Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

T aylor leaned back against the headboard; her laptop balanced on her thighs as she clicked through Jane Colburn’s private messages. It was tedious work, scrolling past conversations that could only be described as achingly mundane. There were messages to her adult children—reminders about a doctor’s appointment, a forwarded recipe for her chicken casserole. A cheerful back-and-forth with her friend, Pam, about their book club, and a polite inquiry to a Marketplace seller about a vintage settee Jane had been eyeing. Nothing of interest. Nothing suspicious. Just snippets of a life that seemed ordinary, even boring.

She sighed, her fingers rubbing her temples. Shane had warned her it might be a dead end, but Taylor wasn’t used to finding nothing. She wanted a lead—something, anything to help solve this mystery. Instead, it was just another reminder that crimes like these didn’t come with a flashing neon arrow pointing to those responsible for the carnage.

A nap for herself would be blissful, but she didn’t have time.

It had been a busy morning. She’d reorganized Lennon’s clothes, boxing up the newborn items she’d long outgrown, and bringing more of her current clothes into Alice’s bedroom for easier access. After that, she’d sat down and organized all of Sam’s business receipts that he’d thrown haphazardly into a box.

Thankfully Anna took care of the family boarding business accounts, but Sam was always running to town to buy parts and supplies, then tossing his receipts around the house for Taylor to keep up with. Next, she’d have to check his Amazon account to pull a list of items purchased for business. Once she had everything together, she would enter it into their accounting ledger to prep for tax time.

Alice wanted to go shopping, to spend the gift cards she’d gotten for Christmas, and Taylor had put her off, but she needed to make time to do that, too.

She’d washed all the clothes that were piled around the house, including Johnny’s and some of Lucy’s. When she thought she couldn’t move another muscle, it was time to put Lennon down for her nap, along with Johnny, and then get on with trying to do some research for Shane for the Colburn case. She was thankful that Willis didn’t seem to have wanted any part of social media, making her job a lot easier.

She opened a message from Jane to someone named Dennis Powells from months before.

Hi Jane—I got a package for someone named Marnie Bullock. I think it was just mis-delivered into the big stack of my online orders. Do you want me to drop it at the post office or keep it here for you to pick up ?

Jane had replied that he could drop it off at the post office and let them know it wasn’t his. Taylor’s thoughts were interrupted by raised voices coming from the kitchen. She paused, hand on her mouse, while she listened.

Lucy’s voice, sharp and cutting. Then Anna, firm and defensive.

Taylor was thankful that Cate had rallied her sisters to start coming over and interacting with Lucy, to help get her back on track, but the kids were asleep. The last thing she needed was a full-blown argument waking them.

She quickly set her laptop aside, brushing her hair out of her face as she climbed off the bed and grabbed her cane from where it leaned against the nightstand.

Diesel stood, ready to help if needed.

“Good boy, but I got it.” She crossed the hall.

Johnny was napping in Alice’s bed, alongside the crib. Taylor peeked in, saw that they were both still sleeping, and gently pulled the door closed.

By the time Taylor reached the kitchen, the tension was thick enough to choke on.

“You need to get back to your life, Lucy,” Anna was saying, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. “This—hiding in Taylor’s house, pretending the rest of the world doesn’t exist—it isn’t helping you. You need to go back to work. Get out. Do something.”

Lucy shot up from her chair, her hands slamming onto the table. “Oh, so you’re an expert on mental health now? Just because you’re taking a couple of classes at the community college doesn’t mean you’re suddenly a mental health expert, Anna, so why don’t you keep your opinions to yourself?”

Anna didn’t back down, her jaw tightening. “I don’t have to be a doctor to know that wallowing like this isn’t good for you. You think I don’t see what you’re doing? You’re shutting yourself off. You won’t talk to anyone. You barely look at Johnny?—”

“Don’t you dare,” Lucy hissed, her voice trembling. “Don’t you dare bring Johnny into this. I take care of my son.”

Cate stood up, her calm but commanding presence cutting through the chaos. She walked around the table to Lucy and tried to wrap an arm around her shoulders, but Lucy shrugged her off, pacing toward the window with wild, restless energy.

Taylor lingered in the doorway, torn. She wanted to step in, to take control like she always had. But the words wouldn’t come. They were stuck in her throat, tangled and jumbled, her thoughts racing too fast to sort them out, her brain choosing the worst moment to go haywire again.

Jo, still sitting quietly at the table, cleared her throat. “Lucy,” she said softly, her voice barely audible, “maybe Anna’s right. Just?—”

“Don’t you start!” Lucy snapped, spinning around to glare at her. “You think you get to weigh in on this, too? You’re just as screwed up as I am and I’m pretty sure you’ve barely left this property in months. You lurk around here like you’ve done something wrong, so maybe you should see a shrink yourself, sister.”

Jo stared back at Lucy, then looked at Taylor for help.

“Lucy, please,” Cate said, her voice firm but gentle. “Sit down. You’re going to wake the baby.”

Lucy threw her hands in the air, her voice rising. “Oh, I know! Because everything is my fault, right? I can’t keep Johnny on a routine. I make messes. I can’t live alone anymore because I’m the crazy sister! Isn’t that what everyone thinks?”

Taylor finally found her voice, stepping into the room. “Lucy, stop. Please. You’re not yourself right now.”

Lucy turned on her, her eyes blazing. “And what would you know about it, Taylor? You think you can fix me? Fix this family? Well, newsflash—you can’t. You never could, and you never will. Everyone acts like it’s just me, that they’re so solid. But ice is solid, too, until you put a little heat on it.”

Taylor blinked, taken aback.

Lucy pressed on, her voice trembling but defiant. “This might be my turn in the fire, but don’t think yours isn’t coming. And I’m not the only one with secrets.”

“Lucy—” Taylor started, but Lucy cut her off, pointing at Anna.

“You think Anna’s got it all together? That she’s perfect now? She’s still binge drinking. She’s just hiding it better this time.”

“I am not!” Anna’s voice cracked like a whip, her face flushing. “I barely ever drink now, and you know it!”

Lucy laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. “Sure. Keep telling yourself that. And Jo?” She turned her attention to her sister, who flinched at the sound of her name. “You all think that Jo’s gotten over all her trauma and is just fine? Here’s a headline—she’s not. She’s fighting the urge to off herself every damn day. Just ask her—if you can get past the passive smiles and everything is fine bullshit. But, no, let’s all pile on Lucy because she’s the easy target, right?”

Jo’s face crumpled, tears spilling down her cheeks as she stared out the window, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.

The sound of Lennon crying drifted down the hall, thin and plaintive. Taylor closed her eyes, her head pounding as she squeezed her temples between her fingers.

Johnny shuffled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and clutching his stuffed dinosaur. He toddled over to Lucy and wrapped his little arms around her legs. “Mama? What’s wrong?”

Lucy didn’t even seem to notice him. Her chest was heaving, her face flushed with anger. Cate stepped in, scooping Johnny up and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Come on, sweetheart,” she murmured, her voice soft and soothing. “Mama is just fine. Let’s get you back to bed. We’ll turn on a cartoon.”

Anna was still seething, her hands clenched into fists. “You’re just jealous,” she snapped at Lucy. “Jealous that I’m doing something with my life while you’re stuck here, pretending you’re the victim. You hate that I refused to let my trauma define me, and that I’m following my dream, don’t you? You’ve always been jealous of me.”

Lucy scoffed. “Jealous of what? Your overprocessed hair or fake nails? Your creepy ex-husband and uptight lifestyle? Even you finally admitted that you hated it. And following your dream? Give me a break, Anna. You’re playing nurse so you can snag you another rich husband at the hospital, while I’m out there building a name for myself in the art world. I don’t have to depend on anyone, and I make a lot of money, Anna . You think I couldn’t pack up and move to New York tomorrow if I didn’t want Johnny to be raised around family? If I hadn’t stuck around this suffocatingly small town, I’d be a household name by now.”

“Then do it!” Anna shot back. “What’s stopping you, Ms. Moneybags? You can afford the best nannies, now. Put yourself up in some big skyscraper and have a butler. Then watch your child suffer from self-doubt because he has to grow up without a single relative around him.”

“Enough!” Taylor’s voice cut through the room like a whip, silencing both of them.

She looked around the room, her gaze sweeping over her sisters. Jo was crying quietly by the window, and Anna and Lucy were staring each other down like boxers in a ring.

“This isn’t helping anyone,” Taylor said, her voice quieter now but no less firm. “We’re sisters. We’re supposed to be helping each other, not tearing each other apart. ”

Lucy crossed her arms, her jaw tight, but she didn’t say anything. For a moment, the room was silent except for Jo’s muffled sobs and the faint sound of Lennon’s cries. Taylor felt her chest tighten, the weight of it all pressing down on her.

She took a deep breath, concentrating on keeping the anger out of her voice. “I’m going to go comfort Lennon, and hopefully get her back to sleep. Sam will be coming in for lunch shortly and I want him to have a peaceful break, so, when I come back in here, I want everyone gone. Even you, Lucy. Go home for an hour or two. Let’s all think about how we can support each other, not wage war and chaos. Damn it! Haven’t we had enough dysfunction in our lives?”

She turned, hiding the sudden tears as she headed down the hall. Her anger blended into the deep sad feeling that settled over her. How had it come to this? They’d come so far over the past few years, and she thought they’d built a new, firm foundation of family. Now it felt like they were splintering further apart with every word.

She made it to the hallway but, suddenly, her feet didn’t want to cooperate. She leaned on her cane and hesitated before trying again.

“Taylor, are you okay?” Cate said, coming out of Alice’s room.

Cate looked weird to Taylor. As though she was cloaked in a dark cloud. But the cloud got smaller and smaller until her mother’s face was barely a pale dot in midst of the shadows.

And then it all went black.