Mariah Stewart - Cry Mercy

Emme had just finished printing out two copies of the phone and email list the next morning when she heard Trula in the hall.

“This is Emme's office,” Emme heard her say. “Right on through the door here. Come for a coffee refill anytime.”

“Thanks, Trula.” Nick was smiling pleasantly as he strolled into the office. To Emme he said, “You didn't tell me your job came complete with a fairy godmother.”

Emme laughed. “That's as good a description of Trula as I've heard since I got here.” She pointed to the chair that stood next to her desk. “Make yourself comfortable for a moment while I finish this.”

“Seriously, that woman is something else. If she was thirty years younger, I'd ask her to marry me.” He moved a pad of paper closer to the edge of her desk and set his coffee cup on it. “I'd beg her to marry me.”

“You must have gotten a whiff of those muffins she bakes every morning.”

“I got more than a whiff,” he smiled.

“She gave you a muffin?”

“Where do you think I've been since eight fifteen?”

“She must think you're here for a job interview.”

“Nope. She knows why I'm here. She just couldn't resist the old Perone charm.”

Emme coughed into her hand.

“Think you can drag that charm up to the conference room so we can get started?”

“Sure. Lead the way.”

Emme gathered up her files. When she struggled to pick up her laptop, Nick grabbed it for her. Halfway up the stairs they met Robert, who was on his way down. Emme made the introductions.

“I'm really glad to meet you,” Nick told him. “I think what you're doing here is amazing. If I'm lucky enough to see my niece again, I'll have you to thank.”

“You'll have Emme to thank,” Robert corrected him. “She's doing the work.”

Robert went down two more steps, then stopped and turned around. Looking up, he said, “Do I know you from somewhere?”

Nick shrugged. “I don't think so.”

“You look familiar.” He continued down a few more steps. “Nick Perone. Even your name is familiar.”

“Your name is familiar to me, too,” Nick said, “but you're Robert Magellan. Everyone knows who you are.”

Robert was at the bottom step, looking over his shoulder. “If we've met before, it'll come to me. I never forget a face.”

“Could you have met him somewhere?” Emme opened the door to the conference room and turned on the light.

“I think I'd remember if I had. I doubt we travel in the same circles.” Nick followed her into the room. “Wow. Looks like an old-fashioned library.”

“The library is downstairs. And that's pretty much off-limits to the rest of us, one of the few places in the house off-limits to us. That's Robert's private domain. Invitation only.” She placed her files on the table and looked around for a coaster for Nick's coffee. Not finding one, she handed him a file. “You'll have to use this.”

“Have you ever been invited?” he asked, and when she looked blank, he added to clarify, “To the private library.”

“Are you kidding? That's family only. Robert. Kevin-his cousin, Father Kevin Burch, but no one around here seems to remember he's clergy half the time. And of course, Trula.”

She glanced around for the phones, and found them at the far end of the table.

“Let's move down to that end,” she told Nick. “It's easier than moving the phones.”

They repositioned themselves, the laptop between them flanked by a phone on each side.

“I spoke with the Eastwind police this morning. The chief is going to start working on those surveillance tapes. I think he was happy to be kept in the loop. Oh, and here”-she handed him a piece of paper-“I printed out Hayley's email so we'd have clean copies to work from. I also printed out what I think the order of things should be.”

Nick glanced over the list.

“You want to start with Ali, then move on to Henry, then Lori,” he read.

“I'm thinking Ali might be home. She's a high school senior so she's probably finished with her exams. Depending on the school system she's in, she might have already graduated. Hayley said that Henry just graduated from college, but that he wasn't living at home right now. Lori's still in college but she has an apartment with a few other girls and she's staying in New Haven for the summer.”

“You know what you're going to say?”

“I can do this in my sleep. Seven years on the police force, remember.”

Nick pointed to the phone. “Dial away.”

While she dialed, he asked, “Did you like it?”

“Did I like what?”

“Being a cop.”

“Loved it.”

“Why'd you leave?”

“I love my daughter more.” She flushed pink and mentally kicked herself. She was grateful that the call was answered on the third ring, saving her from an explanation she didn't want to give.

“Hello, is this Ali?” she asked.

“Yes. Who's this?” The young girl yawned blatantly.

“My name is Emme Caldwell.” She hit the speaker button but kept the volume low. “I'm an investigator with the Mercy Street Foundation. I'm calling about Belle Hudson.”

“Belle?” She yawned again. “I haven't heard from her in a couple of months.”

“She's been missing for a couple of months, Ali. We're trying to find her.”

“Belle's really missing? She's not just AWOL from the board?”

“I'm afraid so.”

The yawning stopped and Ali was suddenly fully awake.

“Are you sure about this? Who'd you say you were again?”

Emme reintroduced herself. “And yes, we're positive she's missing. Actually, no one's seen or heard from her since January.” Emme paused for effect. “January twenty-fourth, to be precise. The day you spent in Philadelphia at the art museum with several of your donor siblings.”

“Oh my God.” Ali's voice cracked. “She's really been gone all this time?”

“I'm afraid so. Weren't you contacted by the police a few months ago about this?”

“Someone called and asked if I knew her-months ago, this was-but I didn't really understand what the call was about, so I hung up,” she said sheepishly. “When they called back, they said they were checking numbers on a cell phone, so I said I didn't know her. They didn't tell me she was missing.”

“Why would you have said that, Ali?”

“Look, some of the kids' parents are real nervous about us getting together. You have to understand the whole donor-sibling thing, what it means to some kids to find out they have brothers and sisters, that they're not alone.”

“I think I have a pretty good idea what that might mean, Ali.” Emme, who'd been alone all her life-until Chloe-had a damned good idea of what it might feel like to discover a connection. Any connection.

“Some of the parents don't. They feel threatened by it, like they think because their kid finds some family somewhere outside of them, that it means they don't love their own family or their mom, or their dad, if they have one.” She sighed. “Some of us only have a mom. Or in Henry and Lori's case, two moms. They don't really understand why we'd want to know who fathered us or what that side of our gene pool might be like or why we'd want to have contact with them, why it matters whether or not we connect with these other kids who-as far as the parents are concerned-are only connected to us by a biological event. Because to some moms-that would be moms like mine-the only side of the family that's supposed to count is hers.”

The words all came out in a rush, and Emme sat quietly, listening.

“So when a stranger calls and says, I'm calling numbers on a cell phone, do you know-fill in the blank, any one of my donor sibs would do-the answer is going to be no. Even if they said they were the police, how would I know if they were lying or not?”