In The Absence Of Light (35 page)

Jeff’s cocky expression said it all. He couldn’t get to me, so he was going to make Morgan’s life a living hell. “Let me go talk to him.”

“He’s resisted arrest, assaulted an agent, and you want me to let you go talk to him?”

“He doesn’t deal well with change, and if he hit one of you, you probably deserved it.”  I should have kept my mouth shut about the second part.

Jeff flexed his hands, making his knuckles pop. I knew from experience he only did it when he was a few steps past angry and you’re chances of reasoning with him were running thin.

“I’ll go talk to him. Then we’ll sit down, here, and figure this out.”

Jeff raised his eyebrows. “We will, huh? And why would I do that, Grant? Why would I even entertain the idea of trusting you with getting him to cooperate, when you’re nothing but a criminal yourself?”

I glanced back at the door. Morgan was quiet now, but the lack of sound didn’t comfort me. “You’ll let me.” I turned back to Jeff. “Because I have something you want far more than anything Morgan has to offer.”

Victory shone in his eyes. He’d played his hands, and I’d folded. To Jessie, I said, “Do you have a key?”

He pulled one out of his pocket.

Jeff shot him a dirty look. “I thought you didn’t have one.”

Jessie shrugged. “My mistake.”

“Go sit down.” I went back to the bathroom door. “We’ll be out in a minute.”

“We haven’t agreed to anything.”

“Yes, you have. Now go.”

There was a tense moment where I was afraid Jeff would refuse just for the chance of punishing me. But I was right. He wanted what I had far more than the stupid charges brought up against Morgan. Him and another agent put their heads together. Then the one I didn’t know nodded.

“You’ve got ten minutes.” Jeff and his buddies vacated the hall.

“Grant, he’s not going to go,” Jessie said.

“He will.”

“If they try to arrest him, they’ll wind up hurting him.” The look in his eyes said they might even wind up killing him. Because he was right, Morgan would not go without a fight. He would not let someone take control of him and decide his fate.

“We’ll figure something out.” I waved a hand toward the dining room. “Would y’all mind sitting down in there with the Three Stooges?”

“If they insist on taking him in, we’ll go to the station,” Harold said.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” I waited until they left before I opened the door.

Morgan stopped pacing when I turned the deadbolt. His wayward hand threw thoughts in rapid fire, and the tic in his shoulder continuously snapped his torso to the side. Even with his head down, I caught a glimpse of the torment on his face.

“It’s just me.”

He nodded. Then he walked over and pressed himself to me. I wrapped my arms around him. His muscles continued to spasm.

“Everything’s going to be okay.” He made a sound, almost a word, but it broke into a rough whimper. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think Jeff would involve you in this.”

He nodded again. I petted his hair. Slowly the worst of the tics died down.

“I didn’t do it.”

I don’t know what made me feel better. Him saying he was innocent, or him just saying anything at all.

“I know you didn’t.”

“I never wanted the money. I told her that. But she wouldn’t listen.”

I kissed his temple. “And who’s she?”

He shuddered and buried his face into my neck.

“I know this is hard, but I need you to talk to me and tell me who this woman is.”

His answer wasn’t much more than a sigh. “My mother.”

******** 

Morgan stalled out at the end of the corridor when he saw Jeff and his fan club occupying a booth near the door.

“Afraid we’ll run?” I said.

“Nah, even you aren’t that stupid.”

I squeezed Morgan’s shoulder. He fluttered a hand near his temple. All three agents wore the same confused expression.

To Deputy Harold, I said, “Can you move one of these tables closer? Just make sure to leave some space.”

Jeff started to stand.

“Stay there, I said.”

“This is an interrogation, not a family gathering.”

“This is a circus, and for once, you’ll just have to talk out of your mouth and not your ass. Sit, Jeff.”

His cheeks reddened, but he sat.

“I’ll go get us some coffee,” Jessie said.

“I’ll take mine black,” Jeff said.

“I said,
us
. Not you.” Jessie went to the back. Thank god, I managed not to smile.

“Is he on something?” The Bronco-driving agent stared at Morgan.

“No,” I said.

“Then what’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing’s wrong with him.”

The guy opened his mouth to argue, but his partner gave the slightest shake of his head.

I walked Morgan over to the table. He stopped again a few feet away.

“They aren’t going to hurt you. They aren’t even going to touch you.” I shot Jeff a look, daring him to contradict me.  I pulled out a chair, and Morgan sat. I stayed standing with my hand on his back, making small circles. He tilted his head up at the light, rocked, and fluttered his hand.

“Go ahead,” I said. “Ask your questions.”

“Tell me about the money in your account at Mountain Trust Bank.”

“It’s not my account.”

“It has your name on it.”

“She set up the account and put the money in there. I never wanted it. I told her I didn’t want it.”

“So Mrs. Day just gave you over a hundred thousand dollars out of the goodness of her heart?”

“I—” Morgan’s face contorted with the effort to control the tic in his shoulders. “Still not mine. I never wanted the money. She opened the account, not me.”

“There were over sixty deposits made into that account by Mrs. Day over a five year span. Why would she do that?”

Morgan shook his head.

“Her husband says you threatened to blackmail her.”

“Not true.”

“You have an awful lot of money in an account that suggests otherwise.”

Jessie came out with a cup of coffee for me and hot chocolate for Morgan. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

Nope, Jeff definitely wasn’t happy about the blatant shunning. He tossed his chin at Morgan. “Answer the question.”

Morgan dropped his head and nodded. I continued to rub his back and after a few deep breaths, he quit rocking. “She wanted me to take the money because she felt guilty.”

“For what?” Jeff said.

“For letting my father talk her into getting rid of me.”

Jeff sat forward. “You make it sound like—”

“They’re my parents. When my father found out I wasn’t—” Morgan balled up his fist. “Found out, I…”

“They didn’t want him,” I said.

Jeff glanced at me. Then he did the one humane act that moved him up on my shit list from cesspool to bottom of my shoe. He didn’t ask Morgan to elaborate.

“Lori worked for them with Miranda.”

“Who’s Lori?” Jeff said.

“She was one of their housekeepers. My father wanted to put me in an institution. My mother asked Lori to take me instead. Mrs. Day gave Lori some money to help out because she didn’t want my father to know. ”

“You’re saying Lori kidnapped you?”

Morgan snapped his fingers. “No. Mrs. Day wanted Lori to take me. She made it so she could adopt me.”

“Do you have any proof?”

“Like what?”

“A legal agreement? Adoption papers?”

“They’re probably somewhere in Lori’s old things but my parents’ names aren’t on them.”

“Why not?”

“Mrs. Day didn’t want Mr. Day to know I wasn’t in a hospital somewhere.”

“Did you ever try to contact her?”

Morgan shook his head. “She was the one who wrote me letters.”

“Really?"

“Where are those letters now?”

“I threw them away.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t know her.”

“Do you remember what the letters said?”

“I never read them.”

“I find it hard to believe, if she sent you letters, you didn’t at least read them.”

“If you doubt him,” I said. “Ask the woman.” If she had a guilty conscience, then surely she would back him up.

“We can’t,” Jeff said. “She died about a year ago from cancer.”

“I thought you said the transfers were recent.” And money didn’t just jump from one account to another without prearrangements set in place.

“Automatic draft?”

“You don’t sound very sure.”

“We’re looking into it.”

“I’d think getting your facts straight before tearing up someone one’s life would be on the top of your priority list.”

“Why don’t you shut up and let your girlfriend finish answering our questions?” That from the FBI agent I didn’t know.

I ignored Mr. Unknown, and to Jeff, I said, “Have you checked with the bank to see what kind of arrangements were made?”

He gave me a bored look. “I know how to do my job, Grant. And as soon as the sun is up and people are awake, I’ll start making the calls.”

“What about Mr. Day?”

Another one of those looks.  “What about him?”

“Why did he wait so long to file charges? If his lawyers have been trying to contact Morgan for a year, then he’s known about the withdrawals for at least that long.” My bet was probably longer.

Jeff exchanged looks with his two cohorts.

“You’ve already asked yourself the same question, haven’t you? Have you asked Mr. Day?”

“We spoke to his lawyer; he said the reasons were personal.” Jeff nodded at Morgan. “After what Morgan has said, I think Mr. Day might have been trying to spare him the embarrassment.”

I laughed. It was a cold ugly sound. “You mean the guy was trying to save face. Now he has to admit he’s Morgan’s father.”

Jeff shook his head. “Either way, it doesn’t matter. The money is in an account with Morgan’s name on it, transferred from an account by Mrs. Day under duress.”

I put my hands on the table. “So says Mr. Day.  I call bullshit. No one waits a year to involve the authorities when thousands of dollars are being removed from their accounts unless they are doing something illegal or they’re trying to keep something hidden. This guy waited because he had to, not because he gave a shit about Morgan.”

“All right then, maybe he was just that desperate to keep the relationship between him and Morgan hidden.”

“Yeah, and if he was, why not just walk away from the money.”

“Because it was a lot of money.”

“If it took him that long to do something about the deposits, it couldn’t have meant that much. Not to mention the fact he stopped the transactions. There was no more money going out, so why not just sweep it all under the rug?” It’s what I would have done. Had done. Many times.

When a deal went bad, you had to be able to let the money go.

The main reason the FBI could never catch me. I didn’t live the high-maintenance life others did. To me, fast cars, high-rise apartments, fine clothes, meant nothing. Besides, it’s kind of hard to enjoy those things from the inside of a cell. And my low overhead made it possible for me to walk away from millions without putting a hitch in my lifestyle.

Jeff stood. “We’ll get the details worked out after we get Morgan settled in a holding cell and arrange a meeting with Mr. Day and his lawyer.”

Morgan slammed his fist on the table, making everyone jump. Jeff put his hand too close to his gun.

“I didn’t blackmail her.” Morgan hit the table again.

I knelt beside him. “Do you know why he waited?”

Morgan rolled his gaze toward the light. I cupped his cheek. His eyes focused on me. He swallowed several times.

“He thinks I want to take the money from his company Day Enterprises.”

Now I knew why the name struck a chord. The guy had written software for a company and became CEO after he married the owner’s daughter and the father died.

“What would make him think you want his money?”

Tendons drew white lines down Morgan’s neck. His Adam’s apple bobbed with the high-pitched whine ticking out of his throat.

I kissed his temple. “Talk to me, Morgan.”

He nodded, but there was nothing but another stretch of silence. One of the FBI agents stood, and I shot him a look. I think he would have ignored me if Jeff hadn’t given him a nod.

“Why does Mr. Day think you want his money?” Jeff said.

Morgan dropped his gaze and tossed thoughts.

“If you know, please tell him,” I said.

Morgan stopped moving.  “Because when Mrs. Day died, she left everything to me.”