Dead Spaces: The Big Uneasy 2.0 (15 page)

She’d seen worse, she decided, but was starting to feel more certain it was an ironic choice. There was some flash, the kind of exterior that reassured both relatives and potential inmates, er, residents, that happiness could be found within. Why, she wondered, did so many retirement homes stick palm trees all over? Was it about upkeep or a subliminal Florida-ish message? Well-maintained exterior. Smooth walks and enough flowers to appear cheerful.

She skirted the activity center and dodged some gray hairs, as she studied the numbering system. She paused by a bulletin board, using the time to make sure she was still without a tail. If she’d been tailing herself, she’d have stayed out on the street, but she was pretty sure she was clear. She’d walked completely around the block before approaching.

She moved on, trying to imagine Zach in a place like this. Couldn’t, of course, but then it was hard to imagine Zach anywhere but at home. She supposed all kids, even grown ones, had blinders on about their parents. Every now and again, the blinders would shift, giving her a glimpse of the man instead of the dad. These glimpses did not provide clarity or even understanding. True understanding, she’d been told by the sister who had a kid, wouldn’t happen until she became a parent herself, but she did feel…compassion at those times, for the man who’d lost two women he loved and been left to raise a lot of children on his own.

While she could be thankful he had not married a third time and added to his Baker’s dozen, she also felt sad that he had been so alone for so long. Of course, those feelings didn’t stop her from feeling conflicted about him dating again. But she felt they indicated some maturity or perhaps personal growth.

She almost thought she heard Zach snort at that last thought. Okay, it was a bit pompous but that didn’t make it any less true. Which made it kind of odd that she was relieved to spot the number she’d been looking for. It’s not like Zach could hear her thinking about him. Good thing since her thoughts had gone off track again. But thankfully, he was miles away.

With one last look around, and a rapidly beating heart, she approached the door. She lifted her fist and hesitated, but the can of worms had already been opened. She closed her other hand around the ring she’d brought with her and knocked.

She was prepared for Charlie to look like Zach. But…

She blinked. “Zach?”

“Took you long enough. Get in here.”

“
H
ere sit down
, honey,” a soft voice spoke from out of an old Nell’s face. “She looks like she’s going to faint. Charlie, help her.”

“My kids don’t faint,” Zach snapped, and then grabbed her other elbow and steered her to a bland couch. It went, she noted vaguely, with the bland room, if not the inhabitants. Okay, she didn’t know they hadn’t picked it, but it didn’t seem to go with the hiding/not hiding deal. Maybe they’d gone with boring because their lives had been too exciting.

A hand shifted to her neck, and he pushed her head down between her knees. Hannah stared at the tan carpet inches from her nose. Zach avoided tan like the plague. Had almost a love affair with plaid, the bigger the stripes the better. Surely her dad’s brother—

Her thoughts fractured then, and she pushed against Zach’s hold. He let her sit up again.

“You okay?” his tone was gruff, his gaze worried.

She nodded. Managed a shy smile for Ellie, then looked at the other man in the room. A bit taller than Zach, and of course, older. Looked like him, but didn’t. It was the eyes she decided. They had the look of someone who’d taken the long, hard road and still hadn’t found real peace. Maybe never would.

“Hi,” she managed, blinking a bit.

Charlie grinned. “Hey.”

Hannah looked at Ellie again. “Wow. No wonder—” she stopped, not sure how Ellie felt about not being unique.

Ellie sighed ruefully. “Yes. It was rather a shock when we realized Nell had come here to live.”

“Did you know where—” she stopped again, so many questions crowding her throat.

“No.” The shadows in her eyes deepened. “We cut off all contact. We—it was the only way. Or so it seemed then.”

The sound of the words was less certain than the words themselves. For an instant Hannah thought she saw Ellie’s personal hell in her eyes.

“No,” Hannah agreed, comfort the goal, though she didn’t actually know how to give it. “Though maybe someone should have told Nell…”

“Bit of a shock when we saw her picture in an online magazine article,” Charlie agreed.

“She’s very good.” Wow, that was lame and earned her a look from Zach that confirmed lame.

“Of course she is,” Charlie said, almost protectively.

“Does she…”

“Not yet,” Ellie said. Her lips twisted. “We got here the week the shooting started.”

“I think she’d be relieved—” Hannah stopped again. Sarah thought she’d be glad to have a law abiding grandma, except—could they tick off the law-abiding box when they’d faked deaths and identities? Hidden for years and years? Of course, they had better reasons than Nell’s other relatives for their law skirting activities. “There was a lot…going on.”

Zach rolled his eyes, and Charlie and Ellie seemed amused. It helped focus her thoughts some. “Why am I here?”

“That’s a good question,” Zach growled, shooting his brother one of his looks.

Interesting that it bounced off. Hannah would take that class if Charlie offered it.

Charlie didn’t speak. He looked at Hannah, not Zach, one brow arching.

“You need my help.” She held up a hand when it looked like Zach was going to protest. “I’m actually pretty good at what I do, Zach. But this—” she gestured with her hands, “isn’t usually what I do.”

“And yet here you are, not doing what you usually do,” Charlie said. He waited until Ellie sank into a chair, then sat in the chair opposite Hannah. “Sit down, Zach.”

To Hannah’s surprise, he did. This was a new side of her dad, the sibling side, she realized. She’d heard just that tone in Alex’s voice a time or three million.

Charlie, as if he felt the questions trying to scramble out her mouth, held up a hand. “I know it’s not fair, but we need to know what you know.”

Not fair, but life seldom was. “Did you become a cop, too?” she asked, before she thought about it.

Charlie looked amused, but just shook his head. “Later. If there’s time.”

It felt like a cloud moved across the high, hot sun.

“I don’t
know
that much,” she said.

“You know more than you think you do, or they wouldn’t be having you followed,” Charlie pointed out.

“What—”

“I’m fine, Zach.” She covered his clenched fists with her hand and squeezed. “Later I’ll tell you how I lost them.” She grinned and saw the reluctant twitch at the edges of his mouth. “I’m not sure the tails are related to you two.”

“But you’re not sure they aren’t,” Ellie said.

“I’m not sure of anything,” Hannah admitted. Charlie arched his brows skeptically. “Feelings aren’t facts.”

Charlie grinned, slanting his little brother an ironic look. “Well, give us the facts you
feel
are important.”

Hannah considered this. “Well, it started with the coffins. You know you’re going to have to explain that, don’t you?”

Ellie laughed. “That was Toni’s idea. None of us thought they’d bury the coffins without looking inside. It was so…convenient.”

“Maybe they wanted to believe it?” Hannah said. “So the ring, if they noticed it, was meant to be a slap in the face to—” she stopped as the shadow came back to Ellie’s eyes but her jaw firmed.

“He ran Charlie off. I wanted him to know we found each other, that his daughter didn’t want him either. I wanted to hurt him.” She looked sad. “Now it doesn’t seem to matter that he never got the message. Age tends to reorganize your priorities.”

Hannah felt the question hovering but couldn’t get it out.

As if she’d asked, Charlie shook his head. “I, we, didn’t kill him.”

Zach gave him a very cop look, which made Charlie’s gaze turn stern.

“If I’d been gonna do it, I’d have done it then. But we didn’t,” he repeated. “He wasn’t worth it then. Not worth it now.” He met Zach’s gaze. “I told you that back then.”

Hannah felt a sort of sigh go through her at the look on Zach’s face. “So you did help them.”

That made the cop look leave. Charlie bit back a grin.

“Did you know they’d come back?” she asked Zach, who shifted uncomfortably.

“He didn’t,” Ellie said firmly.

“But you guessed?”

“I wondered. All the publicity—I figured they’d show up at some point.”

Ellie looked sad. “Maybe we shouldn’t have, but to
see
—we didn’t know about Toni, not until—”

Charlie took her hand and lifted it to his mouth. The look they exchanged shouldn’t have had an audience.

“Girl needed to know—well, she needed to know,” Charlie said heavily.

“We’ve been hoping things would calm down. We don’t want to make it harder for her.” She looked down for a few seconds, then back up at Hannah. “And, well, we weren’t sure she’d want to see us. We—all of us—let her down. Put her in danger. And there was…Bett.”

Charlie’s hand tightened on her. “In hindsight, the message we left was a very bad idea.”

“I told you that at the time,” Zach growled.

“What were you afraid he’d do?” Hannah asked. It was such old news. Then she got it. “Nell? His own granddaughter?”

“If he thought he could punish me? He didn’t know her.” The shadows in her eyes deepened. “His love for Toni wasn’t healthy. She belonged to him. I belonged to him. And we both betrayed him. He was just waiting. Biding his time.”

“Is that why you took the ring?” Hannah asked.

Charlie nodded. “Why didn’t you log it in?”

“She was afraid it would create trouble for Zach, of course,” Ellie said impatiently.

“Would it have?”

Charlie hesitated. “Maybe. If he thought Zach helped Ellie? Then yeah, it would have.”

“What I don’t get, why the brick?”

Charlie and Ellie exchanged puzzled looks. He said, “Brick?”

“Someone stole a brick from one of the coffins.”

Charlie looked interested in that. “They must think that’s where—” he glanced at Ellie, who hesitated, then nodded. “—we hid the proof.”

“The sheets of code?” Hannah asked. Ellie nodded.

“I stole them for Toni, as protection for when—I thought he’d guess, but the papers would keep him in check.” Ellie looked puzzled. “Why take a brick from a coffin?”

Zach and Charlie both frowned, obviously thinking. Finally Zach said, “Maybe one of them wanted the other to think they had found it?”

“Assuming any of them still cared,” Charlie said.

“They were still interested enough to insist on representatives when the coffins were opened,” Hannah said. “What are they?”

“It’s some kind of agreement to kill Zafiro, or proof of it, I think. I just heard bits and pieces. I wasn’t supposed to know, of course. The papers, were in some kind of code to protect each of them from each other. And the rings each had a piece of the solution to the code, part of the key, he said, engraved on them. I took them because I could tell he was afraid of losing it.”

“There’s no statue of limitations on murder,” Hannah said.

“Everyone knew they’d killed Zafiro,” Zach said, “but there was never any proof. We all wondered why they were so eager to get along.”

“That would explain why they were stolen,” Hannah said, thinking out loud and forgetting they didn’t know. “But not by who…”

Ellie’s shoulders dropped a little. “So they are gone.”

“Frank made copies.” Hannah watched them saw them exchange looks.

“But without the rings?” Charlie looked grim.

“Frank probably had photographs taken of at least one of them…” She hoped. “These days, with computers, even a portion of the key might be enough. We’d need someone with real expertise to look at it. I’ll email Frank and see if he found someone. He was looking.”

“I’m surprised they trusted each other with anything,” Zach growled. “Only one it could affect now is Aleksi Afoniki.”

“I’m not so sure. There was some kind of trigger—that’s what Bett called it—if one of them died,” Ellie said. “They rose and fell together. Until the end.”

“So it might still bring the heirs down?” Hannah’s eyes widened. That was a reason for all of them to have her followed. They’d be afraid of what she’d found. And what she might do with it. Except—someone did know she didn’t have it. Because they had it. And at least one of the mob rings.

“I wonder if Helenne found out about it and that’s why she had Phineas killed?” Zach looked thoughtful. “And possibly why she went after Nell. She wouldn’t want anyone stealing her thunder.’

Hannah wished Ferris was here, while being glad he wasn’t. Hard not to shudder at the thought of Zach opening the door to them both. “Aleksi Afoniki is the last one standing and he’s got a couple of feet in the grave. I guess Helenne could have—but I don’t understand why he, Bettino,” Hannah said awkwardly, “would make the same mistake as Phineas St. Cyr? He told his bodyguards to wait by the car. If you believe them.”

“Bett wouldn’t have crossed the street to meet Helenne,” Ellie said with conviction.

Hannah hesitated, then said, “Would he have come to meet you?”

She didn’t answer right away. Hannah was impressed. She sensed Charlie wanted to jump in, but Ellie shook her head. “Yes. He would. He wouldn’t be afraid of me either.” She looked up, met Hannah’s steady gaze. “And I can’t prove I wasn’t there.”

“As she said, Aleksi is the only one left with skin in the game,” Charlie said, his tone suggested they’d been arguing about this.

“He wouldn’t know how to lure Bett out into the open. I think it was a woman,” Ellie said. “Bett would never have feared a woman.”

“Was there another woman from back then?”

Three heads turned toward her.

“It’s really the only thing that makes sense. Or at least a viable possibility. All of this is, has been about the past. We—I wondered about a new old player. Or an old, unknown player. When I wasn’t sure you were, you know, alive to be the ones.”

Charlie looked at Ellie, then at Zach. “I wasn’t in position to know who Bett might have dated.”

“He wasn’t faithful, if that’s what you’re wondering, I never knew—didn’t care enough to find out. It was a relief when he looked elsewhere.”

“Zach?” Hannah looked at her dad.

Zach frowned. “The only one who might have known is Curly—William Gastonieau.” Charlie looked a question. “He was my partner. He’d be in jail, but he’s in a coma. Had a stroke.”

“He tried to kill Nell,” Hannah explained. She didn’t make the mistake of patting Zach’s hand this time. That wound ran deep. Sadly, crooked cops were not that rare back then.

“I can see what I can find out,” Zach said in a particularly expressionless voice, “he might have had someone, but why she would—”

Hannah felt Charlie’s gaze on her and looked up.

“What do you
feel
, Hannah?”

The question wasn’t sarcastic, but there was a hint of humor in it. She didn’t speak for almost a minute, but only Zach shifted as if impatient.

“Old…cold…” she finally said. “It’s an old, cold case that doesn’t feel old or cold. It feels…like it’s about to explode.”

D
unstead dialed
the broad’s number. When she answered, when he was sure it was her, he said, “You’ll want to keep track of the news today.”

He hung up without waiting for answer. He turned to his guy. Smiled. “Let’s get something to eat,” he said. “Some place quiet, where they have a TV.”

His guy grinned, exposing the gap in his teeth. It was a pity this would be his last meal. Good help was hard to find. He wouldn’t make the same mistake as last time. No one could say he didn’t learn. He thought about the broad. He wouldn’t feel sorry when he shut her mouth. Hadn’t taken him long to realize that she had a whole lot of crazy under that smile. Whole lot—

He frowned as something in his head twitched again. Like an itch that wouldn’t be scratched….

H
annah’s pace
might have lagged a bit as she followed Zach to his car. Questions simmered in the air between them. Actually, they were almost at boiling point. His problem? She had questions, too, lots of them. They hadn’t gotten through even half of the information that needed to be exchanged when she’d got called from work. Apparently her “I’ll be a little late” had gone on a little too long.

She needed time to process. It was how she handled, well, everything. Take information in. Ponder it. Process it. Arrange it in manageable order. Only she wasn’t going to get that time. Hadn’t gotten processing time for days, or so it felt.