Lexington Connection (26 page)

“Diana.”

“No,” Diana said firmly. “Just—just stay out of my way.”

Jessie watched her go up the stairs, puzzled and upset. She shouldn’t have gotten angry. She leaned over, her arms on the treadmill. There was too much going on that she didn’t understand. She straightened up and got back on the treadmill. She’d deal with everything else later.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, Julie grabbed her arm and dragged her out onto the deck. “What happened downstairs?”

Jessie shook her head. “Nothing.” Julie glanced up and down the deck and through the glass to the interior rooms. “Why?”

“Diana came running up here, went upstairs, slamming doors all the way. Then when she came down and went into the library, Margaret went in, came back out in about ten minutes, looking like a thundercloud. She was working in the kitchen but I heard her muttering something about ‘stupid dumkopf.’ I just figured you had said something or done something downstairs.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Well, I don’t know what happened, but if I were you, I’d stay out of Margaret’s way for a while.”

“Great, why don’t I just retreat to the bedroom and hide from everybody?”

Julie gave her that examining look she had when Jessie was trying to hide something. “What happened?”

Jessie shook her head. “I brought up that when she and I were together, I talked a lot about me, and she didn’t talk about herself. I wanted to know why. She said something to the effect that I listened but didn’t hear.”

“You do that occasionally,” Julie observed dryly.

An old unresolved issue with Julie, Jessie admitted. She just didn’t expect it to come up with Diana. “So what am I supposed to do?” she asked.

“Well, I think you might be right.” Jessie looked up in surprise. “I think we need to find out about her papa. Did she ever say much about him?”

“Just that she was very fond of him, they lived together. She seemed respectful, but, I don’t know, cautious. Mixed impression, I guess.”

“I get the same from Margaret. She’s very respectful of him around Diana, but she doesn’t like him.” Jessie looked up in surprise. “Dislike is to put it mildly. But she’s really afraid of him too.”

“Can you do it?” Jessie asked. “Ask her about her papa? She’ll be upset and that might set Margaret off.”

“I don’t think Margaret sees us the same. I think she might see me as trying to help.” She gave a half-smile to Jessie. “You are the black sheep in the lot. Isn’t this what you do with good cop, bad cop?”

“Yeah, but usually it’s an act. I’m just not sure what I did to be the bad cop.”

Diana avoided everyone through lunch. She went over and over the plans she had made to get Waldo out. She had always been a meticulous planner, down to the finest detail. That was how she survived. This was not the time in her life for things to come unraveled. She reflected that in the past week, so many things had gone awry. All because of Waldo. She had only agreed to transport him after Margaret had told her what she had heard. Papa had been cooperative by asking her to do this for him, and her reluctance had convinced him she was doing him a favor. Now, Waldo was gone, and she had no regrets about that part, but he’d left her one hell of a mess to deal with.

She wasn’t going to get back to see papa, to say goodbye. There were still things she had wanted to say, but they would go unsaid. If she only had some indication of a time line. The first unknown.

There was the matter of the plane. Would there be any way to tell if it had been sabotage? No black box, deep waters. If they had to go, that was probably the best way; if it weren’t only for the nagging suspicion about Helen. Another unknown.

She would have liked to have met with the lawyer face-to-face. There were always nuances of body language she liked to see. So much was lost on the phone, even on the video phone. Even if everything was pretty much set up, another meeting would have made her more comfortable. She didn’t like going into something blind and she felt like that was what she was doing.

And then last of all, there was Jessie. Diana had really wanted Waldo out of the way so she didn’t have to deal with Jessie. Now she had not only Jessie but Julie under her roof, in her safe house. How ironic, now that Jessie and Julie weren’t a couple. Wonder how that went across the years? She didn’t want to know. It was difficult enough as it was.

Damn, this is not going the way I want it to go.

Her brooding was interrupted by a soft tentative knock at the door. Diana gave serious consideration whether she wanted to be interrupted. It had to be Julie and she would be easy enough to scare away. On the other hand, Julie was Papa’s doctor. Such a source of information should not be ignored.

“Come on in, Julie.”

The door opened and Julie slipped in with all the appearance of coming into the lion’s den. “Can we talk?”

“Of course.” Diana invited her in with a wave of her hand, indicated a chair for her to sit.

“How did you know it was me?”

“Process of elimination. Margaret wouldn’t knock; Jessie wouldn’t bother me.” She sat down in the chair across from Julie. “What did you want to talk about?”

Julie was shaking, Diana could see, and she had a hard time looking at Diana.

“Julie,” Diana said slowly in an effort to put Julie at ease. “I’m not going to bite. I really am a nice person most of the time. It’s just that some people are not nice and those people I tend to speak to in their own language. There’s no reason for me to be ‘not nice’ to you.”

Julie uncertainly nodded but Diana could see that she wasn’t reassured. “You said you wanted to talk. Why don’t you tell me what you wanted to talk about?”

“Your father.” Julie looked at her, glanced away, and looked back, as if trying to gauge her reaction.

Diana stiffened. Her first reaction was to say nothing; she never talked about her papa, especially to someone outside the family. Then she reconsidered. She needed information, this was Papa’s doctor. Julie had come to her. It wasn’t like she was asking for information. Years of secrecy warred with a need to know before she finally gave in. “What about Papa?”

Julie sighed in relief and she settled back into the chair. She stopped shaking as the roles changed from reluctant guest and hostess over to doctor and patient’s family. “You said earlier he came to see me, and you know if he came to see me, he was very sick.”

Diana nodded. “Yes, I knew.”

“It’s always a strain on the family when illness gets to this stage. There are so many variables we don’t know. I’m more than a little handicapped because I don’t know who your papa is. I don’t have any patients with your name.”

Diana considered this. “I have to ask you this, Julie. If we talk about this, are you going to tell Jessie?”

Julie took a deep breath. “I won’t if you ask me not to.”

“Puts you in a conflict, doesn’t it?”

Julie nodded. “Some, but I’ll deal with it.”

Diana thought about it a moment. Papa had described Julie well. He always did have an eye for the ladies. Attractive. Charming. Told it like it was, was what he said. Didn’t sugarcoat when there was bad news. It hadn’t made sense then, when he was trying to imply that his Wednesday afternoons were trysts. Now it made sense.

“You know, Papa didn’t tell anyone he was sick,” Diana said slowly. “I found out by accident. So when he was going somewhere somewhat regularly for whatever, he made up a cover story. He said he had a new girlfriend.” She watched to see Julie’s reaction. “Her name was Julie.”

Julie’s jaw dropped a little and her eyes got big. She even flushed a little, a charming sight, Diana thought.

“He was very complimentary, just dropped little things here and there, enough to be plausible. He’d pick something out, a piece of jewelry, some little gift, and ask me if I thought Julie would like it. He always came home looking better, but tired also.”

“Blood transfusions,” Julie said faintly.

Diana nodded. “He probably didn’t use his name. Considering what I’ve learned about you the past couple of days, you probably wouldn’t have recognized it anyway.”

“But Jessie would,” Julie surmised.

Diana nodded. She finally got up and went over to the bookcase. She took down the picture of colorful hot air balloons against clear blue skies and turned it over. “We went to the balloon festival in Albuquerque a couple of years ago,” she said as she slipped out the hidden picture. “He never wanted to be photographed so I have very few pictures of him. I coaxed a couple out of him that trip, but then when we got back he destroyed them all. He didn’t find this one.” She pulled it out and brought it over to Julie.

Julie took the picture of Diana and her father, the balloons in the background. They had their arms around each other’s waists, both were laughing. She examined it carefully. “When was this taken?”

“We went about six years ago, then again maybe two years ago. I can’t remember. He was just beginning to get sick.”

Julie nodded as she tapped the picture. “I remember him. Very charming, soft-spoken. Distinguished looking.” She looked up at Diana and handed the picture back. “You don’t look much like him.”

“No. He always told me I look very much like my mother.”

Julie nodded. “He used the name Petree.” Diana sat down again, the picture still in her hand. “It’s not good news, Diana.”

“He’s dying,” Diana said slowly, maybe so she didn’t have to hear Julie say the words.

Julie nodded in confirmation.

Diana closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath. “I knew that. He’s changed, personality wise as well as physically. He’s been wrapping up details. I’ve watched him get frailer and frailer.” She shook her head. “We always think our parents are going to last forever, and then one day we turn around and they are old and frail and we have to take care of them.”

“Your papa didn’t want anyone to know, not even his family. In fact, he said he didn’t have any family.”

“I’m not surprised. His death…” She thought about what it would mean. “He has a position that many are going to try to fill,” she said finally, carefully, even realizing Julie didn’t understand. “What does he have?” she asked after a few minutes.

Julie looked uncomfortable.

“You can’t say.” Julie shook her head. “You mentioned blood transfusions. You’re a hematologist. Leukemia?” Julie made no response, her eyes filled with compassion. “I guess it really doesn’t matter. The fact is he’s dying, and there’s nothing I can do.”

Diana got to her feet, paced around the room as Julie watched her. Diana had managed a fair amount of research on the computer with the details she knew. If she could just get them narrowed down. She slowly walked over to stand over Julie. “I know you can’t say much but maybe you can confirm or deny.” Julie made no response. “He’s getting weaker and weaker, although he hides it. He has a nurse now, almost constantly. Is this something that he’s just likely to die in his sleep? If it’s with the blood, is it just going to be heart failure?” Julie raised her head a little. “Do you think it will be soon?” Julie looked away and ducked her head.

Diana leaned over her, her hands on the chair arms, pinning Julie in. “Julie,” she said quietly. “I’m not asking you to violate a confidence.” She took a breath, reconsidered. “Yes, I am. I’m asking because I need to know. When Papa dies, there’s going to be a big reaction in certain circles. It may have already started. That’s one of the reasons I’m sitting here in a safe house and can’t take you or Jessie back yet. Is this going to happen soon?” Julie said nothing but her scared look was back. “I’m not threatening you,” Diana went on in an effort to reassure her, not frighten her. “But the information would be very helpful for me, and in turn, for you and Jessie.” Julie made no response; indeed, closed her eyes.

Reluctantly, Diana straightened up. She couldn’t browbeat Julie into telling her what Julie felt she couldn’t ethically reveal. If Diana were more like her papa, she probably could, but she had resisted for years taking on those traits and she couldn’t change at this late date. She walked away, realizing she didn’t know any more now than what she had before.

“Diana, who is your father?” Julie asked behind her.

Diana shook her head. “Let Jessie tell you. She can give you a more accurate picture of him than I can. He’s my papa, that’s the only way I can see him.”

The room was silent.

“He’s lasted longer than I thought he would,” Julie said in a very quiet voice. “I really thought he’d be gone by now. I think he could leave any time.”

“Thank you,” Diana said without turning around. She felt rather than heard Julie come up behind her, lay her hand on Diana’s back.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.”
No, but I have to be.
“Go on out, Julie. Just leave me alone.” She heard Julie walk away. “Thank you for the information, Julie.” Then she heard the door close.

Even less time than what I thought
, she mused as she watched the sunlight and shade on the trees below.
This is going to get tricky.
She needed to talk to Margaret.

When she opened the library door, the first thing she saw was Julie and Jessie standing there, talking. Jessie had the picture in her hand and she looked up guiltily as Diana came out of the library.

“Your father is Czar Randalson?” she said in disbelief as if she expected Diana to deny it.

“Yes.”

“Czar Randalson doesn’t have a daughter,” Jessie protested. “He has wives, he has girlfriends, he has mistresses, he has whores, he has junkies, he has—” She broke off, shaking her head. “He doesn’t have a daughter.”

“He has a daughter,” Diana corrected. “He had one wife, only one lawful wife, and she died. He never took another. He has a daughter.”

Jessie still shook her head, refusing to believe. “No, you can’t be.”

Diana nodded. “Yes, I can. Yes, I am.” From the corner of her eye, she saw Margaret come in from the kitchen.

Jessie looked back down at the picture. Diana was sure she knew the significance. She had purchased a necklace for Jessie there, the only gift she had ever given Jessie.