Читать книгу Silence is Golden - Grace Quincey - Страница 15

Chapter 9

A Time to Think

Jenene had been stunned when Dan bolted from the house. She had been depending upon him for both moral support and some explanation of what was going on. The news of the governor’s death kept running through her mind as she remembered the frozen stupor Dan was in when she came back from the cabin.

Jenene had found herself trembling both in fear and anger. Where could she turn? Who could help her? She knew something was terribly wrong with the whole situation, and that Dan must be involved somehow, at least to the extent of knowing more than he was telling her. She kept telling herself that he would be back momentarily or at least call her, but when he had not done either by the next morning, she decided to find some safety for the moment. Not even bothering to call first, she booked a plane to Reno to the refuge of her aunt Mimi.

She found herself actually trembling as she rang Mimi’s doorbell. As her aunt opened the door, a flood of memories swept over Jenene, pushing to the forefront her never-ending quest for the answer to her parents’ death. Here was where she had gone from a grief-stricken youngster to a mature woman, married and well into her career as an attorney. But the past was still here in the present—still here in this house.

But the one thing that was still real was her love for her aunt and uncle, and as Aunt Mimi hugged her, she felt a certain peace she hadn’t felt for days (had it been only days?) since she had received that first note telling her that someone knew who had killed her parents.

“You don’t really seem surprised that I am here,” Jenene said to Mimi.

“I thought you might be on your way,” said Mimi. “Why don’t you see if your old room is still there, and when you’re relaxed some from the flight, come on in to the kitchen, and I’ll brew the coffee, and we can ‘chew the fat’ like we used to in the good old days.”

With a slight chuckle, Jenene headed upstairs to her old room, and as she started unpacking, she was again filled with nostalgia. It was good to be here again. She could, perhaps, find here the needed temporary seclusion. Perhaps, though, it might be well to let Dan know she was safe. She dialed their home, but there was no answer. So when the answer machine kicked in, she merely left the message that she was safe and she would be in touch later, and got into some comfortable clothes and headed down to the kitchen to “chew the fat” with Mimi.

They drank the coffee and made the small talk that came after not seeing each other for a long time, and then Jenene asked her point blank, “Just why weren’t you surprised to see me, Aunt Mimi?”

“Because of this,” she answered as she handed Jenene a letter directed to her at Mimi’s address.

Jenene began to tremble again as she took the letter and opened it.

“What is it?” she asked anxiously as she saw Jenene turning pale.

Jenene began to sob uncontrollably, and for some time, all Mimi could do was hold her and try to comfort her. Finally, the sobbing began to subside. Jenene handed Mimi the note.

For the third time, there were six little words, “Your last warning—watch your back.”

“What is going on, Jenene?” asked Mimi anxiously.

“I just wish I knew,” Jeanne countered. “I seem to be in trouble of some sort, and I am not sure why. But I am sure it has something to do with Papa’s and Mama’s death. I am starting to be scared, Aunt Mimi—really scared—and you and Uncle Fritz are the only people I can turn to.”

With that Jenene began to unfold to Mimi her years of obsession in search of the truth of her parents’ death, and she showed Mimi the notes she had received.

“It must be politically activated,” Mimi said. “It’s the only thing that makes any sense at all. It must all go back to when your parents died.”

“My parents didn’t just die, Aunt Mimi, they were killed. I know that, and I will not stop probing until I find their killers. Think back, Aunt Mimi, back to before their death—fill me in on anything I might need to know.”

“Well,” answered Aunt Mimi, “there was a lot of hell-of-a-to-do going on about some big tax law that the senate was trying to get passed that the casinos would have to pay. Of course, the casinos were fighting this tooth and nail. The upchuck of the matter was that your father was accused of being bribed very handsomely by the casinos to vote no on the bill and to use his influence to get others to vote no also. The voting records of the senate showed that your father did, in fact, vote no on the bill, and the press was all over him, but he was emphatic that he did so out of his own belief that the bill should not be passed, and not because of any pressure of the casinos. He spent the rest of his days trying desperately to defend his reputation and hold on to his career, but he died before it was ever really resolved.”

“What about his personal life?” asked Jenene. “Was there anything there that I was not aware of?”

Jenene saw a flush enter Mimi’s face, and she could feel that anxiety start rolling through her whole system again.

Jenene pushed. “Well, what is it?” she asked. “Come on, Aunt Mimi. I have a right to know.”

“Jenene, it was rumor, you know, just rumor. They said your father had a mistress back in the Capitol area. Supposed to have gone on for years and years. There was even a rumor that there was a child. Nothing was ever said to your mother, to my knowledge, but there were times I am sure she must have at least suspected something.”

Jenene felt as though she had been hit hard in the stomach. Strange, she thought. How all your life you set your father upon that big white horse—your knight in shining armor! Now he has fallen off that horse, and you start to feel your whole world start to explode.

“Maybe it wasn’t really true, Aunt Mimi. Maybe it really was just rumor. Even so, if it were true, it wouldn’t have anything at all to do with his death, would it?”

“I am sure it wouldn’t, child,” consoled Mimi, “and the time has come for you to try to rest. Go on to your room now, and we’ll hash this out some more tomorrow.”

Jenene went back to her room, tried unsuccessfully to reach Dan, again, and finally fell into bed with a head full of jumbled theories and plans.

Silence, she thought, is sometimes golden. I wish I hadn’t asked about my father.

After tossing and turning for what seemed like an infinitesimal amount of time, she finally fell into a fitful sleep.