She sighed. “I thought if you didn’t know, maybe you would assume he was somebody rich and important, and that you would work harder to prove yourself. I worried that if you knew about the drugs, you might start using them when you and Eli were having difficulties. They say sometimes those tendencies are in your genes.”
That last statement was worse than all the others because sometimes over the years he had fought a tremendous battle with himself—a struggle to keep his mouth shut and not tell Eli where to go, a fight to keep working on his master’s degree when it seemed so pointless. To not drink himself to oblivion. But he hadn’t given in. Not because of the birth father he’d never known, but because of his mother, the woman who had apparently lied to him his entire life. He hadn’t wanted to disappoint her. He hadn’t wanted to make her life difficult. In his mind, living with Eli was a big enough burden for anyone. But was anything about his mother real?
Harrison jumped to his feet and paced to the other side of the sitting room, wanting to get as far away from her as possible. How could she have kept this from him? For so many years he’d dreamed of finding his father, of talking to him. Learning about his roots. But there never had been any chance of that.
She was crying again, face in her hands. Harrison listened to the desperate sobs for what seemed an eternity before his heart softened. He went to her, pulling her to her feet and into his arms. “It’s okay, Mom. It’s okay.” He patted her back.
“You hate me.”
Maybe a little, but it would pass. She was his mother, after all, and she needed him. “What do you think they want? What did the second note say?”
She drew back and wiped her face. “To go to that Albertsons and park near the end on that side where I was. Then to leave some money on the windshield and go inside and shop for twenty minutes. That’s when I called you. When I went inside. When I came out again, the money was gone.”
That explained the odd groceries. She’d picked up her purchases blindly, whatever came to hand. “Where’s the note?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t have an envelope, so I used it to hold the money. I couldn’t just put five hundred dollars on the windshield.”
“Five hundred?”
“That’s okay. I took it from my personal account. Eli won’t know.”
“You shouldn’t have given them money. That’s blackmail.”
“What else could I do?” She was crying again.
“What did it say?”
“Just what I told you. Except it said the money was a down payment.”
The sinking sensation in Harrison’s gut intensified. That meant whoever it was would be back.
“I don’t care about the money,” his mother said, running her fingers under her eyes. “But what if . . . what if they give me a note when Eli’s nearby?”
“They used the gym to pass you the notes, right? So they’ll probably do it that way again, and Eli’s at the office by then.” At the office selling overpriced air conditioners to the hot people in Phoenix. “So you should be okay that way.”
“What if they come up to me instead of leaving a note?”
Harrison thought quickly. The most important thing was to sever his mother’s contact with the blackmailer, to protect her. After that he would decide how to proceed if they came back for more. “Let’s trade cars,” he said. “I’ll go to the gym tomorrow in your car and leave them my own note about dealing with me instead of you.” He could even give them his cell number, and if they called, their return number might lead to more information about them. “Maybe until I work it out, you could drive to Mesa and use the gym there instead. Just leave it to me.”
She looked up at him, appearing far younger than he’d ever seen her. “Thank you.” She straightened her shoulders, ever a survivor. “But you’ll be careful, right? And let me know?”
“Of course. Don’t worry. But maybe you should think about calling the police.”
“No!” She shook her head vehemently. “Then they’d want to talk to Eli and the girls. Besides, whoever it is hasn’t threatened anything yet. Right?”
“Saying the money was a down payment certainly sounds like a threat to me. And they’ve made you scared.” Anger flooded him, blotting out the betrayal he’d felt about his father earlier.
“Let’s just wait,” she pleaded. “Maybe this will be the end of it.”
She’d hidden the birth of a baby. She’d lied about his birth father. How could it be the end of anything? But he bit back the retort. Later they would discuss it further, but not now when she was so vulnerable. “I’ll take care of everything.”
She nodded. “I’d better get home. Eli will be there. I sent him a text telling him I was going to stop for some barbecued ribs. You know how he loves those.”
“Is the Beetle key on the set of keys you gave me for the sedan?” Harrison asked. “Oh, here it is. I’ll bring it back tomorrow night after I go to your gym. The mechanic will have my car ready then.”
“Better keep it for a while, at least until we hear from them. They obviously know the car.”
She was right—no wonder she’d been concerned about being followed. “Okay. But don’t worry. I
will
take care of this.” Somehow.
“All right.” She walked to the door with more of her customary grace. “Thank you.”
He walked her down to the sedan, his eyes roaming the parking lot. No one seemed to be watching them.
But who had sent the notes, and what did they plan for an encore?
Harrison climbed back up the stairs to his apartment, feeling alternately numb and angry. When he discovered who was hurting his mother, he would make them pay.
Chapter Three
M
akay wanted to tell Lenny to go away and that it was his fault he hadn’t shown up at Albertsons for the money. Instead, she took a deep breath and called to Nate in the adjoining kitchen. He couldn’t see her at the door, but he’d hear every word if she talked to Lenny inside. “I’ll be right back, okay? You keep eating and then start on your homework. I’m just outside the door.”
“Okay,” he called back.
Snoop took that moment to leave his food and come running to the door, growling and barking as if he planned to attack. It was all show because unless she counted the possibility of his sniffing someone to death, he had no guts. Anyone growling back or making a sudden movement would send him cowering to a corner. Makay wondered if the fear came from his time with her father. Pushing the dog away with her knee, she slipped into the hallway and shut the door behind her.
“You were supposed to meet me at Albertsons,” she told Lenny. “I left the folder and the money under the passenger seat of my car as usual.” She pushed her hair behind her ear.
Lenny gave her a grin that revealed two rotting teeth. “I was there, but I got a little hung up. I saw you leave so I thought I’d meet you here instead. Had an errand to run on the way, or I would have got here sooner.”
“You should have called me and set up another time. My car was open. What if someone had stolen the money? And I hate you coming here.”
He shrugged. “I need the money tonight. Got a hot date.” He brought up his hands and moved them as if he were dancing. He’d turned forty last year but still liked to hang out with the twenty-something crowd. Probably because he preyed on innocence.
She held up a hand. “Stop. I don’t want to know.”
“Fine. Give me the money and I’ll be gone.”
The door across the hall opened and Makay waited as the new resident in the apartment building led his three dogs down the hallway. One stopped and began peeing on the carpet, and the man’s foot lashed out at the animal. The dog’s whine filled Makay’s ears.
“Stupid mutt,” the man mumbled, but he didn’t pause to clean up the mess.
Makay’s jaw clenched. She’d recently found coupons for a spray that eliminated odors, but her supply was running low. She had to move from this hole, and soon.
“So? Where’s the money?” Lenny asked. “Everything went okay, right?”
“No, everything did not go okay. He threatened me.”
Lenny’s pointed face darkened. “What’d he say?”
“That if I contacted him again, he’d hire someone to deal with me.”
“Well, that’s nothing. It’s been worse before.”
Makay glared. “It’s different now. I have to worry about Nate.”
“Well, good thing we don’t plan on contacting Mr. Cooper again.” He held out his hand. “Where’s my money?”
She drew out the white envelope from her jacket and handed it over. He set down the briefcase he carried and opened the envelope, his smile eager as he began his count. Wincing, she waited for his explosion. This would have gone so much better in the parking lot at Albertsons where there were witnesses to keep her safe.
His smile vanished. “There’s only two thousand in here!” He shook the bills at her, the gold bracelets on his wrist jangling. “Where’s the rest?”
“I had to pay for school and rent. Sorry, that’s all you’re getting.”
He took a threatening step toward her. “That wasn’t our deal. You only get ten percent.
I
set up the deals.
I
do the work. You just have to show up and grab the money.”
“I take all the risk!” she spat, not backing away. “I have since I was fifteen. How many times have I had to call the targets and convince them I mean business? How many times have I met with them before the payoff date? How many times have I walked away with a black eye? You owe me and you know it.”
His face hardened. “I don’t owe you squat. That’s the cost of the job. You came to me with nothing. I
helped
you.”
“I came to you to find my birth parents, not to start a life of crime!” Phoenix had been a long way to travel from Tucson for a fifteen-year-old, but she’d made the bus trip with the hope that she could stop spending her nights inside the tube slide at the local park, that she could stop hiding from her dad’s drunken explosions of temper and her drugged stepmother’s frequent abuse. She’d thought the answer to all her problems might lie with her birth parents, and that Lenny could find them as he promised on his Internet site. Instead, all Lenny had given her was a glimpse into the empty hearts of cold people who really didn’t want to revisit the past and who didn’t care about the children they’d abandoned.
How many targets had she and Lenny scammed? Makay had lost track, but all of those faceless people had helped her pay for food and clothes and school fees for the rest of high school and now for the two years she and Nate had lived here.
“I thought you were really trying to find people,” she said, “but you only focus on those who don’t want to be found.”
“I do my clients a favor,” he growled. “They need to know when they’re not wanted.”
It was an old argument. She knew he’d connected at least a few children with their birth parents, but his real money came from scamming those who had kept their child a secret from the people in their current lives. Lenny prided himself on in-depth research before ever contacting a birth parent with a demand for money. To her knowledge he’d never chosen a mark that didn’t pay.
“You’ll get your money.” She reached for her doorknob, her throat burning with acid.
His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, clamping down hard. The fat gold ring on his middle finger dug painfully into her flesh. “You bet I will. Good thing I have another job for you.”
“No. I told you no more after this one, and I meant it.” It hurt too much, seeing the fear and anger in their eyes. Besides, scamming people, no matter how much they might deserve it, wasn’t something to be proud of. A girl on the streets might do anything for a meal, but Makay was an adult now and she wanted to be a person Nate could respect. “Look, I’m expecting a grant for school, and I got a job as a waitress. I’ll get you the money another way.”
“You have to do this next job.” He didn’t release her, and she resisted the urge to fight him. He might look like a scrawny rat, but she’d once seen him throw a man twice his size halfway across a room. “It’s the big one.”
“I don’t care.” The grant she’d applied for might even give her enough to pay part of her living expenses. She and Nate didn’t need more. She’d endure this apartment building for five more years if she had to—especially if it meant getting rid of Lenny Pagolino.
He took a step closer, tightening his grip on her wrist until she wanted to cry out with pain. “I’ve been watching this target for over a month now. The family’s loaded, and I’m betting they can afford more than anyone we’ve hit up before.”
“Anyone
you’ve
hit up!”
He laughed in her face. “If you don’t do this for me, I have a sweet file with your name on it that I’ll drop off to the police. Then we’ll see how long you’ll keep your little brother.”
Makay felt sick. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
“You’d go to jail, too.” Her hand was beginning to tingle from the lack of blood flow.
He grinned, his watery eyes showing no expression. “That’s just it. There’s nothing to connect me to any of the marks or to you. You know only the location of my current apartment and the name I’ve given you. I can vanish like this.” He snapped the fingers of his free hand.
“How much is the payoff?” Makay hated herself for giving in, but what else could she do?
I won’t lose Nate!
Lenny released her wrist, and blood rushed to her fingertips. “This time I’m demanding a sealed envelope, and you’d better not open it. You’ll get your ten percent, same as usual—after I deduct the money you owe me.”
Makay frowned at that. Lenny might talk big, but their largest take had been twenty thousand, and that had only been once. All the others had been between two and five thousand. At ten percent, this job wouldn’t begin to touch the twenty-five hundred she owed him. Unless it really was the big one. Even if it was, he’d more than likely pay her the usual five hundred and tell her she owed him more jobs to pay off the rest. “I’ll do it only if there’s no more,” she said. “I swear it’s the last time.”
He chuckled and clicked the briefcase shut. “Sure. Okay. Whatever. After this, you and me are finished. Promise.”
Despair winged through her. He wasn’t ever going to let her go. That was as clear to her as if he’d shouted the truth with a megaphone.