Always Watching

by LS Sygnet

  “All right.”

  “Helen, Crevan’s twin wasn’t a brother.”

  My eyes widened. “Why would his father lie about something like that?”

  “I have no idea, but believe me, I intend to find out.”

  “Wait,” I said. “I know what you’re thinking, Johnny. Confronting Aidan Conall isn’t going to do any good right now. Unless you suspect that he had something to do with the disappearance of his child, he won’t be able to give you any answers that will advance this investigation.”

  “I don’t think he had anything to do with it.” Johnny’s clenched fist hammered the steering wheel rhythmically. “What I demand to know is why he lied about this to Crevan for all these years. What was the point of that, Doc? And why tell Crevan his twin was stillborn?”

  “I’m sure his answers would be fascinating, but probably more lies,” I said. “And again, a pointless avenue. Other than the nurse’s disappearance along with the baby, are there other similarities to our infant abduction?”

  Johnny shook his head. “I don’t know. I haven’t been able to get past the part that Crevan has a twin sister that might well have been abducted and sold into slavery floating around out there somewhere.”

  My heart quickened. This was good news. At last, we had a new avenue of exploration in our human trafficking case. More important, something had stripped that hopeful and utterly sappy expression out of Johnny’s gaze.

  Denial is an easy friend, always there when you need her most. I shoved the prenatal vitamins in my purse as discreetly as possible. “I think we should take the files home and dissect them thoroughly, Johnny. Before we can be sure that either one of them is related to the Datello infant’s kidnapping, we’ve got to have more than a couple of circumstantial similarities.”

  “Agreed,” he said grimly. Daddy-to-be made a brief reappearance. Johnny’s gaze softened. His fingers splayed over my belly with a tenderness that might’ve made me weep if not for denial. “Are you sure you’re up to this right now, Helen? I know you’re still absorbing the shock of what Dr. Schwartz –”

  “I absolutely need this right now, Johnny. Please don’t be hurt by this, but I cannot think about what Schwartz said to us this afternoon. I know you’re thrilled. Please promise me that we’ll keep this little development private for the time being.”

  He cleared his throat and stared hard at the dashboard. “Well, that’s the thing, Helen. A few people already suspected it.”

  “Who?” I demanded.

  “Maya. Crevan.”

  “Then we’ll tell them they’re wrong. And by we, I mean you.”

  “Why?” A tiny measure of hurt crept into his voice.

  “Haven’t you claimed from day one how well you know me? For heaven’s sake, Johnny. I’m not even ready to discuss this with you yet.”

  Slowly, his head turned. Eyes impaled me. And there it was. That heart-wrenching, guilt-evoking hurt in his eyes. It shamed me, broke my will, sapped my strength, stole my ability to lie and make everything better. “We will talk eventually. I’ll get over the shock.”

  “Is that why can’t you talk to me about our baby yet?”

  Fetus. It’s a fetus!

  I sucked in a slow, deep breath. “I have to process the shock before I can talk about it, Johnny. Right now, I’m having a hard time believing that I won’t wake up in a couple of hours with heartburn and a hangover.”

  Wouldn’t that be welcome – and simple.

  Somehow, before we got back to my house, the consequences of my shock became abundantly clear. Denial is not only a good friend, but she’s contagious. Johnny focused on the case, the business at hand. In many ways, it was the most professionally he’s ever behaved toward me, especially when there wasn’t an audience around pressuring him to be officious.

  I accepted the gift with greed and gratitude.

  It wasn’t long before Crevan called.

  “Orion,” Johnny said. He slapped the speaker button on my office phone hard enough to crack plastic.

  “Johnny, do you think you and Helen could come out to OSI?”

  “Why? What happened now?”

  “I’ve got the sketch artist working with Florence Payette,” Crevan said, “but she’s not being particularly cooperative. I thought maybe Helen would have better luck with her than I am.”

  “Can’t you get Beatrice to talk to her again?” I asked. “She was the one with rapport.”

  “I tried that, Helen,” Crevan said. “She’s asking for you. Specifically.”

  “Has she said why?” Johnny asked.

  I felt a spectacular tantrum building in the pit of my formerly cast-iron stomach. “It doesn’t matter if she did or didn’t, Johnny. We need that sketch. We’re running out of time to find a way to significantly diminish the impact of Agent Preston’s dying declaration. Crevan, we’ll be over there in half an hour.”

  My finger depressed the button to release the call before Crevan could respond or Johnny could argue.

  “Stop treating me this way, Johnny. Business as usual. Remember? Or is it your plan to disrespect my wishes and start passing out cigars right now?”

  “Of course not,” he growled in frustration. It bled from every pore in his body, increased the atmospheric pressure in the office to the point that breathing became difficult.

  “Then what’s your excuse for needing her reason to talk to me before we go?”

  “She abducted a baby roughly three days ago, Helen. Forgive me if that hasn’t engendered a whole lot of trust.”

  “Oh.” It deflated my anger quickly. “Well, you haven’t met her, Johnny. She’s got no will of her own. The fact that she asked for me is significant. We need to find out why.”

  He gripped my arm in a vice of flesh and bone. “And what if she was ordered to ask for you? Think about it, Helen. You said it yourself. She doesn’t have a will of her own.”

  “All the more reason to talk to her. This is a safe environment.”

  “Yeah, we thought that about letting Preston talk to Datello. Look where that got us.”

  “That wouldn’t have happened if you’d been there, Johnny. I’m not insisting that you let me handle this alone. Am I?”

  “No,” he frowned.

  “Don’t look like I’m pulling the wool over your eyes. You’re not missing some sneaky ulterior motive here. I’m focused on the case. Beyond that, I have no agenda.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “It’s what I need right this second. Something familiar, something I know, something I don’t have to think to do. Please understand that it’s no reflection on how I feel about you or… or this latest wrench in the plan.”

  “My baby is a wrench in the plan?”

  “That came out wrong. It’s left me feeling a little blindsided, and until I can mull things over without feeling guilty about abducted children or dead ones washing up on the shore –”

  “Fine,” he rasped. “I get it. Keep your head in the case. I’ll do my best to pretend none of this is happening too.”

  I stepped close to him, forced him to wrap his arms around me by nothing more than proximity. “I’m not mad at you. I’m not to the point where shock has given way to elation. Not yet. You’ve always been so patient with me, Johnny. Please don’t stop now.”

  “It’s not easy for me either, you know,” lips pressed against my temple. “I never really considered having kids before. I told you I wasn’t opposed to the idea with you, but that’s a far cry from planning to have them.”

  “Are you sure this is what you want?”

  “Now that I’ve got it?” I felt the smile stretch against the side of my head. “Yeah, Doc, I’m absolutely sure that I want this. We created a life, out of pure love. That means something to me.”

  It meant something in the light of his religious superstition. Yet I couldn’t dismiss the tiny flutter of excitement, curiosity about what our child would be like, how his or her father would dote and love and support and neve
r be a disappointment… like mine had been in the end. No, that would probably be my role.

  Chapter 24

  The pieces of my bizarre behavior of late fell into place quickly. I went from dread and panic to kicking myself for missing what seemed so obvious. All this happened between my house and OSI. Pregnant brain. It transformed me from someone utterly vain regarding intellectual abilities to a moron of unrivaled stupidity in a matter of minutes. All it took was the time between peeing into a little plastic cup and a quick dip of a stick into the straw-colored fluid.

  My self-confidence took a severe hit by the time Johnny parked outside OSI.

  “What’s wrong?” ever sensitive, Johnny picked up on the shift in my mood. He gripped my hand gently. “Second thoughts?”

  “About the baby?” Just like that, it was no longer a nebulous, vague and nondescript fetus.

  “I believe those would be third, or fourth thoughts at this point in the day.” He lifted my knuckles to his lips. “I meant about talking to Payette.”

  “I wish I knew how you did that,” I muttered.

  “How many times have I told you I know you?”

  “A billion. At minimum. To answer your question, yes, I’m having second thoughts. I suddenly feel stupid and clueless.”

  “Because you didn’t see what some of us suspected?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, if pregnancy fell into the same category of unfathomable crime, you’d have beat us all to the conclusion.”

  I impaled him with a glare. “Thanks a lot, Johnny. That makes me feel so much better.”

  “Don’t be sarcastic. It wasn’t meant as an insult. There’s no rule that says you have to outsmart everyone in every category under the sun, Helen. It’s all right that some of us have insight into other things.”

  “Meanwhile, all I have is tunnel vision for monsters and demons.”

  “Well, you do tend to be a little… negative.”

  “This isn’t helping.”

  Johnny laughed softly. “I’m not trying to insult you. Did you ever see that old Disney movie Cinderella?”

  “The animated one?”

  “Yeah.”

  “If you’re about to compare me to any of the wicked steps –”

  “Of course not. It’s just that you’re not the type of person to spontaneously break out into song with the pet birds and mice. There’s nothing wrong with it. God knows, you’ve seen more of the dark side of mankind than the good that’s fostered the trait in you.”

  “But?”

  “But nothing. Stepping away from that life was huge, probably the first in many changes that’ll broaden your perspective on humanity. You don’t have to look for the worst of the worst anymore.”

  “Yet here I am.” I stared at the back entrance to the state police building in Bay County. “Another monster, another battle of wits with the dark side. So much for retirement.”

  “Say the word. You want to walk away from this and start shopping for baby clothes and nursery furniture, it’s good with me.”

  “Well it isn’t with me.” It truly was an involuntary gesture, the palm that pressed over my still flat belly. “How could I ever live with myself or trust my ability to protect a baby if I don’t care about other children in need, Johnny?”

  “You can profile behavior and work on pulling the threads of this rather tenuous theory of ours together without talking to suspects.”

  “Payette could give us an important lead, even if someone else told her to ask for me.”

  “Only one way to find out,” he said.

  I knew it, but that didn’t bolster my flagging confidence. Nothing but facing the task, putting it behind me would. “I’m wasting time, and it’s not like me to do this. I’m starting to worry that I’ll never feel like me again, Johnny.”

  “Evolution,” he grinned. “You’ll be who you’re meant to be. It’s all part of becoming the next stage for all of us, sweetheart.”

  “Johnny, do you think you can put together half a dozen photographs for me?”

  “Of?”

  “I don’t care. Five guys and Preston. We shouldn’t waste time trying to cajole Florence into describing him to a sketch artist. A photo ID would suffice.”

  “Zack would like the artist’s rendering better, Helen. It’s harder to claim that we made our choice in a photo array obvious to her.”

  “Tape the identification. Tape our whole conversation,” I said. “I’m not going to lead her to identify someone that isn’t guilty. If she doesn’t pick Preston, it means that we’ve got another guilty conspirator out there that we need to find. Right?”

  “I guess. It would be easier if she identifies Preston.”

  “Have we heard from Dev yet?”

  Johnny’s lips turned downward. “Yes, Helen. We already talked about this. He hasn’t found anything yet. I believe his exact phrase was that the house looked like a show place for a newly developed community. All the furnishings in the right place, but no secrets hidden in the attic. Remember?”

  “Maybe we should –”

  “Go inside and talk to Florence Payette and let Devlin do his job,” Johnny interrupted me before I could postulate on the wisdom of joining Devlin in Montgomery. “After that, we’ve got to figure out how these people are communicating.”

  “Or I could take a run at Melissa Sherman. I’m not a cop, Johnny. I’m under no such obligation to grant her request that an attorney be present.”

  “You’re contracted to OSI on this case.”

  I grumbled all the way into the building until Crevan’s frenzied pacing distracted me.

  “Thank God you’re here.” He cupped my elbow and led me toward one of the interrogation rooms. He detoured into observation before we reached the destination where I suspected we’d find Florence Payette.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Melissa Sherman’s attorney is demanding to see Payette, represent her. I already called Zack. It looks like this sleaze ball Curtis Marcel has filed an emergency petition with the court.”

  “To represent Payette.” Sleaze ball was right. “Crevan, has Florence ever asked for an attorney?”

  “No, but Marcel is arguing diminished capacity. We haven’t got much time. If the judge rules in Marcel’s favor, if Zack loses the argument that there is a conflict of interest in the attorney representing the woman that Payette believes owns her –”

  “Whoa, wait a minute. I thought she said Mr. Sherman owned her.”

  Crevan mussed his hair with one hand. “Well, that’s the thing. You told her that Sherman is dead. Now she says that she can’t talk if Mrs. Sherman doesn’t tell her to.”

  Vulgarity burned my lips like acid. “What else?”

  He didn’t have to wonder why I expected this was only half the problem we faced.

  “Well, since the emergency petition is forcing a judge to look at the case, Marcel is going to push for all charges against his client to be dropped based on Agent Preston’s statement before he died.”

  My eyes met Johnny’s. “You’d better get over to the district court and make sure this judge understands what we’re facing if he rules in favor of a kidnapper, accepts the word of an FBI agent who murdered Danny Datello as gospel truth.”

  “Crevan, will you make sure Doc goes straight home when she’s done here?”

  I objected before he could agree. “For God’s sake, Johnny. I can work the case from here until you get back. Who knows how long Payette will want to talk to me? If I can get her to identify the man she gave Sofia Datello to, it could be what sways the judge to see this so-called emergency hearing our way.”

  His finger stabbed Crevan’s chest. “You stay with her, every second. Got it?”

  I watched Crevan’s Adam’s apple bob in his throat.

  “Sure, Johnny.”

  I stared at the woman sitting on the other side of the observation window. She looked like a shell of a human being. The fear and trepidation I witnessed the f
irst time we spoke was gone.

  “Is she sedated?”

  “No,” Crevan said. “The only thing we’ve gotten out of her since I got here is that she must speak to you and only you.”

  “Hmm.”

  “Helen, there’s no way Melissa Sherman could’ve gotten word to Florence. We’ve kept her segregated at Central Division since we took her into custody.”

  “And the state police personnel that have had contact, are these men and women that we trust implicitly?”

  “I’ve been here for a little more than a few weeks, Helen. I don’t know these people like I do the guys at Downey Division. I trust Johnny more than anybody in the world. If he vetted them, it’s good enough for me.”

  “Where is Chris Darnell?”

  “He’s on his way to Montgomery to help Devlin tear through the Sherman house.”

  I gouged multiple fingers into my temples, trying to will the pounding headache away with brute force. “Can’t waste time doubting myself. We don’t have the luxury right now.”

  “Helen?”

  “Never mind,” I muttered. “It’s been a hell of a day.” Poor Crevan didn’t even know one of many disturbing pieces of information we learned today – the one that related directly to him. “Ready to go in?”

  “Helen, I know what I promised Johnny, but there’s no way Payette is gonna talk to you if I’m in that room. I’ll be with you through the mirror.”

  I grinned at him. “You realize he’ll have both our butts in a sling if he ever finds out.”

  “Oh, he’ll find out. We’ve been rolling tape since the moment we planted her uncooperative ass in the interrogation room. I think all things considered, it’s more important that we get answers from her before a judge possibly rules against Zack this afternoon. Or do you disagree?”

  “Not one little bit.”

  I pushed the door open and watched dull brown eyes lift. There was no fear in her face, no passion either.

  “Ms. Helen,” she said softly. The first bit of emotion bled from her lips. Relief.

  I pulled out a chair beside her and sat down. “Detective Conall called me. He said you’ve been asking to speak to me, Florence. I was afraid you’d never want to talk to me again after what happened the other day.”