Tangled Lies (9 page)

“Should this conveniently disappear?”

Mama nodded. “It was a nice gesture, but it’s horrible, isn’t it?”

Sasha smiled. “I’ll take care of it.”

She took the bag to the trash can and continued to the bait shop, wondering what had brought Patty Monroe to their door. To warn Sasha off, certainly. But why?

Chapter 6

Sal stood in his workshop the next morning, desperate to get his emotions under control. Last night, Rosa had cried herself to sleep again, blaming herself for Tony’s disappearance. He pounded a fist on the workbench, trying to block the memory of her sobs, but they wouldn’t go away. Her tears shredded his heart into little tiny bits. Every single time.

It took every bit of his willpower, and the sure and certain knowledge that if he confessed to what he had done, things would get much worse, to keep him silent.
Oh, my Rosa, I am sorry. I couldn’t fix it then, and I can’t seem to fix it now, either.

“Why is she asking for the police report, Sal?” a voice asked from behind him. Someone wrenched Sal’s right arm up behind his back with enough force to nearly pop it out of the socket.

Sal sucked in a breath as pain radiated down his arm and his heart raced. He had been so focused on his own guilt, he hadn’t heard either of his onetime friends come in.

“Rosa asked her to.” He didn’t know what else to say.

The same man shoved the arm higher, and Sal gasped.

“I hear she thinks Tony is still alive.”

Sal said nothing, just gritted his teeth to keep from crying out. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

“Now why would Rosa be thinking a thing like that, after all these years?”

The pressure tightened and Sal had to force the words out.

“She says it is mother’s intuition, a feeling, that he’s still alive somewhere on this earth.”

“Why haven’t you dispelled that foolish notion?” the other man asked.

“I’ve always thought the less I said, one way or another, the better.”

“So you’ve said nothing.”

Sal nodded. “Nothing.” He raised his chin. “Just held her while she cried for her Tony, you heartless monster.”

From out of nowhere, a fist slammed into his gut, and Sal doubled over. He would have fallen except the first man still had his arm in a death grip behind his back.

“Tell Sasha to stop looking, stop asking questions.”

“I have told her. But her mother has asked her not to stop.”

“Then you’d better convince her, Sal, old friend. And fast. We don’t have to remind you what happens to people who don’t listen, do we?”

Sal shook his head, and finally they let him go. Once they left, he collapsed on the floor, cradling his aching arm, silent tears wracking his thin frame. It was happening all over again.

Dear God, what was he going to do? He understood Sasha’s need to find answers for Rosa. But somehow, he had to convince his strong-willed daughter to give up the search. He had failed his family before. He wouldn’t do it again. He would find a way to make Sasha stop.

Sasha nodded to several of the captains as she and Bella roamed the dock, her emotions too churned up to settle anywhere. Bella stopped and looked up at her every few feet. Sasha reached down and ran a hand over her head.

“I’m OK, girl. Just a lot on my mind.”

Eventually, she headed to the marina office. She had to say something to Pop, although for the life of her, she didn’t know what. He wasn’t in the office, so she tried his workshop next.

She stepped into the dimly lit room. The bulb overhead flickered and the door stood ajar, but she didn’t see him anywhere.

“Pop? You in here?”

She heard a faint rustling noise from behind the massive workbench. Bella gave one sharp bark and shot in that direction. Sasha rounded the bench and stopped short.

Pop was on his knees on the concrete slab, struggling to get to his feet. Bella licked his face and he awkwardly patted her head.

“Pop, what happened? Can you get up? Are you hurt?”

Pop waved her outstretched hand away, but he couldn’t get to his feet without help. Once Sasha helped him up, he leaned heavily against the workbench, pain etched in every line of his face.

“What happened? Let me make sure you’re all right.” Like all boat captains, Sasha had lots of first-aid training. Actually, she had more than most since she often worked in remote locations. She reached out a hand to check Pop’s ribs, but he stopped her.

“I am fine. Please. I just lost my balance.” He straightened, slowly, painfully.

Possible reasons for his fall raced through her mind, from simple causes like low blood sugar to far more serious concerns. At least there was no sign of a head injury. “Let me call the paramedics, get you checked out.”

“No, Sasha. Let it go. Mama has enough worries.”

“But we need to—”

He held up his hand, palm out. “Enough. I am fine.”

He turned and picked up a rag and began to wipe the grease off his hands.

Sasha read the pride and determination in his stance and swallowed another plea that he get medical attention. Instead, she stayed several more minutes, offering water and making small talk while she watched for signs of serious injury. Satisfied he would be OK, she leaned over and gently kissed his cheek. “I love you. Let me know if anything changes.”

Sasha went back to the house and found Mama dozing again, still in the same rocking chair. Blaze sat in the living room with the shades drawn, playing a handheld video game. Sasha sat down beside her.

“I think Pop fell a little while ago,” she said quietly.

When Blaze opened her mouth to ask questions, Sasha held up a hand. “Mama’s outside asleep. I don’t want her to know, or to worry. He seems fine, but he’s moving slowly. I need you to stay here and keep an eye on both of them while I run an errand. I’ll leave Bella here, too.”

Blaze narrowed her eyes. “What’s going on? Where are you going?”

Sasha stifled her irritation and met her gaze. “I don’t know that anything is going on, but Bella will let you know if anything happens to Pop. I’m going to talk to Captain Roy’s wife about the day Tony disappeared. Before you get your panties in a knot, yes, I will tell you whatever she says as soon as I get back. But I don’t feel right about leaving them alone. I need you here.”

Sasha breathed a sigh of relief when Blaze nodded. “I’ll be here.”

It didn’t take long to reach the craftsman-style house Captain Roy and Mary Lee had lived in since they got married, about the same time Pop and Mama did. The yard was mowed, the hedges trimmed, but the blinds were closed in all the windows, giving the place a deserted air.

She wondered if Mary Lee had gotten a job and wasn’t home. She and Captain Roy had never had any children, though everyone knew they’d wanted them desperately. Sasha walked up onto the deep porch and used the heavy brass anchor-shaped door knocker.

She thought she heard movement inside, but no one came to the door. She reached past the screen and knocked again.

Several minutes later, Mary Lee opened the door a crack and peered around it, blinking against the bright sunlight. She shaded her eyes with her hands, the nails bitten down to the quick. Her thick southern drawl oozed like honey.

“I’m sorry, whoever you are, but whatever it is you’re selling, we’re not buying.”

“Hi, Mrs. Winchester. It’s Sasha Petrov.”

She opened the door wider and squinted at Sasha.

“Why, as I live and breathe, it is you, child. Well, come on in. What brings you out this way on a sweltering day?”

Sasha followed her into the house’s gloomy interior and stubbed her toe on the coffee table. She finally sank down across from Mary Lee on the nubby tweed couch, circa 1975, and waited for her eyes to adjust.

“Mrs. Winchester, I know this question may seem like it’s coming out of left field, but Mama has asked me to look into Tony’s disappearance.”

The other woman sucked in a sharp breath, but Sasha didn’t stop. “I wondered if you could tell me what you remember about that day, what you and Mama talked about, that sort of thing.”

Mary Lee hopped up from her chair, obviously agitated. “Is your mama dying, Sasha? Is that what this is about?”

Sasha ignored the ache the question caused and kept her tone light. “I hope not, Mrs. Winchester. She is undergoing cancer treatment, though.”

The other woman waved that away. “Of course. I know all that. But why bring up the past, after all these years?”

Sasha tried to smile. “Mama just celebrated her sixtieth birthday. I think she’s thinking how fast time goes by.”

Mary Lee stopped pacing and plopped down on the sofa, her hands folded primly in her lap, skirt spreading across the sofa, looking every inch the debutante she’d been decades ago.

“Of course, sugar. Forgive me. It’s just that it happened so very long ago.”

Sasha shrugged. “For Mama, I imagine it seems like yesterday.”

Mary Lee produced a lace-trimmed hankie from the pocket of her skirt and dabbed at her eyes.

“Oh, bless her heart.” She sniffed, then raised her chin. “I don’t know what I can tell you, but I’ll try. What do you want to know?”

“That day, do you remember why you called Mama?”

“I was in charge of the bake sale and it was my first time being the chairperson of that committee, so I was going over everything with all the ladies to make sure the event ran smoothly.”

“Did you talk for a while?”

Mary Lee cocked her head as she thought. “I don’t think it was more than twenty minutes. Maybe half an hour at most. I remember your Mama trying to rush me through the whole process.”

“Did she tell you Tony was outside by himself?”

“She may have. I don’t remember.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I always wondered if I had put off calling . . . but Helen kept pressuring me to get everything done.”

“Helen Markos? Captain Demetri’s wife?”

“Yes, she’d been the chairwoman for years and wanted to make sure I did everything right.”

Sasha stopped, considered. “Did she call you that morning, ask you to call my mother?”

Mary Lee gnawed on a fingernail but wouldn’t meet Sasha’s eye. “You know, I don’t rightly recollect. Why?”

“Just curious. Trying to get the events of that day fixed in my mind. Is there anything else you can tell me?”

“Not a thing except that boy’s death changed your mother. She was never the same after that.” She hopped up. “Let me show you something.”

She disappeared into what appeared to be a small library off the living room and returned carrying an old photo album. She flipped the pages until she came to a yellowing group photo that looked like it had been taken at a picnic on the lawn behind the community church.

“That’s your mother, there, laughing. Wasn’t she beautiful?”

Sasha grinned. Her mother looked so carefree and happy in that photo, smiling widely, holding a laughing Tony in her arms.

“When was this taken?”

Mary Lee tilted her head. “Just a week or two before Tony disappeared, I think.”

“Do you know who everyone is in this picture?”

From somewhere in the other room, Sasha heard what sounded like a pinball machine. Then there were chirps and the sound of people cheering, and a phone rang.

Mary Lee’s head snapped up, and she closed the album and stood in one fluid motion. “I need to get that. If you’ll excuse me.”

After she disappeared, Sasha took the album and flipped back to that page. She carefully slid the photo out of its protective sleeve to get a closer look. Some of the faces were easily identifiable; others she didn’t know.