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AGENT MCKENNA INSTRUCTED us to get cleaned up and then join her at the sheriff’s station for a debriefing. We arrived at the station just in time to witness one of the biggest chewing outs I’ve seen Carter give someone. Well, not counting the numerous ones he’d given to the three of us the past six weeks I’d been in Sinful. It felt good to see someone else at the other end of his reprimand. And it couldn’t come to a more deserving person than Agent McKenna.
She was trying to ignore him by fixing a cup of coffee as he unleashed his anger.
“You should have called me!”
She slowly drizzled some cream into her cup. “There was no time.”
“Oh, there was plenty of time. You went into a dangerous situation without backup. You jeopardized the lives of Sinful residents by going to that house alone.”
She calmly stirred her coffee. “You’re low on cream.”
“Have you been listening to anything I’ve said?”
She put down the spoon and blew over her coffee. “How could I miss it? Deputy LeBlanc, I do apologize for not inviting you to take part in my arrest. I was on my way to the rental house to see if there was anything we missed and received word from my office to be on the lookout for a certain car with a certain license number. As I pulled up to the house, I saw that particular car, along with a certain beat up Cadillac—”
“Hey,” Gertie called out, offended.
Agent McKenna ignored her. “I instinctively ran to the house, fearing for the safety of those inside, when I heard voices coming from the neighbor’s yard. Things happened so quick...”
He cursed. Myrtle, sitting at the office desk, coughed.
He glanced over at her. “Sorry, Myrtle.” If only he knew how Myrtle cursed like a sailor when she was around Gertie and Ida Belle. He then pointed at Agent McKenna. “I’m lodging a complaint with the FBI office in New Orleans.”
“Please do. I have a reputation to uphold. In fact, they’ll probably be expecting the complaint. Now, may I speak with the three ladies in your office? Please?”
“I should be in there with them.”
“I’d rather you weren’t.”
He looked over at me. I smiled, but it did nothing to dampen his fury.
“Are you three okay?”
We nodded.
“Fine,” he said. “But if at any time one of you feels my presence could be helpful, give me a holler.”
We followed Agent McKenna back toward Carter’s office. He stopped me before I joined them. “You could have been killed by that woman.”
“What did Agent McKenna say happened?”
“She said she came upon the four of you and drew her weapon on Bernadette and then Cookie started firing her paintball gun.”
“Cookie fired the paintgun?”
“Yeah, I figured it was you.”
“Why would Agent McKenna lie about my involvement?”
“That’s what worries me.”
I moved toward his office to join the others.
“Don’t think I’m letting you all off the hook,” he said. “We’ll talk later about why you three went back into Cliff’s rental house.”
Hopefully Carter would be so happy to have Cliff in his possession he’d forgive us for breaking and entering a second time.
“Miss Morrow,” called Agent McKenna from Carter’s office, “if you’re done playing kissy face with the deputy, could you please join us?”
I wish I were playing kissy face. I smiled at Carter before stepping into his office and shutting the door. Agent McKenna gestured to a vacant chair in front of Carter’s desk, between Gertie and Ida Belle, then tapped her fingers on a small stack of manila file folders.
“My goodness. You gals have certainly had one eventful day, haven’t you? A wedding in the morning, aiding in the capture of a fake Russian spy in the late afternoon...”
“Excuse me,” Ida Belle said. “Fake Russian spy?”
Agent McKenna nodded. “So says one of the fake paramedics who kidnapped Cliff. I’ve never seen someone so eager to sell out the rest of his family. It seems Bernadette is the matriarch of a minor little crime syndicate that specializes in the trafficking of exotic animals. They’re not really Russian spies, although they are trying to establish themselves as sellers of high-tech secrets. They’d no doubt sell to the Russians if they got the right price. But they thought if Cliff believed they were Russian spies he’d be more afraid of them and do what they wanted.” She opened one of the file folders sitting on the desk. “Sure are a lot of people pretending to be someone they’re not. I wonder who else might be faking it?”
“Imagine that,” Gertie said. “Well, it’s certainly been an unusual day in our otherwise boring town. May we go now?”
“No, you may not.” Agent McKenna gestured to the file folders. “I’d say your town is anything but boring. There are quite a number of unusual events that have happened here in Sinful the past, oh I’d say five, six weeks. Right about the time you made your appearance, Miss Morrow. And in all of those cases, you were there,” she said, pointing to Ida Belle, “and you were there,” she said, pointing to Gertie, “and, well, you were there until it came time for the shooting to begin,” she said, pointing to me. “I wonder why it is that you magically disappear when one of the perps goes down.”
I shrugged pathetically. “Well, sad to say, I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to danger.”
“Word,” Gertie said.
“Really? Yet you rushed into the line of Bernadette’s fire and pushed the old lady out of the way. Then, in a move I used to teach at Quantico, you rolled away, holding the paintball gun and pelting my perp in the face. That doesn’t seem very wimpy to me.”
“I guess I was just lucky today. Trust me, I turned to Jell-O afterward. Scared the you-know-what out of me.”
“I’m thinking it probably didn’t. I’m thinking the type of move you made today you’ve made before. I’m thinking your friends are covering up for you.” She looked at Gertie, then Ida Belle. “I mean no disrespect to either one of you. Eyewitnesses have seen you taking out a number of these bad people. In fact, I suspect the two of you did more during the Vietnam War than just push papers.”
Gertie glanced at Ida Belle.
“I do my job, ladies. I’ve done a thorough background check on both of you.” She again pulled her gaze to me. “But not you. I don’t really think there’s much point to that, do you?”
I shook my head. “Nope. I’m pretty boring.”
“She is,” Gertie said. “I mean, we keep trying to liven her up a bit, but she’s pretty pathetic.”
“Oh, I bet a nine-millimeter perks her right up. Like the one she tossed on the ground.” Agent McKenna turned to me. “Was that part of the dress code at the library?”
“We taught her a few things,” Ida Belle said. “Remember, we told you how afraid she was of the alligators when she first got here? So, we gave her a gun and taught her how to shoot.”
Agent McKenna waved her off. “She’s been involved in every one of these shootings, and you’re just keeping her name out of it, is all.”
“Speaking of which,” I said, glaring at her, “why did you tell Carter that Cookie was the one who shot the paintball gun?”
She shrugged. “I figured if your two friends here and Deputy LeBlanc keep your name out of all these police reports, they must have a reason. A big reason.”
Ida Belle leaned into the desk. “She’s our late friend’s great-niece. It wouldn’t look good for a librarian to be involved in some of our messes. We wouldn’t want her to get fired.”
Agent McKenna smiled. “Then, neither do I.” She clasped her hands in front of her. “I have had an eventful day myself. As you know, we caught the phony paramedics. Funny how it went down. The sheriff’s department here received an anonymous call about two men involved in the abduction of Cliff Dow. Agents from my office apprehended them, noting that the tattoo on one of their hands matched the description Fortune gave to me earlier.
“Now, around the same time another tip came through, this one to the sheriff’s department in Mudbug. A strange call about a man running around with a chair strapped to him. We haven’t located the man with the chair. You have any idea where we could find him? Oh, and how did you know to go back to the rental house to find a notebook that Cliff was supposed to turn over to Bernadette’s crime family?” She waved her hand. “Oh what the hell? We’re on the trail of the rest of Bernadette’s clan. And, Cliff? He’ll show eventually, I’m sure of that. Something tells me he’ll be turned over to Deputy LeBlanc, who will turn him over to me. You’re free to go.”
The three of us hopped out of our chairs.
“Except you.”
I sighed and dropped back down.
Ida Belle sat as well. “We’re not leaving without Fortune.”
“Then sit out in the waiting room. I’d like to have a few words with her.”
I flicked my head at them. “I’ll be fine. Why don’t you show Carter the present we have for him in your trunk?”
They didn’t budge.
“Go and get my other perp!” Agent McKenna said. “I’d like to have a complete set to take back to New Orleans.”
I nodded, and they slowly left the room, shutting the door behind them.
Agent McKenna sat back in Carter’s chair and gazed at me.
I could feel my face flushing, so I gathered my long hair extensions and lifted them off my neck to cool myself down. After a few seconds I released my hair and finally broke the silence.
“Okay, so you’ve been looking at me the same way ever since I first met you.”
“And what way is that?”
“You look at me like you know me. But I don’t know you. So, whoever you think I am, I’m not.”
Her face softened, and a look of concern filled her eyes. “Are you in trouble, hon?”
Her question and concern took me aback. I shook my head. “Again, I’m not who you think I am.”
She smiled, pained almost, and took a sip of coffee. “Okay, I’ll take you at your word. But mind if I tell you a story about a friend of mine?”
I pulled in a deep breath and released it. “Knock yourself out.”
“She was my cousin. A couple of years younger than me. We were really close, as close as sisters. I was there for all the important events in her life as she was for me. When we graduated from high school and college. When we both got married. When she gave birth to her daughter.”
She closed her eyes and tightened them. After a few seconds, she released the tension and opened them. “Oh, how she loved that little girl. Sadly, I was also there when my cousin died.” The agent wiped at her glossy eyes. I had no idea where she was going with this. “She died way too young and left a little girl with no mom.”
My pulse quickened. Could it be this woman’s attention to me had nothing to do with my being wanted by Ahmad? Could she think I had something to do with causing the death of her cousin? As a CIA assassin, I had been responsible for the deaths of many evil people in this world, but never an American and never a woman.
“I’m really sorry for the death of your cousin,” I said softly. “But I don’t really know what this has to do with me.”
She sighed. “Just hear me out.”
I nodded.
“My cousin was my best friend. Boots and Hoots they used to call us when we were young. I called her Boots because she loved wearing all kinds of boots, and she called me Hoots because I made her laugh. Even after we were married, our families remained close. In fact, my husband was the one who convinced her husband to join his company. Well, not company, really. It was the CIA.”
She paused a moment, reading my reaction. My heart pounded in my ears. I could feel the heat spreading from my neck on up to my cheeks, and I hoped it wasn’t visible.
“You’ve heard of the CIA?”
“Who hasn’t?”
“We even took vacations together to Cape Cod and rented cottages next to one another.”
I had to remind myself to breathe. My family had always vacationed in Cape Cod.
“The summer before Boots died we had the most wonderful time together taking her little girl out beachcombing. She was eight that year, and she used to like to play pirates on the beach. I was Captain Snaggle Tooth, my cousin was...”
Jolly Fish Breath I heard my mom say in my head as I also heard Agent McKenna say it aloud.
“And her little girl was...” Agent McKenna snapped her fingers, trying to remember.
Stinky Peg Leg.
She smiled. “Stinky Peg Leg. Yeah, good times.” She drew in a deep breath.
I glanced up at Agent McKenna’s face and for the first time I saw something familiar in her eyes.
She placed her elbows on the desk and rested her face in her palms. “That was also when I decided to leave my husband. I was so scared to do it. He was old fashioned and somewhat domineering. He wanted me to be a stay-at-home mother to our future children that I didn’t want to have. I was unsure if I could make it on my own, but I knew our relationship wasn’t working. Boots gave me the confidence I needed to go through with the divorce. She even encouraged me to pursue my dream of joining the FBI, though I knew she really didn’t want me to be an agent. She saw how being a CIA agent had changed her husband. But I applied and got in and excelled, which was miraculous because five years of being with my husband dampened any confidence I had that I could do anything. You know what I mean?”
I didn’t, really. I never allowed anyone in my life to dampen my confidence. Even my father. If anything, my father’s criticism served to push me harder to prove myself.
Agent McKenna lowered one hand and touched her locket. “She gave me this locket and said that anytime I felt like giving up, I was to grab it in my hands and imagine all my doubts being locked inside of it. And you know, it worked. She was a very smart woman, your mom.”
The blood drained from my face. My throat felt so dry I had trouble getting the words out. “Agent,” I croaked. I cleared my throat, competing thoughts crashing against one another in my brain.
This is a setup. She’s trying to bait you.
But how did she know about the pirate name?
You have a mission. Your cover is Sandy-Sue Morrow.
She’s dangerous.
She’s my mom’s cousin.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” I croaked again. “I’m Sandy-Sue Morrow. My mother is still alive.”
See, Dad. See what a good CIA agent I am? I know how to maintain cover. Now, a good FBI agent could find out if my mother had a cousin. A brilliant one could interview enough people in Cape Cod who might remember a woman and her daughter playing pirates twenty years ago. Was she a brilliant FBI agent wanting to confirm the identity of a $10 million retirement package? Or a woman I used to play pirates with but couldn’t remember?
“I’m sorry, I misspoke,” she said softly. “It’s just, you know, you look so much like Boots. And so much like her little girl. Well, a grown-up version of her, of course. I told Boots at the time she gave me this locket that she should give it to her daughter someday. But she wanted me to have it. After she died I tried to give it to Toots.” She paused and smiled. “That’s what I called my cousin’s little girl, because she used to like trains.”
I loved trains. Always have.
“Unfortunately, her father made her give it back.”
And then I remembered her as if I’ve always remembered. The pirate lady. The woman whose lap I sat on during my mom’s funeral. The woman who had placed a locket around my neck and said that it had been my mother’s. And then I remembered my father. He told me to give it back. I heard them arguing in another room. She said I should have it. He said it would be too painful for me to have the constant reminder of my mom around my neck. I now realized why Marie’s stolen pendant and seeing the locket around Agent McKenna’s neck made me feel such heaviness. My father’s reaction twenty years ago told me to push all thoughts of my mother aside. He had stolen my memories the same as Cliff had stolen the pendant Marge had given Marie.
Agent McKenna grabbed a tissue from a box on Carter’s desk and dabbed at her eyes. “He said he didn’t want her to see it and miss her mom. But I knew it was really too painful for him to be reminded of her. I also knew that I was too much of a reminder.” She blinked back more tears. “I never saw little Toots again. And despite making a promise to Boots that I would look after her little girl, I didn’t. So many times in the past I thought about finding her, but I always stopped myself. I didn’t want to see that look of abandonment in her eyes. I’ve carried that guilt with me for twenty years.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I whispered.
“Well, if I was correct and you were the person I thought you were, then maybe you’d have questions. About her.”
I was bursting with questions.
What was she like?
What was her favorite movie?
What were her fears?
Did she love my father?
Was she afraid of dying?
Would she be proud of me?
Would Ahmad go after Agent McKenna if I allowed her in my life?
I knew the answer to that last one.
“I don’t have any questions. I hope you find who you’re looking for one day.” I felt dead inside when I said it.
She closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them again, fresh tears spilled out. She wiped them away and then opened her purse that was sitting on Carter’s desk and pulled out her wallet. After plucking her business card from it, she set it on the desk and slid it over to me before putting the wallet back in her purse.
“If you ever find her, have her give me a call. I have a feeling she’s in some kind of trouble.”
I made no move for the card as she reached behind her neck and unclasped the chain holding the locket. She stood from her chair and moved around the desk. Had she wanted to kill me now she could have. I suddenly felt paralyzed as she reached for my left hand and unclenched the fist I was holding, spread out my fingers and placed the locket in the middle of my hand. She curled my fingers around it then touched my shoulder. “Don’t forget my card. You have three people here watching over you. But if you need a fourth, I’ll be here.”
Agent McKenna reached over to the desk and grabbed her purse. “I’ll keep Deputy LeBlanc occupied if you want to slip out the back. In case you want to be alone.”
Before she reached the door, I grabbed her arm. Held it for a moment. “Agent McKenna. Stop smoking.”
She smiled. “Well, maybe now I have a reason to.”
“And forgive yourself.”
She sighed. “I don’t think I ever will. But thanks for that thought.”
I held onto her arm for a few breaths, not really wanting to let go. But I did, and she stepped out of the office. I heard her footsteps walking away as I jumped up from the chair. I paused a moment, grabbed her card and headed into the long hallway and out the back exit.
The sobs poured out of me as I dropped down on the grass against the wall of the building. I hadn’t cried this much since... okay, since a few days ago when Carter made it clear he had no interest in getting involved with a CIA agent and I had no interest in quitting. And then, before that, the day my mother died. Meeting Agent McKenna and having to let her go... it was as if my mom were dying all over again. After a few minutes of finally feeling all cried out, I took a deep breath and opened the locket. The picture tucked inside was small, a little bigger than my thumb, but it didn’t matter. I saw every detail of the beautiful young woman and her little girl smiling back at me.
“I miss you, Mom,” I whispered as I ran my finger over the picture.
I looked up and saw Ida Belle and Gertie round the corner of the sheriff’s station.
“Are you okay?” Gertie asked as they approached.
I nodded. They sat on either side of me, and I held up the locket. Gertie took her reading glasses from her purse and examined the photo, a tear rolling down her cheek. She passed the glasses and locket to Ida Belle, who took in a deep breath and sighed.
“Beautiful lady,” she said.
“Yes, she was.”
She passed the glasses back to Gertie and handed the locket back to me. “And Agent McKenna?”
“My mother’s cousin.”
Gertie’s eyes widened. Then... “Oops.”
I turned to her. “What did you do?”
“I might have placed a pile of rubber poop on her front seat.”
I glared at her. “Gertie.”
“Well, I didn’t know then she was related to you. Besides, she left the car unlocked. Where does she think she is? Mayberry?”
“Did you talk about your mom?” Ida Belle asked.
I shook my head. “She shared a few things. I never said it was me, though she knows it’s me, of course. Hard to deny when I look so much like my mother. But I already put you two and Carter in harm’s way by getting close to you. There’s no way I’m going to jeopardize the only living connection to my mother.”
“We get it,” Gertie said.
“I mean, there’s already a mole in the CIA. If somehow that mole has a connection to a crooked agent in the FBI, and somehow it became known...”
Ida Belle placed a hand on my shoulder. “We get it.”
We sat there silently for a few more minutes until, unexpectedly, I couldn’t help it. I started laughing. “How crazy is it that the three of us get it?”
Gertie shrugged. “Well, maybe you can become close to your cousin when Ahmad is finally caught.”
“I’ve never had a relative. I don’t know how to act around them.”
“There are some you want to have with you all the time,” Ida Belle said, “and there are some you want to strangle.”
Gertie nodded. “At first you’ll want to spend all your time with her. And then she’ll end up telling you how to make your special Thanksgiving gravy that you’ve been making for thirty years. Then you’ll have to lay down the law.” She patted my arm. “We’ll teach you all these things.”
The sun was starting to dip below the horizon of this most bizarre day, transforming the sky’s palette into a mixture of purples and pinks.
“Well, ladies, I’m starving.”
“Leftovers at my house, or Francine’s?”
“Francine’s.” I held up the locket. “I want to take my mom there.”
We stood and brushed the grass off our clothing. I opened the locket and spoke to my mother. “Mom, I want to introduce you to Ida Belle and Gertie. You would love them.”
Ida Belle smiled at the photo and Gertie waved. As we approached Gertie’s old Caddy parked on the street, Carter burst out of the station and ran down the steps toward us.
“Hold on, you’re not leaving yet! We’re not done here!”
Gertie frowned. “Oh yeah, we forgot. Carter wants to chew us out for holding Cliff hostage all day long. I have one doozy of a lie all prepared, so just nod your head and go along with me.”
I looked down at the locket photo and smiled. “This is Sinful, Louisiana, Mom. Home of banana pudding races, ass kicking old ladies and the craziest people you’ll ever meet. And right now, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
THE END
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