Unintended Consequences (27 page)

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take it out on you.”

“Go ahead. I’ll bounce back.”

“Everyone feels so goddamn helpless. And you know what the funny thing is? The calmest one is Calhoun. He’s okay with what’s going to happen.”

“He’s been in prison a long time. Maybe he’s just ready for it to be over.”

“It’s not that. He believes his daughter is alive. Hell, we all believe she’s alive. But for him, it’s some sort of redemption. He’s totally at peace now.”

The oven timer pinged. As Patty placed the food on the table, Tommy’s cell phone rang.

“Mr. Noorland, this is May Oliver, Nancy’s neighbor.”

“Have you heard from Nancy?”

“Oh, it’s the most awful thing,” she said, her voice choked. “Her daughter just left. She’s dead.”

Tommy didn’t follow. “Who’s dead?”

“Nancy. She must have slipped on the rocks and fallen into the cavern. Out in Arizona. They said her neck was broken. Some hikers found her yesterday. I didn’t know if I should call you, but you made it sound so urgent. I can’t believe it. She was so young for this to happen.”

Tommy thanked her for calling and sunk into his chair.

“What’s wrong?” Patty asked. “You look awful.”

“It’s over,” Tommy said. “We’re out of options.”

He knew he had to tell Dani but dreaded making the call. “Do me a favor, doll, put the food back in the oven. I’m gonna take a shower.”

Feeling no more refreshed after the shower, he dried himself off and dialed Dani’s number.

“That’s it,” Dani said after he’d told her. “The ties to Sunshine Harrington have all been cut. As far as anyone in authority is concerned, it’s as though she doesn’t exist.”

Tommy couldn’t get Sunshine Harrington out of his thoughts. Everyone at HIPP believed she was George and Sallie’s daughter, including him. The medical records didn’t lie. Even though Dr. Jeffreys wouldn’t say with absolute certainty that the two girls were one and the same, it was too coincidental to be otherwise. No, it all pointed to one conclusion: Sunshine Harrington was Angelina Calhoun.

But how could they find her? It was his job to investigate, to look for clues, put them together and get results. He pushed the food around on his plate, unable to eat. Patty talked to him, but her words were a blur. Suddenly, he had one more idea, a long shot but worth a try.

Trudy Harrington’s neighbor Laura Devine had told Tommy that Sunshine was married. Somewhere there had to be a record of a marriage license. “Patty, I can’t eat now. Maybe later. I’m just not hungry.”

Patty nodded as he headed down the hall to his den. He sat in front of the computer and typed “marriage licenses” into the Google search bar. A string of websites appeared, all offering access to marriage records. He chose one and typed in the name “Sunshine Harrington.” He clicked the box for all states and then clicked on “Search.” Nothing. That’s what the screen said. “There are no results for this name. Please try another name.”
Damn
!

Sunshine Harrington had grown up in Minnesota. Chances are that’s where she’d have married. It was one hour earlier in Minnesota. There was still time. He placed a call to the Minnesota Department of Health, Section of Vital Statistics. “What do I need to do to check a marriage record?” he asked when a female voice answered.

“Where was the party married?” she asked.

“Not sure, but maybe Olmsted County.”

“Then you need to call the local registrar in Olmsted County. They’ll send you a form to fill out and you send it back with an eight-dollar fee. You’ll have to provide a form of proof of your kinship to the married couple. It can be a driver’s license or birth certificate. A few other things, but it’s all spelled out on the application. Do you need the phone number for the registrar’s office?”

“No thanks, I’m set.” Tommy knew it would be fruitless to start dealing with a new bureaucrat at this stage. Instead, he dialed Helen at the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Rochester. She’d gone out of her way for him before and he hoped she would again.

He caught her in the office. “I need a big favor,” Tommy said after they’d exchanged greetings. He filled her in on everything he’d learned since she’d tried to help him. “So now that we know what happened to Angelina Calhoun, we’re stuck trying to find her. I thought maybe if I knew her married name, I could do an Internet search for her.”

Helen remained silent awhile. “I’m not supposed to do this,” she finally said, “but if ever there was a reason to bend the rules, this is it. Hold on and I’ll check our computer records.”

Tommy waited nervously for Helen to get back on the phone. Even if she found the name of Sunshine’s husband, would that be enough? Despite the astounding amount of information on the web, there were gaps. And even if he had the name, was there enough time to track her down?

“Tommy, you still there?”

“Tell me you have a name for me.” Tommy wondered if she could hear the desperation in his voice.

“I’m sorry. If she’s married, it wasn’t in Olmsted County. There’s no marriage license for her in our records.”

He had failed. It had happened on occasion before, both with the FBI and at HIPP. There were times when he did everything right, when he explored every avenue, and still came up empty. He knew it wasn’t his fault that Sunshine couldn’t be found. And he knew an innocent man would die.

C
HAPTER

31

M
ickey Conklin had expected Detective Cannon’s visit. Janine had asked him whether he’d ever had Stacy’s fingerprints taken. He’d forgotten all about it. They’d been walking through the mall and saw a sign that read, “Help Us Help Your Child.” He went to the booth to see what it was about. A registry of children’s fingerprints, in case anything happened to them. A surefire way to identify your child. He’d thought it was a good idea at the time.

“I’m really embarrassed to be asking you about this,” Cannon said. He was sitting on a couch in Mickey’s living room, a cup of coffee in his hand. “That investigator from New York keeps pushing me, and, well, I’m just here to get him off my back.”

“It’s fine. I’m glad you’re doing your job. I don’t mind you checking it out. I’d forgotten all about it. But I don’t get it. How could the fingerprints on some letter match Stacy’s?”

“It wasn’t Stacy’s fingerprints. Let me explain. Everybody has a unique set of markers on their fingerprints. A couple of those markers matched Stacy’s but not all. Sometimes that means it’s a close relative of Stacy’s.”

“You mean me or Janine?”

“That’s what the investigator is saying. But I’m sure it’s just a mistake.”

“How does that happen?”

Cannon put down the cup of coffee and leaned toward Mickey. “I wish I could tell you the feds were infallible, but they make errors just like anyone else. And remember, it was just a partial match. Maybe a few of the markers were the same and they called it Stacy’s, but it could just as easily have belonged to someone else.”

Mickey nodded. “Well, I hope they get it straightened out.”

Cannon coughed and squirmed in his seat. “Listen. I hate to ask you this, but I wouldn’t be doing my job otherwise. Do you remember where you were the day after that investigator visited you?”

Mickey thought for a moment. “Wait, let me check my appointments.” He pulled out his smartphone and scrolled to his appointment calendar. “Do you have the exact date?”

“April 15. Tax day.”

“Here it is. I was on the road that day. I called on a couple of accounts in Cleveland.”

“I’ll just need those names.”

Mickey laughed. “It’s a good thing I wasn’t carrying on an affair. You could really get me in trouble if you checked and I wasn’t there.”

“Ah, Mickey, you know I’m not trying to cause you problems. Look, with my schedule, I probably won’t even get to this for a few weeks. If then. I just had to ask.”

“Don’t worry, Hank. You’ve been great to our family. We really appreciate it.”

Cannon took out a notepad to write down the people Mickey had seen on his trip and then searched through his pockets for a pen. “Now, this is embarrassing. I don’t have anything to write with. Can I borrow a pen?”

“Sure,” Mickey said. He walked into the kitchen and came back with a pen. Cannon wrote down the names Mickey gave him and then stood up to leave. As Mickey walked him to the door, he asked, “So what’s happening with that guy on death row? The one the investigator is working for?”

“Oh, it’s going to be over for him soon. His time is up.”

C
HAPTER

32

W
hen Dani arrived home, Katie met her at the door. “I didn’t want to bother you at work. I know how wrapped up you are now. But Jonah’s coming down with something, I think. He’s had diarrhea all afternoon, and his stomach is really bothering him.”

“Any fever?”

“No, ninety-nine even.”

She went upstairs to Jonah’s room. As a child with Williams syndrome, he was more prone to illnesses than other children. It was one of Dani’s reasons for avoiding taking on cases from the investigation stage. She hated being away from home when he was sick.

Jonah lay on his bed with his eyes closed and an open comic book next to him. Dani started to leave and then heard a moan. “Jonah, are you asleep?” she whispered.

“No, I’m conscious. My stomach is feeling awfully unpleasant, though.”

“Katie told me.” She sat on his bed and felt his forehead. “What did you eat at school today?”

“Pizza.”

“Nothing else? Did you take food from anyone?”

Jonah shook his head and suddenly bolted upright and scooted off the bed. “I have to depart now,” he said as he rushed to the bathroom.

When he came back, Dani got him settled into bed again and then left to call Dr. Dolman.

“Give him Immodium AD or Pepto-Bismol and watch him over the weekend. If it persists, call my office on Monday and tell them I need to see him then.”

Monday. She was supposed to leave Sunday and fly back to Indiana. She was supposed to sit with George Calhoun one more time to wait as the clock ticked down. Doug could take off Monday to stay with Jonah, but did she want that? Dani wondered if fathers, even those as actively involved in their children’s lives as Doug, felt the same tug between work and family. When Jonah was sick, she wanted to be near him, to comfort him. And although in most instances Jonah was perfectly content to be with his father or even Katie, when he was sick he wanted his mother. All she could do was hope he’d feel better tomorrow.

She went back downstairs and sat in the kitchen. Katie busily prepared dinner for them—meatloaf and mashed potatoes—and Dani enjoyed chatting with her while she did so. “How is Megan doing?” Dani asked.

“That girl will be the death of me, I swear. If I weren’t her mother, I’d wring her neck.”

“What’s she up to now?”

“Claims she needs a break from college and is going to spend next year volunteering to teach poor children in Nicaragua. Can you imagine that? We skimp and save every extra penny to send her off to college, and she up and decides to quit.”

“Why do you say she’s quitting? It sounds admirable to me. And then after a year she can go back to her studies.”

“Now, that’s easy for you to say. Jonah is nice and safe here in his home with both his parents around. All those poor people she’ll be around—who’s to say they won’t be jealous of the pittance she has and rob her in her sleep? Or worse.”

“Megan is so independent. She’ll be able to take care of herself.”

“Humph!” Katie turned her back. Clearly, Dani hadn’t offered her the answer she’d hoped for. No doubt she wanted Dani to say she was right, that Megan should stay at home. She wanted Dani to understand her need to protect her child. And she did understand. Sometimes, though, it was beyond a parent’s control.

Jonah was awake most of the night, running to the bathroom at irregular intervals. Dani made a bed for herself on the floor of his room so she could be near him. He was such a good child, rarely complaining, and it ached her to see him suffer so much. They both fell asleep around 4:00 a.m., and the morning sun woke Dani two hours later.

She checked Jonah’s forehead as he slept and it still felt cool. She tiptoed to her own bedroom and slipped in beside Doug. He murmured something unintelligible and resumed his rhythmic snoring. Dani’s mind swirled with confusion. Should she stay home with Jonah and send Melanie in her place tomorrow? She’d been George’s lifeline these past few weeks. How could she abandon him now? Yet, in the end, lawyers were fungible; mothers were not.

Underlying her unease was the awareness that Williams syndrome children were prone to celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder caused by an intolerance to gluten. The symptoms include diarrhea and nausea, just like Jonah had been experiencing. She and Doug had been grateful that Jonah seemed to have escaped that added burden. He loved his pizza and Katie’s homemade cookies that awaited him on his return from school, and Cap’n Crunch cereal in the mornings. If he had this condition, there were so many other foods he’d need to avoid. It was hard enough to explain to a child with the normal range of intelligence that certain foods were forbidden. How would she make Jonah understand the importance of eliminating foods he loved?

Dani tended to do this, imagine the worst before it became a reality. She didn’t know why. For herself, she turned a blind eye to any symptom that might pop up, but with Jonah and Doug, the opposite occurred. At 8:00 a.m., with Jonah and Doug still sleeping, she slipped out of bed and called Dr. Dolman’s answering service. He called her back fifteen minutes later.

“Dr. Dolman, I know I’m being a worrywart, but could this be the onset of celiac disease in Jonah?”

“I gather he still has symptoms.”

“Yes, he had a difficult night.”

“It could be celiac, or it could be a stomach virus, or mild food poisoning. He hasn’t developed celiac disease yet, so that wouldn’t be my first guess.”

“I’m supposed to be somewhere else tomorrow and Monday. I’m afraid to leave him.”

“Mrs. Trumball, Jonah is not in serious danger. Can your husband be home with him?”