Two Lethal Lies

by Annie Solomon

  After Carrick left, Mitch turned to Hannah and Mark. “You might as well take off, too.”

  Mark was already stuffing his briefcase. Mitch never had to tell the guy twice to shove off. He was always halfway out the door, onto the next case, the next meeting. “I’ll see that he makes those calls,” Mark said. He snapped the case shut. “I’ll make a few myself.”

  Mitch nodded. At this point he wasn’t counting on anything. The system was large and vast and moved at its own pace: slow and slower.

  After Cascio left, he turned to Hannah, who hadn’t made a similar move to leave. “You staying for lunch? I think it’s a delicious bologna today.”

  She drummed on the table. It was metal and fake wood, and it was bolted to the floor. “I want to talk about Julia. She wants to see you.”

  He shook his head. “We’ve been over this.”

  “Neesy is picking her up from the hospital today. They can come right after.”

  “Did you get the hotel room? I don’t want Julia going anywhere near that house.”

  “She won’t. I promised, didn’t I?”

  Mitch breathed out a huge sigh. It should be him picking her up, him taking her back to Tennessee. But it never would be. Not now. And five years from now? Ten? He stared at the lock on the heavy electronic door that closed them in. Every milestone, every step in Julia’s life, he’d only experience second- and thirdhand.

  “Mitch, look at it from her point of view. If the situation were reversed, would you care where she was or what she’d done? And besides, what have you done? You protected her and took care of her. That’s no crime.”

  “Not according to the prosecution.”

  “We’re going to straighten that out.”

  “I’ll see her then.”

  Hannah’s brow furrowed and she pursed her lips.

  “What now?”

  “She’s threatened to come on her own if I don’t take her.”

  Christ.

  “She’ll do it, too,” Hannah said. “You know she will.”

  A wave of affection for his girl washed over him. She was a stubborn little thing. “All right,” he said. “All right. But not today. Let her get settled a little after the hospital. Take her to Serendipity for ice cream, if it’s still there. Neesy will know what to do. If Julia still wants to see me in a few days, fine.”

  Hannah rose and gathered her things. “I make no promises, but I’ll try to hold her off.”

  “What about the plane tickets? Are those bought?”

  “I don’t want to rush things. The doctor said to let her feel as if she has some control over what happens to her. I was thinking of letting her book them herself.”

  “I don’t want her in New York any longer than necessary. She’ll be better off in Crossroads.”

  “We’ll get there. But it will be on her timetable, not yours.”

  He sighed in frustration. “What about Neesy? Did you get her car taken care of?”

  “I did. It’s sitting in front of her house even as we speak.”

  “Well, hallelujah. Something I asked for finally got done.”

  “Yes, and it will be a nice surprise for her.”

  She signaled the guard to open the door. “Don’t wallow,” she said crisply, then walked out.

  The guard came for him, too. Cuffed him and took him back to his cell.

  “Don’t wallow.”

  Ha.

  Easier said than done.

  50

  Neesy sat next to Julia in the cab on the way to the hotel. A glittery green garland hung from the back of the seat in front of them. Hard to believe it was nearly St. Patrick’s Day.

  For weeks she’d hovered over Julia’s hospital bed, sleeping in a cot in her room. It had taken Neesy little more than a couple of days to recover, but Julia had floated in a haze of illness far longer. When Mitch had found her, she was malnourished, heavily drugged, and near death from blood loss. The doctors had brought her back slowly, but as Julia’s body improved, her mind worsened. She began to wake up screaming in the middle of the night. The hospital had hooked her up with a therapist, but the process was slow, and Neesy was worried and exhausted.

  She looked over at the girl. She’d been quiet ever since they got into the car. Then again, she hadn’t been her old talkative self in the hospital, either. It was as though Dutch had drained her personality the same way he’d nearly drained her of blood. Her body was back now; would the rest of her return to life?

  She put her arm around Julia and drew her close. It seemed important that Julia feel someone’s touch at all times so she’d know she wasn’t alone. Not that she seemed to care. She let Neesy embrace her, but her little body was unresponsive.

  On Mitch’s instructions, Hannah had made reservations for them, and when they arrived at the hotel, Neesy expected Julia to continue sitting there, listless, while she paid the driver.

  Instead, she sat up and looked out the window. “Where are we?”

  “The hotel, darlin’. Where did you think we were going?”

  “To the house.”

  “The house?”

  “You know, Hanover House.”

  “Oh, God, baby doll, you don’t ever have to go there again. Ever. Your daddy—Mitch—he made us all promise. You’ll never have to see that awful place again.”

  “Never?”

  Neesy drew an X over her chest. “Cross my heart.”

  Julia sighed. Did she seem reassured? Neesy hoped so. She paid the driver and they got out. The doorman opened the hotel doors for them, and Neesy went to register. Julia dragged behind, running a hand over the surface of all the furniture. Finally, she plopped onto an upholstered armchair. The chair swallowed her, but she snuggled into it, her legs sticking straight out because they weren’t long enough to reach the ground. When Neesy finished with the desk clerk, she turned around and saw Julia swinging her legs.

  It sent a rush of warmth through her. That was the first carefree thing she’d seen Julia do in a long time.

  “Come on.” Neesy held out her hand. “Let’s go see what our room looks like.”

  “Not yet,” Julia said.

  Neesy was taken aback. “Not yet? Are you hungry? Want to grab lunch first?”

  Julia shook her head.

  Neesy knelt so she was almost eye-to-eye with the girl. “Well, missy, what do you want to do? You just say the word, you know, and I’ll make it happen.”

  “Promise?”

  “Shoot, yeah. Of course.”

  Those gorgeous blue eyes looked right at Neesy, and sent so many horrific memories through her she had to force herself not to look away.

  “I want to go to Hanover House,” Julia said.

  “You want to do what?”

  “You promised.”

  “But…” Neesy examined the child. She had that stubborn look, but there was fear there, too. “Look, shove over.” Neesy squished her way onto the chair and slung Julia’s legs over her lap. “I know you’ve been having bad dreams. Why would you want to go back there?”

  “I don’t.”

  “Well, you don’t have to.”

  “No, you don’t understand. I do have to. I need to. I feel like I’m going to be scared forever if I don’t.”

  Neesy stroked Julia’s hair. “Okay, but you don’t have to do it right away. We can wait a few days. You’ll feel stronger after a few days.”

  “I want to get it over with.”

  Neesy sighed. “Did you talk to Jilene about this?” Jilene was the therapist Julia had been working with at the hospital. She and Julia had talked every one of the last ten days. Sometimes twice a day.

  “Kind of,” Julia admitted.

  “So this is her idea?”

  “No!” She found a loose string on the edge of Neesy’s sweater and wound it around her finger. “But we talked about the house a lot. She asked me about it, and I pretended to go inside with her.”

  Neesy shuddered. “Were you scared?”

  She
nodded. “But after a while, the scary part went away. And then I could go in more. And more. And now I want to do it for real.”

  Neesy didn’t know what to do. Julia was capable of all sorts of antics, some of them entirely unhealthy. “Well, let me make a phone call and see what I can do.”

  She left Julia in the chair and walked away to call Jilene. When she explained what Julia wanted to do, the therapist gave permission. “I didn’t expect her to be ready so soon, but if she wants to, go ahead. Just proceed slowly and if she expresses any anxiety, stop and wait. She’ll tell you when the anxiety goes away and if she’s ready to continue. And the minute she wants to leave, go. Take your cues from her. Let her be in control.”

  Neesy had her doubts, but she took the advice. She called Hannah, who had the codes and house keys and who was also aghast at the idea.

  “Mitch will have my hide if he finds out,” Hannah said.

  “Well, he doesn’t have to know, does he?”

  “Are you sure the therapist said it was okay?”

  “I wouldn’t even think about it if she hadn’t.”

  “Well, all right. I’ll meet you there.” She paused. “You have to hand it to her—that child’s got guts.”

  • • •

  Julia swung her legs back and forth again. How many times could she swing them before they fell off?

  It was a stupid thing to think about, but it was better than thinking about Hanover House.

  “Okay, we’re all set.” Neesy said it like she was saying something exciting and happy, even though they both knew she wasn’t. Why did people do that?

  She held out her hand, and though it was babyish, Julia took it. Sometimes it was okay to be a baby. At least, that’s what Jilene had said.

  She held on to Neesy all through the cab ride uptown, and even after they got out of the car. Hannah was waiting for them outside, but it was the iron gate that started Julia’s heart racing. She paused on the sidewalk to watch it open.

  “We don’t have to go in,” Neesy said.

  “I know.” Julia waited. Jilene had said that after a while, her heart would stop beating so hard and all she had to do was breathe and go slow. So she did that now, and eventually Julia saw that it was just an iron gate and she had the choice to walk through or not.

  She walked through.

  Hannah had already unlocked the door, and it stood open, like the entrance to a dark cave. Neesy squeezed her hand and waited for Julia to go first.

  They made their way to the fireplace room. That was where Dutch had taken her the first day. He never said a word to her from the time the cops turned her over to him in Florida. If it hadn’t been for Gus, she probably would’ve starved to death before he put her in that… that—

  She wasn’t ready to think about that room. Not yet.

  “This is where I met Dutch the first time,” Neesy said.

  Julia looked at her. “Really? Did he make you sit there for hours, too?”

  Neesy looked stricken. “No, baby doll, he didn’t. He gave me a drink, and I was afraid to touch it because I might break the glass.”

  “Gus brought me a sandwich and some water, but Dutch yelled at him.”

  “Are you sure you want to keep going?” Hannah asked. “There aren’t any pleasant memories here.”

  “Dutch is gone, isn’t he? So he can’t hurt me anymore, right?”

  “That’s right,” Neesy said. “Where else did he take you?”

  “Nowhere. Just… just upstairs. You?”

  “Not at first.”

  Neesy had a funny expression on her face—like they shared a secret. Julia had been so busy thinking about herself she hadn’t thought at all about what had happened to Neesy. It wasn’t very nice, but Julia was glad she wasn’t the only one who understood what Dutch could do. Suddenly she wanted to know everything. “Where did he put you?”

  “In a room.”

  “Was it awful?”

  “No, it was pretty.”

  Julia hadn’t expected that. “Pretty?” Dutch hadn’t given her a pretty room.

  “He had to persuade me to stay,” Neesy said gently. “He didn’t have to do that with you.”

  “Show me.” Julia grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door.

  Neesy looked over her shoulder at Sara Jean’s aunt. Hannah shrugged, and Neesy said, “Okay, I’ll try. I got lost a lot, though. It’s a big house.”

  On the way, they passed through the narrow room with all the pictures in it. Julia knew Mitch had found her in this room. Dutch had hung her up in a frame, like a picture, but she didn’t remember any of it. No one said anything as they walked through. The old paintings stared down at her, and she was glad they were all strangers. She didn’t want to know any more Hanovers.

  Eventually Neesy found the hugest staircase Julia had ever seen. Her mouth opened, and she wondered what Sara Jean would say. “He never showed me this.”

  “He didn’t have to,” Hannah said. “Remember that, Julia. He did only what was necessary to get what he wanted. He wasn’t being nice to Neesy. He was manipulating her.”

  “My room was up there.” Neesy nodded up the stairs.

  A flame of fear ran up Julia’s back, and she pulled away. “How far up?”

  “Just to the next floor. There’s another floor above it and another above that.”

  “And above that?”

  Neesy put an arm around her shoulder. “That’s where he put you and then me.”

  “I don’t want to go there yet.”

  “You don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to. We can leave right now.”

  “No. I want to see your room.”

  They climbed the stairs and went down the hall. The carpet hid the sound of their feet, and in the quiet, Julia was afraid everyone would hear her heart making that awful sound in her ears. She concentrated on the statues and curlicues in the wall and all the dead flowers drooping in their vases.

  “I’ll get someone in to clean this all up,” Hannah murmured.

  Julia was relieved to see that Neesy’s room wasn’t scary at all. It was just a room. A pretty room, like Neesy said. The flowers and ruffles and stuff went with Neesy and her lotions and floaty purple nightgown.

  “He gave you the perfect room,” Julia said.

  “For a while,” Neesy said.

  Julia looked around. “Where else did you go?”

  “Do you want to see how I found Mitch?”

  “Is it upstairs?”

  Neesy shook her head. “But it’s dark and I was scared. Sure you’re up for it?”

  Julia nodded, and Neesy got some candles from the bathroom and gave one to each of them. She lit them; then they all went down a back stairway where there were lots of small, empty rooms that made Julia feel sad for the people who had lived in them. Neesy explained about the servants and how they had to run around behind the pretty rooms and make sure everything was nice for the Hanovers.

  The Hanovers.

  It gave Julia a shivery feeling to be one of them.

  If she lived here, she wouldn’t make her servants stay in the back behind everything nice.

  Finally, Neesy opened the door into a hallway that had lights on it.

  “Mitch was here, all the way at the other end.”

  “He came to find me, didn’t he?”

  “Didn’t you know he would?” Neesy asked gently.

  But Julia hadn’t been sure. She’d been so mad at him. And now he was in jail and might never get out. Jilene said Dutch had given her a drug called a roofie. It made her unable to walk or talk, so nothing was her fault. But sometimes, she couldn’t help thinking it was. If she hadn’t run away, if she hadn’t gotten caught…

  She took a deep breath. “I want… I want to go upstairs now.”

  “Are you sure?” Neesy asked.

  “We can come back,” Hannah said. “Do that some other time.”

  “I want to do it now. I don’t want to come back. Ever.”

 
She slid her hand into Neesy’s, and the older woman led them into the kitchen and from there to the doorway that led to the attic.

  A freezing feeling swept over Julia at the bottom of the stairs. The last time she’d been there, she had refused to go up. Dutch had slapped her so hard she fell down. And when she woke up, she’d been alone in that glass room.

  But this time no one forced her up. She stood at the bottom of the steps, her hands and feet tingling.

  There is nothing scary up there, she told herself. It’s just a room. Just like with Jilene. It was safe. She could leave anytime she wanted.

  She put her foot on the first step. Then the second. Behind her, Neesy and Hannah climbed the stairs, too. She was glad they were there with her.

  By the time they got to the top, Julia was gasping for air.

  Neesy bent down to look at her. “Are you all right?”

  Julia nodded. Waited. Like Jilene said it would, her breathing slowed, and she could keep going. Neesy got up, and Julia looked around. It was bare wood up here. Old and musty. The metal stairs in the center blocked most of the view.

  “He took me here also,” Neesy said. “Showed me all the cobwebs. He liked spiders.”

  “I hate him,” Julia said, and the words weren’t enough to cover all the hatred inside her.

  “Me too.” Neesy squeezed her hand again.

  “Well, now that we’re all agreed,” Hannah said, “can we go home?”

  “There’s one more room,” Julia said.

  Hannah sighed, and Neesy said, “Oh, baby, are you sure?”

  But Julia had to see everything. She dragged Neesy to those metal stairs. But when she got there, she could see the part of the attic the stairs had blocked. And against the far wall was an easel covered with a sheet. “What’s that?”

  “One of Dutch’s paintings, I think,” Neesy said.

  “Can I see?”

  “You can do whatever you want,” Neesy said. “You’re safe and in charge.”

  “I’ll pass, if you don’t mind.” Hannah stayed at the foot of the metal steps while Julia and Neesy approached the easel.

  “Do you know what it’s a painting of?” Julia asked.

  “This was one thing Dutch wouldn’t let me see,” Neesy said.