Secrets & Lies (2 page)

I had the feeling she hated him, whoever he was.

“Why so glum, Martin?” The voice startled me and I jerked. “Sorry, didn't mean to scare you.”

Sam Wegel was my boss and owner of Wegel, Stern and Associates, Inc., the little accounting firm where I worked. He was standing right in front of me and I hadn't noticed. Sam was in his seventies and he said he was going to retire soon,
every single day
.

“That's okay, Sam. Just lost in my thoughts. Sorry.”

“You talked to your mother's doctor.”

“Yeah.”

“Not good?”

I shook my head.

“I'm sorry, Martin. What can I tell you? It's a horrible thing.”

“Yeah, I know, Sam. I've been getting used to it for a few years now, but you know what? I'm still not used to it.”

After a respectful beat, Sam sat in the client chair in front of my desk. “I want to ask your opinion on something, Martin.”

“Sure, Sam.”

“What do you think of this place being called Wegel, Stern, Talbot and Associates?”

At first I thought I was supposed to answer, “I don't know,” and then get a punch line. But then I saw by his expression that he was serious.

“Really, Sam? You're making me a partner?”

“I think it's time. I'm going to retire soon.”

I was pleased, but in all truthfulness, being a partner in the tiny two-man firm wasn't much to talk about.

“Thank you, Sam. I appreciate it. You mean I get my name on the stationery?”

“Wegel, Stern, Talbot and Associates.”

“That's great, Sam. I'm honored.” I said the name aloud, too, to
try out how it felt on the tongue. “Can we drop the word ‘Associates'? I mean, it's just us, Sam.”

“All right. But we can't drop ‘Stern,' it would be disrespectful to Mort.”

“Of course not. Wegel, Stern, and Talbot it is.”

We shook hands. When he didn't get up, I knew Sam had more to say.

“I really
am
retiring, Martin. Probably at the end of this month. Doctor says I have pancreatic cancer.”

Crap. Another medical blow to someone I admired. “No, Sam. Really?”

“Yeah. First Mort, now me. I got to take the chemo. Rose says I should be at home. We're okay financially. Anyway, I want you to have the business, Martin. It's yours. My kids don't want it. They're not accountants.” He shrugged. “So what do I do?”

“You could sell it, Sam.
I'd
buy it from you if I could, but you can't give it to me. I can't accept it.”

“Yes, you will. I'll leave it to you in my will so you might as well take it now. We can work out something, I'll continue to get a piece of the profits while I'm alive, but after that, it's yours, fair and square, as long as Rose benefits in some way. You can even change the name if you want.”

“I doubt I'll do that. What about Shirley?”

“Don't you want to keep her here?”

“Sure. Gee, Sam. I don't know what to say. Thank you. Wow. I'm really floored. But what about you? You feeling all right now? Are you in pain?”

“I'm fine. Just tired, you know.” He slapped the arms on the chair, stood, and walked a few steps before turning back to me. “Now let's do some work. It's tax season!”

I was planning to stop by Woodlands to check on Mom, but before I left work I called Gina in New York. After digesting Dr. Schneider's
news that morning, I wanted to hear my nineteen-year-old daughter's voice. She was a student at Juilliard, studying dance and acting. She was also involved in some kind of martial arts thing that scared the hell out of me. Carol—her mother—and I don't hear much from her. Usually, one of us had to call
her
in order to find out how she was or what she was doing. We hadn't seen her since she was here for Christmas. She seemed happy and fine then. I'm glad about that, but it was a little surprising. Carol and I both thought Gina would have a hard time after the assault she suffered last year at the beginning of the school term.

Gina picked up after two rings. “Hello? Dad?”

“Hi, honey. What's up?”

“Oh, I'm at Krav Maga class. I meant to call and tell you I already got my yellow belt and pretty soon I'll get the orange one. For most people it takes about nine months to get the yellow, and I got it in four!”

I had no idea what she was talking about. “That's great, honey. How's school?”

“School? Oh, uh,
eh
. It's just school.”

“Are you doing any acting or dancing?”

“Nah, I didn't get cast this semester. Look, Dad, I gotta go. I was kind of in the middle of a drill. Josh doesn't like us to have our cell phones on.”

Josh?

“Well, call me more often. I miss you. Have you talked to your mother?”

“Not any more than I've talked to you. I don't think she notices, her being newly married again and everything.”

That was kind of a sore subject with me, although I've accepted it and moved on. I have my own leading lady now by the name of Margaret McDaniel.

And as if she'd read my mind, Gina asked, “How's Maggie?”

“Just fine. I'm going over to her house for dinner right after I stop in and see your grandmother.”

“Why don't you and Maggie just live together?”

“I don't know, Gina, it's just the way we like it for now. I have my house and she has hers.”

“Whatever. How is Grandma Judy?”

“Not too good, sweetheart. The doctor says she's entering the last stage of the disease. I'm afraid it's going to get rough. That's one reason why I called.”

“Oh, no.”

“Yeah. I'm sorry.”

“Shoot, that's terrible. Oh, Dad.”

“I know.”

“What can we do?”

“Not much, I'm afraid. Just love her. You think you can come visit again sometime soon?”

“I don't know.”

“You'll come home when the semester lets out, won't you?”

“Uh, Dad, I gotta go. Tell Grandma I love her. I'll call soon!”

And she hung up. Short and sweet.

Well, at least I knew she was breathing.

It was snowing when I left Deerfield and drove to Riverwoods. March in Chicagoland. Third worst month of the year, after February and January.

As I pulled my BMW E90 into the Woodlands parking lot, I suddenly realized that nearly twelve months had gone by since I first learned my mother was the Black Stiletto. I'd never forget Uncle Thomas handing me that letter and strongbox. Thomas Avery was the lawyer who handled Mom's estate ever since I was little, and as long as I've known him he was probably Mom's best friend. Come to think of it, she didn't have many friends when I was growing up. I imagined she and Thomas were romantically involved a bit in the sixties, but I didn't know for certain. He was a few years older than my mom, but he was still working. Even though he wasn't related to us, really, he was the closest thing to an uncle I ever had.

I don't know why, but I never quizzed Uncle Thomas about Mom's finances. She never worked, but she always had money. Uncle Thomas
had
to have known something, wouldn't he? How she had managed? I believed Thomas when he said he didn't know the contents of the strongbox that my mom kept in trust for me until she became incapacitated. Now I wasn't so sure. I supposed I was afraid to find out too much of the truth. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say.

What a bombshell that was. After reading Mom's confession, I started exploring our old house in Arlington Heights—which was
still
up for sale—and found her costume and the diaries in a secret closet in the basement. I learned how fourteen-year-old Judy Cooper ran away from her mother, brothers, and an abusive stepfather in Odessa, Texas, and ended up in New York alone and penniless. There, she was befriended by Freddie Barnes, the owner of a gym in East Greenwich Village, and moved into a room above the facility. She worked as the gym's cleaning woman, but after hours Freddie taught her how to box. A Japanese trainer named Soichiro instructed her in martial arts before stuff like
judo
and
karate
were in the public consciousness. It was her first serious boyfriend, a Mafia soldier named Fiorello, who taught her how to use a knife. After Fiorello's murder, she became the Black Stiletto and took it upon herself to fight crime and social injustice in the city. Law enforcement didn't like it. Soon she was wanted by the police and the FBI. Nevertheless, the Stiletto fought social injustice, petty criminals, the Mafia, and Communist spies. She was even responsible for a handful of deaths, but they were truly bad guys and probably deserved what they got. That wasn't for me to judge.

I tried to push those thoughts out of my head when I stepped into the dementia unit's dining room and saw Mom at the table, sitting in a wheelchair. One of the staff was helping her eat. Mom held a fork and lifted bites to her mouth, but it was obvious she forgot what she was doing at times. Some days were better than others. I'd witnessed meals when she couldn't feed herself at all. It was true; her health had declined since Christmas. She was much thinner, the
muscle tone in her arms and legs had disappeared, and her skin color was paler.

“Hi, Mom!” I said with as much cheer as I could muster. “Dinnertime?”

Her eyes brightened a little when she saw me. She still knew I was someone she loved, although aside from the “Little Man Martin” incident, she rarely called me by name anymore.

I sat across from her and said, “Guess what, Mom? I've been made a partner in the accounting firm. It's going to be all mine when the boss retires. Isn't that cool?”

Mom attempted to say something while chewing and she swallowed badly. She coughed and the nurse had to pat her back until she recovered.

“Sorry, I didn't mean for you to answer with a mouthful of food,” I said.

“Oh, that's all right,” the nurse spoke for her. “We're okay, aren't we, Judy?”

Mom nodded as the nurse gave her a drink of water.

Unbelievable.
This
was the Black Stiletto. The world wouldn't know what to make of it. It was why I had to keep her secret safe. It made me want to cry.

And, as if she had switched on that empathy thing she possessed, tears formed in my mom's eyes. In fact, she inexplicably cried more than usual on a daily basis. It was a normal symptom of the stage she was in.

“I talked to Gina a little while ago. She said to send you her love.”

At the mention of my daughter's name, Mom managed to smile. “I… me, too,” she said. Wow! That was an appropriate response! She always seemed to know who Gina was. Ever since my daughter was born, the two of them had a weird psychic connection I couldn't explain. And Gina was so much like my mother, it was scary.

“Maybe she'll be able to come home from college again soon to see you.”

“That's … nice.”

Another score! It was a good day for Mom.

I reached over and took her free hand. She squeezed mine and smiled at me again.

As the doc said—one day at a time.

Maggie handed me a glass of red wine that I nearly chugged. It tasted like heaven. After such an emotional day, I felt a little drained.

“Here, have another, Little Man Martin,” she said as she poured.

“Thanks. I needed that.”

“I know. How are you, darling?”

“Aw, am I your darling?”

“Of course you are. Aren't you?”

“Yes, ma'am. I'm your darling. Just don't call me Little Man Martin.” I sat at the table, where she had placed plates of steaming spaghetti and marinara sauce, with broccoli and salad on the side.

“I asked how you're doing.”

“I'm okay.” I shook my head in admiration. “How is it you can work all day seeing patients, witness me taking some bad news hard, see more patients, and then have dinner on the table when I come home?”

“I try to be Superwoman, Martin, and I thought you handled today very well.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

We ate in silence for a while until she said, “I know how hard it is for you.”

I had no reply to that, so I just sighed. Then—”Hey, I almost forgot. I have some news. You're looking at the new partner of Wegel, Stern, and Talbot!”

“Oh, Martin, that's fabulous! Congratulations!”

“Thank you, my dear.”

“Maybe that means you should move in with me,” she remarked.

“You think so?”

“We haven't talked about it in a while.”

“Gina said the same thing today.” I related how the phone call went. Then I told her about my visit to Woodlands and Mom's verbal responses.

“It's amazing she relates so well to her granddaughter.”

“Yeah. I just worry Gina's going to be—like her.”

She wagged her finger at me. “Martin, you're not supposed to think about
her
, and I don't mean Gina. You've been doing so well.”

“I know. No anxiety for three months. I've stayed away from the diaries. And I appreciate it that you have, too.”

She snorted a little. “Frankly, the suspense is killing me. I've been dying to read the fourth and fifth diaries, but I haven't for your sake.”

“Now, now. We can't have you knowing more about my mom's story than me.”

“I realize that. That's why I've respected your wishes.”

Then I said something that surprised me. “Maggie, the truth about my father has to be in those last two books. I'm—I think I might be ready to look at them again.”

“Martin—”

I held up my hands. “Come on, we both know we'll have to eventually, right? How can we not? The prospect scares the hell out of me, but at the same time, it's
crazy
that I haven't plowed through all five of those diaries. Any other person would have read them all in one sitting.”