Mercy (Atlee Pine #4)(116)

“And that’s why they vanished overnight without a trace from Andersonville. She had lost one daughter. She couldn’t lose another. But I know that she continued to do all she could, spent time and money, everything she had, in trying to find you. I know this because I tried to help her do so. From the very moment you disappeared, I never saw her smile again. All the life, all the happiness was . . . struck clean from her.”

Mercy looked down. Her features had a lost, disbelieving component to them. “Then why didn’t you out this asshole?” she said sharply.

“By the time your mother confided in me, he was dead. He died quietly in his bed and was given a hero’s send-off for many years of faithful public service. He is now buried at Arlington National Cemetery.”

“How screwed up is that?”

“Very. And your mother couldn’t tell the truth at that point about him. No one would believe her, and it would have alerted the men still after her where she was. It would have put Tim and your sister in terrible danger. Your mother was caught in a box with no way out.”

“And you never told Lee any of this? Why not?”

Now Lineberry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “The easy answer is that I took an oath never to divulge official secrets. But if you want the blunt truth, your sister idolized your mother. She lived with her far longer than you did. Even after Amanda left her, your sister continued to have deep feelings for her. And I knew that if I told her all of this, she would be obsessed with finding her. She would put everything else on hold. She—”

“She wouldn’t have had her own life, you mean? She’d just be chasing all of this down and never do her own thing?”

“Yes. And maybe put herself in danger. And your mother believed if Atlee had no idea where she was, that would protect her. That’s why she left her.”

They sat there in silence for a few moments as Mercy processed all this.

“Look, I . . . I appreciate your honesty. I don’t get much of it. People sort of look through me.”

“I never will,” he said forcefully. “That you can take to the bank as easily as the check I’m going to write you.”

She glanced up at him. “You’re different than I thought you would be.”

“You’re exactly like I thought you would be.”

“Meaning what?”

“Indomitable.”

“That’s a nice, fancy word. But I wasn’t that way for a long time. I let people screw me.”

“But no more.”

“No. No more.” She looked at him. “Will you ever tell Lee what you just told me?”

“I think it might be better coming from you. And that decision I will leave entirely to you.” He rose. “And if you don’t mind, I’d like to have your sister and Carol come back in. We need to take a little trip, a long overdue one.”

“A trip? Where?”

“You’ll see. All of you will see.”





CHAPTER





81


THE “LITTLE” TRIP WAS NOT MADE BY CAR. It was made in Lineberry’s private jet, a Gulfstream 650 with all the trimmings.

Both sisters and Blum looked in awe at the plane’s luxurious interior, with its dark wood paneling, colorful carpet, and cream-colored leather seats with gold trim. They were greeted by a uniformed flight attendant and two professional-looking pilots who presented calm expressions and firm handshakes.

As they settled into their seats around a highly polished table Pine said, “Where exactly are we going?”

“It’s a very quick trip by jet” was all Lineberry would say.

“This will be my first time on a plane,” said Mercy. “The guy who told me what it was like never flew on one of these, I don’t think.”

“Most people don’t, Mercy,” said her sister.

They took off like a shot and quickly climbed to forty-one thousand feet. They were served coffee and a light meal, and in less than an hour they were descending through the clouds once more. After the jet cleared them, Pine looked out the window and saw a city down below with a wide body of water to the east.

“Where are we?”

“Savannah, Georgia,” said Lineberry. “And that’s the Atlantic.”

“And why Savannah?”

Lineberry looked at her, a bit sadly, Pine thought. “Just trust me, Atlee. Please. Just once more.”

His subdued demeanor only heightened her anxiety.

An SUV and a driver were waiting for them at the jet park. They climbed in and drove off.

They wound their way through the outskirts of the city until they turned into a place that made Pine’s heart skip a beat.

“A cemetery?” She shot her sister an anxious glance before looking at Lineberry.

“Jack, what the hell is going on?”

Sitting in the front passenger seat, Lineberry simply gazed stoically out the window. Then he directed the driver to stop the SUV on a narrow, patchy macadam road near the back of the cemetery. There were a number of tombstones here, some ten feet tall, several old and massive ornate crypts, and some simple bronze grave markers set in the grass.

As Lineberry got out, Pine grabbed his arm.

“You better tell us right now what the hell is going on, Jack. This . . . this is so shitty of you. I mean, a cemetery? Please God, don’t tell me we came here—”