"We assumed they would find another home for her," the doctor said.
"What if they didn't? Do you know what happened to her? Do you know where my daughter is today, what kind of life she has?"
The doctor and his wife said nothing. Puzzled, Tess started to interrupt, to remind Jackie of the wonderful life that Sam had with the Edelmans, but then she realized how deliberate this was. The money wasn't enough for Jackie. She wanted to plant dark images in the Beckers' minds, see if she could give them a few sleepless nights as well. Good luck, Tess thought. If the Beckers ever thought about what they had done, it would be because of the check Dr. Becker was now filling out with Jackie's Mont Blanc pen.
"They have a name for this," he said, even as he handed the check to Jackie. "Extortion. Blackmail. Don't think I won't report this to the police."
"They have names for you, too," Jackie said, examining the check carefully. "Bigot. Racist. Peckerwood. Don't you see, money has to change hands here. Because this whole thing is about economics. If I had kept my baby, the government would have given me, say, about $225 a month and some food stamps to raise her. You paid $10,000 for her, but the agency got that, not me. I do hope you got a refund. And when she went into foster care, that family got twice as much as I would have for keeping her. The Edelmans, who aren't hurting by a long shot, collect maybe $500 a month they don't need to raise the baby I would have gotten $225 to raise. Now could someone explain that to me?"
Mrs. Becker actually began to say something, as if Jackie expected an answer, but she was silenced by one stern look from her husband. Tess couldn't help thinking that the voided adoption was one of the best things that ever happened to Samantha King. Dr. Becker would have managed to snuff out that exuberant girl's soul long ago, while his silly wife just looked on.
"You know, I know people," the doctor said. "Important people. You might find your job a lot harder to do in the future if you cash that check."
For the first time, Jackie looked hesitant, unsure. Her career was the kind built by word of mouth, Tess realized, and it could be destroyed by it as well.
"You people think you run the city now." Dr. Becker had found his advantage and was pressing forward, cruel and heedless. "Well you don't. It's the people with money who are in control, white or black. That check may be the last anyone ever writes you. Think about that."
As Jackie just sat, studying the check, Tess reached out and grabbed the doctor's hand. "Where are my manners? Tess Monaghan, I should have introduced myself when I came in. I'm a private investigator, but I used to be a reporter in town and I still have a lot of reporter friends. I think they would love to hear about the prominent Doctor Becker-ACLU member, friend of the Chesapeake Bay-who reneged on an adoption because the child wasn't white. Throw in the Willa Mott angle and it's a national story, don't you think?"
"We told you, it was because the agency lied," Becker said, almost sputtering in his rage. "You keep making it sound as if we were racists."
"No, I think it was your use of ‘you people' that made you sound like a racist. Anyway, that's how it will end up, unless you leave Jackie alone. Trust me. The top editor of the Beacon-Light owes me a favor or two, and I'm willing to call the chit in for this."
"And I work at the NSA," Judith put in suddenly. "You don't even want to contemplate what I can do to you."
Tess doubted that her mother could do much more than instruct the clerk-typists under her supervision to write a really scary letter, but it was the National Security Agency. Who knew what powers her mother really had?
The doctor nodded sullenly, but Tess didn't trust him. There was nothing to keep him from calling the police as soon as they left, or setting in motion his grapevine scheme to undercut Jackie's business.
"Now we're going to leave here and I'm going to make sure any paper work linking you to Samantha King is destroyed, although Jackie will keep a copy. That will keep you quiet?"
Another tight little nod from Herr Doktor.
"He's not going to let it go," Jackie said. "He's going to find a way to get back at me, if only because he's humiliated."
"No, he's not," Judith said emphatically. "After all, you have an alibi. You were never here."
"Oh yeah? Where was I?"
"Across town, at a crab feast with twenty other people."
Tess looked at her mother. She had always thought her ability to lie, to think on her feet, must come down on Patrick's side, but maybe it was a Weinstein trait as well.
"I don't get it," Jackie said. "Who would do that for me?"
"Your daughter's family," Tess said.
Judith drove Tess's car back to the Monaghans', while Tess piloted Jackie in her white Lexus for the second time that day.
"You shouldn't have stolen my gun," she chided, once they were alone.
"Next time, don't leave it untended," Jackie said, not at all repentant.
"You scared me to death. I thought you were going to kill yourself, or them."
"Why would I destroy my life like that after all the work I put into recreating it? I wanted to hurt them, and money was the way to do that. Probably the only way with people like them." Jackie laughed, pleased with herself. For the next mile or two, they didn't say anything, but it was a comfortable silence. The kind of silence that friends can endure.
When Jackie spoke again, her voice was soft and tentative. "I was hurt and I wanted to hurt someone else. You know, I started off by wanting to hurt you."
"Hurt me?"
"Why do you think I hired you in the first place? I wanted to get back at you for being the girl on the other side of the soda fountain, the one who had the real childhood, while I had to work my way through high school, then college."
"Poppa meant to pay for your tuition. Gramma was the one who wouldn't let him."
"She knew?"
"So it seems."
"Poor woman."
"Poor woman? She forced Poppa to renege on his promise to you."
"Well, how would you like to be the woman whose husband comes home and says, ‘Remember that eighteen-year-old girl I knocked up? I think we should send her to college.'"
Jackie had a point. For all her anger, she could always see the big picture, see things outside herself. Tess should learn to do the same. She smiled. Truth be told, it cracked her up, the image of Jackie sitting across from the Beckers at her little extortion tea party, reeling off her facts and figures about the welfare system. Only Jackie would make a revenge scheme so didactic.
"Hey, that stuff you said about the economics of the system. Was that made up, or was it true?"
"Oh, I may have been off on the actual numbers, and everything's different since welfare reform. But the proportions were right. People pay thousands to adopt babies, welfare mothers get pennies to keep them."
"And the foster parents receive bigger stipends than the mothers?"
"Oh yeah. But they also have to meet higher standards than the welfare mothers-separate bedrooms, stuff like that. Remember, that's why they took Sam away from those folks. Why are you suddenly so interested?"
"Just doing some math in my head."
Chapter 27
Chase Pearson's office in Annapolis was far grander than Tess would have expected. His was an insignificant job, after all, an appointed position that would evaporate like the dew once the current governor was gone. The special secretary for children and youth. But how foolish of her, how naive. There were no insignificant jobs in the state capital. No small parts, no small actors.
And no small crimes.
"Miss Monaghan," Pearson said. She didn't even rate a flash of his bad teeth at this point in their relationship. Whatever his future plans, he had apparently decided he could get by without her vote. "I thought I had made it clear that I did not wish to hear from you again."