Mercy (Atlee Pine #4)(22)

“And did you ever see him after that?” asked Pine.

“No, he never came back. But he wrote letters and he sent some money every year. I would use it to get Becky things.”

“Yeah, I know about the payments he made. That was how we found out about you in the first place. So you never contacted him about Mercy? Never asked him to come and get her? Or whether he had found out anything else about her?”

“Well, he never called us about anything, and we didn’t think trying to pressure him would do any good.”

Pine shook her head, looking incredulous. “Okay, let’s get back to the photo I showed you and fast-forward in time. Are you saying you couldn’t tell from the state of Mercy that day that something was wrong? She was filthy and had wounds and bruises and marks on her skin.”

Atkins’s eyes once more filled with tears. “Look, I don’t want to get into trouble.”

Blum said, “All we want is the truth, Mrs. Atkins.”

Pine added, “We know more or less what happened the night your son died. What we don’t know is exactly how he died, or what happened to Desiree and Mercy.”

“Why would you think we would know about that?”

They heard a grunt and turned to see Len Atkins holding up a stiff arm and pointing at his wife. He grunted again. He apparently had been listening to the entire conversation and was not happy with the direction it had taken.

Atkins seemed to be able to decipher this. She put her hands in her lap and said in a resigned tone, “It was Desiree, you have to understand that. Joe had his issues, but Desiree? That woman was the devil. Not at first, not when they got married, but later, that’s when her true colors came out.”

“We’ve talked to the former sheriff where you used to live, Dick Roberts. He told us about . . . Desiree. He called her the ‘voodoo lady.’ He said he was called out one night because Desiree was torturing a dog.”

“Dick was a good man. And he was right about Desiree. She was pure evil.”

“Did you know they were holding Mercy in a prison out behind their house?”

Atkins’s top lip trembled. “Am I going to go to jail?”

“Not if you answer our questions truthfully,” replied Pine, trying to keep both her emotions and patience in check. “Let’s go back to the beginning for a minute. What happened after Ito dropped her off with you and then left? How did she end up with Joe and Desiree?”

Atkins scrunched up the Kleenex and laid it aside. She glanced once at her husband and then began: “The next morning, in the cold light of day, we were frantic. I mean, we believed what Ito had said, but there were still so many questions. And we didn’t want to get into trouble. And we didn’t know what to do with the child. She was scared and dirty and confused. We kept her for a few days and were wondering what the hell to do. Len found Ito’s number and called him, but no one answered. He left messages, but Ito never called back. We were thinking about taking her to the police and telling them what Ito had done. I mean, we couldn’t keep her. Then, when Joe and Desiree came by, we told them what had happened. Joe immediately said, ‘We’ve always wanted kids. We’ll adopt her and raise her.’ Well, that seemed like a good solution to me and Len.”

Pine gave her an incredulous look. “Mrs. Atkins. How could you possibly do that without checking to see whether Ito Vincenzo was really telling the truth? We’re talking about a human being, not a puppy. A guy shows up in the middle of the night with a kid? And you just take her and that’s it?”

“I know, I know,” said Atkins miserably. “But Ito seemed very earnest. And he really seemed to care about the girl. And we couldn’t think of a reason why in the world he would have kidnapped a child and brought her to us. We trusted him.”

Pine sighed heavily and sat back, scrutinizing the woman. “Did you know that there was another little girl involved that night? Mercy’s twin sister. Ito did a nursery rhyme, ‘eeny, meeny, miny, moe,’ to choose which one to take. Then he struck the other little girl so hard he shattered her skull. She almost died.”

Atkins’s hand flew to her mouth and fresh tears sprouted from her eyes. “Oh dear God. Why would he do that? Why?”

“He did it for his brother, who was a mobster with a grudge against Mercy’s family. He took Mercy and almost killed her sister to punish the parents.”

“A m-mobster? Ito?”

“No, Ito ran an ice cream parlor in Trenton. His brother was the mobster in the family. He shamed Ito into doing what he did. But it doesn’t excuse Ito’s crimes.”

“No, no, of course not. But we knew nothing about any of that.”

“So Joe wanted her, and you let Desiree take the girl even though you knew Desiree was, as you said, evil?”

“Well, we didn’t know that then. Back then, she was just sort of odd. I actually thought having a little girl to dote on and raise would be good for her. And I believed Joe would make a good father. They had been trying for kids and it hadn’t worked, so this seemed like a blessing. And Desiree seemed eager to have her, too. It was her idea to name her Rebecca.”

“But did you ever question Mercy about where she came from?”

“Well, yes, now that I recall.”

“And what did she say?”