A Merciful Secret

The first time I held Morrigan in my arms, I became whole. I hadn’t known there was a child-shaped empty space in my heart.

She was innocence. Unlike me with the blood of a murderer flowing through my veins.

Fresh-cut grass stayed as her primary scent, and her eyes reflected the most beautiful shade of pale blue that made up her aura.

I was in love.

My mother guided me and watched me raise her. No doubt she was amused at the change Morrigan had brought about in my wild life. I no longer searched for stimulation, striving to live up to the dangerous legacy bred into my bones.

Now my world was wrapped in a pink blanket.

TWENTY-NINE

Mercy checked her rearview mirror over and over.

I feel as if Antonio Ricci will show up any moment.

The man’s mug shot occupied a large portion of her thoughts, along with Olivia’s horrific death. Her vision of Antonio was of a young, strong man, while Olivia had been old and frail. Had he taken revenge on his wife? Olivia must have seen his face, known her past had come back to haunt her. And do worse.

Pity and anger filled her.

She and Truman had spent another half hour combing the rest of the microfiche, searching for more mentions of Antonio or Olivia Ricci, but found nothing. They’d also scoured for anything else that could indicate why that film had been singled out, but by the end of their search, both of them were positive that the Ricci trial was the key. Mercy called to ask Jeff to find Antonio Ricci’s current location, and he promised to get back to her ASAP. She and Truman had parted at the front door of the library, heading to their respective offices to officially start their day.

She called Ava from her vehicle to share their findings.

As she listened to Ava’s phone ring, she considered the odd conversation with Truman about her house hunt.

There is a reason the horse goes before the cart. Especially in a growing relationship. To her, buying a house together didn’t make sense unless they were married. She suspected Truman would have them married by now if she hadn’t kept things at a decent progression. She’d learned that once Truman made a decision, he stuck to it.

A good trait to have.

But who makes a lifetime decision based on a few months of dating?

Lots of people.

I’m not most people.

But she did plan in the long term for most things. Money. Supplies. Safety. She prepared for everything but her personal life. Why?

“Mercy? What’s up?” Ava’s voice came through the speakers in her Tahoe.

Mercy gave her an abbreviated version of the discovery of Antonio Ricci.

The line was silent for a long moment. “Holy crap. Salome’s father might be our killer? That makes no sense.”

“Why not?” Mercy asked. “Malcolm Lake presided over the trial, and Olivia’s testimony helped send him to prison. I see perfect motive.”

“It does seem like a good motive, but Eddie spotted the mystery visitor on the video recordings at Judge Lake’s office.”

“Who?” Mercy held her breath.

“It was Salome. She visited the day of his death.”

Mercy’s mind scrambled to make the pieces fit. “Did you show the assistant the video?”

“We did. She broke down and confessed that the judge had ordered her out of the office a half hour before her lunch that day. She’d lingered in the hallway, curious why the judge didn’t want her around, and saw a beautiful mystery woman enter his office.”

“Why on earth wouldn’t the assistant tell us?”

“She feared it was an affair that needed to be kept private. She assumed the woman was married or involved with some other government official, and she didn’t want Judge Lake’s name dragged through the mud after he was murdered. I think she had a bit of a crush on him herself and believed she was protecting his honor.”

“What she did was delay a murder investigation.”

“I made it very clear to her that the FBI was not happy.” Ava paused. “I might have made her cry.”

Mercy snorted. “I bet you did.”

“I think we need to look hard at Salome as our killer,” Ava asserted. “She was in the right place at the right time.”

“But why was she at his office?”

“I asked the assistant about that, and she swears there was no paperwork from the woman’s visit to indicate she was there for legal reasons. She did say her boss was in a very happy mood after the visit.”

“Maybe they were having an affair.” Mercy wrinkled her nose. The judge had been an attractive man in his seventies, but the age difference was too much for her personal taste. “That could be the purpose of Salome’s frequent trips that Morrigan told us about.”

“Eddie thinks she was in Portland to meet with some suppliers and attend an Internet business seminar. He found phone calls to the suppliers on her cell phone records, and when he talked with them, one said that Salome had talked about the seminar. Eddie said all the suppliers sounded very fond of her.”

“Supplies for building her fairy houses?” Mercy asked, remembering the stunning room in the barn.

“Yes. Eddie located her Etsy store and her website. Digging into things, he believes she does pretty well for a home business. The supply orders she placed indicate a lot of upcoming construction, and they said she always paid promptly.”

“A dream client.” Mercy tried to merge Salome’s business acumen into her line of thought. “But why would she kill the judge?” She was enjoying the brainstorming session with Ava. Both were tossing forward ideas, searching for connections, pointing out fallacies. It didn’t matter how odd some of the suggestions were. There were no incorrect theories at this point.

“My first thought after hearing your Antonio Ricci story is that her father put her up to it. But why would she kill her mother?”

“That’s the part that makes no sense to me. Even the reports that their relationship was tumultuous doesn’t provide a good motivation.” Mercy mulled over Ava’s theory. “It’s not impossible that Antonio put Salome up to the murders, but I suspect we’ll find that he’s been released. I think he’s more likely to be our suspect, and I expect to hear his location from Jeff any minute. What about the tire prints at Olivia’s cabin? Did you get the warrant to take Christian’s tire prints?”

“No. I was told there wasn’t enough cause.” Ava swore under her breath. “And there’s been no sighting of Salome and Morrigan.”

“Correct. Nothing from the airports or on her BOLO.”

“Dammit. I feel like this isn’t moving fast enough.”

“I disagree,” said Mercy. “Finding out Salome’s father connects Olivia and the judge is huge.”

“I can’t help but feel Salome herself has a big role in this.”

“I keep pointing out the one thing that blows that theory to bits,” said Mercy. “Her daughter was left behind. She wouldn’t have left Morrigan at a murder scene. We both saw her desperation to get her daughter out of foster care.”

“Maybe Salome wanted Morrigan back because she was afraid she would say Salome had killed the grandmother.”

Mercy froze at the suggestion. “Crap.” Then she shook her head. “No. I don’t believe it. If that was so, why leave her behind in the first place?”

“It’s a stretch, but we know Salome has the genetics of a murderer. Her father was put away for three first-degree murders, and I bet he committed more than that.”