Mattie was having a hard time assimilating all this, but one thing she did know, Morgan was right. She did need to be there for her mother.
“Morgan, I can’t imagine how you must feel and, probably never will. But whatever you need from me, you’ve got it.”
“Mattie, that means the world to me. I’d like you to come with me when I talk to my mom.”
“Are you sure? I mean that’s going to be pretty difficult, and…”
“Yes, I’m sure. She knows how close we are and I’m going to need the support. It’s not going to be easy.”
Mattie agreed, but was not looking forward to it. Morgan was her best friend and she’d always liked and respected Mrs. Eastman, but now, to see her raked over the coals…well, it was going to be hard to watch.
Chapter 10
Sonja had grown tired and frustrated sitting around in St. Louis. She knew it was time to head back to Chicago. She also knew it was time to find the mystery man, Mr. X. As dangerous as it might be, Chicago held the answers.
She thanked Karen and hit the road. Once back in the windy city, she’d start with newspaper clippings and then some research through her friends at the police department. There had to be something. People always leave tracks no matter how hard they try not to.
As she pulled up to her apartment, a chill came over her. It looked dark and foreboding and she had an uneasy feeling. Maybe nothing had happened, maybe they’d forgotten about her – or maybe they were waiting for her.
Carefully and quietly she unlocked the door, desperate to be silent. She cracked the door open just wide enough to slip through, then slid in and closed it gently behind her. She leaned back against the door in the dark and could feel her heart pounding so hard she was afraid if someone was there, they’d hear it. She stood motionless with fear – waiting.
Her dad had taught her a little trick on seeing in the dark. Whatever it is you’re trying to see, don’t look directly at it. Look off to the side or above it, and you’ll be able to more easily see what you’re actually trying to focus on. She slowly scanned the pitch-black room trying to find a flicker of light. There, in the back down the hall in her bedroom. It looked low along the floor, faint, but glowing. She stared so hard it almost hurt. Then suddenly it disappeared for a second. Something, or someone had passed in front of it. She clinched her fists and felt her heart race again. Maybe they didn’t know she was there. But if she turned on the lights, they would certainly know. Then what would she do? No, she’d have to maneuver in the dark. After all, this was her apartment and she knew her way around. She took her shoes off and stepped forward, trying to be as quiet as possible. With gun in hand, her plan was to head directly to the glow at the back of her bedroom. Her foot landed in something warm and wet. Oh, my God, she thought - what has happened here? She stopped and backtracked back to the front door. She had no choice, she had to take her chances and turn on the lights. She’d do it fast and if something was going to happen, maybe she’d have the advantage. With one quick flick she hit the switch…nothing happened. Terror filled her entire body. Now what? She could still see the glow at the rear of the apartment, so ooze or not, she’d try it again. It felt just as bad the second time, but at least this time it didn’t surprise her. Gradually, she made her way along. The room didn’t feel right, even aside from the slime on the floor. It she could get to the hallway, maybe that light would work. Something grazed her right leg, she wanted to jump but knew she couldn’t. After what seemed like an eternity, she reached the hall wall and the light switch. She paused for a moment and then flipped it. After all this darkness, it was like a flash bulb going off. It did stay on though, and she could see fairly well. The first room she could see was her bedroom. Someone had been there and had torn it up. The glow was her clock radio lying on the floor. Her bedroom window was open and some paper had apparently blown in front of it. She breathed a sigh of relief, at least no one was hiding in wait for her. It was the same in the living room and kitchen - ripped apart. They had broken her fish tank and that ooze she’d felt was the kelp and plants from the tank lying on the floor. It didn’t look like they’d taken anything, just messed it up and broken things. She made her way into the bathroom and there stuck to the shower door, was a note.
“Sorry you left town in such a hurry. How was your friend Karen in St. Louis? Stay out of this, or somebody will be investigating what happened to YOU!”
A thousand thoughts raced through her mind, most of them frightening. What in the world had she gotten herself into? Was there any way out? Should she just pack it in and leave? She began picking things up, still dazed by what had happened. No, she wouldn’t run. She couldn’t, she’d been taught better. She’d clean things up and then head to the police station. Not to report what had happened, but to talk to a few friends she had there. She wasn’t sure how to approach it, but somehow she had to find out if any information had leaked out on Cornell Eastman.
Sure enough, one of her good friends in the department told her they had gotten some information off the street, which seemed to point Eugene White’s murder in his direction, through a third party they were trying to find. She pressed a little harder, but came up empty. This was all she was going to get from the police.
She knew who this third party was…Mr. X. Well sort of. She had a picture of him…sort of. Okay, where to start. He’d undoubtedly left town, and probably in a hurry. Now, if she was going to run and try not to leave tracks, how would she do it? Her best bet would be to get to the airport undetected, pay cash for the ticket and leave the country. She was sure that’s what he’d done. And he could have taken the subway right to O’Hare. But what if he didn’t live near a stop, would he want to walk all that way, take the additional time and be conspicuous? Probably not. What about a cab? No, that could be traced. He might drive near a stop, leave his car and then hop the train. But if the car was left too long, it would either be towed or stolen. If it was towed and impounded the police would trace it. No, he wanted the car to be stolen, hoping it would be driven out of state, or at least out of the city. He could then do the train, plane and out of the country.
She’d start with abandoned and/or stolen cars. She knew about the time that he’d left so that would narrow it down some. If she came up with something there, she could start pursuing names and would then be on the trail. If she struck out, she’d have to rethink her strategy.
She was afraid to go home, so she rented a room in a downtown hotel with good security. The next morning she started digging. As she hacked her way through all the paper work, she began to think this might just be the wrong approach. Hundreds of cars were stolen or left abandoned every month in Chicago. But most of the newer cars were reported stolen, while the abandoned cars were usually junkers. She’d look for a fairly new car, not reported stolen but towed. Bingo! Of the cars that fit that description and time frame, there were only two possibilities. One was a new BMW, which had been traced back to a Dr. Richard Walton, who was out of the country and had been for several weeks and, the other one was a two-year-old Volvo registered to a Tyler Flynn. It had been towed, because a merchant had complained it was parked in a limited time space and, it was parked near the train. They both fit the time frame she wanted, but she’d start with Tyler Flynn’s Volvo.
She figured the cops hadn’t done anything about this because they didn’t know what she knew. The threats, the photos, the affair. They also had no reason to suspect Tyler Flynn. Finding out where he lived would be easy. Finding out where he’d gone, wouldn’t be.
* * * *
“Hello - mom where are you?”
Morgan walked down the long hallway with Mattie in tow. She was nervous, afraid and anxious. She just didn’t know how much her mom knew or how she would take this. They found her sitting in the family room reading a book.
“Oh, hi honey. How are you? She said closing t
he book. “I didn’t hear you come in. Please, come sit down.” She got up to give Morgan a hug.
“And how are you Mattie? It’s good to see you.”
“I’m fine Mrs. Eastman, how are you?”
“Mattie, we’ve been over this before, call me Jennifer.”
“Alright, I was only doing it out of…”
“Mom, can we please sit down and talk?”
Mattie sensed Morgan was getting apprehensive and wanted to get on with it. She quietly moved to a chair at the end of the room. Morgan put her arm around her mother’s shoulder and they sat down together on the couch.
“How are you doing?” Morgan asked looking deep into her mom’s eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine honey. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I was concerned, what with the campaign, and then Eugene’s death. I should have talked to you earlier about all of this.”
“Really Morgan, everything is fine. I know your father is under a lot of pressure and I don’t see as much of him as I’d like. But I know how busy he is and how deeply Eugene’s death affected him.”
Morgan sensed her mom knew nothing of the affair and the possibility Eugene had been killed rather than dying accidentally. This was going to make it tougher, but there were no alternatives, she had to tell her. Her mom looked so innocent and sweet with her hands folded neatly in her lap. Morgan suddenly had a rush of sadness and wasn’t sure she could go through with it. Oh, how she hated to tell her, but she had to do it. She loved her too much not to.
“Mom, what I’m about to tell you is…is going to shock and hurt you. And I want you to know I wouldn’t do this unless I absolutely had to. You mean so much to me, which makes this even harder.”
“My God Morgan, what in the world could be so terrible? Is it your father, is he alright?”
“Yes mom, he’s okay.”
“Thank God, for a second I thought you were going to tell me…”
“Mom, listen! It’s about dad and Eugene.”
“What? Eugene - Eugene’s dead. What are you talking about? Oh, I know your dad misses him and how important he was to…”
“Mom, they were having an affair!”
There it was. She couldn’t believe she’d blurted it out like that. Mattie leaned forward in her chair stunned. Morgan fell back on the couch feeling sick to her stomach. Her mom turned and looked at her with an almost frightening expression.
“No! How could you do this? How could you tell me something like this? How would you know? I’ve lived with this man for over 34 years. Don’t you think I’d know about something like this? Don’t you think there’d be signs? No, Morgan, you’re wrong and I can’t believe you’d come here and say something like this about your own father.”
Morgan felt like she was going to throw up. She jumped up and ran from the room. Mattie got up to go with her.
“Mattie, what do you know about this? You’re Morgan’s best friend. Why would she do this?”
Mattie turned and took several steps toward Mrs. Eastman.
“Because she loves you and… because it’s true.” Mattie ran out of the room to find Morgan.
Jennifer Eastman slowly rose and went upstairs to the bedroom. There in the drawer of the nightstand she removed a letter from their son Steve. She’d kept it hidden from her husband. She’d read it, but didn’t believe it. Steve had problems with his father and she knew it. She also knew he’d blamed his father for most of them. But this, accusing and threatening, it scared her. She opened it and read it again.
Father Dearest,
Well, the secret’s out. And I know what it is. You’re a disgrace! You may have never wanted to claim me as your son. Well, guess what? I’m disclaiming you as my father. You hypocrite, making fun of me for my life style, then having an affair with Eugene. Don’t worry I won’t tell anyone, but I don’t want to see or hear from you again. I guess everybody’s a “half a bubble off center” one way or another!
Your ex-son
Steve
She crumpled the letter in her hand. It was true, and now she’d turned away her daughter, who’d only come to help her. She ran from the room, hoping to catch Morgan before she left. As she got to the main hallway, she could hear Morgan’s car leaving the driveway. Heartbroken, she made her way up to the bedroom and collapsed on the floor.
Chapter 11
Don Marks was a man of ambition and determination. He had planned this political assassination well. They’d used Sonja Bartlett to dig up the dirt they needed and then, through calculated leaks to the press, had planted a seed of doubt about Eugene White’s death. Now he felt it was time to go for the coup de grace.
He walked to Jack Johnson’s door and leaned in. “Jack, come in here, please.”
Jack came in, sat down, sensing it was time to pull the plug. “Yes sir.”
“Jack I’ve been thinking about this and I think it’s time we went for the kill, if you know what I mean.”
“Yes sir, I think I do.”
“Good, so we’re agreed.”
“Yes, Mr. Marks, I’m ready to do whatever…”
“Fine - tell me what happened with Ms. Bartlett. Where is she? What’s she doing and, do we have to worry about her?”
“No sir. She left for St. Louis and I don’t think she’s come back yet. We did visit her apartment and left her a message.”
“What do you mean; you don’t know if she’s back yet? What the hell are you doing, Jack? It’s imperative that you know where she is and what she’s doing. What if she’s come back and has decided to dig into this? She’s good at what she does; that’s why we hired her. If she should stick her nose in the wrong places, it could jeopardize everything we’ve worked for.”
“Believe me sir, I don’t think she’ll do that,” Jack said, starting to feel nervous.
“And just why not, Jack?”
“Because sir, the note we left made it pretty clear she was to stay out of this, or…suffer the consequences.”
“How explicit was this note Jack? I mean how far did you go with this threat?”
“We just told her to stay out of it or they’d be investigating what happened to her.”
“And how did we leave this note?”
“Well, sir, we trashed her apartment, killed her fish and put the note on the shower door.”
“Killed her fish? How terrifying. I’m sure the site of dead guppies put the fear of God in her. Tell me you’re kidding Jack, please.”
Jack thought about saying he was kidding, but he knew Mr. Marks would find out and then he’d truly be in some deep trouble.
“No sir, that’s what we did.”
Rising up from behind his desk and looking angrier than Jack had ever seen him, Marks slammed his hand down on his desk.
“That’s brilliant Jack!”
“I’m sorry sir, I only meant…”
“Get out there and find out where she is and what she’s doing – NOW!”
Jack was on his feet and out the door before Mr. Marks could sit down. He wasn’t sure what his next move was going to be, but he knew it had better be right.
* * * *
The house looked darker than usual. Cornell Eastman pulled into the garage wondering if Jennifer was home. He’d worked late at the office again, and had called to let her know he’d be home late, but there was no answer. He entered the back door finding no lights on anywhere in the house. Even if she wasn’t home, it was odd she’d have left the house dark. He began turning on lights, making his way upstairs. The house was strangely quiet. Reaching the top of the stairs, he turned down the hall to her bedroom. As he moved toward the bedroom doorway, an uneasy feeling came over him. It was as if something or someone was waiting for him there in the dark. He reached for the light switch, “Don’t you dare turn that on,” a familiar voice said from the back of the room.
“Jennifer?”
>
“Who else would it be?”
“Jennifer, what’s going on? Why are you hiding in the dark?”
There was a long and eerie silence. He reached for the switch again and then thought better of it.
“Can I please turn on the lights?”
“No!”
“Damn it Jennifer, I want to know what…” Then it hit him. She knew, but how much and from whom?
“Can we talk about this? I guess you heard what happened?”
The silence was killing him. He stood for a minute, his shadow outlined in the doorway. This was hopeless. Silently he turned to walk away.
“Jeff, how could you do it? What could you have possibly been thinking? You threw everything away, including us.”
Now it was his turn to say nothing. What could he say, how could he explain what he had done? He moved back into the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands. This woman had been through thick and thin with him, stood by him when others doubted, given him two children and had raised them mostly by herself. All this while he was building his career and becoming a big shot politician. Yeah, this was a great reward for all that. He might as well have just stabbed her in the heart.
“I don’t know Jenn. I have no explanation. Something just happened.”
He could hear her crying in the corner. He wanted to get up and go over and hold her. He didn’t.
“No explanation? That’s it? How about sorry Jenn? I don’t know what happened I just kind of went nuts, thought I’d embarrass, humiliate and destroy my family, my career and my life. Don’t worry we’ll get over it.
You know, I thought I knew you, but I guess we’ve just been apart too long. You off becoming a star, while I ran the home, raised the kids and supported you in every way I could. And this is the…”
“Jenn, I can’t tell you…”
“Shut up you son of a bitch, I’m not finished! And this is the thanks I get? YOU HAD AN AFFAIR WITH ANOTHER - MAN!”