Chapter 15

GREGORY ASKED Fillian about making some coffee. “Sure,” Fillian agreed. “I have some good decaf.”

“Perfect, thank you,” Carter said without looking up from his laptop. “This shouldn’t take too long. I just need to cut out the sections we don’t want.” He continued typing while Fillian worked in the kitchen.

“I’ll get a few munchies too,” Fillian offered, and once the coffee was done, he and Gregory brought everything into the dining room. Gregory poured mugs while Carter finished up.

“There isn’t a lot, and I divided the sections up with a few seconds between them. But the whole thing is twelve seconds long.” He played the video and then did it again.

Fillian got nothing from it because it was too choppy. “Can we slow it down?”

Carter did, and Gregory leaned over his shoulder as it played. “There isn’t a lot of detail.”

“No. But I want you to try to zero in on the shoes if you can. We have only a few seconds at the top of the stairs.”

“What are you hoping to see?” Fillian asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe if this is a man or a woman? No one pays attention to shoes, and it’s the one place where people sometimes mess up.” Carter shrugged, and they went frame by frame. “Look there. The shoes are dark, but those are a woman’s shoes. They are flat, but… keep going to the next frame… see right there? The light coat covers most of her, but the shoes show right there.”

“Yeah, but what does that get us?” Fillian turned to Gregory, who had paled as he stared at the screen.

“Go up to the head.” His tone was so soft that Fillian wondered what he had just seen. Gregory swallowed as Carter reset the video and they went through it frame by frame once more. Fillian didn’t know what Gregory was looking for, but after three frames, he pointed. “I know that.”

“What, that smudge?” Fillian asked.

“It’s not. That’s a hair pin. See if you can get a better image of it,” Gregory said, and Carter moved through the frames, each one getting clearer.

“I’ll be….”

“Yeah. I know who has those hair pins.” Gregory cleared his throat. “They were a gift from my father to my mother when they first got married. It’s one of the few things my mother loves that came from him. She wears them all the time.” He pulled out the chair and sat down. “The woman in that video is my mother. She wears those shoes because high heels aggravate her legs too badly.”

Fillian’s eyes widened. He had suggested her as a suspect, but that had been just to cover all possibilities. What the hell kind of mother did all this to her own son?

“You’re sure?” Fillian asked quietly, shaking his head.

“I’m sure it’s her.” Gregory looked completely devastated, and Fillian couldn’t blame him. He knew exactly how he’d feel if the situation were reversed.

“What in the hell. Why would your mother pull something like this?” He was angry on Gregory’s behalf, along with being completely aghast. He had seen some weird things since joining the force, and he had heard of some even stranger stories, but this one took the cake.

“Yes. Isn’t that a total steaming pile of crap. I’m sure—it’s definitely my mother.” Gregory stood quickly enough that the dining room chair tipped over backward and landed on the carpet. “What the hell am I going to do? My own damned mother.” He went into the living room and began to pace. “What the hell was she thinking? Her grandchildren could have been hurt in that damned fire stunt… or worse.” He began to pace back and forth across the room.

Fillian got up. “It’s going to be okay.”

“How?” he snapped.

Fillian had to keep calm for his sake. “Look, I know this sucks, but it really is going to be okay. You know what she is now, and once Carter and I are done, so will the police and probably the prosecutor.”

Gregory turned to him with murderous fire in his eyes. “Don’t tell me that we have to take this one step at a time or that we have to let the evidence guide or… I don’t know. Give me anything other than bad television dialogue. I want to go over there, yank the crazy old lady out of bed, and strangle her while I look deep into her eyes as the life drains out of her.” He shook hard, and Fillian didn’t know what to do. “I want to hang her by the ears from the rafters of her garage.”

Fillian stepped back, letting Gregory pace once more.

“It’s okay,” Carter said from behind him. “Let Gregory get it out. He needs to let all this hurt out, and at least he’s doing so right away so it isn’t all bottled up.”

The stream of darkness coming out of Gregory quickly abated, and he stood in the center of the room, head down, looking lost and confused. Fillian gently guided him back to the dining room, righted the chair, and got Gregory to sit.

“Look, I know you’re angry, and that’s cool, but we don’t know that your mother placed the doll. She could have been coming over to see about you and the kids. You hadn’t talked to her in a while. Maybe she was trying to see how you were doing.” Fillian had to try to offer some explanation, because as much as Gregory had jumped to a conclusion, they didn’t have proof of anything yet.

“But….”

“Hey. We need to talk to both of them.”

“Then I’m going with you. I want to look them both in the eye.”

Carter cleared his throat. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“If you don’t let me come, then I’ll confront my mother on my own, and there’s nothing either of you can do to stop me.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s my mother, and I can visit her if I want to. And so help me God, I will confront her, and if she did it, I’ll….” He sat and shook hard. “The hell she’s put me through, the worry, the fear—she needs to feel some of that. She really does.”

Carter stood, and Fillian followed him out of the room. “I can’t take him to talk to her. Do you have any idea what my captain would do if he found out about this?”

Fillian could only imagine. “I know. But think about what would happen if he confronts his mother alone.” He was truly frightened. “I have never seen him like this. We have to try to keep him calm and make sure he doesn’t do anything all of us will regret. I mean, if he decides to leave, I can’t stop him.” No matter how worried he was.

“But those threats—”

“Are only angry words until something happens. You know that.” Fillian was worried that in his state of mind, Gregory would act on them.

“Then we talk to Stevie tomorrow to try to eliminate him before we confront the mother.” Fillian followed Carter’s gaze to Gregory. “Your job is going to be to calm him down and get him to understand that it has got to be us who do this, not him.”

Fillian nodded. “Thanks for bringing over the video. At least we have some answers… but the really hard work is ahead of us.” Just looking at Gregory told him that this was one hell of a minefield.

Carter packed up the computer and said good night. Gregory thanked him and said little more. Fillian saw Carter to the door, and when he returned, Gregory was putting on his jacket. “I have to talk to her.”

“No,” Fillian said flatly. “This isn’t for you to handle. Let Carter and me take the lead.” He wanted to snap at him but stopped himself. “You need to be here for Weston and Marnie. Remember, they are the really important people in all this. Not you or me, but them.”

“I know. But that… that… woman… she….” He sputtered, and Fillian pulled him into a hug and held him tightly.

“The kids need you. And we don’t know anything for sure yet. Just try to calm down, and we’ll get to the bottom of this. We know more now than we did, but we don’t have all the answers. We’ll get them, I’m sure of it, but you need to let us do our job.”

“And what am I supposed to do?” Gregory asked. “I can’t just sit here and wonder what is going on. I have to look her in the eyes. She’s my mother, and I have to confront her.”

Fillian understood that. “Maybe. I can see why you feel you need to, but let’s make sure we have all the facts first. We don’t know for sure that it was her, and if you’re wrong—if we’re wrong—then it could make trouble for us.” Gregory seemed less jumpy, and Fillian hoped that meant he was calming down. “Carter and I are police officers, and we deal in facts and things we can prove. Right now, we have her at the door, but that’s all. We don’t know if she’s behind this or not. But the good thing is that Carter and I know where to start looking, and that’s a big deal.”

Gregory swallowed hard and nodded slowly. “I know. And I appreciate that you’re trying to help me, but sometimes it feels like there’s a huge hole opening up, and I swear it’s going to swallow me whole. I need some answers. The thought of my own mother… regardless of how selfish she is…. What does it say that she might have…?”

“If it’s true, it says a lot about her but nothing at all about you,” Fillian told him. “Remember, I spent a lot of time looking over the fence into the yard growing up. I used to watch that pool in the summer, and your mom was never around.” He leaned closer. “Do you know what I just remembered?”

Gregory shook his head. “No, what?”

“That that pool looked so inviting and perfect, but you didn’t get to use it all that often either. It was beautiful and sparkled in the sun, but it was just as off limits to you as it was to me.” He smoothed his fingers over Gregory’s cheek. “You were just as much an outsider as I was.” Gregory blinked but didn’t say anything more. “Come on, it’s late. You have to go to work in the morning, and I’m on duty as well. I know this is going to sound callous, but we need to get on with things. Carter and I will look into what we have, and we’ll talk to Stevie.”

“You can’t talk to my mother without me. Promise me that,” Gregory said almost frantically. “You have to promise me that if you think it’s her that I get to be there when you talk to her.” He swallowed hard.

“I can’t do that. But I will talk to Carter. That I can promise.” Fillian didn’t have control over all the moving parts. “Now, you and I need to clean things up down here, and then we can go upstairs. You need to rest.”

Gregory rolled his eyes. “Is this where you say that things will look better in the morning?”

Fillian scoffed. “Okay, I won’t say it. But whatever happens, I’m here for you, so try not to worry about it. We will find out what happened, and if your mother is behind it, then I’ll be there with you to roast her on a proverbial spit. That is, if she is truly guilty.”

Gregory shrugged. “I don’t know whether I’m hoping it’s my mother or Stevie. The thought of either one is enough to make my stomach roil. But like you said, I have to let you find out.”

Fillian took Gregory’s hand and squeezed it. “Why don’t you go on upstairs, and I’ll lock up and turn out the lights.”

Gregory nodded and headed up the stairs while Fillian closed up and followed him. He ran into Gregory as he came out of the guest room. “They’re both out.”

“Good.” It was time he helped Gregory work out his own tension so he could get to sleep… and Fillian knew just the way, and it involved warm hands and a lot of patience.

“DADDY,” WESTON said as he bounded on the bed the following morning. To Fillian, it seemed like he and Gregory had just closed their eyes. “I’m hungry, and it’s light out.”

Fillian groaned and rolled over. The clock read just before six. He yawned and pulled the covers over his head.

“It’s okay, buddy,” Gregory said gently. “Go on back to your room and get dressed. I’ll be right in, and we can go find you some breakfast.” Weston jumped off the bed and hurried out. “I’ll take care of him. You rest for a while.”

“Did you sleep?” Fillian asked.

“Not much, but it’s okay.” He kissed him and left the room. Fillian stretched and burrowed under the covers for a little while longer, which turned out to be ten minutes before his phone rang. He would have ignored it, but the call was from Carter, so he took it and arranged to meet him at eight. Fillian called in to let the department know about his meeting before dressing and heading downstairs.

“You’re up. Do you want eggs?” Gregory asked brightly.

“Daddy makes good eggies,” Weston said, already shoveling some into his mouth. Marnie had a plate and seemed to be waiting on hers.

“That would be nice.” He sat down and spread a napkin to make sure he didn’t spill anything on his uniform. Gregory brought him coffee and eventually a plate of eggs with toast. It had been a while since Fillian had someone take care of him like this. A simple meal, but done with care.

“I have a meeting with Carter at eight,” Fillian said between bites. “We’ll develop a plan and go from there.”

“Remember your promise,” Gregory said, holding the spatula mid flip.

“I’ll do what I can, but this is largely a local case, and Carter is the one who has the lead. I’m here to provide support.” He finished his breakfast and took the dishes to the sink. “I need to get going.” Fillian kissed Gregory, pausing close to him. “I really like this, having breakfast like a family, kissing you before I head to work.”

“Me too,” Gregory said softly. “I’ll see you tonight.”

Fillian hurried out to his car, checking the time. He called in to Dispatch to let them know where he was and that he was on duty while he drove to the Carlisle Police Station, where Carter waited with more coffee, the fuel every cop ran on.

“Do we have anything new?” Fillian asked after taking his first sip.

Carter nodded. “I still want to talk to your teammate, but I don’t think he has anything to do with this.” He picked up the evidence bag with the doll inside and turned it over. “The doll noose was made with green twine, the kind used by gardeners. So I made a little stop earlier this morning. Your teammate Stevie lives in that new development to the west of town. All of the yards are new, and the plants are small. There is nothing to tie up.”

“You know,” Fillian said softly, “the houses on the street where Mrs. Haber lives are older, and they have mature landscaping.”

Carter pulled open his desk drawer and pulled out a bit of string. “I got this off one of the other shrubs at the address we have for the Habers out on Walnut. It’s the same exact thing. Of course I can’t use this in court, and it isn’t definitive….”

Fillian sighed. “Let’s talk to Stevie and see what we get.”

“Agreed. But then we’re going to have to talk to Mrs. Haber, and that is not going to be pretty for anyone.”

Fillian called his teammate, who was working from home. He arranged to meet Fillian in fifteen minutes. “Let’s go.” Solving a case was usually a high… but this one only seemed like a looming pit.

“HEY, FILLIAN.” Stevie was smiling until he saw Carter too, both of them in uniform. “What’s going on?” He stepped back. “Do you want to come in?”

“We have a few questions we need to ask you. This shouldn’t take up too much of your time.” Carter got right down to it. Stevie gestured, and they went inside the spotless new home.

“What’s this about?” Stevie asked. “How can I help you?” He looked right at Fillian.

“You visited Gregory’s place over the weekend.”

Stevie nodded. “Yeah. He wasn’t home. I wanted to talk to him about some things….” Stevie looked toward the back of the house, and then his gaze traveled back to Fillian. “They’re personal, and since I was downtown, I stopped in to see if he had a minute. But once I knocked, I remembered that you and Gregory were gone for the weekend, so I came back home.” Color rose in his cheeks, and he lowered his gaze.

Fillian turned to Carter, who excused himself and went outside.

“We’re asking for a reason.”

“Yeah. I know some shit’s been happening with Gregory, but I needed to talk to him about something.” The color was back, and so was the looking around. “Look, this is hard… but I needed some advice about sex, and he’s the one I knew I could talk to. But he wasn’t home, and I figured I could talk to him later.” His voice was soft, even though he seemed to be the only one home.

“Okay. I don’t need to know what you were going to ask. You can talk to Gregory about that, okay? But answer this—when you got to the door, was there anything unusual?”

Stevie looked at him like he had grown another head. “No. It was just a door with a number two on it. Brown….” He truly seemed confused, and Fillian believed him.

“Okay. Thanks, Stevie.” Fillian put out his hand and smiled.

“Aren’t you going to tell me what you’re looking for?” Stevie asked.

“Not unless you want to tell me the sex question you have for Gregory.” Fillian grinned at Stevie’s discomfort. “Then I’ll be going. And thank you for your help. We appreciate it.” He left the house and joined Carter on the sidewalk. “There was nothing on the door, and what he told me jibes completely with what we saw on camera.”

“So it seems.” Carter trailed off. “I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes. Having to question your boyfriend’s mother.”

Fillian chuckled. “We do what we have to do. Besides, we don’t have direct proof that points to her with the notes or the fire, and the evidence is circumstantial with the doll. We may need that to move forward, but Gregory doesn’t. And if he decides that he needs to have it out with his mother, then we need to let him. She’s a real piece of work.”

“So what are you suggesting?” Carter asked.

Fillian decided that he needed to tell Carter everything. “I question her and let Gregory be there to look her in the eye. I’m thinking that maybe Gregory would like to be the one to confront her, but….” From a police perspective, they might get a lot more out of her. But from the boyfriend point of view, he was worried that it was a lot to ask of Gregory, and he hoped it wouldn’t be too much. “I don’t want him to get hurt, but I….”

“You can’t see a way around it,” Carter supplied, completing his thought.

He nodded slowly. “I know it isn’t what Gregory wants, but we could talk to her anyway. It would save him the pain of having to confront his mother about why she would do these things to him.”

Carter shook his head. “You can’t shelter him from something like this. He’ll have to deal with it. I suggest we find him, see what he wants to do, and go from there. Believe me, I understand wanting to protect the ones I love. I would do anything to make sure Donald and Alex don’t see anything that isn’t bright and happy, but that’s impossible. Donald has a gut-wrenching job that he’s amazing at. I don’t think I could do what he does for those children he works with in a million years.”

“I know. But….”

“If Gregory is willing to help us put an attempted arsonist behind bars, then so be it.” Carter’s gaze grew hard. “Whoever set that fire in the hallway knew what they were doing. It wasn’t an accident, and it wasn’t designed to smolder and create lots of smoke. We believe that it was meant to go up in a rush, but some of the papers inside were wet, and they didn’t burn as quickly and created the smoke. Basically, you were all very lucky.”

“Okay.” Fillian so wanted to spare Gregory all of this. “Let me call him.” Fillian called Gregory’s cell. “I’m here with Carter.”

“Was it my mother?” Gregory asked, flatly and without any preamble; even his voice got quieter.

“We believe so, though we don’t know why. Stevie came to ask you a question, and he said that the doll was not on the door at that time, and I believe him. But we have little to go on.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m going to kill her.” The anger coming through the phone nearly knocked Fillian over.

“No. Do nothing,” he retorted firmly. “We need you to help us. Carter and I will meet you at the house after work. Promise me that you won’t do anything. What we need is a confession. Then the local police can take over and she can be charged.” Fillian was scared of what Gregory might do. “You doing something rash isn’t worth the hurt it could do the kids. They need you, and I need you.” His voice broke. “So please just do your work, and we’ll devise a plan when you get home. I promise. This isn’t going anywhere.” Fillian turned to Carter. “We could have patrols check Gregory’s building and my house on a regular basis as a precaution.”

Carter nodded and got on the phone.

“Promise me,” Fillian said to Gregory. “I need that. Just stay away from her and don’t do anything. We need to tie this up so we can make a strong case.”

“But she…,” Gregory sputtered and then grew quiet. “Okay, I promise I won’t do anything, but if you think I’m going to be able to concentrate…. I don’t want to hurt the kids.” Fillian didn’t say anything, but if Gregory confronted his mother on his own and it didn’t go well, she could use that against him to try to get custody. This had to be done right.

“I understand. But don’t do anything. I love you, and I’ll see you at home right after my shift.” He ended the call and slid his phone into his pocket.

Carter arranged for the patrols, and then they agreed to meet Gregory at Fillian’s once their shifts were over before parting to go on with the rest of their day. Fillian had no doubt that the clock was going to tick forward very slowly.

GREGORY JUMPED up from the sofa as soon as Fillian came into the house. The kids were playing some mixture of Lego and Barbies on the floor. “What’s the plan?” Judging by the mug on the coffee table, Gregory must have downed half a pot of coffee.

“My mother is going to come over to sit with the kids. She’ll be here in half an hour.” Fillian hung up his hat and took Gregory into the entrance hall. “We need to speak to your mother, you know that.”

“And you want me to sit back while you or Carter talk to her.” A knock interrupted the conversation. Fillian went to let Carter inside and closed the ornate Second Empire style etched glass door behind him.

“No. The plan is for you to speak to her. You can confront her any way you see fit.”

“And you want me to wear a wire?” Gregory asked.

“No. Just get her to confess. I went by the house. It’s a lovely evening, and she has every window open to catch the breeze. So we’re just going to listen. All you need to do is get her talking,” Carter said. “We aren’t going to prep you or tell you what to say. Just let her have it. You’re angry, and you know she’s the one who sent the notes and who set the fire. Bluff if you have to, but just let her see your anger and hurt. If we’re there, she’ll just clam up.”

“But you think that because I’m her son she might feel some sort of guilt?” Gregory grinned, but without a hint of happiness. “My mother doesn’t feel guilt or remorse. Never has. She only thinks of what she wants and goes for it.”

Fillian drew close enough that he could see the violet flecks in Gregory’s eyes. “Then use that. Call her on it. You know her better than anyone else.”

Gregory sighed. “Of course I’ll do it. I want to give her a piece of my mind.” Fillian could already tell that Gregory’s mind was flying ahead. “And I know exactly how to get to her.” He took a deep breath. “I take it you want to do this right away.”

“Tonight if possible.”

“Let me call my mother and find out if she’s home.” Gregory went into another room and made the call while he and Carter waited. “They’re having dinner, but I told her I’d stop by to see her at seven thirty.”

“Maybe we should have something to eat,” Fillian offered, hoping that Gregory would have a chance to calm down a little.

“After I talk to her. I don’t think I can keep anything down right now. I’m too….”

Carter put his hand on Gregory’s shoulder. “You need to be calm and keep your wits about you.” The way Gregory’s hand shook, Fillian wasn’t sure it was possible.