Chapter 10
Samantha's pen scribbled madly across the stained notepad as the Sue spoke in hushed tones of her wayward sister. Though her stomach churned and the nausea broke upon her in steady waves, she wrote on, barely needed to ask questions to keep the woman going.
"I guess the addiction really started with our parents," Sue said, smiling at an elderly couple that just passed through the diner front door. "My mother formed an addiction to pain killers when she was on them for her cancer, and seeing her like that really sculpted my sister's personality. Not to say she had an excuse, because there isn't one for the way she treated those kids." The couple sat down and waited for menus. "'Scuse me, darlin', my regulars are waiting. And drink your tea! You haven't even touched it!"
Sam paused and stretched her cramped fingers around a still-warm coffee mug. She smiled. And Jack thought she was curled up in a miserable mess back at the hotel room. What a surprise he'd get when she showed him…
Sue was back, bearing a second tea bag and new hot water. "Sorry, where did I leave off?"
"Mrs. Romero's treatment of her children---"
"Yes, it was terrible. They had a hurricane of a mother—one day as calm and cool as the eye of a storm, the next turbulent and angry and sometimes violent," Sue bit on the cap of her pen and looked at Samantha thoughtfully. "At one point (this would be about five or six years ago), my sister stopped takin' and started dealing. I'm not sure which one was worse. It was as if she'd taken on the addiction of every druggie within a fifty-mile radius. When their demands grew, her temper shortened. When her stock was low, her patience was low. But things really went downhill when Rick died—"
"Rick?"
"Grace's husband…the girls' dad. He died three years ago in a 'car accident' up in D.C…" Sue hesitated. "Agent Spade, you and I both know there was no car accident. Truth was Grace was slow on her delivery rate and some clients got angry and killed her husband as a warning." Samantha looked up, not even wanting to imagine what those girls had been through. "Anyway, she wanted out of Winchester as soon as possible so she up and took my babies to New York and enrolled them in some fancy Catholic school."
"The Dominican Academy," Samantha murmured, and began to jot down something else when her phone rang. She smiled ruefully at Sue and swiveled to the side to take the call. "This is Samantha."
"Sam, it's Martin." Her stomach plummeted and she felt her face burn in horror. Now, of all times, he called her… He apparently understood her silence and continued. "Listen, not a big deal, but I just wanted to let you and Jack know that we've released Jeremy Sharpe because his brother bailed him out. I mean, we didn't have that much dirt on him anyway and Vivian couldn't break him last night when she interrogated him, so we let him go."
The nervous rush in Martin's voice that he adopted whenever he was nervous unexplainably pleased Samantha, and she sucked in her breath for a quick boost of strength. "Uh, sure. I'll let Jack know as soon as I see him."
"Where is he?"
"St. Joseph's. I was sick today and just now got out of our—hotel." His line went silent except for a faint static hiss from a poor connection.
"Are you—I mean, you doing all right now?"
She inhaled deeply and put an elbow up on the chair back to support herself. "Yeah, just allergies I guess. I'll call you back later. Oh, and tell Vivian to call me. Please." She hung up without explaining.
Sue was watching her curiously and so Samantha smiled. "Just our office in New York. They released Jessica's boyfriend and wanted to let me know." The wistful waitress had a sad expression in her eyes.
"She always was so popular with the boys," Sue whispered softly. "Oh, please, Agent Spade. Please find my babies! They ain't done nothing wrong, it's their mother who should have been stolen away not—" She clapped her hands over her mouth and looked at Samantha in horror. "Sweet Mary, Mother of God, please forgive me…"
The waitress looked at Samantha imploringly before hurrying off to the backroom to wash her face. Sam watched her disappear, frowning slightly. Where was Jack? It was nearly eleven and he hadn't called her. She flipped open her phone and scrolled down to where his name was listed in her address book. Hesitating, Samantha pressed down on the green phone key and held the cell to her ear.
She frowned when he didn't pick up on the second ring, as he had for as long as he'd known her. On the fourth ring, she heard the line click as his phone connected to hers.
"Jack, you won't believe this—"
"Now, let me guess who this could be…let me think, let me think…" Samantha's lips froze as a cold voice made even icier over the hiss of the line. "Agent Spade, isn't it? I've been waiting for your call."
"Who is this?" Sam whispered in a low voice. No answer. "Hello? Who's there? If you're trying—"
"Sam, listen to me." Jack's voice cut her off and her stomach fell suddenly. Something was wrong; very wrong. "Don't tell them anything, do you hear me? What ever they say, don't---"
She heard a loud smack and the snide voice returned to the phone, coughing and panting slightly. "Another word like that, Mr. Malone, and it's the last you'll ever make. I'm sure Agent Spade here is smart enough to know what's in everyone's best interests, don't you Samantha?"
"What do you want?" Her voice sounded strange and hollow as held onto the cell phone with trembling fingers.
"I want the aunt. Davis. Tell her to bring my cut, and that if there's even a milligram missing, blood's going to spill. Starting with her darling niece Jessica." Samantha swallowed difficultly.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
The voice grew impatient. "You don't need to; I'm sure Sue will be kind enough to fill you plenty on the way here. You have two hours." Click.
Samantha pulled the phone away from her ear, her fingers quivering slightly. She could feel herself starting to panic, the frantic heartbeat against her lungs, the sweat beginning to form on her brow, her face growing warm and flushed. She shook her head firmly and cleared her mind. Focus, she thought, Focus. He's counting on you now.
Sue returned to the table with a steaming pot of hot water and an affected smile hitched from ear to ear. "Sorry about that, darlin'. More water for your tea?"
Samantha stood, her face as solemn as stone. "All right, Mrs. Davis. You've put my boss in danger as well as both of your nieces, so it's up to you whether you want any of their blood on your hands."
The waitress lowered the coffee pot to the surface of the table, her eyes falling downcast. After a second, they flicked back up to Samantha's with a new and strange expression in them as if they were someone else's eyes completely. "What does he want?"
Samantha blanched. "He? You know who---"
"Of course I do," Ms. Davis snapped. "He's Jessica's boyfriend, Jeremy. The second he found out about my sister's past, he was trying to suck her and her daughters dry for all he could get. When I cut him off a few weeks back with a threat to expose him, he sent me a threat of coming after my family, but I don't have any family. So he moved on to the next best thing."
She looked up from coffee pot handle and glared at Samantha. "There's no point phoning any police, Miss Spade. He'll kill them all if you do." Sue glanced over her shoulder where the manager sat by the counter. "I'll be back in an hour, Greg!" To Samantha she said, "Let's go."
Samantha watched the woman throw down her apron and hurry through the diner's front door, and clenched her jaw. She picked up her coat, threw the paper full of notes into her purse, and ignored the questioning gaze of the alternate waitress, as she'd left not a single penny as a tip.
A/N: Thanks again for reading--I appreciate any feedback and will try to post again soon. --LV