I nodded, and he continued. “So, anyway, before I asked her to marry me, I had a detective buddy of mine run a background check on her. I mean, was I about to marry a mob hit-woman or something? A day later he told me her parents weren’t dead, but she had changed her name and left home after one brother killed the other brother. That got us both to wondering and we checked it out with the local cops.”
“And you never said anything to her?”
It was his turn to look embarrassed. “And let her know I had been investigating her? Whatever the problem was, it didn’t involve her, so I let it slide. We got married in the winter of ’84.”
I smiled at that. “And now we both have to let her know her secret is out. Don’t be too hard on her. It’s not her fault that her family was a disaster. She was the only normal one in the bunch! She was just trying to escape.”
At that point the three boys came around the corner and looked in. The oldest one, who looked to be about ten or eleven, said, “Dad, is Mom all right?”
John’s face softened and he said, “Your mom isn’t feeling good right now, and she’s lying down. She’ll be fine. Now, you guys scoot. I need to talk to Mister Buckman, here.”
The two older boys looked at me curiously. The baby, a two year old, toddled off to his father. John picked him up and said, “Whooh! Somebody stinks! Jack! Get back here!”
The oldest boy came in and looked at his father with horror. “No! Dad! No!”
“You just got promoted! I don’t want to hear it!” There was another pro forma protest and a final order of “GO!”
We looked at each other again. “He’s my boy from my first marriage. Suzanna’s more his mother than his real mom. I have full custody, and Suzanna’s offered to adopt him, but his mother won’t hear of it.”
“I bet Suzie gets the evil stepmother jokes, though.”
That earned a big grin. “More than you can believe! Anyway, tell me more about her family.”
We talked for another fifteen minutes or so, until Suzie came back down the stairs. She was still white faced, but was now clutching a small box of some sort. She looked terrified, but came into the living room, followed closely by the toddler, who ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her knees. The older two boys came around the corner and stared. Jack, the oldest, said, “Mom, what’s going on? What’s wrong?” He gave me a dirty look.
“Nothing’s wrong. I… nothing’s wrong.”
“Who is this guy? Did he say something to you?!”
“Jack! You don’t talk like that to grownups!” said his father.
Suzie reached over and pulled her stepson to her side and hugged him. “It’s all right. He just surprised me. This is your Uncle Carl.”
That earned me a very confused look. “I don’t have an Uncle Carl.”
“This is my brother, Carl, so that makes him your uncle.”
“You told us you didn’t have any brothers or sisters.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lie, but… someday you’ll understand. Jack, this is your Uncle Carl.”
“Nice to meet you, Jack. You’re named after your father?”
That earned me a surly, “Yes sir,” but nobody minded. I was also introduced to Alex, the four year old, and Harry, the toddler. I already had their names from the dossier, but there was no sense in introducing that element yet.
Suzie shooed the boys out of the room, so it was just us three adults. She turned to face her husband. “You knew?”
“I’ve known since before we got married.”
“You knew and you didn’t tell me?”
He shrugged. “Tell you what? That I knew you were lying to me? That I didn’t trust you and had you investigated? None of it seemed that important, so I let you continue on. You can tell me at your own speed.”
“Even after your last wife, you married me?” Suzie was crying now, quietly. I got the impression that John Rottingen’s first marriage had not been a joyful union.
“I guess I’m attracted to screwed up ladies,” he joked. Suzie groaned at that, and kept crying. He handed her a tissue.
She wiped her eyes and blew her nose, and then looked over at me. “Carl, why are you here? How long have you known about me here?”
“I’ve known about you being here since you moved. My security company has an investigation arm. I had them trace you and keep an eye on you.”
The Minnesota State Trooper eyed me coldly at that. “You’ve had us under surveillance?”
I raised a hand pleadingly. “Absolutely not! I’ve simply had them give me a periodic update as to phone numbers and addresses, that sort of thing. About like what your detective friend and you did to track down Suzie’s background,” I pointed out.
I turned back to my sister. “Suzie, I don’t claim to understand why you think you had to run away like that, but both Marilyn and I honored your wishes. Now, though, I have to talk to you. Things are changing.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that your little secret is about to come out. As a businessman, nobody cares about who my sister is. As a politician, they care. I’m going to be running for Congress next year, and people will be looking into my background. You need to know before reporters start camping out on your front lawn and asking your kids a bunch of questions,” I told them.
Both their eyes opened wide. “Oh, Christ! You’re serious, aren’t you?” asked John.
“Very. The experts back home all seem to think my opponent will stop at nothing to discredit me. My killing Hamilton will just be the start. They think he’ll go after Mom and Dad, too. I used to tell people you had moved to California, but I stopped when my lawyers said that would turn back and haunt me. He’ll come after you, too.”
Suzie rolled her eyes. “What does he want me to say, that you should have let Hamilton kill all of you?”
“He doesn’t care what you say. You left, so there has to be a big bad secret involved. Throw enough mud at me, maybe a voter thinks I’m dirty.”
“Nobody’s camping on my front yard!” avowed her husband. “I don’t know about Maryland, but you start harassing a trooper’s wife in Minnesota and you’ll find out about the limits of freedom of the press real damn fast!”
I shrugged and nodded. “Fine by me. They were a pain in my tail back the first time around on this.”
There was a bit of commotion in the family room and Suzie got up to sort it out. She came back in a moment later. “Little ones need to go to bed. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be down again.” She left at that.
I turned to John. “Is there a place I can stash my driver? He’s out in the car.”
“You have a driver?”
“Slash bodyguard. I usually have security when traveling. Uh, he’s armed, if that’s a problem.”
My brother-in-law muttered under his breath. “He’d better be licensed. I’ve had more than enough fun and games tonight.”
I went out and brought in the security driver and we stashed him in the family room with a cup of coffee. I went back to the living room and talked to John some more. Suzie came back after a bit and sat down with us. She was quiet, and then picked up the box she had brought down earlier. She called out, “Jack! Come on in here!”
He came zooming back in. “Yeah?”
“Come on over here. I want to show you some pictures. I’ve had these saved away, but I won’t lie anymore. These are from when I was younger.” She opened the box and started going through them with her stepson and husband, who then passed them over to me.