The Legacy (23 page)

Maybe I pay the contact a little better, and all thats worth is one day. But one day is usually enough in this business.

Cole glanced at the doorman, who was listlessly scanning a magazine. Tori, what if I told you your instincts were right? That maybe there is a story here?

Tori caught her breath. Why would you do that?

Because I need your help, he thought to himself. But he didnt say the words. He needed someones help, but he hadnt decided yet if she should be the one. After you distract the doorman, wait for me up at that coffee shop across the street. He pointed back over his shoulder.

Okay.

I might be a while.

Thats fine. She would stay in the coffee shop until Christmas if necessary. I have plenty of time. She held out the message slips. Here.

You take those. Cole closed her fingers around the slips. Do whatever you want with them. Cole was starting to trust her.

He had to trust someone, for Christs sake. It would have been Nicki but she wasnt speaking to him. The only other person he could think of was Bennettwho must have pushed the anonymous note under the hotel room door last night. Cole had left a message on the answering machine at the Washington number after finding the note, but Bennett hadnt returned the call yet. He had called Bennett again from a Gilchrist conference room this morning and left another message, one that he hoped would keep them close.

Wait for me at the coffee shop, he said again.

I will. I hope it goes well with your grandparents. She waved and moved casually toward the apartment buildings front door.

He watched her walk away. He was definitely starting to like her.

The distraction went quickly and smoothly. Tori explained to the doorman that her car doors wouldnt openthat every so often the doors jammed and she didnt have the strength to pry them open and would he mind trying? She smiled as she explained, then patted his forearm as she finished talking, and he was putty in her hands. She waved subtly at Cole as she led the doorman out of the building and down Eighty-seventh Street away from the front door, and Cole slipped into the now empty lobby and moved to the elevators.

The man sitting on the brick wall across the street who had followed Cole and Tori from Gilchrists front door shook his head. Tori Brown was a smooth operator.

Cole felt perspiration covering his palms as he pressed the elevator button for the fifty-second floor. He wiped his palms on his suit pants, but his hands were damp again by the time he reached the top floor. The elevator doors opened and he followed the arrow indicating that apartments 5220 through 5240 were located to the right. He tried to concentrate on the wallpaper pattern to distract himself from the pounding in his chest, but it was no use. Thirty years and this meeting was finally going to happen.

He hesitated before the door for several moments, suddenly uncertain of whether he really wanted to go through with this, uncertain of whether it was worth making himself so vulnerable and allowing the walls to crumble slightly. Maybe these people wouldnt believe him when he told them who he was. Worse, maybe they would, but still wouldnt want to talk to him. That was something he hadnt considered. Maybe it was better not to know. Perhaps the best thing would be to leave the building, leave Tori at the coffee shop, leave New York and get to the business at hand. He glanced at his watch. There was still time to make the noon flight to Minneapolis out of La Guardia. He turned to go, then stopped. He didnt dodge difficult situations. He never had and he never would. This was something he needed to do. He took a deep breath, clenched his right hand, raised it and knocked.

Almost instantly, footsteps moved across the floor inside the apartment. Who is it? an elderly female voice called from behind the door.

Maintenance.

The chain fell away, the knob turned and the door opened. For several moments grandmother and grandson stared at each other for the first time. Then the elderly woman put her hands to her mouth. So clearly were her daughters features etched on the face of the handsome young man standing before her that she believed she was staring at an apparition. Then she fainted and fell to the Oriental rug.

THE PHOTOGRAPH SHOOK slightly in Coles hands. There was his mother, Mary Thomasor Andrea Sagesmiling back at him. She was exactly as Bennett Smith had said, a real stunner.

I just cant get over it, Coles grandmother murmured. The resemblance is uncanny. She sat next to Cole on the sofa, clutching his arm tightly in her wrinkled hands. It had taken Cole and his grandfather almost five minutes to fully revive her after she had fainted to the floor. Dont you think, Henry? she asked the elderly man across the room.

Henry sat in a large armchair smoking his pipe. Yes. His grandfather, Cole had already found, was a man of few words.

Cole smiled down at the diminutive woman sitting next to him. Do you really think so?

Oh, Lord, yes. When I saw you standing outside our door, it was like seeing a ghost. She put her hands to her chest as if the feeling that had caused her to lose consciousness was coming back all over again.

Easy, Margaret, Henry warned. Cole and I dont want to have to revive you again. He winked at his grandson.

Henry was a man of few words, yes, but he was quickly warming to the idea of having a grandson. They had spent the last hour catching up. Cole learned that his grandfather had spent almost forty years at Lehman Brothers, one of Wall Streets most venerable firms, and that they had much common ground.

No, we dont want Cole hesitated in the middle of repeating Henrys warning.

What is it, dear? Margaret asked, a concerned expression coming to her face.

A dimple appeared in Coles left cheek. Im embarrassed to say this, but I dont know what to call you.

Henry and Margaret, Henry interjected quickly. None of this grandma and grandpa crap. God, then we really will feel our ages.

Margaret nodded in agreement.

Cole laughed. Okay. He glanced back and forth at them, then shook his head. It was a strange thing, to have members of your family you hadnt known for your entire life, then suddenly meet them. It was like being in a time machine. I want to ask you two a question. Well, actually, he interrupted himself, I want to ask you lots of questions, but this one first. I ran into a young woman in the news business who claims she tried to speak to you one day a while back, but you didnt want to see her. Her name is Victoria Brown. She goes by Tori.

I remember her, Margaret said.

She was the one who led me here, Cole explained. Why didnt you want to talk to her?

We didnt want to drag up old memories, Henry replied.

But she might have been able to give you information about my mother. I would think youd want to hear about her.

We knew Mary had died. Henry inhaled from the pipe. That was all we needed to know. We didnt tell the newswoman because we didnt think it was any of her business. Having you here is a different story.

Wait a minute. Coles eyes narrowed. What do you mean, you knew she was dead? Tori said they claimed they had never heard anything about Mary after she left in the spring of 1963.

Henry and Margaret exchanged uncomfortable glances.

You didnt know she was dead, dear? Margaret asked tentatively.

Yes, I did, but I didnt think you would know.

Why not? Henry asked.

Im not sure. He didnt want to say that he had assumed his father just hadnt bothered ever to contact them.

We found out in 1970. Henrys voice was barely audible. It had been a long time since his daughters death, but he had never made it past the pain. That was the year your father sent us a long letter telling us of Marys demise, along with a box of her things and a death certificate I checked on in the New Jersey jurisdiction in which it was signed. At least, we assumed it was your father who sent us the letter. It was signed by a man claiming to be her husband, although we had never met him.

Cole was spellbound.

Cole, do you want to see her room? Margaret asked.

Yes.

An eerie feeling overtook Cole as he moved into the bedroom. It was as if his mother were out running an errand and would return soon. A cotton nightgown hung from a hook on the back of the open closet door. Dresses dangled from hangers, one pulled out slightly as if she had considered wearing it that morning. Pairs of shoes lined the floor of the closet and another pair lay on the floor next to the bed. Stuffed animals were spread across the beds quilt. College textbooks lined the desk beside the bed and a notebook lay open atop the desk, a ballpoint pen on the open page.

Margaret pulled an envelope from the top drawer of the desk and walked to where Cole stood in the doorway. Heres your fathers letter to us.

Cole took the faded envelope from her, extracted the handwritten letter and began to read. His eyes flashed across the pages. The letter said Mary had died at the hands of two drug-crazed intruders, exactly as Bennett had said.

He stared at the pages for a long time after he had finished reading the words. There was something else here, a connection of some sort that he couldnt quite make.

Its such a shame. Margaret moved to her daughters dressing table, picked up a silver hairbrush and touched it lovingly. Not a day goes by that I dont come in here and think about her.

Cole replaced the letter in the envelope. Im sure you do, he said softly. Margaret, you mentioned that my father sent a box of things along with the letter.

Yes. It was full of personal items like jewelry and papers. She nodded at the hairbrush. This was in the box. We gave this and a silver comb to Mary for her sixteenth birthday. Thats how we knew the letter was authentic. Tears began to well in the elderly womans eyes. Im sorry.

Cole looked away from Margarets eyes and down to the hairbrush. Strands of his mothers hair were still embedded in the bristles.

He let out a long slow breath. Perhaps it would have been better if he hadnt come after all. This was causing Margaret so much pain. And not just Margaret.

Are you ready? Maybe he was wrong to come around on her so quickly, but he had a good feeling about Tori. More to the point, he needed her cash and her willingness to use it. Trusting that airlines and motels would simply accept his maxed-out credit cards wasnt a viable plan.

Tori looked up from the paper she had been reading for the last two hours. Ready for what?

Were going on a trip, Cole replied.

Where to?

Ill tell you when we get there.

IN A MATTER of hours dead calm would again turn to absolute chaos. Cole was certain of that. However, this time he was better prepared for it. This time he knew exactly what he was looking for, where to find it, and what to expect when he got there. And he knew the terrain. This time the struggle would be fought on his turf instead of New York City streets.

Cole glanced over at Tori, who sat next to him in the planes first-class cabin calmly perusing a magazine and sipping a pre-takeoff glass of wine. He knew the players, too.

Tori noticed him looking at her. Why are you staring at me like that?

Do I need a reason? Cole smiled and looked away.

He knew the players, all right, but he didnt know everyones exact motivation. He was fairly certain he had figured out who was friend and who was foe, but there was always that seed of doubt, always that possibility he had misjudged someone. He glanced at Tori again out of the corner of his eye. Motivation was the only variable in all of this now.

Excuse me, a voice said loudly.

Cole was sitting in the aisle seat and had to lean toward Tori so a woman carrying two large bags could move past him and into the main cabin of the Continental Airlines Boeing 727. Following the woman was a young man who was in his early twenties, Cole guessed. He wore a golf shirtBAY HILL G.C. embroidered above the pocketand khakis. His only carry-on luggage was a small duffel bag. He was the same young man who had been watching them carefully in the waiting area at the gate. Cole nodded to him as he shuffled after the woman through first class and toward the rear of the plane. The young man nodded back politely, trying to act like any other passenger.

Why are we flying to Los Angeles? Tori asked, replacing the magazine in its pocket on the bulkhead in front of the first row. You still havent let me in on the big secret.

Cole turned to her as the young man moved past. I told you, Ill let you know when we get there.

Tori rolled her eyes. She was tired of that explanation. I think I have a right to know now. After all, Im the one paying for three thousand dollars worth of first-class tickets.

You are, arent you? He grinned. Well, youre rich. You can afford it.

Im not rich. My mother has the money.

No offense. Cole touched her diamond bracelet. But I doubt NBC pays you enough to splurge on things like that very often. And you were wearing a different bracelet when we went to lunch at the Broadway Diner that looked even more expensive than that one.

I dont get an allowance from my mother, Tori said firmly. She knew what he was thinking. The bracelets were presents.

I dont know much about jewelry, Cole admitted. But that present looks like its at least ten thousand dollars worth of allowance.