Inner Harbor (Chesapeake Bay Saga 3) - Page 42

  The ringing of the phone was such a welcome diversion, she all but leapt on it. "Yes, hello, Dr. Griffin."

  "Syb, you're still there. I was afraid you'd taken off."

  "Gloria." Her stomach plummeted to her unsteady knees. Very carefully she lowered herself to the side of the bed. "Where are you?"

  "Oh, I'm around. Hey, I'm sorry I ditched you the other night. I was messed up."

  Messed up, Sybill thought. It was a good term for certain conditions. From the rapid pace of Gloria's speech, she assumed her sister was messed up even now. "You stole money out of my wallet."

  "I said I was messed up, didn't I? I panicked, you know, needed some cash. I'll pay you back. You talk to those Quinn bastards?"

  "I had a meeting with the Quinn family, as I promised I would." Sybill uncurled the hand she'd bunched into a fist and spoke evenly. "I'd given them my word, Gloria, that both of us would meet them to discuss Seth."

  "Well, I didn't give mine, did I? What'd they say? What're they going to do?"

  "They say you were working as a prostitute, that you abused Seth physically, that you allowed your clients to make sexual advances toward him."

  "Liars. Fucking liars. They just want to kick me around, that's all. They—"

  "They said," Sybill went on, coolly now, "that you accused Professor Quinn of molesting you nearly a dozen years ago, intimated that Seth was his. That you blackmailed him, that you sold Seth to him. That he gave you more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

  "All bullshit."

  "Not all, but part. Your part could be accurately described as bullshit. Professor Quinn didn't touch you, Gloria, not twelve years ago, not twelve months ago."

  "How do you know? How the hell do you know what—"

  "Mother told me that Raymond Quinn was your father."

  There was silence for a moment, then only Gloria's quick breathing. "Then he owed me, didn't he? He owed me. Big-deal college professor with his boring little life. He owed me plenty. It was his fault. It was all his fault. All those years, he didn't give me dick. He took in scum from the street, but he didn't give me dick."

  "He didn't know you existed."

  "I told him, didn't I? I told him what he'd done, and who I was and what he was going to do about it. And what does he do? He just stares at me. He wants to talk to my mother. He's not going to give me a fucking dollar until he talks to my mother."

  "So you went to the dean and claimed he'd molested you."

  "Put the fear of God into him. Tight-assed son of a bitch."

  She'd been right, Sybill thought. Her instincts when she'd walked into that room at the police station had been right after all. It was a mistake. This woman was a stranger. "And when that didn't work, you used Seth."

  "Kid's got his eyes. Anybody can see that." There was a sucking noise, a hiss, as Gloria dragged on a cigarette.

  "Changed his tune once he got a look at the kid."

  "He gave you money for Seth."

  "It wasn't enough. He owed me. Listen, Sybill…" Her voice shifted, whined and trembled. "You don't know what it's like. I've been raising that kid on my own since he was a baby and that prick Jerry DeLauter took off. Nobody was going to help me. Our dear mother wouldn't even accept a phone call from me, and that prissy freak she married and tried to pass off as my father wouldn't either. I could've dumped the kid, you know. I could've dumped him anytime. The money Social Services doles out for a kid is pitiful."

  Sybill stared out through her terrace doors. "Does it always come back to money?"

  "It's easy to look down when you've got plenty of it," Gloria snapped. "You never had to hustle, you never had to worry. Perfect daughter always had plenty of everything. Now it's my turn."

  "I would have helped you, Gloria. I tried to years ago when you brought Seth to New York."

  "Yeah, yeah, same old tune. Get a job, straighten up, get clean, get dry. Shit, I don't want to dance to that, get it? This is my life I'm living here, baby sister, not yours. You couldn't pay me to live yours. And that's my kid, not yours."

  "What's today, Gloria?"

  "What? What the hell are you talking about?"

  "Today is September twenty-eighth. Does that mean anything to you?"

  "What the hell's it supposed to mean? It's fucking Friday."

  And your son's eleventh birthday, Sybill thought and straightened her shoulders, took her stand. "You won't get Seth back, Gloria, though we're both aware that that's not your goal."

  "You can't—"

  "Shut up. Let's stop playing games. I know you. I haven't wanted to, I've preferred to pretend otherwise, but I know you.

  If you want help, I'm still willing to get you into a clinic, to pay the bill for rehab."

  "I don't need your goddamn help."

  "Fine, that's your choice. You won't get another penny out of the Quinns, you won't come near Seth again. I've given my deposition to their lawyer and a notarized statement to Seth's caseworker. I've told them everything, and if necessary, I'll testify in court that Seth's wishes and his best interest are served by his remaining, permanently, with the Quinns. I'll do everything I can to see that you don't use him anymore."

  "You bitch." The hiss was filled with anger, but under ft was shock. "You think you can screw me this way? You think you can toss me off and side with those bastards against me? I'll ruin you."

  "You can certainly try, but you won't succeed. You made your deal, now it's done."

  "You're just like her, aren't you?" Gloria spit the words out like bullets. "You're just like our ice cunt of a mother. Perfect society princess, and underneath you're nothing but bitch."

  Maybe I am, Sybill thought wearily, maybe I'm going to have to be. "You blackmailed Raymond Quinn, who'd done nothing to harm you. It worked. At least it worked well enough for you to be paid. It won't work with his sons, Gloria. And it won't work with me. Not anymore."

  "Won't it? Well, try this. I want a hundred thousand. A hundred thousand, or I'm going to the press. National Enquirer, Hard Copy. Let's see how fast your lousy books sell once I tell my story."

  "Sales will likely increase twenty percent," Sybill said mildly. "I won't be blackmailed, Gloria. You do what you like. And think about this. You're facing criminal charges in Maryland, and there's a restraining order against you to keep you away from Seth. The Quinns have evidence. I've seen it," she continued, thinking of the letters Gloria had written. "Further criminal charges for extortion and child abuse may be brought. I'd cut my losses if I were you."

  She hung up on the spew of obscenities and, closing her eyes, lowered her head between her knees. The nausea was a greasy sea in her stomach, the sneaky edge of a migraine was creeping closer. She couldn't stop the trembling. She'd held it off duri

ng the phone call, but she couldn't stop it now.

  She stayed just as she was until she could control her breathing again, until the worst threat of sickness receded. Then she rose, took one of her pills to ward off the migraine and added blusher to her pale cheeks. She gathered her purse, Seth's gifts, a jacket against the chill, and left.

  the day had been endless. How was a guy supposed to sit through hours and hours of school on his birthday? I mean, he was double ones now, and everything. He was going to get pizza and french fries and chocolate cake and ice cream and probably even presents.

  He'd never actually had a birthday present before, Seth mused. Not that he could remember, anyway. He'd probably end up with clothes and shit, but it would still be a present.

  If anybody ever showed up.

  "What's taking them so long?" Seth demanded, again.

  Determined to be patient, Anna continued to slice potatoes for the homemade fries that Seth had requested as part of his birthday menu. "They'll be along."

  "It's almost six. How come I had to come home after school instead of going to the boatyard?"

  "Because," Anna said, and left it at that. "Stop poking into everything, will you?" she added as Seth opened the refrigerator, again. Shut it, again. "You're going to be stuffing your face soon enough."

  "I'm starving."

  "I'm making the fries right now, aren't I?"

  "I thought Grace was going to make them."

  Steely-eyed, Anna stared at him over her shoulder. "Are you suggesting that I can't make french fries?"

  He was bored and restless enough to be pleased that he'd jabbed her ego. "Well, she makes really good ones."

  "Oh." She turned completely around. "And I don't."

  "You do okay. Anyway, we'll have the pizza." He nearly pulled it off, but snorted out a chuckle.

  "Brat." Anna made a laughing dive at him. He danced away howling.

  "That's the door, that's the door. I'll get it!" He raced off, leaving Anna grinning after him.

  But the wicked laughter faded from his eyes when he yanked open the door and saw Sybill on the porch. "Oh. Hi."

  Her heart sank, but she fixed on a polite smile. "Happy birthday."

  "Yeah, thanks." Watching her cautiously, he opened the door.

  "I appreciate you inviting me." At a loss, she held out both shopping bags. "Are you allowed to have your gifts?"

  "Sure, I guess." Then his eyes widened. "All that?"

  She nearly sighed. He sounded so much like Phillip had. "It all sort of goes together."

  "Cool. Hey, it's Grace." Hampered by the bags, which he held now, he bumped