Made to Be Broken (26 page)

Chapter Forty-eight

"You bitch!" Leslie shrieked as MacIver crumpled to the floor.

"Did I mention the part about people dying?"

I flicked on my penlight, the weak beam illuminating MacIver's outstretched hand, still holding Ken's gun. Leslie stopped cursing.

"Yes, I knew he was coming around that corner to shoot, not negotiate," I said. "Did you really think I'd fall for it? Or just good enough odds... so long as someone else was taking the risk? That's how you operate. Get the guys to do the dangerous parts. It's easy, isn't it? We can slide into damsel-in-distress mode without even realizing it."

The barrel of Leslie's gun slid around the corner. I fired. She yelped and stumbled back, shoes scratching against the pavement as she recovered.

"The difference between you and me?" I went on, un-fazed. "You do it intentionally. You tell them what you need, the ugly job that has to be done, say you're too scared to do yourself, and they jump right in to help."

"Would you shut up?" she said between gritted teeth.

"Why? Am I distracting you? I could talk all night, but Ken doesn't have that long." I paused. "Are you even thinking about Ken? What's little Miranda going to do without her daddy?"

"She's got me."

"Ouch, and you call
me
cold. He can still hear you, you know, lying on that cold floor, dying. Think of all he's done for you. And this is how you repay him."

"Because he helped me get a baby? He sure as hell better. He robbed me of my own. Do you know what he did?"

"No idea, Leslie."

I mentally added "but, please, tell me" as I snuck along the wall of tires, trying to find a gap on the right angle to aim through.

"He knew I wanted kids, so when we were dating he said, 'Sure, we'll have three, four if you like.' Then on the honeymoon – the fucking honeymoon – he tells me he had a vasectomy after his second kid. But no problem. He'll get it reversed, just for me. Only it didn't work."

"Huh."

Through a gap I could see her elbow, but there was no way to fire a lethal shot without sticking my gun barrel through. I stepped back, staying in line with the gap, in case she moved this way.

"So I say, 'How about a sperm donor?' But no way, no goddamned way, is he having his wife pregnant with another man's baby. Adoption then. Fine, but it has to be a
white
baby, so his parents don't flip out."

Leslie finally moved... the other way. From the sound of her voice, she'd begun pacing as she worked herself into a righteous fury.

"And finding an agency that suits his needs? Well, that's my job. Even though I made more money, worked longer hours..." Her voice trailed off.

A blur of motion. Leslie's gun flew into the gap, firing. I'd swung to the side at the first sign of movement, my back slamming against the tire stack.

"You've got a real sob story there, Leslie. Poor little rich girl. Hubby's shooting blanks so she has to buy herself a baby. I'm crying for you. Really I am."

A sharp intake of breath. I kept my back against the tires, gun fixed on the end of the wall.

"Is Destiny worth it?" I asked when she didn't respond.

"What destiny? If you start some New Age bullshit – "

"That's her name, Leslie. The baby you bought. Destiny. Her mother's name was Sammi. Not that you bothered to find out."

A sharp bark of a laugh. "Oh, my God. Is that what this is about? Let me guess. You're her sister. Or aunt. No, Sunday school teacher, right?" The laugh took on a manic edge. "So my daughter has a hitwoman in her family tree."

"Are you worried about that? What's bred in the bone..."

I tried to read the play of light over the gap, telling me whether she was still there. Wheel, shoot fast... No, I couldn't take the chance.

"It's a good thing I believe in nurture over nature," Leslie said. "Otherwise do you think I'd go through all this trouble to get the daughter of a white trash whore?"

My finger clamped around the gun. "Sammi wasn't – "

"Oh, you know what she was, even if she was your sister or whatever. We went to school with girls like her. We'd see them every day. Empty-headed sluts who think of nothing but boys and partying. Too stupid to even take birth control. They get knocked up, go on welfare, and start pumping out babies like kittens, with no idea how to care for them, no interest in caring for them, because they have no interest in anyone but themselves."

"Did Destiny look neglected to you? Mistreated? Mal treated?"

She snorted. "Even a cat looks after its babies for a little while. Miranda was a novelty to her. Like a doll. That's what babies are to these girls. You've seen them, in the malls and the parks, running in packs, not a one of them over eighteen. Pushing their strollers like little girls with dolls. That's what gave me the idea. I was having coffee with a few other women – a support group we'd formed. There, at the next table, were three teenage girls, bitching about their babies, about how much trouble they were, about how they'd only had them because all their friends had one, like it was a goddamned fashion trend. The babies are right there, dressed wrong, fussing because they're ignored and uncomfortable, and here we were, four women who'd give anything to have those babies."

"Tragic." I'd taken a few steps as she spoke, but had reached an opening. I hovered on the far side of it. "So it's not fair. And that entitled you to find girls, kill them, and take their babies?"

"Are you telling me those babies would be better off with those mothers?"

By her voice, I knew she was far enough away. I sidestepped past the gap.

"We can give those babies everything," she continued. "The best care. The best schools. Stable, two-parent families."

"Er, you might want to check the definition of stable, Les. I'm pretty sure you don't fit it. And I'm pretty sure the two-parent part is out, too. Sounds like Ken's gone. Not that you care. You were willing to let him die to protect a baby that isn't even yours. Just like you killed her mother to get her. You couldn't come up with a better way?"

I readied myself to move again as soon as she spoke.

"Do you think anyone cares about those girls? Worth less little tramps, prancing around in next to nothing, shaking their asses at every man who walks by. Then, if he takes them up on their invitation, they cry rape."

A voice echoed through my mind. A neighbor, at Amy's memorial, whispering to her friend, saying almost the exact same words about Amy. As I struggled to focus, I missed the first part of Leslie's new diatribe.

" – accuses him of rape. Fucking bad judgment, sleeping with your fifteen-year-old student, but rape?" A manic laugh. "He couldn't handle it. Drove the car off an embankment. Killed himself and almost killed me. Then, as I'm lying in the hospital bed, I hear the little bitch is pregnant. She stole my fiancé, killed him, then has his baby.
My
baby."

"Destiny isn't that baby – "

"Do you think I don't know that?" The words were barely comprehensible, spewed on a stream of venom.

"I'm just checking, Les, 'cause I hate to say it, but you seem a bit nuts to me." A small laugh. "Oh, who am I kidding? You're full-blown fucked-in-the-head crazy."

"You're calling me crazy? You kill people for a living."

"Sure," I said as I reached the end of the wall. "But I
know
I'm not fit to raise a child."

"How
dare
you judge – !"

"Sorry, Leslie, but no matter what goes down here, you aren't keeping Destiny. I don't care how much money you have or how badly you want her, you aren't one-tenth the mother Sammi was."

She sprang around the corner, her face contorted with rage, gun raised. I slammed my fist into the bottom of her arm and the gun flew free. As she twisted to dive for it, I kicked her in the stomach. She howled, doubling over as she fell to the floor. I booted the gun out of her reach. She flipped over and grabbed for the one in MacIver's hand. I beat her to it, but as I bent to scoop it up, I stumbled, managing to grab MacIver's but drop my own.

I flew after it. She was faster, and snatched it as my fingertips brushed the metal. I staggered back, raising MacIver's gun.

"Stop," she said, smiling as she raised the gun to point at my head.

"Y-you don't want to do this, Leslie. I can help you. I can make sure you keep Destiny – Miranda, your baby."

"Sorry, but I can manage just fine on my own."

She pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. She pulled it again, face twisting. I took the cartridge from my pocket and dangled it in my free hand as I lifted MacIver's gun.

"Yes, it's empty," I said. "But thank you for putting your prints on it."

I shot her between the eyes. She toppled back, my gun still clutched in her hands. I took a deep breath, steadying myself, then crossed to MacIver and replaced the gun in his bare hand, putting it back as it had been.

"Not bad," said a voice behind me.

I spun, hand going to my holster.

Chapter Forty-nine

Jack closed the door behind him. "First thing? Before replacing his gun? Should have grabbed hers. Can't be unarmed. Not for a second. Better yet? Backup gun. Discussed that, didn't we?"

"How did you find me?"

"GPS. Put it on your cell phone. Figured that's one thing you wouldn't trash. Supposed to be a receiver, too. Piss-poor one."

"Probably interference from the cell."

"Gadgets." He shook his head as he walked over to look at the bodies. "Quick cleanup. Then go. You start – " He turned to me. "Am I
allowed
to help now?"

I tried to gauge whether he was angry or even annoyed. Impossible to tell, as always, so I said, "I'd appreciate it. Thanks."

There wasn't much to clean. I hadn't removed my gloves. Hadn't been hit by a bullet. Hadn't taken off my wig. My only concern was footprints in the dust that would suggest a fourth party to this lethal spat. A flashlight sweep of the floor, though, showed lots of prints, from lots of boots, presumably the people who'd been using the warehouse as an illegal dump site. I erased the most obvious of mine, and I'd discard the boots. Standard procedure.

As we were leaving, I looked back at the bodies.

"So you were outside listening?" I asked.

"Nah. GPS fucked up, too. Goddamned gadgets. Was at the mark's house. Lost you after that."

Was that the truth? Or did he just not want to take the wind out of my sails by telling me I'd had backup the whole time? As we circled through the shadows to the car, I decided it didn't matter. If he had been there, he'd stayed back, trusting me to handle it. That was enough.

Since I'd taken the rental, Jack had commandeered Evelyn's car, and parked it five blocks from the warehouse. He wanted the rental returned – another step in dissociating ourselves from the scene – so he followed me to drop that off.

Once in the car with him, I finally had the chance to explain what had happened. He'd figured out some of it, but was missing chunks, from the poor reception and from not being able to listen until he'd ditched Quinn, meaning he hadn't heard my playground meeting with MacIver.

When he found out, he cursed Evelyn. Not that he thought she'd done anything wrong intentionally. She just hadn't been careful enough, presuming that because it was clearly the correct client, then it had to be the correct job.

"Don't call her on it, okay?" I said. "I'm done with her and I want a clean break."

"Sure about that?"

"About wanting – ?"

"Being done with her? That Contra-whatever lead?" His gaze bored into me as he idled at a light. "You're sure?"

As I stared down the dark street, I realized I wasn't. That morning the answer had been clear. I wanted nothing to do with Evelyn. A sensible, cool-headed, logical decision not to deal with a woman I didn't trust. But now I wondered...

Was it really logical? Or was I just telling myself that to avoid the truth – that I didn't want to hear her offer, didn't dare take the opportunity to discover what I was, what drove me, where I drew the line...

"I-I'm not sure."

"Think about it." He glanced over. "But not indefinitely. Need to give her a deadline. A week. Can you do that?"

I nodded.

"And this... ?" he said. "The case?"

"Well, obviously I haven't disbanded the operation. We've got two other couples who knew what was going on, and more who've paid them – including one that has a child they think is rightfully theirs. I have names for the two couples, but they'll likely run for the hills when Keyes or MacIver don't call back tonight to say everything's been taken care of." I took a deep breath. "But that's not my concern. I can't let it be. I've got my proof on the downloaded files. Time to turn over the evidence and back out."

"You okay with that?"

I took a few long minutes considering it, then said, "Yes, I'm okay with that."

Chapter Fifty

Two days later, I was back at Sammi's grave, sitting on the ground, knees pulled up, the setting sun casting an eerie yellow glow over the forest as I told her what had happened. I could imagine what she'd say about that, hearing it as clearly as if she'd been standing there, arms crossed, shaking her head.

Do you know how stupid you look? I can't hear you, you know. A total waste of your time, but I guess if it makes you feel better...

Yes, it did make me feel better. The case hadn't wrapped up as neatly as I would have liked, with every baby returned, every person involved facing jail time, and I needed this, to forget what hadn't gone right and concentrate on what had.

The case was in the hands of the police now. Quinn had advised me on how to compile and submit the evidence anonymously. We'd left Detroit that night, before the bodies had been found. There was no mention of those bodies in our report. Let the police find them and work out the scenario, preferably one that indicted their anonymous tipster only as a potential catalyst for the deaths – that the group had discovered they were about to be investigated, and in arguing over what to do, had turned on each other.

"There's always a chance they'll trace Destiny back to you and she'll go to the Draytons, but I knew you wouldn't want that, so I didn't point them your way."

Good.

"She'll go to a family in Michigan. Real adopters who've gone through a shitload of screening and are dying for a little girl just like her."

I imagined her muttering about city yuppies raising her daughter.

"They won't be as good as you would have been, but they'll be the next best thing. She'll have everything you ever wanted for her, Sammi. She got out, just like you wanted."

As for Deanna's baby, Connor, he'd had been found and gone to her sister, Denise Noyes. I didn't mention that. Sammi wouldn't have cared about the fate of some baby and girl she'd never met. I felt better knowing Connor had been found and Denise had both her answers and her nephew.

I squinted through the trees at the sun, then back to her grave – a leaf-covered pile lost in the forest. "I could find a way to direct the police investigation to you. To get you a real grave, in the town cemetery."

Oh, sure, just give the Draytons a road map to Destiny while youre at it. And for what? A place in the corner of the town cemetery? A charity case funeral? The smallest stone they can get away with?
She snorted.
I'm fine here. Let them think we both got out.

"That's what I thought you'd want." I pushed to my feet. "I brought you something. No, don't worry, it's not flowers. I always wondered why we leave flowers, whether the person liked them or not. When my cousin died, I used to leave magazines at her grave. She loved magazines.
Seventeen, Cosmo
when she could sneak it past her mom... They made me stop leaving them, saying it was littering the cemetery, but I think they just figured it was kind of weird."

Huh, really? Go figure.

"Yes, 'normal' and I have never been on close terms, as you probably figured out long ago. But I did bring something for you."

I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the photo of Sammi and Destiny I'd taken from her room. I knelt and started laying it on the ground faceup, then turned it over, facing her, and put a stone on top. I stood and brushed off my jeans.

"So... I guess I just wanted to let you know how it all worked out."

Fine. Just don't expect me to say thank you.

I didn't.