To his credit, Lineberry didn’t react to this, either. No patronizing smile, no look of anger or disappointment, nothing to show that he felt disrespected in any way by her blunt comments.
But he did glance at Pine and said firmly, “Atlee, would you and Carol mind giving Mercy and me a few minutes alone?”
“You okay with that, Mercy?” said Pine.
She shrugged. “Whatever.”
Pine and Blum rose to leave. Pine anxiously glanced back before closing the door and saw father and daughter staring at each other across a span of about six feet. It might as well have been six million. She closed the door after her.
CHAPTER
80
SO CAN I GET THE MONEY NOW, or do I have to wait for you to die?” said Mercy.
Lineberry said, “Oh, I’m sure something can be arranged. As you can clearly see, I have a great deal of wealth. You certainly should have your share of it.”
“That’s not what I meant. I had to quit all my jobs to go back into my past and get stuff figured out. And I got tossed out of my place, so I’m homeless right now. All I need is a little stash to get back on my feet, find some work, and I’m good to go. And you can leave all the rest to Lee. I don’t need it.”
“So that’s it? It’s just the money. No other questions for me? About your mother?”
Mercy shrugged. “I know all I need to. When I got taken my mother never looked for me. She left me to rot in a hellhole. Then she abandoned Lee and was never seen again. Oh, and then she wrote some bullshit letter to you to make herself feel better. And in that letter she never once mentioned trying to find me, so screw her. Did I miss anything?”
“You missed a great deal. Like the truth.”
Mercy stared at him contemptuously. “Oh, is this where you tell me she was, what, like that Joan of Arc chick?”
“No, she had her faults, many of them, as we all do. She made mistakes—again, like we all do, including me and, I’m sure, including you.”
“Don’t include me in this, okay?” Mercy said sharply, glowering at him.
“But you are part of it.” He paused and looked thoughtfully at her. “Your mother blamed herself for what happened to you and your sister. She went berserk with guilt. She pulled out all the stops to try to find you.”
“I know that’s bullshit. If she had, she would have found me.”
As though he hadn’t heard her, Lineberry continued, “And then she was forced to stop looking for you, at least officially. After that, she was compelled to go underground with her remaining family.”
This got Mercy’s attention. “Forced to stop?”
Lineberry gave her an appraising look. “I’ve never even told your sister what I’m about to tell you.” He paused again, as though to make certain he had her full attention. “Are you prepared to hear it? If not, you can get up and leave. I won’t try to stop you.” He reached into his pocket and took out a checkbook. “I can write you a check now so you can get back on your feet. Will two hundred thousand dollars do it? If not, just name the amount. A million? Two million? Ten? I don’t really care.”
Mercy flinched at these absurdly large numbers, but then relaxed. She slowly nodded. “I’m ready to hear it, but that’s not the same as believing it. You were in love with my mom and maybe you still are. You’d probably say anything to make her look good.”
He set his checkbook aside. “What I’m about to tell you is the literal truth. Whether you believe me or not is up to you.”
Mercy folded her arms over her chest, sat back, and waited.
“The Mafia families that your mother helped take down at the tender age of eighteen? They still had many tentacles across the country, in many different forms. Including in law enforcement and the federal government.”