Bodyguard of Lies

CHAPTER 32

Jesse Gant was vacuuming so she didn't hear the doorbell. Bobbie had had some friends over the night before and they had left the kitchen littered with junk food remnants. Jesse enjoyed cleaning it up. It was a normal thing and normal things still gave Jesse great pleasure. She could remember a time in her life when there had been very little that would be considered normal.

She was a tall, slender woman with short red hair. Her face was etched with lines, most oriented in a way that indicated she smiled and laughed much more than she frowned. Freckles were liberally sprinkled on her skin and her green eyes were following the progress of the vacuum sucking up the remnants of chips and cookies.

Most women would have screamed the moment they felt the hand touch their shoulder, but Jesse merely reached down and shut off the vacuum as she turned to face the man standing behind her. "So he's dead?"

Bailey nodded. "Yes."

"When did he die?"

The dour face never changed expression. "We think a few weeks ago. We're not sure."

Now it was Jesse's turn to nod. "I knew Tony was sick. I was secretly hoping he would try to see Bobbie but he never did. How did I have a kid with such a screwed-up guy? It's really the most important decision a woman makes."

Bailey sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. Jesse pushed the vacuum cleaner away to give her access to her own chair. The man stared at her, trying to decide if she had changed much in the years he hadn't seen her.

"Anthony kept you both alive all these years."

"But if I had married a nice doctor or something I wouldn't have had to worry about that. You know not everyone has to worry about getting assassinated."

"I don't believe we can choose who we fall in love with." The words coming from Bailey were almost comical, but Jesse knew they were to be taken very seriously. Men like Bailey didn't stop by for chats and didn’t say things idly to make conversation.

Jesse rose and got a couple of cups for coffee. She still knew how he took his.

"The woman, Neeley, is coming here. I arranged a diversion so we could talk, but she will be here soon."

Jesse's hands tightened on the coffee mug. "Why is she coming here?"

"For the package you have apparently been keeping for Gant all these years. She believes she needs it to survive."

"I don't have it," Jesse said.

To that, Bailey made no comment.

Jesse looked at the hard face. "And does she need it to survive?"

Bailey sipped the steaming coffee. "We all need insurance. Tell me, Jesse. Why did you leave the Cellar? You were one of the best. I know I was quite fond of you."

Jesse leaned back in the ladder-back chair, causing the cane bottom to squeak in protest. "Mister Nero asked me to leave. He assured me I would have lifelong safety if I would retire. I was only twenty."

"My, that is surprising.” To Jesse he sounded not at all surprised. “Why did Mister Nero want you out?"

Jesse stared out the window, watching the slow movements of the clouds and let her thoughts return to that long ago day in Nero's office. "He said he had made a mistake in selecting me. That I fit the profile he needed but that I had something extra that made me unfit for duty."

Bailey was very interested. "And what was that?"

Jesse spoke with no embarrassment. "I apparently generated the emotion of love in people who were supposedly not capable of it."

Bailey nodded. "Yes, fascinating. I always suspected something of that sort. Bad for business. It was bad for Anthony — and his brother Jack."

"But remember, I brought Tony in," Jesse said. "It wasn't my fault that the robots in the Cellar began hearing violins. I didn't do anything on purpose. Besides, Mister Nero got reams of psychological studies from the whole business. I'm sure he never recruited anyone like me again. I do regret that Tony and Jack never spoke again."

“Some of that was due to Mogadishu,” Bailey said.

Jesse shook her head. “No. Jack understood that. He works for the Cellar now, doesn’t he? So he understands necessity. More than marrying Tony, my greatest regret in my life was splitting the two of them. But I have Bobbie so screw ‘em.”

Bailey put down his empty cup. No more coffee was offered. "Please believe that my interest was purely that, and I am offering no judgments. It's just been a curiosity. Mister Nero speaks of you warmly."

Jesse spoke slowly. "Yes, I know. I've always been grateful to him. And to Neeley, even though I never met her. It was good to know Tony wasn't alone. Especially at the end. He would have been afraid of the darkness."

"Why did you leave Anthony? Because of Jack?"

Jesse carried the two mugs to the sink. Speaking softly she said: "Not because of Jack. Because Tony — and even Jack who was very like him — and I didn't want the same things. If I’d have gone with Jack, I would have been repeating the same mistake. I did learn that lesson from Mister Nero."

Bailey watched her, deciding that she had changed very little. "I understand."

"What will happen to me and Bobbie?"

"I can assure you that you will continue to be safe. Just give Neeley the package."

"I told you I don't have it. It was Tony's insurance, not mine. He knew Mister Nero well enough to know that for me to have it would only be dangerous. If I had it, wouldn't Mister Nero have sent you here the minute Tony was dead to claim it?"

Bailey pursed his lips and then slowly nodded again. Whether he believed her, she couldn't tell.

"Where's Racine?" Jesse suddenly asked.

"Don't worry about him. I'll take care of him."

Jesse turned to look at her guest. "I always worry about Racine. I never understood why Mister Nero tolerated him."

"He is a man with useful talents and few scruples. The very thing you fear is an asset to many. But even the most useful assets have their own particular shelf life and I can assure you, Racine’s has expired."

"If he gets within two states of Bobbie, I'll kill him."

Bailey nodded. "That's completely understood.”

Jesse led him to the door.

He paused. “There’s some new information that we have just learned that puts the past in a different light.”

Jesse considered her guest. “A new perspective on the past is only important if it changes something in the present.”

Bailey smiled, something Jesse could never remember him doing. “I knew I could count on you.” He stepped onto the porch. “Don't mention my visit to Neeley and her companion."

"What companion?"

Bailey smiled for the second time. "A most interesting woman, very versatile."

Jesse led him to the door. "Versatility is a good thing."