Finding North (12 page)

Troy shook his
head.

“
Yeah, so, I never had
anything to do with Linear A.”

“
Did Dad?” Troy asked.
“Our brother Hector?”

Helen looked at him and
drained her teacup. He gave her the thermos. Her hand shook when
she poured herself more tea.

“
I’m not trying to decide
what to tell you, like some loyal-Dad-automaton,” Helen said. “I’m
just thinking it through.”

“
Take your time,” Troy
said.

“
I want to say ‘no,’”
Helen said. “But the graduate student and . . . Dad
was very into all that Minoan stuff. Our family is from Crete. You
remember that — right?”

“
We are Minoan,” Troy said
in a near-perfect imitation of the monster that was their father.
“The blood of King Minos runs through our veins.”

Uncomfortable, Helen
shifted and looked away from him.

“
I always wished we were
connected to King Midas,” Troy smiled. “Not King Minos.”

Helen burst out laughing.
They fell silent and watched the meadow. They were rewarded by the
appearance of a large bull elk with five-point antlers covered in
velvet. When the elk noticed them, he disappeared into the
brush.

“
This is a big deal,”
Helen said.

“
Probably,” Troy said. “Do
you think it’s possible that Dad was involved with a clandestine
group that, for lack of a better description, ‘burns the world
down’ every time average people gain some power?”

“
It does sound like him,”
Helen said. “He always ranted about that kind of thing. Remember? I
told you last year.”

Troy nodded, and they fell
silent again. Helen drank the last of her tea. Picking up the
thermos, she pretended to squeeze out the last drops. Troy
laughed.

“
You want me to go see
Dad,” Helen said.

“
I don’t,” Troy said. “I’d
never ask you to do that. But . . .”

“
Would it help?” Helen
asked. “I mean, with whatever you and Alex are doing?”

“
We think so,” Troy
said.

Helen nodded. She looked
off into the edge of the meadow for a few moments.

“
It does sounds like Dad,”
Helen said. “He believes there is a definite ruling class of elite
intellectuals, artists, and contributors. I always wondered what he
was so hot about, when we weren’t exactly the ruling
class.”

“
What if we were?” Troy
asked.

Helen shrugged.

“
No idea,” Helen said. “Do
you mind if I think about it?”

“
Going to see Dad?” Troy
asked. “Take your time. The most important thing to me is that you
do what’s best for you. Nothing else really matters.”

Helen’s head went up and
down, but she looked unconvinced.

“
It would be good to know,
though,” Helen said. “This and a few other things.”

“
If you talk to him, you
wouldn’t do it alone,” Troy said. “I’d be there. My team.
Alex.”

“
But not in the room with
me, right?” Helen asked. “He wants to see me. Just me. He keeps
writing me and asking if I’ll come to see him. I think he has some
things he’d like me to do. If I see him, I’d have to go in
alone.”

“
Yes.”

Helen grimaced.

“
Why don’t you think about
it?” Troy asked. “Talk to your therapist, Gennifer. Maybe
your
boyfriend
has some wisdom to share.”

Helen smiled.

“
What?” Troy
asked.

“
I have a boyfriend,”
Helen laughed.

Troy smiled at his
sister.

F

Chapter
Nine

Monday evening

May 16 — 5:59 p.m.
MDT

Denver,
Colorado

“
There you are,” Erin
said.

Matthew heard her voice
when he came in the front door of their Denver Square home. The
house was dark. He was about to say her name when she
spoke.

“
I’m in here,” Erin
said.

He followed her voice into
the living room. She was sitting in her reading chair next to the
fireplace. Erin usually sat in that chair when she was reading
scientific journals or breastfeeding Grace. The only light in the
room was the reading lamp, which hung directly over the chair. Erin
held a letter in her hand. She was staring into the dark room.
Feeling his gaze, she lifted the edges of her mouth in a smile. But
her forehead never shifted from its wrinkled scowl.

“
Am I late?” Matthew
asked. He turned on a floor lamp near the couch.

“
Late?” Erin asked. “No, I
don’t think so.”

“
What’s going on, Erin?”
Matthew smiled.

Erin looked down at the
letter. Her hand clutched the sheet of paper so tightly that it
crumpled under the pressure. She looked up at him.

“
I want to get married,”
Erin said. “In fact, the sooner, the better.”

“
Okay,” Matthew
said.

“
And this ring?” Erin
gestured to the one-carat diamond sitting on her left finger. “I
want a bigger ring — much, much bigger ring. Big.”

“
Uh . . .”
Matthew said. “What about blood diamonds and all of
that?”

“
I don’t care about that
anymore,” Erin said.

She gave him a curt nod
and stood up from her reading chair. She walked toward him. He
assumed she was going to hug and kiss him as she had every time
he’d come in the door for the last three years. Instead, she thrust
the letter at his chest. He caught it, and she walked past. He was
so surprised that she was out of the room before he
recovered.

“
Erin?” Matthew
asked.

“
I’m going to Sami’s,”
Erin said.

She started out the back
of the house.

“
Where’s Grace?” Matthew
managed to get out before she left the house.

“
Alex’s,” Erin yelled.
“You’ll need to pick her up.”

The back door
slammed.

“
Erin?” Matthew asked. He
went through their dining room and into the kitchen.

Erin was gone.

He looked around the
kitchen. Even though it was her night to cook, she hadn’t started
dinner. Something was definitely wrong. He scowled and started to
follow her out the back. His hand was on the door when he realized
he was holding the letter she’d been reading. He looked down at the
letter. It was too dark to read. He flipped on the kitchen
lights.

The letter was from the
Department of Justice, Camp Delta division. Matthew
scowled.

Why would the Department
of Justice send Erin a letter about Guantanamo Bay?

He leaned against the wall
to read. Marcos Ruiz, Erin’s ex-boyfriend, had recently agreed to
plead guilty to reduced charges of treason and receiving foreign
monies to support a war against the US. He would be sentenced to
twenty years in a Federal prison to be served within the
continental United States. With good-conduct time, Marcos could
possibly be out of prison in fifteen years.

Marcos had one condition
of his acceptance of the plea bargain and sentence. He wanted to
spend one hour with Erin, preferably before he left Cuba. He didn’t
care if the hour was monitored or if he remained in shackles. He
only wanted to spend an hour with her.

Matthew swallowed
hard.

According to the letter,
if Marcos was unable to spend time with Erin, he would withdraw his
agreement to the plea deal. His case would go to open court, where
Erin would be subpoenaed to testify. The images and videotapes of
Marcos’s various assaults on Erin would become public record, and
the images that had led to Alex being held hostage would become
available to the general public. While anything pertaining to Alex
would be redacted, it was only a matter of time before Alex would
have to go into hiding.

The Department of Justice
strongly encouraged Erin to cooperate with their case.

“
Oh, Erin,” Matthew said
in a low voice.

His heart pounded with
rage and indignation. He took his cell phone out of his pocket to
call Alex. Looking at the phone, he saw the time and remembered
what Erin said about getting married.

Marcos Ruiz had cost Erin
enough. He wasn’t going give that bastard a moment more of their
time.

Smiling to himself, he
jogged out the front door. He went down the sidewalk, past Samantha
and Colin’s home, to the rooming house. He let himself into Alex’s
side of the big house.

“
John?” Matthew
called.

“
We’re in here,” Max
said.

Matthew went down the hall
to the shared kitchen and into the shared living area. John and
Alex’s twins were lying on the floor, while Grace was playing
blocks with Max.

“
I need to borrow some
money,” Matthew said.

“
What do you need?” John
asked.

“
A really big diamond,”
Matthew pointed to his left hand. “The bigger, the
better.”

“
Anything else?” Max
laughed.

“
A priest,” Matthew
said.

John and Max looked at
each other and then back at Matthew. Wyatt came in from Max’s
living room with Hector James and Hermes on his tail. The boys were
a study in contrasts. Hector James had hit a growth spurt. Growing
by the minute, Hector James was starting to catch up to his tall
father. Hermes, on the other hand, had his mother’s delicate bone
structure, which made him look like a little boy. Wyatt put a new
video game in the console, and the boys got their controllers from
the shelf.

“
Well?” Matthew
asked.

“
What’s going on?” Hermes
asked.

“
Matthew and Erin are
getting married,” Max said.

“
When?” Wyatt
asked.

“
Tonight,” John said.
“Max, my old friend?”

“
I’ll take him ring
shopping,” Max said. “You’ll get the priest?”

“
I will,” John said. He
took out his phone and called his brother. “Cian? We need a wedding
cake. Two hours? Can we wait two hours?”

Matthew nodded.

“
Perfect,” John
said.

“
What can I do?” Wyatt
asked.

“
We want to help!” Hector
James said.

“
You boys can help Cian,”
John said. “He’ll be here in a minute. You know how much he needs
your help.”

Hector James and Hermes
cheered.

“
I need something to
wear,” Matthew said. “Erin and Grace do, too. With the new baby on
the way, we can’t really pay for anything.”

“
I can take you,” Wyatt
said.

Max and John looked at
each other.

“
Why don’t you go with
Matthew to get a ring?” Max laughed. “We’ll come up with something
for them to wear.”

“
Done,” Wyatt
said.

“
What about Alex?” Matthew
asked. “She’s not here. She’ll kill me for doing this while she’s
gone.”

“
I’ll call her,” John
said.

“
No, I will call her,” Max
said.

“
Max will call her,” John
said.

Matthew looked at Wyatt
and then at John. His gaze fell on Max.

“
That’s it?” Matthew
asked.

“
We’d do anything for
love,” Max said.

“
We
love
love!” Hermes said. He did a
little jump, which made Matthew smile.

“
Love?” Troy asked as he
came in from the kitchen. He was carrying a large bowl filled with
buttered popcorn. “What are we doing for love?”

“
Uncle Mattie and Auntie
Erin are getting married!” Hector James said.

“
Right now!” Hermes
said.

“
Tonight,” John
said.

“
Tonight!” Hermes
repeated.

“
Really?” Troy asked
Matthew.

Matthew passed Troy the
letter. He gave a low whistle.

“
Exactly,” Matthew
said.

“
Honeymoon!” John said.
“You’ll need reservations!”

“
We just need the night,”
Matthew said. “That is, if you’ll keep Grace for us.”

“
Of course,” Wyatt
said.

“
Got it,” John said and
picked up Joey. “Honeymoon this weekend.”

“
That’s a very good idea,”
Max said and picked up Máire. “You know, we should look
into . . .”

Max turned away from them
to speak privately with John.

“
Come on, Troy,” Wyatt
said. “This is an Army-only diamond hunt.”

“
Good thinking,” Troy
said, and set the bowl of popcorn on the dining-room
table.

Matthew looked at Wyatt
and Troy. Seeing they were serious, he laughed.