Twisted Shadows (42 page)

“But his interest, apparently, was not me. He was an undercover federal agent. A police officer had been taking payoffs from my father-in-law and heard there was a snitch in the family. Paul's father and the officer narrowed it down to Lucas.

“They'd bugged the car. They knew what he was and that I had asked him to help me get away. Paul's father was furious. Beyond furious. I had appealed to the enemy. I had betrayed Paul. I would take his children over his dead body.”

She paused, swallowed hard. “It was Lucas's body instead. I saw the officer go into the study with my husband and father-in-law. Several minutes later, two men went after Lucas. I knew what was going to happen. I knew it by their faces. And I couldn't do anything about it. Victor and another man dragged me to another room.

“I heard a shot, then a second. I ran out before they could reach me and saw Paul coming out of the room. He brushed past me, as if he didn't see anything at all. He had blood on his clothes.

“Then Paul's father left, carrying a gun wrapped in a handkerchief. There was blood on that, too. I thought then that Paul had killed Lucas.

“I couldn't stand to have him near me after that. His father, who had never liked me because I wasn't Italian or Catholic, became openly threatening.

“I kept expecting a bullet myself, but instead I was isolated. I knew I had to get away, but I also knew I didn't have the resources to escape the family's reach. I had no doubt they would kill me if they found me unless I had something of value to them.

“The only possibility was the safe in Paul's father's study. I'd been in the study once when he'd opened it to give me a family heirloom at Paul's insistence. I knew where it was and that it was a combination lock, and I prayed there would be something in it with which I could bargain.

“I started working on a collection of safe combination possibilities. His birthday. His late wife's birthday; the day of her death; Paul's birthday; Nick's birthday. Anniversaries. Anything I could think of.

“Two weeks went by before I had a chance, then there was a baptism for Anna. Everyone in the family was going but me. I was to stay with the children.

“While everyone was at church, I asked my minder to look after the children while I went down and made formula. I made several bottles, then went into my father-in-law's office. I found the safe and started turning the combination lock. I won't tell you how terrified I was, how my fingers wouldn't work properly, but on the third number—his wedding anniversary—the lock clicked.

“I heard one of the babies screaming, and I knew my minder would be down soon. I looked inside. Money. Then, toward the back, in the shadows, I saw an object wrapped in a handkerchief. It was a pistol wrapped in a bloodstained cloth. I knew it was my one chance to escape. I grabbed it, was able to hide it in a towel.”

“Why,” Nathan asked, “would he keep the pistol?”

Patsy shook her head. “I've thought about it all these years. I don't think he trusted the police officer. The killing was also staged to keep Paul in line. I think Paul was wavering, that he wanted out, but now he was an accessory to the murder of a federal agent. He could never leave the family.”

Sam was stunned. She couldn't even imagine how her mother had survived, much less escaped. “How did you leave?”

“I knew I didn't have much time. They would find the gun was missing. The next day, when Paul and his father were gone, I put heating pads on both your faces. I'd mentioned earlier in the day you were both fretful.

“Then I screamed that you had to go to the doctor. You had unbelievably high temperatures. I think they were afraid not to take me. Paul and his father worshiped Nicholas. He was their heir.

“I won't go into details, but I called a cab from the doctor's office and was able to slip out while the bodyguard was in the waiting room. I reached Chicago before Paul found me. He knew I would go to my sister's for help. I was careful in arranging to meet her, but I underestimated Paul's reach.

“But by then I had put the gun in a safe deposit box. I wanted to take it to federal authorities, but not in Boston. I didn't trust anyone in Boston. My only friend had been killed. To tell you the truth, I didn't know what to do when Paul appeared. He had men with him. He could have taken my children and killed me. He even threatened my sister's children.” Tears rolled silently down her face. “He offered me a deal. He would take Nicholas. I would take Nicole. Otherwise his father had ordered me killed, along with my sister's family.

“Paul said he would hunt us all down if I ever tried to contact Nicholas. When I agreed, he promised that my sister would not be touched, or any of her family. He kept that promise.”

Pain was in every word. Sam could only imagine having to make that choice. And her biological father was the one who forced that choice.

The man who had called her to Boston.

“The devil's bargain,” he had called the arrangement.

But
he
had been the devil.

thirty-two

“That's not enough,” Nathan said, a cold clamp on his heart. “It wouldn't be half enough to convict someone of McGuire's standing. No body. No live witness. Only a gun with prints.”

Simon nodded. “But questions would certainly derail his nomination.”

“He'd still be alive to come after the people who destroyed his dream,” Nathan said.

Sam broke in. “Nicholas says he knows who it is, too. Maybe he knows something we don't.”

“Or maybe he wants to know exactly what we know,” Nate said.

Sam's face fell, and he took her hand. “If it
is
McGuire, he must be desperate.”

“I suspect that Paul Merritta assured him that she was either dead or under control. When Paul got sick, McGuire could have learned about you and your mother through FBI tapes of conversations in the Merritta family. He must have had heart palpitations. Especially coming at a time of intense political and media scrutiny.”

“In other words … my father's timing was very poor.”

“I think Paul wanted to see his daughter before he died,” Patsy interjected quietly. “I believe he really thought he could protect you.” She hesitated. “I've been thinking about him a lot, remembering little things. I think what he did thirty-four years ago came from his father, that he knew his father would kill me without regret. He used the only weapon he knew to keep me from going to the authorities, and that was my children and my sister's children.”

Heads turned toward Sam. “What exactly did Merritta tell you?”

“All he said was that I was unfinished business.”

“Nicholas,” Patsy said. “He's the key.”

Simon looked at the three of them. Patsy Carroll. Sam. And finally Nate. “You know him. What do you think, Nate?”

It was the time to sort out feelings. To discard the prejudice he had against Nick Merritt because he was a Merritta. In his mind's eye, he saw Merritt throw himself in front of Sam when a car speeded by his front step, hearing Sam's words that he leaned into a bullet for her that night his car was run off the road.

If Nate was wrong, he could be signing Samantha's death warrant.

“I think we should talk to him,” he said.

Simon nodded. “That was an interesting selection of meeting places.”

“It was the only crowded place that came readily to my mind,” he admitted. “I don't know Chicago that well, but the planetarium is one of my favorite places. I stop there whenever I come to town. I know its nooks and crannies.”

Simon stood. “Jack and I will go early tomorrow and scout it out.”

“Where is he?” Sam asked.

“After the little tussle in Fort Collins, we figured he ought to stay away from this place. He's in Chicago, though. He flew in on a private plane.”

Nate felt a hell of a lot better. He was beginning to think their small shadow army was a match for the person authorizing contracts, or even his fellow cops. They didn't have to play by the rules.

“We think there's someone else involved, too,” Nate told them.

“Jack explained,” Simon said. His glance rested a little longer than necessary on Sam's mother.

“There's Victor, George, Anna, Rosa, and a few other assorted characters. My money's on George,” said Nate. “He's ambitious and vicious.”

“Nicholas Merritt can help us with that. If he will.”

Patsy bit her lip. “I don't know why he would. I don't mean anything to him.”

“I think Sam does,” Nathan said.

Simon poured another cup of coffee. “If Nicholas confirms all this, then we have to set a neat little trap.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Nathan said.

“McGuire—if it is McGuire—probably doesn't know exactly what Patsy has. A little blackmail threat might do wonders in bringing him out of his hole.”

Simon was right. There was no other way. From what Patsy said, the evidence was slim. It might have been more powerful thirty-four years ago. A fresh patrolman wouldn't have the clout of a federal judge.

But he didn't like making Sam—or her mother—a bull's-eye. He didn't want to think that he had planned exactly that a week or ten days ago. Now he would do almost anything to keep it from happening.

It was the only way to keep them safe, to give them back a life.

They left it that way when they left the table, which turned out to be a little awkward. There were three bedrooms. Patsy had one, Simon another.

“Nathan and I will share a bedroom,” Sam offered. Her mother raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Sam turned to Nathan. “I want to talk to my mother for a while.”

“We'll check outside,” Simon said. Nate went with him out the front door. Nothing unusual, though Nate didn't like the woods around them. Too many hiding places.

“The house has a state-of-the-art security system,” Simon said.

They walked around to the back and sat down in lawn chairs.

Simon looked relaxed, but Nate knew he was listening, that every instinct was alert.

“Will McGuire bite?” Simon asked.

“He has to. He has too many loose ends now. Now that we know where to start, we can eventually find out he was the one issuing a contract. There has to be a money trail.”

“I found out a lot about you,” Simon said.

Nate raised an eyebrow.

“Good cop, bad team player. You hate the Merrittas. How did you get hooked up with the daughter?”

“Lucky, I guess,” he said wryly.

“You're willing to lose your job for her?”

“I probably already have.”

“No doubt you will if you go along with this.”

“I've made my decision,” Nate said softly. “She doesn't deserve any of this.”

“Neither did her mother.”

Nate didn't say anything.

“I saw you look at her when you first came in. How could she abandon a child? David told me it haunted her every day of her life. He said she woke up two or three nights a week with nightmares.”

“I'm not judging anyone.”

“I just wanted you to know.”

“Thanks.”

They sat out there a few more moments. Nate wanted to give Sam time with her mother. They needed it.

The silence between him and Simon was companionable. They instinctively trusted each other. “Your name isn't Simon.”

“No,” Simon said. “But Jack's using his own name. We thought one of us should retain some mystery.” He hesitated. “My buddies stuck it on me. Simple Simon, they used to call me, cause I had a real talent for making things simple. I don't believe in bullshit.”

Nate smiled. “You and Jack and David Carroll must have been hell on wheels.”

“David was the best one of us,” Simon said.

“Are either of you married?”

“Both divorced. It's not easy to settle down after the kind of life we had. We're both wanderers.” He hesitated then said, “My name is Michael Malone.”

They heard a car coming down the street and without a word they both rose and went around the house, keeping to the shadows. A car disappeared down the street.

“People who own this with the government?” Nate asked.

“Yep. I asked around for a safe house.”

“Do the other residents know what their neighbor does for a living?”

“Probably don't have a clue. And by the way, it's a she.”

They went inside.

Sam wanted to go to the planetarium.

Nathan hesitated. All his protective instincts said no.

“He might not show if he sees only you,” Sam said. “Terri said he wanted to see
me.
”

“I want to go, too,” Patsy said.

“Hell, no,” both men said in unison.

“He's my son. I've waited more than thirty-four years to see him.” Tears hovered in the corners of her eyes and she played with the bracelet she always wore.

“It
will
happen,” Simon said. “But not now.”

“She shouldn't be left alone. Neither should Sam,” Nate said.

“She won't be,” Simon said. “I'll stay. You and Jack and Samantha meet him. Jack was there earlier. He studied every inch of the place. Every exit. Every fire alarm if it comes to that.”

So that became the plan. Nathan didn't like it but he knew he was outvoted.

They had cereal, orange juice and toast for breakfast, though Patsy offered to fix a big breakfast. Nathan borrowed a lightweight sports jacket from one of the closets to cover his holstered pistol.

At ten, Nathan and Sam left the house in Simon's rented sedan. They would meet Jack at the door of the planetarium.

When they arrived, children were streaming off school buses. For a moment, Nathan regretted his choice. If there was any shooting, he'd never forgive himself.

They saw Maddox sitting at the top of the steps, wearing dark glasses. Jock was wearing a seeing eye dog harness.