‘Mrs Mason,’ he stepped forward and held out his hand, ‘it’s nice to finally meet you. Um… sorry,’ he indicated his shirtless chest, ‘I just got out the shower.’
She stared at him, making no move to shake his hand or even smile in his direction. Suddenly he frowned, dropping his hand and taking a step back.
‘Shower?’ she turned to Roni almost accusingly, ‘did he stay here last night? All night?’
‘I live here,’ Jake replied coolly, his eyes flat as he turned to Roni. ‘You didn’t tell her about me?’
‘Jake,’ Roni began apologetically, ‘Jake… it’s not what you think…’
Suddenly the ringing of his phone in his pants pocket broke the tension filled air.
‘Mac,’ Jake answered sharply, noting the caller ID. He listened intently for a moment. ‘Fuck…’ he swore softly, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand, forgetting that he was still holding his gun.
Cynthia watched disapprovingly.
‘Yeah,’ he replied, ‘I’m just getting dressed now. I can be there in ten.’
Roni waited until he hung up and tried again.
‘Jake…’
‘I have to go,’ Jake stared at her, his face unreadable.
She watched as he turned around and headed back into the bedroom; her stomach felt like it was a mass of writhing eels. She’d hurt him, she knew it, she could tell by the defensive set of his shoulders. She’d tried for so long to keep her two worlds from colliding, she hadn’t given any thought as to what would happen when they eventually did.
It was bad enough he now knew she hadn’t told her family about him, but given his ability for reading minds, and knowing exactly what her mother was like, she could only imagine what he’d heard.
‘Veronica,’ her mother snatched her attention, her voice that familiar commanding tone she’d used so often when Roni was a child. It immediately grated on her nerves and she felt a flush of temper flare in her chest.
‘You didn’t have to be so rude to him, mother,’ she snapped.
‘Veronica,’ Cynthia’s eyes widened.
Roni opened her mouth to speak again but turned as Jake came striding out in his uniform.
‘Jake,’ she tried again.
‘I have to go,’ he shook his head, ‘I’m needed.’
‘Okay,’ she nodded slowly, ‘I’ll see you later. We’re supposed to be at Olivia and Theo’s for dinner tonight.’
‘I’ll call and tell them to cancel,’ his gaze flicked to Cynthia; ‘I’m sure you’ll be busy with your mom.’
‘No,’ she shook her head, ‘she’ll probably be heading back to Boston soon.’
‘Actually,’ Cynthia replied firmly, ‘I’ve taken a room at the hotel. I’ll be here for a few days.’
‘What?’ Roni frowned as her head spun toward her mother, ‘why?’
‘I think that is a matter best discussed in private. It is a family matter.’
Jake got the message loud and clear, he most definitely wasn’t family.
‘I’ll call Olivia and Theo,’ he turned toward the door. ‘I have a lot of work to catch up on, so I’ll be back late.’
Before she could say another word, the door slammed in her face.
‘Mother!’ she turned back to the other woman angrily, ‘how could you treat him like that! This is MY home!’
‘Is it true?’ she asked, ‘does he live here?…With you?’
‘You mean am I fucking him?’ she snapped. She didn’t know what had come over her; she’d never spoken to her mother like that in her life but seeing how dismissive she was of Jake had enraged her.
‘VERONICA MASON!’ her mother gasped.
‘Yes, Jake does live here, he and I are together.’
‘How long?’ Cynthia asked.
‘Just over a year,’ Roni replied.
‘A year,’ Cynthia whispered in shock. ‘You’ve been seeing that man for over a year and you didn’t tell us? Didn’t tell me?’
Roni felt the anger drain out of her, only to be replaced with confusion. Her mother seemed genuinely upset, not that she was seeing Jake but that she’d not told her.
‘Mother,’ Roni exhaled slowly, ‘why are you here? You turn up on my doorstep at a ridiculously early hour, but say there’s no emergency with Dad, Louis or Evan. What on earth is going on that you felt you needed to make the drive from Boston so early in the morning?’
‘Actually, I arrived late last night but you weren’t here.’
‘Oh,’ Roni frowned, ‘um well, Jake and I have been away the last few weeks, so we were at his parents last night.’
‘His parents?’ Cynthia repeated, ‘you’ve met his parents?’
Roni shook her head, puzzled at her mother’s obvious hurt.
‘Mother?’ she tried again, ‘why are you here?’
‘I got your email,’ she replied.
‘Email?’ Roni tried to cast her mind back, ‘oh, the one I sent before I went away?’
‘That’s right,’ Cynthia replied, her thin coral colored lips tightening. ‘I’ve only just received it, somehow I missed it in my inbox. You know I don’t use email regularly.’
‘I know,’ Roni replied, ‘but there was no rush. I was just letting you know I was working on our family history and I was looking for any information you have. Apart from Grams I know almost nothing about your side of the family.’
‘There’s nothing to know,’ Cynthia’s back stiffened. ‘Your grandmother was an only child and there are no records. You won’t find anything.’
‘What do you mean?’ Roni asked curiously, ‘there are always records if you know where to look.’
‘No,’ she shook her head resolutely. ‘She was abandoned by her birth mother and sent to an orphanage, it burned down, and all the original records were lost. There is no way to trace her parentage.’
‘Are you sure?’ Roni scowled. ‘I know she didn’t talk about her family often but I’m sure Grams mentioned her mom when I was a kid.’
‘That was her adopted mother,’ Cynthia shook her head, ‘so there is no need for you to pursue this.’
‘Don’t you want to know?’ Roni asked in confusion. ‘Don’t you want to at least see if there are any records?’
‘I SAID NO, VERONICA!’ she snapped. ‘She was my mother and I would hope you would respect my wishes!’
‘I don’t understand,’ Roni tilted her head as she studied her mother, ‘why are you getting so angry?’
She watched as Cynthia inhaled deeply, her eyes closing briefly as she gained control of her emotions.
‘The matter is closed Veronica, I do not wish to discuss it again,’ she straightened her jacket and touched her fingertips lightly to the pearls at her neck. ‘I will make reservations for dinner tonight, 7pm sharp so don’t be late. You may bring Mr Gilbert with you. If he’s sleeping with my daughter I should at least hold a conversation with him while he has his clothes on,’ she glanced at Roni’s attire once more, ‘and for goodness sake wear something appropriate.’
Roni clenched her teeth so tightly she thought they might break, not trusting herself to say anything. She watched as her mother crossed the room and let herself out of the door, not even giving her daughter a backwards glance.
Once she was alone Roni let out the breath she’d been holding and drew in a shaky lungful of air. She pressed her hand to her churning stomach. She didn’t know what to deal with first, her mother’s sudden appearance and adamant refusal to allow her to trace her family history, or to call Jake and make him understand why she hadn’t told her family about him.
Staring down at the slim gold watch at her wrist she realized he’d still be driving, and if he wasn’t he’d probably be busy with Mac on some case.
Letting out a miserable breath she picked up her cell from the coffee table and typed out a quick message.
‘I’m sorry…’
She sat and stared at the phone for nearl
y ten minutes with no response, before she finally gave up. She needed to speak to Jake face to face, make him understand, but first there was something else she needed to do.
She scrolled through her numbers until she found the right one and hit connect. She sat nervously tapping her nails against her thigh, listening as it rang at the other end.
‘Hello?’
Her stomach jumped when it finally picked up.
‘Um Dad?’ she spoke softly into the phone, ‘hi.’
‘Veronica?’ he replied with a hint of confusion. ‘Hello sweetheart, it’s a bit early for you to be calling. Is everything alright?’
‘Yeah,’ she coughed lightly and corrected herself, ‘yes. It’s just that, uh, Mom just turned up on my doorstep. She says she’s staying in Mercy for a few days.’
‘Oh well that’s nice,’ he replied absently.
‘Did you know she was here?’
‘I’m in New York at the moment,’ he answered vaguely, his attention already on something else. ‘I expect she was just lonesome for some company. I’m not going to be back for a few more days.’
‘Dad?’
‘How are you then?’ he asked, but she could tell he was no longer really paying attention.
‘I’m good,’ she replied, ‘I got a tattoo of the Grim Reaper riding a motorcycle, on my arm, I also got arrested for smoking weed and I’m pregnant. It’s triplets and the father deals crack for a living.’
‘Good,’ he murmured, ‘that’s good.’
‘Dad?’
‘Anyway, well I expect you girls will have lots of fun together.’
He said it as if they were going to spend every day getting pedicures and going to lunch.
‘Dad, wait,’ she interrupted before he could hang up on her, ‘there’s something going on with Mom. She came to see me because I’m looking into our family history and she doesn’t want me to. I was just wondering why?’
‘Veronica,’ her father replied firmly, ‘if your mother has asked you not to pursue it, then she has good reason. I would have thought that, after all your mother has done for you, the least you could do for her is to respect her wishes. The past is the past and sometimes it’s best left buried.’
‘But…’
‘I’m sorry, I have to go. I have a meeting in an hour and I still have to review some contracts.’
‘Okay but I…’
She heard a click and the line went dead.
‘Damn it,’ she murmured to herself, staring down at her phone.
He definitely knew something alright. He didn’t so much as bat an eyelid when she told him she was knocked up by a crack dealer, but the first mention of her mother’s family and suddenly she had his attention.
One thing was for certain, they were both hiding something, and she was going to find out just what the hell it was.
3.
‘What have we got?’ Jake walked in to the bustling crime scene, sipping his coffee.
‘Jake,’ Mac nodded in greeting, ‘see for yourself.’
Not wanting to contaminate the scene, he handed his empty cup to one of the young deputies who was leaving, and knelt down next to the body.
‘Male, approx. 55-65 years of age, gunshot wound to the head,’ he mused.
‘Look closer,’ Mac murmured.
Jake pulled a pair of latex gloves from his pocket and returned to his scrutiny of the body. The man was lying on his side on the bare floor, curled up, as if he’d been on his knees at the moment of death and had simply keeled over. Strangely enough his arms were behind his body, crossed at the wrists next to the small of his back, as if he were somehow restrained.
Very carefully Jake moved the cuff of his shirt and sure enough there were ligature marks on his skin. Jake rocked back on his heels and glanced around.
‘What was he restrained with?’
‘No idea,’ Mac replied seriously, his brow furrowed. ‘We didn’t find anything.’
‘That’s weird,’ Jake stood slowly. ‘He would’ve had to be bound when rigor set in, for the arms to still be in that position. You think the killer stayed here, even after the guy was dead?’
‘Couldn’t have,’ Mac shook his head. ‘Apartment was locked, and dead bolted from the inside, no way the killer could have gotten out and locked up behind him. There’s also no bullet and no gunshot residue; neighbors didn’t even hear a shot and these walls are as thin as paper. There’s no way a gun’s going off in this apartment and no one heard it.’
‘Jesus,’ Jake replied, ‘just like the one we had back in February, the woman shot in her apartment which was locked from the inside.’
Mac nodded.
‘Bianca Shepherd,’ Mac confirmed. ‘Looks to be the same caliber of bullet, but without the actual bullets to compare there’s no way to tell.’
‘What the hell’s going on?’ Jake murmured. ‘This is weird, even by Mercy’s standards.’
‘You’re telling me,’ Mac shook his head.
‘Who is he?’ Jake lifted his chin indicating the dead guy on the floor.
Mac lifted his notebook and scanned back over his notes.
‘Dennis Waller; didn’t turn up for work. The guy has health issues and lives alone. When he was a ‘no show’ a colleague called and got no answer, so she called the super. Knowing Dennis, he tried to get in, but it was dead bolted from the inside. When there was no answer he knew something was wrong and called 911.’
‘Where’s he work?’ Jake asked thoughtfully.
‘He was a janitor at Rowan Oaks,’ Mac replied, watching him carefully to see if he made the connection.
‘Rowan Oaks?’ Jake looked sharply up at Mac, ‘the care home? Didn’t the other victim work there?’
Mac nodded.
They stepped back as the coroner hustled in with a body bag and a couple of assistants.
‘Hey Sachiv,’ Jake nodded.
‘Jake,’ he replied and turned to Mac. ‘I’ll get a rush on this one and send the autopsy file over as soon as I’m done, but if you’re right and it’s like the other lady I can’t guarantee it’ll be of any help.’
‘Understood,’ Mac answered.
‘Did he have any family?’ Jake asked.
‘Not that we know of,’ Mac replied quietly.
‘Guess we should head over to Rowan Oaks and speak to his colleagues. If he had no family, they probably knew him best.’
‘Possibly,’ Mac turned to look at Jake. ‘We’ve already spoken to some of his neighbors and they all said the same thing. Dennis Waller was a loner. He was polite enough, even friendly on occasions, but for the most part kept to himself.’
Jake nodded and turned to follow Mac from the room but as he did he felt his skin prickle. The hairs on the back of his neck seemed to rise and his ears filled with a static buzzing, like white noise. The strange thing was, underneath the layer of sound he thought he caught snatches of conversation, like an echo, faint… he couldn’t quite make out the words. The rhythm of the language was unfamiliar and as he caught a single word he knew why. Whoever it was, was speaking German.
Roni moved a stack of paperwork to the other side of her desk only to have it slide back over the report she was trying to read.
‘Damn it,’ she scooted it back out of the way again.
She was tempted to check her phone again, but she knew she wouldn’t hear anything from Jake yet. She could’ve kicked herself for making such a mess of everything.
Suddenly her office phone rang, and she found herself once again digging through stacks of sliding paperwork to find it.
‘Good Morning, Mercy Museum, Veronica speaking.’
‘Roni, it’s Kay,’ a warm voice answered.
‘Kay,’ Roni blew out a breath. ‘Hi, sorry I’m a bit all over the place at the moment.’
‘I’ll bet,’ Kay laughed. ‘I’ve been waiting for you to get back from your vacation, but it sounds as if you’re busy. Do you want me to
wait and give you a call back in a couple of days?’
‘No, no,’ Roni shook her head, even though her friend couldn’t see her. ‘Believe me there’s so much work it’ll take me a month to catch up, which is a bit of a nightmare considering our first annual festival is only a couple of weeks away.’
‘So I heard,’ Kay replied, and Roni could hear the smile in her voice. ‘I can’t wait.’
‘You’re coming?’ Roni asked in surprise.
‘I wouldn’t miss it,’ she laughed, ‘I’ll be coming in from Boston with my husband.’
‘That’s great,’ Roni answered. ‘Jake and I will take you guys out for dinner.’ If Jake’s still talking to me, she thought to herself.
‘That’ll be great. I can’t wait to meet him, you talk about him all the time.’
‘Yeah,’ Roni sighed.
‘What’s wrong?’ Kay asked in concern.
‘My mother showed up in Mercy this morning, she’s staying for a few days.’
‘Cynthia?’ Kay blew out a shocked breath, ‘seriously?’
‘Yeah,’ Roni replied miserably.
Kay was well acquainted with her mom, as they’d known each other since middle school. They’d bonded over their love of history and the fact they were both social outcasts. They’d gone through school together and roomed together at college. Then they’d gone their separate ways, Roni into the museum curatorship program and Kay into the Boston office of vital records.
‘Did she say why?’
‘Why she’s in Mercy?’
‘Yeah.’
‘She doesn’t want me looking into our family history,’ Roni frowned. ‘I called my dad and he pretty much said the same thing. Told me to respect her wishes.’
‘And are you?’
‘Going to respect her wishes? I don’t know. I can’t stand a mystery, I have to pick it apart until I understand it.’
‘You’ve always crumbled,’ Kay replied.
‘I know,’ Roni mumbled, ‘but maybe not this time. I don’t want to cause her any pain if that’s what this is, but I think I need to do it, I need to know.’
A Little Town Called Mercy Page 19
