the network again. She couldn’t get anyone to answer and there wasn’t a machine to leave a message. She wished Jack would return, but she knew he had to go someplace else for the clothes besides the hotel stores. Armani wasn’t in the budget.
“It’s hard to believe that someone wants to kill me because I had a baby.”
Darcy related. There was nothing more horrifying than to know that someone actually wanted you dead. It had a startling effect, making her want to fight the very idea. She hoped Cleo was ready to do the same. There was no turning back. Whoever had taken the baby was willing to kill to keep it quiet. Rainy had been the first to pay the price. As far as Darcy could see, they were all becoming expendable.
Someone jiggled the door handle. Darcy stilled, moving to peer through the peephole. She couldn’t see anyone, but a shadow moved against the far wall. As if the person knew he’d be seen through the peephole. She drew her knife, wishing there was a window. Someone pushed on the handle and Darcy looked again. A figure moved away.
It wasn’t Jack, but he was big.
She backed away from the door, tense. She heard something in the room next door and thought, had they just misjudged the room number?
“Why are you doing this for me?” Cleo said softly.
Darcy pressed her ear to the wall, listening. No sound. “Because you’re in trouble. You don’t deserve to be, you had a baby thinking it was for some childless couple and you got the rotten end of the deal.”
“There is something else you two are not saying, though. Or you wouldn’t have come looking for m
e. I think I have a right to know the whole story.”
“Yes, you’re right, you do deserve to know, but it’s dangerous,” Darcy said. She looked out the peephole, saw nothing and stepped away.
“They want to kill me. How much more dangerous could it get?”
“I see your point.” Darcy told her about Rainy, and the discovery of the egg mining. Cleo’s eyes widened as she filled her in on the Athena Academy grads’ theory.
“I had this woman’s child? This Rainy Miller Carrington?”
“Unless there are more women who were used, it’s entirely possible you could have given birth to a child created from her eggs. Eggs that were fertilized with some man’s sperm.”
“And you think they killed her because she found out these people had taken her eggs when she was a kid?”
“No doubt about it.”
“Jesus Christ,” she muttered. “What did they do with the baby? Hell, she’d have to be about twenty years old now.”
“I don’t know. My friends and I are all looking into this, but we’ve barely scratched the surface. I’m going to hide you, Cleo, but you have to stay connected to only me. When we do learn the truth, we might need you to testify. You cool with that?”
Cleo snapped her fingers and did what Darcy referred to as “the home girl head slide.” “In a heartbeat.”
An unexpected rap on the door startled them, and they both froze. Darcy grabbed her knife, and whispered, “Get back out of sight.”
Cleo went into the bathroom, closing the door.
With her knife behind her back, she looked through the peephole, expecting housekeeping. She got Jack.
She opened the door.
He looked at the knife. “You need a gun.” He pushed his way in.
“I hate them. Besides, they look better on you.”
Darcy went to the bathroom, letting Cleo out. Jack handed the bags to Cleo, then an envelope of money and her cards. Cleo smiled, but counted it, checked it against the receipt. Jack was amused.
Cleo sifted through the clothes, holding them against herself to check the size. “Decent,” she said, then folded them.
“Get changed,” Darcy said, then to Jack, “Where’s the makeup kit?”
