Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.
Italics - Spanish
Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.
Chapter 17. Meeting Helen PlumAnnie was early, and was in the park ten minutes to two. She went over to a park bench and sat down. The bench was a lot more public than the one she and Tank had occupied.
Two minutes past two she saw Helen Plum entering the park. She looked around, and spotted Annie, who made a small wave with her hand.
"Hello Mrs. Plum. I´m Annie. Would you like to sit down, or would you prefer to go for a walk?"
"I´d prefer to walk."
They began a slow walk on a path going through the park. Some spring flowers were blooming in the flower beds.
"As you can hear Mrs. Plum, I´m not from around here. I came over from Europe for a specialized work since I`m proficient in ancient Greek.
"About a month ago I was on my way to the shopping mall. On my way inside the mall I was suddenly grabbed from behind, and a man I´d never seen before held me so hard I couldn't get away. He called me Cupcake."
Helen Plum didn´t say anything, but she paled, and Annie could see that her skin showed signs of too much alcohol consumption.
"A couple of men in black, whom I also never had met before, helped me, and my assailant disappeared. The men saw that I was scared and upset, and bought me coffee and told me a story of their friend Stephanie, who once upon a time had dated my assailant. When we separated I got a business card with the phone number to their company.
"I continued my work, and after about a week I got a strange feeling sometimes when I walked to and from my workplace. I felt like I was being watched, and the feeling intensified when I went out running in this very park a couple of nights later. I noticed a couple of different cars following me, and finally I got a look of the driver. It was the man who had grabbed me at the mall and called me Cupcake. The men who helped me had told me that his name was Joe Morelli, and that he was a police officer at Trenton PD.
"One night I went out for a run, and cut it short because I got that feeling of being watched. After I returned home to my apartment I showered, and while I was making myself a cup of tea afterwards I looked out over the building's parking lot. There was this car that looked just like the one following me around, and I could see there was a man sitting in it."
Helen Plum still said nothing, but obviously listened attentively.
"This made me so scared I called the number from the business card, and they promised to send someone right over. While I waited I tried to keep watch over the car in the parking lot. All of a sudden I heard a noise from the door to my apartment. I hid behind the door to the living room, and while I stood there a man picked the lock and managed the get the safety chain off and get into the apartment. He called for Cupcake with an increasing volume. When he had passed me and got into the bedroom I made a run for it. Just before I reached the door in the foyer I was grabbed from behind.
"Thankfully I got loose, and we called the police. The next day I was told that Joe Morelli was on suspension, and I got a restraining order on him. Nothing more. Otherwise breaking and entering usually at least gets you locked up until you post bail.
"Don't you find that strange, Mrs. Plum?"
"I really can't say. I´m not that well versed in the legal procedures."
"I thought it strange, but then again, I'm not from the US. But the men I met at the mall and the company they work for are well versed in the legal procedure, and they thought it strange.
"Anyway, I was a bit on edge the following days, and even took a cab to work instead of walking like I usually do. But in the middle of the fears and unpleasantness something good happened. I met and started dating a wonderful man at the security company. And after I spent the night at his place he drove me home, and being a gentleman he followed me up to the apartment."
Helen harrumphed when Annie used the word gentleman.
"Did you say anything Mrs. Plum? No?"
Helen just shook her head.
"When we opened the door there was a note on my doormat. It was quite crude, and on top of the note there was a cupcake. A pink cupcake. Again we called the police, who came and processed the apartment. Beside the note and the cupcake the person had destroyed some clothes and urinated on the bed. Of course this meant that it was possible to get DNA.
"Oh and the funny thing is I know you were in the vicinity of my apartment that very night. Driving Mr. Morelli."
Helen still didn´t say anything.
"Those incidents by themselves were enough to upset me. And then Joe Morelli still wasn't locked up, even though the police on both occasions had technicians processing my apartment.
"The security company started their own investigation. And found out more puzzling facts. Such as Morelli obviously hadn't done his job well for quite some time. He had a drinking problem, and as I had seen myself the night he broke into the apartment I was in, he didn´t hesitate to drink and drive. One of the men had contacts down at Stark Street who said that there was a cop who had a creepy obsession with curly haired brunettes. And then Stephanie Plum called from Miami."
Helen Plum took a side step, and became so pale Annie feared that she would pass out.
"I´m sure you're aware of the story she and her husband told us. I must say that the most surprising thing about it all is that you and Joe Morelli are still alive and in one piece."
"Are you threatening me?"
"Not at all. As I said, I am mostly surprised that Joe Morelli is still alive, not that I in any way plan to do anything to him outside of legal means.
"Maybe I should amend something. I really am surprised that Joe Morelli is still alive. But the most surprising, even shocking, thing I heard is that of a mother drugging her own daughter, and helping her assailant kidnap her. Not only exposing her daughter to the creep, but also any other women he has assaulted after that."
Annie looked at Helen Plum.
"There's a park bench over there. It looks like you'd better sit down, Mrs. Plum."
Annie helped her over to the bench.
"Considering the things we had heard, and how Joe Morelli still wasn't put in front of a judge even after two times breaking and entering, we started wondering what holds Joe Morelli had on at least you, police commissioner Ford and even his former boss, Joe Juniak."
Helen´s skin now had a pasty grey hue, and Annie was getting worried about her heart.
"Anything you can tell me, Mrs. Plum?"
Helen just shook her head.
"This weekend we were able to get a DNA sample from both one of your granddaughters and Joe Morelli. I can't say we were surprised by the results, since we obviously had some inklings, otherwise we wouldn't have made the tests. Is your oldest daughter and your husband aware of the fact that Frank Plum isn't her biological father? That she in reality is the half-sister of Joe Morelli?
"It must be quite a burden not having anyone to talk to, now that your mother passed away."
"You're lying!"
"About what? The parentage of your oldest daughter or it being hard not to have anyone to share your secret with? Or maybe you do have someone you can talk to? Like mayor Juniak?"
This time Helen´s skin wasn't pale anymore. It was flushed red with rage, and with a scream she attacked Annie, trying to scratch her face and eyes. The younger woman was a lot stronger even against Helen´s berserker rage, and held her in a firm grip.
"Calm down, Mrs. Plum. If you look around there's other people in the park, maybe even someone from the Burg."
It was like pouring a bucket of cold water over Mrs. Plum. She shrank back against the backrest like a ragdoll.
"Now I want some answers, Mrs. Plum."
"Frank doesn't know he isn't Valerie´s biological father. Joseph Morelli was already married, and I was young and stupid. I managed to convince Frank that Valerie was premature. Mother suspected, and when Valerie had been hurt in an accident they discussed giving her a blood transfusion. I knew that Frank´s blood wouldn't work, so I said that I didn´t want her to get any transfusions, pretending that I was afraid of contaminations from needles and such things. It was during the worst AIDS-hysteria, so I got away with it. And everything turned out OK, without the transfusion."
"You mean you didn´t let your daughter get a transfusion the doctors recommended because you were more afraid of your reputation than your daughter's health? Wow, maybe the kidnapping and drugging wasn't so out of character.
"How did Joe Morelli know?"
"His father told him we´d had an affair, and if you know it there´s some characteristic looks in the Morelli family that Val has."
"And Joe threatened to tell Frank?"
"Frank, Valerie and Steph. And he would have been a good match for Stephanie, a good position at work plus their own house."
"And so you pushed her towards Morelli, and she was so confused she allowed it for quite some time. Why is he so fixated on her? I mean, he stalked me and called me Cupcake, and we only have the hair and the build in common."
"I don't know. The Morelli family has a history of problems with addictions and mental issues. And he was quite obsessed with the fact that he was her first lover."
"And you pushed your daughter towards your other daughter´s half-brother. The mentally not very stable half-brother."
"He wasn't unstable or drinking then. If Stephanie just had married him he´d never be in this situation."
"Here I was prepared to feel sorry for you and your situation, but you really are making that hard. Don't you think it's up to your daughters whom to love and marry?"
"Stephanie´s only ever been an embarrassment to me. Valerie is married, has given me grandchildren and is raising them the proper way."
"And if I say it seems like her husband is having an affair?"
"So what. He finally has a steady income."
"Maybe you should give Valerie some advice that she could step out herself, I mean after all you've done it."
"You´re just bluffing."
"I´m afraid not, Mrs. Plum. We have the DNA evidence that your oldest daughter isn´t your husband's biological child, and we also have some photos from your meeting last week. You know that sleazy hotel on the east side of Newark? The one where not all the rooms have functioning blinds? As a matter of fact I happen to have a photo taken there last Wednesday. Ring any bells?"
Annie reached inside her shoulder bag and produced an envelope. She gave it to Mrs. Plum.
"There's two things in there – the photo and some results from the DNA-testing."
"And now I want to know what Morelli has on police commissioner Ford, how long you've been having an affair with the mayor, your husband´s friend and your youngest daughter's godfather."
"Or else?"
"Oh, I still have more copies of the photos in a secure place. Just like we still have photographs on when Morelli abducted Stephanie. That kidnapping is worth five years in prison, also for the accomplice. Obviously you value your standing in the Burg higher. I wonder what your ranking in the Burg will be when these photos and the fact that your eldest isn't your husband´s child hits the gossipmongers.
"If I were you, Mrs. Plum, I'd start talking."
"Obviously Joe Morelli knows about Valerie's parentage. And he found out about my affair with Joe Juniak about ten years ago. It gave him a promotion to detective."
"You mean you've been having an affair for at least ten years with your husband´s friend?"
"I don't think you´ve met my husband. He´s more zombie than man. He´s been that way ever since he came back from the army. We've hardly had sex since Stephanie was born. And Joe´s wife Mary was a cold fish."
"Usually you solve these problems with a divorce."
"I'm Catholic."
"I don't think adultery is a better solution in the eyes of the church."
"After Joe Morelli got a promotion to detective he gave Juniak the negatives. Of course we soon discovered he´d made a bunch of copies. Without those he´d been demoted a long time ago. He´s not an especially good detective, and was willing to take bribes in the form of money, sex and drugs. Juniak had to cover for him multiple times."
"How on earth did he go on to mayor if he had someone with that kind of dirt on him?"
"Morelli´s never been interested in politics, so he´s been mostly quiet since Joe became mayor."
"And why hasn't commissioner Ford kicked him out of the force?"
"Because Morelli had dirt on him as well. Photos from when Ford met up with prostitutes, and used drugs as well. Ford even used to vent to Juniak."
"I´ll give you an advice, Mrs. Plum. The shit is about to hit the fan. Come clear to you husband and daughter, so they don't have to hear it from some busybody."
"This is all your fault!"
"No, Mrs. Plum. I haven't committed adultery, lied to my husband and daughters or drugged and kidnapped someone. This is all your own doing. If you had had more backbone you wouldn't be in this situation. If Frank Plum loved you, you could have married him even though Valerie wasn't his biological child. And you could have had a good life without trying to interfere and run everybody else´s.
"And tell Joe Juniak that we have copies of the photos. We won't publish just to publish, but I don't think it would be good to have a senator that´s done the things he has to keep everything hush hush..
"Goodbye, Mrs. Plum."