1 Hot Scheming Mess (24 page)

“I kept this to myself,” he said, “till I could find out who this man is. I believe this is Vladik Sakharovsky, a former KGB agent, although the word ‘former’ is pointless. They’ve continued to operate, just under different names, different loyalties.”

From the angle of the shot, Vladik’s prominent eyebrows were plain to see, but she also knew it was him because of the bruise on the side of his head. Vladik appeared to be showing papers to Ann. The papers looked like they might be small pictures. Ann had her suit jacket draped over her left forearm and was rubbing the back of her neck as she looked down at the sidewalk.

Jerry said, “I think she’s being blackmailed for something your grandfather did.”

As an actress, Madison believed that shock was the most difficult emotion to disguise. Even when the face and body language are perfectly composed to show some other emotion, body systems betray you. With a touch of adrenaline, the heart rate increases. Lungs demand more air. The voice might shake, and some people will sweat. But the first tell is the brief enlargement of the eyes. For that first split second, the eyes get wider, betraying the shock that you would like to hide. The voice doesn’t have to shake—the eyes have already given you away. A professional like Jerry would spot it. So Madison did what any good improv actress would do. She threw out a red herring and pretended her shock was about something else entirely.

“Oh, my God!” She put a hand over her mouth and stared at the little picture on the cell phone. “It’s all my fault! I have to tell her not to pay him one damn dime for those pictures! I’m not famous. No one will care.”

“I’m not… following.” said Jerry.

“Oh God, I’m so embarrassed.” She put a hand over her forehead and looked down at the table. “I posed nude for some stupid pictures. I needed the money.” She looked up. His expression was starting to change. She hoped it was confusion. She said, “It involved sex toys and a swing. There were monks… lots of monks wearing blindfolds, and I would swing into them, knocking them over like bowling pins—”

“Madison.”

“That must be why my mom tricked me into that apartment. She knew all along how desperate I’ve been. That’s why she’s been paying my rent.” she pretended to cry, “so I wouldn’t cheapen myself.”

“Madison, this is a KGB agent from the Soviet Union era. The old guard of the Communist Party.”

“I know, right? Those guys must be SO hard up for work!”

“Where is Vincent?” he asked.

Madison blinked and swallowed. She said, “I don’t know. Home, I guess. Why do you ask?”

Jerry rubbed his temples. “You love him. I understand. But I’m going to tell you more because I need you to help me help your mother.”

Putting his cell phone back in his pocket, he sighed and looked at her. “I need to know where your grandfather is. You say you don’t know, but I don’t believe you. This may come as a surprise, but I’ve always known that he wasn’t exactly crazy about me. I think he was a little jealous that Ann had another father figure in her life. I understand. But I know he’s a good man, and I assumed in time he would see that I wasn’t any threat. I’m not his rival. But you need to know that I’ve noticed some worrisome activity from your grandfather. I didn’t want to get Ann upset about it.”

Madison squirmed in her chair. Jerry continued, “He’s not returning my calls. I think he’s left his cell phone off so I can’t track him. But I believe he would stay in touch with you. I want you to locate your grandfather and set up a lunch date with him for tomorrow. I just need to ask him some questions.”

He leaned in, his voice quiet, almost a whisper, “And if he’s in trouble, I can clean it up for him and make it go away. I’m the SAC, Madison. I can make things go away. But I’m running out of time.” He sat back and said, “Think of it as a gift to your mother.”

*****

The sounds of a computer keyboard, that hollow plastic striking rhythm, held Madison spellbound. The pretty librarian’s fingers flew over the keyboard, then stopped. Madison could see her blue eyes scanning left to right as she read the screen. Madison looked around, making sure there was no Jerry, no Aaron, no redheads, and no… Vladik? Was that what his name was?

The keyboard rhythm resumed for a few strokes, then stopped again. The librarian said, “Anzhela. Russian. It’s a girl’s name. The English version for it would be Angela. The Latin root means Angel.” The librarian looked up from her computer screen, blinked, and asked, “Are you sure that’s all you needed?”

Madison’s face held both surprise and sadness in it. She hadn’t expected this kind of an answer. She didn’t know what she had expected, really. But the news that the little one-word note was Anzhela, a Russian name for a girl, hit her harder than any of the other guesses she had braced herself for.

It was heartbreaking to think of a young girl trying to name her baby in haste. A baby that she was about to be parted with. From the condition of the note, she must have folded it into a tiny size and tucked it underneath the baby. Perhaps they had given her a moment to say goodbye.

“I couldn’t make out some of those letters,” said Madison. “At first I didn’t know they were Cyrillic. But if someone were to try to pronounce the letters that look similar to English…” she grew a sad little smile, “it would be pronounced Anna.”

“It would not have been correct. But,” the librarian squinted at the little note, then handed it back to Madison. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. It would sound like Anna.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

She had intended to go straight to the hotel, find ExBoy, rough him up, and get the paperwork back. But events were giving her a different perspective on her priorities. Her former opinions on what was wrong with her family were caving in on her. She went instead to her grandfather’s house, changed out of her little black dress into clean shorts and a tank top from her freshly washed laundry, and cleaned Grandpa’s house.

The broken pieces were swept up, the tables and chairs set right. The rumpled throw rug was vacuumed and smoothed out. The stupid remnants of duct tape all wadded up into a ball were tossed, and picture frames were stood up, or straightened out on the wall. She even washed some dirty dishes she found in the kitchen. Her grandfather usually kept a pretty decent house, for a bachelor, so most of the cleanup involved fixing the mess from his fight with Vladik.

She missed her grandfather. He wasn’t here, so she found a bit of comfort in caring for his home. This was the closest she could come to giving him a hug, and she wanted it so much she was willing to take the risk of being here.

Besides, she couldn’t think of any reason why Vladik would return. It looked like all he really wanted was to find her mother. He had done that. Her grandfather flew to FBI Headquarters in DC, and they had sent agents out here to investigate. So if Grandpa confessed, and Vladik told her mother, the secret was out. All that was left was the cleanup.

As she rinsed out a used coffee cup, she pictured her mother outraged at Vladik, not believing him. But she’d have to believe it when Grandpa got back and told her. Ann might be trying to call her father to confirm it, and he wasn’t answering. Jerry’s guess was that Grandpa’s phone was turned off. And Grandpa wouldn’t know that Vladik had escaped and probably had looked at public records to see if Vincent Cruz had any children. Simple. He found Anna Lisa Cruz.

She had no fear of her mother getting in trouble for meeting with Vladik. As soon as Jerry knew the real reason, he could relax. She just had to wait a little longer for her grandfather to return. She wanted to keep her promise to him so he could come and tell his story his own way. She would make sure he knew that he would never lose her love or her support. True, she had to face up to his failings. It was wrong for him to keep the baby like that. Of course if he hadn’t, life would have taken a different course for Ann, and Madison might not exist. Strange how events can change so many lives.

Her hands on her hips, she looked around the living room. It was nice. Grandpa could come home to a nice clean house. Now if only the heat would let up. It felt unnatural for the weather to be so hot. She missed the cooler temperatures. She missed the crisp clean air right after a rain. She missed feeling normal.

Her cell phone rang in her pocket. Pulling it out, the caller ID on the screen said Jason Clark. She was still kicking herself for how badly that conversation had gone this morning. She wished she could have a do-over. Except for the kissing. She had no regrets there.

She sank down to sit on the floor, watching the phone ring in her hand, not wanting another argument with him. But even at the risk of a fight, she couldn’t resist. She answered quickly before it went to voicemail. She had to hear his voice.

She answered, “Jason?”

“Yeah. Hi.” His voice was quiet.

“Hi,” she said softly.

“I don’t mean to bother you…”

“You’re not bothering me.”

“…but I promised you I’d call if there was any news about my grandfather.”

“Oh,” she kept her voice even to hide her disappointment. “Is he home, safe and sound now?”

“Yeah, he’s home. But when I went to pick him up from the hospital, there were two men in his room asking him questions.”

“What men?”

“Official government agents. One of them stopped me at the door and asked me to wait outside of the room. Remember when Ray mentioned DC? That’s where these guys were from.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured out what the DC reference meant. I was going to tell you this morning, but…”

They were both quiet for a moment.

“There was something else,” he said. “I couldn’t hear much, but I heard my grandfather say that Vincent told him it started out civil.”

“What did?”

“I’m not sure, but I think he was talking about that fight you witnessed your grandfather having. Their talk started out civil, then they hit a big disagreement on how to proceed, I think that’s how he said it. They gave him a number to call if he thinks of anything else.”

“How to proceed?” Madison asked, trying to understand. “Like, they had something they were going to do, then butted heads on how to go about it?”

“That’s what I got out of it,” he said.

“Well, that was one hell of a disagreement. They were fighting like lives depended on it.” Madison looked up at the newly cleaned living room, remembering their fierce encounter.

After a moment, Jason said, “I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t be. Everything is fine.”

“Fine? My grandfather won’t tell me what Vincent did, you won’t tell me what was in the box, Ray was ready to do battle with a baseball bat, and now federal agents from DC are asking questions. Everything is not fine.”

“Oh, Jason, geez, I’m so sorry. This must be driving you nuts, too.” She took a breath. “I can say this much. I believe the worst is over. It’s all going to wrap up soon and I’ll be able to tell you everything. I’m still missing a few details myself.

“The devil is known to be in the details.”

“I don’t have much choice. I have to give Grandpa a chance to return and do this his way.”

There was a pause. Then he said, “I don’t like it, but I do understand. I just don’t want to let anything happen to you.”

“And while I’m at it,” said Madison, “I’m sorry about this morning. I…”

“No, you were right, you don’t owe me any explanations. I got carried away,” he said. “Pretty girls do that to me. I’m over it now.”

“Over it?”

“Well, yeah, till the next pretty girl comes along.”

“I see.”

“We’re good. We’re friends. I promise I won’t forget that.”

“Well…” Disappointed, she figured she’d better take the hint. “Okay, then.”

They hung up.

Sitting there on the living room floor, Madison hugged her legs into herself, propping up her chin on her knees. Having Jason let her go by declaring they were friends felt different than ExBoy. She hadn’t known Jason as long, but the draw was just as strong. They each hurt in their own way. She wished there was a way to merge them into one person. Of course, if she did that the third new person that they would become would be too smart to get involved with Madison in the first place.

She stood up. She needed to get over herself and get out of here. She still had to retrieve the paperwork from ExBoy so that when the DC guys called, she could hand it over quickly.

What bothered her was this new information. If Grandpa and Vladik had disagreed on how to proceed, than Grandpa’s idea must have been to go to DC. So what was Vladik’s idea? Maybe his idea was to do exactly what he had done after he’d escaped, find Ann and tell her everything. Madison had to admit, if that had been Vladik’s idea, it seemed a lot smarter than involving the feds. So why did Grandpa fight so hard to do it a different way? Jason might have a point about the devil being in the details.

The last thing she did to clean up was to make sure Grandpa’s tool kit had all the tools put back in it. As she tucked it back into the closet her eyes fell on an old photo album. It was Ann’s baby pictures. Family photo albums and plenty of pictures and memorabilia of Madison sat on top. She pulled out her mother’s album and looked through it. A younger Vincent and Lisa held their baby and smiled. Anna Lisa Cruz’s first solid food, first steps, first birthday cake, all recorded, all treasured by her parents.

Madison took the album with her and left.

*****

She tried to get ExBoy’s room number at the front desk, but they said they couldn’t give it out. She chose not to call him. Not yet. If she could find the grandfather clock, the paperwork might still be tucked up in there, behind the face of the clock where she had left it. She doubted ExBoy knew anything about the paperwork or would care. He had taken the clock to irk her. He saw the title tag and had known it was reserved for her. Humph. She hadn’t seen him as the payback type.

She wandered the huge hotel and found the area where Zombie Prom would be held tomorrow. She preferred to ask forgiveness rather than permission so she went right in, but a hotel security person stopped her and asked which exhibitor’s booth she was there for. Without missing a beat, she said Xander Boyd, but the guard couldn’t find that name on his list. Madison looked over his shoulder and saw various booths in different stages of being assembled for tomorrow morning.