by LS Sygnet
Kathleen bit into her thumbnail. “Will he hate me because of how your father and I –”
“Mom, did you want to disown me?”
“Of course not. I’ve always known you were special, Crevan. I never wanted anything to hurt you.”
“I don’t mean to be inhospitable,” Johnny said, “but Helen needs to eat and get some rest.”
Kathleen reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Of course you do, dear. You must take care of yourself. You look so thin, except for the tummy.”
“She’s having twins, Mom.”
And thank you for that, Crevan. Apparently Kathleen hadn’t picked up on all the plural children references this afternoon.
“Oh, that’s so wonderful. I know how tired you must be, Helen. We’ll talk again soon. Won’t we?”
I sure hope my smile didn’t look as sick as it felt. “Of course. But Johnny, Crevan and I have a lot of work to do.”
“I know. And I don’t expect that knowing the truth will erase the life you had with your adoptive parents. They must’ve loved you so.”
“My father did.”
Johnny and I walked them to the door, and I endured the most awkward hug of my life.
“I hope you know that I loved you, Helen. Always.”
“Thank you.”
Johnny closed the door and stared hard.
“So it was a ploy to get me alone so you could grill me, not the sincere plea for my hunger and rest.”
“Are you hungry?”
I snorted. “What do you think?”
“I think I don’t have the first clue what you’re really up to, Helen. In light of recent events, you can see why that sense would concern me.”
“I don’t think I could eat if I tried.”
“Then you’re laying down and taking a nap.”
“No,” I said. “I need to start looking for Dad, Johnny. If I fall asleep now, I’ll be up all night.”
“I’ll wake you in an hour, and we’ll try something light for dinner. No arguments, Helen. An hour isn’t going to prevent you from finding Wendell.”
“You’re not going to grill me about my conversation with Crevan?”
“Do I need to?”
Guilt descended. “I told him the truth, Johnny.”
“Hmm.” He looked disgusted, but not really shocked by my revelation.
“Are you mad at me?”
“I guess we should probably clarify what you mean by the truth.”
“I told him that I helped Dad escape,” I said softly. “He needs to understand that this isn’t as hopeless as it looks, Johnny. And if my father was part of it –”
“I thought we agreed that he wasn’t.”
“I don’t think he is, but what if I’m wrong?”
“If you’re wrong, I doubt we’ll find Wendell. But if you were wrong, I doubt you’d have any money left either.” Johnny clasped my hand and led me toward the bedroom. “Didn’t you tell me that your father rescued children?”
“Yes.”
“Then why would he be part of something that sold them into slavery?”
“He wouldn’t, but I have a hard time believing that Crevan’s father would be part of this either, Johnny, even if I do think he’s generally an asshole.”
He nudged me onto the bed. “Lay down and rest. I’ll wake you in about an hour.”
“You’re not going to stay with me?”
“If I stay, I have a feeling we won’t be doing a whole lot of searching for Wendell later.”
My fingers slipped through the belt loops on his jeans. “And you really think we have so little self control?”
“Positive,” he grinned. “But that also translates into an inability to tell you no.”
I stretched out on the bed and patted the spot beside me. “Well, come on then. If you want me to rest, you’re going to have to unwind me.”
He tugged me onto his chest and smoothed one hand over my back. “You’re impossible, Helen. I really wish you hadn’t told Crevan everything.”
“I didn’t. I just told him about Dad. He already knew I was holding something pretty big back. I thought you wanted me to start trusting people, Johnny.”
“Not with things that could eventually put you in prison.”
“He was excited about it, not angry or disappointed in me.”
“And I’m not sure that’s comforting.”
I lifted my head and peered up at him. “Why not?”
“Because it’s hard enough to keep you in line. If I have to start worrying about a twin brain thing going on, I’m not sure I can –”
I pinched his side. “That wasn’t funny.”
“Well, I’m not kidding, Helen. You see Crevan as the flip side to you. He’s the calm and rational one. You’re all passion and action, the pent up fury for the both of you. I think you need to remember his gut reaction earlier today when you strolled into the restaurant with Kathleen. He’s got the same instincts you do. He’s just far more repressed. If he’s at the point where he’s being his own man and standing up to the person who kept him down all these years, how long do you really think it’ll be before he’s unable to control his urges too?”
I thought about my red-black rage, that part of me that was unstoppable, irrepressible. I always thought it came from Dad, that he must’ve experienced the same thing too when he got so fed up that he couldn’t tolerate the failures of the justice system anymore. It was all wrong. Everything I thought I knew and understood about myself was completely wrong.
“Helen,” Johnny said softly, “you do know who you are. How many times do I have to tell you that it isn’t nature versus nurture? It’s both. You’re a child of two families now, and while you and Crevan might have a lot of the same inclinations, you’re still very different people.”
At least Johnny seems to know who I am, even though his words didn’t do much to quell the swirling doubts in my head.
Chapter 38
I set the mail on my iPhone app to push notifications. No way would I miss a reply to the cryptic messages I floated to every conceivable place where Dad might see them.
Johnny kept reminding me that it could take time and a whole lot more effort than we’d expended so far. I knew better. Well, I hoped.
See, I can’t quite bring myself to accept some of the nagging worry that’s been growing in my brain for the past couple of days. I believe that I know my father. I might not know every single detail of his criminal history, but I know who he is. I don’t doubt his love for me. It’s that surety that erases the caution my husband is trying to instill.
He’s afraid that he’ll be picking up a whole lot of shattered pieces when his worst case scenario happens, and Dad remains out there and we don’t get our questions answered.
I know better. I know the man I love will always be there when I need him, for as long as he has life, he will be there.
“Stop rearranging your breakfast and eat. I knew I should’ve made blueberry pancakes.”
“I’m sorry.” I pressed the button on the cell phone again. No notifications.
“Honey, it’s only been a few hours.”
“Maybe we should call Crevan and see how things went at the penthouse last night. What if Aidan was so angry that he charged over there to drag Kathleen home?”
Johnny chuckled. “Not possible, Doc. You don’t know Aidan at all.”
“I know the type.”
“Do you honestly think that a man who is never wrong would run after his wife for any reason?”
“No, but –”
“Helen, Kathleen is in the safest place in the world right now. Your instinct was right. That was the only way to make sure that Aidan doesn’t confront her. He won’t go near Crevan.”
I nibbled on a slice of crispy bacon, dropped it and picked up the phone.
“Stop playing with that thing and eat. Do you really want bad news at your checkup?”
“I can’t stop worrying about this. Why is he taking so long t
o contact me?”
“He’ll reply. You know it. I know it. When it happens, we’ll tell him what we know.”
I laid the phone down. A millisecond later, it rang. I grabbed it. “Yes?”
“Helen, it’s David.”
“Oh. Hi.”
He chuckled softly. “Were you hoping to hear someone else’s voice?”
“No, no. What’s wrong? Has something happened?”
“Just wanted to see how things are going with you. I didn’t hear anything after our dinner last week, and I was concerned.”
I relaxed. “Things are much better, David. Johnny and I were talking about calling you last night, actually. Not about us, but about this business with Sanderfield.”
“Ah, well I can give you the update in less than ten words. We haven’t made any progress.”
“Nothing?”
“We can show questionable practices as far as his campaign finances are concerned, but as to the affiliation with the human trafficking ring, no, we’ve got no evidence whatsoever. If we want to say that support from Sherman is circumstantial evidence, we’d be incriminating the current governor as well, since he once enjoyed Sherman’s support.”
“Speaking of Sherman, what do we know about the wife, David?”
“She isn’t speaking to anybody, even with her attorney present. He’s following the party line that the adoption of Sofia Datello was legal as far as Sherman knew.”
“What about her personal history? Who is she? Where did she come from?”
David chuckled. “You should be talking to the former members of OSI about that, Helen. Devlin and Crevan were the ones involved in compiling the file with all of that information after she was arrested.”
“Hmm.”
“I know that hum. What’s on your mind?”
“I’d like to talk to her. I’m not a cop. I can’t even be accused of being an agent acting on behalf of the police, David. My husband isn’t a cop anymore either.”
“No way will the DA go for that, Helen. I think her attorney might protest as well.”
“I don’t know how else we’re going to get the answers, David. Why have so many people been willing to die to protect this woman, to make sure that she doesn’t face criminal charges for what she did?”
“We know the answer to that question, Helen. Proving it is another matter.” He paused for only a second. “You’re sure that things are better between you and Johnny?”
I glanced at my husband. “Hold on a second, David.” I put the call on speaker. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes. What’s going on? Did you just put me on speaker?”
“I did. Now ask that question again.”
His smile was audible. “Then things really are better between my favorite newlyweds?”
Johnny chuckled. “Things are a hundred percent better, David. I want to thank you for what you said last week. I’m grateful to have my wife back.”
“If I could convince the two of you to get out of town and away from all this other nonsense for a couple of weeks, I’d feel like I pulled off a major coup. Sorry, my friends, but you’ve had far too much stress lately. You deserve to step back from it. Devlin and Crevan can handle whatever you have going on in the business. Doesn’t a proper honeymoon sound nice?”
“We’ve got an appointment with the obstetrician next week, David. I’m afraid traveling might not be something she’d endorse right now,” I said.
“But we could ask,” Johnny said. “Might be a good idea for us to go away for a little time alone, Helen.”
I frowned at Johnny.
“Well, we can wait for certain things anywhere, Helen. It’s not like we wouldn’t be in contact with anyone while we were away.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Good girl, Helen,” David said. “And Johnny’s right. If anything new develops, I’d call you immediately, if for no other reason than to offer you additional peace of mind.”
I was ready to pick a fight by the time the call ended. “You put him up to that, didn’t you? What did you do, call him while I was in the shower?”
“I didn’t say a word, honey.”
“Don’t you honey me. You’re trying to distract me from thinking about Dad.”
“Maybe I’d like to get you away from all of this before you have another attack of truthfulness and do something really stupid like tell Levine that your father isn’t really dead.”
“I wouldn’t!”
“Have you thought about how we’re going to explain any information we get from him when he does contact you?”
“Assuming he gets any of my messages.”
“Helen, he’ll contact you.”
I shoved my barely eaten food away and rubbed my temples. “No, I haven’t thought about it.”
“If we had a vacation, we could tell David that we went back to the house on Long Island, that we found some record that Wendell left at the house.”
“I’m not leaving, Johnny. We have to stay here. We can have a honeymoon any time.”
A pointed stare at my belly, and twitching eyebrows foreshadowed his argument. “Oh really? You’d leave our children for a romantic getaway? Or will this honeymoon take place when the boys are eighteen and off to college?”
“Who says I’d leave them then? Do you have any idea how many bad things happen to college students? Look at that poor college boy that Fulk Underwood murdered.”
“Which one?”
“My point exactly. Bobbi Tippet wasn’t a college student like Kyle Goddard. They both might’ve survived with a little more parental involvement in their lives.”
“Helen –”
“I know. The Goddards accepted Kyle’s lifestyle.”
“You’re not going to be a neurotic, over protective mother.”
“We’ll see about that,” I said.
The iPhone rang before the argument could escalate. I grabbed it and sighed. Blocked caller. “Seriously? Telemarketers on Sunday morning?”
Johnny frowned. “I doubt it. Answer the phone.”
“Hello?”
“Ms. Eriksson?” The voice was distant, hollow, but definitely male.
“Yes, who is this?”
“I’m answering a message that you left at National Bank in Grand Cayman.”
I nearly dropped the phone. “I was under the impression that my messages were private, sir.”
“I assure you they are. The party to which that message was directed requested an immediate response, miss. I was instructed to deliver it via telephone, as he seems to feel that our online form is less secure.”
“What was the message?”
The man spoke a string of numbers, segregated by dashes, a total of eighteen digits.
“That’s it?”
“Yes miss. The respondent assured me you would understand the message.”
“Thank you.” I clicked off the phone, those eighteen numbers committed to memory instantly. I recognized them, in a way. The 011 in the beginning sequence told me it was a telephone number, but obviously one located outside the United States, since 011 was the exit code to dial out of this country.
“Helen?”
“It was Dad.”
“Seriously? He called you?”
“Not exactly.” I pushed away from the table and ran upstairs to the nanny’s room on the third floor. Johnny’s footfalls echoed behind me.
I dug the old disposable cell out of the corner where I left it tucked away and plugged in months ago.
“Helen, what’s going on?”
“He’s in Europe. It was a phone number, Johnny.”
“You can’t call him from here. What if someone traces that phone back to you?”
“It’s disposable.”
“And you can make an international call on it?”
I cursed softly.
“Let’s trace the number and find out where it is. We can be on a flight by noon –”
“Johnny, he’s not going to stick around lo
ng enough for us to get there. Give me your Blackberry.”
His eyebrows danced again. “So we’re letting this be traced back to me.”
“It’s conceivable that you had the phone in your back pocket and dialed inadvertently. The numbers won’t make any sense if someone examines the phone.”
He laughed. “We’re blaming your call to a felon that you helped liberate from Attica to butt-dialing? No, Helen. Let’s get a phone that is capable of making international calls and dump it the second that you’re done talking.”
I nodded. “Will you go get one?”
“You’re not coming with me?”
I shook my head. “Hurry back.”
When he was gone, I dialed the number on the disposable cell. It rang once.
“Yes?”
“Daddy?” I whispered.
“Sprout, you got my message. What’s wrong?”
“I…” felt more than a pang or two of disappointment that he hadn’t dropped everything and come running.
“You what? What is it, sweetheart?”
“I need you,” I said.
“Honey, tell me what’s wrong.”
I explained what we’d learned in the weeks since my little adventure landed me in upstate New York. “Everything you know about Lyle Henderson would be helpful. Dad, did you have any reason to believe that this man, that Marie’s mother for that matter, was involved in something illegal? Crevan’s mom identified Suzy as the nurse who disappeared after I was abducted.”
“I knew very little about them. I didn’t want to know more than that. They were crazy people, Helen. Please let this go.”
“I can’t, not as long as the threat Andy Gillette leveled toward me is still hanging over our heads. What if somebody comes after me again? Or worse, what if someone steals my children?”
Wendell grew very quiet.
“Dad?”
“You never mentioned this when we spoke last.”
“I thought I did. He said it wasn’t the first time I’d been sold, Dad.”
“And he threatened my grandchildren?”
“Not the way you think.”
