Evelyn David - Sullivan Investigations 02 - Murder Takes the Cake (27 page)

“
Are you calling me delusional? Is this like that old movie, where the husband tries to make his wife think she’s crazy? If so you started a little early,” Bridget countered. “If you wanted out of this engagement, all you had to do was say so.”

Josh moved towards Bridget, towering over her.
“Don’t fool yourself. I don’t need to pretend you’re going crazy–you already are,” he growled. “You and your family.”

The noise from the argument was enough to bring Jeff in from the dining room, as well as Kathleen, Rachel, and Helen from the kitchen.

“What the hell is going on?” Jeff demanded. “We’re supposed to be celebrating.”

“
Apparently, there’s a debate on how much we have to give thanks for,” Mac said with a small smile. “Personally, I think Josh needs a drink.”

Josh started forward, his face contorted in rage.
“You think this is funny? You people are all crazy. Bridget’s a drama queen and this house is the perfect stage.”

Bridget got into Josh
‘s face. “Don’t talk to Mac like that.”

“
Love the loyalty, Bridget.” The sarcasm dripped from his mouth like wax from a cheap candle. “Your family accuses me of murder, suggests my father’s a lush, and my uncle is an embezzler. What else, you want to take a shot at my dead mother?”

“
Go to Hell, Joshua Lasky,” Bridget snapped.

“
You first, Ms. O’Herlihy and take your whole damn family with you.”

“
Here Comes the Bride, All Dressed in White….” The wedding march suddenly filled the room.

“
What the hell is that?” Mac asked.

Kathleen blushed.
“I installed a musical doorbell.” She looked at the tense faces around her. “I thought it would be festive. It’s not permanent.”

The opening notes of the wedding march played again.

Mac called after Kathleen as she started for the door. “That must be JJ and Edgar. They’re bringing over the DVD she’s creating for the rehearsal dinner. She’s not finished yet, but I thought everyone would like to see it.”

“
That’s wonderful, they can join us for dinner,” Kathleen called out.

“
This isn’t a good time, Sullivan,” Josh began, his eyes darting between his fiancée and the door.

Paul Lasky clamped one arm around Josh
‘s shoulders, the other around Bridget’s. “Relax, you two. This is just normal wedding jitters. Everything will be fine.”

“
Dad, you don’t get it.” Josh tried to pull away from his father. “I lost my job. My fiancée doesn’t trust me.”

“
But it’s Thanksgiving. And you know we can find you a position in the firm. It’s our firm, for God’s sake. You want your old boss’s job, you got it.” Lasky tightened his grip and eased the couple towards the love seat in front of a large entertainment center at the far end of the living room. “Why don’t you two lovebirds sit right here. The show’s about to begin.”

Bridget and Josh sat as directed, both wearing identical expressions of disbelief.

Paul and Helen sat on the matching sofa that was the bottom half of an ‘L’ to the loveseat. “Leo, you want to squeeze in with us?”

“
I’m fine back here,” Leo answered. Leo remained standing next to the fireplace wall, his eyes moving carefully from one group of people to another.

Mac could see the virtual iron curtain that had descended between the engaged couple. He caught the quizzical look on Jeff
‘s face, as he sat down in a club chair cater-corner to the sofa.

JJ and Edgar entered the living room with Kathleen.

Mac stepped forward. “You got it?”

JJ nodded and handed Mac a DVD case. Edgar joined them, his bandy-legged gait slow but deliberate, his portable oxygen canister on a strap slung over his shoulder.

“Were you able to use all the baby photos of Bridget?” Kathleen’s voice sounded too bright and cheerful in a room where the red-hot tension between Josh and Bridget seemed almost radioactive. She sat down in the club chair next to her husband.

JJ shot a glance at Mac, then answered.
“Yep. I’ve only got part of the background music woven into the slide show, but it will give you an idea of the finished product. The concept is to show individual photos of Bridget growing up, then of Josh as a kid, and then their lives together.”

Mac leaned over the sofa and handed the DVD to his goddaughter.
“Bridget, could you do the honors?”

“
I really don’t–”

“
Humor me, please,” Mac asked.

Bridget shot him a dirty look, then sighed, and opened up the entertainment center. She inserted the DVD, then passed the remote to Mac, who handed it off to JJ.

“Can I get anyone something to eat? Drink?” Kathleen was still playing the Happy Hostess. “Maura and Mary Kathleen called. They’re still stuck at La Guardia, trying to get a flight. I think we’ll go on without them as soon as the turkey is ready. Probably in another twenty minutes or so. I have some cheese and crackers if anyone is starving.”

There were murmurs of polite refusal except for one old man.
“Maybe some of that scotch would be nice. Helps on cold days like these,” Edgar explained.

Kathleen fussed to get some Macallan in a nice brandy snifter.

“No water, no ice,” Edgar admonished.

She settled him down on the couch, next to Josh.

“Like JJ explained,” Mac began. “This is just the rough cut. Jeff, you want to get that light?”

The funeral director pulled the living room drapes and doused the light, plunging the room into darkness.

JJ clicked the remote and Maurice Chevalier began warbling “Thank Heavens for Little Girls.” The first photo of newborn Bridget flashed on the screen.

Bridget groaned.
“I can’t believe this music.”

“
Sorry, it was a personal request of your dad’s,” JJ apologized.

Bridget glared at her father, who ignored his daughter
‘s indignation. Jeff slipped his hand into Kathleen’s and beamed at the photo.

Sister Sledge started belting out
‘We Are Family’ as a montage of O’Herlihy family photos floated across the scene. There were pictures of Jeff and Kathleen, including the one of their wedding day, and photos of Bridget with her older sister Maura and younger sister Mary Kathleen, all dressed up as pirates for Halloween. There was Bridget at the playground, ten-year-old big sister at the top of the slide holding a toothless, grinning baby Sean in her lap. There was First Communion Bridget in a white taffeta dress, tiny tulle veil, and chocolate smear on her cheek, smiling up at her godfather, Mac. There was Girl Scout Bridget and Little League Bridget, with grass-stained uniform. There was protest march Bridget, and reporter Bridget, covering a fire in Charlestown. And there was contemplative Bridget and party Bridget, with a smile that could light up the room.

A place card filled the screen.
“The Lasky Family.”

“
This will be the transition to Josh’s family,” JJ said. “I’ve just started filling in with the photos Mr. Lasky gave Mac.”

Suddenly, Mary Wells started crooning,
‘My Guy,’ as a picture of baby Josh flashed on the screen.

“
Oooh, I love the music,” squealed Helen.

Even with only the light from the screen, Mac could see the angry glare Josh shot his stepmother.

After a few more photos of infant Josh, including one of him on a bear skin rug, JJ hit the pause button, as a picture of Paul, Josh, and his late mother, Sharon, filled the screen.

Mac took the remote from JJ. He spoke quietly from his spot behind the couch.
“JJ wanted to fill out the Lasky family portrait, but she didn’t have enough photos.”

Paul Lasky started to rise from his seat.
“I gave you dozens more. What did you do with the one of our family at the Cape and our family on the boat?”

“
Well there’s this one.”

Mac hit the play button and then hit stop as soon as a photo of Leo Lasky, Paul Lasky, and another man, standing in front of the Capitol appeared.

“I didn’t give you that,” Paul objected. “Where did you get that old picture?”

“
Who’s the other man in the photo?” Josh asked.

“
Congressman Thomas Sandler,” Paul answered. “Leo, we’d been working for him about six months at that point–right?”

“
Something like that.”

Mac glanced over. Leo Lasky hadn
‘t moved from his spot against the wall, his hard eyes firmly on the screen.

“
Where did you find the photo?” Josh asked, confusion written on his face. “Why is it in this slide show?”

“
It was in a box of pictures in this man’s house.” Mac clicked the remote and another image popped up on screen. He again hit pause.

Josh rose from the couch and glared at Mac.
“And who the hell is that? What kind of game is this Sullivan? I don’t know these people.”

Mac remained calm.
“That’s Brian Crager. Your dad and uncle know him, don’t you, gentlemen? Brian Crager is dead.”

Mac clicked it again in quick progression.
“That’s Martha Martinelli. Your dad and uncle knew her. She’s dead. That’s Scott Merrell. Your uncle knew him. He’s dead.”

Mac clicked the remote again without allowing anyone time to comment.
“That’s Ken Edelstein. He was helping Bridget find your birth parents. He’s dead.”

Josh pivoted to face his father.
“Dad? What’s going on?”

Paul Lasky
‘s face was ashen. “Leo?”

Mac hit the button and a new photo flashed on the screen. A young woman, holding a baby. He hit pause.
“This one is probably out of order.”

Leo Lasky stepped away from the wall. He ignored Mac, and nodded to his hosts.
“Thank you Kathleen and Jeff. It’s been a lovely evening, but we’re leaving now. Paul, Helen, Josh, get your coats. We’re going. Bridget, I think you should plan on picking up your things from the apartment on Monday. Needless to say, this engagement is over. Joshua, ask her for the ring back please.”

“
Why is that woman in this slide show?” Paul Lasky jumped up. “Leo, what’s happening? What are you doing? What have you done?”

“
Shut up, Paul. Trust me. We’re leaving now.” Leo nodded at Helen. “Get our coats. Josh get the ring.”

Josh turned to Bridget, putting one hand on her arm.
“Bridget, I–”

She shook him off and got to her feet. She walked around the couch to face Leo.
“You have a lot of nerve. I can’t believe how you think you can control everyone and everything. You sorry–”

“
Give him the ring, Bridget,” Kathleen said, her hostess voice having been replaced by her ‘don’t mess with my kid’ voice.

Both Jeff and Kathleen walked over to stand behind their daughter. Jeff spoke even more sharply than his wife.
“Get the hell out of my house, all of you.”

“
I’ll give the damn ring to the man who gave it to me, even if he’s not man enough to do his own asking.” Bridget slowly pulled the diamond from her hand, then reached across the couch and placed it in Josh’s palm. She closed his fingers around it.

She stared at him.
“Next time, grow a pair and do your own dirty work.”

“
Josh.” Mac spoke sharply. “Why don’t you ask your uncle about Theresa Crager? About what happened to her?”

Mac saw Leo Lasky stiffen. Josh looked between Mac and his uncle. Suspicion and fear danced across his face.
“Why? What are you trying to do to me, to my family?”

“
You’re family is not what you think. Theresa Crager is the key to all of this. Ask your uncle about Theresa Crager,” Mac urged.

“
Why should I?” He sounded like a petulant teenager ordered to clear the table. “What’s she to me?”

“
She was a young woman who worked for Congressman Thomas Sandler in the late 70s.” Leo’s voice was soft, almost like velvet. “She was very pretty, very naïve, and very greedy.”

“
Congressman Sandler. You’ve mentioned him before. That’s the same office you and Dad worked in, right?”

Leo Lasky nodded.

“Asked and answered. Satisfied?” Josh sneered.

Mac shrugged.
“I think there’s a little more to the story, don’t you think so, Leo? Want to tell your nephew how you got Theresa fired?”

“
Never happened,” Leo responded, his voice flat, never rising above a whisper. “She quit her job to go back home to Virginia.”

“
Are you denying you leaked a story to the Washington Post that Theresa Crager had an affair with Congressman Sandler?” Mac pushed. “And later that year you went on Martha Martinelli’s radio show and implied the Congressman might be involved in her disappearance?”