TESS AND JACKSON stood behind the building, catching their breath after racing out.
“What do we do now?” Tess panted. “We can’t call the police on him, can we?”
“No, we can’t prove anything. We need to take what we know to my parents. They’ll figure out what to do next. At the very least, he’ll be censured. Probably lose his tenure. Which is a huge deal. The end of his career. I’m not sure if that’s justice.”
“The truth will be justice.”
“About your mother…I’m sorry.”
She nodded, her gaze dropping. “It…it hasn’t quite hit yet. I feel…It’s like you. I never knew her, so it’s hard to…”
He reached to squeeze her hand and she nodded her thanks, then said, “Right now I’m just happy for answers.”
“I know.”
They were quiet for a moment. Then she looked up at him. He was standing in front of her, the two of them tucked into the shadows.
“You knew, didn’t you?” Tess said. “When he summoned you out of your dorm. You were planning to trick him. You just didn’t count on the sedative.”
Jackson ducked his head, hair falling forward. “I, uh, wish I could say yes. That might impress you, but it really wouldn’t be getting this whole honesty thing off to a good start, and I think you’d prefer honesty.”
“I would.”
“I had no idea until I woke up in that room with my hands tied and Dr. Augustin trying to hypnotize me. I’ve seen him do it before, so I could fake being under. Maybe I should have thought it was odd that he wanted to meet me so late, but he’s always been like that. Impulsive and driven. Which I guess explains a lot.”
They watched the distant flicker of car headlights before he continued. “He must have befriended my parents to keep an eye on me. Or on them. See if they took an interest in my mother’s death. Anyway, I didn’t see it coming. All that mattered was that he was offering information we needed, and I wanted…” He cleared his throat. “I wanted to get that for you, to show you how sorry I was. But it would have been more impressive if I had figured it out in advance.”
“I’m still plenty impressed. You got what we needed, and you’re fine.”
“Thanks to you,” he said, meeting her gaze. “You were amazing.”
She blushed, but before she could look away, his arms went around her, his mouth going nearly to hers and then pausing, as if expecting her to pull away. When she didn’t, he kissed her, a slow kiss that was everything she’d ever imagined a first kiss would be: careful and sweet and a little bit awkward and nothing like in books, but real—very real and very perfect.
When he pulled away, he looked down at her, face just above hers, worry touching his eyes. “Was that all right?”
“I think so. But I might need another to be sure.”
He chuckled and kissed her again, more confident now. Then he said, “I am sorry, Tess. I know I handled the Sainte-Suzanne business badly, and then I handled the apology badly, but I’m really, really—”
“I know. Just don’t do it again.” She looked up at him. “You don’t need to tell me everything, but if something affects me…”
“I only have one secret, Tess, and that was it. Everything else—”
A noise cut him short. Someone clearing his throat. Jackson wheeled, his back to her, shielding her as a figure stepped from the darkness.
It was an old man with wild white hair. Tess’s breath caught when she saw him, and she told herself she had to be mistaken. Then he spoke, and she knew she wasn’t.
“Sorry for the intrusion,” he said. “But I believe you wanted to speak to me, Jackson?”
It was the man who’d helped Tess buy her scarf that first day in Montreal. As he addressed Jackson by name, her stomach went cold.
Was Jackson still lying? She couldn’t believe it, maybe out of näiveté and maybe because he’d just kissed her. But when he turned to the old man, he stared at him in honest confusion.
“I…don’t know you,” Jackson said.
The old man smiled. “Perhaps not, in the sense that you don’t know much about me, but we have spoken. Just this evening, in fact. You were supposed to call me back.”
Jackson’s eyes went wide with dawning realization, and he turned to Tess. “It’s the man who sent me to Sainte-Suzanne. When I phoned home tonight, Mom said someone called and left a number, saying it was urgent. I called back from the dorm, and we agreed it was better to talk from a pay phone, and then the professor called and…” He turned to the old man. “Things happened.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Tess murmured.
“Why don’t you tell me about it?” the old man said.
Jackson shook his head. “Not until you tell us who you are and what you want. After tonight, we’re not trusting anyone.”
“Understandable. I was already concerned you’d uncovered a situation more dangerous than I expected. Walk with me a bit, and I’ll step out of the shadows, literally and figuratively.”
They headed for the lit path. The old man said, “I had a nephew. He passed on a few years ago. Cancer. In the end…it was terrible in the end. He was in agony and seemed to be losing his mind. He believed the cancer was punishment for something he’d done, some secret experiment from his time in medical school. Before he died, he begged me to find two children. His actions had, indirectly, led to them both being orphaned. He gave me the names and made me vow to find them and tell them what happened to their mothers. Yet he died before he could tell me what happened to their mothers.”
“He gave you our names,” Tess said. “Mine and Jackson’s.”
“Yes. I found you, and I made sure you were safe and healthy, but it seemed best not to interfere until you were older. I contacted Jackson last year, when he went to university. I wasn’t in any rush though. Not to reveal myself or to insist that you investigate your parents’ deaths. You’re young and you have other concerns, and, in truth, I was hoping to have more to give you before you began. My own inquiries weren’t getting me far. Travel is difficult these days.” He indicated the cane. “I have”—a vague wave—“health issues.”
“You were monitoring that phone number though. For the house in Sainte-Suzanne,” Tess said.
“Yes. I’d sent that envelope to the Home, to be opened on your eighteenth birthday. I’d bribed the local operator to contact me if anyone ever called the number.”
“You could have just given Tess your number,” Jackson said.
He smiled. “And deprive her of an adventure?” He shook his head. “I had nothing to tell her. Just an address and old phone number. It seemed best to entice you both with a mystery. Now, if you’ve found the solution, I would love to hear it. That, however, is up to you. It’s your story. My only job was setting you on the path to finding it.”
Tess looked at Jackson. He nodded, and she told the old man everything.