A Matter of Blood
Part 5
by N.R. Levy


Lyle slammed the door to his penthouse apartment, his anger boiling over inside of him. Someone at the Centre had betrayed him. There was no other way to explain Emily’s escape.  Despite the T-board’s findings, he was certain he knew who that someone was.

He couldn’t explain why he was so sure that Parker had betrayed him, but he could feel it in his gut. She had helped Jarod’s sister, but why? She still believed she’d be granted her freedom upon Jarod’s return to the Centre, so what possible explanation was there for her to set the girl free?  The questions rattled around in his mind, but still his certainty remained. Parker had betrayed him, and no matter why she had done it, she would have to pay an appropriate penalty. What that would be remained to be seen.

And then there was the other matter. Mutumbo was not pleased that their mutual friend was out of control, running amuck again, this time on the west coast. Something was going to have to be done about him before he attracted the wrong kind of attention. They hadn’t saved his miserable life just so he could end up in prison somewhere.
 

She was there, in front of him, and still he couldn’t believe it. Emily was sitting in front of the parlor fireplace of Ben’s inn, recounting for him every detail of her escape from the Centre, and despite the constancy of her voice and her physical presence, Jarod still could not believe that she was there.

She continued to speak, and though he loved hearing her, learning the lilts and peaks of the way she spoke, what fascinated Jarod most was the utter admiration his sister conveyed for Parker. Every time Emily mentioned her name, her face lit up in clear devotion.  It was a feeling Jarod knew he had felt many times, yet just hours ago, he’d thought that was all over. Now he knew that he had underestimated her. Worse, he had thought the worst about her, and for that he carried a heavy heart. He should have known better.

“So when I looked in my purse and saw the address and the money, I just can’t tell you, Jarod. I felt like I had a new lease on my life.”

“But did she say why she did it, Emily?”

“I asked. She said it would take her a lifetime to explain. I’m not really sure what that meant, but I guessed she was saying that things with the two of you are, uh, complicated.”

Jarod only nodded. Complicated – that was the understatement of the century. Everything about Parker was complicated – their relationship was downright impossible. One day friends, the next day, sworn enemies – when all he really wanted was for the two of them to spend five honest minutes with each other.  What in God’s name had made Parker do this? She was risking her life – and she had done it to help him, his family. He wished she were here so he could ask, but he knew Parker was too smart to come to Maine after sending Emily.  She wouldn’t risk undoing what she had worked so hard to accomplish.

Which left him to wonder why she had done it.

“Jarod?”  Emily’s voice brought him back to the room, and he silently chided himself for wandering away with his thoughts. He had waited forever to meet his sister, and that was where his focus should stay.

“I’m worried about her, too.  You don’t think they found out what she did, do you?”

“They’ll talk to everyone, Emily. That’s what they do at the Centre. Call it being thorough. But Parker can take care of herself.”

“You thought I was her, didn’t you?”

“Well, we were supposed to meet here. She needed to talk about something.”

“Which means she probably still does. Why don’t you call her?” Jarod shook his head, standing to move closer to the fire.

“No, I’ll talk to her later. Right now we have a lot to discuss.”

Emily stood up then, crossing to the end table near the entry way.  She returned with the phone, which she presented to Jarod at the fireplace.

“We have time, Jarod. Call.”
 
 

Parker leaned back against the hard wood of the window seat, her eyes fixed on the moon that hung above her window. Emily and Jarod would be together by now. She had left her own brother just a few hours ago, and only then because the nurses had threatened to call security if she didn’t go home.

She knew Angelo needed his rest, but leaving him each night was getting harder and harder. She knew that once he returned to the Centre, their time together would be limited. Being able to see him whenever she wanted to, to hug him and let him share her emotions was a luxury she had quickly become accustomed to. Now it would be taken away.

It amazed her how quickly their bond had grown. Despite his handicap, despite the years of separation they had endured, they were as much brother and sister now as if they had spent their whole lives together. That, she thought, should have been her first clue to Lyle’s lie. She had never felt that way about him. Just trying to feign concern or  familial emotion toward him had been a chore. And now she had to fake it everyday. She had to. It was the only way to keep Angelo safe.

The phone’s ringing sent a chill through her. Even though she knew that Angelo was out of danger, she still worried that something could go wrong. Her concern was so great that she momentarily forgot that only one person called her at 2 a.m.

“What?”

There was a slight silence, and Parker felt her stomach tighten. Was she wrong? Was Jarod not on the other end of the line?

“Did you get the package I sent?  I forgot to ask.”

Yes, it was Jarod.  His voice sounded different – nervous, hesitant.

“Yes, Jarod. I got it.  Want to tell me where it came from?”

“Oh, the search is part of the journey, Miss Parker. I’ve told you that before.  But I’m sure you’ll find the answer. Family is the most important thing after all.”

“Is that who Elizabeth is? Is she my family?”

That caught Jarod off-guard.  So, she knew Elizabeth’s name.

“She’s someone you need to talk to, Miss Parker, soon. Because – because I want you to find your mother again.”

Parker closed her eyes against the emotion those words brought out of her heart. Her mother – she had begun to find her again, the part of her that lived inside the daughter who missed her so terribly. Jarod’s clues, Thomas’ love, they’d combined to help her start searching. Then it had all stopped. Somehow, she’d begun to shut down again after the airfield. Jarod was asking her not to let it happen.

Now more than ever, she wanted to tell him about Angelo, share her news with him, but those weren’t words you could say over a phone the Centre might be monitoring.

“It’s late, Jarod. I have to go.”

“Me, too. I’m catching up with an old friend. Thankfully, someone told her how to reach me.”

And then he hung up. And Parker pulled her knees into her chest and cried.
 
 

“Did she tell you?”  Emily watched her brother’s face to see if she could read any emotion there as she waited for the answer to her question.  There was some concern, but that was all she could see.

“No. Whatever it is, she can’t talk about it like this.”

“You should go there.”  Jarod turned and looked at his sister as if she’d lost her mind, and she rolled her eyes at him.

“She risked her life for us, Jarod. She needs you, you said so yourself.”

Jarod turned away from his sister, his heart pounding in his chest. Part of him wanted nothing more than to get back in his car and drive to Blue Cove, to see her. But he had to get back to San Diego. He had to stop the Stalker before he ended up taking a life, or hurting another woman as badly as he had injured Stephanie.

“Emily, I have to get back to California. I had only planned to stay until the morning.”

“Then I’m going with you. We’ll have the whole plane ride for you to explain to me just what the heck is going on between the two of you.”

That made Jarod smile, his worry about Parker temporarily pushed aside.

“Emily, we’re flying to California, not the moon.”
 
 

Broots sat at his terminal, coffee in one hand, doughnut in the other, as he waited for the results of his latest search to print out. Miss Parker would not be happy. He had found a trail of breadcrumbs that Jarod had left behind in Seattle. There was little doubt that Jarod had already left, but Lyle would probably insist on their going, which meant Miss Parker’s mood would surely be less than pleasant.

He heard the sound of her heels approaching, and he quickly downed the rest of his doughnut, gulping coffee to wash it down.  He was just swallowing as she rounded the corner into his office.

“Anything?”

“There’s traces of him in Seattle, but –“

“Get the jet ready. We’ll leave in an hour.”

“O-okay.”  She turned and was about to leave, Broots relieved that she hadn’t taken off his head.  Then she stopped in the doorway, and turned around.

“Broots, when I ask you to take things to the lab, who do you have run the tests?” Broots looked at her with confused eyes, and she wished that she could just tell him why she wanted to know.  Lying to her friends was becoming more and more difficult.

“W-well, I like dealing with one person, so Gus has been doing our stuff for, like, the last two years.”

“Everything?”

“Yes.  Miss Parker, do you need me to –“

“No, Broots.  I don’t need anything.”  With that she turned on one of her six-inch heels, and walked off down the hall.

Shaking his head, the tech reached for the phone to arrange the preparation of the jet.  Well, he thought, add that conversation to the list of weird concerning Miss Parker lately. He and Sydney were both certain that Miss Parker had somehow warned Emily off in New Orleans. The how and the why of it still eluded them, but they knew she had. Which meant that she had taken a dangerous chance. Now they both just hoped that Lyle didn’t figure it out for himself.
 

As soon as Jarod had Emily settled into his apartment, he went to the police station.  Thankfully, when he checked in with Hanson, he found that there had been no more attacks.  And there was news on the knife.

Hanson had found a private collector in town named Daniel Morris who had owned a knife similar to the one Stephanie described. He had bought it in Pennsylvania, which is why his name hadn’t showed up in any of the purchase searches. It had, however, shown up in a search of stolen weapons – the knife had been taken in a bizarre robbery more than one year ago.

“Did they take anything else?”  Jarod asked the question, his gut telling him that somehow, he was about to move significantly closer to the man he was trying to catch.

“Yeah,” Hanson said, his eyebrows raising, “which is the really weird thing. The guy took the knife, some guns and ammo, and then, of all the stuff, he took a book.”

“A book?”

“Yeah, he took a first edition copy of rare book called “The Devil’s Providence.”

Hanson would never be sure what the look he received from Jarod had meant, or why it had sent such a chill down his spine. What he did know was that his friend the criminologist had a very dark side, one that had been triggered by something about that book.
 
 

Back at his apartment, Jarod stormed in, slamming the door shut as he ripped off his jacket and hurled it across the room.  He picked up the DSA case, carelessly dropping it on to the coffee table as he searched through DSA’s, throwing those he did not want onto the ground.  It was several minutes before he realized that Emily was standing in the corner, frightened and stunned by his behavior.

“Emily, maybe you should go in the other room.”

“I’m not leaving you like this, Jarod. What in the world is wrong with you?”

“Not now.”  He practically growled out the words as he tightened his grip on one particular DSA and shoved it into the player.  He watched the scene, the words flowing over him as Emily moved behind him, her eyes locking on the events that played out in front of them.

“Who is that, Jarod?”

Suddenly, her brother reached out and switched off the machine. Wordlessly, he moved to his computer, his fingers deftly striking key after key until he found what he was looking for. Then he grabbed his cell phone.
 

The Centre team was boarding the jet for their return trip to Blue Cove following an uneventful afternoon in Seattle. Sydney had just settled into his seat when his phone rang.

“This is Sydney.”

“Damon is alive.”

Miss Parker, Broots and Sam all saw Sydney sit up straighter, his eyes narrowing at whatever he had just heard.

“What are you talking about, Jarod?”

“He’s alive, Sydney. And he’s hurting people – innocent people.  They let me think I killed him, and he’s been alive the whole time.”

“How did you find this out?”  The words made Miss Parker lean closer. Something was very wrong with Jarod, and she fought hard to keep her concern invisible to those around her.

“Someone there is protecting him, Sydney. I need to know who.”

“I’ll see what I can find out.” After hearing Sydney’s words, Jarod broke the connection.  Sydney leaned back in his chair, his eyes locking with Miss Parker’s.

“What, Syd?”

“Damon is alive.”

The silence that enveloped the plane could have only been termed as deafening.
 
 
 
 

The roar of the beach as the waves crashed against he rocks below gave Damon a sense of peace. He had not known much peace in the last two years, but he would have it again, soon.  Once his work here was finished.  Once the one who had tried to destroy him had paid.

He wondered if Jarod had any idea yet just who he was looking for. He had left enough clues.  The knife, the silk scarves, all of them designed to lead Jarod to him.  Of course, nothing had been as wonderful as his discovery of the book at Morris’ home.  “The Devil’s Providence.” He had given that book to Jarod during their time as “friends” at the Centre. Hopefully, the police had stumbled onto Morris by now. He hoped so. There was no way Jarod could miss that clue.

Which was exactly what Damon wanted. He had begun the attacks knowing that they were exactly the kind of crime that would grab Jarod’s attention. Sweet, beautiful women, all in their mid-20’s to early 30’s, all beloved by everyone around them, all permanently scarred by the vicious rapist who had entered their lives.

With a sigh of pleasure, Damon remembered sneaking into the hospital where Stephanie Hart had been taken, only to see Jarod there, his mask of concern on his face.

The trap had been set, and soon, it would be time to spring it.  He would get Jarod alone, and then he would exact his revenge.

He just had to hope that the Centre didn’t try to interfere in his plans.  If they did, he would have to find a way to stop them.  Jarod had to pay for what he’d done.

His mood darkening, Damon moved to the mirror to look once again at the scars he now carried on his face. The bullet that Jarod had fired had not killed him, but it had destroyed him, and he would make the Pretender suffer for it.

Wit his blood beginning to pound in his veins, Damon moved to his files of potential victims, trying to pick the one that Jarod would most identify with – the one who would drive him to the brink.  She had to be the right one because this one had to die.  This one had to bring Jarod to the edge so that Damon could push him over.

And then he found her.

She was tall and she had dark hair, and her eyes were blue.  Blue as ice.
 
 

Miss Parker was more than exhausted after her day trip to Seattle, but she knew she’d never be able to rest if she didn’t stop at the hospital to check on Angelo.  So she went, quickly making her way to his floor.

Where found Lyle waiting for her in an empty room.

“Lyle, what’s going on?”

“Just finishing up here, actually. I had your little buddy transferred back to the Centre today, or rather, I should say to a Centre facility. I’ve decided he can be more useful elsewhere.”

Parker fought to stand as still and calm as her “brother” was used to seeing her.  So, this was his game. He knew that Angelo mattered to her, and he suspected she had helped Emily.  So he took what she cared about in retribution.  ‘Thank God he doesn’t know I know the truth.’ Parker thought. ‘There’s no telling what he would have done to Angelo if...’

She cleared her throat trying to shake those images from her mind. No, he wouldn’t hurt Angelo, not yet.

“And you expect me to say what about this?”  She stared at him with her most steely gaze, hoping he couldn’t see through it.

“Well, it just seems to me that you’ve taken quite the interest in Raines’ little freak of late.  I just didn’t want you to be worried about him.”

‘Liar,’ Parker thought.

“Lyle, I have better things to do with my time than care where Angelo is.  He is a Centre investment. I was just trying to make sure he didn’t become a loss.”

“Whatever you say, Sis.”  Lyle moved triumphantly towards the door.  She could pretend all she wanted that she wasn’t upset – he knew better, he knew her better.  If only she knew the truth, he thought, then she’d be downright terrified.

Parker watched as Lyle smugly strode from the room, and she waited a full 30 seconds to make sure he was gone before she slumped down onto the bed where her brother had just been.

Angelo was gone – taken away from her again by Lyle.  She had to find him.

She was about to stand up to go home when she saw the Cracker Jack box on the floor next to the bed.  For some reason, she stooped down and picked it up.  She was about to throw it away when she heard a slight rattle from inside.  Looking in, she saw a folded piece of paper.  She pulled it free from the cardboard box, and opened it up, discovering instead of paper, a folded photograph.  Her breath caught as she realized what it was, and she understood instantly that Angelo must have pulled it free from the photo album Jarod had sent to her. Instinctively, she turned the photo over, and tears formed in her eyes when she saw her brother’s childlike scrawl on the back.

“Elizabeth and mother – find.”

Parker turned the photo back over, and then realized what she was looking at.

Her mother – and another little girl – one who looked just like Catherine Parker.
 


Part 6