Light from Her Mirror (Mirrors Don't Lie Book 3) (17 page)

“I
understand they had a granddaughter that was killed in a car accident?”

“Yes,
so tragic. She was so young and pretty. And to leave behind those two little
girls…”

Makenna
blinked in surprise. This was yet a different variation of the story. “I-I
understood the girls were with her. That the entire family was killed.”

“No,
no, she was by herself.” Her tone was still hushed, adding to the
conspiratorial feel of her words. “By that time, that no-account husband of
hers had already taken those precious little girls and gone. Just disappeared.
Poor Maggie, she doted on those children. If a car wreck hadn’t taken her, a
broken heart surely would have.” The woman noticed the pallor of Makenna’s skin
and leaned forward. “Miss? Are you feeling all right?”

Makenna
was slow in answering. Her mind was reeling with this new revelation. “I-I’m
confused. Did you know Maggie?”

“Why
of course. Everyone in town knew Maggie. We were so pleased when she came back
here to raise her children.”

“Came-Came
back? Where had she been?”

“Why,
she lived with her parents, of course. Until she went to college, anyway. I
understand she met that man on her first week of school. They were married less
than six months later. Her parents tried to stop her, of course, but she was
madly in love. Even when her father disowned her, she stayed with her husband.
It couldn’t have been easy, giving up that fine life in the city, but she
seemed happy in their little cabin in the woods.”

Dozens
of questions swirled in Makenna’s mind. She began with an easy one. “Do you
know where the accident took place?”

“I
think in Texas somewhere.”

“But
you handled the arrangements?”

“As
a favor to the family, of course. Dear, I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me
now. A family is coming in to make arrangements at any moment and I must be
available to them.”

“But,
I have more questions!”

“I’m
afraid they’ll have to wait.”

“Can
you at least tell me where Maggie was buried?” Makenna asked, just as the door
opened and a grief-stricken family began shuffling through.

The
funeral home director went to greet them, brushing past Makenna with one last
tidbit of information. “In the family cemetery, dear. Her father finally
allowed her to come home.”

***

“That
is so fascinating!”

Kenzie
had wandered into the leather shop, thinking an elderly proprietor might recall
her great grandparents. She had not expected to find a middle-aged leather
worker with such obvious talent. She watched as he took a scrap of left over
leather, cut it in the shape of a star, and then created an intricate design
with his hand tools. The final step was to cut two slits and add a thin wooden
pick.

“I’m
glad you like it. It’s yours.” The man held the tooled leather hair clasp
toward her with a smile.

“Oh,
it’s lovely, but I didn’t come in to buy anything.”

“I
know. You’re looking for your family. That’s why I’m not selling you anything.
I’m giving this to you.”

“You-You
can’t do that.”

“Why
not?” the man smiled. He appeared to be in his mid-forties and had a nice
smile. It softened the angular lines of his too-thin face. “It was a piece of
scrap leather.”

“But
it turned into something so beautiful!”

“Scraps
can be like that sometimes.”

While
Kenzie pondered his quietly spoken words, he wrapped the leather piece in
tissue. “You look like her, you know.”

“Who?”

“Your
mother.”

Her
breath caught in her throat. “I-I never mentioned my mother.”

“Didn’t
have to. One look at you, and I knew you were Maggie’s daughter.”

“You-You
knew my mother?”

The
man smiled again, his eyes taking on a far-away look. “Fancied myself in love
with her. She came here every summer to visit her grandparents. In fact, I made
her a barrette very similar to this one for her sixteenth birthday.” He pushed
the tissue wrapped gift her way.

This
time, Kenzie accepted the offering. Pressing it to her heart, she treasured
this tiny link to the past. “Tell me about her,” she whispered, her voice
greedy.

“She
liked to sing. I remember she always made up silly little songs. Had one for
me, even, something about Cal hide. That’s my name, Cal,” he explained, still
smiling.

“So
she had a sense of humor?”

“Definitely.
Loved to play jokes on people, too. And to flirt. Guess that’s what made me
fall in love with her. She had a way of making a man feel special. Anybody,
actually, not just men. I noticed the same thing about you, the minute you
walked in. You have a knack for people.”

“She
came here during the summers?”

“From
the time she was about six or seven until she was a sophomore in high school.
That was the last time I saw her, the summer she turned sixteen.” Regret
thickened his voice.

“Why
didn’t she come back after that?”

“I
heard she got an internship in her father’s office that next summer. And by
then, I’d gone away to college.”

“You
didn’t see her when she came back here to live?”

“Nah,
got a job down in Boston. Didn’t move back here until about five years ago,
when I took over my father’s business.”

“So
you never knew my father?”

“Never
had the pleasure of meeting the man who finally pinned Maggie down. He must
have been something.”

Kenzie
chose not to comment on that. “I-I don’t remember my mother,” she admitted. She
was surprised to find tears gathering in her voice. “I understand she died in a
car wreck.”

“That’s
what I heard. Awfully sorry about that.”

Her
brows puckered as she carefully chose her words. “There seems to be some
confusion on when and how it happened. So far, I have more questions than I do
answers. I-I even heard rumors of my own death. That my sister and I were in
the car with her, even my father. What-What version did you hear?”

Cal
the leather-tooler studied her for a long moment. He began wiping away the dust
and bits of tanned leather from his workspace, concentrating on cleaning up as
he slowly answered. “To be honest, I heard all the different stories. Most of
them, I didn’t believe.”

She
was breathless as she asked, “Such as?”

“Well,
one theory was that your father took you two girls and left Maggie for another
woman. That she ran off the side of a mountain because her heart was broken.”

“But
you didn’t believe it?”

“Course
not. First of all, Maggie would never give up like that. She would have fought
tooth and nail to get her children back. And second of all, no man would be
fool enough to leave a woman like Maggie to begin with.”

Kenzie
smiled, holding the gift of his words close to her heart. It was a beautiful
sentiment.

After
a moment, she asked about the other theories.

“Heard
the man she married was a dreamer. Some say she followed him off to the ends of
the earth, searching for lost treasure.”

“But?”

“But
the Maggie I knew was too practical for that. Her treasure was in these White
Mountains. She wouldn’t go off chasing a fool’s dream like that.”

“What
other stories did you hear?”

“Heard
rumors about the Mafia. I knew Maggie would never tangle with them, but I’m not
so sure about her father, and of course, I never knew her husband. Even heard
the Mafia had her whole family killed, ran them off the road in a fiery
accident down in Texas.”

“But
you didn’t believe that, either?”

“Well,
I was actually leaning toward that one. Seemed more plausible than the others.
But the minute you walked in, I knew it was wrong. I knew you had to be her
daughter.”

“I
don’t know what happened to my mother,” Kenzie blurted out. She did not know
this man, but she felt a connection to him. He had known her mother, after all;
he had even been in love with her. That gave them common ground. “I-I was
raised by another woman. I’m estranged from my father, so I can’t ask him what
happened. I don’t even know if my mother is living or dead.”

“I’m
sorry to say this, but I know she must be dead. Your mother would have never
left you and your sister, of that I am positive.”

“We
came here looking for answers, but no one will tell us anything about our past.
You’re the first person I’ve found who will talk to me.”

A
sad smile touched Cal’s lips. He looked up at Kenzie, his mouth opening to say
something, when his gaze went past her to the street outside. A curtain seemed
to fall across his face, shutting off all his emotions. The smile fell from his
lips, the light dulled in his eyes. As he pulled himself erect, his thin body
stiffened. “I’m sorry you can’t find your answers, little Maggie.”

Baffled
by his sudden change in demeanor, Kenzie followed his gaze out the window. The
woman from the cafe stood across the street, staring in their direction.

“Who-Who
is that woman?” Kenzie whispered.

“What
woman?”

“You
know what woman! The one across the street, the one staring over here.”

“I
don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stepped from around the counter and
pushed past Kenzie, going to the door of the shop. He flipped the switch on the
lighted ‘OPEN’ sign. “It’s five o’clock and I’m afraid we’re closed.”

“I
don’t even know my grandparents’ names. Please, I have more questions!”

“But
I have no more answers,” the man said, his voice sad. His eyes involuntarily
slipped across the street, to the woman who was no longer there. “I’m sorry.”

“Please,
Cal, tell me what is going on!”

Cal
held the door open, his expression determined. “I’m sorry, but they aren’t my
secrets to tell. Enjoy your barrette.”

***

Across
the street, Makenna was making her last stop of the day when she spotted the
woman from the cafe outside on the sidewalk. The young clerk behind the counter
had not been able to shed any light on her family, but perhaps she could still
be helpful.

“Excuse
me, one last question. Do you know who that woman is out there?”

“The
one in the floral skirt? I don’t know her name, but I’ve seen her around
before. I think she’s a politician or something.” When Makenna gasped, the
young woman looked at her in concern. “Are you all right, ma’am?”

“I-I
think so. Thank you.”

Makenna
waited inside the shop, watching as the woman from the cafe slid behind the
wheel of a silver Cadillac and drove away. Only then did she step outside,
eager to find her sister and leave.

They
met in the center of the street.

Kenzie
came rushing out of the leather shop, intent on finding the woman she had just
seen on the sidewalk. Makenna rushed out of the gift shop, intent on finding
her twin.

Their
words were the same when they rushed up to the other. “You’re never going to
believe this!”

“Come
on, we’ve got to get out of here!” Makenna said, tugging on her sister’s arm.

“No,
I just saw the woman from the cafe. I have to find her.” Kenzie craned her
neck, trying to get a glimpse of the mysterious woman.

“No,
we have to get away from her. Come on.”

Horns
blared at them as they hurried out of the middle of the roadway. “Where’s
Yoko?” Makenna asked, looking around. She was too flustered to remember where
they had left the car.

“Around
the corner. What is wrong with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or
something.”

Makenna
took off down the sidewalk at a fast pace. “Or something,” she agreed, tugging
on Kenzie’s arm. “I think they may have found us.”

“Who?”

“The
Mafia. Or the partners in Modern Power. I’m a little confused on who is who at
this point.”

Kenzie
immediately began looking around, her skin pricked with apprehension. “Why do
you think they’ve found us? And why do we have to get away from the woman in
the cafe?”

“Because
she’s some sort of politician. She must be part of the scam.”

Kenzie
gasped. In spite of their hurry, her feet stalled on the sidewalk, rooted in
fear. “She-She’s been following me! I’ve seen her several times today.”

“I
know, I thought I saw her a time or two, but I convinced myself I was being
paranoid. Apparently I’m not.” They were in sight of Yoko. “Which one of us has
the keys?”

“We
both have a set,” Kenzie reminded her.

“Oh,
right.” Flustered, Makenna dug inside her purse until she found her copy. “We
have to make absolute certain no one follows us back to the cabin.”

“Fine,
you drive.”

It
took them twice as long as normal to make the trip out of town. They wound
through a residential section before taking a roundabout route home, backtracking
twice and stopping every few miles, waiting to see if any cars were following
them. Before the final turn down their country lane, they found a hidden
driveway and pulled in, making certain no other cars were in sight. 

“I
think the coast is clear.”

Makenna
shot out of the hidden driveway and hurried down the barely-paved road that
soon gave way to a non-paved road. Dust kicked up behind them. They only slowed
when they reached the overgrown lane that led up to the cabin.

“What
if they find us back here?” Kenzie worried. “There’s only one way in, one way
out.”

“I
don’t know. I’m afraid someone will notice our tracks and know we’re back
here.”

“Why
are you stopping the car?”

“We
need to throw a few limbs across the drive, make it look like no one’s been
down here in a while.” She put the car in park but left the motor running and
the door open. Gathering a few small limbs and twigs from the roadside, she
said, “You keep throwing a few more sticks along the way, even as I pull up.”

“Where’d
you learn this trick?” Kenzie was clearly impressed.

Makenna
grinned. “From Hardin, of course. He did this when we were hiding out in the
mountains a little north of here. Unfortunately for us, the electric company
ripped down some of these limbs when they came out the other day, but maybe no
one will look up. Just scatter them across the road like so.” She drug a limb
across their tracks, then tossed it and a few others across the middle of the
road. 

“Okay,
I got this. Pull up some more. I’ll put that really big one right smack-dab in
the middle. If anyone wants in, they’ll have to clear the road first.”

Once
their tracks were somewhat hidden, they hurried to the house and pulled around back,
parking Yoko well out of sight.

Too
nervous and too busy making certain they weren’t followed earlier, they had not
yet discussed their day’s findings. As they curled up on the sofa, they shared
information. 

“I
feel like there is some huge secret we know nothing about,” Makenna said.

“The
few times I mentioned the name Joseph Mandarino, it was like pulling a plug.
Everyone totally shut down.”

“Kenzie,
I-I think our mother is dead.”

“I
think so, too,” Kenzie whispered. According to Cal, that was the only plausible
explanation. The woman he knew would have never abandoned her family.

They
went through everything they had learned, sharing stories they heard and the
few details gathered. Makenna made a chart of the information, and for once
Kenzie did not tease her about her lists.

After
making them each a bowl of ice cream - their favorite brand was not available
there, but they improvised with Ben & Jerry’s- Kenzie offered the cold
confection to her sister and turned back to business. “So what do we know?”

“Aside
from the fact that we’ve been pronouncing the name all wrong? I thought it was
three syllables, like Have-er-hill, but locals say two syllables, Hayv-rill,
long ‘a’, no ‘h’.”

“And
the way all the different towns are still considered to be one town!” Kenzie
said in amazement. “They’re several miles apart, with their own zip codes and
city offices and businesses, even their own names, yet are considered
‘precincts’ within the one town of Haverhill. It’s very confusing, if you ask
me. How do we even know we’ve been asking in the right town… precinct… whatever
it is they call each community?” She waved her hand in a circle, indicating her
confusion.

“Because
wherever we were today - North Haverhill, I think? - they seemed to know who we
were talking about. Most of the people, anyway.”

“So
aside from the language barrier and the geography lesson, what else did we
learn?”

Makenna
pondered her list. “We know that our great grandparents were highly thought of
around the community. Aaron was a dairy farmer and Anna had a green thumb. They
had four sons and a daughter. Unfortunately, we know more about our great
uncles than we do our grandmother. I never even got a name, just that she
married and moved to the city. About half of the people we talked to don’t seem
to like our grandfather, although no one will say why.”

She
paused for a deep breath before continuing. “We know nothing about our
grandparents, except that they apparently disowned our mother when she married
our father. Our parents met in college and were married within a few months.
From what I gather, we came along about a year later. No one has much of
anything good to say about our father, except for Cal’s off-handed compliment
that he must have been pretty special to capture our mother’s heart. What am I
forgetting?”

“Our
supposed deaths. Depending on who you talk to, we either disappeared off the
face of the earth or were killed in a car accident, alongside both parents.”

“The
woman at the funeral home said they handled our mother’s funeral arrangements.
She must truly be dead,” Makenna said, her voice sad. How could it hurt so
much, knowing a woman she did not even remember was dead?

“Well,
supposedly, so are we. Maybe they have the wrong body.”

“It’s
the only explanation, Ken. If she’s anything like the girl Cal fell in love
with, only death would keep her from us.”

“Unless
her father forced her into it. He sounds evil. Maybe he threatened her life -
or our lives, maybe - if she didn’t walk away. Maybe the only way to keep us
safe was to give us up.”

“Then
why did she split us up? Why did she abandon me at that church in San Antonio?
And what was that letter all about, the one she left you with all the evidence
about the scam? No, she obviously knew there was something going on, something
to do with Modern Power, and I think it got her killed.”

Kenzie
finished her ice cream before asking, “Are we staying here tonight?”

“I
think we almost have to, don’t you? We may have gotten in without being seen,
but going out may be another matter.”

“So,
what? We’re just going to stay back here indefinitely? We have to go out sooner
or later.”

“The
cruise gets back to port in two days. We have that long to find the information
we need and get back home without raising any red flags.”

“If
that woman from the diner is who you say she is, the flags are already raised.”

“What
else could she want with us?”

Kenzie
shrugged. “Scouting for new voters? Don’t give me that look. I’m joking around
because I’m nervous about tonight. Sleeping out here in the boonies gives me
the heebie-jeebies, especially knowing people from Modern Power may be on to
us.”

“I
know, but I think it’s our best chance at staying hidden. We’ve been asking a
lot of questions in town. Obviously someone told.”

“It
was probably the newspaper guy from last night. He was on the phone the second
we left.”

“So
we’ll put blankets over the windows to keep out the light, turn on only the
lights at the back of the house, and go to bed early.”

“Do
we have any weapons?” Kenzie asked wistfully.

“There’s
a drawer full of knives in the kitchen and a machete out in the well shed. And
I have a gun.”

“A
gun
?”

Makenna
shrugged. “Hardin insisted I have one to keep at the apartment. I sort of snuck
it into my suitcase.”

Kenzie
beamed at her sister. “That is so downright sneaky and under-handed! Makenna
Reagan, soon-to-be-Kaczmarek, I am impressed!”