Always Watching (12 page)

“
No,” I whispered. 
“The only thing I regret is that I ever listened to your lies in
the first place.”

I heard the last half of the conversation
Dev shared with his old partner.  “Left her house right away,
huh?”  Long pause.  “Yeah, I know.  Well, we’ve got
our share of photographers publishing pictures that don’t tell the
whole story in Darkwater Bay too.  Guess the guy is a magnet
for that sort of thing.”

My snort was decidedly disgusted.

“
Right.  Well we’ll
be there in a few minutes.  Like I said, we need to talk to
Mrs. Sherman about this woman who we think might’ve worked for her
husband about five years ago.  No big deal, really,
Andy.  I appreciate the help.”

Devlin’s eyes met mine in the mirror
again.  “Did you get the gist of that?”

“
He was the perfect
gentleman.  Escorted her to the door and went
home.”

“
Pretty much.  Andy
says nobody has come or gone from the Sherman place since. 
Oh, he did say one other interesting thing.  Last night was
the first time Mrs. Sherman has made a public appearance since her
husband’s public memorial service.  She looked like she was
about to pop.”

I leaned forward.  “As in about to
deliver a baby?”

“
Yep.  Quite the
scandal that she managed to procreate with a husband who was nearly
sixty-one years older than she is.”

“
Shit.  They planned
this for a very long time, didn’t they?”

“
Or they realized that the
Datello baby was the perfect opportunity for theft.”

“
We’re taking that baby
and having her DNA tested against the cord kit in Darkwater Bay,” I
said.

“
Helen, we can’t barge
into this woman’s home and take her baby.  What if we’re
wrong?”

“
Talk to her, Dev. 
Bring up Florence right away.  If she knows we’re asking
questions about the woman that very likely supplied the baby she’s
trying to fob off as her own, I bet she suddenly isn’t a mom
anymore.”

“
We’ll see.”

“
And if she cops to having
a baby, get a DNA sample if you can.  I don’t care if we’re
digging through trash cans full of dirty diapers.  If she
stole that baby, I’m taking her back to Darkwater Bay right
away.”

Devlin pulled up behind a dark sedan parked
on the street of a very affluent section of town.  “We’re
here.”

His former partner unfolded his lanky frame
from the car and loped back toward us.  Dev rolled down his
window and reached through with a hand.  “Andy.  Good to
see you again.”

“
Glad to see Darkwater Bay
didn’t kill you off on its first attempt,” he flashed a straight,
toothy smile.  Crows feet crinkled the corners of his eyes as
he silently appraised Crevan and me.

“
You must be Helen
Eriksson.  And this one would be your new partner, Conall,
right?”

Dev chuckled.  “You get extra points
for paying attention.  How come you never listened to me that
much when we were partners?”

“
I always listened. 
Right now, I’m hoping to hear a really good explanation for why
we’re harassing this poor woman.  She’s been through a hell of
a lot this month, Dev.  You sure she’s involved in whatever
you’re investigating?”

“
Of course we’re not
sure,” I snapped irritably.  “If we were, there would be no
need to talk to her.”

“
We don’t think she’s done
anything wrong, Andy.  She might know a woman involved in an
investigation back in Darkwater, somebody that worked for Mr.
Sherman a few years ago.  This is basically background
information.  I figured for old time’s sake, maybe you’d like
to come inside with me for the chat.”

“
Seriously?”

Devlin nodded.  “What do you say?”

“
Sure.  Anything I
can do to help.”

Dev cast one last glance at me and opened
his door.  He leaned into the window and spoke to
Crevan.  “See if you can’t iron out the other mess while we’re
inside.  I think it deserves immediate attention.”

They were barely across the street when I
warned Crevan.  “I have nothing to say to him. 
Apparently he wanted to dump me via AT&T last night. 
Technically, at least to his perverse way of seeing things, he
wasn’t cheating.”

“
Helen, that is not the
Johnny Orion I’ve ever known.”

“
Then perhaps this is a
residual from his brain injury in December.  He forgot how to
be a decent human being that can tell the truth.  He knew he
was gonna get caught by the press at that stupid social
event.  Tony Briscoe merely gave him the perfect excuse to try
to make our breakup my fault.  Now are you gonna come with me
to search the trash cans or not?”

“
Legally, they’re not
public domain until they’re at the curb, Helen.  So no, I’m
not going to help you get evidence we can’t use in
court.”

“
Fine,” I snarled. 
“How long do you think it’ll take Devlin to figure out that this
woman is a liar, a kidnapper and a slave trader?”

“
More than thirty
seconds.”

“
I suppose now you’re
picking sides too.”

“
Helen, you’re my
friend.  He’s my friend.  Same as always.  One has
nothing to do with the other.  I will say that if he’s dumping
you for some society skank, I’ll be very disappointed.”

“
And?”

“
If you’re blowing this
out of proportion and creating a problem because you tend to be
paranoid as hell, I’ll be equally disappointed.  I’m done
trying to get you two to be rational.  You’re on your own this
time.”

The phone, and the temptation it created,
just about burned a hole in my hand.  Maybe I should call him
and have it out right now.  Would he be surprised that I’m
sitting outside the new love interest’s house right now? 
Would he rush over to her defense, save her from his crazy,
homicidal ex?

While I imagined elaborate scenarios and
fantasies of wresting Crevan’s gun from his hip and shooting both
adulterer and adulteress, minutes sped by.  I didn’t notice
the dark sedan speeding down the street, screeching to a halt in
front of Sherman’s house.

Crevan’s hiss snapped me out of wishful
thinking. 

“
Get
down!
”

My knees hit the wet spot on the
floor.  “What’s going on?”

“
Don’t know.  Stay
down.  I’ll be right back.”

The car jostled when he slammed the door,
Crevan’s crisp footsteps faded quickly as he dashed across the
street.

I’ve never been good about following
directions.  I peeked over the window in time to see the front
door fly open.  Melissa Sherman charged out the door and flung
herself into Johnny’s arms.  Devlin emerged next with a small
wrapped in pink bundle against his chest followed by his wildly
gesturing former partner.  I could see distended veins from my
vantage point across the street.

“
It’s her!” Devlin’s voice
boomed across the sleepy expanse.  “I’m taking this child into
custody until further testing can determine her identity, Andy.
 Get out of my way!”

Johnny set the merry widow away from him and
took a menacing step toward Devlin.  Crevan got between them,
both hands on Johnny’s chest.  “No, Johnny, you don’t
understand.”

“
I understand that one
of
my
detectives
appears to be taking a baby unlawfully –”

“
She just told us that her
baby was stillborn two weeks ago,” Devlin snarled above the growing
mewl of the baby in his arms.  “How the hell does she have a
baby in the house if hers died, huh, Johnny?  And if this kid
is two weeks old, how the hell do I know that we’re gonna find a
fresh umbilical cord on her belly?”

Johnny took a step back.  His eyes
darted toward the car where I furtively watched.  I ducked
low.

“
Shit!”  If he saw
me, the confrontation would no doubt be so spectacular, it would
dwarf the one between a police commander and his two
detectives.

“
Look, we’ll take her back
to Darkwater and run the tests.  If we’re wrong, you can have
my badge.”  Devlin’s voice was disturbingly close to the
car.  “Crevan, I want this woman under house arrest until
we’ve got the test results.”

He opened the back door of the car. 
“Get up, Helen.”

“
He’ll see me.”

“
Yeah, and he just
defended that lying bitch.  I don’t care if he sees you or
not.  I never said anything before, but I never thought he was
good enough for you.  Get up off the floor and take this baby
before he tries to stop me again.”

I slid up to the seat.  Devlin laid the
squirming baby in the crook of my arm.  “Take a picture. 
We’ll send it back to Darkwater and see if she looks like the photo
we put out on the Amber Alert.”

I peered into the tiny face.  “No need,
Devlin.  This is her.”

“
Great.  I’ll have
Crevan take her into custody and have the local branch pick them up
for transport back to OSI.”

“
Devlin, I don’t want you
to lose your job over this,” I said.

“
And I refuse to work for
a man who won’t enforce the law.”

He threw the car into gear and sped away
from the curb.  I turned to stare out the window.  The
last thing I saw was Johnny’s stunned expression when our eyes
met.

Chapter 10

The trip back to Darkwater Bay would take
less than two hours with Dev driving like demons were chasing
us.  To his way of seeing things, they might well be.

“
What did she say to
you?”

“
Sherman?”  He
grunted softly.  “She tried to pass off some sob story and
make me feel like an insensitive oaf for asking about her late
husband and her very well documented condition at his memorial
service.”

“
In what way?”

“
Mind you,” he seethed,
“this was less than what, twenty minutes after Andy told me about
her scandalous pregnancy, she says that she buried her stillborn
child a week after poor darling Eugene died.  It wasn’t
fifteen seconds before that baby in your arms started crying. 
Even Andy acted like he couldn’t believe his ears.  So some
woman comes into the room with the kid and asks if she wants to
feed
Macy
.”

“
You knew this was the
Datello girl.”

“
Of course I knew
it.  What’s that thing you’re always telling me?  Knowing
a thing and proving it are two different things.  I wasn’t
about to let this woman kill or sell off the evidence before I
could prove what I know is true.”

“
And Orion tried to stop
you.”

“
In a word?  Hell
yes.”

“
That’s two words.” 
My heart was too busy sinking to care how ridiculous I
sounded. 

“
So now I’m wondering if
Orion simply didn’t give a damn because of who this kid belongs to,
you know?  Screw Datello and give his kid to someone he thinks
is an upstanding citizen.”

“
And here a couple of
hours ago, you were questioning whether or not Johnny was working
the same case we are.”

“
Small consolation,” he
grumbled.  “He settled down a bit but only after Crevan
vouched for our suspicion and the exigent
circumstances.”

“
He’s a politician,” I
said.  “It’s like I surmised from that picture in the paper,
Dev.  He’s courting people with power and influence for
Joe.  They’re scrambling to justify the existence of OSI
before the election this fall.”

“
Guess I shouldn’t have
been so hot to quit my job at Downey, huh?”

“
I promise, it’ll work
out, especially after the blood test confirms what we already
know.”

His cell phone rang.

“
Put it on speaker. 
I want to hear this,” I said.

“
Mackenzie,” he
growled.

“
Devlin?  Did you
find the baby?  I just got a frantic phone call from Johnny,”
Chris said.  “He’s insisting that you’ve made a terrible
mistake.”

“
Helen’s here with me,
Chris, and she’s as sure as I am that this child is really the
daughter of Danny and Celeste Datello.  Considering the
conversation that Helen had with Florence Payette last night, I’d
say that the situation became exigent the moment that Melissa
Sherman realized I knew she lied to us about having a stillborn
child.  Her nanny called the baby Macy for God’s
sake.”

“
I see,” he said. 
“Well, Johnny isn’t far behind you, and I’d have to say that I’ve
never heard him quite this rabid before.”

“
I don’t care if he fires
my ass.  Did Crevan take Sherman into custody?”

“
After a small battle with
Gillette, yeah.  You’d better start praying that you’re right,
Dev.  The feds are here, chomping at the bit because they’re
convinced that Datello is behind the whole thing.  This guy
from Montgomery, Special Agent Preston, he’s foaming at the mouth
to question Datello.  I’m not sure how long I can stall. 
If you really believe you’ve got the baby in police custody, I can
refuse to let him have this conversation.”