‘Are you absolutely sure?’
‘I think so, why?’
‘Because this is exactly why I’m calling,’ Kay replied seriously. ‘You asked me before you went away to look for your grandmother’s birth certificate, to see if we could trace her parents.’
‘You found something?’ Roni replied in surprise.
‘Of course I did,’ Roni could hear the teasing in her friend’s voice. ‘I may not be some fancy museum curator and darling of the town council, but I’m damn good at my job.’
‘I know you are,’ Roni smiled warmly. ‘I guess I’m just still wound up from my run in with my mother. She said my grandmother was abandoned by her birth mother and left at an orphanage which burned down, destroying all the records.’
‘Well she’s right and wrong.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Your grandmother did spend some time in an orphanage before she was adopted, and yes, it did burn down, but the records weren’t kept at the orphanage. It was state run and as an historian yourself you know there’s always a footprint somewhere, as long as you know where to look.’
‘You found them?’
‘Your grandmother wasn’t abandoned by her birth mother; her mother was killed in a car accident and as there were no living relatives that they could find, your grandmother became a ward of the state.’
‘Her father?’
‘Unknown,’ Kay replied, ‘but then again it was during the war. It wasn’t unusual for unmarried mothers to put ‘father unknown’ on the birth certificate.’
‘Oh,’ Roni replied in disappointment, ‘so my mother was right, it’s a dead end.’
‘Oh ye of little faith,’ Kay laughed. ‘It’s like you don’t know me at all. I have a contact in the social services system and she was able to track down your grandmother’s file from when she was made a ward of the state. It turns out her mother wasn’t American.’
‘She wasn’t?’ Roni replied in surprise.
‘No,’ Kay answered, ‘she was German. She came to the US back in 1921 at the age of 19. She gave birth to your grandmother in ‘35, but in her file there was some talk of a sister back in Germany.’
‘My great grandmother had a sister in Germany?’
‘No,’ Kay corrected her, ‘your grandmother’s half-sister. There was some speculation that your great grandmother had a baby at 18 back in Germany. She gave the child up and fled to the US, leaving her kid back in Germany.’
‘Wow.’
‘Yeah, interesting isn’t it?’ Kay replied excitedly. ‘I hope you don’t mind but you know I can’t resist a mystery either, so I contacted a friend of mine in Germany. I met her a couple of years ago when we collaborated on a project to help holocaust survivors track down any living family members. Erna has access to a lot of the surviving records from before and after the war. I’ve sent her all the details and she’s trying to track down your great grandmother’s birth and confirm if the rumors about another child were true.’
‘Kay,’ Roni blew out a breath, ‘thank you so much. I don’t know what to say.’
‘Just keep me in the loop, I’m curious to see how this plays out. I’m sending you an email with all of Erna’s contact details. Touch base with her and she’ll keep you up to date if she finds anything. I’ve also couriered copies of your grandmother’s birth, marriage and death certificates, as well as her adoption file.’
‘Thanks Kay,’ Roni replied genuinely, ‘I owe you.’
‘Just show me a good time when I get to Mercy, I’ve never visited before and I’ve heard a lot of stuff recently about a haunted pub?’
Roni laughed loudly.
‘Trust me,’ she shook her head, ‘it’s all true.’
‘Awesome!’ Kay replied, ‘look forward to seeing you. Let me know if you need anything else.’
‘Will do,’ Roni smiled as she hung up the phone.
She leaned back in her chair, tapping her cell phone absently against the desk as her mind churned over what Kay had told her. The word holocaust kept sticking in her mind for some reason and it just made her think of Renata, the dear sweet old curator who had made Mercy museum her life's work. Renata had survived the Nazi death camps and fled war-torn Europe to settle in America, more specifically Mercy. She’d never married, never had children. She’d told Roni once it was because she’d never gotten over the deaths of her parents and younger brother at Auschwitz.
Tap, tap, tap, she continued to roll her phone between her fingers, tapping it against her desk. When Renata had passed away, she’d left everything she owned to Roni. She’d thought it strange at the time as she’d only known Renata a few months. In the end she’d concluded that the sweet old woman had done it simply because she didn’t have anyone else.
Now, she wasn’t so sure.
Maybe Calypso was right, maybe it wasn’t an accident that she had been brought to Mercy and the only way to figure it out was to start at why she’d come to the town in the first place. It was because Renata had asked her to. Sitting up suddenly in her chair she flipped through the numbers in her contact book and picked up the phone. She needed to know why Renata had chosen her and the first place she was going to start was the lawyer who’d re-drawn Renata’s will after Roni had arrived in Mercy.
4.
‘Still here?’
Jake looked up from the small circle of light cast by his desk lamp to see Mac standing over him.
‘Yeah,’ he replied.
‘Problem?’
Jake shook his head, blowing out a breath.
‘Can I ask you something?’ he asked impulsively.
Mac leaned against Jake’s desk. ‘Depends, if it’s to do with criminals or murder fire away. Anything to do with relationships or women,’ he shook his head, ‘let’s just say I’m not exactly winning in that category myself.’
‘Oh,’ Jake frowned.
Mac studied him for a moment before standing and tossing Jake his jacket.
‘Come on,’ he told him briskly, ‘I’d say this conversation calls for a drink.’
They headed out in comfortable silence, into the warm summer evening air and toward the pub which was only a couple of blocks away. Despite the craziness of the past couple of months, the spirit infestation at the pub had not damaged Jackson’s business as he’d feared. If anything, it had actually given it a boost, with ghost hunters and thrill seekers coming into town in droves to see if the rumors were true. They couldn’t believe their eyes when, instead of finding a few vague stories and some cold patches, they could visibly see full bodied apparitions who seemed content to sit and have conversations with anyone who’d listen. The only downside being that the second anyone tried to take film or photographic proof that the spirits existed nothing would show up. There had been many photos and video clips with everything from light flares to static. It seemed the spirits were a little shy when it came to having their pictures taken, something which drove the ghost hunters wild.
Jake and Mac strolled into the pub, taking a seat at the bar. Jake glanced over to the end of the bar where a woman sat sipping a cocktail; her eyes locked on his as she lifted her glass and smiled, before flickering and vanishing.
Jake shook his head.
‘Sometimes I can’t quite believe the turn my life has taken,’ Jake slid onto a stool next to Mac. ‘Things in Mercy sure have changed in the last couple of years.’
‘I know what you mean,’ Mac replied. ‘I may have only been in Mercy for the last year or so, but the things we’ve seen.’
‘Ah looks like you two gentlemen could do with a drink on the house,’ Jackson slid a couple of glasses in front of them.
They both watched as the glasses lifted an inch from the bar and two mats slid underneath. Jackson rolled his eyes and lifted a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black down from the shelf.
‘Sorry about that,’ he sighed, ‘that’d be Judd. He’s the janitor and he doesn’t like mess.’
‘Seriously?’
‘He’s actually very good,’ Jackson replied easily, ‘halved my cleaning duties he has.’ He held up the bottle, ‘your favorite Jake?’
‘Please,’ he nodded.
‘Mac?’
‘Same,’ he replied. ‘How are you doing Jackson?’
‘I’m doing just grand,’ he smiled widely as he glanced over at Shelley who was serving their customers.
‘At least someone is,’ Jake muttered as he lifted the glass to his lips.
Someone further down the bar beckoned Jackson and he excused himself, leaving Mac and Jake nursing their drinks.
‘How are things with you and Tammy?’ Jake asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Mac shook his head. ‘She’s… she’s not the same woman.’
‘That’s not exactly surprising Mac,’ he lowered his voice so no one else could hear their conversation, ‘after what Nathaniel did to her. Has she had counseling?’
‘Not exactly,’ Mac replied as he stared into his glass. ‘It’s not as if she can tell anyone the truth, that a crazy psychotic demon tortured her because he was trying to get his hands on a magic book. It sounds nuts.’
‘I suppose.’
‘She’s talked to Olivia,’ Mac admitted. ‘She’s probably the only other person who understands what Tammy is going through, after all Nathaniel tortured Olivia too.’
‘But you wish she’d confide in you though?’
Mac shrugged, ‘she doesn’t trust me and it’s a bitter pill to swallow,’ he sighed. ‘I don’t know if she’s ever going to forgive me for my past with the Veritas, or for not telling her about it.’
‘Maybe she just needs time?’
‘It’s been over six months,’ he replied in frustration. ‘I’m not naive enough to think things can go back to normal, but we just seem to be frozen in that one moment of time. We can’t get past it. We’re like strangers who just share the same space.’
‘Have you thought about moving out?’ Jake asked, ‘giving each other some space?’
‘I have,’ he nodded, ‘but…’
He didn’t want to say the words out loud, not even to someone he trusted as much as he trusted Jake, but the painful truth was that he was afraid. Afraid it was all over with Tammy, that once again they’d missed their chance and that if he moved out it would be the final nail in their coffin.
‘What about you?’ Mac asked, ‘what’s going on with you and Roni? I would have thought you’d be on cloud nine after spending several weeks in a tropical paradise.’
‘We were, we did,’ he downed his drink and dropped his glass down with a clang, before rummaging in his pocket and drawing out a small Tiffany’s box and setting it on the bar in front of them.
‘May I?’
Jake nodded, watching mutely as Mac picked up the box and opened it, whistling low.
‘That’s a serious ring,’ Mac’s brows rose.
‘I picked it up two months ago.’
‘You’ve been hauling around a carat and a half for the last two months?’
‘Three,’ he corrected.
‘I’m clearly paying you way too much,’ Mac smiled. ‘Okay, three carats for the last two months and you’ve still not popped the question? What the hell are you waiting for?’
‘I kept asking myself the same question,’ he shook his head, ‘but there never seemed to be a good time.’
‘Do you love her?’ Mac asked seriously.
‘Yeah,’ he replied miserably, ‘yeah I do.’
‘So, what’s the problem?’
‘I don’t know how serious she is about me,’ he replied quietly.
‘What are you talking about?’ Mac frowned in confusion. ‘I’ve seen the two of you together. That girl is crazy about you.’
‘I’m not sure if that’s true.’
‘You don’t see the way she looks at you,’ he told Jake honestly.
‘How does she look at me?’
‘Like she’s just won the lottery and she can’t quite believe she’s that lucky.’
‘I hate to burst your bubble there Mac, but I don’t think that’s true.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Because she hasn’t told her family about me,’ he admitted and felt that same sharp pang of hurt.
‘Huh?’
‘We’ve been together for over a year now. For the last few months we’ve lived together. Hell, we’re at my parents nearly every Sunday for dinner, we’re my nephew Jace’s godparents and she’s friends with my sister. There is not one single part of my life she’s not intimately involved in and now I found out she hasn’t even told her family she’s dating me.’
‘Shit,’ Mac replied, his eyes widened slightly as if he didn’t really know what to say.
‘All this time I thought we were heading somewhere, that we were building a life together and now I just feel like an idiot.’
‘And they wonder why cops end up married to their jobs,’ Mac drained his glass.
Jake let loose an unintentional snort.
Suddenly the bottle of Johnnie Walker slid along the bar, stopping in front of them.
‘Looks like Judd can empathize,’ Mac lifted the bottle and poured them both another drink.
‘Cheers Judd,’ Jake lifted his glass and knocked it back in one go.
‘Miss Mason.’
‘Mr Sandford,’ Roni reached out and shook the older man’s hand, ‘thank you for seeing me on such short notice.’
‘No problem at all,’ he sat back down at his desk indicating the chair opposite. ‘Please, take a seat and tell me what I can do for you. You said on the phone that the matter was concerning Renata?’
Roni sat neatly in the chair offered, crossing her ankles and studying him. Bentley Sandford was a sweet looking man, much older than her, and had a kind of adorable grandfather vibe about him, rather than a toughened lawyer. However, as Renata’s lawyer he’d known her for many years, a fact Roni was counting on.
‘Mr Sandford,’ she began, ‘I was hoping to ask you a few questions regarding Renata’s will.’
‘Is there something wrong?’ he replied. ‘As far as I was concerned it was pretty straightforward. You were her sole beneficiary, everything was passed along to you. There’s not much else to it.’
‘I understand that,’ she nodded, ‘I was just wondering if you knew why?’
‘Why what?’
‘Why she left everything to me?’
‘That I can’t answer for you,’ he shook his head slowly.
‘Did she say anything when she came to see you and asked to change her will?’
‘Not that I recall,’ he told her curiously. ‘Why do you want to know? Most people wouldn’t question a windfall of that nature. Renata was fastidious when it came to saving for a rainy day so the amount you inherited was not chump change.’
‘I realize that Mr Sandford and I don’t want to sound ungrateful,’ Roni sighed. ‘I’m just trying to understand. I was very fond of Renata but really I’d only known her for a few months.’
‘I don’t know what to tell you Miss Mason,’ he answered apologetically. ‘Renata was an incredibly private person. I was her lawyer for over thirty years and even I felt as if I didn’t know her. All I can tell you was when she came to me that Christmas she just said she wanted to make some changes to her will, she didn’t offer any other explanation.’
‘What did you say?’ Roni’s gaze narrowed on him.
‘I said she didn’t offer an explanation.’
‘No, before that, you said she came to you at Christmas?’
‘That’s right,’ he nodded.
‘You’re absolutely sure it was during the holidays?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ he clarified, ‘it was about a week before Christmas and I told her she was lucky I’d had time to fit her in. I was closing the office earlier than usual that year as my wife and I had treated ourselves to a trip to N
ew York to celebrate our anniversary. Why?’
‘Because I didn’t apply for the job at the Museum until January. I didn’t even meet with Renata in person until early February,’ she replied seriously, her eyes wide with confusion, ‘which means she changed her will and named me her sole beneficiary at least two months before she even met me.’
5.
Roni sat on the floor of her lounge. The couch and coffee table had been pushed out of the way and she was surrounded by opened packing boxes. The floor could barely be seen for stacks of items, clothes, jewelry, photographs both loose and in albums, but mostly there was just stacks and stacks of paperwork.
She frowned as she leafed through a large leather-bound diary. Page after page of appointments and notes, some almost illegible, some written in a bastardized form of shorthand she couldn’t seem to interpret. Hearing the door open she looked up.
Jake walked into the apartment and stopped dead, noticing the utter devastation and chaos. His gaze went to Roni who was staring at him with large eyes.
‘You didn’t come home last night?’
He wasn’t sure if she was stating a fact or accusing him of something.
‘I went for a few drinks after work with Mac, I crashed at Tommy and Louisa’s last night,’ he replied evenly. ‘I sent you a message.’
‘A message?’ she replied. ‘A message? That’s all I get? You stormed out of here yesterday morning not even giving me the chance to explain and then don’t come home and all I get is a three-word text message?’
‘Look Roni,’ he scrubbed his hand through his hair, ‘I’m not in the mood for this. It’s been a pisser of a day and I’m still in yesterday’s clothes. I need a shower.’
‘Jake wait,’ she shoved the stack of papers and the diary off her lap and scrambled to her feet, blocking his way as he tried to reach the bathroom. ‘Jake can we please talk about this?’
‘There’s not really much to say is there?’ he snapped. ‘You’ve been lying for a whole year, to me, to them. I thought we had something here Roni, that we were building something, and now I find you were just playing me the whole time?’
A Little Town Called Mercy Page 20
