Jubilee's Journey (The Wyattsville Series) (26 page)

“Me?” Olivia gasped. “Why me?”

“Because it might be the right thing to do.”

The thought of a child like Jubilee having no one to love her was almost unthinkable, so Olivia pushed it to the back of her mind and finally agreed to let Mahoney question the children. “Just you,” she said, turning her back to Griffin. “No one else.”

“We’d be more likely to get at the truth if one of us talks to Ethan Allen and the other talks to the girl,” Mahoney argued, but Olivia stood firm on her decision and told him to come back at three-thirty when Ethan Allen got home from school.

As they left the building Griffin nodded knowingly to Mahoney. “Right,” Mahoney answered. They parked the car in front of the building and sat there waiting to catch Ethan Allen on his way home from school.

Twenty minutes later Mahoney spotted the boy coming down the street. He stepped out and called to him. After a few minutes of chit-chat about Dog and whether Cal Ripkin could carry the Senators to a winning season, Mahoney said, “This girl you brought home, how’d that come about?”

“Does Grandma Olivia know you’re here?” Ethan asked suspiciously.

“She sure does. She’s the one who said it’d be okay to talk with you.”

With the look of doubt spreading across his face, Ethan said, “Grandma wants me to tell you about that?”

“Honest. I was up there a few minutes ago, and she said ‘When Ethan gets home from school you can ask him.’”

“I don’t know.” Ethan shook his head. “That don’t sound like Grandma Olivia.”

“You think I’d lie?”

“I suppose not,” Ethan answered, but the expression on his face argued the point.

Trying to move back to the questions he had in mind, Mahoney said, “About this girl you brought home. She was just sitting on the bench across from Klaussner’s on the day of the shooting?”

“You’re sure Grandma Olivia said I’m supposed to talk about this?”

Mahoney nodded.

“I ain’t looking to get Jubie in trouble.”

“Nobody’s in trouble. I’m just trying to get the facts.”

Ethan shrugged as if he still had some doubt. “I’d feel a lot better about this if we was to check with Grandma first.”

“Okay,” Mahoney relented, “let’s go upstairs. That way I can talk with Jubilee also.”

“Who told you her name was Jubilee?” Ethan asked suspiciously.

“Your grandmother,” Mahoney answered, and the boy smiled.

When they arrived at the apartment, Clara and Fred McGinty were sitting on the sofa. Clara had a notepad and pencil in her lap, and McGinty had a camera.

“I have witnesses,” Olivia warned, “and as I said earlier I will not allow you to badger or scare Jubilee. Right now she has no family, and I feel it’s my responsibility to see to her well-being until we locate her aunt.”

“Agreed.” Detective Mahoney nodded.

Olivia disappeared into the bedroom and came back with the girl. After introducing her to the detective, she sat Jubilee between Clara and McGinty and told Ethan Allen to squeeze in alongside. Olivia sat in her silk chair, which left only the club chair on the far side of the seating arrangement for Mahoney.

He knew it would have been better if he could have sat alongside the girl, close up. He could tell when a person was lying, but across the room could be iffy. Mahoney began with cordialities meant to put the girl at ease.

“That’s a very pretty dress you’re wearing.”

“I got five more,” Jubilee answered, “and I got panties with—” She stopped when she saw Olivia frown and shake her head. That had been the plan. Jubilee was to watch Olivia—a nod meant it was okay to answer, a shake of the head indicated she shouldn’t answer. So far, so good.

The first few questions were about the missing aunt, and Olivia nodded for each one.  When Mahoney got to the part where he asked how she came to be sitting on the bench, she forgot to look at Olivia first and blurted out, “Paul told me to wait there.”

Olivia’s head was going back and forth like a tennis ball when Mahoney then asked if Paul was her brother. Jubilee saw Olivia’s head shake, turned to her, and asked, “Why ain’t I supposed to say Paul’s my brother?”

Rolling her eyes wearily, Olivia was pushed into saying, “Of course you can say Paul’s your brother. You should always tell the truth.”

“Oh, okay.” Jubilee stopped looking at Olivia’s nods and shakes and answered the rest of the questions. When Detective Mahoney asked if it was a customary thing for Paul to leave her alone that way, Jubie narrowed her eyes and said, “He don’t never leave me alone!”

“Why do you think he left you alone this time?”

“He had to do a job so we’d have money.”

“Were those Paul’s exact words? Did he say he had to do a job?”

“Yes!” she answered angrily. “He saw the sign!”

“What did the sign say?”

“It said working was for a lot of money.” Jubilee’s eyes began to fill with tears. “If you find Paul, tell him not to do working. I don’t want a sleeping room and good food.”

Ethan Allen spoke up. “If you’re figuring Jubie was in on that robbery, you’re figuring wrong. She didn’t have nothing to do with it.”

Mahoney asked several more questions. By then Olivia had given up trying to steer the conversation one way or the other, so Jubilee told the story pretty much as it happened. As he sat and listened it seemed the girl grew smaller, more vulnerable with each word. Even from clear across the room, he could see she spoke the truth—but he had yet to find out the brother’s intentions. 

By the time Mahoney stood to leave, Clara had scribbled five pages of notes and Fred had used up the entire roll of film. Ignoring both of them Mahoney walked over, knelt down in front of the girl, and lifted her hand into his.

“Jubilee,” he said, “I’m going to do everything possible to find your brother and your Aunt Anita.”

Before he left the building, Mahoney knew he had no choice but to keep the promise he’d made to Jubilee Jones. Unfortunately, it probably meant tangling with Hector Gomez again.

Olivia Doyle

I
should have realized Jubilee is too young to be devious, and Detective Mahoney is too smart to be fooled. I can’t be angry with the child, because all she did was tell the truth. I’ve always believed the truth can’t hurt you, but times like this I find myself doubtful.

If Jubilee’s brother was involved in the shooting, I’m hoping he’s the one who got away. Seeing a person you love go to prison would shatter the heart of a grownup; I can’t begin to imagine what it would do to a tiny little thing like Jubilee. I think it would be better for her to believe Paul ran off and is safe somewhere else than to know he’s locked up behind bars for shooting a man. I pray before any of this comes to pass Mister Mahoney will find this Aunt Anita so Jubilee can be with her. If a child has someone to love them, a family to call their own, hardships are easier to bear. If not easier, at least they’ve got a caring shoulder to cry on.

I suppose every nickel has its shiny side, and the shiny side of this one is getting rid of Jim Turner. Unfortunately, there’s also a second side, and right now it’s warning me that people like Jim don’t give up. They make you think they have, but if you could see inside their head you’d discover they’re just thinking of another way to come at you.

I’d like to believe I can stop worrying he’ll come knocking on my door again, but the sorry truth is that I’d better start worrying about finding Anita so Jubilee will be living with her when Jim  finally comes up with something else.

Verdict Before Trial

A
s soon as Mahoney settled himself in the car, Griffin asked how it had gone. Mahoney shrugged and didn’t answer for several minutes.

“After thinking about this,” he finally said, “I believe we’ve got to get involved.”

“It’s not in our jurisdiction,” Griffin warned. “We’ve got no authority.”

“I know.”

“The kid got to you, didn’t she?”

“Yeah.” Mahoney nodded. “But as I said before, there’s a lot going on here.”

Griffin turned onto the highway and headed for the ferry. Tomorrow was another day.

That evening Jack Mahoney took his wife and all three kids out for ice cream. After that they stopped down at the dock to do a bit of fishing.

“You’re being awfully patient with the children this evening,” Christine said. “Did you have an especially good day or something?”

“On the contrary,” Jack answered and left it at that.

After the rest of the family had gone to bed, Jack sat on the front porch pushing back and forth in an old rocking chair that had been there when they bought the house. In his mind he lined up his three children with scrubbed clean faces and shiny bright smiles, but before he could save the image a fourth child stepped into the picture: Jubilee Jones, a sad-eyed little girl who seemed as purposeful and determined as Olivia Doyle. No matter how many times he pushed her aside, she kept coming back. If he pictured his children reading a book or playing a game Jubilee was there on the sideline, not playing, but watching with melancholy blue eyes.

At twelve-thirty he tiptoed upstairs to check on the children. In the shadows of a darkened bedroom he thought he saw Jubilee sleeping between Sara and Jessica, but when he moved closer to look it was only Jessica’s brown teddy bear.

Jack got very little sleep that night, and by morning he had reached a decision. He was at the precinct waiting when Captain Rogers arrived.

“Got a minute?” Mahoney asked and followed Rogers into his office. Before the captain had time to set his coffee down on the desk, Jack launched into the argument he had spent the night thinking through.

“I know this is a little out of our jurisdiction, but I have reason to believe the missing woman is from this area.”

“A little out of jurisdiction?” the captain repeated. “It’s not even in the same county!”

“I know, but given the extenuating circumstances—”

“Hannigan is out sick and Peters is on vacation, so I’m already short two men.”

When it began to look like he was about to get a flat no, Mahoney played his ace. “I think this case might be related to the Doyle murders.”

“The Doyle murders?”

Mahoney nodded. “The Doyle file is missing from archives.”

“Hmm. Nobody signed it out?”

“Nope,” Mahoney answered. “Doesn’t that strike you as strange?”

It was bad enough to have one of their own involved in something like the Doyle murder cover-up. It was even worse to think there might be something else to come. “Okay,” the captain said, “you can go. But until you get something more, work it alone.” He agreed to make a few phone calls so Mahoney would be granted access to whatever the Wyattsville station had.

“This better not be a crapshoot,” he grumbled as Jack was leaving.