Page 46 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

Marion turned her attention back to the child, but not before Aspen caught the surprise in her expression.

“I’m sorry to pry.” Not that it wasn’t Aspen’s business, whatever Marion had to say. “I’ve heard that my mother got into some trouble”—her father’s words—“and caused heartache”—Bart Bradley’s—“and left destruction in her wake.” The last from Jeff Christiansen. “But nobody will tell me what happened.”

When Marion looked up from the baby, she gave Aspen a sad smile. “This must be really hard for you. Do you remember her at all?” Before Aspen could respond, Marion continued. “What am I saying? You were a baby. Of course you don’t. Well, I can tell you, she was beautiful, and I think, deep down, truly wanted to do good in the world. It didn’t work out the way she planned.”

“Please tell me what you know.”

Marion glanced past Aspen to the ladies in the kitchen. It was one big room, but they were far enough away and their conversation and the sounds of cleaning were loud enough that the women wouldn’t overhear.

Marion leaned closer to Aspen, keeping her voice low. “There was a lumber company in town. Your mother thought they werebreaking some laws or something. I don’t know the details. But…” She paused and studied Aspen a long time. “Somebody set off a bomb that destroyed that company’s headquarters.”

“Oh my gosh. Abomb?” Aspen’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t known what to expect, but she’d never conceived of that.

“It went off in the middle of the night. The place should have been deserted.”

Should have been.

“What happened?”

“There was a woman there.”

For a split second, Aspen thought Marion was going to say Jane had been in the building, that they thought she’d died in the bombing, but Marion continued.

“A secretary or something. She and her husband had fought that night, and she’d gone there to get away. I guess he got violent when he drank.”

Definitely not Aspen’s mother.

“The woman was killed,” Marion said. “The thing was, her car was in the parking lot. Whoever set off the bomb had to have seen it.”

“That’s awful.” Aspen couldn’t figure out what this had to do with her mother. Hoping Marion would explain soon, she asked, “Did you know the lady?”

“It was a much smaller town back then. Everybody knew everybody.”

“I’m sorry. That must’ve been awful. Was she friends with my mother or something? Or did Mom try to find out who did it? I’m just trying to figure out…” Her words trailed as Marion shifted the baby to one arm and reached toward Aspen with the other. Not knowing what else to do, Aspen took her hand.

“Your mother didn’t try to solve the crime.” A long moment passed before Marion spoke again. “Your mother set off the bomb.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

THIRTY YEARS AGO.

The students met in the same bar and sat at the same table. As before, the Planner arrived first. As before, he was in charge. “How’s the hunting and gathering going?”

“I’ve got almost everything I need,” the Builder said. “One more trip to the city should do it. I’ll go next month.”

“And our friend?”

“Knows nothing.”

He turned to the Crusader. “What have you learned?”

She was both the best and the worst person to do the recon on the target. The best because her presence was never surprising. She’d shown up there at least once a month for over a year, demanding they make changes, sometimes picketing all by herself. They saw her as a nuisance and mostly ignored her.

Which made it easy for her to watch the comings and goings at the place without arousing suspicion.

She was the worst person for the job because, when it was done, she would be the most logical suspect.

But the Planner had a plan.

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