Always Watching (11 page)

Florence shrugged.  “New Year’s?”

“
Did he tell you that you
could come home and take care of Ms. Sherman’s baby
then?”

“
Maybe, if I was good and
helped Ms. Sherman get her baby out of the hospital.”

Now we were getting somewhere.  I
struggled to sit still and let Beatrice coax the information out of
our reluctant accomplice.

“
How did you help her do
that?” Beatrice asked.  “Is that what happened earlier today
at the hospital?”

“
It was a secret,”
Florence whispered.  “Somebody took Ms. Sherman’s baby from
the hospital in Montgomery.  Her friend told me that it was a
bad man here, that he stole Ms. Sherman’s baby and gave it to his
wife.  I had to help rescue Macy and send her
home.”

It was enough for me.  I doubted that
Florence knew the name of the man she gave the baby to, but waited
a few minutes for Beatrice to see if Florence would admit that as
well.

“
Who helped you rescue Ms.
Sherman’s baby, Florence?  He must’ve been very brave to help
you like that.”

She nodded.  “He’s one of Mr. Sherman’s
friends.  He has lots of important friends.  Did you know
that even the governor used to be his friend?”

“
Used to?” I asked. 
“Did something happen to make Mr. Sherman not like him
anymore?”

“
I don’t know.  Mr.
Sherman just said he was done helping him if …” her forehead
wrinkled.  “If the governor didn’t want to help him back, they
were done being friends.  Mr. Sherman doesn’t like it when
people don’t follow his rules.  If he gets angry with me,
he’ll send me away.  So I can’t be bad.  I don’t want to
be farther away from him than I already am.”

I couldn’t shut my mouth.  Time to
rescue the terrorized woman with the emotional maturity of a
child.  “Florence, Mr. Sherman can’t hurt you anymore. 
He died.”

She slapped one hand over her mouth to
stifle the sob – and wouldn’t say another word.

Chapter 9

“
I blew it,” I
fumed.

“
Calm down.  We got
more information that I ever dreamed possible.  Fantastic job
in there, Bea,” Crevan said. 

“
I still can’t believe
we’re talking about the same Sherman,” Devlin said.  “How can
it be someone else?  Sherman was a supporter of
Collangelo.”

“
Apparently not anymore,”
I said.  “I see more than a few problems with Florence’s
statement.  She’ll hardly make a credible witness
if
we could get her to
testify.  We’ve got to get independent evidence against the
Shermans that links them to this crime.”

“
What do you suggest?”
Devlin asked.

“
You’re the one with ties
in Montgomery.  Who do you trust out there?  We need
someone watching that house.”

“
Helen, why don’t we call
Johnny.  I know he’d make time for this case.”

“
Crevan, he’s got official
business with the governor who apparently had more than a foot in
bed with someone I suspect has been engaged in human trafficking
for a very long time.  What do we even know about this guy’s
service in diplomacy?”

“
Basically what I told you
at the hospital,” Devlin said.  “Isn’t worrying about his
background and pretty much all the rest moot as long as we’ve got a
missing baby out there?”

“
I know exactly where
we’ll find her,” I said.  “Florence flat out said it. 
She gave the Datello child to an unknown friend of Mr. Sherman
because it was really Ms. Sherman’s child.”

“
Pretty damned dumb to go
after Datello’s kid,” Crevan shook his head.  “I mean think
about it, Helen.  Why go after one of the most powerful
criminal’s kids?  Why not pick a nobody?”

“
Because Celeste is
vulnerable.  Datello is behind bars.  His little empire
has been crushed.  Of all people in the world, he’s the last
to have the means to do anything about this.  Add to that,
maybe Sherman was counting on pockets of corruption remaining in
Darkwater’s police department.  Maybe we’re too inept to catch
them.  God only knows how long they’ve been trafficking human
beings through this city.”

“
You think that might’ve
been part of Datello’s operation?” Crevan asked.

“
I highly doubt it.” 
My fist slammed on the table.  “I should’ve seen this. 
Think about his original felony, guys.  What was it that
prompted him to try to bring his uncle down in the first
place?”

“
His father’s murder,”
Devlin said.

“
Exactly.  Nothing
matters more to Datello than the sanctity of his own flesh and
blood.  He’d want no part of a human trafficking ring.” 
I paused and stared hard at him.  “Who was your partner in
Montgomery?”

“
Andy Gillette. 
Why?”

“
Give him a call. 
See if he’ll keep an eye on this Sherman house until we can get
there. I’ll get a couple of coffees for the road.” 

“
We?” Crevan
echoed.

“
You, me, Devlin. 
When we get there, you and this former partner of Dev’s can ask the
merry widow a few questions about her baby.  Did you find out
if the hospital collected a cord blood kit on baby
Datello?”

“
They did,” he
said.

I turned a pointed stare on Devlin. 
“If Sherman was such a high profile figure in Montgomery, what are
the odds that the papers are still talking about his life and
legacy?  He’s been dead what, a week?  Two maybe?”

“
A little more than two,”
Devlin said.  “But he was pretty prominent.  We can pick
up a paper when we hit the city limits.  I think his annual
charity was held this week. The last day or two maybe. 
There’s bound to be some wailing and moaning in the press about his
death, what a great man he was.”  He framed his sarcasm with
air quotes.

“
Let’s go,” I said. 
“Our clock is still ticking, gentlemen.”  A glance at my
wristwatch reminded all of us that our control of the case would
shortly end.  The intrepid Agent Preston would be arriving in
Darkwater Bay any time now.  “We’ll call Chris from the road
and let him know how to stonewall the bureau if they ever bother to
show up,” I said.

We were in the car less than five minutes
when I slumped over in the back seat.  This time it wasn’t
nausea that overwhelmed me.  My eyelids felt weighted. 
Exhaustion made every muscle in my body scream for sleep.  Odd
dreams flitted through my subconscious.  If I weren’t a devout
devotee of science, I might’ve wondered if it was some strange
precognitive foreboding.  Finding Sherman suddenly morphed
into Johnny opening the stranger’s front door.

He pointed an accusing finger and told me he
was done with me.

Projection anyone?

Of course I felt more than a single pang of
guilt for my angry words, the fact that I hung up on him after
telling him I didn’t want to see or speak to him.  What sort
of mess would the voicemail reveal if I bothered to turn the cell
phone on? 

Then again, he hadn’t called the office
again.  He didn’t call Crevan or Devlin.  He wasn’t
asking anybody if I was all right.  Somehow, that knowledge
weaving around in my brain didn’t make me feel better.

A beam of light pierced my forehead when he
opened his mouth to yell at me.  It was a hot knife stabbing
into my frontal lobe.

I sat up with a start.

“
Good morning sunshine,”
Dev grinned at me over the front seat.  “Did you sleep
well?”

I squinted in the early dawn sunrise. 
“Are we in Montgomery?”

“
We stopped for gas. 
Crevan’s gonna pick up a newspaper inside the store and some fresh
coffee and Danish.”

I rubbed my eyes.  “Is your old partner
watching the Sherman residence?”

“
Reluctantly, but
yes.  He confirmed that last night was the annual benefit for
the arts in Montgomery.  Our grieving widow got home before
midnight last night.  She was not alone.”

“
Color me
surprised.”

“
He says she’s very young,
Helen.”

“
How young is
very?”

“
Twenty-something.”

“
Shit, how old was
Sherman?”

“
Eighty-nine.  Randy
old goat, wasn’t he?”

“
Once a pedophile, always
a pedophile.”

Crevan opened the passenger door, a white
paper bag between his teeth, newspaper tucked under one arm, and
three coffees in a tray.  I reached up and grabbed a coffee
and the paper from him.

“
As promised, the front
page has a story about the late Sherman Trust for the Endowment of
the Arts.  Guess the bastard made enough money from selling
children to give something back to the community,” I
said.

Crevan and Devlin chatted about the best
route to chez Sherman while I devoured the article.  I
snorted.  Art programs for under privileged kids in the inner
city.  How big was Montgomery anyway?

“
Roughly two million if
you count all the suburbs,” Devlin said.

I glanced up sharply.

“
You asked,” he grinned at
me in the rearview mirror.  “Hey, Crevan, have you ever
noticed that she talks a lot without realizing it when she’s zoned
out like this?”

“
Shut up, Dev.  I’m
not deaf.”

I followed the article to the society page
where the cream of Montgomery were cited for their donations and
patronage to the arts.  The picture at the top of the page
made my coffee hit the floorboard with a wet thud.

“
Jesus, Helen!  Did
you burn yourself?”

My hands trembled.  I held up the
page.  “On official business for Collangelo.  Isn’t that
what he said?”

Crevan’s jaw dropped.  “Helen, there’s
got to be a rational explanation.  If he said he was on a case
–”

“
What the hell is
it?”  Devlin tried unsuccessfully to steal a glance over his
shoulder.

“
It’s the alleged love of
my life, pawing another woman while staring down her very low cut
dress,” I fumed.  “Unbelievable!  No wonder he didn’t
want me here with him!  Is this what’s been going on with all
his impromptu overnight trips to Montgomery since I’ve known
him?”

“
Shit,” Devlin
muttered. 

I tossed the paper aside and grabbed the
handful of napkins Crevan held out.  He made excuses while I
mopped up the mess in the carpeting.

“
Helen, don’t jump to
conclusions.”

“
Like he’s a two-timing
bastard?”

“
You know he loves
you.”

“
Sure he does.  In
Montgomery for an indefinite period of time while he does some
special thing for Joe.  Wasn’t that the bullshit excuse he
gave?  More like does
someone
special for Joe – like court the favor of this
fucking woman for political gain.”

“
Who is she?” Crevan
asked.  “Does the caption identify her?”

“
I didn’t get that far,” I
muttered.  Tears threatened to burst from my eyes.  I
squelched the urge.  I would not shed a single tear over the
cheating bastard.  “Who cares who she is, Crevan?  This
is Johnny being Johnny.  Everybody warned me that he was a
player, and like a fool, I believed him when he said it was all an
act, part of his cover when nobody knew he was running
OSI.”

“
And that might be exactly
what he’s doing now.”

“
Oh please.  The
whole damn state knows who he is now,” I fumed.

Crevan reached over the seat and snatched
the newspaper before I decided to shred it into a million
pieces.  He sucked in a deep breath.  “You’ve gotta be
kidding me.”

“
What?” I
huffed.

“
It’s Melissa
Sherman.”

“
Give me that!”

Crevan held it out of my reach.

“
Who is she?  One of
Sherman’s stolen children?  One that rated better treatment
than poor Florence?”

“
It’s his widow,” Devlin
said.  “You don’t suppose that Joe Collangelo got wise to what
Sherman was doing behind the scenes, do you?  It could be the
case that Johnny came here to work on.”

“
Are you serious? 
Look at his face!  I’ve seen that look before.  The last
thing on his mind when that photo was taken was his
job.”

“
Helen, what if Devlin is
right?”

“
Call your old pal and ask
him how late Mrs. Sherman’s escort stayed when he brought her home
last night.  I bet he’s still there, the fucking lecherous
pig.  And I bet Gillette knew exactly who he was, which shoots
your undercover theory straight to hell, Devlin.”

While Devlin pulled out his phone and dialed
his old partner’s number, I turned my phone on.  Voicemail had
two messages.

One: “Doc, answer the goddamned phone. 
I’m calling back in five minutes.  We need to talk.”

Two: “Helen, since you’re not going to
answer the phone, I suppose what I have to tell you will have to
wait until later.  This isn’t how I wanted this conversation
to go.  Guess it’s not important anyway, huh?  Since you
don’t want to see me or speak to me.  You’re gonna regret this
when you calm down.”