Twisted Paths (13 page)

“Aye, you can,” Ian said.

“Maggie, I think you have some apologizing to do,” Mike said.

She nodded and started forward until she saw Bradley.  Then she froze in her steps and tears formed in her eyes. Bradley stood up and walked over to her. Maggie’s eyes followed him and she gulped when he stood towering over her. “Maggie, I’m glad you came,” he said, “And after you talk with Clarissa, I’d like to speak to you.”

Eyes as wide as saucers, she bobbed her head up and down, she slipped past him and hurried over to Clarissa.

Mary joined the men near the staircase, so the two girls could have their privacy. 

“I’ll go upstairs and see if I can’t make myself busy for a while,” Ian said with a sympathetic smile and then he whispered to Bradley, “Don’t be too hard on the lass, she’s feeling a wee bit replaced.”

Bradley nodded in agreement. “Yes, I know,” he whispered back. “I won’t terrorize her, I promise.”

“Aye, then I’m off,” Ian replied. “Call me when it’s safe to come down.”

In a few minutes, the girls were laughing and hugging each other.  It seemed to the adults standing by the door that the issues had been resolved and their feelings were confirmed when Clarissa looked over at them, smiling broadly and said, “We’re still the ‘doption girls, ‘cept we’re going to have a new name.”

“That’s a great idea,” Mary said. “What’s your new name?”

Clarissa and Maggie glanced at each other and giggled. “Mike’s girls,” they said together.

Mike grinned broadly. “I think that’s the best name I’ve ever heard.”

“That’s great,” Bradley agreed. “But now Maggie and I need to have a conversation.”

“Uh, oh,” Clarissa said.

“Come on, Clarissa,” Mary said. “Let’s go upstairs so you can change your clothes.”

“Do you want me to stay?” Mike asked.

Bradley shook his head. “No, this is just between Maggie and me,” he said.

When they were alone, Bradley walked over and sat down at the kitchen table next to Maggie. The chair scraped the floor as he pulled it out and Maggie jumped in her chair.

“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” Bradley said. “I just wanted to clear some things up between us.”

She nodded her head, but kept her eyes focused on the table.

“Maggie, you have played such an important part in my life and in Clarissa’s life,” he said. “I just wanted to thank you and let you know that you will always hold a special place in my heart.”

Her head jerked up and she stared at him. “What?”

“You helped Clarissa when she lived here in Freeport by telling her what her mom wanted her to know,” he said. “And then you told Mary and me about her, so we could find her. You helped us save Clarissa.  We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“You couldn’t?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, you are a very important part of our team,” he said. “You’re like part of our family – just like Ian and Mike are. I hope you always remember that.”

“I’m part of your team?” she asked.

He nodded. “Oh, yes, you’re very important to us and I will never forget how much I owe you for what you did.”

She looked back at the table for a moment. “I thought you’d forget about me, ‘cause you had Clarissa.”

Bradley put his hand on Maggie’s shoulder and waited until she looked up at him. “Maggie, I could never forget about you,” he said.

“Are you mad at me?” she asked.

“No, I’m not mad,” he replied. “But I really didn’t like what you said to Clarissa. It made her sad. And if we’re a team, we shouldn’t make each other sad.  We should be working hard to make each other happy.”

She nodded. “I’ll work hard to make us happy,” she said. “And I won’t make Clarissa sad, so she talks to the strange man in the playground ever again.”

Bradley froze. “What strange man?”

Chapter Twenty-seven

“Clarissa!” Bradley called from the bottom of the stairs.

Mary and Mike looked at each other from across Clarissa’s room.

“He doesn’t sound very happy,” Clarissa said, as she closed her dresser drawer.

Mary shook her head. “No, he doesn’t,” she said, as she picked up Clarissa’s coat and began to hang it up. “He almost sounds…”

She stopped as an envelope fell out of the pocket on to the floor. She bent to pick it up and saw it was addressed to Bradley. “What’s this?” she asked Clarissa.

“Ohhhhhh,” she replied.

Mary walked back across the room, leaving the coat lying over a chair. “Oh?”

“A strange man talked to me at recess,” she said. “And he told me to give the letter to my daddy.”

“When did that happen?” Mike asked. “Where was I?”

“You were talking to Maggie,” Clarissa explained. “He was only there for a few minutes.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t see him,” Mike said.

Mary put her arm around Clarissa’s shoulders. “Well, let’s go downstairs and give this to you daddy,” she said. “I have a feeling it’s not going to make him much happier.”

They met Bradley at the foot of the stairs. “Where’s Maggie?” Clarissa asked.

“I walked her home,” Bradley said. “She had homework to do. But she told me that at recess you walked away from her and spoke to a strange man.”

Clarissa nodded her head. “When I was mad at Maggie, I walked away to the other side of the playground. A man was on the other side of the fence and he talked to me.”

“What did he say to you?” Bradley asked, his heart pounding.

“He gave her this letter,” Mary interjected.

Bradley looked up, surprised. “You knew?”

Mary shook her head. “No, I just found the letter when I was hanging up her coat,” she replied. “She forgot about it with all of the problems with Maggie.”

Bradley took the letter from Mary and held it over a lamplight. “There doesn’t seem to be anything in it but paper,” he said.

“Oh, I hadn’t even thought…,” Mary said, chastising herself mentally.

“Do you have any gloves?” Bradley asked.

“Ian does,” she said.

She called up to Ian and he quickly came down carrying a pair of latex gloves. “What’s going on?” he asked. 

“A strange man spoke with Clarissa in the school yard,” Mike said. “He gave her a letter for Bradley.”

“You’ve checked it for chemical agents?” Ian asked.

“I held it over the light,” Bradley said. “There doesn’t seem to be anything inside but paper.”

“Aye, but if you think we’re dealing with Gary Copper, he’s a might smarter about his poisons,” he said. “It might not be a powder. It could be something sprayed on the paper.”

“What are you thinking?” Mary asked.

Ian shrugged. “Well, if I was wanting someone to die a slow and painful, though hard to detect, death, I might consider ricin.”

Bradley dropped the envelope on the table and stepped back. “Okay, Professor, you’re the expert. What’s next?”

Ian slipped on the gloves and picked up the envelope. He turned it around and examined it. “You’ll note that he took the time to not only seal the envelope, but also to tape it over,” he said. “So it wouldn’t be easy for Clarissa to open it and check what’s inside. My best guess is that if there is poison, it would be inside the envelope. But we might be able to see if there are traces on the outside.”

“Shouldn’t we call someone?” Mary asked.

“Well, not until we’re sure,” Ian said. “We just have to do a quick fluorescence to see if we can pick anything up.”

“A quick fluorescence?” Mike asked. “What the hell is that?”

“Angels aren’t supposed to say that word,” Clarissa corrected.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Mike replied. “What the
heck
is that?”

 “Come on up to my laboratory,” he said, “I’ll show you.”

He led them upstairs to his bedroom.  Mary was shocked to see the variety of electronic equipment sitting on folding tables throughout the room.  There were computers attached to other machines attached to control boards attached to monitors.

“So this is why the electric bill has hit the roof,” she said, looking around. “And I thought it was because I left my curling iron on.”

He grinned at her. “Don’t worry, darling, I’ll reimburse you.”

Hurrying across the room to one of the desks, he pressed a button and the lid of a plastic box opened with a hiss, breaking the air tight seal. He placed the envelope inside the box and sealed it tightly. 

Pulling up a chair next to the desk, he opened another smaller box that was situated next to the first one.  A small round tube connected the boxes together, creating an airway between them. Halfway up the wall of the second box was a small plastic bowl, attached by an axle to a lever on the outside.  Ian opened a dark-colored bottle and poured liquid into the bottom of the small box. Then he opened a metal container and carefully scooped out a small amount of the powder inside and placed it in the bowl.  He closed the container and then sealed the lid of the box.

When he turned the lever, the powder fell down onto the liquid and immediately a gas cloud formed inside the chamber and moved through the tube into the plastic box containing the envelope.

“This is what we call the immunoassay,” Ian said. “The chemical in the chamber floats over to the box and binds itself to the chemical on the envelope. Then the magic happens.”

“Magic?” Clarissa asked.

He winked at her. “Yeah, magic,” he said. “Mary would you be a dear and close the door and turn out the light.”

 The room was dark for a moment and then Ian reached over and turned on a machine next to the box.  The green readout numbers glowed in the dark room.  Ian adjusted a few knobs and a moment later the envelope began to glow.

“We have a winner,” Ian whispered. “There is a strong possibility of ricin in the envelope. Now it’s time to call in your friends from the Health Department to get a hazmat team out here.”

Bradley pulled out his radio-phone and made the call.

Mary’s heart dropped and she hurried over to Ian. “What about Clarissa? She’s had that envelope in her pocket all afternoon.”

Ian turned to her. “There’s just a trace amount on the envelope,” he said, “just enough to implicate the contents, not enough to do her any harm.  Inhaling ricin is generally what kills people. It’s highly unlikely to absorb it through the skin.”

She relaxed and allowed her heart to return to normal for a moment. “He wanted to kill Bradley,” she said.

“That or scare him,” Ian agreed.

“Like the phone call,” she said.

“What phone call?” Bradley asked, as he hung up the phone.

“Crap,” Mary whispered.

She turned to Bradley. “There was a message on my office phone from Gary,” she said.

“And you didn’t call me immediately because…” he asked.

“I didn’t think it was important enough to bother you,” she said.

Bradley turned away from her and stared at the small glowing particles on the envelope. He knew he was angry and he was frightened. Gary Copper had been within touching distance of Clarissa today. He could have just as easily shot her as hand her this envelope.  He dragged his hand through his hair.  And Mary!  Didn’t want to bother him!! What the hell did she think was more important to him than her safety?  He took several deep breaths, but it didn’t work this time. This time it was too important and this time he was too emotionally involved.

He turned back and looked directly into Mary’s eyes. “I need to go downstairs and meet the hazmat team,” he said. "When I get back, we’ll talk.”

She nodded, feeling a pit grow in the middle of her stomach. “Bradley, I…”

Holding up his hand, he stopped. “Not now, Mary,” he said. “Please, just give me a little time to be able to think clearly.”

He turned to Ian. “Clarissa?”

“She’s fine, Bradley,” he assured her. “There wasn’t enough on the envelope to do her harm, but I’ll help Mary and we’ll wash her up.”

Finally, he knelt down next to Clarissa. “How are you?” he asked.

“I’m sorry I made you angry,” she replied.

Sighing slowly, he pulled her against him and hugged her. “I’m not angry with you,” he said. “I was worried because that man could have hurt you and I don’t want anything to happen to you. Do you understand?”

She nodded against him. “I won’t ever go by the playground fence again,” she promised. “And I’ll never, ever talk to the strange man again.”

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said. “Now go with Ian and Mary.”

He stood up, turned away from Mary and left the room.

“He’s pretty mad at you,” Clarissa said, as they listened to him walk down the stairs.

Mary nodded slowly. “Yes, I think he is,” she replied.

“‘Cause he worries about you too?” she asked.

“Yes, that’s exactly why,” she replied. “And he wants to protect us.”

“That’s good, right?” Clarissa asked.

Smiling ruefully, Mary nodded, “Yes, sweetheart, that’s good.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

The leader of the hazmat team was actually a man Mike had worked with years ago at the fire department. “We used to call him Meticulous Matt,” Mike said, “This guy follows the book completely and does a good job.”

He came up the stairs, dressed in his hazmat equipment, and met with Ian who explained the test he ran on the envelope.  Matt took detailed notes and finally, once Ian had explained everything asked, “And what are you doing with this kind of equipment in a residential home?”

“Yep, this is where Scottie tells them he’s a ghost buster and has ectoplasm in his closet,” Mike said to Mary and Clarissa.

Clarissa giggled and Mike winked at her. Ian coughed, hiding his grin and turned back to the team. “I’m a professor from the University of Edinburgh. I’m here doing research through a fellowship with the University of Chicago,” he explained. “This is the equipment I need for testing and supporting my thesis.”

“What is the thesis about?” Matt asked.

“Oh come on, Matt,” Mike groaned, “I went to school with you, buddy. The only deep educational pursuits you had were classic graphic novels and that’s only because the babes were hot.  Who are you trying to kid?”

Ian had to cough again. “Aye, well it’s about preternatural phenomenon and electromagnetic residue,” he finally was able to say. “Have you heard of it?”