Cloaked in Blood (12 page)

Dawning lit Johnny’s eyes. 
“Sanderfield.  It was one of the complaints he used to get OSI
shut down.  Son of a bitch.  It’s another link to
Henderson, Helen.”

I nodded.  “Andy Gillette admitted that
they’d been watching me.  When you scared poor Florence
Payette half to death, it was because she admitted that Eugene
Sherman was very excited that I showed up in Darkwater Bay.”

He sighed.  “I wish I’d kept my anger
under control.  I’d love to know what she really meant when
she said excited.  Was it agitation?  Was he glad you
were here?  Worried?  Terrified that you’d uncover the
truth?”

“Zack has her in protective custody until
this thing with Melissa Sherman finally goes to trial,
Johnny.  Maybe he’d let me try to talk to her again.”

“You don’t think it’s necessary, do
you?”

I didn’t.  “Isn’t it obvious that they
– whoever
they
were – weren’t happy that I was here? 
Gillette told me I was sold before he abducted me.  Clearly
they had a plan to get rid of me again.  You don’t do that
when you’re happy that someone’s in town.”

“You might do it if you’re delighted to sell
somebody again and make another profit.”

“But what if it isn’t that simple,
Johnny?”

“What if it is?  They sold you once,
and planned to do it again.  That seems pretty cut and dried
to me.”

“I was out here for eight months before they
abducted me.  Did it take that long for them to plan my
abduction, find a buyer, sell me, snatch me off Mercer Boulevard
and try to break my will before delivering me to my
owner
?”

“Maybe,” Johnny scowled at nothing in
particular.

“Or maybe they thought I might not stay
here.  Maybe they realized I wasn’t going anywhere after we
foiled the abduction of Sofia Datello.  Maybe my sale wasn’t
really planned well at all.  You said that the Coast Guard
spotted another ship.”

Johnny nodded.  “They saw us, and took
off before we could even identify her, Helen.  We can’t even
be certain that it was the ship that was scheduled to meet
The
Celeste
.”

“Dubious supposition.  You’re presuming
a colossal coincidence, that a ship would be waiting off the coast
of Cleveland Island on the exact date Gillette said I would be
placed in the hands of my new owner.  I don’t buy it.”

“What did you assume was the inciting factor
in the abduction?”

I sighed heavily.  “Something that has
been proven wrong now, at least to my satisfaction.”  When
Johnny’s response was a mere arched eyebrow, I elaborated.  “I
wondered if Danny simply wanted me out of the way so I wouldn’t be
able to testify against him.  Since he was dead, my absence
would then assure that Melissa Sherman would probably walk.”

“Which still could be the case.  We
haven’t figured out why she’s so important to a bunch of people
willing to die to provide dying declarations of her
innocence.  What I’d like to learn is if there’s a connection
between Eugene Sherman and Lyle Henderson.”

“Or Lyle and Melissa,” I said.  “We’re
not getting anything from Sherman.  She’s not stupid enough to
talk without her attorney present.  And Lyle Henderson is too
old to be stupid enough to fall for police trickery.”

Johnny eyed me curiously.  “Of course
you’re right.”

“What?”

“Come with me.”

“Where are we going?”  I scrambled out
of bed and followed him to the office.  “Johnny, what’re you
–?”

He thrust a file from his briefcase into my
hand.  “Look at it.”

I flipped the manila folder open and glanced
inside.  “It’s an old man.  What’s your point?”

“Look at all of it, Helen.”

With a frustrated grunt, I perched on the
edge of the built-in desk and started flipping through the
contents.  “Old man.  Young woman… my mother?”

“Lyle Henderson.  Melissa
Sherman.  Marie Eriksson.  Keep going.”

More photos, Terrell Sanderfield, his
deceased mother, my deceased grandmother, Gillette – I recoiled
involuntarily and dropped the file onto the desk.  “Okay, I
get your point.  You’ve got a file with all of the people you
suspect were or still are involved in this human trafficking
ring.  Really, I understand.”

“Now look at those first three pictures
again.”

“Johnny, I fail to see –”

“Exactly, just like we failed to
see
from the moment you stepped into town that there was an enormous
family resemblance between you and your twin brother.”

I snatched the file again and flipped back
to the first two pictures.  “It’s hard to tell anything,
Johnny.  What’re you suggesting?  That Lyle Henderson is
Melissa Sherman’s grandfather?”

“Not those two pictures. 
These
two
.”  He thrust Melissa Sherman’s photo onto the desk and
slapped the photograph of my mother – well, Marie Eriksson – next
to it. 

My jaw sagged.  Why hadn’t I noticed it
before?

“You see what I’m saying here, Helen?”

“Why?  How did I – why wouldn’t I have
noticed that my mother was pregnant again when I was ten years
old?”

Johnny rolled his eyes and flicked my
forehead.  “Have you forgotten that Eugene Sherman didn’t look
his age either, or that Lyle Henderson doesn’t appear to be 80 some
years old?”

“Christ.  She’s had plastic
surgery.”

“It’s like I said.  We didn’t see you
and Crevan either.”

I shook my head and retreated.  Johnny
grasped my wrists and kept me from running.  “Helen, he told
you that as far as he’s concerned, you are the only daughter that
he has.”

“Why would they swap his real daughter out
for me?  Who does something like that?  And who raised
Melissa Sherman?”

“I’d lay odds it was Lyle Henderson and his
wife Suzy,” Johnny said.  “What we need is her DNA sample,
Helen.”

I snorted.  “Good luck getting
that.  And who will you compare it to?  We have no idea
where Dad is, and even if we did, it’s no guarantee that he’d go
along with testing his DNA against this woman’s.”

“True enough.  I think he wants the
truth about his child less than you do, but we’ve got to know,
Helen.  This could be the link that implicates Lyle Henderson,
especially if we can prove that he raised a child named
Melissa.”

Johnny whipped out his cell phone and
dialed.  “Hey Devlin,” he said after the briefest pause. 
“Got a job for you, and it’s going to require an out of town
investigation.”

I started shaking my head.  He ignored
me.

“I want you in Poughkeepsie, New York by the
end of the day.  Yeah, that’s right.  I want every bit of
information you can ferret out on Lyle Henderson and his
wife.  Helen told me weeks ago when she convinced me that her
father wasn’t part of her abduction that that’s where her mother
went when Wendell kicked her out of the house.  Apparently,
that’s where Marie Henderson was raised.”

He paused.  I cringed.

“I have reason to suspect that Melissa
Sherman might’ve been raised by Henderson there.”

Devlin’s voice was loud enough to hear his
reaction, even though I couldn’t make out the specific words.

“Yeah, she could be Wendell’s biological
daughter, but before we try to figure out how to legally obtain the
necessary DNA samples to prove it, I want to know if Lyle and Suzy
Henderson raised another child.  Call me when you land in New
York.”

“This is a mistake,” I said.  “If we
can suddenly prove that Melissa Sherman is my father’s biological
child, how in the hell do you plan to explain how we got a sample
of his DNA for comparison?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to
it.  I’d suggest you get busy trying to find your father,
Helen.  We’re going to need his help.”

Chapter 12

The phone rang twice.

“Helen?”

“Dad, where have you been?  I’ve been
trying to reach you for days!”

“I’m glad you called, and I apologize for
ignoring the other calls.  I need to speak to you.”

“Is that how this works now?  You only
answer the phone when you want to hear from me?”

“That didn’t come out right.  Things
have been… unusual, Helen.  I’ll explain everything after I
see you.”

My eyes widened.  “You’re
here
?”

“Don’t announce it to the world,
Helen.  But yes, I’m in Darkwater Bay.”

“When did you get here?  Oh, God,
Dad.  Please swear to me that you had nothing to do with
Senator Sanderfield’s death.”

“I promise, I did not kill the man, nor do I
know who did.”

I slouched into the corner of the sofa and
cradled my forehead in my hand.  “Daddy, how long have you
been here?”

“Since shortly after my death,” he
chuckled.  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away,
Sprout.  I was trying to protect you.  Faded into the
background, keeping a low profile, making sure no one was trying to
abduct you or murder you again.”

“Daddy –”

“Is Johnny within earshot?”

“No, he’s in the office at the moment trying
to figure out how we can obtain a legal DNA sample from someone
without tipping our hand.”

“Oh?”

“There’s a possibility that we’ve found your
biological child.”

I felt Dad’s tension as briskly as if he’d
been sitting right beside me.  “I don’t care who that person
is, Helen.  You’re my child.  You need to stop pursuing
this aspect of the investigation immediately.”

“I’d love nothing better, but Johnny’s
determined that this could be the link between the human
trafficking operation and Lyle Henderson.”

“Nonsense,” Wendell said.  “While I
don’t doubt that the man is pure evil who merely hides behind a
bible, he was dirt poor, Helen.  He might’ve helped Marie find
a child to replace one that likely died in utero, but do you really
believe –?”

“Yes!  There are too many links. 
He knows the Conalls.  He was married to Sanderfield’s
mother.  But Daddy, there’s more.  Not even I can deny
the resemblance between Melissa Sherman and Mom.”

“Marie?”

“Of course Marie.  I realize physical
similarities in photographs are hardly evidence, but I can’t
pretend it isn’t there, Daddy.  If this answers how all of
this happened, if it helps us stop these people from selling human
beings, we have an obligation to see it through to the end, no
matter how uncomfortable it might be.”

“I can think of far easier ways to stop
them.”

“Dad, promise me you’re not going to kill
anyone.”

He laughed.

“Daddy, please!”

“Don’t you want to look me in the eye when I
make the promise so you know that I’m telling you the truth?”

I bit the inside of my cheek, only for a
moment of hesitation.  “When and where?”

“First, you have to swear not to tell Johnny
that I’m here.  You will not tell him you’ve seen me or talked
to me in person –”

“Is this another test of my faith in my
husband?”

“No, Helen.  I’m deadly serious. 
I’m not asking you to lie to him.  But for the time being, I
must insist on secrecy.”

I walked a fine line with Johnny after
everything we’d been through over the past several months. 
Our unborn children reminded me where my loyalties had to
lie.  “All right, Dad.  I promise.”

“Meet me in Downey in that neighborhood
where you were shot.  Do you remember that little Greek
restaurant?”

“Of course I do.  Mr. Kostas’ son
helped me a great deal last year.”

“Then meet me there in two hours.  Come
alone.”

He disconnected the call before I had the
opportunity to suggest a more private location for our first face
to face meeting since we parted ways in upstate New York.  It
didn’t matter.  I bounded off the sofa and joined Johnny in
the office.

“He answered the phone.”

“And?” Johnny asked.

“He’s here.  In Darkwater Bay. 
He’s been here for weeks, Johnny.  And he wants to meet me at
that Greek restaurant where Lucas Blake’s body was found last fall
in two hours.”

“Alone?”

My eyes filled with tears.  “Yes.”

“He asked you to keep this from me, didn’t
he?”

I nodded.

Johnny rose and wrapped his arms around
me.  “Well, then you’ll meet him alone, just don’t tell him
you’re wearing the anklet.”

“Really?”

Johnny kissed the top of my head.  “I
trust you; you trust me.  This doesn’t work any other way,
Helen.  Right?”

“Yes,” I nodded.  “No more
secrets.”

It was a wonderfully liberating moment for
me, one in which I finally understood that I’m not alone
anymore.

“Is she coming?” Datello asked.  He
paced the floor in Father O’Malley’s small apartment behind Saint
Agnes Parish.

“She said she would,” Wendell
said. 

“Alone?”

He shrugged.  “I suspect that my
daughter loves Johnny Orion more than she loves me.  And of
course, she should.  We have something serious to discuss,
Danny.”

“She’ll be armed.  Maybe she’ll be so
upset that I’m not dead that she’ll shoot me.  I didn’t enjoy
the first experience, you know.” Pressured speech punctuated his
agitation.

“Tell me about Melissa Sherman. 
According to the press coverage, you knew her husband quite
well.”

Danny growled.  “The bitch that stole
my child?  Yes, I knew her.  Vaguely at least.  I
wasn’t interested in her, if that’s what you’re getting at. 
How many times must I tell you that I love Celeste?”

“I wasn’t implying otherwise.  I need
to know what
you
know about her.”

The pacing halted for a moment before
resuming with even more vigor.  “She was insanely young to be
married to Sherman.  The man was nearly ninety years old,
Wendell.  It was obscene.”