Steve looked tense. Jessie desperately wanted to get him alone for just a minute or two and ask him several questions. Should she really trust this FBI agent? His identification looked real enough, and it satisfied Steve. She didn’t think the detective would be easily fooled, so she wasn’t worried about Agent Richards being a fake. Still, she wasn’t sure how much to believe from him.
She felt a little more secure in her own office. It was barely big enough to accommodate the two men along with her. Usually it felt much larger than this, but she only had one student at a time in here for company during her office hours. The two law enforcement officers took up a bit more room than most of her students, and neither of them wanted to get too close to the other. Watching them settle uneasily into the hard plastic chairs made Jessie think of the big cats at the zoo, sizing each other up with steel between them. Both of the men sat in very upright positions, and the set of Steve’s shoulders told her that he didn’t totally trust the FBI agent. She hadn’t seen enough of Joshua Richards yet to read all of his body language, but what she could read spelled wariness.
“All right, if we only have half an hour, you need to start talking, Mr. Richards,” she told him. He seemed surprised at someone else directing the conversation; maybe that didn’t happen for him every day. “First, help me understand a little bit more about the task force you’re on. The initials OC don’t mean anything to me.”
“It’s organized crime, Jessie,” Steve broke in. “Do you know anything about that subject?”
“Not too much. There’s a part of a chapter on the Mafia in my book, but mostly just dispelling the myths built up around gangsters and such due to Hollywood and a generation of novels.”
Steve looked slightly puzzled and Richards downright confused. “I teach popular culture here at the community college,” she explained to him, “and I’ve written a book about urban legends. It’s called A Friend of a Friend because that’s always who those stories happen to.”
The light went on behind Richards’s blue eyes. “Ah. I should have done a little more background research on you. I’m afraid I’ve been concentrating on your mother first.”
He sounded so sure that her mother was this person with a dual life. She took a deep breath and tried to organize her thoughts. “All right. What I’ve gathered so far is that you think you have reason to believe that my mother, Dawn Barker, also went by the name of Paula…”
“Brandino,” the agent finished. “If you’re not familiar with the workings of organized crime, that name may not mean much to you.”
“It doesn’t,” Jessie admitted. “I have a feeling you’re going to tell me, though.”
The man’s expression grew even more serious. “If you’ve written about urban legends, Ms. Barker, this is all going to sound like one of them to you. But I assure you it’s the truth.”
“That remains to be seen.” Jessie settled more comfortably into her desk chair. She laced her fingers together on top of her desk, hoping she appeared professional and attentive. Inside she was just willing her hands not to shake while she listened to this man who might bring her world crashing down around her again. She looked over to Steve, hoping for a little comfort, but he looked as tense as she felt.
Joshua Richards might have been the most serious man Jessie had ever seen. Of course there wasn’t much about the current situation to make anybody happy, but his lean face and prominent brow looked molded into a permanent expression of sternness. When she looked over at Steve his face mirrored Richards’s in its expression and there was a tiny muscle twitch in his cheek.
“I’ll try not to give you too much unnecessary history, but I have to give you some if you’re not familiar with organized crime. Jake Brandino is the head of one of America’s largest crime families. He’s based out of Detroit and deals in gambling and money laundering, primarily. He took over the organization following his father’s death from a heart attack and his uncle going to prison, events that took place over thirty years ago.”
“What put his uncle behind bars?” Steve leaned back in his chair while Jessie wondered what difference it made when it happened before she was born.
“Jake’s younger sister Paula had a gift for numbers, and even at twenty she was already being trained to be the family accountant. But she got caught buying drugs one night and ended up making the charges go away by offering to testify against her father and uncle.”
Paula. That was what Richards had said was her mother’s other name. Jessie sat in her office in her familiar chair feeling stunned. Could the beautiful young woman she remembered as her mother have been involved in something like that? It really did sound like the stories she’d researched and debunked for her book.
Steve’s voice broke into her thoughts. “If this Paula Brandino testified against her family that long ago then how did she last for thirty years? And what led you to believe that Paula is also Dawn Barker?”
Joshua gave Steve a sharp look that made Jessie feel as if neither of them remembered she was in the room. “You probably already know the answers to those questions. Why are you asking them?”
“Because Jessie doesn’t know the answers. And I want to have her hear them from you up front.”
Jessie could feel the muscles in her shoulders tense, and her temples tighten with an oncoming headache. “Now, look, the two of you. I don’t know what’s going on between you. If this is some kind of law enforcement one-upmanship I don’t like being in the middle of it. This is my life we’re talking about, and my mother whose memory you’re maligning. I’ve got my own question for you, Mr. Richards. Is any of this going to help bring my sister back?”
Both men turned their attention on her. Richards’s steely gaze made Jessie shiver, while Steve looked as if he wanted to reach for her hand but didn’t, probably out of propriety. “It’s possible. If what I already believe is true, and I think it is, then proving that your mother was Paula Brandino could lead us to Laura.”
“All right then, answer Steve’s questions. How did Paula survive after testifying against her own family?”
“She was given a new identity, put into the witness security program. Most people refer to it as the Witness Protection program, but that’s not what they called it during the eighties when Paula went into the program.”
“Does it really work the way I’ve heard it does? You’re given a new identity, and make no contact with anyone you knew before?”
Richards nodded. “That’s the way it’s supposed to work. Records from the federal marshals who administered the program are virtually impossible to come by. You can understand why, because revealing witnesses’ new identities would put hundreds of people in jeopardy. But the FBI has been investigating about half a dozen deaths over the last three decades that involve people believed to be part of the program. All have organized crime ties and all were also involved with the same group of federal marshals.”
Steve’s expression grew even grimmer. “That doesn’t sound good. Apparently you think Jessie’s mother is linked to all of this or you wouldn’t be here. And you definitely wouldn’t have a court order to exhume her body.”
“Can I do anything to contest that?” Jessie looked over at Steve, relatively sure she knew the answer to her question, but hoping that for once she was wrong.
“You might be able to delay him for a day or two. But ultimately he’s probably going to be able to enforce his court order, Jessie.” Steve looked away from her quickly, as if to show that he’d let her down. She felt like telling him that all of this wasn’t his fault. If anything he’d been the one person to believe her when no one else had.
“Could you give me a little time to take all of this in, Mr. Richards? I’d like to at least request that you hold off until tomorrow if you could on executing your court order.” Jessie stood behind her desk and both men rose, as well.
“I can wait until morning if I have to, Ms. Barker.” Richards didn’t look pleased but at least he didn’t force the issue. “Let me leave you my number if you have any further questions today. I’ll give a card to Detective Gardner, as well, since he’s the person from the sheriff’s department most familiar with the case already.”
Steve took the card wordlessly, looking intensely at the federal agent while he laid a card on Jessie’s desk, inclined his head slightly by way of a goodbye and walked out of her office. Steve watched the other man all the way down the hall. “You don’t fully trust him, do you?” Jessie said softly once Richards was gone.
“Not totally. Some of it’s just the antagonism between the local department and the bureau. They often find ways to make themselves unpopular when we cooperate with an investigation. Somehow the sharing of information between our department and the feds tends to be a one-way exchange.”
“I can see why that would lead to some mistrust. Is there something more than that?”
Steve shrugged. “Nothing I could base on anything but feelings. I don’t like the way that Richards conveniently appeared on this particular day. And I wish he’d involved somebody I knew from the bureau’s St. Louis field office. It would have looked more like he was trying to go through channels that way.”
“Can you check him out?”
“I can, and I will, just as soon as I make sure you’re settled at home for the evening.” Steve looked around the office. “Do you have more you absolutely have to do here? And once you go home, do you have anybody else you can call if you need company?”
Jessie sighed. “After all of this I can’t concentrate anymore here. I don’t know why I ever thought that coming back after the memorial service would be a good idea.”
“Because you probably didn’t want to go home and face a quiet place alone,” Steve said, voicing her feelings so precisely that Jessie felt startled.
“You’re right. And I have to admit I’m still not looking forward to it but I have to do it sometime. Why don’t you walk me out to my car and I’ll get going?”
She shut down her computer, gathered her tote bag full of books and papers and turned out the office lights. It seemed like a longer walk than usual out to the parking lot, even with Steve along. They were both quiet until they reached her car. “I’d go someplace with you, but I really need to get back and check out our friend Agent Richards. If there was a way to have you come back with me, I’d let you.”
“That’s all right. I know you’ll tell me everything that you can if you find anything out.”
Steve put a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring way. “You know I’ll give you as much information as I can share as soon as I can. Now have a safe drive home. Do you want me to call you later?”
She looked up at his familiar face, noticing the tiny lines at the corners of his eyes. “I don’t know. Who will be calling…the detective on my sister’s case, or my friend Steve?”
He removed his hand and gave her a quiet smile. “A little bit of both. Most of what I did today was as the detective. Checking out Richards will be a job for both the detective and your friend. If he’s legitimate he might be doing me a favor.”
“What do you mean by that?” Jessie thought she might know the answer to her question already, but didn’t want to jump to the wrong conclusion.
“I want to find Laura, but I also want my supervision of this case to be over. There’s a strict department policy about not dating anyone involved in a case, and I don’t want to go against that policy. It’s there for very good reasons, all of which I understand. But I have to admit that for the first time in my life I’ve been tempted to stretch the boundaries of that policy with you.”
“Wow. That’s some admission from a man with such high standards. I think I should be flattered.” Even though she hadn’t had much to smile about today, she felt just a small smile pop up now.
“I guess so. But you didn’t ever answer my question. Do you want me to call later?”
“Yes, I’d appreciate that. If you don’t get me right away, don’t be alarmed. As odd as it sounds, I think I’m going to make a little detour on the way home and go to the animal shelter.”
His expression looked as puzzled as she expected it might. “Okay. Hope you find what you’re looking for.”
“That will be interesting, because I’m not quite sure what I’m looking for. I just know I wouldn’t mind having somebody to come home to.”
“What will Laura think about that when she comes back?”
“She’d be thrilled. She’s said for years that we needed an animal or two around the house. I’ve always been the holdout.”
“Good luck, then. I’ll call you later to see how it goes.” He watched as she got into her car and closed the door. Jessie’s last sight of him in the parking lot was of Steve standing there, a bemused expression on his face as she pulled out.
“I really was only going to look. You’re not supposed to be coming home with me,” Jessie chided the newest member of the Barker household. “At least you’re not a puppy. My life just doesn’t have room for a puppy right now. A mature individual like you I can probably handle.” The little dog she watched in her rearview mirror had her tongue hanging out, looking quite a bit as though she was smiling.
Her trip to the animal shelter had been short. Walking in she promised herself that this would be the first of several scouting trips to decide if she really wanted a dog or not. Then the young volunteer at the front counter had her walk through the small dog area and she just couldn’t get past the third cage. “Tell me about this one,” she’d said, and the volunteer tilted her head thoughtfully.
“That’s Maude. Her owner was an older lady and she passed on. Nobody in her family wanted Maude. We’ve tried her out in a couple situations. She’s not great with very small children, and she doesn’t care much for cats.”
“That’s okay. Neither do I.” Maude’s huge dark eyes regarded Jessie with something akin to understanding, and she sat down right in front of the cage door and gave one succinct bark, stubby tail thumping. “Can I see her up close?”
“Sure. Let me get a leash and you two can get acquainted.” Jessie was still telling herself she was only looking. She was not going home with a dog. But Maude seemed to have other ideas. The moment she had the leash on she trotted out of the cage and plopped down directly in front of Jessie with an expression that said “Okay, let’s go.” After a moment she started walking toward the front of the shelter, giving another look over her shoulder when the leash started tugging.
“What is she, exactly?” Jessie asked as she filled out the paperwork to take Maude home.
“Um, that’s a good question. Mostly corgi, we think. Nobody’s totally sure, and the family didn’t know, either. Her owner just referred to her as a ‘pound puppy’ because she’d been a rescue dog six years ago.”
And she’s a rescue dog again, Jessie thought. Only this time she was the one being rescued, from her too-quiet condo and the aching loneliness Laura’s absence caused. “Laura’s going to love you,” she told Maude on the way home. For the first time in days Jessie felt real hope that she’d see her sister again, all because of a smiling dog. That night she slept better than she had in a month, even though the dog at the foot of the bed snored.