Mercy (Atlee Pine #4)(71)

“Then maybe it is Desiree. She might be working with some very dangerous people.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“Agent Pine saw you in this gym yesterday, only she didn’t know it was you at the time.” She looked at Mercy’s head. “She couldn’t have known you would shave your hair off. She spoke to Wanda Atkins. Wanda told Agent Pine that she gave you Desiree’s phone number when you saw her.”

“I used that to track Desiree down here.”

“Yes, that’s what we thought. When Wanda told her that and described what you looked like now, Agent Pine immediately realized that it had to be you in the gym. By the time she got there you were gone. We found out your room number but you had left by then.”

“I did leave. But then I decided to come back. I . . . I had spent a lot of money on the hotel room and I thought . . . I thought I should at least spend the night.”

“I would have done the same thing,” said Blum kindly.

“Do you have any idea where they might have taken Lee?” asked Mercy.

“No. We only have the statement of a hotel employee that it was two men who abducted her. He gave a description, and the FBI is working on it with the local police. But I’m not sure they have any leads to go on.”

“And that picture of me on the TV?”

“Agent Pine had that put up. We found where you were being kept, and saw the last tape that Joe Atkins made. That’s where that image came from.”

“Desiree really did kill him, then?”

“Yes. Joe apparently was going to let you go. Desiree was having none of that. She stabbed him and ran for it. Len and Wanda helped her get away.”

Mercy shook her head. “So now I know I have a twin sister and we come close to finding each other and now she’s been taken. Just like I was all those years ago. How messed up is that?”

“Very,” said Blum quietly.

Mercy glanced up. “Do . . . do I look like her?”

“You’re a couple of inches taller, and she has long dark hair. But in the face and eyes, I can most definitely see it. Absolutely.”

Mercy nodded and looked down again. “How do we find her?”

“I’m not sure.”

“If Desiree is connected to this, she might know who took her.”

“Yes, but she’s in jail.”

“Then let’s go talk to her there. I’ve been meaning to talk to Desiree for a lot of years now.” She glanced up at Blum. “And we have nothing to lose, right?”

“Right.” Blum attempted a smile, but it never reached her eyes because she obviously did not like this idea at all.

Mercy rose, and her big hands curled into fists. “Then let’s go.”





CHAPTER





48


IS THIS YOUR CAR?” asked Mercy as they climbed into the Porsche SUV. Blum had taken the keys from Pine’s room.

Mercy had changed into jeans and another hoodie, and checked out of the hotel; she had put her duffel in the back seat.

“Good Lord, no. I can’t afford this.”

“Then it’s Lee’s?”

“No, she can’t afford it, either. It . . . it belongs to a man named Jack Lineberry. He’s very wealthy, and he let us use it.”

“And what’s his connection to all this? Why did he let you borrow his wheels?”

Blum put the key in the ignition and started the engine. “I suppose you have to know this, and now is as good a time as any.”

“Know what?”

“Jack Lineberry is your biological father.”

Mercy took this calmly. She nodded and glanced out the window. “So our mom was quite the guy magnet?”

“I don’t think it was like that at all. He was her handler when she was working undercover to bring down some Mafia families. They . . . they had feelings for each other. Or something like that, and your mother became pregnant with you and your sister.”

“So how did she end up with this Tim guy?”

“They fell in love. Jack is quite a bit older than your mother, and their . . . relationship might have had more to do with the work they were doing, at least for your mother. I have to say that Jack Lineberry was very much in love with your mother, and probably still is.”

“And where is our mother?”

“With Tim, presumably.”

“And Lee? Where is she in all this?”

“When your sister was in college, your mother left her without any real explanation. She doesn’t know where your mother is.” Blum studied her closely. “You’re taking all this quite calmly.”

“Well, it’s no more earth-shattering than anything else you’ve already told me in the last ten minutes.”

This blunt statement made Blum smile. “You are more like your sister than you know.”

“Am I?” Mercy said dubiously. “My life has been very different from hers, apparently.”

“I know some of what you went through with Desiree.”

“I dreamed of killing her a thousand times.”

“I’m sure you have.”

“I came here to kill her.”

“Yes, Agent Pine assumed that.”