Jubilee's Journey (Wyattsville #2)(67)

After dinner Jack dried the dishes, played checkers with his son, and once again told the story of Sleepy Hollow to all three children. He would have thought the girls might ask for something sweeter—Cinderella or perhaps Sleeping Beauty, but no. On the all-too-infrequent occasions when he was home to tell a story, they repeatedly asked to hear about the headless horseman.

That evening after the children were tucked in their beds, he and Christine sat in the backyard and talked.

“When did we get so busy that we stopped doing this?” he asked.

“We didn’t,” Christine answered. “You did.”

It was a full minute before Jack answered. “That will change,” he said, and he meant it.





That night while his family slept, Mahoney tossed and turned. By the time sunrise crawled across the horizon, he had decided that first he would tell Olivia of the conversation he’d had with Anita and then he’d speak with Anita again. There had to be a chink in her armor. Everybody had one. It was up to him to find it.





When Olivia answered the door the next day, she was tearful and red-eyed. “Shhh,” she warned Mahoney. “Jubilee doesn’t know yet, so don’t mention a word.”

Mahoney, a bit taken aback, cautiously asked, “Don’t mention what?”

“About Paul.”

Although he wondered how Olivia could have known about Paul, Mahoney followed behind as she tugged him through the living room, past where the kids were playing, and into her bedroom. Once inside Olivia closed the door, then pulled a newspaper from beneath the mattress.

“How could you let this happen?” she said and handed him the newspaper.

The headline read, “SHOOTING SUSPECT CHARGED!” Below the boldfaced headline was Paul’s mug shot. He had the expression of a deer standing nose to nose with a hunter’s rifle. The small bandage was still taped to the right side of his head.

“I had nothing to do with this,” Mahoney sputtered. “It came as a surprise to me also.” He explained how he’d learned of it yesterday when he visited the hospital. “I’ve since gone to see Gomez and given him everything I had. Hopefully he’ll do something with it.”

“Doesn’t he have to—”

“Sometimes there’s a grey area between evidence and opinion.”

“But those things you found out, aren’t they evidence?”

“All circumstantial. They point to the fact that Paul might have been an innocent bystander, but they prove nothing.”

He looked for a more positive note on which to end the conversation, but there was none. When the words stopped and there was little but silence, the sound of Jubilee’s laugher pierced the air. It was followed by Ethan Allen’s voice, “Aw, nuts,” he complained. “You got another straight.”

Mahoney’s eyebrows went up. “Are they playing—”

“Poker.”

“Poker?”

“I know.” She gave a shrug of resignation. “I used to think it was something kids shouldn’t be doing, but then I listened with my heart.” She explained how Ethan Allen could win a poker game even if he was blindfolded. “He’s letting her win. It’s his way of making her happy.”

They stood and talked for several minutes, about nothing and everything. Mahoney searched for a way to say what he’d come to say, to tell her about his conversation with Anita. As it turned out, he didn’t have to broach the subject. Olivia did it for him.

“Anything new on Anita?” she asked. Her words were casual, a throwaway question that hopefully would not be answered.

“Actually, yes,” Mahoney said. “I met with her yesterday.”

His answer caused Olivia’s heart to skip several beats, and she immediately regretted asking the question. Ten days ago she would have welcomed such news, but not now.

“It’s not good news.” Mahoney spoke like a man apologetic for what he had to say. “There was apparently bad blood between Anita and her sister, so she wants nothing to do with either of the kids.”

Olivia’s lips curled. “Well, then, Jubilee is welcome to stay here.”

“Here?” The shock in Mahoney’s voice was apparent.

She nodded. “It’s the most sensible solution. You see how well the children get along, and I’ve already fixed up a little nook where she can—”

“Olivia, stop right there. I can’t leave Jubilee with you. If she’s not with family, she has to be turned over to the child welfare department. It’s the law.”

“Nonsense,” Olivia argued. “This is exactly the same situation we had with Ethan Allen, and there was no law that said I couldn’t keep him.”

“It isn’t the same. Ethan Allen was related to you.”

“Not really,” Olivia said. “I’d never even heard of the boy before he showed up here. I was almost a total stranger.”

“His grandfather was your husband, so there was a legal relationship.”

“Well, that just doesn’t make sense. If Anita doesn’t want the child and I’m willing to take her…”

Although Mahoney could easily sympathize with the situation as it now stood, he had a responsibility to abide by what the law mandated. There might be a certain amount of give and take, but it only stretched so far. Move beyond that point, and something would snap.