Ashes, Ashes, They All Fall Dead (19 page)

He looked at her over the tops of his shades. “All hands except you, apparently.”

She tightened her grip on her purse. “Yes, everyone except me. But I want to help. And the only way I can do that is by giving Casey a name, a suspect. I have to find out who sent those letters. To do that, I have to start at the only place where I know to start—in South Carolina, at the group home where my parents adopted me. And I need your help. I need you to go with me. We probably don’t have much time if we’re going to find Tonya Garrett alive.”

He rested his head back against the brick wall as if he had all the time in the world. “What makes you think I’d want to go with you?”

She stared at him in frustration. “What do you want me to do? Beg?”

He sighed and shook his head. “No, Tessa. I don’t want you to beg. As much as you probably hate to hear me repeat myself, I want you to have no regrets. I want you to work with me because you
want
to, not because I’m your only option. I don’t
ever
want you to tell me again how I tricked you. And I certainly don’t ever want to hear you refer to working with me as babysitting. That’s what I want.”

She winced. “That was a pretty awful thing for me to say. I treated you like crap.”

“Yes. You did.”

“But you’re still here.”

He looked at her over the tops of his shades again. “Yes. I am.”

She stepped closer, until there were only a couple of feet separating them, but even then, she had to crane her neck back to look at him. “I’m sorry about your dog. I hope Austin finds her and she’s okay.”

He inclined his head in what she’d come to think of as his regal look. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“I’m sorry I blamed you for taking the letter. You wanted to help. And you gave me the chance to take the letter back. You didn’t trick me. It was my decision. I understand that now, and promise to never bring it back up.”

He nodded again.

“I’m sorry I treated you so badly. You were right. I was a hypocrite. And I’m willing to consider you
may
be right about my co-workers and their teasing. I might not be looking at things the right way. I’m still not sure about that.”

He didn’t say anything, just stood there.

She felt like stomping her foot in frustration. What else did he expect her to say? She glanced up and down the street before leaning in close. “If you expect me to admit I’m attracted to you, then okay, you win. I’m wildly, ridiculously attracted to you.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “Good to know.”

She put her hands on her hips. “What else do you want from me? I’ve apologized for everything. What’s it going to take to get you moving? We need to pack our bags and book a flight to Greenville as quickly as possible. If we can catch a flight this morning, we’ll be there just after lunchtime.”

A dark blue van turned the far corner and headed toward them. Matt straightened away from the wall and slid his shades into his suit jacket pocket.

“Actually, the reason I’ve been standing here this whole time is because my car got towed. I didn’t park in a visitor’s space. I was waiting for the taxi.” He flashed his perfect white teeth in a wholly satisfied grin.

Tessa’s face heated. He’d let her make a fool of herself, droning on and on, trying so hard to convince him to forgive her, when he was simply passing time waiting for his ride. She wanted to curse at him, but she couldn’t without undoing the apology she’d just made.

Judging by his Cheshire cat grin, he knew it.

The taxi driver rolled the passenger window down and flashed an irritated look at them both.

“Gotta go,” Matt said. “Give me a call once you book our flight.” With that, he slid into the taxi and left her fuming on the sidewalk.

Chapter Ten

L
ESS THAN FOUR
hours later, Matt and Tessa were in Greenville, South Carolina, walking through Jessamine Manor with the administrator. Miss Clark’s low heels clicked hollowly across the scarred wood floors as she led Matt and Tessa through the empty second- floor dormitory. Extensive water damage from a storm-weakened roof had rendered this section of the home unusable until repairs could be made. That was the only reason she’d agreed to conduct the abbreviated tour. The rest of the building was off-limits, because Matt and Tessa didn’t have any family members here and they didn’t have a warrant.

Since the tour hadn’t sparked any of Tessa’s memories, she was—unfortunately—at the administrator’s mercy in obtaining the information she and Matt needed.

Tessa clenched her hands in frustration. She and Matt had made every argument they could think of to get the woman to tell them about Tessa’s past. But it seemed like it was Miss Clark’s sole purpose in life to keep them from getting what they needed. The killer couldn’t have asked for a better accomplice. Tessa eyed a bucket of water sitting under one of the holes in the roof and sourly considered throwing it on the administrator. It wouldn’t surprise her if the woman melted into a puddle and left a pair of pilfered ruby-red slippers behind.

“Miss Clark, if you won’t allow us to tour the portion of the building where I was housed as a child, and you won’t allow me to view
my own
records, then this trip is wasted and we’re no closer to finding the killer than we were when we got here. A young girl’s life is at stake. Will you please reconsider your position and at least let me see my files? I need to know how I ended up in this group home. It’s crucial that I do so.”

“I’m sorry, but without a warrant, I have no authority to show you any of our official documents. The law is quite clear on that, as I’m sure any FBI agent is well aware.”

“The law was established to protect the children who’ve lived here. I’m one of those children.”

“Special Agent James, without proper paperwork to prove that you’re the same young woman who used to live here, there’s nothing I can do. I’m sure you can understand the trouble I would get into if I allowed you access to files that belong to a different Tessa James.”

Tessa gritted her teeth. “How many Tessa James’s have you come across in your lifetime? It’s not like my name is Bob Smith.”

Miss Clark narrowed her eyes. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll lead you back outside.”

Matt shook his head at Tessa, silently warning her to back off, but Tessa was too angry to stop now.

“Can’t you just tell me the name of the home I was in before this one? My parents couldn’t remember what it was called.”

“As I said, there’s nothing I can do.”

Tessa started to protest again, but Matt put his hand on the small of her back and gently urged her forward.

She let out a deep breath and finally gave in. He was much better at keeping his emotions out of things, not letting them affect his judgment. That was a skill she still needed to work on. He also had far more patience than she.
That
was a skill she doubted she’d ever master.

When they emerged from the building, Miss Clark gave them a terse “Good-bye” and shut the door behind them with a loud click.

“Well, she couldn’t be any more clear than that,” Tessa said. “She absolutely isn’t going to help us without a warrant or a bushel full of paperwork from the state. You’d think those records were her own personal property, the way she guards them.”

When they reached the rental car they’d picked up at the airport in Charleston, instead of getting in, Matt leaned back against the car and stared out over the expansive lawn in front of the group home. Tessa joined him, wanting to see what he found so intriguing.

Children were playing soccer halfway down the gently sloping hill. Others played on a nearby playground, laughing as they chased each other around, their little feet kicking up the red bark beneath them. All of them were closely watched by adults dressed in matching white uniforms, just like the one the administrator had worn.

“You can’t really fault her,” Matt said. “She’s following the law. I’d probably ask for a warrant in the same situation. If I were a cop, that is.”

“Truth be told, I probably would too. I’d just hoped she would look at my adoption papers and that picture of me here when I was little and she’d agree to help us without forcing us to jump through hoops. All we have are a few pieces of circumstantial evidence that
seem
to imply that my past
may
be related to this case somehow. We don’t have anything strong enough to present to a judge for a warrant.”

“Then we’ll have to do this the hard way. We’ll hit the pavement, interview people, see if we can find someone who lived here when you did. Someone who remembers what happened.”

“What do you mean, remembers what happened?”

“Your mother said several children were transferred from the previous group home to this one along with you, and that all their records were lost too. I can’t imagine in this age of lawsuits that someone would be careless enough to ‘lose’ those kinds of records. I think it’s more likely they were destroyed, either on purpose or by accident. And there’s only one sure way I know of to completely destroy something.”

She drew in a sharp breath. “Fire.”

“Yes.”

“Matt?”

“Yes?”

“This is all starting to get a little bit scary.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. But it’s good to be scared. You
should
be scared. That will keep you vigilant and aware. Until we figure out exactly what’s going on, you need to keep your gun close, and me closer.”

She let out a puff of laughter. “Did you seriously just say that? Keep you closer?”

He grinned. “It didn’t sound so corny in my head.”

She smiled. “We might as well go. There’s nothing else we can do here. Maybe we can search the Internet for group home fires and see if something comes up.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it. If there was a fire, it happened years before the Internet was around. But we’ll give it a try. Plus, if the fire was in another county, or another state, we wouldn’t know if that home was the one you used to be in before you came here.”

Tessa’s shoulders slumped. “Couldn’t this be easy? Just once?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll figure out something.” He opened the passenger door for her. She’d given up trying to open her own doors around him. There was no point. The Buchanan man code wouldn’t allow such a monumental breach of manners. She was about to get into the car when a petite woman in one of Jessamine Manor’s trademark white uniforms stepped around the side of the building and hurried toward them.

“Who’s that?” Tessa whispered.

“I think we’re about to find out.”

The woman looked around as if to make sure no one saw her. “Excuse me, but I couldn’t help overhearing you earlier with the administrator when you walked through on your tour. I think I may be able to help.”

Tessa held out her hand. “I’m Special Agent Tessa James. This is Matt Buchanan, a private investigator consulting on a case. And you are?”

“Ruth Chapman. I’ve worked here for over a decade, long enough to know the administrator won’t change her mind once she has it set. She’s all about procedures and rules. You won’t get any information from her without that warrant or state paperwork.”

“You said you thought you could help,” Matt reminded her.

“Maybe. I’ve only worked here for the past ten years, like I said. But my brother used to work here, back when the home first opened. He was a security guard for about fifteen years before he got a full-time job with the local police force. He might remember something that could help you.”

“That’s exactly the time frame we’re looking for,” Tessa said. “We’d love to speak to him. You said he’s a police officer?”

“Yes. And lucky for you, today’s his day off.”

“Lucky for us?”

She pointed down the hill to the group of kids playing soccer. “This is where he spends most of his free time. He’s part of a mentor program the police department set up, more of a role-model program really. His name is Charlie Duncan. Tell him I sent you. If he knows something, he’ll be happy to share the information. He can’t stand Miss Clark, so that might go in your favor too.”

She made sure they knew which of the adults at the edge of the field her brother was before she hurried back inside the building.

Tessa put her hands on her hips and considered the field below. “I wonder what Miss Clark will do if she sees us talking to Mr. Duncan.”

Matt put his sunglasses on. “Are you ready to find out, Miss James?”

“After you, Mr. Buchanan.”

C
HARLIE GAVE
T
ESSA
a sad smile. “I definitely remember you. Hard to forget all that bright red hair and your green eyes, always so sad, at least back then. Do you remember me?”

The three of them—Charlie, Matt, and Tessa—had stepped back under a group of trees that sheltered them from the view of the main building at the top of the hill.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t seem to remember much of anything about this place. Honestly, none of it seems familiar except for the entrance. And even that is probably because my adoptive parents have a picture of me standing in front of the building. I’ve seen that picture so many times I wouldn’t know if it’s a real memory or not.”

“That’s okay. I was just a security guard, usually outside keeping an eye on the perimeter. There’s no reason I would have made an impression on you. But I definitely remember you, and not just because of your red hair. I remember you because of the fire.”

A chill prickled up Tessa’s spine. “There was a fire here?”

“No, no, not here. There was a fire at another group home. Some kids died. It was really tragic, a faulty wire in a storage room. The entire place went up. All the children had to be transferred to other state-run facilities, or put into foster care if there were openings. You were sent here, along with a handful of others. Something happens like that, kids dying in a fire . . .” He shook his head. “It makes an impression on you. Not something I’m likely to forget.”

“That is truly awful,” Tessa said. She could well understand why that would have made an impression on him. And she’d bet Miss Clark hadn’t forgotten about that any more than Charlie had, especially since she had been the administrator ever since this group home had opened.