The China Doll (11 page)

"Oh, I think I’ve got the hang of this.
Richard didn’t call you, Aunt Luce," Jessie said. "No one called
anyone, but here you all are."

"I called you," Miranda said. "And Emily
called Zainab. And Richard was just here. Everyone else..." She
shook her head. "I think Emily had a great idea a few minutes ago.
Let’s all leave, now."

More footsteps. Emily’s jaw dropped. But
before she could say anything, Lucy jumped back. "Joanna, what are
you doing here?" There was an odd note of panic in Lucy’s voice.
Zainab felt Richard’s grip grow even tighter.

"You didn’t leave me a message and ask that I
meet you here to talk to Richard?"

"Are you out of your mind?" Lucy exclaimed
incredulously.

Mitch grabbed Emily’s hand. "We’re out of
here, now!"

Everyone was halfway to the stairs when they
all heard more footsteps. A second later, Bobby appeared in front
of them all. "Thanks for meeting me here everyone."

Jessie shook her head. "Bobby, what’s going
on?"

"
Bobby
my ass!" Emily spat out.
Everyone else looked at her. "There’s probably a Bobby Lester, but
he isn’t it. Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to Robert Joseph
Teague." Lucy turned white. Emily frowned, but turned to Joanna.
"But you already knew that, didn’t you?"

"Emily, this is really complicated," Joanna
stammered.

Emily looked at the crowd and opened her arms
in exasperation. "Apparently!"

Richard looked at Jessie in horror. "This is
Bobby?"

Jessie nodded. "Yes...at least I thought
so."

"How old are you?" Richard asked, striding
over to him. "More importantly, do you know how old she is?"

Lucy was horrified. "Jessica, please tell me
you weren’t dating him."

Jessie sneered. "Really, Luce, no one here
buys the concerned aunt act, so you can just drop it."

"Everyone please, just calm down," Joanna
said evenly. "I can explain."

Lucy shook her head. "Joanna, what have you
done?"

"What have
you
done, Lucy?" Joanna
asked quietly. "Have you so much as lifted a finger to protect
them?"

"Oh, that is a little too much," Richard said
venomously. Emily and Miranda looked at each other. "We can live
just fine without your special brand of concern, I think."

Joanna blinked. "Richard, please. I know
about the notes."

Richard turned on his mother. "You never
learn, do you?" Zainab moved to him, but he held up his hand. "You
just couldn’t keep that to yourself, could you?"

Lucy stood silently, and it was the first
time Miranda felt pity for her. "I didn’t say a word, son. Just as
you asked me not to."

"You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe
you."

"Then maybe you’ll believe me," Bobby said
casually. "I’m the one who told Joanna about the notes. The first
one you got last spring, and then the one you got a few days
ago."

Jessie stood back, disgusted. "What the Hell
gave you the right to share my business with anyone?"

"Holy..." Mitch interjected. He pointed his
finger at Bobby. "I think I know where I saw you..."

Bobby clucked his tongue and winked. "I
didn’t think the bar exhaustion was going to last forever, but
thanks for waiting this long."

"You were at a deposition done at my firm
over the summer," Mitch said. "You were in Conference Room C. With
Callahan. On—"

"The DeNunzio case." Bobby bowed. "Yep, that
was me. And you were walking around with all of the other new
hires, getting the tour."

"Are you kidding me?" Jessie looked ill.
"You’re a cop?"

"Detective, actually," but he didn’t look at
Jessie. "Detective Robert Teague."

"You son of a bitch," Richard said before he
lunged in Robert’s direction. Zainab grabbed one arm and Alex the
other.

"Please don’t do anything stupid," Zainab
pleaded.

Robert smirked. "You’ve got a good woman
there," he said. "And smart too. I think you should listen to her.
Assaulting a police officer would make tonight so much more
complicated."

"Darling, please," Lucy said. She touched
Richard’s shoulder, and he pulled away. He shook off Alex and
Zainab too.

"I think we’ll be leaving now," Emily said,
walking up to Robert. "You’re a real piece of work, but sorry, I
don’t think anyone wants to play right now."

Robert looked Emily up and down in such a way
that had Mitch clenching his fists. "Really? Because you seem like
someone who wants everything to be out in the open. Because that’s
gonna make it all better, right? Don’t you want a little honesty
now?"

"I doubt you’re capable," Emily said through
gritted teeth. "And I don’t care what your real job is or what you
told Joanna." She looked at Joanna, then Alex. She shook her head.
"Joanna, what were you thinking?"

"Emily, I’m sorry, but I care about Jessie. I
would have done anything to help and agreeing to hire Bob as my TA
seemed like a small sacrifice."

Jessie looked around, confused. "Professor
Hazlett, I hardly know you."

Joanna’s eyes filled with tears. "That’s true
Jessie, and I’m sorry about that. But I know you pretty well."

"You went to the police the first time Jessie
got that note," Robert said to Richard. "And that was the smart
thing to do."

"This is your idea of doing something about
that? Thanks a bunch, but while you were playing dress up, some
freak is still out there. We got another one this week."

"I know. Jessie told me," Bobby said but he
couldn’t look at her.

"Why now? It’s been months," Zainab said.

"It was the first opportunity I had. It was
the first time Jessie got into one of Professor Hazlett’s classes,"
Bobby said.

Lucy looked at Joanna. "Don’t you know who he
is?" she asked desperately. "What have you done, Jo?"

Robert smiled. "Sorry, Misses Hendrickson,
but I’m afraid Jo doesn’t know the whole story. Looks like it’s
just you and me."

Alex took Miranda’s hand. She could feel he
was sweating. "We should go," he whispered.

"No. I’m not leaving without Jess. Or
Richard."

"Go on," Robert said calmly. "Go on, Miss
Bartolome. Tell them who I am." There was just silence and a cold,
icy glare; one which Richard had seen so many times before. He knew
how angry his mother was and, despite the fact that he was almost
thirty, he still flinched. "No? Fine, I’ll tell them." Bobby turned
back to everyone else. "Robert Joseph Teague. Emily got it. But you
know what sweetheart? You’re just not as thorough as you should
have been. You were pretty close actually. A couple more
mouse-clicks and searches and you would have had the whole thing.
But I guess you’re just not as Nancy Drew as you think you
are."

"I think you should stop speaking to my wife
like that," Mitch said as he put his arm around her.

Robert seemed to laugh at Mitch. "Yeah,
that’s a good thing for you to say." He looked Mitch over,
differently than he’d looked at Emily. "Sorry, where was I? Oh
right. Emily’s little search. Emily found out what my parents’
names were, but she didn’t find out
who
they were. Because
it’s more than a name that makes a person, contrary to what the
Bartolomes, Hendricksons and Abbots have always thought. Isn’t that
right, Mister Sheldon? Because really, who’d ever heard the name
Sheldon before you?"

"If you have a point, young man, you’d better
make it quickly," Alex said coldly.

"Young man?" Robert repeated. "Guess what
buddy? I’ve got at least four years on your girlfriend—or whatever
we want to call her."

Alex stepped forward, but now Miranda and
Mitch held him back. "How dare you?" Alex shouted.

"Alex, please," Miranda pleaded. "I don’t
care what he thinks. Maybe you should just go."

"I’m not leaving you," he said, and Miranda
found herself smiling.

Robert shook his head. "You really don’t
deserve her, but you know that already, don’t you?"

Miranda lifted her chin. "Who are you?"

"I am a son," he said. "The son of a man
ruined by a selfish family." He turned back to Lucy. "I’m surprised
you remember the names of the people you step on."

Joanna started shaking her head. "Bob, what’s
going on?"

"I’m afraid I didn’t tell you the entire
story when I approached you. My apologies," he said coldly. "But
maybe Lucy would like to fill in the rest?"

Lucy fixed her gaze on Robert. "Richard, I
think it’s time for you and Jessie to leave."

Alex squeezed Miranda’s hand. "Yes, Richard.
I think that would be best. Why don’t you take Jessie home
now?"

"I am not going anywhere!" Jessie said, and
for the first time Emily saw the resemblance between Jessie and her
aunt. "But let’s hurry it up, okay?" She looked at Lucy, who didn’t
say a word. Then Joanna. Then Richard. Then Alex. Finally, she
turned to Bob. "I guess that just leaves you again."

He looked away and turned to Alex. "Mister
Sheldon, why don’t you tell us what you remember about Tom
Bartolome’s death?"

"Excuse me?" Alex asked incredulously. "I
don’t know—I wasn’t there."

"Hmm," Robert said, turning to Joanna.
"Anything?" Then he looked at Richard. "What about you Mister
Hendrickson? Do you remember the weekend your uncle died on the
Cape?"

"Jessie, get out of here now," Richard said
quietly. But Jessie shook her head.

"I’m going to take that as a yes," Robert
said as he nodded. "I thought you might. Family secrets and all. It
was one of mine too. See, my dad was the officer assigned to
investigate Tom’s unfortunate demise."

"It was a malfunction," Richard said, but
Zainab could feel him tense up next to her.

"That’s what it looked like," Robert said.
"And that’s what my father concluded. But that wasn’t good enough,
was it Misses Hendrickson?"

"How many jet ski engines explode like that?"
Lucy’s lips trembled. "It didn’t make any sense. Tom always had top
of the line equipment."

"My father eventually agreed," Robert
conceded. "But the cash you offered didn’t hurt."

Lucy swallowed. "I didn’t force him to take
my money."

Robert's jaw tightened. "You don’t have to
force someone who’s already desperate. And don’t tell me you didn’t
know that."

"He agreed," Lucy insisted, "because it made
sense."

No one said anything for almost thirty
seconds. Finally, Emily couldn’t resist. "What made sense?"

"That his gold-digging tramp of a wife had
too much to gain by killing him for it to be a coincidence!" Lucy
spat.

"Don’t you talk about my mother like that!"
Jessie said. Emily let go of Mitch’s hand and went over to
Jessie.

Richard shook his head. "Mother, you’ve got
it all wrong."

"Yes, Lucy, he’s right," Joanna said. She
wiped her tears. "What is it going to take for you to accept what
happened?"

"Don’t you breathe a word against Tom—not
now!" Lucy shouted. Richard had never seen his mother shout.

"Tom was a pig!" Joanna exclaimed. "I don’t
care if he was your brother, he was a monster!"

"Where’s your proof?"

"Because I knew Josie!" Joanna said. "I knew
her before, and then I knew her after." Joanna closed her eyes as
if she had been looking at something revolting. "I know what
happened, and so do you."

Miranda remembered the pretty, young, sweet
woman with the reddish brown hair who used to play tea party with
her when Jessie was a baby. She’d always liked Josie, and that
period between Jessie’s birth and Josie’s death was the only time
she could remember feeling like she had a real family. "Professor
Hazlett, how did you know Josie?"

"She was one of my first students when I
became an assistant professor," Joanna said. "And she was
absolutely brilliant." She smiled. "She ripped through everything
anyone gave her. She was like a sponge that had been left out to
dry for years, and then someone threw her into the water.

"She was one of the first Kay scholars, but
the program wasn’t what it is today. It paid for her room and board
the first two years, but then only half of it after that. And Josie
came from nothing." She caught Emily’s eyes. "She came from less
than nothing. She barely ate most of the time as it was. She
couldn’t get a loan to cover everything. She wasn’t going to be
able to stay."

She looked at Jessie pleadingly. Jessie took
a step back and Emily put her arm around her. "I thought I was
doing her a favor, I really did. She could have gone on to do great
things. I wanted her to stay. That’s why I introduced them. They’d
just started the scholarship."

Emily held her breath. "The Bartolome
Scholar’s fund?"

"That’s the one," Joanna said bitterly. "And
Tom was the chair. He was the one who was going to make the
ultimate decision. And Josie was so smart and so charming." She
sniffled. "I thought it might help."

"And don’t forget very pretty," Lucy hissed.
"Did you think that would help too?"

"Yes," Joanna said, the tears welling again.
"And I’ve never been more ashamed of anything in my whole
life."

Jessie’s lip trembled. She looked at Miranda,
who shook her head. She looked at Richard, who swallowed. "Richard,
what are they saying?"

"Jess." He walked over and embraced Jessie.
"It doesn’t matter sweetheart. None of this touches you."

She looked up. For the second time since
she’d met her, Emily saw tears in her eyes. "You’re wrong, Richard.
Tell the truth. They’re just going to keep lying like they always
have."

Richard’s eyes were red. "Jessie, it doesn’t
matter."

Jessie wept now into Richards shoulder.
Miranda started crying too. "Richard, it does. She deserves to
know."

Richard took a deep breath and hugged Jessie.
He glared at Joanna. "Finish what you started."

Joanna took a deep breath. "I arranged for
them to meet in a restaurant. I wasn’t there. I was crossing my
fingers the whole night. I was planning what I’d say to Tom to help
her—what I’d do—if I needed to. But then she didn’t come to class
that day. I was worried. I thought he’d turned her down, and she
was packing up. So I found out where her dorm was and I went to see
her." She was silent for a minute. She finally found her words.
"She was black and blue, on her face and her arms. She’d thrown her
dress into the garbage, but I saw it. It was ripped. She screamed
at me for making her go. She was hurt, but she wouldn’t let me take
her to the doctors.