Perfect Fit (27 page)

“So when Rex asked me what was up with you, Simon, I told him,” Ella said. “Mike and I decided we’d tell you everything once we knew you were healthy. I had no idea Rex would just show up here after all these years.” She scowled at the man who, though he was Mike’s father, had intruded on them all.

“But apparently we ran out of time,” Mike said, shooting Rex a disgusted glare.

“You’ve been in touch with him,” Simon’s gaze dulled as he looked at his wife. “And you went to meet him.” He turned that disappointment on Mike.

And he didn’t like the sick feeling in his gut caused by hurting the man he considered his father.

“Simon—”

“Don’t worry, Ella. We’ll talk later.” To Mike’s relief, he didn’t sound angry at his wife. “And son, so will we.” He turned an understanding gaze on Mike.

That was Simon. Angry for an instant, calm and understanding for a lifetime. More than anything, Mike wanted to be like him.

“As for
you
.” Simon jerked toward Rex. “What makes you think we want you here after all this time? My wife says she didn’t expect you. Mike, did you invite him?” he asked, his tone completely neutral.

If Mike said he had, Simon would have accepted it. God, Mike admired the man even more—and he hadn’t thought such a thing was possible.

“No.” Mike folded his arms across his chest. “I didn’t. I
asked him a few questions, then made it clear I wanted nothing to do with him.”

“Guess those are the only people in the room who get a vote where you’re concerned, and they stated their choice. I appreciate that you made the long trip, but there’s nothing here for you anymore. That was
your
choice almost thirty years ago.”

Rex shook his head in denial. The complete shock on his face told Mike he’d really expected to be welcomed. “I came because you have cancer. Because we go way back. And because we have history.”

“Well, the cancer’s gone, and now so are you.” Simon headed for the door.

“I wouldn’t be so quick to throw me out,” Rex spat suddenly, his voice low and not nearly as nice or accommodating. “Your so-called son is looking into the money in the evidence locker. What are you going to do when he finds out what you did?” His words sounded like the threat they were meant to be.

All eyes looked to Simon.

“I’ll talk to my family. I’ll take my punishment. But they won’t hear anything from
you
.” This time Simon did head for the door and opened it. “Your welcome here ended the day you left town.”

Rex stiffened, his big body reverberating with anger. “As I recall, you sent me packing.”

Mike whipped his head around. “What?” He glanced at his mother.

Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she didn’t have the shell-shocked look Mike had expected. Clearly more was going on here, and only the second generation was in the dark.

“Dad?” Sam stepped forward, but Simon held out a hand. “I’ll explain everything.” He gestured with a broad sweep. “After he leaves.”

“You’ll be sorry. You had thirty years of peace. Do you really want to stir the pot now?”

Mike had had enough. “Sounds to me like you’re the one stirring the pot.” He stormed over to Rex, grabbed his arm, and escorted him outside.

“I’m your father,” Rex said.

“Simon’s my father.”

“But my blood is running through your veins.”

Mike tried like hell not to let his panic at that thought show. Instead he held on to the support of the four people back inside who cared about him.

Five if he counted Cara.

Mike spun and reentered the house, slamming the door shut behind him. In the family room, his brother and sister were peppering Simon with questions, shouting over each other in their need to be heard.

“Hold up and wait for Mike. I don’t want to have to repeat myself.”

Mike eyed Simon with pride, admiration, and love, seeing him in a new light.

The man had staked his claim as Mike’s
father
—in front of a man who claimed biological rights, no less—and he’d done it at his own personal expense.

Simon had raised him. He’d gone to every sporting event, academic function, and graduation Mike ever had. And he’d never once acted as if Mike meant any less to him than his own children. Despite this, Mike had always felt less important, less worthy than the others—thanks to insecurities instilled by the mere knowledge that his real father had abandoned him. In Mike’s mind, he’d figured deep down Simon felt the same way.

He’d been dead wrong. And he was ashamed for giving Simon so little credit. Whatever had gone down all those years ago, Mike didn’t give a damn. He’d protect Simon with everything he had.

He stepped up to his father and pulled him into a quick hug before joining Cara, who sat quietly in an oversized chair.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly.

He nodded. For the first time, he really was.

“I should go and let Simon talk to you all alone,” she whispered.

He snaked his arm around her waist, anchoring her in place. “It’s your case too, and these are the answers we’ve been looking for.” Besides, he wanted her here for the rest of the reveal.

“Tell them, Simon,” Ella said, her voice strong.

Mike suddenly realized that his mother knew everything. All along, she’d had the answers they were looking for. Of course she did. Ella and Simon were a tight unit, and they hadn’t gotten that way by keeping secrets. Damn, but he’d underestimated her too.

Simon stood at the head of the room, facing his kids. “The rumors you all heard were true. The Winkler place rented out rooms by the hour. They had girls that were imported from Manhattan for the use of whatever locals were willing to pay. And the Winkler boys, as they were known, only took cash. That cash came from both prostitution and drugs, since the boys worked for a syndicate that operated out of Manhattan.”

Mike glanced at Sam. They sat in silence, waiting for the rest.

“Plenty of people wanted the brothel shut down, myself included, but there were too many men in high positions involved.”

“Like Judge Baine,” Mike said, understanding how high and deep this small-town scandal went.

Simon nodded. “Like Marshall. And old Mayor Ferber. Of course, periodically, people would make a ruckus and mothers would petition and the place would go dark for a while, only to open up again when things quieted down.”

“How was Rex involved?” Mike asked.

Simon gave Mike an understanding nod. “As I found out later, he was on the take. With the old police chief involved, Rex became the rookie who was sent out on call every time a complaint came in. He made sure evidence got buried, things stayed quiet, and he was paid well for his trouble. Same as Judge Baine.”

“What happened to mess it all up?” Sam leaned forward in his seat.

“What always happens. Stupid shit trips people up. The feds were on to the syndicate in New York. They had marked money in play to find out what businesses they were using to launder drug money. The feds had a highly placed guy in the cartel by that point, and he made sure the marked bills made it into circulation in each business. Including the Winklers. Then one day, there were picketers at the motel. Things got ugly and the cops were called in—except Rex was out on a routine call and he couldn’t get over there first to hide or ignore evidence. I found more cash than a motel should have and it was all marked.”

Mike listened as all the pieces fell into place.

“Everyone must’ve known it was only a matter of time before the cops tied the Winkler place to the drug guys in the city.” Simon shoved his hands into the front pockets of his sweats. “Before that could happen, Judge Baine let the guy out on bail.”

“Then?” Erin asked, as interested as the rest of them.

“A few weeks later, one of the drug couriers from Manhattan was pulled over for speeding in Serendipity. The cops found a load of drugs in the car and money he was transporting back to the city. The bills were marked just like the ones found at the Winkler bust,” Simon went on. “The feds were notified about the drugs and the additional marked money. But around the same time, they’d taken key syndicate members around Manhattan. Nobody needed the little fish who’d been arrested in Serendipity, and the case went cold.”

“Which helped make it all go away quietly, letting everyone here in town off the hook.” Sam let out a low whistle.

Simon nodded. “With the cartel finished in Manhattan, the source of the girls and drugs dried up here in Serendipity—and wherever else they were running illegal brothels. The Winkler place became town lore, and that was that.”

Mike cleared his throat. “What about the cash in the evidence room? The money replaced with older bills?” He tensed, sensing this was where Rex and Simon’s involvement came in.

Cara placed a hand on his back, and he was never more grateful for the support than at this moment. Hell, whatever came, he felt stronger facing it with her by his side.

“Rex had a gambling habit too.” Simon ran a hand through his thinning hair. “He stole the money from the evidence room. I didn’t catch him in the act, but I figured it out and he didn’t deny it when I confronted him.” He paced the length of the small room. “Of course, he expected me to keep it quiet.”

Mike and his siblings remained silent, waiting for him to tell the story his way.

“By then, your mother was pregnant with you and Rex was panicked in every way you can imagine. He couldn’t deal, he wasn’t making your mother any promises, and I saw only one solution for everyone involved.”

Ella, who had been sitting on the couch, rose and stood by Simon’s side. “We were all good friends. I was dating Rex and I thought I loved him, but what I loved was the illusion of the man. By the time I found out I was pregnant, the bloom was off that rose already,” she said, letting out a painful laugh.

Mike’s throat swelled, and he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“I was pregnant and scared, but make no mistake, Michael, I wanted you.” Moisture glistened in her eyes, and
with the way her gaze held on to his, he couldn’t not believe her.

His chest pounded and his heart hurt, but he knew with everything in him that his mother told the truth.

“And I’d always loved Ella,” Simon said to his rapt audience. “If Rex had done right by her, I’d have kept silent. But he didn’t, and she deserved so much more than that son of a bitch was giving her, which was nothing but grief.”

Ella patted his back, urging him to continue.

“I had an old pocket watch that belonged to my grandfather and some other jewelry my mother had given me to put away for any woman I ended up marrying, and—”

“He pawned it all.” Ella picked up the story. “To help me and fix things, he sold family heirlooms.” Her voice caught on her words.

“I took the cash and went to Rex with a deal. Either he left town, in which case I would replace the money he stole, or he could stay, and I’d turn him in for evidence tampering, stealing, and whatever else the D.A. wanted to come up with.”

“What did Rex say?” Erin asked.

“He ran like the coward he was,” Ella said. “Then Simon asked me to marry him. He said he’d always loved me and he promised he wanted to raise the baby like his own. That’s when I learned that real love was more than something you said in the heat of the moment. Love is real and enduring.” She squeezed Simon’s hand before lifting herself onto her toes so she could kiss his cheek. “And he’s proven that love to me every day since.”

Simon kissed his wife before turning to face his children. “Questions?” he barked at them, so like the Simon Mike remembered rather than the frail man of late.

“Not at the moment,” Erin said, obviously stunned.

“Statements?” Simon asked.

Sam shook his head.

“Concerns?” Simon’s gaze locked on Mike.

He swallowed hard. “If I’ve got them, I need time to think them through. I’m a little numb,” he muttered.

Simon nodded. “Understood. Come to me if you want to talk.”

“Or to me,” his mother added, and Mike knew she meant if he wanted to discuss her relationship with Rex Bransom.

“Right now, I’m taking your mother upstairs and I’m going to find out why she thought she couldn’t tell me she’d heard from Rex,” Simon said in a tone that brooked no argument. “And I’m not taking
because you had cancer
for an answer.”

Sam snickered, and even Mike had to laugh. Somehow, things had gone from deadly serious to back to normal in the blink of an eye.

And Mike hadn’t been kidding. He needed time to process the entire evening before he could begin to make sense—of anything that had happened tonight.

Fifteen

After the scene at the Marsdens’, Cara wanted to go
straight home and talk to Mike, but she’d promised a coworker she’d cover his shift. Since she sensed Mike needed time alone, she figured it was just as well. Besides, she had no desire to get into a discussion of when he’d leave Serendipity. It was enough that she knew the time was imminent and she could prepare herself emotionally. No long, drawn-out conversation would make the inevitable any easier.

Because it was nighttime, she was partnered with Dare, which she enjoyed. They joked around and talked about Tess and his brothers’ babies. She didn’t forget about her problems, but between work and Dare, she found a much-needed distraction.

When dispatch radioed about an unwanted intruder at 111 Elm Street, home of Judge Marshall Baine, every one of Cara’s nerves prickled in alarm.

“Ten-four. Car number seven en route,” Dare replied, hitting the siren and turning toward the judge’s house.

Cara wanted to give him a full rundown, but unless they found Rex, she didn’t want to spill Marsden family secrets.

She prayed she was wrong.

She wasn’t. They arrived to find Mrs. Blaine wearing a bathrobe, arguing with Rex on the front lawn, while the judge paced behind her, muttering to himself.

Cara shook her head and climbed out of the car. “Something wrong?” she asked Mrs. Baine.

“This man is harassing my husband.” Mrs. Baine waved a hand at Rex. “He’s ill and he can’t handle stress well, as you know.” She shot a pleading glance Cara’s way.