by Grady, D. R.
Instead, he chose another link and waited for all the pictures to finish loading. They showed a man and woman in fairly decent detail. Janine peered at their faces.
“They look like Morrisons.”
“That’s Jonathan and his sister Tasmin.”
The caption scrolled their names across the bottom of the picture.
“What does this story say about their mother’s death?”
“Says she died of natural causes.”
“Ah. A little different than arson.”
After clicking on all the other links, Greg leaned back in his chair.
“That makes, what, five different versions of Mrs. Morris’s death?” Janine frowned at the screen, then at him.
“Doesn’t help us much.”
She waved at him to vacate his chair, so he did. Janine slipped onto it and took command of the keyboard. He sat in her empty chair. And watched in fascination as she pulled up what looked like county courthouse documents.
“You knew these documents were listed online?”
“Yes. One of the ladies I wrote to on Toliliel answered me. She didn’t have any information about John Morris, but she did mention the local government had begun putting all the courthouse records online.”
“Shouldn’t they be private?”
“Not the ones we want.”
Janine opened a document and squinting, Greg saw it was Jonathan’s parent’s marriage license. He asked her to e-mail the information and noted Jonathan’s mother’s maiden name before Janine moved on to Jonathan’s and then Tasmin’s birth certificates.
Next she pulled up a death certificate. There it was, for one Linda Norman Morris. Cause of death – natural causes.
“Well, now we know which gossip column to read from now on.” Janine’s voice sounded dry.
Greg’s lips tipped to the side. “I wonder what they consider are natural causes?”
“Good point. I suppose if you twisted things just so, you could make most anything fit natural causes.”
He nodded as different scenarios played out in his mind.
Janine clicked onto her web mail account then the e-mail icon. He watched as she pulled up the write screen and typed a message to Jonathan.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject:Greetings
Hello Jonathan,
Thank you for your reply. I’m so sorry to hear of your mother’s death. And those of your father and grandfather. I hope your mother didn’t suffer with a long illness. I am a doctor, a surgeon, so I understand pain and suffering.
My condolences to you and your sister. It is hard to lose those you love. I only recently located my family here in Pennsylvania, and I understand how you feel, losing the woman who would mean so much to you. I’m grateful you have your sister.
I have only recently located my brother, and it is his adopted family who has “adopted” me into their fold. There are many of them, but each is easy to love. I hope that your grandfather and mine are the same man, and that he is connected to this amazing family I have found.
Being a doctor, I find a family history is vital in aiding a patient. If we know the family history, we can better judge the best treatment for each patient.
What sorts of illnesses run in your family? (Seems I’m already considering you family.)
Oh, my mother was an island woman. Her mother was an island woman, but we have cause to believe my grandfather at least, was not from the island. He came from the United States. That’s all I know of him. I know even less about my father. My mother never spoke of him.
My brother and I don’t know if we share the same father. It would be nice to know more details, but as far as I know, he’s dead. And he apparently died before I was born. You didn’t have as many years as you would have liked with your father, but treasure the years you did have with him.
Thinking of you here in PA.
Sincerely,
Janine
P.S. What are the “weird happenings” you mentioned? Are you okay?
She proofread the e-mail and sent it. Greg leaned back in his chair. “Why didn’t you come right out and ask how his mother died?”
“What cause do I have to suspect foul play? I just met him, via his website. I can’t go pointing fingers.”
“No.” She had a point. Janine had approached the situation the right way. Coming at him from the viewpoint of a doctor and wanting a family history would be in keeping with their relationship.
“Momma Moneybags Morris could have died from natural causes.”
“Do you think she’s the one with all the money?”
“The Norman family, if she’s part of the branch I remember, own several of the islands in that area. They also own most of the hotels and profitable businesses on each island. There aren’t many of the Normans either. They usually have one child and stop.”
Janine nodded before turning back to the screen. “We can probably locate which Norman family she’s from.”
“I know what Jonathan Morris has in his bank account. The only way it could have increased like it did is if he inherited old money. Or if he’s into illegal activities.”
“I’m related to him, if we’re related, on his father’s side, not his mother’s. That might explain why he’s not threatened by me. He’s not into illegal activities.”
“Probably not. He doesn’t appear to be threatened by you. But he might be working for someone else.”
“Why would a man with the wealth and stature Jonathan likely enjoys, team up with people like the Temites?”
“Power, money, sex, there are lots of reasons.”
“He already has all those.” Janine paused for moment. “Well, I suspect he probably does.”
Greg’s lip curled up, but he decided not to comment. “Maybe. They could have something on him, too, and be blackmailing him.”
“I do wonder what the odd occurrences are he mentioned.” Janine sat up abruptly and stared at him. Her eyes grew wide and Greg sat a little straighter. “Who would inherit if something happened to Jonathan? And his sister?”
“Now that’s a good question. Although I imagine they had more to do with their mother’s death than not.”
Janine shook her head. With a decisive, firm no. “I disagree. This is a man reaching out for someone. He wants help, not—”
“You’re the one who first wondered if he could have Temite connections.”
“I know that, but the more I think about this, the less I feel that way. I think he’s floating out there, feeling lost and wanting to reconnect.”
“He has a sister.”
“Yes, but she’s involved in a romance. She’s not going to have much time for him.”
“What romance?”
Janine used a graceful hand to indicate the computer screen. “The gossip pages mentioned in several places she’s seeing someone. And I took that he’s not a local.”
Greg tried to think back to the information they had scrolled through. He couldn’t remember reading Tasmin was involved, but then he could have missed it. “Trade places with me again.”
She stood and stepped to the side and he reclaimed the chair in front of the computer. Janine seated herself in the chair he vacated. Greg tapped the keys again, and brought up some of the same pages they’d already read.
She pointed to each place where Tasmin’s relationship was mentioned. No wonder he missed that tidbit. The information was more innuendoes than fact, but now that Janine pointed it out, he believed. “How did I miss this?”
“I’m thinking of her in terms of a cousin, so I picked up on it.”
Greg raised a brow.
Janine shrugged. Yet another thing he liked and respected about her. She wasn’t afraid of him or his past. In fact, she understood him like no one else ever had. He doubted he could slip much past this woman.
“I think I’ve met her.” Greg watched Janine’s face carefully.
“Oh, and?”
“I don’t remember much. The room was dark and smoky and she didn’t look like she belonged.”
“She didn’t want to be there?”
“Didn’t appear that way. Knowing what I know now, I can better understand. She probably had never been to a seedy bar before.”
“Was she alone?” He heard a sharp note in Janine’s voice.
“No, she was with some girlfriends. Tasmin was the only one of the bunch with some sense. She understood the danger of the place, while that fact escaped her friends.”
“What happened?”
He remembered that night in vivid detail, but he’d never tell Janine about it. The girls’ screams still broke into his nightmares, the sounds of terrified females combined with violence and ripping clothes. Greg shook his head.
“It didn’t end as tragically as it could have.”
At least they had managed to save a few of the girls. Tasmin being one of them. She had gone into shock after witnessing the horrors of her friends being raped. He often wondered if she had coped. Apparently she had.
Maybe Tasmin Morris wasn’t as much the princess as he thought. He watched Janine from the corner of his eye. She took the news with her usual aplomb.
Overly emotional woman grew wearisome fast.
Janine, on the other hand, could grow addicting.
“What are we going to do with this information?” She pointed to the screen.
“I’m going to call a friend who might be able to dig up more for us.”
She nodded. “And we need to tell O’Riley what we’ve discovered.”
Greg suppressed a snort. “I’ll bet he already knows.”
She smiled. “You’re probably right. But it still wouldn’t hurt to tell him.”
“True.”
“He’ll tell us to knock it off and be normal for a change.” Janine bit her lip and drew his attention to them all over again.
“We’ve obeyed so well already.”
Back at her house, since they hadn’t been able to get him alone, Janine waited for O’Riley to pick up, and just when she thought he wasn’t going to, he answered. They had waited to phone until most of the O’Riley’s guests would be gone.
“You know, maybe I’ll un-retire you and Gilmore. Maybe then you’ll figure out how to act normally.” O’Riley sounded exasperated.
“I was searching for an ancestor. That’s what normal people do.” Janine kept her amusement to herself. Her Uncle Rich might not appreciate her sense of humor. “And I might add that your wife helped me on this project.”
“True. I have some information for you.”
Janine’s heart flipped a beat. “What?” Greg leaned forward.
“Greg was present the night Jeff Morris’s warehouse burned down. We believe Jeff was the son of John, your grandfather.”
“Wouldn’t he have been my great grandfather?”
“No, he didn’t have kids until later. So he would be your grandfather. If he’s the right man.”
“Jonathan mentioned in his last e-mail to me that his grandfather had married an island woman first, before his grandmother.”
“That’s what our evidence has turned up.”
“But Admiral, how is this all connected?”
“Is Greg listening?”
“Yes,” he answered from the shadows.
“Good. We can’t put the Temites at the warehouse that night, but John Morris, your grandfather, was there the night of Greg’s first mission.”
Janine watched Greg’s eyebrow rise. “They owned the warehouse, yes.”
“Apparently John and his son didn’t know some of their managers had a little operation going on the side.”
“The arms dealers were employees, not the Morris’?”
“That’s right. Some of the managers had delved into arms, and a couple of them were handling drugs. Old man Morris wasn’t happy when he discovered this, our source revealed.”
“Who was the source?”
“Another dock worker by the name of Simmonds.”
“I remember him. He was a good man.”
“He knew John Morris personally, had worked with him for years. From what we could pick up, they trusted each other.”
“Simmonds must be in his eighties by now.”
“He is. And his memory is just fine. He remembered hearing John and Jeff both yelling that night, then some gunshots. Simmonds suspects the Morris’ confronted the managers, who had a deal going down that night. Which the warehouse owners didn’t know, but he figured out because of some comments.”
Janine turned to Greg. “Did you pick up on that, too?”
“I didn’t, but then I’d been on the forklift all day. I wouldn’t have heard much.”
“So the fire surprised you?” O’Riley asked.
“Yeah. I smelled the blood and smoke, and heard the fire. There were injured men everywhere.” Greg didn’t shudder, so Janine suppressed the need to do so. How had he managed to make it out alive? She’d encountered a building on fire before. She didn’t care to repeat the experience.
“Simmonds remembers seeing both Morris men’s bodies, which was later hushed up. He doesn’t think the family even knows how the men were killed.”
“No, Jonathan’s details sounded sketchy. He knew his father and grandfather died the same night, but that’s all they knew.”
“How did they manage to keep everything quiet even to the family?”
“Simmonds said the local police were friends of the Morris’ and kept it quiet out of respect for them. Apparently they didn’t know who was responsible for the illegal activities.”
“Is that an assumption?” Greg’s voice cracked across the room.
“It is. We don’t know why they kept things so quiet. But all the managers involved in the deal were also killed that night. Simmonds says the old man, John, was a crack shot, and that if he aimed at you, he hit you. Must run in the family.” O’Riley said dryly and Janine smiled.
“What’s that mean?” Greg asked.
“The other Morris’ I know, like Ben and Janine, can claim the same expertise.”
“You can hit a target?” Janine thought she caught a teasing note in Greg’s voice. He knew this, of course. She narrowed her eyes at him.
“If I wanted to get you, I would.” Janine stared at him, hoping her eyes promised all she wanted to, but couldn’t say with their former boss listening.
Greg’s eyes half-masted. “I’ll remember that,” he murmured, his voice interjected with promises of his own.
She liked the warmth that tingled through her entire body. She wanted to explore all the possibilities with him, but right now was not the correct time. Concentrating on her family should be her first priority. They still had to figure out how and why that night so long ago affected them today.
If John and Jeff Morris had died because they wanted to do the right thing, that should be known. The evidence should be brought to light so their names could be cleared of wrong doing.
“Admiral, did you hear that Jonathan and his sister are experiencing “weird happenings?”
“No, I hadn’t heard that. What weird happenings?”
“We don’t know. He mentioned it briefly in an email,” she continued.
“If you want me to help, let me know.”
“Thanks,” Janine answered, heartfelt with gratitude.
“No problem. You need anything?”
“You mean besides answers?” Janine kept the frustration out of her voice.
“We’d all like those.”
“We’ll get them,” Greg said quietly. She noticed he’d moved so he now sat very near to the circle of light cast by a nearby lamp. She blinked. Why wasn’t he still hiding in the shadows? Impressed, Janine hoped he was determined to be a normal guy.
“If we don’t get them first, they’ll get us,” O’Riley stated and Janine nodded.
“We’ll have to make sure we’re a step ahead.”
“We do have a problem,” Greg com
mented, a sardonic edge to his voice.
Janine nodded. “Yeah, it’d be nice to know who “they” are, wouldn’t it?”
Chapter 26
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Information
Hello Janine,
Thanks for your last note and the sympathy. We’re still in shock at Mom’s death. She’d been in fine health only a month ago. The cancer that claimed her life came on suddenly and relentlessly. The doctors here gave her three months to live.
The doctors at the Mayo Clinic where we took her gave her a month. She lasted four and a half weeks. The cancer proved to be quite aggressive. There was barely time for treatment to keep her comfortable.
My mom was a fighter, too. She wasn’t one to give up, so Taz and I were especially surprised when she passed. Dad and Granddad’s deaths were a shock enough. (I wish we had more details of that night, but we know very little. Some have accused them of wrongdoing, but I don’t believe that.)
Granddad was a good man, and so was my dad. Neither of them would have resorted to illegal activities, like it was rumored here. They didn’t need to. Granddad used to tell me that if you didn’t have a good reputation, you had nothing. Used to quote a verse from Proverbs to me. Wish I could remember the verse. Haven’t heard it in a while.
Some of the weird happenings here have been a break-in at my house, and my sister’s. Neither of us can find anything that was taken, but all my important papers were rifled through. (Except for Granddad and Dad’s papers, which I keep in a safe deposit box.) Tasmin said nothing from her jewelry box was taken, and she inherited all Mom’s and our ancestor’s jewels. That amounts to a lot of money.
I have some electronics that would bring in good money, but nothing was missing. It’s all very strange. Both Taz and I have felt like someone is watching us, and my partner at the office has claimed the hair on the back of her neck sticks up a lot. (Same feeling Tasmin and I get.)
Doesn’t matter whether we’re at the office or at home. There’ve been several hang-ups on both of our machines at home, almost like someone called to see if anyone was there (we still have to rely on landlines as the cell phone towers sometimes get damaged during hurricanes). I do have staff who see to the care of the house, and a housekeeper who lives here. She was out the night of the break-in, thank goodness.