“Gracias,” Dorothy said, expending the sum of her Spanish.
The girl smiled shyly at Titus. “You like drink, senior?”
Titus recoiled. “No, thanks.” He stepped forward, grasping the door knob, turning it and pushing it open. Almost immediately, he recoiled with a muttered curse. He turned, blocking Dorothy and the maid from seeing into the room. “Call the police. Policia,” he told the maid.
“What...” Dorothy looked at him.
“He's dead and it's not pretty.” Titus's face was grim and hard. “Get her to call the police. I'll look around, see what I can see.”
“You can't mess with a crime scene,” she said.
“I won't. I'll just look at it.”
She nodded, then asked, “Was he...murdered?”
Titus shrugged. “It looks like he took his own life. I saw the gun in his hand.”
Dorothy straightened. “I want to look, too.”
“The back of his head is blown away.” He pulled out the car keys. “Go meet your aunt. You didn't see anything. You don't know anything.”
“You have to tell them I was here.”
“I'll take care of it.”
Dorothy hesitated. “You'll tell me what you find?”
“If I have time to look.” He arched his brows.
She nodded, started to leave, but stopped to say in a low voice, “Thanks.”
He touched her shoulder, his face softening. “We'll get this figured out. I promise.”
She managed a smile of thanks for him and then slipped out the door. It was nice that things were back to normal with Titus, but it made her feel guilty. She was using him, his guilt, even when she knew it needed to stop. As she drove away, she dialed Remy's cell phone with the feeling she was betraying Titus again.
* * * *
Bozo saw Dorothy leave Bubba Joe's house without her faithful pit bull, Titus. He considered for a moment before deciding to follow her. He'd hoped to play rescuer and build a bond, but it wasn't to be. If he turned up now, Bubba Joe would suspect he'd been manipulated. That would be a pity. No one liked to see the strings they were dancing to. What had cut their meeting so short? It couldn't be Suzanne's murder. Bubba Joe already knew about that. As he followed her onto the highway, he saw police lights flashing in the distance, but getting steadily closer. He slowed enough to see them turn into Bubba Joe's lane. Now that was interesting. It was, however, less than satisfying. He needed to know what had happened. Had she found out he was behind her father's death? How pedestrian to call in the cops. She lacked her father's flair.
Now she stopped. He watched her enter Pat's, a rustic looking seafood place. It was too dark for him to see her face, but she moved with the unhurried grace of her mother. She was so like Emma, it made him almost nostalgic. A pity he didn't have time to wallow in it. If she wasn't meeting Mistral, which his source told him had only just left Oz, maybe they could have their little talk about her paternity now.
He slipped inside and peered over the divider into the small dining room. Yes, there she was. She wasn't alone, though. They both had menus in front of their faces. He waited until the waitress approached. Almost, yes, the menus were coming down—
No, it couldn't be. Emma was dead. She was older and her hair was gray instead of red, but it was definitely Emma. As if in a trance, he headed for the table. He wanted to tell her...what? That he'd missed her? Well, it was a start.
He stopped by the table. Emma looked up. Violet eyes in a well remembered face studied him without recognition. She couldn't have forgotten him. That just wasn't possible.
“Emma?” he said, playfully rebuking her with look and tone.
Emma looked at Dorothy, puzzled. Dorothy hid a smile.
“This is my aunt Kate,” Dorothy said. “My mother's sister.”
He felt both shock and relief. He'd think about why later. For now, he smiled widely, took her hand and kissed the back of it.
“You are most like your sister. Bozo Luc. I am enchanted to make your acquaintance, mademoiselle?”
“Madame,” Dorothy said. “Very madame.”
He smiled at Kate, still holding her hand. “A very great pity, madame.”
She smiled at him, of course. All women did. He reluctantly released her hand and turned to Dorothy. From the inside pocket of his jacket, he pulled the envelope with the faked paternity test.
“Perhaps later, you'll peruse this and call me,
chere'
.” He held her gaze with his for as long as she would allow, going for a gentle, paternal look. He could tell he had puzzled her. Good. That was the first step in what he hoped would be an interesting little dance. And a change of partners for her.
She took the letter, appeared to weigh it for a moment before tucking it in her purse. Her gaze considered him, as if she weren't sure she should tell him something. Then she said, “Did you hear about Suzanne Henry?”
“Such a tragedy. I wonder how Bubba Joe is taking it?”
“Not...well,” Dorothy said. She exchanged a quick look with Kate. “He's dead.”
Bozo stared at her. His heart may have stopped. He reached for and found the edge of a chair. Dorothy jumped to her feet and grabbed his arm, helping him to sit down.
“I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to startle you.”
What she meant was that she didn't know it would startle him. He didn't blame her. He didn't know it would either. So Bubba Joe was dead? He was grateful for the seat and the glass of water she handed him. He took a drink. “Do you know how...”
“Titus found him. He said it looked like a suicide.”
She didn't believe that any more than he did.
“I think I shall miss him,” Bozo said, surprised. “We've been adversaries a long time.” He'd had no idea his goading of Bubba Joe would work so well. Of course, he hadn't known Suzanne would be murdered. Maybe it really was the pressure, but even as the thought formed in his head, he discarded it. Bubba Joe was too selfish to take his own life. No, someone had ended it. It was the only thing that made any sense. Which begged the next question: why? And of course, who?
He gazed at Dorothy, sitting so calmly at the table. If he hadn't seen her arrive and leave, he'd suspect she had something to do with it. Were there, as Darius suspected, other players in the game? Whoever it was, they knew something, but what did they know and what were they after?
If Bubba had hired Vance, then what secret was there left to discover? There was the money, but he didn't see how Bubba Joe could have afforded to pay enough to make it that interesting a figure. It was possible that Bubba Joe had been killed for his romantic excesses, but the timing was interesting if that were the case. Perhaps a coincidence, though Bubba Joe usually took care of his problems before they reached a serious level. A cockroach had been eliminated, but an entertaining one. Yes, he would miss him.
He stood. “I must be off. You've given me much to think about,
chere'
. You know where to reach me when you're ready to talk.” His motto was, if he couldn't leave them happy, why, then leave them puzzled. After kissing the hands of both women, he made his way out, comforted by the certain knowledge that both of them watched him leave. Ah, he still had it.
* * * *
Dorothy looked at Kate. “Well, that was interesting. Weird, but interesting.”
“Do you want to look at what he left you?” Kate asked Dorothy.
Dorothy hesitated. “That's what he wants me to do. I'm tired of doing what people want me to do. What
I
want to do is talk to you. You said you might be able to answer some of my questions. Is now a good time for you?”
“Of course. If you're sure you're up to it. It's been a rather challenging day.”
Dorothy smiled. “That's an understatement of massive proportions.” She hesitated. Where to begin? It didn't help that her time was short. Remy was driving out to join them, as was Titus, when the cops let him go. It was clear they needed to put their heads together and figure out if they knew anything or had made any progress. Time was short. She should just get on with it.
“I guess the big question is, when they broke up, why didn't Magus keep in touch with me?” She tried to keep her tone neutral, but some of the pain she still felt about that slipped in anyway.
Kate's face whitened. “Your mother, she didn't tell you anything?”
“I didn't know Magus existed until he showed up the day my mother died. He asked me to take a paternity test, and then he asked me come live with him. But he made it clear he didn't feel guilt and never explained anything. I sometimes thought that later, when we were more comfortable together, he wanted to talk to me about that time, but he died.”
Kate covered Dorothy's hand with hers. “Neither of your parents served you well, did they?”
Dorothy didn't look at her. “Oddly enough, I loved them both, but it's like I can't see them because of all the questions that I never thought would be answered. There's all this stuff in between my memories of them. I feel like they're slipping away from me because of it.”
Kate nodded. She looked down, considering and then said slowly, “Your paternity is the answer to your question. Emma, well, Emma wasn't faithful to Magus.”
Dorothy had expected this. The clues were rather obvious since she'd come back, but it still was painful to hear. “It seems so not like her.”
“Emma loved Magus, Dorothy. But Magus...” She appeared to struggle for the right words. “He liked pursuing things more than having them. I think he loved Emma, but he didn't...nurture the relationship. She...did outrageous things trying to get his attention. Then she got pregnant. She could have kept her indiscretions from him, but I think she felt like she had to be honest if they were going to have a chance of making things work. And she thought it would finally get his attention. And she did. He was furious. He didn't believe her when she said you were his. They had a terrible fight and he told her to get out, so she did.”
“So he didn't wait to find out? He just threw her out?” She could see Magus doing that. He'd had a lot of pride, but still. Why wait for eighteen years to find out if she was his daughter? Was he never curious? It hurt, she realized, more than she'd expected. Knowledge didn't always heal.
“Magus prized loyalty above all else.” Kate's gaze pleaded with her not to pursue it, but it was too late for that now. “And the men she chose were supposedly his friends.”
Dorothy rubbed her face and braced herself. “Darius Smith.” It wasn't a question, but Kate nodded. “Bozo Luc?” Another nod. “Please tell me she didn't sleep with Bubba Joe?”
Kate's face twitched and her grip on Dorothy's hand tightened painfully. “She intended to, but found she couldn't. Only he wouldn't let her...stop. He...forced her. He knew she wouldn't charge him with anything because she sought him out. He kept her bra. And he claimed he had pictures.”
“So that's what he intended to tell me tonight.” Dorothy covered her face with her hands. Had he hoped to replay family history? She couldn't think of a word bad enough to describe him.
“That's why I didn't want you to go when you told me where you were going. I wouldn't have put it past him to try the same trick on you. He really was a cockroach.”
“No wonder mom didn't like men.” It explained how the mother she knew could be so different from what everyone else remembered. “Why didn't she tell Magus?”
Kate shook her head. “She felt a lot of guilt for what happened. I think she felt she deserved to be punished. Thirty years ago, people still had a lot of misconceptions about rape, particularly date rape. She had sought him out intending to seduce him. When it all came apart you weren't real to her yet. You were just a consequence of her actions. A reminder of what she'd done.”
“So she never knew which one was my father?”
Kate shook her head. “She knew. I think at first, she couldn't forgive Magus and then later, she was afraid he'd take you away from her. He could have given you so much more than she could.”
“And then she got sick.”
“We weren't in touch then, but I'm sure she felt she couldn't leave you without anyone. Who knows? Maybe she at the end she could forgive him and wanted you both to have a chance to be together.”
“Why...didn't you ever contact us? Why didn't she talk about you either?”
Kate looked sad. “It all seems so silly now. I thought she should contact Magus and she wouldn't. She couldn't. I can see that now, but then...it seemed to matter. I wasn't...the best person either. I wasn't making good decisions. She...wanted you to have a good life. That was more important to her than anything.”
Dorothy felt there was much Kate wasn't telling her, but maybe it was just as well. Old quarrels needed to stay in the past. “It was a good life. It was hard sometimes, but that's a good thing. I'd never have survived Magus's world if I hadn't had that solid start.”
Kate's smile was teary, but brilliant, too. It gave Dorothy a glimpse of the charm that her mother probably had.
“I wonder what made Magus come? I wonder what she told him.”
Kate shook her head. “That I can't answer, Dorothy, but maybe it's enough to know he did come. I...know he was very proud of you.”
Dorothy was surprised. “You remember speaking with him?”
She nodded. “It's been coming back to me, faster now that I'm here.” She looked down, the lines of her face both tense and sad. “I needed money. I thought he might help me, for old time's sake.”
“Did he?”
“I don't know. He didn't want me there, didn't want me to talk to you. I don't blame him. He wanted to protect you from what I was. And then I had my little, ten-year break down.” She smiled wryly. “I'm grateful for the chance to change my life, but I'll always regret that I wasn't there for you.”
“It's nice to have you here now.” Dorothy smiled at Kate. She hadn't heard deception in Kate's voice, but she still felt she was holding something back. What Dorothy didn't know was if it mattered. It could just be the awful truth about who and what she'd been. Or maybe she knew something about Magus's death. She sensed so much guilt from her aunt, it was hard to sort it all out. She pushed it aside.
“Yes?” Kate said.
“There's one thing that really bugs me. Were you ever to Oz when mom was there? Because it's like she was never there. I don't even know what room she slept in or where she spent her time. If anything there was something she bought or liked. I can still feel Magus there, but not her.”