Chapter Sixty-Five Her

Chapter Sixty-Five Her

Present Day

Another first. I’d never been in a hospital before and didn’t enjoy being in the middle of the sensory overload now. The halls

had a distinctive chemical smell. The fluorescent lights buzzed. Machines pinged. Monitors and sensors went off every few

minutes.

I sat in the waiting room in a too-small, uncomfortable plastic chair that dug into the underside of my thighs. A constant

parade of people rushed by. Doctors and visitors. A few in tears.

Elias joined me with two cups of coffee. He sat down and handed me one. The rich smell tempted me, but I’d already heard someone

complain about the harsh taste. I settled for cradling the cup, trying to force warmth into my chilled body.

I’d been checked out and declared fine. The word meant nothing because tremors still moved through my hands and my heartbeat

refused to slow down. The fight with Kathryn aggravated the injuries from the fight with Thomas.

So many attacks. Thinking about the last few days turned my brain to mush.

“Any more from the doctor about your mom?” Elias looked every inch the concerned father. He wore what for him probably qualified as casual clothes. Dress pants and an oxford. He hadn’t stopped frowning since he rushed into the house and stopped Kathryn from killing me.

“She has a minor skull fracture.” Interestingly, a mild version of what killed Richmond. That likely meant Kathryn hit him

harder than she hit Mom, and I had no idea how to interpret that. “It’s a serious diagnosis but treatable.”

The doctor said a severe break could have resulted in all sorts of horrible things, like brain bleed and fluid on the brain.

The CT scan and MRI didn’t show any of those potential issues, but she’d be in the hospital a few days for observation and

treatment and then have whatever follow-up appointments the specialists recommended.

“I got worried when she started slurring her words.” Elias sounded exhausted but refused to leave the hospital until we knew

more about Mom’s status.

I’d been so sure she was faking but then she started throwing up. “The doctor said we got lucky. With knocks to the head many

people don’t know they’re injured until it’s too late.”

Elias made a humming sound. “She’s going to be fine.”

The word made my head pound. “She’s like a vampire. Impossible to kill.”

“Even vampires have a weakness.”

“I’ve never found hers.”

He stretched his legs out in front of him and let out a long exhale. “Normally I’d say you, her daughter, were her weakness.”

“But you’ve spent some time with her and know that’s ridiculous.”

He laughed. “Basically.”

He really was a smart man. He picked up on cues and cryptic phrases meant to cautiously steer him in a certain direction. I liked him and I didn’t like many people.

Detective Sessions walked into the quiet room. For once, I didn’t dread seeing him. He had a bit of a swagger. Catching Thomas

and Kathryn, and potentially blowing apart Richmond’s decades-long hero story, made him look like a genius.

You’re welcome.

He stopped in front of me. Not towering over me or using other amateur intimidation tactics this time. He genuinely looked

concerned. He hadn’t blamed me for anything or threatened to drag me in for questioning in days. Clearly we’d reached a turning

point in our rocky relationship.

The detective didn’t waste time with small talk. “Kathryn is still in surgery. She was shot in the lower chest. There’s lung

and spleen damage but the doctors are hopeful for a full recovery.”

That was good news. Well, for Wyatt and Portia’s sake it was.

“She needs to be in perfect shape to go to prison.” She had a long list of criminal charges ahead of her. Her reputation in

the community had plummeted. No one rushed in to defend her. She’d need to run through her bank accounts and other resources

to clear her name. Lie, guilt-trip her kids into helping, and generally be a pain in the ass.

“I’ve informed the police in Annapolis. There will be a new investigation into the Dougherty family deaths,” the detective

said.

“She was careful not to specifically admit that she helped Richmond plan the murder decades ago.” In the rush of danger, I thought she’d fessed up on that point, too, until Elias told me Portia stood in the hall outside of the study and recorded the entire conversation before he got there. Later, after the chaos died down, she played it for him. Kathryn had slithered her way into a hazy response that might not prove anything with regard to the older crimes.

Elias finished off his crappy coffee. “She was clear she killed Richmond. That’s enough.”

In self-defense. Even there she’d fudged the truth. “I bet she’ll get away with it.”

I had a longer speech about how rich people always weaseled out of stuff, but why bother. The press would run with stories

about the murders then and now. True crime addicts would dig up details. Information about the tape and the map would leak

out. Richmond would soon be known as the guy who suckered his younger-but-not-innocent brother and killed his entire family

for money.

Job done.

“Did you know your mom had a gun in the house?” Detective Sessions asked.

The question sat there while I weighed the chances of this being some sort of trap. But Elias didn’t step in, and the detective

didn’t seem to be plotting. “She mentioned it when Kathryn kept showing up at the house, but I honestly thought she was kidding.”

“I gave Nick the listening device you found in your house,” Elias said.

“To be clear, Portia found it and warned me.” I had two sources of guilt and worry, and she was one. Her brother was the other.

“Do you know how she is?”

“Both Wyatt and Portia are in shock. Family friends, your neighbors across the street, the Rothmans, stepped in to help.”

The Rothmans. Again. I really needed to go over there and introduce myself... or not. But I did have to admit the couple pitched in when needed and without being asked. They appeared to be decent. Maybe Richmond tainted my view of the town and my neighbors until I couldn’t see that there was nothing wrong with the place. The area might be as pretty on the inside as it was on the outside. Not sure yet.

The detective continued. “Those kids have a long road ahead of them.”

My job was to get out of the way and leave them alone. I’d unleashed enough shock and horror in their lives. But I couldn’t

stop thinking about them. “Their suffering and pain make me hate their parents even more.”

“We have the evidence you turned over about Richmond and what happened to his family. Evidence you should have turned over

as soon as you found it.” This bit sounded like the old Detective Sessions. “When was that, by the way?”

“After Richmond died.” Another lie but this one was necessary to protect my maze of convoluted secrets.

My butt had gone numb from the hard chair. I shifted around but couldn’t find a comfortable position. The fidgeting after

the lie was not my best timing.

When the detective stared at me instead of commenting, Elias did his usual legal song and dance. “She wouldn’t have married

Richmond if she knew the truth.”

She shouldn’t have married him at all. But that was a blowout fight I planned to have with my mother. As soon as she got out

of the hospital and found a place to stay that wasn’t mine.

“Of course.” The detective looked around the room and checked behind him. “Is there anyone we can call for you and your mom?”

“No.” Elias was the only person I had and how sad was that?

“I know your mom wasn’t married to your dad but maybe he should be notified?” the detective asked.

The men watched me and appeared pretty invested in my response. They weren’t going to get the details they wanted. I’d held

the devastating truth in this long, even as it morphed and changed with my mother’s delayed epiphanies, and I didn’t plan

to stop now.

“He’s dead.”