Till The Dead Speak (Killer Affections Book 2)

by Jerrie Alexander

“Samantha.” Nana’s voice was a welcome sound.

  “Nana. I’m so glad you’re here.” Samantha turned into her grandmother’s arms and breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Nana?” Linc said. His mouth hung open. “This is Nana?”

  “It is. Nana, this is Linc Hawkins. My…ah…my driver.”

  “Linc, meet my grandmother, Ruth Greenberg.”

  “Please to meet you, Ms. Greenberg.” He shook her hand, and Samantha’s heart constricted. “And rest assured it will be my privilege to drive you or your granddaughter anywhere you wish.”

  “Nobody calls me Ms. Greenberg. It makes me sound old.”

  Samantha stood back and let her grandmother work her charm on Linc. Grace personified, she could charm the gruffest of men into pliable putty.

  “Then I’ll never utter the words again. How’s Ruth sound? You’re much too beautiful for me to think of you as Nana.”

  Holding back a laugh, Samantha watched Linc fall head over heels in love with her grandmother. Everybody did. At sixty-eight years old, her chin-length blonde hair had one lone stripe of silver swept over one eyebrow. Tall and thin, with laughing blue eyes, she looked closer to fifty-three.

  Nana had a secret though; actually, she’d had four of them. Their names had been Anderson, Williams, Jacobson, and Greenberg, all past husbands. Or maybe, passed husbands would be more appropriate. Samantha stifled a snicker at her own joke. The last three had left large sums of money, enough that Nana never had to worry about income. Carl Greenberg, her last husband had pushed her net worth into the millions. How many? Samantha had no idea. Her grandmother had always eaten healthily, exercised, kept her mind sharp, and slathered on the sun block. Samantha had always wondered if there’d been any nipping and tucking going on, but she was smart enough not to ask.

  Her grandmother glanced at the bell captain and received a slight nod. With a sweep of her yellow skirt, Nana turned and headed deeper into the lobby area.

  “I’m checked in at a motel a few miles north.”

  “No you’re not. You’ll stay here. We’ll cancel your other reservations and I’ll pay for tonight’s room there. You’ll need to go back and retrieve your luggage in the morning; in the meantime you can borrow some sleep things from me. No, on second thought, wait here for a minute.”

  Nana went to the front desk and chatted with the clerk. A few minutes later, she and a tall dignified man joined her. Together they walked back to Samantha and Linc.

  “Philip is the hotel concierge. He’s quite familiar with such mistakes. He will see to it your suitcase is retrieved and delivered to your room in the next few hours.”

  “You can do that?” Samantha asked.

  “Yes. I know the manager. He’ll work with me.”

  “I’ll leave you two to catch up,” Linc said. “I’ll see you around 8:00 in the morning. I’ll borrow Maggie’s car, since the three of us won’t fit in my car.” He dislodged himself from her grandmother’s grip and backed away.

  The two women waited until he left, neither speaking, Samantha waited for her grandmother to say something. Her eye twitched, and it occurred to her it hadn’t jumped once during her visit to The Cage.

  “Come on, we need to talk.” Her grandmother turned and headed for the stairs.

  “We’re walking?” Samantha lagged behind.

  “Please. Whining is unbecoming. We’re on the fourth floor. It’s not like we’re walking to the top.” Nana glanced down. One hand went to her heart, and she shook her head. “My darling, you’re in California. Those pumps must be replaced.”

  “I could have come in barefoot.” She hushed when her grandmother’s eyebrows shot up.

  “First thing in the morning we’ll go to the boutique here in the hotel. I’ll buy you a pair of nice sandals.”

  Samantha followed Nana down the hall, enjoying the plush carpet. She unlocked the door and they stepped into a spacious suite complete with its own fireplace and floor-to-ceiling panoramic view of the ocean. “Wonder if anybody ever questions having a fireplace in the room?”

  “What?” Nana marched over and placed her hand on Samantha’s forehead. “You don’t have fever. You sound confused.”

  “I am very confused.” Samantha wanted to hear the truth, anything that would answer the questions crowding her mind. “This has been the strangest day of my life. I’m so tired I could sleep for a week, yet I’m dying for answers.” She opened the glass door to the balcony.

  “I’ll tell you everything, darling, but understand that what I’m about to say will be difficult for me, so please hear me out. When I’m finished then ask your questions. Your room adjoins my suite, if at any time you want to stop, we’ll continue tomorrow after you’ve rested.”

  Her grandmother moved across the room to a bottle of wine already opened and left to breathe. She poured two glasses, handed one to Samantha, and then led her on the balcony.

  “Thanks.” She sat and leaned back, waiting. “I’m listening.”

  For a long minute, her grandmother sipped her wine and looked out at the ocean. When she joined Samantha, her eyes were full of resolve and her chin was firm.

  The story unfolded in pieces, her grandmother slowly moving through each segment of her young life. In the beginning, as she spoke of her love for a teenage Charlie, her eyes filled with tears, but as she continued, a small wistful smile tugged at her mouth.

  Samantha reached out and caught Nana’s hand, ignoring the discomfort when her grip tightened. Nana’s pain ran deep and was still fresh after all these years. Her version was the same as Charlie’s, except Samantha was experiencing the distress through her grandmother’s words.

  “And you kept the baby?” Samantha asked in a whisper, knowing that child was her own father.

  “You damn right.” Nana’s eyes turned cold and her lips pressed into a thin line as she continued. “My parents were very strict. To them my pregnancy was an abomination. I was going to bring shame to the family. They wanted to send me to a home for unwed mothers where I could have the baby and put it up for adoption. After I tried to run away, they washed their hands of me, sent me to live with my mother’s sister, who’d offered to take me. And getting put on that bus to New York was the best thing that happened to me for years. She took care of me. Loved me like a daughter. Having to raise a teenager with a baby must’ve have been a hardship, but she never complained.”

  “What about your parents? Didn’t you have to go home?” Samantha fought back tears welling in her eyes.

  “No. I was dead to them. They didn’t want me back with or without a baby,” Nana said through gritted teeth. “I’d been terrified of my father all my life, but by then, I hated him. They signed custody over to my aunt when they shipped me to her. I never saw or spoke to them again.”

  “So your parents never saw their grandson.” What kind of people were they that they could be so cruel? Her grandmother’s eyes were shadowed with anger.

  “No, and I’ll never forgive them, not even in death.”

  “You were a courageous young woman.” Samantha couldn’t imagine how her horrible grandmother’s life as a child must’ve been. The weight of her mistreatment and abandonment hadn’t turned her mean or cruel. She had more love in her than any ten people.

  “Hardly.” Nana huffed out a sound of disagreement. “I’d never been so scared in my life. I would have stayed holed up in her apartment and never set foot outside, but Aunt Ellen insisted I return to high school and graduate. She was the real hero of my life.”

  “I still say you’re the bravest person I’ve ever known.” Samantha wanted to comfort her grandmother, but sat still, letting her grandmother finish her story.

  “Then a wonderful thing happened. I met Frank Anderson. A sweet young man, who once I told him the truth, never judged me. Ever. And I adored him for his forgiving heart. We married before your father turned two, and he adopted your dad soon afterward.” She paused to take a sip of wine before continuing her story. “Back then fa
thers didn’t have rights like they do today. Charlie’s name didn’t appear on the birth certificate. The hospital put the word unknown on that line. The adoption went through without a hitch and Frank was added as his father. He loved your daddy as if he’d fathered him.”

  “But he didn’t.”

  Her grandmother reacted by jerking her hands away. She stood and walked to the edge of the balcony. Her fingers gripped the railing, and she stared out toward the ocean. The steady thud of the waves as they hit the shore punctuated the otherwise quiet night.

  Samantha knew to remain silent, to give her grandmother time to finish her story her way, but there were more questions to be asked.

  “Biologically, no.” Her grandmother turned, and the pain in her eyes was evident.

  Samantha’s heart ached. “Do you know if Charlie tried to locate you?”

  Nana turned and leaned against the railing. “Not to my knowledge. While I lived with my aunt, I sent letters to his home, but they always came back unopened. I prayed every day of my pregnancy that he’d ride in on his white horse and save me. He didn’t.”

  “It was so unfair.”

  “Frank used to tell Samuel that ‘fair was a weather forecast.’ That boy grew into a man who used the same phrase.”

  Samantha smiled, remembering her father using it on her. “That’s true. Go ahead.”

  “I had graduated high school and was working at a department store when I met Frank. After a few dates, I told him about little Samuel. The first time your father met Frank…well…it was love at first sight between man and child. As young as we were, I knew then he was the man to make us a family.”

  “I’m sorry Charlie wasn’t there for you.”

  “He didn’t want to be.” Nana flipped her hand as if waving off a fly.

  “There are tons of pictures of me in Charlie’s office, but none of me as a child.” The fact he’d kept up with Samantha troubled her. “Is it possible he didn’t know you were pregnant?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Not anymore.” Bitterness dripped from Nana’s voice. She waved her hand through the air as if wiping away a memory. “Your messages said he’d left you his estate. Maybe he developed a conscience in his old age.”

  “I’m sorry you went through all of that.” Sadness for her grandmother put a lump in Samantha’s throat, but she had one more question.

  “Don’t be. I’ve had a wonderful life. I wouldn’t go back and change one damn thing.”

  “Did you ever tell Dad the truth?” Samantha had to hear the rest of the story.

  “I couldn’t.” Nana’s voice was so soft Samantha barely heard her.

  “Why? Dad spent his entire life not knowing the truth about his real father?”

  “Frank Anderson was his father.” Samantha’s grandmother’s tone grew cold. “We planned on telling Samuel when he was old enough to understand. At what age is a child able to understand his grandparents disowned his mother because she got pregnant? When do you tell a kid his father wanted nothing to do with him or his mother. How do you tell him these horrible things? When do you put such a burden of knowledge on him?” She paused. Her shoulders sagged as if too heavy to hold up, and the lines around her mouth sunk deeper.

  Samantha stepped back and waited in silence.

  “Frank and I wanted to tell your dad the truth. But Frank, who was your Grampy in all respect except blood, had a heart attack. I just never found the right time. Then Samuel died in the fire, and it was too late.” Tears filled Nana’s eyes.

  Nana’s pain radiated from her face. It was the same look she’d worn the day the firefighters gathered around the family and told them what a wonderful captain Samuel Anderson had been.

  Samantha’s heart ached for her grandmother. She looked frail and very tired. Samantha stood, capturing Nana’s hands in hers. “You did what you thought was best for your son.”

  “I don’t deserve praise.”

  “We’re both exhausted, so let’s call it a night.” She pulled her grandmother into her arms and held her tight for a long time. “No matter what happened in the past, it’s not my place to judge you. Just know that I love you with all my heart.”

  Nana sighed and stepped back. “I love you too. We’ll talk more as you think of questions.”

  Samantha walked through the connecting door into her room, closed the door, and then leaned back. The silence engulfed her. So much of her life had changed because of one man’s death.

  CHAPTER 5

  A soft rapping pulled Samantha from a restless sleep. She snuggled under the sheet, listening to see if she’d imagined it. Then it happened again, followed by, “room service.” She glanced around for her robe only to discover she’d fallen asleep in her clothes. Barefoot, she walked to the door.

  “I didn’t order anything,” she said, looking through the peephole.

  “Ms. Greenberg requested breakfast be delivered promptly at eight.”

  “No doubt.” She smiled at her grandmother’s thoughtfulness. Opening the door, Samantha followed the welcome aroma of coffee as the bellman set a tray holding a silver carafe on the table.

  “Hang on.” Realizing she should tip, she looked around the room for her purse.

  “Not necessary, ma’am. Ms. Greenberg took care of me.” He backed out of the room silently and pulled the door closed.

  Samantha poured herself a cup and opened the drapes. The morning sun shimmering across the ocean, water as far as the eye could see, offered more of a jolt than the caffeine.

  She needed her purse. How could she not have noticed it missing? The last time she remembered having it, she’d laid it on top of her suitcase in the lobby. It was in her grandmother’s suite. Breathing a sigh of relief, she admonished herself. Absentmindedness was not her typical behavior. She unzipped her suitcase and unpacked the few outfits she’d brought. A knock on the connecting door said her grandmother was up and ready to go.

  “Linc’s on his way up. How much longer before you’re ready?” Her grandmother called to her through the closed door. She’d sounded weak last night, but this morning her voice came through as strong and intimidating as ever.

  “Thirty minutes. At least.” Samantha hung a white blouse and pair of black slacks on the back of the shower door. She undressed, reached in and turned on the water.

  The spray was warm and wonderful. With jets on both sides, the shower offered a selection of different pulses and pressures. She lingered, sorting through the information she’d heard last night. Her imagination wandered to how her life might have been, but anger and confusion pulled her back to the present. Determined to remain in control, she concentrated on this morning’s meeting. Maybe she’d get a few more answers to her questions, like why hadn’t Charlie come forward. And why now?

  Tucking the towel around her, she pulled her hair back in a low ponytail, wrapped it around itself into a knot and finished her makeup. She slipped on her robe and decided to get a second cup of coffee. She pushed open the bathroom door and found Linc sitting at the table sipping a cup of coffee.

  Shrieking, she jumped back almost tripping over her own bare feet. “How did you get in here? Nana said you were on your way up. She didn’t say you were going to break in my room,” Samantha said.

  “I knocked twice. You should have put the safety bar in place when room service left. I thought there might be something wrong.” He paused, took a sip of his coffee, and then continued. “I’m here to offer support. I’m assuming she explained why she never told anyone about Charlie?”

  “Yes. She had no idea he’d looked for her. Her decision not to tell my father still troubles me, but I can’t see any point in second guessing her. I still have questions about Charlie, but I’ll be dressed when I ask them. So go away.”

  Samantha stabbed a finger in the direction of the hall and headed to the privacy of her bathroom. A solid knock drew her attention. She turned just in time to see Linc open the door adjoining her grandmother’s room. The door swung open and there st
ood Nana. Hair styled to perfection, dressed in a royal blue suited skirt. Her eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight of Linc and then disappeared as she swept past him as if it was perfectly normal to find him in her room.

  “He just got here.” Samantha tried to explain.

  “Surely, you don’t think me such a prude that you feel compelled to lie. You’re a grown woman, with adult needs, and if our boy Linc provides satisfactory results, who am I to judge?” Nana turned, raised her hand to Linc’s cheek and patted. “But really, this appointment is much more important than fulfilling your primal needs.”

  “No, no, it’s not what it looks like.” Linc seemed to have lost his voice after being referred to as “our boy.” The color of his face had changed shades of pink at least three times. His walking into her room uninvited became so worth it.

  Nana was back to her usual larger than life self. Samantha smiled with pride. “I’ll be ready in a second.”

  ****

  Samantha listened as the trip into Los Angeles turned into a love fest between Linc and her grandmother. They chatted like old friends. Like when Nana told him her age, he argued there had to be a mistake, as she looked too young to be a sixty-eight year old grandmother. Linc pulled Nana out of her dark mood and soon had her laughing. No way was Samantha messing that up.

  She longed for another cup of coffee to help ward off the effects of tossing and turning last night. Her grandmother’s story had played through her mind again and again, leaving her vacillating between anger at her grandmother’s silence and sympathy for the anguish she must’ve endured. To be disowned by her parents and to live with such a heavy secret for so many years must’ve been a heavy burden to carry.

  Linc drove into a multi-level parking garage, found a spot close to the elevator, got out, and opened Nana’s door. Samantha was waiting at the front of the sedan he’d borrowed by the time he reached.

  “Thank you,” she mouthed, returning his knowing smile.

  “I’ll wait for you ladies in the outer office.” Lync led them to the elevator.

  Nana twined her fingers through Samantha’s. “You’ve been quiet.”