Blood Stains (13 page)

When he finished, he turned to Maria.

“I have something I need to give you,” he said, then headed for the sleeping loft. His steps were slow and lumbering, his massive shoulders stooped as he dragged himself up the stairs.

“Why do I feel sorry for him?” Maria muttered.

Without comment, Bodie understood where she was coming from. Sam did elicit a certain amount of empathy. He glanced up, watching as the man lumbered back down the stairs with something in his hands. It wasn’t until he started toward them that Bodie recognized it as a picture frame, and the man was carrying it next to his heart.

Sam stopped by Maria, then hesitated. Every night for the past twenty years, this photo had been the last thing he’d seen before he’d closed his eyes and the first thing he’d seen when he awoke. As much as he hated to part with it, his gut told him it was going to mean even more to Sally’s child.

“Here,” he said softly. “After you disappeared, it was the only thing of hers I had left. I want you to have it.”

His hands were shaking as he held it out to her.

The moment her gaze fell on the face behind the glass, she gasped. It was like looking at her own reflection.

“Oh, my God.”

Bodie didn’t bother to hide his shock. The bloody crime scene photo had not done Sally Blake justice. Now Vincent’s reaction to seeing Maria made sense. She could have been a clone of the smiling, dark-haired woman in the photo, instead of just her daughter.

But Maria’s shock was for a reason far removed from what the others might have imagined. All these years—every time she’d looked at her own image—she’d never once remembered that she had a mother with the same face. Granted, she’d only been four and it had taken her twentysomething years to mature into this body, but the fact that she’d completely forgotten all of it was shocking. What in hell had she witnessed that had been so vile—so unimaginably horrible—that she could block out the memory of a woman who had been her double?

Maria held up the photo. “How old was she when this picture was taken?”

Sam frowned. “Not sure, but I’m thinking about twenty-one or twenty-two. It was about a year before you were born.”

I’m twenty-four. She was close to the same age I am now.

The fact that Sam had mentioned her birth was the opening she’d been waiting for.

“Do you think Sally knew who the father of her baby was?”

Bodie eyed Maria’s face, watching the way she maintained her control by focusing on a point just beyond Sam’s shoulder, rather than looking at the raw emotion on his face. Even more telling was the way she phrased the question; she had removed herself from the equation.

Sam visibly recoiled. “You mean…do you think your mother knew who fathered you?”

The anger in his voice was like a punch in the gut. Maria started to respond in kind, but when she opened her mouth her voice was shaking.

“Yes, I guess that’s what I mean.”

“Hell yes, she knew.”

“Was it you?” Maria asked.

Sam exhaled slowly, then staggered back to his recliner and sat down.

“No, but I can say with all honesty, I wish to hell it had been.”

Maria’s voice was shaking. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be disrespectful. I’m not trying to insult you or besmirch Sally’s…my mother’s…name. But you need to understand something. Last week, my father—the man who raised me—died. I knew nothing about any of this until the reading of his will.”

She started to cry.

Bodie’s first instinct was to hold her, which surprised him. The feeling was beyond the normal empathy he should have been feeling. Distracted by his own reactions, he did nothing as Maria continued to struggle her way through the explanation.

“I have no memory of my past. None. I had hoped by coming here that something would click. Someone’s face, the place where we used to live, the sound of a voice. Something…anything…that would remind me of the first four years of my life.” Her shoulders slumped as she looked down at the photo in her lap. “I’m overwhelmed by the fact that I’ve been looking at my mother’s face every time I looked in the mirror and didn’t know it.”

Sam sighed. Her explanation had taken away his indignation.

“It’s all right, sugar. Maybe if you’re here a while it’ll come back. You should go see Becky. She was with you almost as much as Sally. Maybe seeing her will ring a bell. I could call her. She’ll be over the moon, I swear. You and your mother were family to us.”

Maria glanced at Bodie. He shook his head slightly, which she took as a warning not to tell the rest of her story. She sighed. He was right. The fewer people who knew her secret, the safer she would be.

“I don’t know,” Maria said, glancing at Bodie.

He spoke up. “Considering the shock factor of Maria’s appearance, it might be best if you did give her a call. See if she’ll agree to talk to us.” He eyed Maria. “You up for another round of this?”

“You know why I’m here. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Sam frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I came back to find the man who murdered my mother,” she said.

Sam’s eyes widened, then a slow smile broke across his face.

“By God, you don’t just
look
like Sally. You got yourself a fair amount of her grit, as well.”

“Thank you…I think,” Maria said. “And thank you for this.” She held up the photo. “I can get it copied and send one back for you.”

Sam shook his head. “She already copied herself when she gave birth to you. As for that photo, I don’t really need it. I’ll see her face in my mind for as long as I live.”

Bodie took a card out of his wallet as he stood. “I think we’re done here. If you think of anything…anything at all, call me. And I’ll be waiting to hear if Becky’s up for seeing us.”

Sam’s focus was on Maria as he slipped the card into his pocket. He wasn’t often at a loss for words, but Sally’s daughter took his breath away.

“Mary…uh, I mean Maria…I know you feel like I’m a stranger, but that’s not the way I feel about you. You don’t have to, but it would mean a lot if you stayed in touch. Nothing big, you understand…just a card now and then to let me know you’re okay.”

Before she thought, Maria found herself walking into his arms, and this time, she hugged him back.

“I will.”

The delight on his face said it all.

“I’ll give Becky a call right now,” he promised, as he saw them to the door.

Bodie paused at the door. “If it’s not convenient for her to see us this afternoon, call me back. I’ve got her number. I’ll call and arrange it myself.”

“Yeah. I’ll do that,” Sam said. “If you don’t hear back from me, just assume she’ll be expecting you this afternoon.”

As he followed them out of the house, his dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, stood up from his resting place on the front steps.

“Whoa,” Bodie said. “That’s one big dog. Where was he when we walked up?”

“That’s Pooch. He was probably in the woods chasing squirrels. When I’m in the house, he’s on the steps. No one sets foot on the porch until I tell him it’s okay.”

“Damn good burglar alarm,” Bodie muttered, eyeing the huge beast as it ambled over to where he was standing and sniffed his boot.

“Let ’em alone, Pooch,” Tank said.

Pooch gave Bodie’s boot one more sniff and then flopped down against the side of the house.

Sam grinned. “I’ll walk back to the car with you. If I don’t go fishing, I’ll have to open back up, and I’m not in the mood for business right now.”

Within a few minutes they were in the car and heading down the drive. Maria stared down at the photo in her lap and found herself struggling with emotions she couldn’t identify. She glanced over her shoulder. Sam Vincent had not moved a step since they’d driven away. As Bodie turned onto the road, she lost sight of him and settled back into her seat.

“Did anything ring a bell?” Bodie asked.

She shook her head.

“So what do you think?” he asked.

“About him? I think he was telling the truth about everything…and I think he was in love with…Sally.”

“So do I.”

“How do you feel about visiting his sister?”

“Not as nervous, now that I know the relationship between him and Sally was…what it was.”

“Yeah, love has a way of smoothing out all kinds of wrinkles, doesn’t it?” Bodie said.

“So it seems,” she said softly. “So it seems.”

“It’s getting close to lunchtime,” he said. “How do you feel about stopping somewhere along the way to eat?”

“Can we spare the time?” she asked. “I mean…do you have to get back to the police station at any certain time today?”

“My lieutenant knows I’m working on the cold case today, and my partner’s out sick. We’re good. Do you like fried catfish?”

“I like fish. I’ve never had catfish.”

“Ah…then it’s about time to rectify that gap in your culinary education. You can’t be from Oklahoma and not have at least tasted fried catfish.”

“But I’m not from—” Maria stopped in mid-sentence.

“It’s in your blood,” Bodie said softly. “The first four years of your life, you had the red earth of Oklahoma between your little toes, and one of these days you’re going to remember it, too.”

“I hope so, or this entire trip will have been a waste.”

Bodie frowned. Two days ago he hadn’t known Maria Slade existed. But now that he did, he knew that he was changing. He’d gone from a thirtysomething, didn’t-want-to-talk-about-commitment bachelor to a man who had begun to want. No matter how this turned out, what ever came from having known her would never be a waste.

Becky Clemmons had been a 911 dispatcher for the city of Tulsa for eleven years. It was where she’d gone to work not long after her second marriage and where she’d found her niche in life. To her surprise, she was not only good at the job, but she also liked it.

Today was her day off, and she was trying to cram a week’s worth of chores into twenty-four hours, which she had yet to make happen. However, she was making a big dent in the grocery list as she pushed her basket along the bread aisle in Wal-Mart. She grabbed a package of hamburger buns and dropped them in the basket just as her cell phone rang. When she saw who was calling, she smiled. She didn’t hear from her brother nearly often enough.

“Hey, Sammy, what’s up?” she asked.

Sam smiled. No one called him by his childhood name but his sister.

“Hi, Beck…how’s it going?”

“About the same. How about you?”

“I’m better than I have been in years.”

Becky’s grin spread. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard this much life in Sam’s voice.

“Why? Did you finally catch that big flathead you’ve been after for the past ten years?”

“No. Better than that. Are you sitting down?”

“No. I’m in Wal-Mart doing the shopping. Quit being so dramatic and spit it out.”

“Mary Blake came to see me today.”

Becky’s heart skipped a beat. “What?”

“You heard me. Sally’s little girl. Oh, my God…Beck. Scared the shit out of me when I first saw her. She’s the spittin’ image of Sally…right down to the way she walks.”

Becky couldn’t focus. Her mind had gone straight back to the night of Sally Blake’s murder: hearing the gunshots and then running footsteps, dashing across the hall to find that preacher kneeling over Sally’s body…and Mary—four-year-old Mary—staring blindly at the arterial spray on the wall as the blood flowing from her mother’s body pooled on the hardwood floor beneath her.

“Beck?
Becky?
Did you hear me?”

She shuddered.

“What…uh…yes, yes, I heard you. Mary came to see you.”

Then it hit her. “How on earth did she find you?”

“Here’s where the story gets wild. She has no memory of ever living in Oklahoma and only found out about her mother after her father—the man who raised her—died.”

“Sweet Lord,” Becky whispered.

“I tell you, Beck, she doesn’t just look like Sally. She’s got her momma’s grit, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“She said she came back to Oklahoma to solve her mother’s murder. She and the cop she’s with want to come by and talk to you. Is that okay? I gave them your address and phone number. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“No, no, of course I don’t mind. When are they coming?”

“Today, but they just left my place. It’ll take them a while to get back into town.”

Becky felt faint. “Today. Wow. Then I’d better get finished with my shopping and get home. I need to pick up the house and—”

“Oh, hell, Beck…they’re not gonna care what your house looks like. I can’t wait for you to see her. You gotta call me tonight. Tell me what you think.”

“Yeah, sure…I’ll do that,” Becky said, and disconnected. She dropped the cell phone back into her purse and then fumbled for her grocery list, but when she glanced at it, the words blurred. Instead of finishing her task, she headed for the checkout stand. All she could think about was that she needed to get her head together and get home. If Mary Blake had no memory of what had happened, she wondered if she knew yet that she’d been the only witness to the crime she wanted solved.

It was midafternoon when Bodie and Maria got back into Tulsa. He called in to the precinct to make sure nothing urgent was pending, got the go-ahead from Lieutenant Carver to follow up with the Becky Clemmons interview and then stopped at a station to gas up.

“I’m going to find a bathroom,” Maria said. “Want anything from inside?”

“Maybe something cold to drink. That catfish was good, but it made me thirsty.”

“It wasn’t the catfish. It was that bushel basket full of hush puppies you had with it. Pepsi okay?”

Bodie laughed out loud. “Why, thank you. That’ll be fine, Miss Tell-it-like-it-is Slade.”

Maria grinned. She was beginning to think she could like this man. Too bad their meeting had been under such ugly circumstances.

“Back in a few,” she said.

Bodie watched her walk all the way inside the quick stop, marveling at the heavenly engineering that was responsible for that slow-motion sway in her stride. It wasn’t until a cop car went screaming past, running hot with lights and sirens on full blast, that he yanked him self out of his slightly lustful reverie and remembered to put gas in the car.