Drew declined the offer and followed Vivi into a living room filled with people. He immediately spotted Carly standing with Marcus on one side of the room. She met his gaze and offered him a small smile. He wanted to go to her side, but judging by the look on both of their faces, she and Marcus were nervous enough. He didn’t need to upset the balance between them.
So rather than veer off toward Carly, he continued to follow Vivi, who introduced him to both her cousin Naomi, whom he’d met over the phone but not in person, and Wyatt Granger, the young man he’d seen with Carly at Anderson’s.
“Okay,” Ian said, walking into the room sans Lucas, Jeffery, and Rooster. “Now, who is going to tell us what the hell is going on?” he asked, drawing all eyes toward him. The abruptness of his words were tempered when he waggled his eyebrows at his wife, who shook her head, fighting a grin.
Ian shrugged and smiled. “Just kidding. Sort of. Now do you two want to tell us what this is all about so we can figure out what we’re all here for and what we’re going to do about it?”
Carly’s eyes darted to Drew, who took the hint and spoke. “Let me call Deputy Marsh and then we can get started.” Everyone but Carly and Marcus found seats. Once he’d dialed and put the marshal on speakerphone, Drew looked toward the siblings. “We’re all here now, why don’t you go ahead and start?”
He watched Carly and Marcus each take a deep breath, but she spoke first. “Both Marcus and I want you all to know the deception we’ve been living was necessary.” At that pronouncement, Drew saw Vivi and Ian share a look while Wyatt’s brows dipped, his attention focused on his friends and former colleagues.
“As you know, Marcus and I are, and have always been, close. And for good reason. When I was sixteen and Marcus was nineteen, our mother and uncle were killed and we were put into witness security. From that day on, we haven’t been able to tell a single person the truth about who we are, not our real names or the fact we are brother and sister. The names we were born with are Michael and Carolyn Davidson.”
She paused, and by the way her eyes were darting between Vivi, Ian, and Wyatt, it was obvious she was anticipating that at least one of them would be upset about their secret. But to the credit of her friends, their expressions showed nothing but a mix of confusion and concern.
When no one jumped on the bomb she’d just dropped, Carly turned toward Marcus, who took up the narrative. Over the next ten minutes, he described what little they knew about the situation leading up the deaths of their mother and uncle, their subsequent placement in the witness security program, and Marguerite’s role. The significance of Marguerite’s body showing up in Windsor needed no explanation.
When neither of them had any more to share, the room fell into a deafening silence. For a moment at least, they had rendered everyone speechless. Deputy Marsh, who already knew the information that had just been imparted, also remained silent, letting Carly and Marcus’s friends absorb what had just been shared.
Not surprisingly, Vivi was the first to speak. “First, I want to say how sorry I am for both of you. If anyone can understand what it’s like to lose a parent to violence, it’s me. Although, I suspect losing a parent in any way, at any time, if you are close, isn’t easy.”
Drew knew, from Kit, that Vivi’s parents had been killed a few years earlier by a drunk driver.
“I think I speak for everyone in this room,” she continued, “when I say that we will all do whatever we can to help. You just have to tell us, or we need to figure out, where to start.”
Drew caught Carly’s eye and made a subtle gesture with his head in Naomi’s direction. He thought it might be time for someone else to talk. In response, her eyes went instead to the phone. When she looked back up at him for his reaction, he nodded in agreement.
“We’ve told you what we know, but on the line is Mikaela Marsh. She’s been Marguerite’s boss for ten years and knows all of Marguerite’s cases, including ours. She recognized me at the state lab and she agreed to dig around, discreetly, and see what her team could come up with. Mikaela?” Carly prompted.
“The Davidson kids came onto my radar when Marguerite joined my team. She told me that an internal FBI investigation had gone bad and her former boss at the time, Thomas Richer, had directed her to place the siblings into protective custody. Her paper records are sparse, and with the exception of finding the name of Anton Perelli, a former deputy director at the bureau, I found little else in her files. Thomas is retired and unreachable in Thailand for a few more days, but when he gets back, I’m hoping he can shed some light on the situation.”
“What about Perelli?” Wyatt asked the marshal.
“He died of a heart attack recently. We won’t be getting any more out of him.”
“There are no other files?” Vivi asked.
On the other end of the line, Mikaela hesitated. “I suspect there are. Somewhere. But I can’t find them, and after my warning to Carly not to go acting like a bull in a proverbial technical china shop, I didn’t want to do the same. I have one person on my team working on it, and she will find them, but it may take some time.”
“I can help,” Naomi offered.
Realizing Mikaela didn’t know everyone in the room, Drew went ahead and made the introductions. When he got to Naomi, he included a litany of projects Naomi had worked on for various other agencies. When Naomi provided her security clearance, or at least the one she was allowed to disclose publicly, Mikaela let out a deep breath.
“Thank you,” the marshal said. “We could use the help and it’s starting to piss me off how buried everything is.”
“I was able to dig some stuff up already,” Naomi said, looking to Carly for direction on how much to reveal. When Carly nodded her consent, Naomi relaxed back in her seat. Her fingers keying away on her laptop the entire time she spoke, she told the room about FBI agent Joe Franks—aka Joe Kincaid—and Vince Archstone—also an alias, she assumed—whom she hadn’t had a chance to look for quite yet.
“What is Joe Franks doing now?” Wyatt asked.
“He’s a Deputy Director, based out of New York, assigned to one of the anti-terrorism teams,” Naomi answered.
“I could look into him,” Wyatt offered. “I’m a relatively new agent so if I go looking around at the profiles of seasoned agents, I can make it look like career research. That way, Naomi will have more time to look into whoever this Vince guy is and also help the marshals track down those files.”
Marcus and Carly shared a look before Marcus spoke. “That sounds like a good idea. Anyone have any objections?”
No one did, so Naomi picked up her train of thought. “I can continue to look for Vince, but do you think either of you could give a sketch artist a decent likeness of him—at least of what you remember him looking like? That picture Carly had of Joe was what made finding him so easy.”
“I can do that,” Marcus said.
“Perfect,” Naomi said. “Deputy Marsh, it would be great if you could put me in touch with your tech person. I also want to dig back and see what I can find about what Joe Franks might have been up to around the time he was seeing Sophia Davidson.”
“What kind of records are you talking about?” Carly asked.
Naomi lifted a shoulder. “I’m thinking bank, phone, credit card records, those sorts of things.” As every law enforcement officer, other than Drew, began raising objections, she added, “All legally obtained, of course.”
“Deputy Marsh,” Ian said, once it was clear Naomi had her marching orders.
“Call me Mikaela,” she cut him off.
“Mikaela,” Ian began again, “I know you are looking for regular files, but have you thought of checking property records?”
“Housing records?” she asked.
Ian shook his head. “No, records that track where witnesses’ physical property goes. I’m not sure about the marshals, but I know sometimes the system that tracks the case files and the system that tracks the physical evidence are two different
systems. If a case is really old or has gone cold, people sometimes forget the property files exist. If we can find some of the physical evidence from the case, it might help us get a better picture of what was going on.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Mikaela said. “About eight years ago, most of the federal agencies updated their property intake and tracking systems, but I would bet any physical evidence the FBI collected fourteen years ago from the Davidson/Lamot home wouldn’t have been updated in those systems. Now we have to find someone within the FBI we trust to go check.”
“I have someone I can call right after this,” Ian said.
“He does,” Vivi said, confirming Ian’s statement. “Ian can give his contact a call in a bit and we’ll let you know, Deputy Marsh.”
“And what about the property that wasn’t taken into evidence?” Wyatt asked. “Like your house,” he added. “Assuming you had one.”
“We did. And horses,” Carly answered.
Drew hadn’t known the family had had a farm, and by the way her voice had caught when she’d mentioned the horses, he could tell that she’d lost even more in the events fourteen years earlier than she’d let on.
“I can look into that,” Drew said. “With my business and professional connections, it’s something I can do while Mikaela and Ian’s contacts are looking into what’s inside the system.”
Carly eyed him. “Thank you.”
“Now, it’s my turn,” Vivi said, her gaze focused on Carly. “I know you have probably gone over this at least a thousand times in your head, but can you tell me exactly what happened in the days leading up to your mother’s death?”
“Why don’t you both take a seat before you do?” Drew suggested, gesturing to the siblings.
“Oh, of course,” Vivi said, rising. Ian waved her back down before he and Drew went to the kitchen to retrieve two chairs, as all the others were presently taken.
Carly flashed him a grateful look and quietly whispered another, “Thank you,” as he put a chair down for her. A few seconds later, she was seated and focused on Vivi, while Marcus, beside her, looked to be trying to conjure his own memories.
“I was horse-crazy back then. My mom and I bred and raised several horses and I spent about every waking hour that I wasn’t at school, or doing homework, at the barn. Of course I remember Joe and Vince, and I remember my mom being so happy to have Joe back in her life. They’d known each other in high school.”
“It was the happiest she’d been with a man in my memory,” Marcus interjected.
“Did she date a lot?” Vivi asked, the sympathy in her voice making it a compassionate question, rather than a judgmental one.
Carly shook her head. “Not that I know of. I remember a few men over the years, maybe two or three?” She looked to Marcus to confirm and, after a moment, he nodded in agreement.
“So she was happy with Joe,” Vivi repeated, prompting them to continue.
“I do remember some tension in the house at that time,” Carly went on. “Not between my mom and Uncle Tony, but I think something was bothering both of them. But of course, they didn’t say anything to me.”
“Did they say anything to you, Marcus?” Vivi asked.
Marcus shook his head, paused, then shook it again. “No, they didn’t. It seems like maybe if it had to do with any of the businesses we owned, I should have known about it. I’d been working at my uncle’s side since I was fifteen. I mean, I’d gone off to college, but I loved business and he knew it, and my mom knew it, so I spent a lot of time with him early on learning about everything.”
“But your uncle didn’t say anything?” Ian asked.
Again, Marcus shook his head. “No, but I was only home from college for about three weeks before my mom sent us to Los Angeles. She said it was to visit her old nanny who was like family to all of us, but in retrospect, I know she wanted to get us out of the house because three days later she was dead.”
Marcus turned his gaze down while Carly turned hers toward the window that faced out the front of the house. With her profile to him, Drew could see her blinking away tears and wondered how many times over the years she’d had to hide her pain. He almost called a halt to the meeting. He wanted to take her away and give her the space and freedom to mourn the death of her mother—probably for the first time since it had happened.
But Marcus cleared his throat and continued. “What I know is limited, since I wasn’t living at home most of the time. And as for Carly, she was just a kid when this all happened, doing the things kids do, paying attention to the things kids pay attention to.”
“We were all sixteen at some point, Marcus. I think we all remember what it was like and no one expects Carly to know things beyond what she’s told us,” Vivi said, making sure both siblings knew that no one faulted them for their lack of information.
“But what else do you remember, Carly? You remember tension in the house, you remember Joe and Vince, and you remember your mom and Joe being happy. Is there anything else?” Vivi asked.
Drew watched as Carly pulled in on herself, trying to recall days and moments from years ago. The task was almost impossible, but given that those hours were probably indelibly burned into her mind as the last times she saw her mother, he held some hope that she might remember something.
“We had a sick horse, a young mare we’d imported. The vet had been out. His name was Doctor Haney. My primary competition horse was getting ready to be shipped to Long Island for a big show I was going to ride in when I got back from Los Angeles. Two others I was slated to ride for someone else were also scheduled to be shipped, along with three sale horses.”
“Did the shippers visit the farm?” Mikaela asked.
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “They didn’t. They shipped for us a lot so were accustomed to our needs. They were scheduled to arrive five days after I left, so I spent most of my time before leaving for Los Angeles getting both the horses and the equipment ready. When they came, my mom and the barn manager would have just had to get everything loaded. Obviously, that didn’t happen,” she added, casting her gaze down.
“Was there anything else?” Vivi pressed gently.
Again, Carly seemed to withdraw to think. After a few moments, she frowned.
“What?” Marcus asked.
She shook her head then shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s probably nothing, but before we left for Los Angeles, Mom gave me a new pair of earrings. A small set of diamond studs. I’ve only worn them once or twice because I think she gave them to me to match the pin I wore on my jacket during competitions. I mostly just set them aside because I never rode in a competition again.”
Vivi open her mouth to say something, but Drew spoke first. “But there was something different about them, wasn’t there?” he asked. “Now you’re thinking about them, what made them come to mind?”
Carly’s eyes came up and locked on his. She was silent, then, keeping her eyes on his, she spoke. “It’s probably nothing, but when she gave them to me, she said they were earrings Joe had given to her when they had been high-school sweethearts. She said that Joe had been her first love, and while her love for my dad was real and strong, she felt lucky to have been given another chance with the man the boy she’d once loved had turned into. She told me the earrings had been his grandmother’s, but she wanted me to have them.”
“Did she say why?” he asked. His heart began hammering in his chest as he waited for her answer. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait too long. When she spoke, her voice was soft and a hint of wonder had crept into it, as if surprised that she had one more memory of her mother to hold onto.
“She said they were for luck and for love. She said neither were predictable, but when they happened, we needed to ride the wave and be grateful for the time it carried us.”
His gaze stayed locked on hers, then Vivi shifted in her seat, no doubt trying to bring their attention back to the room. After another beat, he broke eye contact and glanced at V
ivi, whose eyes were fixed on him, a single eyebrow raised. He half expected her to point out that she’d clearly been right that day in her office when she’d called him on his attraction to Carly, but being more subtle than that, she turned back to Carly.
“So, you think they were given to you for sentimental reasons?” Vivi asked.
Carly looked at her friend, blinked then slowly lifted a shoulder. “I thought so at the time. I guess I still think so. Only then I thought they were for luck for the upcoming show and now I think they were her way of giving me a reminder of what she wanted for me: love and happiness.” Her eyes darted back to Drew, but then just as quickly went back to Vivi.
“Okay,” Ian said on a deep breath. “Here’s where I think we are. Naomi is going to do her computer magic and see what she can find on Vince Archstone, Joe Franks’s history, and any files the marshals might have on the Davidsons. Wyatt is going to learn all he can about Joe Franks now to see if he is the dirty agent they were investigating back then. Marcus, you’re going to go up to Albany and work with the sketch artist. Mikaela, you’re going to connect your tech person to Naomi and follow up on the physical property once I check with my contact. Drew, you’re going to look into what happened to the house and horses—”
“And businesses,” he interjected. “Marcus mentioned the family owned businesses, we don’t know what happened to them. I’ll find out,” he added.
Marcus looked up. “We should talk about that.”
Drew held his gaze, suspecting Marcus had more to offer than run-of-the-mill details. “Why don’t we talk after you meet with the sketch artist,” he suggested. Marcus didn’t look thrilled with the idea, but he agreed and they both turned their eyes back to Ian, prompting him to continue.
“And so that leaves us . . .” he said, looking at his wife and handing the topic over to her.
Vivi took her cue. “I’m going to talk to John, the head of the behavioral science team at the FBI, about the psychology of dirty cops. It’s not my area, but I want to hear what he has to say about why, after fourteen years, a dirty cop might suddenly reappear.”
An Inarticulate Sea Page 17