Twisted Shadows (32 page)

“She appears to be missing.”

“I would be missing, too, after what happened to her daughter.”

“I told you before I didn't have anything to do with it.”

“Why don't I believe you?”

“Have you considered the possibility that McLean might have tried to turn her against us?”

“I have.”

“And …?”

“I'm withholding judgment.”

“You wouldn't if you knew the true story,” Victor said.

“You've never told me why McLean's hell bent in sending us all to prison,” Nick said.

“He's a fed.”

“It goes deeper than that, and you know it,” Nick said.

“Not over the phone. Meet me for lunch and I'll tell you.”

“Outside. The small park.” Nick knew Victor would realize where he meant.

“Noon.”

“All right,” Nick said, and hung up. Victor had been very careful, weighing each word. He obviously knew, as Nick did, that his phone was tapped.

“
I told you before we had nothing to do with it.
”

Nick had made the accusation after the shooting on his doorstep. He'd immediately recognized that the shots were meant to threaten or warn rather than kill. Still, mistakes were possible, and he or Samantha could have been killed. He hadn't been surprised that Samantha had disappeared when she had gone back inside the house.

Victor had thought he would be dealing with a woman who could be cowed and intimidated. That assumption fit his general opinion of the gender. He should have learned from Anna, but he'd always underestimated her, too.

It just so happened—unfortunately for his uncle—that Samantha Carroll/Nicole Merritta was smarter and far more independent than he had ever imagined. She had not been seduced by thoughts of wealth as Victor had believed. In fact, the very thought of inheriting what she considered ill-gotten gains had seemed to affront her.

It was a notion Victor could not comprehend.

Now Nick had no idea what to do. He'd been disconcerted and worried when she'd left the town house. He'd extracted a statement from Victor that he'd not been responsible for the shooting or for Samantha's disappearance. Nick wasn't sure he believed him.

But he wanted her away from Boston. Away from the Merrittas. She appeared to be a catalyst. Whether it was for his family, McLean or someone else, she was pure trouble.

Yet he was drawn to her. Surprisingly, Samantha had begun to fill a void in his life, something no one else had been able to do. His father had tried on and off, but was never able to resist trying to twist him into his own image. Nick hadn't liked that image.

He checked his watch. He wanted to know why Victor was so intent on finding a woman who had been missing for more than thirty years. This time he would discover the truth.

The park was nearly empty except for a few nannies and a dog walker or two. A hot dog stand provided lunch.

His uncle seemed to have aged in the past few days. He was now head of the family, at least for the moment, but he didn't have the surface smoothness that his brother had, or the respect he would need. He'd been second banana too long.

And he was too tired. Nick saw it in his eyes.

Now was the time to ask questions. Some Nick had the answers to. Some he did not. But he had to know what Victor knew. He had to know what part Victor had played in what had happened thirty-four years ago.

But first he had to know about McLean. McLean had followed Samantha. That much was obvious. He'd defied his own bureau to do so.

How much harm could he do?

“You told me you would tell me why McLean is so persistent.”

“All feds are persistent.”

“Not like him.”

Victor's mouth tightened. “You really want to know?”

“No, I'm asking you for the fun of it.”

Victor hesitated, then sighed in surrender. “Your grandfather had his mother killed. She was a waitress in the restaurant he frequented, and she overheard a conversation she shouldn't have.”

“McLean knows this?”

“Hell, he was with her when it happened.” Victor muttered something about the gunmen should have killed the kid, too.

“He knew it was the Merrittas?”

“He knew. She'd apparently told him they were going away, that he had to be very careful of the Merrittas. The kid told the police. He even identified one of the shooters. But there was no other proof. Then he disappeared into the welfare system. We didn't know he was the McLean with the FBI until four years ago.”

“Do his superiors know about it?”

“Hell, no. We didn't want that case reopened.”

“How old was he?”

Victor shrugged. “Eight. Nine.”

“And you didn't see fit to tell me?”

“Your father didn't … want you to know.”

“It concerned me, Victor. McLean has nearly destroyed my business. If I had known why …”

“Do you think your sister knows?” Victor said slyly. “I understand he … stayed at her home part of the day yesterday. I wonder whether she would have done that if she'd known her grandfather killed his mother.”

Nick swore.

“And my mother?” he asked again. “How did she escape the same fate?”

“Your father made some kind of bargain with her.”

“Like he got me, and she took my sister? There had to be more, or he would have taken both of us.”

“She took something with her,” Victor said reluctantly.

“Something that could have hurt Pop.”

“Yes.”

“And others?”

Victor was silent.

“Tell me about my mother and why you told me she died all those years ago.”

“She couldn't accept our life,” Victor said. “She endangered us from the moment she arrived. Papa was afraid she would go to the feds. You were better off thinking she was dead.”

“Along with the authorities?”

“Yes.”

“From what I know of my grandfather, he wouldn't let go that easily. She must have taken something very important.”

Victor was silent.

“What was it, Victor?”

“I don't know.”

“Don't give me that. You know everything about the family.”

“Not that.”

“Okay,” Nick said. “Tell me more about my mother.”

“Didn't
she
tell you?”

“She? My sister? Yes. I heard her version. Now I want to hear yours.”

Victor looked away. “She never fit in. She hated it here. And she was a sneak. She knew too much. Paul should have …” He stopped.

“Paul should have what?”

Victor gave him a weak smile. “He shouldn't have let her go. That's all.”

“Did you like her?”

“No. She had nothing in common with your father. She didn't understand our life and never could. Paul never should have married her.”

“But she tried, didn't she?” Nick said. “She played the piano and was proficient at art, and she was gentle. Pop loved her. Otherwise he wouldn't have defied his family by marrying her.”

“Did she tell you that?” Victor said. “Well, she was wrong. Tracy complained from the day she arrived. She saw a meal ticket, that's all, and your father wanted her in bed. Her daughter is no better. Butting into business that doesn't concern her.”

“Really?” Nick said. He was tiring of the game. He'd wanted to rattle his uncle into telling him what and how much he knew. He also wanted to know who, other than Victor, wanted Samantha out of the way.

“I asked you before whether you had anything to do with the attempts on Samantha's life. I want you to tell me again.”

Victor was silent.

“I could come after you, Victor. You know I can.”

“Okay, I ordered the attack at your home. I wanted to scare her. I wanted her out of Boston temporarily. If anything happens to her here, you know we'll be blamed. More investigations, more search warrants. We can't afford that.”

“Why did Pop bring Sam here in the first place?”

“I don't know,” Victor said. “Paul never mentioned her name until several weeks ago. He told me he'd found her. Found both of them. But I had no idea he'd sent for her.”

“A shock to George's ambitions,” Nick said dryly.

“Your father would never leave a sizeable part of his empire to a woman.”

“Then why was she summoned?”

Victor shook his head. “He told us he wanted to talk to both her and Tracy. He might have been afraid Tracy would come after the estate. I don't know.”

“She never divorced my father?”

“As far as I know.”

Nick still struggled with the idea of having a live mother. God knew he had wished for one as a boy. No, he'd prayed for one. Nothing happened, though. He was just shipped off to another school. That was when he decided prayer was for normal people. Not for Merrittas.

“I don't want anything to happen to her,” Nick said.

“Which one?”

“My sister
and
her mother. I want you to swear on that.”

“Tracy deserted you. She deserted your father. It broke his heart.”

Nick looked at him skeptically. “What heart?”

“He loved you. More than you'll ever know.”

“Then why didn't he let me go?”

“He believed you were the only one who could continue to take the family into respectable businesses.”

Nick smiled slowly. “That's what he said. But he never left the protection business, or the loan sharking, or the city contracts.”

“We did the city a damn good job on those contracts.”

“Yeah, at twice the price.”

“We're positioned to go legit.”

“Pop said that for the last ten years. It didn't happen.”

“The other families wouldn't allow it. You can outsmart them.”

“If I'm not dead first,” Nick said wryly. “I'm happy as I am.”

“You make a fraction of what you could.”

“I don't crave power like Pop did. I saw what happened when you did.”

“They're going to come after you, boy, whether or not you're in.”

Nick was silent for a moment. He knew it was true. Too many people thought he was heir apparent. Maybe part of him had always known it, too. How could you derail destiny?

The family had been his destiny.

“There's no one else, Nick.”

“George. And Anna.”

“No one will obey a woman.”

“Then George …”

“He's a fool.”

“Pop sent him to law school. He intended—”

“He intended to convince you that the family was your responsibility. He thought you would realize George would lead us into disaster. He wants to get in the drug business.”

“He can't do it without approval.”

“Approval from whom? He would kill me in a second if he thought I stood in his way.”

“And Samantha? What does she have to do with this?”

“Your father thought he would be able to control her, use her to get you back in the family.”

“Is George behind the attempts on her life?”

“I don't know. I don't think so. Maury said not.”

Maury was the closest thing to an “enforcer” the family had these days. He'd been completely loyal to Paul Merritta. And now that George has expectations, he would have gone to Maury if he wanted anything done.

“I don't want anything to happen to Samantha,” Nick repeated.

“There's only one way to do that,” Victor said.

The meaning was clear.

“Damn you,” he said. “Damn my father.”

“It's the family, Nick,” Victor said. “It's always been the family.”

“The family can go to hell.” He turned to leave.

“Nick, bring her back for the memorial service, for the reading of the will.”

“I thought you wanted her gone.”

“Things have changed in the past two days.”

“How?”

Victor shook his head. “We have to talk to the mother,” he said. “We didn't think she would pull a disappearing act.”

“Maybe you frightened her daughter a little too much.”

“The bitch knows she has the upper hand. We can't touch her. But we do want to talk to her.”

“You still haven't told me why.”

“Someone else was involved in what she knows. That someone wants to make sure she will never talk about it.”

“Ah. Finally the truth. You frightened the daughter to get to the mother.”

“No one wanted the girl hurt. She's a Merritta.”

“What about me? The car crash could have killed me. I won't even talk about the gunshot.”

Victor shrugged. “He would have missed. It was unfortunate you decided to play hero.”

“Go to hell.”

“That was a warning. But now someone wants to kill both of them. The mother and daughter. You're the only one who can stop it.”

“Damn it, Victor, stop trying to play me. You're not good at it. You keep lying. You can't even keep the lies straight.”

“When Tracy left, she took something valuable with her, something that can ruin a very important figure in this state.”

“Why all the interest now?”

“That figure will soon be nationally known. He can't afford loose ends.”

“Who?”

“I can't tell you. Not as long as you're outside the family.”

Nick stared at him for a long moment. “But I'm not outside the family.”

twenty-five

“He's our connection,” Sam said. “Whoever is out there is the connection to my mother.”

“If you're right,” Nathan said, “he's keeping out of sight.”

“Why?”

“Damned if I know.” He was already fuming at the fact that he'd been a few moments too late yet again. Someone else did what he should have done. Protect Sam.

Some FBI agent he was.

His personal involvement with Sam should not have happened. It had obviously dulled his instincts. How could he have been so careless to let her go alone as she had this morning? Yet she wasn't under arrest. He'd had no reason to detain her.