“What’s this about, Tobias? It’s kinda late. Can we do this tomorrow at a more civilized hour? I’m having my dinner.”
Sophia Tanner stood in her front door, blocking the way into her home. And she was hurling every reason she could think of to avoid what was coming. Tomorrow morning might be more civil, Jessie thought, but nothing about this case would even remotely resemble civilized.
“Sorry, Sophia. This can’t wait. May we come in?” Chief Cook didn’t wait for her answer but took a step into her home, and she backed away.
“But I . . . I’d really rather not . . .”
When Cook didn’t take no for an answer, Jessie was close on his heels and stood by him in the living room as the police chief took charge.
“Do you know any reason why Tyrell Hinman was following Ms. Beckett?”
“Tyrell? I don’t know. Why would he? And why are you asking me?” The woman’s face looked all pious and indignant, but she had a nervous twitch to her eyes that contradicted everything out of her mouth.
“I’m just gonna say this, so we can cut to the chase.” Cook pointed Sophia Tanner to a chair, and said, “You better sit.”
“Tobias, you’re scaring me. What’s this about?” Her voice cracked, and she fanned her face like she was about to faint.
“I asked you this before, but now I’ve got to know the truth.”
“Are you insinuating that I . . .”
“Stop this, Sophia.” Cook raised his voice and glared at her. When her eyes grew wide, Jessie knew the chief had her attention. “Just so you know, Tyrell has told me everything. But I told him I wanted to hear your side of it before I pressed charges against the two of you.”
Jessie had to admit that Cook had a real folksy way of interrogating that reminded her of old Columbo reruns. He laid on a liberal dose of small-town cop and mixed it with street smarts that came from years of experience. He pretended that he knew more than he did to get her to open up. And from what she saw on Sophia Tanner’s face, his tactic was working.
“Charges? What charges?” Mrs. Tanner slumped back in her chair and heaved a sigh. “Please don’t arrest Tyrell. He only did what I asked him to do.”
“I’m listening,” Cook said.
“I only wanted to know what she was up to, that’s all.” Mrs. Tanner finally turned her attention on Jessie. “You’re not an investigator helping with an old case. You’ve got a personal stake in this, don’t you?” Mrs. Tanner raised her chin in defiance. “I asked Tyrell to do me a favor. He really didn’t do any harm.”
“But how did you know I was coming to La Pointe?” Before the woman answered, Jessie cocked her head. “Maybe I should rephrase that. The fact that I was coming here wasn’t the important thing. You knew why I was coming, didn’t you? Tyrell told you about the DNA report from the crime lab. That’s what triggered all this, but why was I such a threat to you?”
Jessie had made a leap in logic about the DNA analysis, but it made sense. And when Sophia Tanner didn’t correct her, she knew she’d guessed right about how she’d found out about the lab results. But the woman was hiding something more than getting a deputy and former coworker to do her a favor.
“Threat? You’re no threat to me. I was just curious, that’s all,” the woman protested, but Jessie had a hard time believing her. And so did Chief Cook.
“Tyrell tampered with evidence when he took that interview of yours,” the chief said, making a leap of his own that surprised Jessie. “I’d seen that original report years ago, but it’s gone now. Why did you have him take it from evidence, Sophia?”
“Tyrell had nothing to do with that. I’d taken it years ago, when I worked at the station. I don’t want him charged for something I did.”
“But why? I mean, you gave that interview. Why hide it now? What was in it that you were so afraid of?” Jessie had to ask the question, but after thinking about Sophia’s part in all this, she played a hunch. “You saw the kids at the DeSalvo place. You saw me, didn’t you? You were the closest neighbor. What did you see, Mrs. Tanner?”
“My interview didn’t have anything in it. I only said what everyone else did. With me living so close, I figured that’s what folks would expect. And not saying anything about the children would’ve raised suspicion.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re hiding something.” Jessie had to work hard at keeping her voice calm and steady. All she really wanted to do was yell.
When the woman couldn’t look her in the eye and kept her mouth shut, Jessie took a deep breath and tried talking to her another way. She knelt at the woman’s feet and touched her hand.
“I had my childhood taken from me . . . by a man who tortured and abused helpless little girls.” Jessie’s voice cracked. “That man took me from my family, a family I’ve never known. And all I have left is proof that I have a brother. And I think you know something about what happened to us. Why won’t you help me?”
Sophia Tanner put a trembling hand to her lips. And tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I want to help. Believe me, I do. But I just can’t.”
“You’re protecting someone. Why?” Jessie pressed her for more. “You know something about what happened to Angela, don’t you?”
“No”—the woman shook her head—“not really.”
She’d pushed Sophia Tanner as far as she would go. Jessie saw it in her eyes. The woman was protecting someone very important to her. And no matter what happened because of her meddling, she didn’t look as if she’d say anything more unless she was given no choice.
Chief Cook must have realized that, too.
“I know what you’re hiding, Sophia.” His expression softened, and so did his voice. “You may as well tell us what you know. All I need is a court order, compelling you to provide me a DNA sample. Is that how you want him to find out?”
Sophia Tanner’s eyes watered as she gasped. She crossed her arms and rocked where she sat, muttering things Jessie didn’t understand.
“Him? Can someone clue me in?” Jessie asked.
Cook didn’t answer her. He stared at Sophia, waiting for her to break the strained silence. It didn’t take long for that to happen.
“You were right about Tyrell telling me about that DNA. He was just passing the time, thought I’d be interested since I used to be Angela’s neighbor. But when he told me, I lost it. I just knew someone would put two and two together. And I couldn’t let that happen. I told him what . . . what I did. He was only trying to help me . . . protect someone. It wasn’t his fault.”
Sophia grasped Jessie’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m just so tired. This has been such a burden. I was only trying to . . . do the right thing.”
“I can see that, but please . . .” Jessie begged. “I have to know what happened.”
“You have to promise me that you’ll listen to everything I have to say. Please.”
“I promise.”
Jessie could’ve backed off and sat on the sofa, but she didn’t want to sever the tie she had to the only woman who might know anything about her brother. She was so close to knowing something real that she felt a mounting ache in her belly when Mrs. Tanner opened her mouth to speak again.
“Angela had always been a little standoffish. Like I’d said before, we were never close. I’d talk to her, but she hardly ever offered anything personal back. It was like she was hiding from something . . . or someone,” Mrs. Tanner began. “But one day, a man showed up. I saw him from my bedroom window. He had two children with him. And when he showed, Angela argued with him. They yelled so loud that I almost heard what they said, but they were too far away.”
Jessie could have accused her of not reporting vital evidence, but instead of pointing the finger, she focused on the one thing she thought Mrs. Tanner would respond to.
“I bet those kids were scared, seeing them argue like that.” Jessie tightened her grip on the woman’s hand. “Was I scared, Mrs. Tanner? Was my little brother scared, too?”
“Yes, you were, at first. But when Angela let him into her house, I figured it was a lovers’ quarrel, and everything had blown over. She took you kids in, and everything seemed all right.”
“But it wasn’t all right, was it?”
“No, it wasn’t. And I was afraid for you kids. I began to watch that house. Angela’s visitor scared me. He never acted like any father I ever saw. He ignored the little boy, but he never let you out of his sight. I thought that was strange.”
Jessie shut her eyes, blocking out the images that were flooding her mind, dark memories of Millstone. She had to strain to hear Mrs. Tanner go on.
“Then one day that man’s car was gone. I watched and waited to see Angela, but when I saw that precious boy wandering in the field between our two houses without Angela or that man around, I rushed to get him.” When she shook her head and dropped her chin, a tear made a glistening trail down her face. “His little pajamas were covered in blood . . . so much blood. And he was hysterical, crying real hard. I knew something terrible had happened.”
“Did you call the police?” Jessie turned to Chief Cook. “I thought a yardman had found her and called it in.”
Before the chief could speak, Mrs. Tanner broke in.
“I grabbed that boy and held him in my arms until he calmed down. All I could think about was you. I had to know you were all right.” She clenched her jaw and took a deep breath before she went on. “But by the time I got to Angela’s property, the police were already there, and it looked real bad. I don’t know why I did it, but I clung to that little boy. We hid in the bushes, with me rocking him to sleep in my arms. I hid and watched what the police were doing. I swear, I figured you were all right . . . that they had you, but when I read about the murder in the papers, they never mentioned finding a little girl.”
“The police were right there. You could’ve told them what you saw.” Although questions flooded Jessie’s head, one weighed heavier on her mind. “What happened to the boy?”
It took Mrs. Tanner a long time to answer. She sobbed and looked at Chief Cook, who looked miserable with sympathy for her. Cook knew something about what she was about to say. That was why he’d bluffed her into talking.
“That boy is grown up now. His name is Ethan and he lives in Alaska. He’s got a good job, and he’s happy.” Sophia Tanner’s eyes watered again. “I never told him what happened. I just couldn’t.”
“Why? He had a right to know.”
“That boy had a right to a normal life.” The woman raised her voice and glared with a newfound fire in her eyes.
When Jessie glanced at Chief Cook with a puzzled look on her face, he obliged her with an answer.
“Ethan Tanner. He’s her son,” he said.
Jessie collapsed back on her haunches and pulled her hand from Sophia Tanner’s. And without thinking, she stood and looked at every photo the woman had displayed in her living room—seeing her brother’s face for the first time.
In one, he had a white communion suit on. In another, he had cap and gown. Every photo told the story of his life as he grew up. He looked happy, and healthy, and whole. Jessie grabbed the most recent photo and held it in her hands. Her tears splashed onto the glass as she memorized his face and traced a finger down his cheek. He did look happy, and normal, and he was everything a little brother should be in a perfect world.
She clutched the framed photo to her chest and shut her eyes, feeling the sting of tears. If Sophia Tanner had gone to the police right away, Jessie might not have become one of Millstone’s victims. The police could’ve followed his trail sooner, but that would have meant Ethan would have grown up in the foster-care system like she had. And he would’ve suffered through years of therapy like she did, trying to erase the nightmare of witnessing a brutal murder. Sophia Tanner had done the wrong thing, but Ethan looked happy and normal—and loved.
Deep regrets found a dark corner in Jessie’s heart and made the tears come faster, but she had a hard time blaming someone who had raised her brother as if he were her own.
“I’m so sorry, honey. I wish I could have found you, too.” Mrs. Tanner’s voice broke through Jessie’s profound sense of grief.
“I couldn’t have children of my own. My husband had left me for someone who could. I felt like such a failure as a woman, but that day I had a little boy in my arms. A beautiful little boy. And it felt so good to hold him and smell his hair and feel his warm skin as he slept. I couldn’t give him up. I just couldn’t.”
“I knew Ethan wasn’t your son, Sophia,” Chief Cook said. “But you told everyone that a sister you had out of state had died and left him with you. Guess that was a lie.”
“I made up a story about having to leave town quickly. One of my sisters had been in a car accident. I told everyone that I stayed to get her affairs in order. So when I came back with Ethan, no one questioned that. And when I adopted him, no one questioned that either.”
Jessie kept her back to the woman, holding on to the photo of Ethan as Mrs. Tanner told the rest of her story. When the woman was done, Jessie turned to face her.
“I’d like his address.”
This time Sophia stood and shook her head.
“No. That’s not a good idea. I don’t want him to know who you are.”
“What?” Jessie wiped the tears off her face, glaring at the woman who had stolen her family. “He’s my brother. I have a right to see him.”
“You have to understand. It took years for his nightmares to stop. He’d cry himself to sleep and didn’t know why, but he was so little, I figured he’d forget. And eventually he did.”
“Trust me, he didn’t forget,” Jessie argued. “You can’t forget something like that. When I went into that house, I knew I’d been there before because I remembered. Flashes hit me, and I knew I’d been there. You don’t forget.”
“But don’t you see, you wouldn’t have known that if you hadn’t stepped foot into that house again. All that nasty business can become so . . . fresh, like an open sore that won’t heal. I’m asking you . . . no, I’m begging you. Forget you ever had a brother. I’ve been a good mother to him. I’m all the family he needs. He needs to forget more than he needs a sister like . . . you.”
Her words hung between them like a toxic cloud. By Sophia Tanner’s admission and a 95 percent DNA match, Jessie had a brother. She had finally found her family, but if she showed up on his doorstep, she could ruin his life. That was what it came down to.
Making any attempt to see Ethan Tanner would be a purely self-serving act. Sophia was right. Ethan didn’t need to find out he’d witnessed a murder and dredge up the nightmares she knew were only lying beneath the surface.
And he sure didn’t need a sister as messed up as she was.
Jessie left Sophia Tanner’s house feeling lower and in more emotional turmoil than when she’d walked in. And Chief Cook kept quiet, sensing her frustration. The only concession Mrs. Tanner made was letting Jessie keep the photo of Ethan. She carried it in her hands, held tight to her chest.
“If you want to talk to that boy, you let me know. He’s a grown man, old enough to make up his mind if he wants to see his own sister. Just say the word.”
Jessie hadn’t thought of Ethan’s being old enough, but Mrs. Tanner had made a good point. If Jessie cared what happened to her brother, making the decision to see him would take a lot more thought—and a damned good reason.
“Thanks, Tobias. I really appreciate your offer. And what you did in there, I’m grateful for that, too.” She sighed and stared up at the night sky. “But if I need to track down my brother, I can do that on my own. That’s what I do for a living, remember?”
“You promised to let me know who killed Angela, but I have a pretty good idea.”
“Yeah, thought you would.” Jessie forced a smile and turned toward him when she got to her car. “When Sophia talked about a man coming to see Angela, I figured you’d do the math. My friend Sam Cooper told me that she dug through the case. And in the updated records, they’d found that Millstone had a sister. And her first name was Angela.”
“Well, I’ll be.”
“They found that out sometime after the case went national, but it never made headline news. Danny Ray stole every bit of limelight the media had. His atrocities were more important than any convoluted family tree with no follow-up interviews when she couldn’t be found. Angela had run from her family, but she didn’t get away, apparently.”
“But if you weren’t related to him, how did you and your brother wind up in his car?”
“Sam has a lead on something that happened in Detroit a few days before Angela was murdered, but I don’t have my hopes up. She said that when a vagrant woman was arrested for drug possession, she made a claim that someone took her kids. CPD thought she was blowing smoke to distract from her possession charge, but she described the kids. And what she said matched our descriptions, but nothing ever came of it. She never pressed charges, which says it all.”
“And since I never got a missing-persons hit on Ethan’s DNA through NCIC, I doubt you’ll find anything now,” Cook said. “But you don’t remember anything about where you came from? I can see Ethan not remembering, but you were older.”
“No. The only way I survived Millstone was to zone out. It took me years to remember things. And I get flashes from time to time, nightmares mostly.”
“I hate to say this, but maybe Ethan can recall something you can’t.”
“Yeah, maybe. But I can’t see using him to find my answers. If there’s a chance I could trigger a lifetime of bad memories for him, that would kill me.”
“I’m sorry, Jessie. Wish things had turned out better for you, but I appreciate your help on my case. And at least now you know you have a brother. That’s got to count in the win column.”
“Yeah, it does.” She nodded and filled her lungs with cool night air. “You’re a good man, Tobias, but I’ve gotta tell ya. I’d never play poker with you.” She forced a smile. “See you around.”
Jessie got in her car, knowing Chief Cook was right. Finding out she now had a brother living in Alaska counted for a lot. She had ties to the Alaska State Troopers, through retired trooper, Joe Tanu. If she wanted to locate her brother, she could call Joe and find Ethan in a New York minute, but would that be the right thing to do?
Nothing in Jessie’s life had ever been easy. Easy was for sissies.
Next day
The drive back from Wisconsin would have dragged on forever except that she filled her thoughts with the images of Ethan growing up. She pictured herself at his graduation and imagined whole scenarios in her head where she played the part of his big sister, giving him advice that he’d roll his eyes at.
Filling her mind with those kinds of memories were better than the ones she had—the gaps, the nightmares, and the flashes of new horrors that she knew were coming from Angela DeSalvo’s house. Angela had been the only memory she had of a mother, but after she’d learned the truth, those memories would be tainted. The woman had tried to take care of them, but she never got the chance. And Jessie had to remind herself that Angela hadn’t done the one thing she should have.
She should have called the police.
By the time Jessie got to Chicago and pulled into the underground parking of Seth’s building, she couldn’t wait to see Harper. She found her heart racing, just thinking about him. And when she got out of her rental car, she didn’t even take her bag. She left it in the car and ran to Seth.
When he answered the door, with Floyd grinning at his feet, she flung herself into his arms and breathed him in.
“Ah, Jessie, I missed you, too. I’m glad you’re home.” He nuzzled her neck, and she felt his sweet breath on her skin. In his arms, she felt warm and safe—and loved.
“Home.” She said the word, getting used to it. “Yeah, I’m home.”
When Seth said the word “home,” it sounded damned good coming from his lips. It gave her the courage to say what she’d come to tell him.
“I’m moving back to Chicago. And if the offer is still good, I want to make a home . . . with you. I love you, Seth.”
He grinned and wrapped her in his arms. “Yeah, the offer’s good. Are you kidding? I love you, too, Jess.”
Jessie hadn’t grasped before how much it meant for her to have a family, but on her drive down to Chicago, she realized she already had one.
“You’re all the family I need, Harper.”
Flashes of her brother’s face melded into the many memories she’d already built with Harper, with more to come. And for the first time in a long while, Jessie was truly happy.