Sins of the Father (36 page)

“And before then?”

I almost twisted free from Johnny’s
restraint.

“Before then, he was up to his eyeballs in
his own business on the east coast. Have you forgotten that he was
a police detective working regularly in New York? How the hell
could he have been part of something so far away?”

“You think Henderson was part of it. He was
just as far away from Darkwater Bay.”

A low growl rose in the back of my
throat.

“Crevan, please stop,” Johnny implored when
he felt my muscles tense. “Lyle Henderson had lifelong ties to
Darkwater Bay. We already know that. We also know that Wendell
Eriksson wanted nothing to do with his wife’s family. He didn’t
want Helen around them either.”

Crevan frowned. “You never met them
Helen?”

“No,” I said. “Daddy thought they were nuts
and wanted no part of them at all.”

“Nuts or criminals?”

“Crevan, he was a good man, a
great
father. All I have left of him is my memories.”

He crumbled, a little but it was enough.
“You’ve got to tell me why he didn’t want you around them.”

“It was the religious crap, okay? He hated
that nonsense. He said it was one thing for a person to come to
that on their own, but having it forced down people’s throats was
how zealots were made, and once you have a zealot, you have a
monster that finds justification for all kinds of horror based on a
book of delusions.”

“You buy that? He hated religion enough to
deny you contact with his wife’s family?”

“Crevan, why are you so skeptical about
this?”

He frowned. “Frankly, I think it makes more
sense that he wanted the least amount of contact possible with the
people who knew you weren’t really Helen Eriksson.”

Dev intervened. “That doesn’t exactly add up
either, Crevan. He kicked Marie out of the house because he didn’t
want kids.”

“Hmm. So he said. He could’ve told Helen any
number of lies to placate her curiosity.”

“Except he wouldn’t have told her that he
didn’t want her,” Johnny said. “He wouldn’t have said something so
awful to a child unless it was true, unless it was outweighed by
how much he loved her the moment he laid eyes on her.”

They were both right. Dad had initially lied
to me with a beautiful fiction about why he wasn’t present at the
time of my birth. Yet I couldn’t exactly explain how I came to know
the real story without explaining that I was Wendell Eriksson’s
last visitor at Attica, a felony in its own right, since I
impersonated an FBI agent in order to see him privately.

Johnny must’ve read my mind. Sadly, he
wasn’t the only one capable of divining that I knew more than I
said.

“There’s something you’re holding back,”
Crevan said. His eyes narrowed as he peered at me. “What is it,
Helen? Is it something you don’t want me to know because it makes
Wendell Eriksson look guiltier than he already appears to me?”

“He did not do this!” My eyes burned. Why
couldn’t he accept it? Why couldn’t he see that my father isn’t as
horrible as his?

“Crevan, I met Wendell. He would’ve never
done anything to harm Helen. Do you think for one second that he
would’ve knowingly taken her from a loving family able to provide
for her the way Aidan and Kathleen provided for you? It’s
ridiculous. He’s as much a victim in all of this as you, your
parents, Helen.”

“I am
not
a victim!”

“Darling, you know what I meant.”

I turned back to Crevan. “If you continue to
pursue this, pinning these horrible crimes on my father, I don’t
want to see you again, Crevan.”

“Helen, you don’t mean that,” Johnny
said.

“She means it,” Crevan said as he met my
steely gaze with his own. “And really, what difference does it make
at this point, right Helen? We’re adults. We’ve survived childhood
with baggage we’re willing or unwilling to acknowledge. What’s the
harm in cloaking one more parental sin? But I can’t see it that
way. I see children, lots of lost, vulnerable children. And
Wendell’s death hasn’t done anything to put a damper on what’s
going on in Darkwater Bay.
Somebody
is still pulling the
strings. I intend to keep looking for who that person is. Maybe
it’s Sanderfield. Maybe it’s Melissa Sherman and that’s why she’s
had so many people willing to die to protect her. If in the course
of learning the truth I find that your father was involved in this,
I won’t look the other way. I won’t shield his memory for your sake
or anyone else’s. I’ll protect you,
and
my nephews whether
you like it or not. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I swallowed the knot in my throat, lifted a
trembling finger and pointed in the general direction of the door.
“Get out of my house. If that’s what family really means to you,
Crevan, than I really am an only child.”

“Doc, don’t say something in anger that
you’ll regret later.”

“If you agree with him, you know where the
door is too, Johnny.” I glanced at Devlin. “With me or against me.
That’s the only option you have.”

He rose from the sofa. “I guess I should
take Crevan back to his car.”

My heart cracked. It was hardly an answer. I
nodded curtly. “Good luck to all three of you then. I guess we’ll
see who solves this and who looks like a fool in the end.”

“Helen, I’m not leaving you.”

“And I’m not caving in to her ridiculous
ultimatum,” Crevan snarled. “You want me out? Fine. I’m gone. But
know this, Helen. I will get to the bottom of this, no matter where
it takes me. Come on, Dev. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

I grabbed the phone and finished dialing
before the front door made it’s final shudder.

“Briscoe.”

“It’s Helen. Where are you?”

“On my way out the back door at division.
Why? What’s up?”

“I need to see you right away. Can you come
to the house?”

I heard hesitation in his voice for a beat.
“Uh…”

“Oh for heaven’s sake, Tony. You haven’t
done anything wrong. We need to talk. Now. It’s about Crevan.”

“Ah hell. What’s that Pup gone and got
himself into this time?”

“A big fat lie, that’s what. How soon can
you get here?”

“Gimme thirty. You got any food over
there?”

“Johnny will be cooking when you arrive.” I
hung up the phone without further explanation.

“Helen, are you really angry with me for
trying to mediate between the two of you? Christ, you’re both so
stubborn!”

I laughed bitterly. “That wasn’t an answer
to the question I asked you before. Are you with me or against
me?”

His arms curled around my waist from behind.
One hand rubbed slowly over my belly. “Of course I’m with you.
Helen, I believe you. If you say Wendell didn’t know, he didn’t
know. It’s enough for me.”

“But you’re worried that he lied to me.”

“Is that even a possibility?”

I didn’t want to believe it was. A slow burn
started in my brain and throbbed down my spine, reaching every
nerve, every cell, awakening fear and doubt.

“Honey, he still loves you. You’ve gotta
know that.”

“I do,” I said. “But what if I learn
something that proves he lied to me?”

“Then maybe we shouldn’t keep looking.”

I turned in his arms. Eyes implored his.
“How can you suggest that, when Gillette flat out said I’m worth
more pregnant? Crevan was right about one thing, Johnny. There are
children out there at risk. I can’t do nothing when some of these
missing and exploited children end up abused on
my
turf, or
have their birthright of freedom stripped away via relocation to
countries that don’t value human liberty. I can’t believe I let
anything distract me from finishing this, not even my irrational
anger at…”

“Me?”

I nodded. “I should’ve stayed focused. I’ve
got to
be
focused if we’re going to ever figure out whose
really pulling the strings in Darkwater Bay.”

“Then churn out the ideas. Pass them off to
me, to Tony now too, I guess. Let us do the leg work. Let me keep
you and our sons safe.”

“Daddy didn’t want me in Darkwater Bay,
Johnny. Could this be why?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “But I think it’s
past time that we try to reach out to Wendell in some way and get
more answers.”

I nodded. “I’ll work that angle. You’d
better get something ready for Tony to eat.”

“Why exactly are we bringing him into
this?”

I clenched my teeth. “Because he knows more
about the history in this rotten city than anybody I know. He’s a
gossip too. I want his take on why Crevan feigned ignorance for all
these years.”

“Then you’re going to tell him
everything?”

“I wouldn’t go that far. I haven’t told
anyone but you everything. He’ll know what Crevan knows. There’s
another part of this puzzle that we’re all missing, and I have a
sneaky suspicion that Tony knows what that piece is. Also, Dev said
something that bothers me.”

“About where Wendell’s real child is?”

I nodded and kept my chin tucked at the
end.

“Hey, you’re his daughter. It’s exactly as
you said.” One index finger curled under my chin and lifted. “He
believed you were his daughter. Now you are. It’s as simple as
that, Helen.”

“He knows the truth, Johnny. I’m not sure we
should be worried about any of this.”

“Why is that?” His frown rippled across his
forehead.

“Think about it. My father, who was at best
an assassin, at worst, a serial killer, is presumed dead but really
out there somewhere running free all over again, and someone has
not only abducted me, but insinuated that this is a done deal, that
I’m already bought and paid for, and it’s merely a matter of time
before the transaction is completed. How do
you
think a man
like my father would react to that information?” The last words he
spoke to me before closing the door on the jet that delivered him
to Canada replayed in my mind.

Don’t worry about the rest of it,
sweetheart.
At the time, I thought he meant that I shouldn’t be
afraid of Johnny’s reaction to what I’d done, that Dad believed I’d
be forgiven in the end. What if he was talking about the threat to
my freedom?

Johnny followed my train of thought and
sighed heavily. “Sanderfield is still breathing. So is Lyle
Henderson for that matter. Maybe Wendell realizes that your gift
was a one time deal, that if he screws up again, somebody will
stick a needle in his arm.”

I doubted it. After all, Dad never was
convicted for
his
crimes. To my way of seeing things, Dad’s
sentence really belonged to Marie. But if Johnny recognized where
my logic led me, he let it slide.

“Are you hungry too?” His lips nuzzled my
neck.

“I don’t know.”

“Ah, honey, don’t let all of this ruin your
appetite.”

“We have to figure out how to find Dad now.
And I’m concerned that Crevan will be watching me more than he will
be investigating the real crime.”

“He still works for me, Helen. How about if
you let me worry about how to deal with your brother, and you focus
on finding Wendell?”

“I can’t worry about Crevan right now,” I
said. “Not when Tony Briscoe is on his way over here.”

“You called him in on this, Helen.”

“I know,” I said. “I just haven’t figured
out how I’m going to explain the fact that I already used him once
for information without sending him running straight to Crevan’s
side of this.”

Johnny’s eyes fluttered shut. “Do I want to
know what you did?”

“Probably not. Unfortunately, you’re gonna
hear it shortly after Tony arrives.”

Chapter 34

There was no culinary aroma on the face of
the earth strong enough to distract Tony Briscoe. I swung open the
front door. He started to push past me for the kitchen, stopped,
did a double take and cursed. “Son of a bitch!”

“Hey.” I cringed in anticipation of the ire
I’d earned.

“You damn sure better look sorry,” Briscoe
growled. “Did you know when you was pumpin’ me for information
about Crevan’s daddy?”

“No, I suspected the truth, but I didn’t
know for sure. At least, not until Maya finished the DNA
testing.”

“Je-sus tits,” his glare simmered on Johnny.
“An’ you went along with this bullshit?”

“Crevan’s suspected since the night Helen
arrived in Darkwater Bay,” Johnny said. “In fact, it seems he’s
never believed a word of that fiction Aidan wove about a stillborn
brother in the first place.”

Briscoe looked for a chair, and for a
moment, I wasn’t sure if he had the stamina to walk from here to
there without sitting on the floor. I gripped his arm. “We ordered
takeout. Johnny and I figured that if you still had an appetite
after the conversation we need to have, you wouldn’t mind that it
wasn’t exactly the home cooked meal I promised.”

He snorted, but let me keep a grip while we
walked to the kitchen. “I reckon you could feed me a cardboard box
right now and I wouldn’t know the difference. How the hell did
Puppy put all this together?”

“She looks like their mother,” Johnny said
with a shrug. “I guess that’s something that a son doesn’t miss
like the rest of us did.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed, like a telephoto lens
zooming in on me. “I guess. Though the night you showed up in the
city, the hair wasn’t quite this short, and if memory serves, it
was blonde.”

“That’s right,” I said, “it was.”

“Don’t matter none. Now that you chopped it
all off, ain’t no way to miss the family resemblance. Jesus.”

“You’re repeating yourself, Tony.”

He shook his head again, more of a rattle
really, like he was trying to ascertain reality from a dream. “No
wonder you clued in to shit with the Pup like that. I mean that
blackmail thing with Belle. It’s that weird twin thing, ain’t
it?”