F Wilson - Fatal Error

"I've been hiding from Jerry." Her tone had gone flat.

"All this time?"

She looked up. "I couldn't let him find me."

"But he's been dead since last spring."

Her eyes widened. "Last spring? I thought it was more recent."

"So you know?"

"I just heard. Mister Osala said Jerry died under a phony name, so nobody knew. He said-"

"Who's Mister Osala?"

"Why should I tell you anything about him?"

"Why not? Is it a secret?"

She shrugged. "I guess not. He was hiding me from Jerry. My mother hired him to investigate-"

"Two of us?" Jack said. "Does it seem logical that she'd hire two investigators?"

Jack didn't think of himself as a PI, but in this case he guessed he'd served as one.

"Totally not." She rubbed her temples. "I don't know… this is so not making sense. One of you has to be lying."

Jack pulled out his ace. He hoped it was enough.

"Remember that letter you received from Doctor Vecca?"

Her head snapped up. "How do you know about that?"

"It wasn't from her. I wrote it. I even delivered it to you personally-in a blond wig. Remember? It contained everything I'd learned about Jerry."

She stared at him, her eyes growing wider and wider. "Then you know…?"

He nodded.

She looked up at Weezy. "You too?"

Weezy nodded.

Dawn buried her face in her hands. "Oh, God! I didn't want anyone else to know! Ever!"

Weezy put a hand on her shoulder. "No one blames you. You were the victim of a sick, sick man."

"And it's over," Jack said. "He's gone for good-out of your life, out of everyone's life."

"But I was so stupid!"

"You were young," Weezy said, squeezing her shoulder. "That was the problem."

Still young, Jack thought, leaning forward. "So who's this Mister Osala?"

"Jack," Weezy said with a warning tone. What was with the look she was giving him?

"What?"

"She's upset. Maybe later."

What was up with her? This was important.

"Just this one thing, okay?" Jack sat next to her. "Tell me about this Osala, Dawn."

She took a deep breath. "Well, he's very rich, lives in a duplex on Fifth Avenue overlooking the park. He said he'd made a promise to my mother to protect me and that's what he did."

"Why aren't you there now?"

She looked away. "He kicked me out. He said with Jerry dead, I was in no danger, so his obligation was up. He found me this apartment and-"

"He chose it for you?"

"Totally. Even paid the first six months' rent."

Jack couldn't help a glance at Weezy.

"What's wrong?" Dawn said.

"Weez, can you get me a pen and a piece of paper?"

"Right here."

She plucked a Sharpie and a yellow legal pad from the table. Jack took them and drew a crude figure. He held it up for her.

"Did you see anything like this around Mister Osala's house?"

She shook her head. "Never."

Damn.

"But," she added, "my obstetrician had something like that on his pocket watch."

Jack tensed. "And who set you up with the obstetrician?"

"Mister Osala."

He choked back a whoop. There was the connection: The Order had had its sights on the baby all along. They'd placed Dawn under the wing of a well-heeled member until she delivered, then they dumped her and spirited the baby away.

The question was, had they searched out Weezy just so they could install Dawn across the hall? Seemed so. But to what end?

"What's that symbol mean?" Dawn said.

He didn't want to start in on the history of the Septimus Order. Weezy could handle that beautifully, but it wasn't where he wanted the conversation to go.

"Just a fraternal order… like the Masons."

Yeah, I wish.

"Enough of this," Weezy said from the kitchen. "Let's eat. I'm starving."

Dawn sipped coffee and nibbled on half of a sesame bagel with nothing on it. Weezy did the same, but was more aggressive with the coffee, draining cup after cup. Jack knew from the time they'd been apartment mates that she had an astounding capacity for caffeine.

Jack loaded his poppy-seed bagel with cream cheese and chomped.

"How are you feeling?" Weezy said.

They hadn't planned out a good-cop, bad-cop thing, but she seemed to be falling into the more touchy-feely role.

Dawn looked at her. "You never had a baby?"

Weezy shook her head.

"Well, then," Dawn said, "I'm sore. Not totally sore like I was yesterday, but sore."

Jack tried to imagine giving birth. Gave up. He'd tried many times while Gia was pregnant but his mind couldn't go there.

He wanted to ask Dawn about her baby but held back. He sensed Weezy tacking in that direction.

She tapped a finger against her temple. "How are you feeling up here?"

Dawn frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Emotionally. You've been living in somebody's house, now you're on your own. You were pregnant, now you're not. You just delivered a baby and…" Weezy shook her head. "That's got to get to you."

Jack could see Dawn withdrawing, shutting down. Weezy must have sensed it too. She reached out and touched her arm.

"I'm messing this up. What I'm trying to say is, if you're ever feeling down or lonely or just want to talk, I'm here all by myself too. I hardly ever go out, and sometimes I get lonely, so any time you want to talk or just come over to sit and read or watch TV with someone else around, feel free."

Jack thought Weezy might be laying it on a little thick, acting all mother hennish, which was not Weezy. Then it dawned on him that she wasn't playing good cop… this was genuine.

Dawn's voice was thick when she spoke. "Why do you care?"

Jack wanted the answer too.

Weezy looked flustered. "I… I'm not sure. You needed help yesterday, and you seem, I don't know… lost. I'm just offering to help until you find your bearings."

"Lost… yeah, you've got that right. I was headed for college, everything was going my way, but I screwed up everything." She looked like she might cry but got on top of it and turned to Jack. "What about you, Mister Thousand Questions? Why do you care?"

So many reasons… most he couldn't tell her.

But he knew one, as true as any of the others, that would mean something to her.

"Because I let your mother down."

Dawn blinked. "What? How?"

"I took too long getting the job done. In my defense, I didn't know a clock was ticking, and neither did she. She was gone before I could tell her I'd dug up something that would end your relationship with Jerry forever. She loved you fiercely, Dawn, and knew you'd be ruining your life with him."

"She had that so right. I just wish I'd seen it."

"She was ready to do anything to save you from him. Unfortunately she died not knowing she'd succeeded."

Dawn was staring at him. "So she didn't know about…?"

Jack shook his head. "I was on my way to tell her. I figured it was news that needed to be delivered face-to-face, but I didn't get to her in time."

"So she died not knowing?"

He nodded.

She closed her eyes and let her head fall back. "Thank God!"

He glanced at Weezy and she gave him a small smile and an approving nod. Approving of what? Comforting her? Gaining her trust? Or both?

He cocked his head toward Dawn: Your turn.

"I'm sorry about your baby," Weezy said. "I won't pretend that I can imagine how that feels."

Dawn straightened and looked at her. "I'm not sure how it feels either. I totally didn't want the baby-"

"I can imagine why you wouldn't," Weezy said.

"I even tried to abort it. But now that they tell me he's dead…" She sighed. "You know, it wasn't his fault. He didn't, you know, ask to be conceived. He had nothing to do with it. He's totally an innocent bystander. But after he was born they told me he had neurological problems, 'incompatible with life'…"