Nico (The Mavericks Book 8)

by Dale Mayer

  Charlotte couldn’t imagine being eighteen and telling a woman who hadn’t been part of his life since his birth any of that. But maybe Charlotte was wrong. Maybe that was something that adopted kids immediately did when they were found. “Didn’t you have contact with him when he turned eighteen?”

  Maggie waved a hand and said, “Yes, I did, and he didn’t know what he was talking about. He was just shocked.”

  “You mean, he didn’t want to have a relationship with you?”

  “Again he didn’t know what he was talking about,” she said. “I should have given him more preparation time. Not just sprung it on him.”

  “You mean, sprung on him the fact that he was adopted, and he didn’t even know that much?”

  Her face twisted yet again. “He didn’t know,” she said. Maggie stared up at the ceiling as she contemplated that knowledge. “I would have approached it quite differently if I had realized he didn’t know that. As it was, he was angry at me, and I’m sure he was very angry at them too.”

  “But now you had opened the door, and, once he was older …”

  “He said it was too soon, and he couldn’t deal with it. But I knew that, over time, he would. And I always had that hope that, when he turned eighteen, I’d see him again. And, once I saw him, I had that hope that, when he had time to adjust, he’d be there, and I’d have my son back.”

  “But it didn’t work out that way, did it?” Nico asked, his voice gentle, soft, and compassionate.

  Charlotte was stunned to realize just how much goodness was in that man, that, even in a situation like this, he could sympathize and be empathetic with a woman holding a gun on him.

  Maggie looked at him and frowned. “No, and that’s because of the woman beside you. She’s really not a nice person, you know? She took everything from me, and I’ve already lost so much.”

  “That’s not true,” Charlotte said. She tried hard to be calm and quiet, but her nerves were again stretched even more with the lies hurled at her. “I didn’t know anything about the arrangements for that rally. I didn’t have anything to do with the timing.”

  “Oh, so ignorance is an excuse then, is it?” Maggie shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what you say. You’re guilty.”

  “More guilty than John Edwards and Sue Carlson?” Nico asked.

  The two organizers who had died in a car accident, Charlotte remembered.

  Maggie looked at him in surprise. “Wow, are you police or something? Because I wasn’t expecting anybody to connect that at all.”

  “Connect?” Charlotte asked, knowing that she had to get answers that were clear. “Are you saying that you killed the two organizers involved in setting up that rally?”

  Maggie looked at her in surprise. “Well, I said people had to pay.” She raised a shaky hand to her head and came away with more makeup. She stared in disgust. “Do you know how long it took to curry favor and to get you to offer me that damn job and then to get started here to find the information I needed?”

  “What information could I possibly have had?” Charlotte asked.

  “Well, it wasn’t so much information you had, but I needed your contact information to make my plan work.”

  “And what plan was that?”

  “Well, you needed to go back to Australia, and I needed a way to get you there,” she said.

  Charlotte was still trying to deal with the fact that Maggie had killed the organizers from the rally where her son had died. “Hang on a second. Go back to the organizers. How did you kill them?”

  “I cut their brake line. They were going home via that nasty highway, and there were a couple really ugly corners. I knew that the chances of them surviving a trip like that without brakes were pretty slim. I didn’t cut it all the way through, but you know what I mean. It’s pretty easy to kill. I don’t understand why people get caught all the time.”

  “And, of course, you didn’t get caught,” Charlotte said in shock. “They both died at your hand, and nobody even knew.”

  “Nope,” she said, “they didn’t. John and Sue didn’t know either, which was too bad because I really wanted them to know. I wanted them to understand why they weren’t allowed to live anymore and what they’d done to deserve the same fate that they gave my son.”

  “You do realize that they had no say either? That security was hired at the location, and it was a terrible accident.”

  “An accident doesn’t work for me,” she said, “because that means there’s no blame attached.”

  And Charlotte understood. “And, if no blame is attached, you have nobody to blame,” she said quietly. “That’s why you can’t live like this, you know?”

  “Well, somebody has to be blamed,” Maggie said. “Who else do you have to target all that rage on if you don’t have somebody to blame?”

  “Well, in my case,” Charlotte said, “I turned on myself and felt guilty. You could have done that yourself. Felt guilt that you hadn’t warned Andy to stay away, guilt that you hadn’t shown up at the rally and stopped him from being in a dangerous position, guilt for not having done more and for not telling him that this was a really bad idea.”

  “But I didn’t know,” Maggie said angrily. “How am I supposed to stop him when I didn’t know?”

  “I don’t know. How was I supposed to save him when I didn’t know either?”

  The two women stared at each other at an impasse.

  And then Maggie relaxed and laughed. “That’s not bad,” she said. “That’s not bad at all. It won’t do you any good, of course, but it’s not bad.”

  “So you killed your parents and you killed the organizers,” Nico said. “And then you came here, intent on killing Charlotte. Why didn’t you just wipe her out on the road one day or shoot her like you’re planning to now?”

  “Well, it took time,” Maggie said. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. But I mean, after many deaths, this was a little special. I’ve been waiting for a long time. It wasn’t just revenge for me. It was revenge for poor Andy. And that was important. I figured that I’d find a way to make it happen, but I didn’t want it to be over here. The laws here in America are very different, so I wanted her to die in Australia. Most people won’t care anyway, as she’ll be just another dead foreigner.”

  “So,” Charlotte said, suddenly seeing the light, “that’s why the organizers were told I was coming. You’re the one who told them that I was coming.”

  “Of course. It’s not like you mess up something like that.”

  “No, of course not,” she said. “And here, all that time, I believed you when you said that they were just using it as a con to get me there. But instead you agreed on my behalf. And there it looked like I was just a sore loser and pulling out at the last minute. And, of course, I would have been if I hadn’t gone, and you convinced me that I needed to go.”

  “Particularly since Andy died there.”

  She shook her head. “You couldn’t stand the fact that I was still living and that he was dead and that I didn’t even seem to know anything about it or even care.”

  “You didn’t care! That’s the thing that I didn’t get! You didn’t care. How could you not care about my son?”

  “Because it’s easy to forget,” she admitted. “When you think about it, some of this is very easy. But I never really forgot. I just pushed it away because there was nothing I could do to help Andy.”

  “Well, guess what?” she asked. “You’ll help now by dying.”

  “But you haven’t told us everything yet,” Nico said. “Don’t you want to show off everything that you’ve done?”

  Maggie looked at him and frowned. “Sure. I arranged for her to go to Australia and to get kidnapped.”

  “In a helicopter?”

  “I pulled in a favor. He didn’t really know anything about it, but I needed that helicopter. So I used a friend’s account. I thought it important that she died where my beloved son died.”

  “His father’s account, righ
t?”

  At that, Maggie froze. Her gaze went to each of the three men. “What do you know about his father?”

  “We’ve already spoken to him,” he said. “Is he in on this with you?”

  “Hell no,” she said. “He’s not smart enough. He already has a family and more kids too. It’s me who couldn’t have any more children after Andy. Something went wrong, and I couldn’t have any more. And that’s another reason why she has to pay.” Her voice was now normal and commonplace once more.

  “Seriously?” Charlotte asked. “So you hacked his email too?”

  With that, Maggie laughed. “Well, he was a simple man and used password for all his logins. Besides it’s not fair that he should be allowed to go off and have a second family and completely ignore his first son, is it? This way, it’s his helicopter account, and it’s his emails. And to bankroll this project it was his bank accounts. That’s how I hired my guy. Then he hired his crew. Little things I paid for myself but things like the listening devices I ordered online using my ex’s credit card.”

  “Jesus,” Keane said from the table.

  “You guys figured that out, didn’t you?” She laughed. “That’s okay. I’ve had a bit of time to play with this.”

  “But I guess the last bit to figure out,” Nico said, “is what about Charlotte’s original assistant?”

  “Oh, her. God, she was such an idiot. She messed up your accounts. Do you know how much work it was to fix everything that she did wrong?” she asked Charlotte. “Have no assistant if what you’ll hire is that bad.”

  Charlotte pinched the bridge of her nose. “Please tell me that you didn’t kill her.”

  “Well, I didn’t kill her. I hit her with my car, but I didn’t kill her. She was still alive, but I walked away.”

  “But she died from her injuries,” Nico said, “so you did kill her.”

  “No,” Maggie said, completely distancing herself from the truth. “That’s not how this works. You see? I hit her, and I got out and checked on her. She was pleading for help, and I told her that I would get some, and I walked away. She was still alive. She died with a smile on her face, and I imagine because she thought help was coming that she would be okay.”

  Charlotte realized there was just no talking logic to this woman. Maggie had absolutely no interest in seeing the results of her actions for what they really were, which in this case was murder. “So then you met me at the coffee shop all those times and offered your services, and, once you were my assistant, you arranged for Australia.”

  “Absolutely,” she said. “I was really pleased to make it all finally happen in six months’ time of working with you too.”

  “True,” Charlotte said. “It had been a long time before something else came along that would send me to Australia.”

  “Exactly,” she said. “So, in this way, it’s not a bad deal. Now I just have to finish off the job.”

  “But we’re not in Australia,” Charlotte said.

  That stumped Maggie for a moment. And then she nodded and said, “No, we aren’t, but that’s okay. I figure I could find another way to dispose of your body that will have just as much impact.”

  “I hate to even ask,” Charlotte said faintly.

  “Then don’t,” she said. “Just die.”

  And the woman lifted the handgun and fired.

  Nico had seen Maggie raise her arm, and, having heard her words, he’d been primed. As soon as that arm went up, he pushed Charlotte to the floor, following her down and rolling her under the table. He already knew the other two men would jump Maggie. He could hear her crying out, “No, no, she has to die!”

  “No.” Joshua’s voice was hard. “She doesn’t. I just found her. I don’t want to lose her already.”

  And Keane said, “The only person here who should die is you. You’re one crazy-ass bitch.”

  Maggie laughed, but it was a maniacal sound that made everybody wince.

  Knowing that it was finally safe, Nico crawled out from under the table and helped Charlotte to her feet. He held her in his arms, and they both stared at the woman in front of them. “I’m so sorry for the loss of your son,” Charlotte said with tears in her eyes and her voice choking. “But I didn’t kill him.”

  “No, but your actions killed him,” she said, completely ignoring the logic of her own actions. “You have to die for what you did.”

  The two men marched Maggie to the kitchen chair and sat her down, but they didn’t let her go.

  Joshua looked at Charlotte and asked, “Zip ties?” She walked over to a drawer, then pulled out several. They zipped Maggie to the chair, her legs and hands behind her.

  Then Charlotte collapsed beside the woman and said, “I’m so sorry.”

  Nico said, “Enough of that. Stop the guilt. This isn’t your fault.”

  “It was something that I couldn’t stop either, but this poor woman’s life has been ruined.”

  “I think it was ruined a long time ago,” he said gently. “Not everybody survives the loss of a child in the first place.”

  Charlotte stared, and then comprehension hit her, and she nodded. “I guess that’s when it started, isn’t it?”

  “It definitely is,” he said. “So be sympathetic and empathetic but don’t feel guilty. That won’t help anybody at this point.”

  She sighed, stood, walked over, and wrapped her arms around him. “How did you get to be so wise?”

  “Life,” he said. “Sometimes you just have to learn the lessons the hard way. And, in this case, she’ll have to learn whatever her lessons are. Those she has yet to learn, I’m sure she’ll learn them in her jail cell.”

  “And me?”

  “Well, I’m hoping to set you free,” he said with a chuckle. “At least from the guilt. You’re not responsible for your husband’s death. You’re not responsible for how he suffered. You’re not responsible for how you suffered or for your response to his suffering. Even before all that, you were not responsible for your parents’ deaths or for Joshua being taken away from you. This is all about you letting go of all that guilt and finding out why you do what you do and finding out what you want to do with your life. Not what you feel compelled to do for reasons that are no longer valid.”

  “Sounds good to me,” she said. “Are you planning on being anywhere around at the same time?”

  “Well, I was thinking we were going back to that same conversation about one day, one week, one month at a time?”

  “I believe you added one year and a lifetime in there,” she said in a teasing voice.

  He grinned and wrapped his arms around her, then held her close and whispered, “I’m good with that.”

  “Me too,” she whispered. Then she lifted her head and kissed him gently.

  Behind him, he heard Joshua and Keane cheering. Unfortunately Maggie was now crying. He looked over at her and said, “I’m so sorry for what you suffered. But what you’ve done about it is unforgivable.”

  And he ushered Charlotte to the living room, where they didn’t even have to deal with Maggie. It was time for them to face forward and deal with the good things in life, which, as far as he was concerned, was what they each had together.

  Epilogue

  A week later Keane walked down Fisherman’s Wharf in Seattle. The place was jam-packed with people, and he wondered what the hell he was doing here. Surely there was a better place for a meeting. Of course, if you want to get lost in a crowd, this was the place to be though. It was overcast with a threat of rain. Still he couldn’t, for the life of him, imagine why he was here. But somebody with greater wisdom had decided this, and so a meet up was needed. He walked down the pier where he was expected, and, as he found the spot, he sat down and turned his back on the crowd behind him.

  Charlotte and Nico had holed up in Charlotte’s house for the last few days, and Keane had been more than happy to take a break. He was eager to join the Mavericks with his own mission to head up and had listened to stories about many other ops fr
om the others who had gone before him. He was okay with that. He was just waiting for it to happen.

  When a hand landed on his shoulder, he turned in surprise and looked up to see Lennox staring at him. Keane’s eyebrows shot up. “Man, am I glad to see you.”

  “Good,” Lennox said. “Are you willing to work with me too?” He held up an envelope. “We’ve got orders.”

  Keane and Lennox sat on the side of the wharf, while the noise of the crowd around them completely faded away. Keane said, “I was given very little information on it.”

  “That’s because very little is to be had,” Lennox admitted. “I’ve never been on a mission with less information.”

  “So, what do we know?”

  “A group of people went out for a day of sailing. Two of them were washed overboard.”

  “And the coast guard didn’t find them?” Keane asked, staring at Lennox in surprise. “Not terribly unusual, I suppose, given the size of the search area.”

  Lennox replied, “The coast guard and private yachts haven’t seen any sign of them.”

  “The currents, depending on where they were at the time, could have taken the bodies to any number of places.”

  “Well, they went missing in Puget Sound,” Lennox said.

  “Seriously? Puget Sound is interconnected to multiple waterways and basins, not to mention the Pacific Ocean. The currents can change and can run really deep,” Keane said. “A search like that involves any number of issues. They may never be found.”

  “Exactly,” Lennox said. “In this case a special request has been made for us to look for them.”

  Keane gazed at the long lampposts that dotted the pier. “Are you serious?”

  Lennox gave him half a grin. “Never more so.”