Authors: Maggie Thom
Bailey moved closer to the open door.
“Did you tell her?”
“No.” Something was mumbled she
couldn’t make out, then, “…let me worry about that.”
“What’s happening?”
“Donna Saunders aka Donna Zajic,
married to Doug Zajic, a Member of Parliament. Donna disappeared in July of
1983. There was suspected abuse. Several calls, no charges. She was never seen
again after the early morning of July 6, 1983. There was even question of him
murdering her. Since no body, no blood, no sign of foul play, they had to drop
it. The car she took when she left was finally recovered in southeast Calgary.
Apparently she gave it to some guy at the airport and paid him to park it miles
away. No sign of her buying a ticket though, to fly anywhere. I think that’s
where Mr. Lund comes in. I’m guessing he’s responsible for getting her a new
name. I’m just not clear why. Nor do I understand this next part.” There was
silence except for the clacking of the computer keys. “It seems our Mr. Lund
was playing a bit of a nasty game. He was getting twenty thousand dollars for
territory fees - don’t know what that means - and another twelve thousand for
cabin fees from Mr. Zajic and was paying Donna eight thousand dollars. So he
pocketed at least twenty-eight thousand dollars a month for himself. Not clear
on whether it was agreed upon or what. I’m guessing it was blackmail. The man
was a pro. The list of people he was being paid by, for some crazy things -
everyone from police officers, to lawyers, to judges, to members of parliament.
Nasty man. He had to be responsible for Donna’s name change. I just don’t get
why.”
“There’s no way in hell my mom
was getting eight thousand dollars a month. We lived like rats in the sewer
most of the time.”
Two guilty pair of eyes swiveled
to face her. Guy stood up from where he was perched on the corner of the bed.
Bailey stepped back, putting her hands in the air, halting his forward motion
towards her. She stepped around him and over a pile of papers to lean over and
look at the monitor. Graham looked at Guy but when he didn’t change the screen
she figured Guy had given up hiding the information from her.
“What proof do you have?”
Graham showed her the files he
had. How they were encrypted and the detail that was there. It definitely
showed at least on screen that her mom had been paid each month. $8,000 would
have made a huge difference in her life. They could have stayed in one place.
“It didn’t happen.” Looking
beseechingly at Graham, she asked, “is it possible that he said he sent her a
cheque but didn’t?”
“Yes. But I don’t have any proof
of it.”
“What would you need to find it?”
“Access to his bank accounts, any
other books he might have had.”
Pursing her lips, Bailey stared
off into space for a minute. She went back through her visit with Mr. Lund. “I
might know how to get that.” She grabbed her backpack from where it had been
chucked in the corner and pulled out her purse. Opening it, she took out the
two letters that had been given to her. Her name, written in her mom’s
meticulous handwriting, stopped her. Tears flooded her eyes. Her index finger
traced her name. The craziness of the whole week started to crash in on her.
Nothing made sense and she was tired of looking like a blubbering idiot. “I
need some time.” Stuffing the envelope in her pocket, she spun and raced from
the room.
She didn’t stop until she’d
unlocked the four dead bolts, flung open the front door and was soon four
blocks away. Gasping for breath, she quit running and bent over, bracing her hands
on her knees. She stood like that for a few moments not paying any attention to
the people who walked around her. It wasn’t until she raised her head that she
realized she wasn’t alone.
“I…”
“It’s all right. I think you’re
entitled. Let it go. How about we go for a walk. There’s a park about another
two or three blocks from here.” Guy gestured off to his left.
She nodded and fell into step
with him. It was the most normal thing she’d done in a long time, one that
seemed to compel her to talk.
“My mom… or the woman I knew as
Mom…”
“Don’t. It’s okay to call her
Mom, still. That’s what she was. Right or wrong.”
Pressing her hand to her chest,
she continued, “she was always conservative with the money we had. But there’s
no way she was getting a cheque for that much a month. A year maybe. If it’s
true that kind of money was exchanging hands, I think Lund was keeping it and
we were his tax evasion. On paper he’d give the money to others when really
he’d keep it for himself. There were times we’d all of a sudden have some cash
but it never lasted. It was long stretches between those tiny jackpots we got.”
She turned to look at Guy and waited until he looked at her, “I don’t know
where that money came from. Maybe Lund. But there’s no way she got that every
month. She did a lot of weird and questionable things but she did them to get
us some cash so we could eat. I always knew where the cash was, how much we had
and where it went to. She wanted me to know about the evils of our monetary
system. She wanted me to know how to look after it. How to save it. She was
always scared I’d be taken advantage of.”
They walked in silence for a
while. Bailey’s mind though was anything but silent.
“Do you think that man Doug
Zajic, that Graham said was her husband, could have done that to her? If he
abused her would that be why she had to run all the time? Was he what she was
scared of?”
Guy stepped onto the park path,
stopped and put his arms around her. She couldn’t help it, she stiffened.
“Relax. I’m not going to do
anything. I’m here for you. That’s all.”
His hand rubbed circles on her
back, bringing up a strong memory.
“Oh Mama. That feels soooooooo
goooooooooood.” Bailey tried not to squirm while her mom rubbed her hand over
her back. Softly and gently at first. Then more firm. Then softly. She loved
when her mom touched her. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
“I won’t, sweetheart. I won’t
ever stop. I love you, Bails. Don’t forget that.”
“She loved me.” Startled by the
revelation and the fact that she’d laid her head on Guy’s shoulder, she pulled
back.
“I’m sure she did. Let’s sit
down.” They sat down on the bench, side by side, thighs touching.
“You said you could get the
information on the bank accounts. How?”
She dug into her pocket and
pulled out the crumpled envelopes. This time though, she made sure she didn’t
look at the front side. She flipped them both and handed them to him. He
studied the pictures, doodles and designs.
“She was quite talented wasn’t
she?” He started to open one of the envelopes but stopped when Bailey’s hand
landed on his.
“The answers are right there.”
Turning it around and around and
around, he finally gave it back to her. “All right, I give up. I can’t make any
sense of it.”
“That’s the whole point.” She
smoothed out both envelopes side by side. Pointing to some drawings, she
explained, “This is a law book and this is a police badge underneath it.”
“Let me see that.” Guy studied it
for a moment. “Wow. I see it now. It’s like those optical illusion things. This
is cool.”
Bailey smiled. “Yeah, she was talented.
It took me a while but I learned to read her doodles. This one,” pointing to
the one they’d just been discussing, “means that someone thinks they’re above
the law.”
“I don’t get it. Why would the
law book be above the police badge? Shouldn’t …”
“Sorry. It means that someone in
the judicial system thinks they are above the law.”
“Lund?”
“Yeah. See this wormlike thing on
this fishing hook? That stands for Lund.” She didn’t explain that was how she’d
figured out the cabin. She wasn’t sure why her mom had chosen that symbol for
him, though. She knew it meant something more.
Guy chuckled as he studied the
pictures. He put his hand to his chest. An image of Lund doing that same move,
flashed in Bailey’s mind.
She clapped her hands. “Oh my
God. Oh my God. I missed it. Dammit.” Jumping to her feet, she paced back and
forth in front of the bench.
“Do you want to share?”
She stopped and looked at him but
couldn’t quite halt her thoughts so she could focus on him. “uhmm… he said to
me, ‘your mom said you’d be full of questions’. How would he know that unless
he’d known Mom was dying? For Mom to say something like that she’d have been
very stressed. He knew. That pig, he knew. She had to have been in his house.
That’s how she knew about his jump drive and she wouldn’t have trusted anyone
but me. What else did Graham find in his stuff?”
Guy met her gaze briefly before
looking down. “You know most of it. Lund was squeezing money out of a number of
people. He has files on several people. Some are recordings. Some are pictures.
It seems he was running a bit of a scam. He’d get certain guys off in exchange
for them getting dirt on anyone in power. And he’d pay them a thousand dollars
and I guess keep them out of jail. He made hundreds of thousands of dollars off
other people. Great retirement fund, I’m sure. It’ll take months to unravel it
all. We just looked through the basics.”
“I can’t believe we lived like
street urchins damn near my whole life and that son of a bitch was making money
because of us. I’ll kill him.” She looked at him and then away and then back.
“Look I need to tell you what happened at the airport today. I’m sorry I didn’t
tell you sooner but... someone tried to grab me. He snatched me from behind and
was forcing me to go with him.”
Suddenly there was a zing sound,
very close.
Startled, Guy dove to the ground,
taking her with him.
She yelped in surprise, “What the
hell?”
A few feet away from them the
dirt sprayed up. Someone was shooting at them. He grabbed her and ran behind
the row of trees several feet away. She followed him without question. Several
more shots followed. Grass and gravel bounced up, letting her see that her leg
was missed by mere inches. It was so close she swore the bullet whispered to
her on its way by. Not waiting to see what Guy did she sprinted ahead of him,
running for all she was worth.
Huffing, he caught up. “This
way.” Winding their way through the park and out the other side, they raced
down streets, jumped through a few yards and crouched behind garbage cans.
Finally, they stopped to catch their breath.
“Okay, that word’s off limits.”
Beat, she dropped her head back
against the weed infested fence for a second, wondering what it would be like
to make it through a whole day while staying clean. Memories of her childhood
came flooding back. The dirty, grimy places. Places where they were lucky if
there was running water - enough to bathe and wash clothes with, never mind to
drink.
As his statement penetrated her
thoughts, she turned to him.
“What word?”
“Kill. I think that’s the second
time you’ve mentioned something like that and someone has taken offense to it.”
Her lips almost moved into a
smile. Since they were too tired to do that, she soaked up the light feeling of
his joke.
He punched a button on his phone.
“Graham. I need you to call the cops. Report a shooting at Tennessee Park.
Okay? Don’t mention us.”
“No, we’re fine. No idea. Come
pick us up. We’re in the back alley…”
Bailey stopped listening. Her
life had gone to hell and she didn’t know how to make it stop. It seemed the
nightmare of having to flee, to always be on the lookout, the horrors of her
childhood, weren’t over yet. There always seemed to be a price to pay. She
thought about that for a while.
Is there always going to be
someone after me? Someone who wants to right some wrong just because I was
born?
A movie she’d seen many years
before popped into her head. She wasn’t totally sure of the name, Seventh Sign
or something like that. But she remembered it was about a baby about to be born
who was the Devil’s child. Lowering her head to her bent knees, she wondered if
that child was her.
CHAPTER
FORTY-ONE
“I think it’s time we used your grandmother’s connections,”
Graham said as soon as his two passengers climbed into his Hummer.
“Nice vehicle.” Bailey settled
back in the roomy, clean back seat, the exact opposite of his car.
Guy was busy typing messages to
Graham and then holding his phone for him to be able to read it. Bailey,
thankfully, was too busy looking awed at the height and view the vehicle gave
her. He’d been like that the first time too.
Did you find the information I
asked for
?
Graham casually nodded.
Is she part of it?
Graham pursed his lips but shook
his head.
Fact or opinion?
Graham put up two fingers, to
indicate the second option.
No evidence though.
He shook his head sharply.
Sinking back against the door,
Guy tried to feel relieved but a sick feeling settled in his stomach. He
couldn’t shut his mind off to the fact that this was going to get uglier.
“We need a good night’s sleep and
then we’ll set up a meeting tomorrow. Any ideas?”
Bailey leaned forward between the
seats. “I thought you said we’d be safe at Graham’s.”
“I thought we would be. Obviously
someone followed us or somehow found us. My mistake.”
“Who do you think it is?”
Guy was aware of her intense look
but refused to meet her eyes. He shrugged. She stared at Graham. When he
glanced back at her Guy caught his attention and very slightly moved his head
side to side.
“Uh… not sure–”
Guy jerked upright. “What are we
doing here?” He looked at the large wrought iron gates before his gaze slid to
the stone guard house off to the right.
Graham stared straight ahead
looking a little sheepish. “I couldn’t think of anywhere with better security.”
“Dammit, Graham. We can’t stay
here.”
“Better to den with the lion then
to have him chase you through the jungle.”
“May I ask who’s calling,” the
guard in the toll building bent down to peer into the vehicle.
“Well, hello Mr. Turner. We
weren’t expecting you. My apologies, I’m not sure what happened to the notice
to inform us of your arrival.”
Guy sighed heavily. “There wasn’t
one.” He’d learned a long time ago to call ahead and let them know he was
coming. It saved him a lot of anguish and a lot of lectures. “In fact, Jim
there isn’t one. We’re gonna go. Grandma’s probably busy with one group or
another. So we’ll just–”
“No need sir, I’ve already
informed her of your arrival.” The guard snapped to attention and smiled.
Guy crossed his eyes, giving
Graham a fierce look. “Thank you, Jim. As always you do a great job for Grandmother.
I guess that’s why you’ve been here for twenty years.” The large metal gates,
with its design of intricately woven vines and leaves, soundlessly swung open.
“This is your grandmother’s
place?” Bailey leaned forward, her eyes wide open.
Graham’s head swung sideways,
giving him a questioning look. Guy glared back. Graham’s eyes widened, in
comprehension. Guilt landed on Guy’s shoulders like an immovable boulder. When
was he going to tell Bailey who her family was? Better question was how.
Following the well treed, winding
cobbled road for a quarter mile, they suddenly burst out into a clearing.
Bailey gasped. Her left hand covered her mouth, as her right hand fumbled to
unclasp her seatbelt. She scooted as far forward as she could, without climbing
into the front seat. “Oh my God, are we at the White House?”
“What?”
“Isn’t this what you’d imagine
the White House to be like? I know this doesn’t match the pictures of the real
one but this is what I always imagined it should look like.”
Guy looked at the white stone
columns that flanked the front of the three story house, balancing a huge
balcony on top. Vines cascaded down over the sides, wrapping themselves around
the ornately carved pillars.
“I don’t just mean the house but
this whole lay out. Oh my God. And if I say that more than once, tough. Oh my
God.” Her head swung side to side, her eyes peeled wide open.
Guy chuckled. He remembered his
first trip there. His response to the elaborate flower gardens that not only
hosted every color imaginable but plants from all over the world and the
extremely large house that loomed over him like a dragon, had all added to his
peeing his pants. His hand automatically went to the back of his head where his
uncle Geoff had cuffed him for being such a baby. It had only been the first of
many.
Shaking off that memory, he tried
to see it as Bailey was. In truth though he couldn’t take his eyes off her, her
face lit up like Cinderella at her first ball.
“This is incredible. Wow. This
must have been amazing to play in as a kid. Hide and Seek would have been fun.
I’m betting kids got lost for days because they couldn’t be found.”
He smiled but didn’t correct her
assumption that there had been laughter or fun. He was just glad this place
didn’t scare the crap out of her because when she discovered who really lived
there, he was sure, it might be the last time she talked to him.
Graham pulled up in front of the
extravagant marble stairs that rose to an open set of massive, double oak
doors. Guy was about to tell Graham to go for a drive and come back later but
he should have known better. His grandmother was already hustling out the door,
her cane barely clipping the ground as she hustled toward them as though she
feared they’d drive away.
Not looking forward to this
encounter but knowing it was already in motion, he opened his door and jumped
out.
“Stay here for a minute. Please.”
He glanced at Bailey but reinforced it with a look to Graham before closing the
door. Turning, he skipped up the stairs to meet his grandmother with her
usually demanded hug but she was busy trying to move past him. Guy stepped in
front of her, only to have her cane land against his ribs and shove him
sideways. She was determined to get past him. Looping his arm over her shoulder
he tried to steer her away but she wasn’t having any of it. She slipped under
his arm and made her way towards the Hummer.
“Stop. She doesn’t know who you
are.”
Spinning so fast he was sure she
was going to topple over; he grabbed her arm. “Come and walk with me. I’ll
explain.”
She looked at him and then anxiously
toward the vehicle. It had been almost thirty years since she’d been able to
hold her granddaughter.
“Gram. I can’t go into all that
has happened but I–”
“Never told her anything. Dammit
Guy. I sent you because I thought I could trust you. I thought you’d follow my
instructions. You were to find her. Let me know. I’d set up the meeting. What
the hell are you trying to do to me? I won’t have Gina and Daniel put on that
emotional roller coaster again. Do you hear me?”
Having her yell at him or anyone
really wasn’t out of character but the emotional wobble to her voice was and it
almost did him in. It was the third time he’d ever heard it. The first had been
when he’d shown up at ten. The second had been when his step grandfather had
died.
“Yes, I do. And my intention
wasn’t to spring her on you.”
If I had my way we wouldn’t be here.
“But
someone’s after her. I think they’re trying to kill her.”
“What? Why haven’t you shared
this information with me before now? I’m still in charge. And don’t you forget
it.” Turning she moved swiftly towards the vehicle, her cane swinging freely in
her hand.
He stood by and watched. He
really didn’t know what to do. The rest was really in the hands of fate. If he
was lucky Bailey’s future would have the gold lining that his ended up with.
“Hello, my dear. You must be
Bailey. I’m Dorothea Lindell. Please call me Dorothea. Come. Let’s get you
settled.”
Bailey climbed out and took her
heavily ringed hand. At least four karats of diamonds adorned the fingers of
her right hand. On her left, he would have bet it was double that.
“Thank you, Dorothea. I’m sorry
to just drop in on you like this. I don’t think–”
“Don’t you worry, come, we’ll
have some iced tea on the balcony.”
Bailey’s head tilted back as they
walked under the overhang. Guy stuffed his hands in his pockets, not sure what
to do with himself for the first time in years. The sound of a vehicle starting
up, caught his attention. Spinning around, he was in time to see his buddy wave
as he drove away.
“Damn you, Graham.” He knew
giving chase was futile but that didn’t stop him from looking for a basketball
size rock in the garden and think about chucking it at the receding tail
lights. They soon disappeared behind the forest, which lined the driveway.
“Guy! Guy, are you coming?”
He gave his whole body a vigorous
shake, like that of a wet dog drying himself, hoping it would wake him from the
nightmare he was finding himself in. The two women were talking like old
friends as they made their way up the stairs. Sighing, he grabbed the backpack
and bag that Graham had graciously unloaded in the driveway. He immediately
tensed when his grandmother yelled again.
“Guy. You’re being rude. Get in
here.”
Smiling, feeling like things were
normal for the first time in a long time, he followed them in.