The Blue Zone

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

“Daddy…?”

Kate froze. She wasn’t sure what to say or do. Part of her was just excited to hear he was alive-hear his voice at last. Another part didn’t know what she felt. She had wanted to hear her father’s voice for so long-and now it scared her to death.

“Dad, no one knew if you were even alive.”

“I’m sorry I had to make you worry, baby. But I’m here. I’m here… You don’t know how good it is to hear your voice.”

Kate stood quickly and pressed her back against the refrigerator door. Her eyes ran down to the shattered dish on the floor.

“I need to talk with you, Kate.”

She felt a chill pass through her body.

“Daddy, you know what’s happened, don’t you? Mom’s dead.” There was a pause.

“I know that, honey.” Her father sighed.

“She was shot. We buried her last week. If you knew, why weren’t you there?”

She didn’t know what she should tell him. About the picture? Mercado? She held back what she really wanted to say.

“Everyone thinks you’ve done these terrible things. They think you killed your case agent, Margaret Seymour. They showed me pictures of her. They were horrible… Daddy, where have you been? Everyone was so worried about you. Why haven’t you been in touch?”

“Who, Kate?” her father replied, his tone strangely even. “Who thinks those things?”

“Cavetti. The FBI.” Suddenly Kate froze. She had no idea how much she could tell him.

“I need you not to believe whatever they’re telling you, Kate. I didn’t murder that agent. I didn’t hurt anybody. These people killed my wife, Kate. Your mom. I’ve had to hide. I couldn’t be in touch. They’ve taken away everything I loved in my life. You don’t believe them, do you, Kate?”

“I want not to, Daddy, but-”

“You can’t believe them, Kate. I need to see you, baby. This is me talking now. Me…”

She shut her eyes. She gripped the phone with two hands.

This was her dad, the same familiar, reassuring voice she had always trusted. What if it was all part of some plan to frame him? To make it look like he killed that agent? What if it always was Mercado, and what they wanted all along was to have him surface, to use her to get to her father?

A spasm of fear racked Kate’s stomach. “Dad, you have to go to the WITSEC people. You can’t keep hiding forever. You have to turn yourself in.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that easy, pumpkin. I think the FBI let what happened to Sharon take place. I think there are elements there who are in bed with Mercado. They could even be close to you, Kate. I need to see you, honey. I’ve got nowhere else to turn.”

“Please…” Her hands were cold and trembling. “You have to contact them. You have to turn yourself in.”

She wanted to tell him she’d seen the photo. How she wanted to say, I know…I know. About your brother…About Mercado…I talked to Howard. I know you set the whole thing up.

How she wanted to ask him who had shot up their home that night, while they huddled on the floor so terrified? Who had killed their mom?

Kate waited. She waited for him to say something, anything, hoping against hope, her eyes tightly shut. That all of this wasn’t true. The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she bit them off, silent. Because she was afraid. She was afraid to hear his answer.

She was afraid to walk through that gate.

Afraid of what he might say.

“None of that is an option, Kate. Not now. What I really need is for you to believe me. What I need is for you to hear it in my voice. I didn’t kill that agent, Kate. I didn’t torture her. Or anybody. I’m telling you this on your mother’s life. On our lives, Kate. That still means something to you, doesn’t it?”

She sucked in a halting breath and shut her eyes. “Yes…”

“Whatever I’ve done, whatever’s happened, I’m still your father, Kate. You know me. You know I couldn’t do something like that. It was Mercado who killed your mother, Kate. Who killed my wife. Don’t let them poison you. You’re the only hope I have left.”

“I want to, Daddy.” Tears massed in her eyes. “It’s just that-”

“It’s just that what, Kate? Who’s been talking to you? I need to know. These are devious people, baby. That’s why I couldn’t contact you. You were safe from all this. I couldn’t get you involved… Look at Tina.”

“Tina?”

“Look what happened to her, Kate.” The question almost had the feel of a threat. And how did he even know about Tina?

She suddenly realized she was petrified of him. The voice she’d grown up with, that she’d always trusted. Now it left her numb with dread.

“I need to ask you something, Dad.”

“Anything, Kate. I know I’ve done a lot of things wrong. Go ahead.”

“Your mother, Rose…”

“What about Grandma Rose, baby? Why is that important now?”

Kate moistened her lips. “She came from Spain, didn’t she? After your father died? A short while after you were born?”

“Of course she came from Spain,” her father replied. “ Seville. My father was a milliner there. You know the story, Kate. He was run over by a streetcar. Who’s been talking to you?”

“No one.” Kate felt completely empty and alone.

In the pause that followed, Kate knew. She knew that her father realized it wasn’t just WITSEC and the FBI she’d been talking to. Mercado was right. That’s what this was about. Why he was calling her now. That’s who her father was after.

And he knew.

“I need to see you, Kate. You’re the only one I can count on now.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“Of course it’s a good idea. When you were sick, whenever you needed anything, I was always there for you, wasn’t I? Now I need someone, Kate. You can’t just walk away. I’ll get word to you. I know how to. But what I need from you even more is for you not to trust anyone until I see you. No one. You’ll promise me that, won’t you, baby?”

“Dad, please…”

“You owe me that, Kate. Until we talk. Not the FBI, not Cavetti. Not even Greg. You know I’d never do anything to harm you, don’t you?”

“I know that, Daddy.” Kate shut her eyes.

“So I can count on you… You promise me?”

Her mouth was as dry as sandpaper. She nodded, and the word dropped off her lips like a falling weight. “Yes.”

“That’s my little girl.” Her father’s voice regained its reassuring quality. “I’ll be in touch. You know it’s just about family now, pumpkin. Like I always told you. Family. That’s all we have left.”

He hung up. Kate stood there in the starkness of the lab.

No one had ever mentioned anything about Margaret Seymour being tortured.

How would he have known that? How would he know the horror that had been done to her?

It was only family now.