Changing Fate (Book 3) (Piper Anderson Series)

by Danielle Stewart

  Piper snapped at the approaching man. “If you had money your junkie mom would have put it in her arm by now. Go back to your hole,” she warned, simultaneously flipping her middle finger in his direction.

  “Oh, feisty girls, I like that. You aren’t from here, maybe you don’t know who I am . . . who I roll with.” He was just steps behind them now, and Piper knew the window for scaring him off was closing.

  “I’m from here,” Piper said forcefully, turning abruptly to face him. Jules stopped, too, but only half turned and seemed ready to run. Bruno, sensing danger, straightened himself and growled a low, fierce warning. Apparently all the hamburgers hadn’t altered his senses too much. He still knew when Piper needed him. “I used to live right there,” she continued in a disgusted tone, pointing up to a window. “You hear anything about that apartment?”

  “A psycho killer lived there,” the teen answered, leaning away from her slightly. “He killed his old lady and a bunch of other chicks too.”

  “That’s right. He cut them open and watched them bleed, carved into them like a steak. You want to see if psycho runs in the family?” She raised an eyebrow at him, and reached her hand into her coat pocket. Her pocket was empty, of course, but he stiffened at the threat, and she knew her bluff was working. “You don’t run with anyone. I used to see your skinny ass out here crying to your mom every time you’d piss your pants and no one would play with you. Leo,right?”

  “It’s Dubbie now,” he said scowling, puffing out his chest.

  “Well, Dubbie, I’m not some stranger who just wandered in here. I’ve got business, so back off before I give Bruno here the command to castrate you.” She didn’t wait for his response, she just turned and Jules immediately met her stride. Bruno, still staring at the man, didn’t move until Piper gave a slight tug on his leash. It was dangerous turning your back on someone here, especially someone you’d just insulted, but it was the most assertive act you could show. It said: you don’t scare me. It was a risky gamble, but as they crossed the courtyard, Piper heard his voice trail off as he rejoined his friend.

  “You okay?” Piper whispered, glancing sideways at Jules, who was ghost-white and almost unrecognizable in her silence.

  “I’m not sure who scared me more, you or him.”

  “We’re almost there. You see that building, the one with the green doors? That’s where she lives.”

  As they approached the building, Piper blew out a nervous breath and Jules rolled her eyes.

  “This you’re worried about?” Jules asked in disbelief. “That walk from hell didn’t bother you, but we’re about to knock on some old lady’s door and now you look nervous?”

  “I’m good at scaring off jerks. Asking someone for help is a different story.”

  “Well, old ladies love me. They always offer me hard candies from their purse, and I help them down the stairs at church. I used to volunteer at the nursing home back in high school and they always picked me to call the bingo numbers.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you, but even the old ladies are different up here.”

  “I doubt that,” Jules laughed as she rapped lightly on the door.

  “Go away,” a voice shouted, turning Jules’s delicate knocking hand to stone, frozen in midair.

  “Told you,” Piper smirked. Raising her voice and looking up toward the peephole in the door, she called, “Mrs. Meriwether, I’m really sorry to bother you, but I think you knew my mother.”

  “If I ever knew your mother, I don’t know her now, because I don’t know anyone anymore. So go away.”

  “That’s the thing, Mrs. Meriwether, I’m hoping you remember her from years ago. She was a patient of yours. Her name was Coco.”

  There was silence now. Piper knew it meant she had a chance, so she continued. “She was under your care almost twenty-six years ago. Then again, I’m sure a woman of your age probably can’t remember what you had for breakfast, let alone a patient from that long ago. I don’t know what I was thinking, thanks anyway,” Piper called, completely baffling Jules with her smirk.

  “Shredded wheat, you bitch,” a stout gray-haired woman hissed, yanking open her heavy metal door. There were still bars between them, but at least one layer had been pulled away.

  Piper laughed and leaned in so the woman could get a better look at her. “My mother, Coco . . . do you remember her?” She flashed the picture that the head sister at Stoneybrook had graciously printed out yesterday from the newspaper archives. It was the only picture Piper had of her mother, the one that ran with the article about her murder.

  “I do,” the woman said reluctantly. “But she’s dead, not much I can tell you that will do you any good.”

  “I grew up on the east side of these projects. You know that?”

  “Yes,” she said, pretending to grow impatient, but Piper could tell now that she’d intrigued the woman.

  “You know who she went with, the things he did?”

  “Everybody knows that. He was a waste of space, always was. I steered clear of that side of this place, but everybody knew him. I watched the news, he’s dead now. All the TV crews were here asking questions and taking pictures. What’s that got to do with me?”

  “I thought he was my father, but I just found out he wasn’t. I was conceived while Coco was in your facility. I’m wondering if you can help me figure out who my father might be. I know she wouldn’t have been allowed any visitors, so I’m assuming it was either another patient or an employee. I know there is probably a long list of people it could be. I’m just looking for a starting point.”

  “I probably know something about that. But I don’t just go giving information out for free. You gotta do something for me.” The woman scratched at her chin and scowled at the girls.

  “And what would that be?” Piper groaned inwardly, fully aware her odds of getting something for nothing were slim.

  “What do ya got?” The woman looked them over, trying to decide what they might have that would be worth anything to her.

  “Do we look like millionaires?” Piper gestured down at her clothes. She took a closer look at Mrs. Meriwether. Judging by her yellow-tipped fingers she was a long time smoker. The shaking in her hand indicated she probably had a drink of choice. “What about a case of cigarettes and a bottle of booze?”

  “What the hell do I look like, some bum on the street?” She made a move to close the door and Jules chimed in.

  “What about this?” She pulled a necklace out from the collar of her sweatshirt. It was a row of crystals with three pearls in the middle

  “Jules, put that away,” Piper snapped.

  “It’s worth a bit of money and it’s yours if you tell us something that helps,” Jules said, unhooking the clasp and holding it where the woman could see. She shouldered her way in front of Piper. “So start talking if you have something to say.” Jules snatched the necklace back and tucked it in her pocket. Piper looked at her with a sideways glance; perhaps Jules wasn’t quite the country bumpkin she had thought she was.

  Piper turned her attention back to the rapacious Mrs. Meriwether. “Can you get us a list of people who you think might have had a relationship with my mother?”

  “There’s no list,” Mrs. Meriwether said, shaking her head. Piper assumed she was about to become a dead end, but the miserable old lady continued. “If you were conceived while your mom was with us, then your dad is Martin Wheeler. He was a volunteer there just about to start med school, and he and your mother had something going on.”

  “Are you sure?” Piper questioned, skeptical of how quickly the woman had remembered.

  “If I were talking to you on the phone I’d say I wasn’t positive, but you are the spitting image of Marty mixed with your mother. You have those unnaturally big eyes just like he did. It’s spooky how much you resemble him. Now hand it over.” Mrs. Meriwether slid her arthritic fingers through the bars and waved them.

  “Not yet,” Jules shot back. “You said he was a volunteer, did he
work there long?”

  “No, he left not long after Coco did. We never could figure out why he worked there anyway. He was from a white-collar family and could have shadowed doctors at much nicer facilities. Most of us worked at Charter Health Center because it was so close to here, and, well, they were never short on work. A supply and demand type of thing, an easy commute, and job security for me. But Marty didn’t really have any reason to be there.”

  Jules had her phone out already, typing quickly to pull up any information she could.

  Piper was silent now, out of questions. This was all going very differently than she had imagined. Jules, however, wasn’t finished. This was an insight into Piper’s past that they wouldn’t likely have the opportunity to tap again.

  “What was she like?” Jules asked, tucking her phone back into her pocket. “Her mama, what kind of person was she back then?”

  Piper shot Jules a this is not in the script kind of look, but Jules ignored her.

  “Jesus, girl, where are you from? You sound like you’re right out of the cornfield.”

  “Oh, bless your heart, ma’am, that’s mighty kind of you,” Jules drawled, crinkling her nose with a smile. Yes, Piper thought, task number one after leaving here would be to teach Jules the difference between a New York insult and a compliment. That was pretty easy to do, really, because there were no compliments.

  Mrs. Meriwether looked hesitantly at Jules and continued. “She was a mess when she came in. She’d fallen in with the wrong crowd and gotten herself put in this mandatory program for first offenders. But I’ll tell you, when she sobered up and made it through the withdrawal symptoms, she was one of the sweetest people I’ve met. She fit right in with all the staff. I remember being hopeful for her. That was back before I realized how unlikely it is to beat addiction. Especially when you get caught up with someone who doesn’t want you to beat it. That man, the one you thought was your father, he was poison. He took a perfectly lovable young woman and spent the next twenty-something years killing her.”

  “And Martin, was he a good guy? Besides sleeping with patients, that is.” Jules seemed to be looking for any level of context that might be helpful.

  “He was just a boy, really, and didn’t seem to make a habit of sleeping around with patients. I think your mom was something special to him, and I thought he was to her. I doubt he knew she was pregnant. He struck me as the kind of guy who would have made that right. I don’t know where he is now, but I do think he became a cardiologist or a heart surgeon or something. I know he fixes hearts.” She stuck her hand out even further, insisting she’d earned the jewelry now.

  Piper, who had separated herself mentally from the conversation for a moment, suddenly rejoined it as the words he fixes hearts rang through her brain like a bell. Could he fix her heart?

  “Thank you.” Jules put her phone back in her pocket and handed over the necklace.

  “Yeah, yeah, great,” Mrs. Meriwether snapped as she looked over her winnings and then up at Piper. “But unless that mutt of yours is a man-eater, you better get that redheaded chicken-fried steak out of here before someone sniffs her out. That’s hundred-dollar perfume she’s got sprayed on her. Not to mention if she goes chatting anyone up with that accent you’re bound to catch some grief here.”

  Piper had forgotten to tell Jules no perfume. Apparently that wouldn’t have mattered because she specifically remembered telling her no jewelry either. She nodded, and the door was shut quickly in their faces. The sound of multiple locks snapping in place was followed by the blare of the television.

  The walk to the car was, luckily, less eventful. No one approached. A few men up on higher balconies whistled and hooted, but nothing really threatening. The ride back to Stoneybrook was a quiet one, finally broken by Piper’s curiosity.

  “You handed that necklace over before we knew if she was telling the truth. I hope it wasn’t anything too special.” Piper felt the scolding tone in her voice and knew it had more to do with her nerves than any frustration with Jules. This whole process was overwhelming.

  Jules took her phone and flashed it at Piper as she parked the car. “It wasn’t, and it was worth it. Martin Wheeler is a cardiac surgeon. He works at Beth Israel Hospital. It says he has a wife and kids but not how many children or how old they are. No red flags, nothing scandalous that I can see so far. More importantly, you do look just like him.”

  “Damn.” Piper looked at the phone and hung her head, as she pulled the key from the ignition and slumped down in her seat. “I guess there’s no denying that.” She took notice of the slight point in his nose, and, just as Mrs. Meriwether had mentioned, she had his eyes. They were the same shade of dark coffee, swirled with flecks of gold. His lashes were as thick as hers. It was like staring at an old friend. Part of her wanted to look at that picture all day, but she averted her gaze, needing to pull back emotionally. She wanted to meet him, but she didn’t want to be disappointed. “I just really thought this would take longer, or that maybe we’d never find him. Then we could go back to Edenville and say at least we tried. Now, it’s all real. What if he isn’t the kind of guy I’m hoping he is?”

  “Don’t sound so disappointed. We had a pretty good lead, we followed it, and it panned out. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

  “I don’t know. I was kind of thinking we’d be making our way through a list of possible fathers: some would be wild goose chases, others would be interesting possibilities. We’d spend our time tracking them down and crossing them off. We’d have fun, we’d bond. This just feels a little anticlimactic.”

  “Knowing you, there will still be plenty of drama. I’m sure finding out who he is will be the easiest part of all this. Maybe he’ll be a cross-dresser or a have a huge collection of creepy dolls.”

  “Your optimism is refreshing.”

  “Oh come on, it’s not like you have to go ring his doorbell or anything. You know about him, but he doesn’t know about you. Let’s go watch him. We’ll figure out what kind of person he is before you ever introduce yourself. Then if you don’t like what you see, we can leave. We’ll watch him, and then you can decide.”

  “That sounds creepy.”

  “It is, but it’s also a little exciting. We can get big hats and sunglasses. We’ll be like spies.” Jules clapped her hands playfully with excitement. “Now let’s go back to the judgey-home for wayward women.”

  “Do you really hate it there?”

  “I grew up Catholic. I know how those nuns are looking at the girls, even if, outwardly, they are being helpful. At the end of the day they still see them no better than Oholah and her sister Oholibah, two prostitutes in the Bible. The church doesn’t really forgive people, it just doesn’t say out loud some of the things it used to say.”

  “I didn’t realize you felt that way. We can look for another place if you want.”

  “I’m just being dramatic. Bruno is happy. It’s not costing us anything. Well, except maybe my soul. I’ll get over it. Can we please order something to eat though? I’m starving. I want pizza, like greasy, crispy pizza with sausage.”

  Piper rolled her eyes and huffed. “Well, Brooklyn pizza is world-famous but you can’t go eating it with a fork and knife. I’ll show you how to fold it in half. You’re like a bottomless pit, I’m going to have to start packing snacks.”

  “I don’t care if we have to turn it into origami, I want pizza. Oh, gelato, too. I want gelato.”

  Chapter Five

  “Yes, Ma, we’re still watching him,” Jules moaned as she rolled her eyes at the telephone sitting on the center console between her and Piper. They were parked outside the hospital for the third day in a row and, when the phone rang for the tenth time, Piper insisted Jules finally answer it.

  “I don’t understand why you are on some kind of a stakeout. If this is your daddy, Piper, you need to just go meet him. Quit playing possum and just get out there already.”

  “Is there a chance you are just trying to rush us home fo
r Christmas?” Piper asked, looking sideways at Jules, who was nodding her head in agreement.

  “Y’all wouldn’t have my nagging if you’d have taken me with you,” Betty insisted.

  “Something tells me that isn’t true, Ma. I’d imagine you’d have found something to nag us about. Piper’s looking a little thin, you’d be force-feeding her a glazed ham by now.”

  “I am not looking thin,” Piper slapped at Jules’s shoulder. “I’m eating just fine and I’m not playing possum. I’m trying to be cautious. Not everyone is as kindhearted as you Graftons.”

  Jules rubbed her arm and picked up her phone. “Ma, we’ll try to hurry up. We won’t leave you high and dry for Christmas, I promise.”

  “And you, young lady, might want to get your phone checked. Apparently its connection to people here in Edenville is a little weak. Rumor has it you’re harder to get hold of than a greased pig. Is there a particular reason for the cold shoulder?”

  Piper tried not to give too much attention to the question. She pretended to be focused on the comings and goings from the entrance of the hospital.

  “Ma, I don’t want to talk about it. Piper and I are really busy here. I’m going to have to let you go now.”

  “I’m your Mama, you don’t get to let me go. It don’t work like that. We don’t let each other go. I’m gonna cut you a little slack here and not hold you over the coals, but my patience for you avoiding me and other people here in Edenville is growing thin. Now get on back to your business so you can hurry up and get back here. I love you, you pain in my ass.”

  “I love you too, Ma, I promise we’ll be together soon.” Jules hung up the phone and quickly opened her window. The cold air rushed in and Piper pulled her coat closed. “What are you doing, it’s freezing outside.”