Understanding filled Susannah’s eyes. “Mother didn’t know about the blackmail,” she said woodenly. “She just thought they’d gone to search for Simon.”
“But your father never intended for her to see him,” Vito murmured.
“Because he knew Simon had been alive all this time and didn’t want Simon to tell our mother,” Daniel finished grimly. “And it has something to do with those pictures.”
“But she did see Simon,” Susannah whispered. “Because he killed her. My God.”
Vito looked at Liz, his brows lifted in silent question. She nodded, so he cleared his throat. “Uh… there’s one more thing you need to know. When we found your parents, we also found beside them two empty graves. We weren’t sure why then. Now…”
Susannah paled. “Daniel.”
Daniel put his arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay, Suze. Now we know. We can be watching.” He lifted his eyes to Vito’s. “Can we see that sketch again, please?”
Vito put the sketches of the old man and Frasier Lewis side by side on the table in front of the Vartanians. “I’ll make you copies.”
“Thanks,” Daniel said. “We appreciate-” But Susannah cut him off with a gasp.
With shaking hands she picked up the sketch of the old man. “I know him.” She looked up, her face now deathly white. “Daniel, I walk my dog every morning and night on a path in the park across the street from my apartment. This man…” She pointed to the sketch. “He sits on a bench sometimes.” Her voice shook. “We chat. He pets my dog. Daniel, he was as close to me as you are right now.”
Vito looked at Sophie. Her expression was one of pained understanding. He looked back to Susannah Vartanian. “For how long? How long have you known him?”
She closed her eyes. “At least a year. He’s been watching me for a year.”
“We can give you protection,” Liz said. “The one thing we can hope for is that he doesn’t know you know he’s alive. Come with me. I’ll get you both settled for the night.”
Thursday, January 18, 9:15
P.M.
“Vito, wait.”
Vito stopped outside the precinct’s front door. Katherine stood there, shivering, and his defenses went up. He’d managed to avoid her since the night before, but their avoidance dance was apparently over. “How long have you been waiting here?”
“Since the debriefing ended. I figured you’d come down sooner or later.”
Vito looked over his shoulder to where Sophie stood in the lobby with Nick and Jen.
Katherine followed his gaze. “You’re not letting her out of your sight.”
“No. Every time I think about him coming to her museum and touching her…”
“Vito, I’m sorry. I was out of line last night.”
“No, you weren’t. You were scared. And you were right.”
“I wasn’t right, and being scared doesn’t make it okay. I said I’m sorry. I would appreciate if you’d forgive me.”
Vito looked away. “Katherine, I haven’t even forgiven myself.”
“I know, and that needs to change. You didn’t do anything wrong. What happened to Andrea was tragic, but not your fault and not anything you could have prevented.”
He stared down at his shoe. “How did you know?”
“I was there when you saw the results of the ballistics report. I saw the look in your eyes when you realized one of yours had hit her. I saw the way you looked at her when she was first brought to the morgue. Vito, you loved her and she died.” Katherine sighed. “But that’s between you and your soul. I had no right to use that against you.”
“You were scared,” he said again. “Sophie’s your little girl.”
Katherine’s lips trembled. “I have known that girl since she was five years old.”
“How did you meet her? Why are you the mother she never knew?”
Katherine’s eyes filled. “She said that?”
“Yes, she did. So why?”
“She was my daughter Trisha’s best friend in kindergarten. One day Trisha came home in tears. There was going to be this big mother-daughter tea and Sophie wasn’t coming. She didn’t have a mom to bring her.”
Vito’s heart squeezed. “What about her grandmother or her aunt?”
“Anna was on tour. Freya had something to do that night with one of her own girls, which was Freya’s norm. Harry was going to bring her, but that kind of negated the whole mother-daughter tea idea, so I offered to pinch hit. I sat there with Trisha on one knee and Sophie on the other. Sophie’s been mine ever since.”
“What about her grandmother?”
“Anna cut way back on her touring schedule and bought a house in Philly so that Sophie could be close to Harry. But it was still years before Anna completely gave up her career, so Sophie spent a lot of time with me.”
“What made Anna finally stop touring completely?”
“She’d missed so much of her own daughters’ lives. I think she finally realized she’d been given another chance with Sophie and Elle.”
“Elle?”
Katherine’s eyes flared in alarm. Then she shook her head. “She’ll have to tell you about Elle. Vito, I’ve seen that girl through every major up and down of her life. I’d do anything to keep her safe. And happy.”
He looked back at Sophie again. “She’s safe now. I’d like to think she’s happy.”
“You’re a good man, Vito. I’ve watched you go through lots of ups and downs, too. We’re friends. I hope that one stupid comment on my part won’t erase the good years.”
“It doesn’t. It won’t. I’d take the bullet myself before I let anything happen to her.”
“Don’t say that,” she whispered. “It’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t meant to be. What happened with the body bag, Katherine?”
“That one she’ll also need to tell you herself.” She lifted on her toes, kissed his cheek. “Thank you for forgiving me. I won’t be so foolish as to risk our friendship again.”
“German chocolate cake would seal the deal,” he said and she laughed.
“When all this is over, I’ll make you two cakes. Now I’m beat. I’m going home.”
“I’ll walk you to your car,” Vito said. “You need to be careful, too.”
Katherine frowned. “I don’t suppose that was meant to be funny either.”
“No. Come on.”
Chapter Twenty
Thursday, January 18, 9:55
P.M.
Wow.” Sophie blinked at the cars in Vito’s driveway. “What’s going on here?”
“I called a mini-family meeting,” Vito said and helped her out of the truck.
“This is a mini-family meeting? Why?”
“Several agenda items.” He looked up and down the street, his eyes narrowed, and Sophie shivered. He’d been doing that all the way from the precinct, not once relaxing his guard. But she’d watched him talking to Katherine. They’d made their peace.
Katherine had told him something, though. It was impossible to miss the questions in his dark eyes every time he looked at her. But Sophie had questions of her own, and he’d had not a spare minute to talk to her since waking that morning at four
A.M.
Even on the ride back to his house tonight, he’d been on his cell to Liz and Nick.
The state’s transportation unit had been busy over the last few hours, tracing oRo president Jager Van Zandt’s path down I-95 via tollbooth cameras and operators. Van Zandt had come to Philadelphia. Vito had found that very interesting and, on a purely intellectual level, so did Sophie. It was only clinging to that intellectual level that kept her from descending into abject fear. And fear wasn’t going to help anyone.