Poor Little Dead Girls (38 page)

That was the plan, anyway. Before things got complicated. The nurse puttered into the room an hour later with a hot breakfast and shooed them down the hall to the nurses’ lounge. There were a few couches and a TV, and Sadie instantly felt better being away from that hospital bed. Jeremy dragged a coffee table close to the couch and set down her tray.

She glanced down at the plate of eggs and bacon, and something deep down in her stomach stirred. She tucked in eagerly, and they both watched in stunned silence as she devoured the whole thing. When she finally set her fork down, they were staring at her, jaws hanging open.

“I guess this means you’re going to be okay then?” Jessica said with a grin.

Sadie shrugged. “Guess so.” She smiled and glanced at Jeremy, but something about his posture stopped her cold. His entire body was tense, and he was staring, unblinking, toward the door. His shoulders were hunched like he was getting ready to pounce, and he was slowly inching closer toward her on the couch.

She followed his line of sight. Two men were standing in the doorway, both in black suits and dark sunglasses. They stood at attention with their wrists crossed in front of their bodies, and she knew instantly who they were. Secret Service.

One of them spoke. “Senator Cranston would like to speak with you privately, Ms. Marlowe. Please ask your friends to wait in the hall.”

She looked at Jeremy, and his eyes narrowed. Jessica just stared toward the door, looking too scared to move.

“No.” Sadie sat up straighter on the couch and squared her shoulders. “If he gets to have his muscle with him, then so do I.” She spoke loudly, trying to sound confident, but her voice trembled. “We do this on my terms.”

The men didn’t move, and the five of them sat and stared at each other for a long time. Finally a voice murmured in the hallway, and the men parted. Sumner Cranston walked through the door between them.

When Sadie saw him, her whole body started to vibrate. Jeremy put a hand on her arm to steady her, but she could see the tension in every muscle in his neck and shoulders.

“Come near her, and I’ll kill you,” Jeremy said.

Sumner nodded toward Sadie. “Sounds like she’s the one I should be worried about.” He had bags under his eyes, and his posture sagged like he had a million pounds resting on his shoulders. He held up his hands submissively. “But I’m not here to hurt you, Sadie. I know what my family did to you and your mother. I want to help.”

Sadie’s lip curled. Jeremy started to stand, but she pulled him back down. “Hear him out,” she murmured. Some sick part of her wanted to see him try to explain himself.

Sumner walked slowly across the room to face them. He looked older than she remembered from the football reception, and his skin hung in deep wrinkles on what was probably once a handsome face. He was tall, like Teddy, but his gut ballooned like rising dough over the top of a thin black belt, and his forehead was shiny with sweat. It was the almighty “Zeus.” Clammy and soft.

“May I sit down?” He motioned toward one of the empty chairs.

“I’d prefer you didn’t.”

He sat down anyway and set a briefcase on the table between them. “I’ll make this quick, since I know you’ve just been through an awful ordeal. We all have.”

She saw Pamela’s body pitching forward over the ledge, and her hands started to tremble. She clasped her hands tightly together to keep them from shaking.

“I’m deeply sorry for the trouble my daughter-in-law put you through.”

Sadie almost choked. “Trouble?” She felt her voice rising out of her control. “If you knew what they did, and you did nothing, then you’re just as much to blame. And don’t even get me started on that room in the hospital. You’re a sick bastard who’s playing God, and I’m going to make sure you pay for that.”

Sumner held her gaze. “Our methods are extreme, but so are the problems we’re up against. Whether the ends justify the means is a matter of philosophy, and I happen to think that in this case they do. I can see you’re of the opposite opinion. It’s possible my son has taken the means a bit too far, but when you’re a parent you’ll realize that our children do not always make us proud. Still, it is our duty to stand by them.” He looked her in the eye and spoke slowly. “My daughter-in-law is a sick woman, and it’s clear her demons have spread to my grandson. I had my suspicions about what happened to your mother back then, but I wasn’t sure until last year when Anna Ralleigh went missing. You’re right that I should have stopped them.” He spread his hands in an apologetic gesture. “But a man protects his family. At all costs.”

Sadie gritted her teeth. “Women do that, too. And my family deserves retribution.”

He sighed. “After you’ve heard what I have to say, you can make your own decision about how you would like to proceed.”

Sadie crossed her arms.

“After your mother was deemed unsuitable, she disappeared. Her drug problems started soon after, but we had nothing to do with that. It’s my belief that Pamela paid one of our lab technicians to rig the test, but Maylynne’s spiral into darkness was an outcome no one could have predicted.”

“How did you find me?”

“There are a certain number of American families that hold a large percentage of the nation’s wealth, and the goals of the Order are dependent on those families holding together. After Maylynne ran away, and we lost Anna too, we needed someone else from your lineage. You were the only one left. We knew it was a risk, given your mother’s complicated history, but we had to give it a chance.”

“The scholarship. You rigged the whole thing.”

“We sponsored your education, yes. But I like to think that was a mutually beneficial scenario.”

“And the eggs?”

He at least had the grace to look uncomfortable. “An insurance policy. In case you were also … lost.”

“But there were hundreds in that room. Why all the rest?”

“Research, and population control. With such a small gene pool, we need to carefully monitor how we combine them to make sure we maintain sufficient genetic variation. Inbreeding has led to the downfall of some of the world’s most powerful dynasties.”

Sadie felt sick to her stomach, and she held up a hand. “I don’t want to hear anymore.”

“I’m telling you all of this because you needed to know the truth. And I need something from you in return.”

He spoke the next words slowly and carefully. “You have sensitive information — all of you do — and I’m sure you can understand that it’s very important to me, and to many of my associates, that information stays between us.”

She narrowed her eyes. Here it comes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jeremy slide the duffel bag out of view behind the couch.

When she didn’t respond, Sumner reached forward. He unlocked the briefcase and lifted its lid. Instinctively, the three of them leaned forward and looked inside. At the bottom was a leather portfolio.

“Open it.”

She spread it open on her lap. In the left pocket was a thick document printed in small, even type. In the right pocket was a check.

She looked up. “What the hell is this?”

“I know you’ve been through a lot, Sadie. And I don’t just mean last night. I know about your family, your financial problems.”

That you caused
.

“I want to make things right, and I’m willing to make keeping our family secrets worth your while.”

A fresh wave of rage coursed through her. “You think you can buy me just because you admit you feel bad about it?” Her voice rose higher, and with effort she brought it back under control. “And I don’t need your money, anyway. Apparently I’m the heir to some long-lost great American fortune, which is the only reason I’m even here.”

His face hardened. “That’s true, but you’ll never see a dime of it. It’s been tied up in litigation since Anna died, and we have the resources to make sure it stays that way for a very long time. If we have to produce another heir, we will.”

Before she could process that, he stood up.

“Think it over. My lawyer will come by tomorrow to pick up the signed confidentiality contract, and after that I’ll clear the check.” He looked at Jeremy and Jessica. “There are conditions included in the confidentiality agreement that also hold you accountable for your friends’ actions. Should either of them choose to breach the contract you will be held personally accountable.” He held out a hand for her to shake.

The three of them just stared as his hand hovered motionless a few feet from their faces. No one moved. With a resigned shrug he picked up the empty briefcase and walked toward the door.

“Wait,” Sadie said. “What happened to Pamela Cranston? Is she dead?”

Sumner turned back. “It’s a big ocean, Ms. Marlowe. I don’t think anyone will be hearing from Pamela again. We’ll make sure of that.”

He walked out of the room, the secret service agents trailing in his wake. Then they were alone.

They sat in silence for a few moments until finally Jessica spoke.

“I can’t handle it, Sadie. You have to at least look at the check.”

Sadie sighed. “It doesn’t matter, Jess. These people have to pay for what they did. And I don’t mean with money.”

Jessica shrugged. “I know. But it can’t hurt to look, right?”

Sadie looked at Jeremy, but he shook his head.

“If you’re not going to take it, wouldn’t you rather just not know?”

She bit her lip and looked down at her lap. Slowly she reached down and pulled it from the folder. It was just a regular check — light blue paper with watermarks across the back. She flipped it over. Jeremy made a noise that was somewhere between coughing and gagging.

“How much?” Jessica leaned forward. “Come on, you have to tell me now that you both know.”

Sadie looked up. “A million dollars.” She watched as the color slowly drained from Jessica’s face.

“What are you going to do?” Jeremy asked.

She leaned back against the cushions and looked down at the check in her hands. She looked from Jeremy to Jessica and back again.

“I think it’s obvious, right?”

Ten minutes later, she called Charlie Ronson. When she told her she had a story she might want to run, Charlie sounded only mildly interested. But when she explained it had to do with the Cranston family, Graff, and an unsolved murder, the line went silent.

“Sit tight. Don’t talk about this to anyone — especially on the phone,” Charlie finally said. “I’ll be at Keating in less than two hours.”

Charlie sat on a plastic folding chair in the infirmary’s lounge for four hours that day, while Sadie and Jeremy told her the whole story, from start to finish. She typed notes furiously on her silver laptop and looked up only to ask questions. As they talked, her face started to look pale, and by the time Sadie was finished, she looked like she might be in shock.

By the time she finally left, Jeremy’s duffel bag slung carefully over one shoulder, Sadie knew she had officially crossed over. The story was out. No turning back.

She left Keating the next day. Her dad got on a plane hours after she called, and at 5:30 the next morning, she was packed and ready to meet him at the airport. She didn’t sleep, and when she ran out of things to do she sat in her empty half of the room, listening as the twins tossed and turned. After she had told them, Gwen had stayed quiet for a long moment, then hugged her so tight it had been hard to breathe. Trix had made her promise she could play Sadie in the movie whenever she sold the rights.

She heard a knock on the door and stood up. Jeremy was outside with a bag slung over his shoulder, eyes still puffy and red. Charlie had promised to wait a few days to run the story, and in the meantime, Sadie and Jeremy wanted to get as far away from Keating as possible. It was going to be anonymous, but she knew anyone who mattered would know where the story had come from.

Jessica was back in Chicago already, having taken a redeye late last night, and Jeremy was coming to Portland for the week to stay with Sadie and her dad. Charlie had released just enough information to a contact she had at the FBI so that all three of their families would be protected for the foreseeable future.

“You ready to go?” Jeremy raised his eyebrows. Sadie turned and glanced at the twins one last time, then followed him into the hallway and shut the door behind her.

“Just give me one second, okay? There’s something I have to do.”

Down the hall, Sadie knelt in front of Brett’s door and slid the sealed envelope through the crack. She stood and waited, part of her hoping Brett was awake, but there was no sound. She walked back to Jeremy and took his outstretched hand. He pulled her in toward him and wrapped his arms around her.

“What did the letter say?”

She buried her face into his chest and shut her eyes. “Just that I’m sorry.”