Always Watching (32 page)

She tucked her chin to her chest. 
“Maybe.”

I wanted to scream
ah-ha
at the top of my
lungs.  “Florence, are you afraid to tell me because this man
is a police officer?”

Another nod.

“
He can’t hurt you. 
I promise.”

Teary eyes lifted.  “How can you
promise he won’t hurt me, Ms. Helen?  He’s a very powerful
man.”

“
In what way?”

“
FBI,” she
whispered.

I hoped the microphone recording our
interactions was sensitive enough to pick up the bare
utterance.  Just in case, “Did you say he is with the
FBI?”

“
Yes.”

“
Florence, do you see his
picture on this card?”

She pointed to Alfred Preston, and then
Florence crushed my hopes.  “But he’s not the one that took
the little baby from me at work.”

We’d have to come back to it.  I made a
subtle phone gesture to my ear, prayed a silent prayer that Crevan
understood Johnny and Zack needed the information now, and
refocused on Florence. 

“
If he didn’t take the
baby, what makes you think he would hurt you?”

“
Because he worked for Mr.
Sherman too, ma’am.”  The childlike voice returned.  “And
I wasn’t supposed to hide in the den while Mr. Sherman had
visitors.”

“
Florence, this man,” I
tapped Preston’s photo, “can’t hurt anyone anymore.  I promise
you.”

“
Because he
died?”

“
Yes.”

“
The other
one…?”

“
Do you know his
name?  Was he the man who took the baby from you?”

“
He was Ms. Sherman’s
friend,” Florence clarified.  “Mr. Sherman didn’t like him
very much at all.”

“
Can you tell me what he
looked like?”

“
Young,” she
whispered.  “Ms. Sherman thought he was handsome.”

“
Do you know his
name?”

“
No,” she shook her head
slowly.

“
Florence, this is very
important.  Did the man who took the baby from you work with
him?”  I pointed to Preston again.  “Was he a police
officer too?”

“
I don’t know.  He
wore a suit.  And cowboy boots.  I mostly saw him when
Mr. Sherman wasn’t at home.  He would come see Ms. Sherman and
they would… they would go to her room.  I couldn’t hide in
there.”

“
All right,
Florence.  You were very brave to tell me these things. 
I only have one more question.  If you lived in the apartment
here in Darkwater Bay and worked at the hospital, how did you see
all of these people that came to visit Mr. Sherman?”

“
Mostly, he made me come
home when I wasn’t at work.  Mr. Sherman said I couldn’t be by
myself all the time.”

“
But for the past few
weeks, you weren’t allowed to go home?”

“
No,” she said, “But Ms.
Sherman sent her friend to stay with me.”

“
Who was her
friend?”

Florence shrugged.  “Sarah.  Her
name is Sarah.”

My heart rate accelerated.  “Do you
know her last name?”

“
I’m not sure,” she
said.  “Maybe.  I only heard it once or twice.  She
left the day I called Ms. Sherman and told her that the baby was
born.”

“
What do you think her
last name was?”

“
Homes?”

“
Holmes?”

Florence stared at the table.  “I’m not
so good with names, Ms. Helen.  I remember yours though. 
Mr. Sherman was awfully excited when you came to Darkwater
Bay.”

Crevan’s stare might well have peeled the
paint off the walls, it shattered through the two-way mirror with
such force.

Only a second later did I learn I was
wrong.  Johnny burst through the door snarling.  “Why
would that son of a bitch know who Helen is?”

And that was effectively the end of
Florence’s willingness to talk to me, or anyone else at
OSI. 

“
Good job, Johnny. 
You scared the hell out of her.”

“
Get her back up here,
Crevan.”

“
No,” I laid a restraining
hand on his chest.  “You’ll leave the poor terrified girl in
peace, Crevan.  If she wants to talk to me, she’ll tell
someone.  God only knows what she might’ve said had Johnny
kept his wits about him.”

“
Helen, we can’t ignore
that she was familiar with who you are,” Johnny argued.

“
And you can’t take back
your horrible behavior and make her trust that you’re not one of
the bad cops.  What’re you doing here so soon?  Please
tell me the judge didn’t ignore the evidence and let Sherman
walk.”

“
He refused to conduct the
arraignment until Monday morning,” Johnny said.  “As for our
little church mouse, the judge was inclined to agree with Marcel –
to a point.”

“
No,” I groaned. 
“Johnny, we’ll never have the opportunity to question her again if
–”

“
Zack explained that she’s
being held as a material witness, that no formal charges are
expected, pending your psych evaluation of course.  The judge
wants hardcopy in his hand before the arraignment hearing,
Helen.  If he has so much as an inkling that formal charges
will be made, he’s going to appoint special counsel for her. 
He didn’t feel it was appropriate that Marcel represent the alleged
slave and her master.”

“
Thank God for small
favors,” I sighed.

“
I need to know why
Sherman was exited that you came here, or why he’d even know who
you are,” Johnny started pacing.  “Son of a bitch,
Helen.”

“
You glossed right over
the last important bit of information I learned before you ended
the interview.  Crevan, did you pick up on it?”

“
I uh… things were a
little intense in the observation room, Helen.  What did she
say?”

I explained how Melissa Sherman kept tabs on
Florence after Eugene died.  “Her friend,” I said. 
“Sarah Holmes.”

“
Wait a minute. 
Wasn’t that the woman who claimed complete ignorance, the nanny who
stupidly brought the baby to Sherman while we were interviewing
her?”

“
Considering that the FBI
was a regular presence in that house, I doubt she realized that she
was exposing a kidnapping.  In fact, I bet if we got the phone
records for Sarah Holmes, we’d probably find out how Alfred Preston
discovered the need for a plausible method of explaining why
Sherman had that baby in the first place.”

“
I’ll call Dev and have
the state police or Montgomery PD pick her up if they can find
her,” Crevan said.  “We verified her story of employment
through that nanny agency.”

Johnny snorted.  “Maybe that business
is suspect as well now that we know Holmes is part of the
gang.”

“
It wouldn’t hurt to take
a long hard look at them,” I agreed half a second before a bone
jarring yawn reminded someone that I’m not exactly in top form
these days.

“
We’ve got people to do
the digging, sweetheart.  We’re going home, and you’re going
straight to bed.”

Another hormonal jolt rippled through me,
settling well below my queasy stomach this time.  Our eyes
met.  “Alone?” I murmured.

The wicked grin promised and thrilled at the
same time.  Now if only we could get there without puke breath
killing the mood.

Chapter 27

Maya’s jaw clicks audibly when she
eats.  Usually, I don’t notice it when she’s talking or even
yawning.  This morning, she woke my peaceful slumber and sent
my irritation soaring.  Why on earth would someone with a
clicky jaw make a conscious decision to chew gum?  Never mind
that I’m tired and cranky, or that Johnny annoyed the hell out of
me – letting me sleep in late and serving a platter of ginger ale
and soda crackers before I had a chance to swing my legs over the
bed.

“
Must you do that?” I
snarled into Maya’s ear.

“
Do what, honey? 
Call with an identification on one of the three bodies that Devlin
–”

“
Chew gum!  Your jaw
is clicking in my ear and I can hardly stand it.”

Silence ensued. 

“
Maya?”

“
Sorry,” she said with a
definite dip in temperature.  “I’ve been up all night trying
to help you guys figure out who’s dead and how they might possibly
relate to Eugene Sherman.  Is this a bad time?”

I glanced up at Johnny.  One hand
perched on his hip, the eyebrows did their not-so-amused dance and
the left corner of his mouth resembled that of a victim of Bell’s
palsy.  Okay, so my morning ire isn’t appreciated – or
particularly fair to Maya.

“
Don’t apologize,” I
grudgingly began my apology.  “Not your fault I still feel
like death warmed over.”  I returned Johnny’s expression with
withering ire.  It is after all, his fault I feel this
way.  Virile old goat.  “Did you identify the
bodies?”

“
The one you suspected Dev
would find,” she said.  “I was able to compare Graciella
Payette’s teeth to the dental records Billy scoured up from her
dentist in Montgomery.  The remains are skeletal, Helen, and
you’d suppose that would make the determination of cause of death
more difficult.”

I tried to sit up, but Johnny pressed my
shoulder back into the bed.  I swatted at the restraining
hand.

“
Not until you’ve eaten,”
he said softly.

“
All three victims
suffered blunt force trauma to the parietal skull, Helen. 
We’re talking depressed skull fractures.  If death wasn’t
instantaneous, I can’t imagine they’d have lasted more than a few
minutes after such a blow.”

“
Any clues on the identity
of the other two victims?”

“
Nothing,” she said. 
“Devlin told me that they were all buried in shallow graves, that
if there was clothing present at the time of burial, there were no
traces of it left at the time of exhumation.”

“
I see.”

Maya’s pause stretched taut.  “Helen,
are you angry with me about something?”

“
No,” I said
tersely.  “It’s not you.”

“
Is everything all right
between you and Johnny?”

“
Yes, yes.  I’m
cranky this morning, that’s all.”

“
Helen … ?”

I sighed heavily.  “What?”

“
It’s afternoon. 
Barely but –”

“
Good grief, Johnny! 
What were you thinking letting me waste half the day
sleeping?”

He pried the phone gently out of my hand and
thrust a soda cracker into its place.  I heard the tail end of
his part of the conversation.

“
She’s fine, Maya, burning
the candle at both ends once again.  I decided to let her
sleep as long as her body wanted, but figured there’d be hell to
pay if she didn’t hear the news directly from you.”  Lengthy
pause, then, “Uh-huh.  She’s getting over whatever bug she
caught.  Had a good night, kept dinner down.”

I wanted to spew the barely moistened wad of
cracker at him like a gigantic spitball.  Still, it was a
better lie than the truth.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about
revealing my predicament.  No doubt there would be baby
showers and offers for shopping sprees to re-outfit my
wardrobe.  I started wondering how long I’d be able to conceal
my condition.

So much pensive thought made me miss the
tail end of Johnny’s conversation with my best friend.  I
finally noticed his intense stare.

“
Where were you just now?”
he offered another cracker and sat on the edge of the bed. 
“Something about the case?”

‘‘
No,” so muttering
unhappiness replaced my defiant outrage quickly enough.  I
felt sullen and dragged between extremes for every emotion and
thought that plowed its way through my brain.

“
Helen, I’m trying to
understand –”

“
Don’t,” my interruption
turned frustrated and sad at the same time.  “You can’t
understand it.”

One large hand gingerly smoothed over my
flat belly.  “Are you upset about this?”  Johnny’s pause
ached with worry.  “Regrets?”

It broke my heart in an instant.  I
knew how he felt, or rather, how he’d been indoctrinated through
his religious upbringing.  Frankly, I’d been amazed that he
allowed for the use of birth control at all.  Still, that
single word asked a question neither one of us had
broached. 

Did I want a baby?

Tears leaked from my eyes.  I stared at
the hand, its thumb swishing lightly, a tiny hopeful gesture, over
our child’s home for the next few months. 

His voice dipped low, almost a whisper, but
not quite.  “You know I love you, Helen.  You know how I
feel about… certain solutions to unexpected events in
life.” 

I heard the pained breath wheeze into his
chest.

“
Johnny, it was
unexpected,” and in my head and heart, a consensus had finally been
reached.  One topic achieved cease fire.  “I guess I
figured that if it was going to happen, it would’ve long
ago.”

“
With Rick?”

I nodded.

“
I love you,” he repeated
himself, though I wasn’t sure why.