And behind the three people and next to the mobile trailer, the snout and curved ears of a large hog. And behind that, ominously, a steel peg in the ground with a chain attached.
Surely for a dog, thought Pine. Surely.
Blum turned and saw what Pine was doing. She reached over and gripped her hand, surprising her boss for an instant before Pine smiled embarrassedly. “I guess it’s sort of crazy to keep looking at this picture.”
“It’s not crazy, it’s perfectly natural. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now. But what you should keep in mind is how much progress you’ve made, Agent Pine. Look at where we’re headed right now. A short time ago did you ever think this would be possible?”
Pine squeezed her hand. “You’re right, Carol. And thanks for helping me keep this in perspective.”
They landed and drove in a rental car straight to Jack Lineberry’s house about an hour south of Atlanta.
He was sitting up in a chair in his bedroom at the palatial estate. Looking out a window to the rear grounds, Pine saw where the cottage had been—the cottage that had been bombed while she had been inside it. It had been demolished, and a crew was now rebuilding it. They were finishing up pouring a new foundation. She saw stacks of boards lying nearby. She assumed those would be used to frame the house next.
She glanced at Lineberry, a tall, handsome man in his sixties, as he sat in a chair. He looked pale and still weak, but there was strength in the hug he had given her and his eyes were clear and focused.
When Pine showed him the photo, he at first shook his head, and then his chin dropped, and the man began to weep. This was so unexpected that Pine didn’t know what to do. Blum put a comforting arm around his quaking shoulders.
Then it struck Pine.
Shit, you idiot, that’s his daughter.
That truth had come so recently to Pine that it hadn’t even occurred to her when she handed him the photo.
“I’m sorry, Jack,” she said, kneeling down on the other side of him. “I just wasn’t thinking clearly.”
He waved her apology away and composed himself. He handed her back the photo. “Do you know where that was taken?”
“Taliaferro County. North and east of here. Ito Vincenzo could have made it there and back in one day. Which he did.”
“And you’re sure this is…Mercy?”
“I have other evidence which supports that conclusion.”
“The Atkinses, Len, Wanda, and Becky?”
“Ito served in the Army with Leonard Atkins. I found out Atkins was severely wounded. He came back to the States, was discharged, and moved back to Georgia.”
Lineberry looked puzzled. “But if he was of Ito’s generation, he would be far older than would be typical for someone wanting a child Mercy’s age. I’m presuming that Ito brought Mercy to them as…I don’t want to say a gift, but you know what I mean.”
“You’re right. But during a battle with the North Vietnamese, Atkins saved Vincenzo’s life. That’s how he was wounded. The wound was in an area that made him…it caused Atkins to be unable to father children.”
Lineberry’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, I hope I’m wrong, but I see where this might be going.”
“I believe Ito kidnapped Mercy and took her to the Atkinses to repay Leonard Atkins. There was a letter from Atkins to Ito that basically said that.”
“Stealing a child to repay a debt? That is sick,” said Lineberry.
“But it may also be the truth.”
Blum said, “But why did he try to kill you? Why not just either take you both or do something less than attempted murder?”
Pine looked at the photo. “I’ve been giving that a lot of thought. From everything we’ve been able to learn about Ito, he was not a violent mobster type like his brother. But he was angry when he learned that Bruno thought he’d gotten screwed on a prison deal. And he blamed my mother. But I don’t think he was some monster. I think he was caught between a rock and a hard place. And when it came to it, I think he just wanted to take one of us. That’s why he did the nursery rhyme. Then he tried to knock me out so I couldn’t raise the alarm. But he hit me way too hard. And I nearly died.”
“But how could he have found your family in the first place?” barked an agitated Lineberry.
Pine leaned away from him. “We met up with your ex-fiancée.”
“You talked to Linda? You didn’t tell me that.”
“I’m telling you now.”
“What did she say?”
“What I thought she would.”
He shook his head. “No, there is no way. I can’t believe it.”
“She was the leak. She admitted it. She had you followed, she searched your briefcase, she overheard conversations. She met with Bruno; she found out about him through a mob buddy of his. She was even going to rep him, but another attorney took over for some reason. She steamed open a letter of yours that laid out my parents’ new identities and where they were going to live in Andersonville, and she made sure that Bruno got it. And he told his brother a sob story and guilted an otherwise law-abiding man into coming down to Georgia and turning into the devil.”
For a moment Pine thought Lineberry might faint or have a heart attack or lash out at her. There were so many emotions sweeping over his features, and his body tensed and untensed to such a degree that she grabbed his arm to make sure he didn’t slide out of the chair.
He finally put a hand to his face and quietly started to weep again.
Pine looked at Blum, who shook her head and put a hand to her lips signaling Pine just to remain quiet.
A long minute passed before Lineberry finally straightened and wiped at his eyes. Blum gave him a hand towel from a table next to the chair, while Pine poured him out a glass of water from a pitcher on the table.
He wiped his face, drank the water, and sat back in the chair, looking about a decade older than he had two minutes before. He gripped Pine’s hand.
“I am so sorry, Atlee. So sorry. This is all my fault.”
“No, it’s not, Jack. You trusted someone who abused that trust. But to be fair, I can understand her anger. You did leave her for my mother. You had two daughters with my mother.”
Lineberry passed a hand over his forehead. “I loved Linda with all my heart. Right up until the moment I met your mother. Then, for me, there was no one else. I’m not proud of what I did, but I’m just telling you the truth. If I had controlled my feelings better…”
“My mother was obviously attracted to you.”
Lineberry shook his head. “I was quite a bit older. I was in a position of influence over her. I was a professional who did something stunningly unprofessional. I never thought our relationship would result in pregnancy. I hated myself for having put her in that situation.”
“Did Tim know?” asked Pine.
“Please, call him your father. He was more of one to you than I ever was.”
“Okay, we sort of skirted around this issue before, but did my dad know that you were the father?”
“I never told him. And the timing of when he and your mother met was close enough that he had every reason to believe that he was the father. I don’t believe your mother ever told him differently.”