The Innocent

At some point in his life Robie had supposed he could have had a family like this. He was long past that, of course. But sometimes he still thought about it. Right at that instant, Annie Lambert’s face appeared in his thoughts. He shook his head clear. He just didn’t see how something like that was possible.

He walked back out into the fading sunshine and set off for Arlington.

To the bar that Jerome Cassidy had built.

He made good time and pulled to a stop in front of the bar at around five o’clock.

He walked in, ordered a beer, and asked for Cassidy. The man came out a few minutes later and approached Robie, an uncertain look on his face. He eyed the beer like it was a stick of TNT about to go off.

“Like to talk to you,” said Robie.

“What about?”

“Julie.”

“What about her?”

“You planning on telling her you’re her father?”

“Let’s go sit.”

Cassidy led him over to a booth in a corner. There were about fifteen customers in the place.

They settled in their seats and Cassidy said, “Early drinking crowd comes in around five-thirty. Place will be full by seven. Standing room only by eight. Empties out around eleven-thirty. D.C. plays hard and works hard. Folks get up early. Especially the ones in uniform.”

Robie cradled his beer but didn’t drink it. He waited for Cassidy to pull the trigger on answering his question.

The man finally sat back, slid his palms along the top of the table, and looked at Robie.

“First, how the hell did you know?”

“Guys don’t write bundles of letters to ‘friends.’ Especially guy friends. You don’t spend time and money tracking them down. And I saw how your face lit up when Julie walked in. You hadn’t seen her since she was a baby, but you instantly knew who it was. Not that hard to figure out, actually. And I recently saw a photo of you when you were in uniform twenty years ago. There may be a lot of her mother in Julie, but there’s some of you too.”

Cassidy blew out a long breath and nodded. “Think she knows?”

“No, I don’t. Would it matter to you?”

“Probably.”

“So you thinking of telling her?”

“Do you think I should?”

“Why don’t you first tell me what happened?”

“Not much to tell, really. And I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. I cared for Sara. This was before she was married to Curtis. And she cared for me. And then Curtis came along. She and him just hit it off right from the first minute. Love at first sight. Stronger than anything we had. I didn’t feel bitter about it. I didn’t love Sara like Curtis did. And like I said, he saved my life. He was a good guy. Why not let him have some happiness?”

“But Julie?”

“Stupid one last roll in the bed. Curtis thought Julie was his. Sara knew better. I knew better. But I never said a word.”

“You seem to be an impossibly good person on that score,” remarked Robie.

Cassidy said, “I’m not a saint, never claimed to be. Done lots of people wrong in my life, especially when I’d been drinking. But Sara and Curtis, well, they just belonged together. And there was no way I could take care of a kid. It was an easy out for me, you see. Nothing noble about it.”

“Not so easy now?”

Cassidy eyed the full beer.

Robie said, “You want it?”

Cassidy rubbed his palms together. “No, no I don’t. I do want it, but no.”

Robie took a sip of the beer and set it back down. “Not so easy now?” he said again.

“Older you get the more regrets pile on you. I never had any intention of trying to take Julie away. Never! I just wanted to see her. See what sort of person she’d become. But by then I’d left Pennsylvania. By the time I got around to trying to find them they’d left too. Looked everywhere except for right here.” He paused and eyed Robie. “What’s going on here? Feds involved. People getting killed. Julie in the middle of it.”

“Can’t tell you. What I can tell you is that Julie will need a friend after all of this is over.”

“I want to help her.”

“We’ll just have to see how it plays out. I can’t make any promises.”

“I am her dad.”

“Her biological dad, maybe.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I don’t believe anybody anymore.”

Cassidy started to say something but then stopped and smiled. “Hell, me either, Robie.” He gazed out the window. “So I told you my side. You think I should tell Julie?”

“I’m not sure I’m the best person to advise you on that. Never been married. Never had any kids.”

“Well, let’s assume you are the best person. What would you advise?”

“She loved her parents. She wanted their lives to be better than they were. She wants to find out why they were killed. She wants to avenge them.”

“So you’re saying not to tell her?”

“I’m saying my answer might be different tomorrow than it is today. But you’re the only one who can really make the call.”

Robie stood and eyed the beer. “You’re going to make it.”

Cassidy stared up at him. “Why?”

“You turn down a perfectly good beer under these circumstances, you can turn it down under any circumstances. I’ll be in touch.”

CHAPTER 89

Robie didn’t know why he had come back here.