Hope House (21 page)

He
felt a little guilty for what had happened with Gloria but not so much he let it ruin the memory, which he’d replayed in his head about a hundred times.  He knew he couldn’t tell her everything about himself, nor could he provide the permanence she deserved in a relationship. But she wanted him, he wanted her, neither of them were married and there were no worries about her getting pregnant. And damn it, he liked her. As a person.

Kurt knew, better than Gloria, that in one day everything in your life could fall apart, or you could die. He didn’t want to die without ever falling in love.

He bit his lip. Love. He smiled. Was it love? No, too soon. But it was a hell of a rush, and if he’d quit spending so much time and effort pushing her away, maybe they could have something. They could find some way to work it out.

This identity had served him well for a long time, who could say it wouldn’t withstand any scrutiny she might give it.

Well, he couldn’t think of that right now. He needed more dirt on Hope House and Maison D’Espoir. Needed some more connections between those and New Age Adoption Agency.

A twenty-foot
ethernet cord wound around the floor and over his lap. Not surprising Joe didn’t have wireless. He’d rightfully argue it was more secure.

Kurt typed in a number of words and combinations but nothing enlightening appeared.

He started to wonder then if New Age had operations in other countries. If they did, they weren’t owned by Sibli; but that didn’t mean they weren’t all Puglisi related.

He typed in “New Age Adoption International.”

Apart from a lot of sites that had those words in their description or in an article, still nothing.

“N.A. Adoption,” he tried next. In the past, Kurt had gleaned that most criminals really weren’t all that smart. Some of the masterminds were, of course, but these family crime types didn’t think through enough layers of detection to protect themselves. N.A. stood for New Age and Mick would just be cocky enough to think using initials would pull the wool over everyone’s eyes.

Bingo. N.A. Adoption Company sprouted up. Based in El Salvador. When he clicked on the link it opened a page of photos of beautiful babies and small children. Letters of thanks from adopting families appeared on a tab called “Happy families.” Unlike the New Age Adoption Agency, which listed all their kids in the files he found as blond, the firm in El Salvador showed pictures of dark-haired babies. Every one of them a brunette. They all kind of looked alike, as if they could be related. But they weren’t identical to each other. And thankfully, none looked like Gloria.

A link to a site in the Ukraine was pretty much the same web design but in Russian. A mix of redheads and light brown hair there. Couple of dirty blonds. Most of them had freckles.  There was a button with the U.S. flag on it, but Kurt didn’t need to see this translated into English. Mick had adoption agencies all over the world, all specializing in a certain look. Not an easy feat when the children he was purportedly adopting out were supposed to be from random biological mothers who didn’t want their children. What were the chances all those mothers looked alike?

Snowball’s chance in hell that’s what.

What about
Hope House where at least the kids from the Miami operation were born? A quick check revealed it was owned by Sibli Corp. No surprise there. Besides the business license though, there were no other mentions of it. No sites touting it as a home for pregnant girls, or a birthing center. No phone number listed on any of the online yellow page sites. Even if it was privately owned there should be some mention of it somewhere. It didn’t seem to exist yet children were being born there. Those births were real. Gloria had seen Alison Gander in the flesh.

In a couple of hours they’d go to Hope House and check it out.  Then they’d have their answers.

He tried to research Tad Boucher again and came up empty handed as usual. Maison D’Espoir was also owned by Sibli, which fit with everything else so far.  That was why Tad Boucher went there. His old buddy Mick gave him a job in Haiti. He typed in “Maison D’Espoir Haiti.”

Besides Tad Boucher and ownership by Sibli, what else did it have linking it to New Age and Hope House?

An article from five years ago came up. A human interest piece about a nursing school for girls. Made sense. Boucher would have gone down there to do some kind of business for Mick under the guise of charity work. Or maybe it was a legitimate charity to make the corporation and family look benevolent.

Perhaps Boucher was down there instructing young girls to be nurses as the article claimed. Kurt scratched his head. No. There had to be more. Had to intersect with the English equivalent of Hope House in Windy Key. Had to somehow explain where all the babies came from.

“Holy shit,” Kurt said under his breath. The tail end of the article named a Miami law firm who had kindly donated its time to set up the legal infrastructure of the charity.

Alierdi, Moss, and Carpenter. Tommy Carpenter.
Shit.
The ex was in on it too.

The man who hired him.

Kurt recalled the phone conversation where Tommy had called him out of the blue, said he liked the work he’d done for the firm and could he help him out on a personal matter? His ex-wife, Gloria, was delusional, he’d said.  Tommy had offered Kurt money to patronize her. Had said he could keep whatever Gloria gave him, so long as he kept Tommy in the loop.

Kurt hit the heel of his hand against his forehead.
Should have known it was a trap. Once again I’m the patsy. And once again the Puglisis are at the root of it.

He logged out of his computer, disconnected the cord and got up to wake Gloria. He had to tell her what he’d discovered before she called Tommy back to give him the update. They’d been feeding Tommy information all along and he’d no doubt been giving it straight to Mick Puglisi. Well no more of that. Anything Gloria told him from now on would be well-rehearsed and inaccurate.  Designed to lead him and his buddy Puglisi in the opposite direction.

3.

Joe’s Apartment, Key West, same time

“Gloria, wake up.”

Gloria awoke to a rough shoulder shake from Kurt’s big hand. Not exactly the  manner in which she had envisioned being roused this morning after their passionate night. She smiled at him, ran her hand up his arm. “Good morning.”

“Morning. Listen, we need to talk.” He wasn’t smiling.

Shit. Please, don’t start a conversation that way. Not after last night.
“Okay.” She swallowed. “Go ahead, get it over with. You’re not ready for this right?”

“What?” His confused look seemed genuine.

“Last night? Big mistake? Not what you want right now?”

Kurt caressed her cheek with his fingers, looked deep in her eyes. Her heart pounded. “It’s just what I want but that has nothing to do with what I need to tell you.”

“Oh. Good.”
Hmm, maybe more great sex is in my future. Better freshen up.
She got up and ran to the bathroom, went pee, washed her hands, rinsed with mouthwash, and generally approved of her appearance. She rejoined Kurt in their room.

“Okay, shoot. More information about the Puglisis?”

“More or less. Listen there’s no easy way to say this but, well, I was working for Tommy when I met you.”

“Well, duh. He’s the one who recommended you.”

“I mean, he retained me before you called me. Hired me for you. So when you called me I’d convince you that there was nothing to your story.”

“What? I don’t—”

“He said you were crazy, had spent time in a mental hospital years ago and now were having a delusional break.”

“He did? And you believed him?”

“I didn’t know you then. But now that I do and we know there’s something to your story—”

“So this whole time, Tommy’s been guiding you.
He’s
been paying you,
I’ve
been paying you? How the hell am I supposed to trust you now?” Gloria pulled herself against the wall, getting as much distance between them as possible. 

Kurt cast his eyes down. “Because I found out Tommy’s involved. His firm donated their services to start up Maison D’Espoir.”

Gloria hadn’t thought Tommy had any backbone or character for a long time now and this disappointment in her ex-husband added to the teetering pile of his asinine behavior.

Kurt continued, “Hey, I believed him just like you did. He’s been feeding both of us lies. ”

Gloria nodded agreement, still stunned by both the revelation of Tommy’s involvement and Kurt’s betrayal.

“Gloria, once I met you, I knew Tommy was wrong about you. Since the first time I saw you, I felt—”

Gloria wanted to give in then, forgive him, pretend she had never heard what he said. But she couldn’t. “Kurt, what kind of person hires himself to two people at once. Plays both sides. That says something about your character.”

“I don’t have any excuse for it. I don’t even know your ex, just did some work for the firm. They pay well, they don’t ask questions. He called and asked me to basically babysit you till you found out there was nothing to find.”

“But there
was
something to find.”

“Of course there was, and I swear to you from now
on I’m only working for you. I mean, hell, I stopped reporting to Tommy days ago. You need to do the same.”

He smiled at her and damn it, it melted her resolve more than she wanted. He edged closer and touched her hand. “Last night was great. I’m not big on words about stuff like that but, God, I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you in that clothing store.”

He moved closer and Gloria’s heart told her to allow it. Kurt continued. “It killed me that Tommy had hired me first but I fell for you right away and didn’t want to ruin what we could have had. What we
do
have.” 

Gloria leaned closer to him and he kissed her soft, then a little harder. She moaned with excitement, but he pulled away. “We
do
have something right? Something too good to throw away?”

“We have something,” she replied breathlessly. “But promise me, from now on, no more secrets.” Gloria ran her fingers down his chest, along his stomach, to his crotch. He penis bulged beneath his jeans.

Kurt hesitated then spoke. “Okay.”

“Say you promise. No more secrets.” She unzipped his fly and moved her fingers along his shaft.

Kurt breathed deep and moaned out, “I promise. No more secrets.”

4
.

Maison D’Espoir, Haiti, late morning

Tad pulled off his mask and sighed. Martine looked at him and nodded that it was all right.  She knew he did the best he could. Another premature birth for a patient at Maison D’Espoir because Mr. Puglisi put too many babies inside. Dr. Tad had
told him several times it was not a good idea but Mr. Puglisi did not care about life or death. Only money.

At least Stefanie was alive. But what kind of life did she have to look forward to?

“Will you put more babies in her?”

“No. No more babies in any of the girls. And any new ones born are not going to Mick. If the girls don’t want the children they give birth to, we’ll take them with us when we leave. I’ll adopt them.” He looked at her with bloodshot sad eyes. “
We
will adopt them.

“Anni is due to birth in
two weeks. After that, we are not expecting any more for over a month.” That was a relief to Martine. Maybe until she and Dr. Tad ran away there would be no patients and no births. They could meet at the clinic only to talk and plan their future together. Only be a few more days he had told her, and then they would be free of this place forever. 

He pulled off his gloves with a snap and tossed them in the trash. “Well, we weren’t expecting Stefanie to go into labor today.”

Martine patted the girl’s forehead with a cloth. “No, we were not. Anything could happen, but maybe this is the last of the bad luck. Poor thing. She will be sad that the babies died.”

Stefanie was asleep. Lucky to have had a C-section and been spared seeing what Martine had: more death at the hands of Mr. Puglisi.

“At least Mick won’t get his hands on them,” Tad began as he wheeled Stefanie from the room. “Better God take them than Mick. She’ll have closure.” He wheeled Stefanie from the room.

As Martine picked up the dressings and surgical instruments she
wondered. Was it better they die than for Mr. Puglisi to adopt them to families? She would rather Luke had lived even if she never saw him again, than to know he’d died. Closure was when you found out something was over and you could put it behind you, even if you did not want to. Dr. Tad said closure gave people peace. Always wondering and hoping was foolish, he said.

Not to Martine though. And probably not to Stefanie.

She wished every night that Luke had lived. Knowing he was buried somewhere did not give her closure or peace. Dr. Tad was wrong about that most certainly.