Deadly Valentine (17 page)

"You told me not to bother you tonight. I don't know why you think I would. What hanky panky you do is your own business, Jack." The Tweety-bird granny image was right on, except that instead of a dark dress with comfortable pumps, Cora was sporting a purple Mumu with green sneakers.

"I know, but I want you to meet Tess and we have a question."

"Why should I meet her? Next week it will be someone else."

"Down Cora," Jack said giving Tess a wink. "Next week it will still be Tess."

Tess stood and extended her hand. "Nice to meet you Ms. Peterson."

Cora walked passed Tess, to sit on the couch."Call me Cora. Everyone else does."

Tess retracted her hand. "Okay."

"Do you want some brandy?" Jack asked.

"Nah. It's Tuesday. I want beer."

"Do you want more wine?" he asked Tess.

"No. Thank you."

Jack left Tess alone with Cora. "Tuesday is beer night?" Tess asked.

"Huh?"

Before Tess could clarify her question, Cora said, "Whatever. Listen. Jack is a man's man. You know what I mean? He needs a real woman to keep him happy. You a real woman, Tess?"

"Ah…"

"Yes, she is." Jack said bringing Cora her beer.

"Oh wait. This is her, isn't it Jack?"

"Cora." Jack's tone was a warning.

"You're the one that left. Just ran away. Not even the decency to return a phone call."

"I told you to be nice." He sat next to Cora and patted her knee.

"Yes ma'am. I ran away," Tess said.

"Ma'am!" Cora let out a loud cackle. "I should slap you for that."

Tess looked to Jack for help.

"Cora forgets that it’s a sign of respect to refer to old women as ma'am."

"I didn't mean to imply you were old-"

"Oh shush. I am old. But don't call me ma'am. Call me Ms. Peterson."

"You said she could call you Cora," Jack reminded her.

"That was before."

Tess supposed that Jack had decided it wasn't a point worth pursuing. Instead he asked, "Cora, what was your daughter's name?"

Cora's face flashed with pain and suspicion. "Why?"

"I'm curious."

"Why?"

Jack showed her the picture of Delia that Tess found during her research. "Look familiar?"

"There's a resemblance." Cora stood up. "Can I go back now? Idol is going to be on soon."

"In a minute." Jack took her hand, encouraging her to sit. "This is Delia Jackson. She looks a lot like your daughter." He put both photos side by side, Cora refused to look.

"So what?"

"So the only way it makes sense for Asa to have Delia Jackson's information along with mine, would be if she were your daughter. That would be the only way we'd be connected. Through you."

Cora shook her head so vehemently that Tess thought the bun would fly off her head. "Not her."

"Are you sure?" Jack moved to sit across from her on the coffee table. He took her hands in his. "A lot is riding on this."

"I know my own daughter!"

"It would be easy enough to verify through birth records," Tess said.

Cora shot Tess a menacing look. "You stay out of this." Then she turned her eyes, now weepy and pleading on Jack. "Make her stop."

Jack studied her for a moment, then stood and walked to the bookcase to put the picture of Cora's daughter back.

"Why is this a secret?" Jack asked as he positioned the picture next to one of Cora.

"Oh! You believe your one-night lover over me, is that it? The woman who left you broken-hearted? The one who wasn't there when we were losing Lillian-"

"That's enough!" Tess and Cora jumped at Jack's outburst.

Cora sulked back into her seat. "So what if she is my daughter? She's gone. Been gone for over 30 years. What's it to you or her? No one cared when she was alive. When she needed help she rightly deserved. So I took care of everything. I did what I had to do to keep us safe after she was gone. But now, this whole mess-"

"Us?" Tess asked. "Who's us?"

"None of your damn business!"

Tess was sure that if looks could kill, she'd be a pile of ash. The fury emanating off of Cora could be felt viscerally.

"Settle down," Jack said moving back to sit on the coffee table.

"Don't settle down me, Jacko. You don't know anything about anything."

His voice was gentle, his eyes soft. "So tell me."

"No." Cora crossed her arms across her chest and clamped her mouth closed like a child planning to hold her breath.

"Did she have a baby? Did you lose them both in the fire?" Tess was impressed at the gentle yet direct probing by Jack.

"Just stop!" The fury was there, but her eyes were filled with tears. As if she couldn't decide which emotion she felt more, rage or grief.

Jack turned, looking over his shoulder at Tess. "She's upset and there's no reason to think that this is relevant to Asa's murder."

Tess glanced at Cora who had a look of triumph. "No. But you wanted to know why Asa was poking around in your life. It could have been part of Asa's big announcement. You said yourself that he told you all would be revealed that night. Unfortunately he was killed before he could make his announcement. We can't be sure that wasn't the reason he was killed."

"Because of Delia Jackson and her baby?" Jack didn't sound convinced.

"When you consider the timing of the murder, it seems likely someone didn't want him to make his announcement. Otherwise why kill him in a house full of people? Why not wait until he was alone?"

"But we don't know what that announcement would have been. It could have been nothing about me or this Delia person."

"Maybe not about the connection with Delia, but I can't believe that you weren't somehow a part of Asa's plan. He made a special effort for you to be there, at a function that was for family only."

"That part still doesn't make sense." Jack turned back to Cora. "Do you understand it Cora?"

"No."

Tess reached for the papers and pictures, studying them again. Then she looked to Cora. "Delia was about 21 when she went to work for Senator Worthington. That puts her at about Asa's age."

"So?"

"So I wonder if maybe Delia and Asa were… friendly."

"My Delia was no slut, not like you!"

"HEY!" Jack hands whipped out and grabbed Cora's arms giving her a little shake. "I love you Cora, but I won't have you talking to Tess like that."

"I'm sorry if I implied that, Ms. Peterson. I just thought a beautiful woman like your daughter would have caught Asa's eye."

Cora's lip snarled. "That snake? Delia was naïve, but she knew a self-serving rat when she met one. Her dad was one."

"Al?" Jack asked.

"No. This was Carl Jackson. He left us when she was about ten and we both thought good riddance."

Tess continued to study the documents. She couldn't rid herself of the feeling that there was something more and that Cora knew exactly what it was. As a secretary, Delia would have spent a great deal of time with Arthur, traveling with him to Washington, D.C. and back, Tess thought. It seemed a cliché, but could Arthur have had an affair with his secretary?

"What about the Senator?" Tess asked.

The flash of fear was quickly masked, but Tess saw it, and knew she was on to something.

"There you go again, ruining my daughter's good name."

"No, Ms. Peterson. I'm just trying to figure this out. It would be easier if you just told us, because I think you know the answer." Tess knew she'd just issued a challenge, one that Cora would likely ignore. The answer was here. The answer was linked to Cora.

"It doesn't matter. They're all dead. I'm leaving." Cora stood and made her way towards her apartment.

Tess studied the papers again, looking for the key to unlock this puzzle. A young mother working for the Senator. A copy of her dead baby's birth certificate and Jack's. She moved the certificates side by side. October 11 and November 10. Nearly a month apart. What did that mean? 10/11 and 11/10. Her eyes narrowed as an idea came to her. She looked at Delia's picture; her dark ink black hair and bluish-green eyes. Tess swore she could hear the final tumbler as it slid into place.

"Oh my-"

Cora whipped around. "No! Don't you dare!"

Her reaction told Tess that she was on the right track. "He needs to know. And he should hear it from you."

"Hear what?" Jack turned to Cora. "What's she talking about?"

"Nothing. She's just coming up with crazy ideas that aren't true."

"What sort of crazy idea?"

Both women were silent. Jack turned to Tess, frustration growing on his handsome face. "Do you know what she's talking about?"

"I think so."

"So tell me."

"I think Cora should tell you."

"Dammit!" Jack stood up and glared at both women. "One of you tell me what's going on."

"Asa learned Cora's secret.".

"You be quiet!" Cora moved so fast she nearly knocked Jack over on her way to Tess.

"Whoa! Hey Cora." Jack wrapped an arm around Cora's waist and hauled her towards him just before her fuchsia nails bit into Tess' face. He held her in place as she cursed in ways Tess had never dreamed of.

"Look," he said setting Cora down, but holding her to keep her in place. "I'll find out. You know I will. And if it's something I should have heard from your mouth Cora…"

"You've ruined everything," Cora spat at Tess. But she looked up at Jack and took a deep breath. "Delia Jackson is your mother."

"What? No. Lillian and Victor Valentine were my parents."

"Adoptive."

Jack eyes searched Cora's face for some clue as to what she meant. Tess couldn't determine if he didn't understand or didn't want to understand.

"Jack, you're the baby. The one not found in the fire. It means that Cora is your grandmother." Tess hoped that it would soften the blow for both of them by reminding them of their blood relation after all.

He looked away from Cora, his gaze cast out the window overlooking the city. Tess was sure that he wasn't admiring the view.

"Why the secret?" His voice was calm, yet underneath it was something dark.

"To keep you safe."

"From what? Who?" he said whipping his head back towards Cora.

"Arthur Worthington, of course. He killed my Delia. He killed her just as surely as I'm standing here looking at you."

"Killed her? The article said the fire was an accident," Tess said.

"That's what they wanted everyone to believe. But it wasn't. I was there Jack. Helping your mom-"

"She's not my mom!"

"I was helping her care for you. She was so young, and you were so little. I told her to get some rest. That all her problems would be over once she got some rest and came home. So she slept and I took you with me to get some groceries. When I got back, the house was in flames and Delia was dead. I knew it was them. They were pressuring her. So I took you and ran. I let them all believe you were killed in the fire."

Jack shook his head. Tess wasn't sure it was in disbelief or an effort to keep Cora's words from sinking in.

"The Valentines were such wonderful people and couldn't have children. So they adopted you and agreed to keep you safe." Cora's words tumble out, as if she were desperate for him to understand. And forgive.

"Why would Senator Worthington need to kill his secretary?" Jack's stone cold voice asked.

"So no one would know."

"Know what?"

Cora reached out to Jack, but he pulled away. "Know what Cora?"

"Arthur Worthington is your father."

Jack jerked back, stumbled as he tried to move away. "No. That's a lie!"

Tess' heart broke for the man whose world had just been shown to be nothing that he believed it to be. Everyone that he'd loved and trusted his entire life had lied to him. Tess couldn't imagine the anger and hurt he felt.

"I'm not a part of him. Of them!"

Once again Cora moved towards Jack, but he put even more distance between them. At his rejection, Cora turned on Tess. "This is all your fault! Why couldn't you have just left it alone?"

Tess ignored Cora. "Jack. This doesn't change who you are or the man you've become. All the success and goodness you bring to the world through your work, that's on you and the Valentines and Cora."

Jack's head whipped to Tess. "This has nothing to do with you."

The words slapped her, stung in a way Tess hadn't expected. "I was just-"

"Please leave."

"Okay," she said not wanting to add to his pain. She started gathering her papers.

"Leave them."

"But-"

"I said leave them!"

She could feel the boom in his voice vibrate through her heart. "Okay." She picked up her briefcase and purse and quietly left his apartment.

When the elevator doors closed, Tess let the heartache out and wept. She wept partly for the man whose life was just destroyed. Of all the betrayals she'd faced in her life, she couldn't imagine anything so devastating as learning your parents or the people you thought were your parents had lied.

She wanted to go to him, to hold him and give him the reassurance that Worthington DNA didn't mean he was like them. But he didn't need her. She could still see the steel in his eyes and feel the force of his voice as he told her to leave. The pain of it pierced her heart. How could that happen, she wondered. In a matter of days, he'd infiltrated her heart. And just as she feared, the aftermath was pain.

She pulled herself together, focusing on the new details she'd just learned. She worried what Daniel and other police would think about this new development when they found out. It could be considered a motive to kill. But Jack would have had to have known the secret in order to kill Asa. There was no doubt in her mind that he'd been completely in the dark about that. But others in the family may have wanted the secret to remain hidden as well. The Senator for one. Tess wondered if Cora was right about his being Jack's biological father.

What concerned Tess the most was that this revelation could have nothing to do with case. What if she'd hurt Jack and Cora unnecessarily? She knew Jack needed to know the truth, but she wished she hadn't been the one to bring it about.