Mean Evergreen (Mercy Watts Mysteries Book Twelve)

by A W Hartoin

  “Anything else?” I asked.

  “When do you plan on leaving?”

  I surprised him with, “As soon as possible.”

  “Really?” he asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  I’m not sure he believed me, but he left with a warning about not getting into any more trouble as if I’d broken into my room and damaged Novak.

  Whatever dude. Hit the bricks.

  Once the Polizei were on the elevator, we went inside to find Novak at the desk, typing like mad with Grandma holding ice wrapped in a towel to the back of his head.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I asked.

  “Mercy!”

  “Sorry, but seriously he has a head injury. Don’t make me regret getting him out of going to the hospital.”

  “Almost there,” said Novak.

  “Where?” Moe asked.

  “Got it.” Novak snapped his fingers and then bent over. “I think I’m going to vomit.”

  I grabbed a trash can, but he didn’t vomit. I got him on the bed, facedown so there wouldn’t be any pressure on his stitches and I took a look. The old guy did a swell job. Better than I could’ve done for sure.

  “What is going on?” I asked. “Why did I have to keep talking to the cops?”

  “Tell her, Janine,” muttered Novak.

  Grandma went to one of the laptops and pushed a key. The screen filled up with six video feeds off the hotel security system. “We had to get it before the Polizei took it off the server.”

  I sat down. “Sweet. What have we got?”

  Grandma, showing expertise I didn’t know she had, got us through the parking lot camera all the way through to the elevator camera on our floor. A well-built man in dark clothing and a heavy high-collared black coat with a fedora pulled down low appeared in the parking lot, walking purposefully through the lot looking for something and when he didn’t find it, he headed to the front entrance. He didn’t have a car himself and came from the general direction of the main train station.

  Once he was inside, the front desk camera showed him neatly avoiding the front desk clerks who were swamped with check-ins. On the elevator, he kept his head down and away from the corner camera and got off to march down to our door, where he pulled out a key card and swiped it without hesitation. The first time he did it too fast, showed some irritation, and then tried again. He went inside for about five seconds. Seriously, five seconds and then came running out. That time he went to the stairs that I’d come up. He ran down, skipping stairs, got himself together on the main floor, and then walked through the lobby, returning the way he came. The video ran through until it showed me running in, completely panicked.

  “Can you back it up to the point where he’s at our door?” I asked.

  Grandma backed it up. “What are you looking for?”

  I touched the screen at the top of the guy’s head and then went to our door, opened it and stood in the same spot. “I’m five four. What’s he?”

  Moe went back and forth between me and the screen. “Six foot. Six one.”

  “Yeah,” said Novak. “He was about my height. Maybe a little shorter.”

  “That fits,” I said.

  “With what?”

  I told them what we got from Ethan Elbert and had Grandma go back to the elevator video. It was the closest image we had. The unknown subject, as Dad would’ve called him, took great pains to hide his face. A little too great, bending his head so far that he revealed his neck between his scarf and hat. We got a decent view of the back of his neck and part of the side. It wasn’t much, but he was dark-haired, clean-shaven, and it was not the neck of an older man. By that, I mean, he was younger than forty for sure. No wrinkles. No thickening of the skin. It was young, firm, and healthy. Ethan may have considered that guy to be old, but I’d have guessed from his walk and style that he was about thirty.

  “He’s our guy,” said Moe.

  “I think so,” I said. “But…”

  “Not a pro.”

  Grandma looked hard at the elevator video frozen as he pushed the button for our floor with a gloved hand. “How in the world can you tell? He had a key card.”

  “Easy,” said Novak. “Universal cards can be had on the web.”

  “That’s not good,” she said.

  “You have to know where to look and he did.”

  I sat down next to Novak’s prone body. “But he didn’t know anything else. It couldn’t be The Klinefeld Group that sent him. He did this on his own.”

  “How do you figure that?” Grandma asked.

  “Because they don’t go in knowing half the information and unprepared.”

  “But you think they killed Lester at the mansion.”

  “Exactly,” said Moe. “They found someone in the house and they killed him. They didn’t have a problem with that. This dipstick freaked and ran away.”

  “The Klinefeld Group would’ve surveilled the hotel,” said Novak, “since I blocked access to internal security and Wi-Fi. They’d have known that the Mercedes being gone was only an indicator. A pro would’ve known that Mercy and Moe left you here, Janine.”

  Grandma’s voice got tight. “Maybe he was okay with that. Maybe he was going to hurt me.”

  “No. He was shocked. I took him completely by surprise.”

  “Did you get a look at his face?” I asked.

  “Not really. You saw the video. It was seconds.”

  “How about an impression?”

  Novak took a breath and closed his eyes. “White, handsome.”

  “Did you see his eyes?”

  “Dark, but I don’t know the color,” he said before opening his own eyes again. “Sorry. It was so fast. I could never pick him out.”

  “I didn’t think you could,” I said. “But the handsome is interesting.”

  “Just a feeling. An instant impression.”

  “Those are generally right.”

  “Are they?” Grandma asked.

  “Usually and then people talk themselves out of it.” I leaned back on the pillows and yawned.

  Grandma went and got her purse. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  “Where?” Moe asked.

  “To the pharmacy. Novak needs his painkiller.”

  “Don’t bother,” Novak said. “I’m out of here.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “I’m watching you like a hawk for at least twenty-four hours.”

  Novak got on all fours and then sat back beside me. “I appreciate that, but I have to go. The Polizei aren’t stupid. They’ll be back and they’ll have a warrant for my computers.”

  “How?” Grandma asked.

  He raised his palms. “Somehow. It will happen. I have to leave. Tomorrow morning at the latest.”

  “I agree,” said Moe. “I’ve seen that look before. The cops are thinking. We can’t give them a chance to bully their way in.”

  Crap on a cracker.

  “Didn’t you give them your name?” I asked. “They can track you back to Paris.”

  “I gave them a name and I’m not going back to Paris, not until you’re done,” said Novak.

  “Why not, if the name is a cover?”

  “My mother is there,” he said, crossing his arms.

  “But we got rid of her,” I said.

  Novak glared at Grandma, who defiantly glared right back.

  I threw up my hands. “Oh, give me a break. She didn’t really call your mother.”

  Grandma bit her lip.

  “How in the world? I couldn’t call her. I don’t even know his real name.”

  She put her nose in the air. “I haven’t been married to Ace Watts for fifty years for nothing. I saw him punch his code into his phone. When he was laid out with the medics, I called you, but you didn’t answer, so I did what any decent mother and grandmother would do. I called his mother.”

  “I will never forgive you,” said Novak.

  “Deal with it,” she said. “She knows and is waiting on
me to call her with an update.”

  “I changed my code, evil woman.”

  Grandma rolled her eyes. “She gave me her number. Who do you think I am? I’m a mother, not some rank amateur.”

  I’ve unleashed the Kraken and it’s Grandma.

  “You still can’t leave,” I said. “Call her and tell her that. Or she can come get him.”

  “I will harm you,” said Novak.

  Grandma smacked his foot. “Go see your mother.”

  “No.”

  “She loves you.”

  “That’s not the selling point you think it is,” he said.

  “Well, you’re not leaving until tomorrow anyway,” I said.

  Novak closed his eyes. “You can put me on a train immediately. There’s a direct to Gare de l’Est.”

  “Not until the morning,” said Grandma. “You’re stuck, but I’m sure Mercy will think of something to keep the Polizei off our backs.”

  Everyone looked at me and I asked, “Will I?”

  “You must know someone,” said Moe.

  I did know someone, sort of, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to call him or even if the number he gave me was still good. The name Sean Connery was still in my phone. I’d never even considered calling that number for help from the French spy Thyraud, and maybe I didn’t have to.

  “What are you thinking?” Novak asked.

  “I’m thinking we have a mutual friend with connections in government,” I said.

  “Really?” Moe asked. “Who?”

  “Sean Connery.”

  “What on Earth are you talking about?” Grandma asked.

  Novak smiled. “We do indeed. I should’ve thought of it myself.”

  “I blame the concussion,” I said. “You’ll call?”

  “If you help me back to my room.”

  Grandma came over and offered her arm to help Novak up. “I will stay with you tonight.”

  “You are not spending the night in a hotel room with some weirdo.” I glanced at Novak, “No offense.”

  “None taken. It’s accurate.” He looked at Moe who held up his hands.

  “I sleep alone,” said Moe.

  “That’s a sad commentary on your life, my friend,” said Novak.

  “Don’t I know it, but it’s still not happening.”

  I stood up. “Fine. I will do it, if you promise not to work or game all night. I have got to sleep.”

  Grandma shook her head and said, “You are not spending the night in a hotel room with some weirdo.” She glanced at Novak, “No offense.”

  “Still none taken,” said Novak. “Aaron will do it. He doesn’t mind gaming.”

  “Aaron!” I ran to the door and Novak yelled, “I’ve got his second keycard!”

  I dashed back and grabbed the card.

  I forgot Aaron! I forgot Aaron!

  I ran down the hall and overshot Aaron’s door in my panic and doubled back to swipe the card without knocking. Probably not the best idea with anyone else, but it was Aaron and he wouldn’t care.

  I ran in, gasping, to find my little pudgy partner asleep on the bed, fully clothed, I’m happy to say. I caught my breath and bent over the foot of the bed. I didn’t really think he’d been a target of anything, but who knows. Stuff happens. There were multiple sirens going for a long time, not to mention a bunch of people in the hall. How did he not notice that? He could’ve been dead or having a stroke for all I knew.

  “Thank God,” I gasped.

  One eye opened behind the glasses he still wore and Aaron said, “You hungry?”

  “I need hot chocolate.”

  He jumped up so fast he was a blur and went for the door in socks, leaving his key card on the desk.

  “Hold on.” I grabbed his arm and gave him a hug. Aaron just stood there and let me do it. He didn’t hug back. I thought that he was probably thinking about chocolate and cream and marshmallows, but for once, he wasn’t.

  “Is Janine okay?” he asked, and I hugged him harder. So hard he might’ve regretted the question.

  “She’s upset. We all are.”

  “Everyone?”

  “Well, probably not Moe.” I told him what happened and Novak’s injury.

  “I’ll stay with him,” he offered without hesitation.

  “That’s perfect. Thanks.”

  “We can play Warhammer.”

  “Obviously,” I said. “Don’t forget your keycard.”

  Aaron grabbed his card and was out the door in a flash. I don’t know where he was going, but he didn’t put on shoes, so it must’ve been in the hotel. On second thought, Aaron would never let a little thing like footwear get between him and making food. He could be going anywhere.

  I went back to my room to find Novak on the phone with his distraught mom, who was threatening to come to Stuttgart to take care of her baby. That’s what Grandma said she said. It turns out Grandma could speak French.

  “Do you know any other languages?” I asked.

  “I took Latin.”

  “Not so useful.”

  “Well, I thought I was going to be a nurse and the nuns told me it would be good for understanding medical things.”

  “You wanted to be a nurse?” I asked. “I didn’t know that. What happened?”

  “I met your grandfather and I got married instead.” Grandma didn’t sound bitter, more like resigned.

  “You couldn’t do both?” Moe asked to his credit.

  “We were military and moved. I couldn’t stay in school long enough and then I got pregnant so that was that. I got a job with the phone company near post and that worked out well with all the moving. I have a nice little retirement, so it’s all right.”

  I sat down next to her. “There are so many things I didn’t know.”

  “That goes for all of us,” said Grandma. “But it’s not too late. I’m still here.”

  “I have some ideas about things.”

  Moe laughed and Grandma said, “You always did. That’s why you’re my favorite.”

  My mouth fell open.

  “Ask me anything, my dear,” said Grandma. “I will answer.”

  I was about to do just that when my phone buzzed and Moe picked it up. “Spidermonkey.”

  “Don’t answer it,” I said.

  “We know how that works out.”

  My questions would have to wait, but some answers were heading my way.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  I kicked off my shoes and climbed on the bed before I called Spidermonkey back. I wanted to be comfortable. Sometimes you just know you need to be.

  Grandma and Moe helped Novak to his feet as he argued with his mother and they left me alone to see what ten texts and three calls were about. I’d missed a lot during the excitement and Spidermonkey was sure to tell me off with good reason.

  “Sorry,” I said by way of an opening.

  “You should be,” said Spidermonkey. “I was about to call the Polizei and report you missing.”

  “Don’t do that. They’re not my biggest fans.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I was me and stuff happened around me.” I told him about the break-in attempt and the typing started, more frantic than usual. “It’s fine. We’re all fine.”

  “I want that footage,” he said.

  “Novak will send it.”

  “I never thought The Klinefeld Group would make a play for you. Novak said the attempts to break his firewall were steady and still coming from Berlin. I should’ve known they’d send someone.”

  “They might have someone here, but it’s not that guy.” I explained why and my favorite hacker calmed down.

  “I almost had a heart attack,” he said. “How is your grandmother? It must’ve been a huge shock.”

  “She’s calmer now, but it was.”

  “Are you going to tell your parents?”

  “You must be joking,” I said. “So did you get the Purcell’s financials?”

  “I did,” said Spidermonkey. “Hold
on to your hat.”

  “Got my hat. We’re all good. Lay it on me.”

  He paused for effect and then said, “Nothing.”

  “What the…?”

  “I know. No unusual activity in any of the accounts. Zippo. Nada.”

  “How is that possible?” I asked. “Madison was taking that money from Anton. I know she was.”

  “I believe you,” he said.

  “Well, what’s she doing with it? Putting it under the mattress?”

  He chuckled. “I wouldn’t be surprised. Her accounts are on USAA and they are all together with her mother’s and her brother’s. If Lisa Purcell opens her account, she can see everything. She’s co-signer on all the kids’ stuff.”

  “Interesting,” I said. “I took my parents off my accounts the day after I turned eighteen.”

  “You were always rebellious that way, not that I blame you,” said Spidermonkey. “Your father is a bit intrusive.”

  “Ya think?”

  “Still is. Morty’s all over your accounts.”

  “I know. I’ve accepted it.”

  “What other choice do you have?” he asked.

  “None. Obviously,” I said. “I guess Madison and Jake don’t have those issues.”

  “Not that I’ve seen. Very close and open.”

  “Not that open.” I gave him a rundown on what Ethan Elbert had to say and Hobbes as well. “You never saw anything about an older boyfriend, so I doubt the mom knows.”

  “When did Madison have that burner on the Wi-Fi?” Spidermonkey asked.

  “June sixth. Why?”

  “I didn’t look back that far for communications with the mother. Did Novak?”

  “He didn’t mention it. He just said you were doing the money.”

  “I am and there’s nothing there,” he said. “She could’ve handed it off to the boyfriend.”

  “That’s a solid bet,” I said. “Maybe he’s blackmailing Madison.”

  Spidermonkey kept typing furiously. “With what? The girl was completely normal until this all came up.”

  “She couldn’t be. A normal girl doesn’t just start blackmailing people out of the blue.”

  “It wasn’t out of the blue,” he said softly. “She met a man and he changed her.”