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  “It’s all gonna turn out in the end, baby.”

  “I hope you’re right, Celia. I sure hope you’re right.”

  *

  I pulled into Autumn Valley with a heavy heart. I was about to either implode my investigation or the best relationship I’d ever had. In the end, I knew what I would do—my job. I was the job.

  It was nearly eleven a.m. when I walked through the front doors of the building. I wanted to check on Momma, not knowing if after the shit hit the fan, I’d be in the right frame of mind—especially if she was having another bad day.

  Her door was closed so I knocked, fearful of what might be waiting for me on the other side. “Momma?” I called to her as I carefully opened the door.

  “Yes? Come in.”

  I walked into the room, the window was open and the room was filled with sunshine. “Momma?” I called, moving toward her on her overstuffed couch. “How are you today?”

  “Mac? Is that you?”

  I rushed to her side, excited at the sound of my own name. I hugged her so tightly I scared her. “Mac, honey. What’s wrong?”

  “It’s just great to see you, Momma. That’s all.”

  “It’s nice to see you too, sweetie. How have you been?” she asked, putting down her magazine.

  “I’m great now that I’ve seen your smile.”

  “I’m happy to see you, Mac. It gets lonely around here.”

  “I’ve been in to see you a few times in the past week and you’ve not felt like yourself.”

  She smiled, took my hand in hers and stroked it. “I’m sorry, Mac. I know this has been hard on you—me not being able to remember where I left my glasses, or what’s going on half the time. With your father gone, you’ve had to bear the brunt of all the family responsibilities. Lone Oak, me—and all from Washington, D.C.”

  “Momma, you don’t sound like you don’t know what’s going on,” I said, surprised that she was recalling so much information. “But I’m fine. I’ve loved being home at Lone Oak with Miss Celia. She’s been taking very good care of me.”

  “Celia has taken care of you all your life, sweetheart. She’s the salt of the earth, and one of the best parts of our family.”

  “Yes,” I agreed. “She is. She still keeps me on a straight and narrow path, mind ya.”

  “I’m glad she’s there to watch over you, since I—” She welled up, struggling to get through her sentence. “Since I can’t.”

  “Momma, you’ll always be watchin’ over me. Even when I’m in D.C. I know you’re around. You’re in everything I say and do.”

  “We love you very much, son. I know you’ve always thought Daddy wanted you to be just like him.”

  I nodded, knowing where this was going.

  “But sweetheart, he didn’t.”

  “Momma, I think you and I both know that’s not true.”

  “Mac, he wanted you to be the best you. You, on the other hand, have always wanted to be your father.”

  “I don’t want to be Dad.”

  “From the time you were a tiny boy you emulated your father, spoke like him, dressed like him, and acted like him. You only pulled away after college and into law school. I think you feared that you would never live up to your father. But Mac, you are your father. So much like him—so giving, so caring on the inside, and yet seemingly cavalier about your life, when deep down I know you care.”

  “Why are you saying all of this to me?” I asked, still not buying I was that much like Dad.

  “Because you need to remember who you are. You aren’t Edward Callahan, you’re McKay. You’re all the best parts of your father.”

  “And you…”

  “Yes, and even me,” she conceded. “I just don’t want the life you want to live to slip through your hands because you’re trying so hard to live a life so vastly different than your father’s.”

  “I could never be the man he was.”

  “Don’t be him. Be you.”

  I dropped my head and kissed both of her hands. “I’ve been feeling more nostalgic since I’ve been home. It seems like Lone Oak pulls at me to be here.”

  “You’re a part of Lone Oak, darlin’. It’s your home, your legacy.”

  “Mom, we both know I’ll never have a legacy.”

  “Anyone can leave a legacy, sweetheart. It’s what you give to the world that you leave behind. And you are a very giving person—just like your father.”

  I nodded. “Are you telling me to leave the FBI? To leave Washington?”

  “I’m telling you, for once in your life to follow your heart and let your head play second fiddle. If Lone Oak is where you’re supposed to be, you’ll know it. If Washington D.C. is where you’re supposed to be, well, you’ll know that too. But only if you follow your heart.”

  I hugged her tightly. We hadn’t spoken so intimately since Dad died, and I didn’t know when I would have her like this again. “Mom, I miss you when you aren’t here.”

  “I’m here, sweetheart. It’s like your father always told me, ‘Love is like the wind. You may not be able to see it, but you can certainly feel it’.”

  I didn’t want to leave her. She was with me and in the present. It was such a gift, and I wasn’t ready for it to go away. “Tell me again how you knew?”

  “Knew what dear?”

  “How did you know Dad was the one?”

  “We were lost without each other. He was the other half of me I’d been looking for my whole life. Have you found your other half, Mac?” she asked.

  “I think so. Everything she does makes me crazy. She makes me smile. She makes me laugh. When I’m not with her I’m thinking about her, and when I’m with her I don’t want to say goodbye.”

  “She sounds lovely, Mac. May I meet her soon?”

  “Her name is Samantha Peterson. Her grandmother is Marilyn Peterson, your friend Mimi.”

  “How wonderful,” she said as she clasped her hands in front of her and smiled. I could see the joy in her heart and it made me smile.

  “She has a son, Mom. I don’t know what to think about that.”

  “Have you met him?”

  “Yes. He’s great. Smart, adorable, full of life and adventure.”

  “Just like you,” she said. “And you don’t want to get involved because of his father?”

  “His father is dead.”

  “Ah,” she said, placing her hand on my cheek and stroking downward. “Just like you.”

  “I hadn’t really thought of it that way.”

  “You know, your grandfather always said that all you have in this world is your word, your honor and your family.”

  “I remember.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yes, I do.” I didn’t know whom I was trying to convince at the moment—her or myself. “Momma, may I ask something of you?”

  “Anything, my dear.”

  “Your emerald ring. The one Dad gave you.”

  “Yes,” she said, smiling at me.

  “Dad gave it to you before your engagement?”

  “Your father gave me the emerald the night he pledged his love to me.”

  “What did he say to you?” I asked, completely enthralled. “I mean, if you don’t mind telling me the story.”

  “Yours is the light by which my spirit’s born—you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars,” she said, looking to the ceiling, remembering it as if it were yesterday.

  “Cummings,” I said quietly.

  “Yes, how did you know?”

  “Dad wrote it in the front of the book of Cummings poems I was reading from in his study.”

  She nodded. “True love, Mac. That’s what life is all about. True love.”

  “May I have it?”

  “My emerald?”

  “Yes.”

  I almost felt guilty asking, but at the same time I wanted to have the conversation with her while she was herself. I wanted her to give to me willingly.

  She took my hands and brought them close to her.
“Mac, if you feel that she is your sun and moon and all your stars, then I would love to give you the ring. It’s meant to be shared between two who each love the other more than themselves.”

  “I love her more than life itself.”

  “Then tell her,” she said, taking off the ring and placing it in the palm of my hand, closing my fingers around it.

  “Thank you, Mom.”

  “Create a wonderful legacy, Mac.”

  I nodded, kissing her hands.

  “Now give me a hug and run along and get on with your day,” she smiled, opening her arms to me. I didn’t want to leave her for fear that the next time I saw her she would be gone again.

  “I hate to leave.”

  “Honey, I’m always right here,” she said, placing her hand on my heart.

  I hugged her tightly.

  “What am I going to do with you, Mac?” she asked.

  “Love me?”

  “You know I do.”

  24

  MAC

  I blew into the administration office, waving off Stacy Little as I walked past.

  “I’m just here to see Samantha Peterson,” I barked. “I know the way back to her office.”

  “She’s not here right now,” Stacy shouted after me without getting up.

  I backtracked and leaned my head around the corner of the wall to make eye contact. “I’ll wait for her.”

  “Whatever you like.”

  I walked into Sam’s office hoping the stacks of paper from the Ansible Star Group would be easily accessible. I wasn’t disappointed. She had placed them clearly away from the rest of her work, focusing on the PDC documents. I pulled out my phone and immediately took photos of the documentation. There were dozens of receipts for eight and nine thousand dollars, but our informant said there were millions going out.

  I went to Sam’s computer, logging in using her password MacCallahan#1. I quickly scanned Sam’s email and found nothing other than King sending her his contract and some random information. I could see King cutting a path to Samantha. He would ask her out as soon as I returned to D.C.

  My phone began to vibrate in my pocket and I quickly logged out of Sam’s computer and walked to the other side of her desk to sit.

  “Yo, Mac,” Micah rasped. “I’ve got some more information for you.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “I had NSA dig a little deeper. Seems the main server at Autumn Valley catalogs most of the emails and attachments for at least five years.”

  “Geez, that’s a lot of information to keep.”

  “Depends upon how you look at it. They track everything coming in and out of the system. It’s mostly hospital records. Seriously, if someone sneezes in that place, a nurse makes a note of it.”

  “Lots of ass covering.”

  “Yup. But we found something really interesting while tracking the IP that was sending the emails to D.C.”

  “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “Compromising photos of none other than James Miller.”

  “What?”

  “And it’s not pretty. This dude is naked and having sex with a man in the boardroom.”

  “Who?”

  “We’ve pegged him as Hector Quintes—works as part of the custodial staff.”

  “Son of a bitch.”

  “The emails to Miller came from the same anonymous email and server. Same IP,” said Micah.

  “Someone inside Autumn Valley is blackmailing Miller. This could have something to do with Ansible Star, or it could be an entirely different scam.”

  “Anyone who’s smart enough make us work to find their digital footprint can’t be stupid enough to give themselves away so easily, said Micah.”

  “What have you found out about Ansible Star?”

  “It’s registered to a Richard Booker as a consulting company. Ring any bells?”

  “Stacy Little’s son,” I said. “Shit, Micah, I met him at the liquor store the other night. I recognized his photo from Little’s desk. Keep digging and call me back when you have anything new. Also, forward me the Intel, emails and files on Miller.”

  “You got it, Mac. Everything else going okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “It’s gonna all work itself out one way or another. I’ll yak atcha later.”

  “Only if you’re lucky.”

  I hung up and turned to the sound of Sam’s voice coming into her office.

  “Hang on, let me just check my messages,” she aid as she walked through the door. “Mac.”

  “Surprised to see me?” I stood to greet Samantha, only to watch King walk through the door behind her. “King.”

  “I wasn’t aware you were coming by today,” Sam said, surprised by my presence in her office.

  “It was a spur of the moment thing. I came to visit with Momma and thought I’d say hi. But I can see you’re busy.”

  “King and I were just going to get a cup of coffee in the lounge and go over his contract. I’m trying to understand it a little better.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t go to the lounge,” King said as he laughed. “We have a bad history there.” He smiled at her, enjoying that I was an outsider to their shared experience.

  Sam laughed it off. “I think we’ll be fine. Mac?” She turned her attention to me. “I can cancel if it’s important. Was there something you needed?”

  You. I need you. “No, I was just hoping to steal a moment of your time,” I confessed.

  Samantha sat at her desk to check her emails. “King, I have a copy of your contract. Why don’t I meet you there, and Mac, let’s chat now before I go.”

  King stood in the doorway and gave Samantha a single nod before turning his attention to me. “Good to see you again, Mac.”

  I walked to him, giving him a firm handshake.

  “Sam,” King lingered. “Cappuccino. Right?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  He left the room, not only leaving a huge space, but an invisible layer between Sam and myself. “So, you and the ever-gallant King Giles are getting pretty tight these days.”

  “No.” She dismissed my suspicions and fears at once and shut her office door. “I only like men who can take down a perp with their bare hands and one chopstick.” She pulled me near and kissed my lips tenderly.

  “Good.” I kissed her back and drew her closer to me. “Listen, Sam,” I began. “There’s gonna be a lot going down in the next few days and I want to give you a head’s up—”

  Without warning, the door to Sam’s office burst open. “Sam, it’s your grandmother,” King said. “You’d better come with me.”

  Samantha immediately left my arms and followed King out the door. I followed closely behind not knowing exactly what to do.

  “What is it?” Sam asked.

  “We think she’s had another stroke, but I need to get there. Dr. Adams is with her now.”

  “Oh no.” Sam gasped and picked up her pace.

  We made it to the C wing where there were too many medical personnel in and out of her room to count. Samantha rushed to her side. “I’m here. Mimi, I’m here.” She began to cry. It was more than I could take. I was in the way, everyone pushing and shoving to get in and out of her room. King stood by her bed with the other doctor shouting orders. I could hear Mimi’s heart beating on the machine, and with each blip, Sam fell to pieces.

  “You’re going to need to wait outside, sir,” a small nurse commanded.

  “Of course,” I agreed, turning to go. Sam needed me, and when everything settled down either for the better or worse, I would be waiting. I found a chair in the hallway and sat outside her room as if I were guarding a prisoner. I wasn’t going anywhere, and if anyone tried to remove me, I would unleash a shit storm like no other.

  King finally emerged and I promptly stood. “How is she?”

  “You’ll need to talk to Samantha about that, Mac. You know I can’t release information unless you’re family.”

  I nodded. “Can I see her?”

&nbs
p; “Yeah, I guess,” he agreed reluctantly. “But don’t stay too long.”

  “Thank you, King.”

  I walked in and found Samantha sitting vigil by Mimi’s bedside.

  “She’s stable for now.” Sam sniffed through her tears. “It was a TIA. A mini-stroke.”

  “Is she awake?” I asked, kissing Sam on the head and reaching for her hand.

  “For the love of all that’s holy. Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Mimi rasped, her eyes still closed.

  “Well, that’s a good sign.” I smiled at Sam, who merely looked back at Mimi.

  “You need to rest, Mimi,” Sam whispered. “Don’t talk now. We’ll have time for that later.”

  “I’m fine,” Mimi said sleepily.

  “Is there anything I can do for you ladies?” I asked, walking to the other side of the bed. “I’m at your disposal.”

  “Take Sam home, Mac,” Mimi whispered. “I’m fine.”

  I looked across the bed at Sam’s tear-stained face and raised my eyebrows, silently asking her what she wanted. Sam shook her head no.

  Mimi opened her eyes and turned to look Sam in the face. “I want you to go home. You don’t even have a car here because Polly has yours today. See? I’ve still got most of my marbles.”

  “I don’t want to leave you, Mimi. What if you need me?”

  “If I need you, someone will call. Now don’t make me have one of these yoga-practicing, Starbucks-drinking, botoxed nurses come to throw you out.”

  “That was terribly explicit for someone who just suffered a minor stroke,” I said hoping Mimi’s words would coax Sam to let me take her home.

  Sam smiled at me, holding back tears. “Okay,” she conceded. “But if anything, and I mean anything comes up—you start to feel poorly, or you just want me to come hold the tissue while you blow your nose, I’ll be here.”

  “Baby girl, if I can’t hold my own tissue, it’s time for me to leave this world. Now goodnight. An old lady like me needs her undisturbed beauty sleep.”

  “I’ll check in on you throughout the night, Mimi,” Sam said kissing her fragile hand.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, Sam,” she whispered softly. “And Mac?”

  “Yes, ma’am?”