She looked shaky.
'Maybe you should sit down,' Weezy said, stepping closer with a concerned look.
Dawn held up a hand. 'No, I should go. Because you're lying to me.'
'Hey, look,' he said. 'Maybe your mother could have handled it differently, but she was worried-'
'Oh, I know she hired someone. It just wasn't you.'
Baffled, Jack looked for a way to respond.
'Um, yeah, it was,' he said slowly. 'When she approached me, she told me she needed to keep her daughter from making a terrible mistake. That sound familiar?'
He could tell by her expression that it did.
He related the details of what Christy Pickering had told him about how Jerry had insinuated himself into Dawn's life with the ploy of designing a video game together. He could see his words hitting home, but she still wasn't sold.
'Jerry could have told you that.'
'Yeah, he could have, but he didn't.' Time to start fudging the truth. 'When I did a background check on him I couldn't learn anything about him-like he had no past. But eventually I found out he wasn't who he said he was.'
'Who was he then?'
He didn't want to open that can of worms.
'A wanted criminal.'
That didn't seem to faze her. 'I'm so not surprised. Did you tell my mom?'
'I didn't get the chance. She was… gone before I could reach her.'
He figured it best to keep the part about finding her body to himself.
She sat down, looking shaky again. 'Then what?'
'I went looking for you but you dropped off the face of the Earth.'
'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.'
4
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.
