Stevie focused on Clay’s leg, putting pressure on the wound. ‘It wasn’t your fault, sir.’
‘I disagree. If I’d listened to you eight years ago about Robinette, you’d still have your husband. And your son. Standing down today, it was the least I could do.’
Not sure what to say to that, she bent closer to Clay, checking his wound. The bleeding seemed to be slowing, but he’d lost an awful lot of blood. His pants were soaked with it.
‘I couldn’t do it,’ she admitted in a low voice. ‘Couldn’t kill him in cold blood. I’ll probably regret it later, because I had my chance and didn’t take it, but . . . I just couldn’t.’
Clay gripped her arm, getting blood all over her Kevlar. ‘If you’d been sure, I would have supported you, no matter what. But if you weren’t sure, you did the right thing. There are some things you can’t undo.’
She leaned in, brushed a kiss over his mouth. ‘Thank you. Once again you gave me the time and space I needed to think.’
‘Always.’
Tears sprang to her eyes. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too, but don’t cry. I’m not dying. I just got you. I’m not going anywhere.’
‘Damn straight you’re not.’ She could hear the sirens now. ‘Except into an ambulance.’
He closed his eyes wearily. ‘Stay with me, Stefania.’
‘Always.’
Thursday, March 20, 9.15 A.M.
Sam froze, his hand poised an inch from the knob on his mother’s front door. ‘I don’t think I can do this, Ruby.’
‘You can. And I’m going to help you.’ She twisted the knob, let them inside. ‘Hello!’
His mother came around the corner, stopping short when she saw Ruby with him. ‘Sam. I didn’t expect you until tonight. Why aren’t you at work? And who have you brought to see me?’
‘This is Ruby Gomez, Mom. She and I . . . well, we are . . .’ He stuttered to a helpless stop.
‘I’m his friend,’ Ruby said. ‘It’s so nice to meet you, Mrs Hudson.’
His mother smiled. ‘Well, this is a lovely surprise. Come in, sit down. Can I get you some coffee? Tea?’
‘No, thank you. I’m fine. You have a beautiful home.’
‘Thank you, Ruby. It seems awful big and quiet these days, though. Now that Sam’s off on his own. He grew up here, you know.’
‘I know. He told me.’
Sam felt awkward in his childhood home as he followed Ruby and his mother into the living room. His mother sat in her favorite chair and Ruby sat on the sofa, patting the cushion. ‘Have a seat, papi,’ she said, quiet encouragement in her voice.
Sam sat beside her, gathered his courage. ‘Mom, I . . . I need to talk to you.’
‘Oh dear,’ his mother said, distressed. ‘Are you pregnant, Ruby?’
A surprised laugh burst from Ruby’s throat, one she quickly turned into a cough. ‘Oh no, ma’am. I’ve only known Sam a few days.’
‘Oh, well, good. Not that I’d mind, you understand.’ His mother gave him a meaningful look. ‘I’d like to be a grandmother.’
‘Mom,’ Sam groaned softly. ‘Please.’
‘I’m just sayin’.’ His mother’s eyes suddenly widened, her mouth rounding in horror. ‘You’re sick. Oh my God, you’re sick.’
‘No, Mom, it’s not that. Let me talk. This isn’t easy. I met Ruby a few days ago. I was at the ME’s office. The medical examiner,’ he clarified.
‘I watched Quincy,’ his mother said, her voice trembling. ‘I know what an ME is.’
‘Ruby was helping me get some information. She’s stuck with me from the beginning. She’s a good person, Mom.’
‘Sam,’ Ruby murmured. ‘You’re making this worse for her. Just tell her.’
Ruby was right. His mother’s skin had gone an alarming gray. ‘This is about Dad.’
His mother took a long look at Ruby before returning her gaze to his face. ‘He’s dead then. We knew that, Sam. If that’s what you’re afraid to tell me, I already knew.’
He shook his head. ‘There was something in that package we got on Saturday, something that didn’t belong to Dad.’ He told her about the matchbook, about the time he’d lost, about his search for the truth. And then he told her the truth.
His mother’s breathing had become shallow, but when he told her about Paul Mazzetti and his son, she began to cry. ‘Oh my Lord. Sam. How can this be true? How could he do this thing? This horrible, evil thing?’
‘Someone threatened to hurt me if Dad didn’t kill Mr Mazzetti. He was protecting me.’
She covered her mouth with her hand, tears rolling down her cheeks like rain. ‘He wouldn’t have needed to if he’d never done the drugs to begin with. Poor Mrs Mazzetti. Does she know?’
‘Yes, she does.’
His mother’s tears continued to fall. ‘My husband took her husband. Her child. How can I ever make amends for this?’
‘She doesn’t expect us to, either of us. She called me this morning to tell me so.’ And Sam had been so impressed. With all the woman had been through in the past few days, she’d taken the time to call him. She had been so incredibly kind and concerned for his mother. ‘She told me to tell you that you aren’t responsible. That she doesn’t want you to feel any shame over this. She was concerned this news would be bad for your heart.’
Sam’s mother blinked, wiping her cheeks with hands that shook. ‘Mazzetti? I’ve heard that name, very recently. She’s been on the news. She’s the one people have been trying to kill.’
‘Yes,’ Sam said.
His mother’s eyes sharpened. ‘Why her? Why did someone threaten John to make him kill her husband?’
Not only had Stevie Mazzetti consoled him, she’d given Sam permission to tell his mother what she needed to know. The news media would have it soon enough, she’d said.
So Sam told his mother, watched her eyes grow wide again, then heartbreakingly sad.
‘It’s so hard for me to understand how people can be so bad,’ she said quietly. Then she frowned. ‘How did she know about my heart?’
That’s a good question. Sam glanced at Ruby. ‘I suspect you had something to do with it?’
‘I stopped by the hospital this morning to see her.’ Ruby shrugged. ‘I was there anyway, to transport a body. I’ve known Stevie Mazzetti for years and she’s one of the good ones. And I knew Sam was dreading telling you about your husband, Mrs Hudson. He was afraid it would trigger another heart attack. I knew Stevie would want to help. I hope you aren’t upset that I told her about your heart.’
‘No, of course not.’ His mother patted Ruby’s hand. ‘It was very sweet of you to care.’
‘Mom, this is going to be all over the news. There was a shootout last night and the man who orchestrated the murder of Paul Mazzetti was killed. Dad’s name will come up. You need to be prepared.’
‘The media may paint him as a victim of sorts,’ Ruby said. ‘It might not be so bad.’
‘However the media paints it, I’ll handle it,’ his mother said firmly. ‘You stop worrying about me, Sam. I will be fine. I mean it. You deserve a life of your own. A family of your own. Of course, a grandchild to hold would be an immense source of solace.’
‘Mom,’ he groaned.
Ruby laughed. ‘I don’t mind, Sam. Why don’t you go get your mother some tea? She can ask me all the questions that I know she’s wanting to ask.’
‘I’d love some tea,’ his mother said with a smile. ‘And I have lots of questions.’
Sam dropped a kiss on the top of his mother’s head as he got up. ‘I’m sure you do, Mom.’
‘So, Ruby,’ he heard his mother say as he went into the kitchen. ‘Who does your nails? They’re incredible.’
‘They’re press-ons. I can get you some.’
His mother laughed. ‘I’d poke my eye out.’
Sam found himself smiling. It really was going to be all right.
Thursday, March 20, 12.30 P.M.
Clay’s eyelids weighed
five hundred pounds. He struggled to lift them, but it was worth the effort because Stevie was the first thing he saw. She’d fallen asleep in the chair next to his hospital bed. He took a long moment, just to look.
She seemed carefree in a way he’d never seen her. In a way he’d always wished for her. Finally it looked like things were going to be all right.
He took a brief check under his sheet. Everything was intact, which was a big relief.
‘Find what you’re looking for?’ Stevie asked, her voice sexy and rusty with sleep.
Clay grinned weakly. ‘Just checking.’
‘It’s all there,’ she said, holding a cup to his lips. ‘Sip. Don’t gulp, or you’ll throw up.’
‘Yes, Mom.’
She pretended to scowl, but didn’t quite pull it off. ‘The doctor said you came through the surgery just fine,’ she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. ‘They were able to repair all the damage and you should be out of here tomorrow at the latest.’
He searched her face. She had some bruises and a cut on her temple that someone had treated with a butterfly bandage. But everything else seemed . . . ‘Perfect,’ he said huskily. ‘You look perfect.’
‘I’m a little banged up, but all in all, damn lucky. You were, too. The doc said that if the bullet had been a little to the left, you would have had the same injury I did. We’d have to get matching canes. “His and her” physical therapists. We could drag each other up the steps.’
She said the latter lightly, but he could hear her worry. ‘I know you want to run again,’ he said, ‘and we’ll work on that once I’m out of here. But understand that if you never do, if this is as good as your leg ever gets, it doesn’t matter to me. I take you, gladly, just as you are.’
Stevie swallowed. ‘That’s . . . wow. You really do know how to say the right things to me.’
‘Of course I do. I love you.’
Her smile set his heart at ease. ‘I love you too.’ She caressed his face, stroking her fingertips along his jaw. ‘So. You want the scoop after all the dust settled?’
He leaned back against the pillow. ‘Hit me.’
‘Robinette had escaped with Brenda Lee Miller. He got out at her son’s school when she went to pick him up, just like Joseph thought. She may have been able to spin Robinette into a “respectable philanthropist”, but she folded quick when she heard Fletcher had been caught by the Germans with the sarin. She didn’t think Robinette had killed his wife, though. She really believed that Levi had done it. When we told her about the bullet we found in that Rubik’s cube – and that DNA from the blood on it matched Rene Broussard’s – well, she broke down.’
‘She realized that Robinette had been using her from day one.’
‘Yeah. She seems to have a smidge of conscience left, but just a smidge. She knew about the sarin. Joseph got her to tell him where to find the accounting ledgers for the “other side of the business” by promising he’d do what he could to get her imprisoned close to her son.’
‘Kids are the biggest vulnerability to the parents who love them,’ Clay murmured. ‘Did she accept that Robinette set Levi up?’
‘Yes. She took that hard, too. She also had believed he loved his son.’
‘I’m not sure Todd Robinette loved anyone other than Todd Robinette.’
‘That’s the truth. She said that each one of the four of them – herself, Fletcher, Henderson, and Westmoreland – owed a personal debt to Robinette. He’d pulled her out of a burning personnel transport vehicle. He’d fixed a crime for Henderson. Apparently her drinking was nothing new. She was suspected of killing a former lover after a drunken brawl, but the MPs could never find the body and Robinette was her alibi.’
‘And Fletcher?’
‘Serious PTSD. Just imploded one day and was hospitalized, but not before he was accused of sexually assaulting another soldier and dishonorably discharged. He couldn’t get a job after that, so when Robinette hired him as his head chemist, he was grateful. Brenda Lee said they all knew that Fletcher and Robinette had a relationship, but it wasn’t discussed. Fletcher was jealous of Lisa, but he knew Robinette would never take them public. Brenda Lee felt sorry for him.’
‘Even though he’s a terrorist?’
‘She saw him as a tortured soul. I think Robinette had an uncanny eye for picking people who weren’t completely plugged into reality. Westmoreland is an enigma. None of them knew what Robinette had done for him, but Brenda Lee thought it was something financial. Robinette used his position as an MP to accrue lots of favors, personal debts, and extortion victims.’
‘Like Silas did, just as a cop.’
‘Very much so. Of the four Westmoreland was the least emotionally connected. That he was the first to fly the coop when Robinette started to unravel wasn’t a surprise to Brenda Lee.’
‘She saw Robinette unraveling?’
‘They all did. They all thought he was starting to believe his own spin. Brenda Lee said that she nearly had a coronary when she heard Robinette was interested in public office. Some of that was Lisa’s doing. Robinette grew up dirt poor in the bayou of Louisiana and being accepted and respected was important to him. Lisa understood that and figured she could give him respect and put distance between him and his four friends she felt so threatened by.’
‘That makes a lot of sense. Have we found Westmoreland?’
‘No. It looks like he’s gone under. He has contacts in terrorist cells all over the world. He’ll have friends to hide him.’
Clay ground his teeth over that. ‘That sucks.’
‘Some loose ends can’t be snipped,’ she said with a shrug. ‘Interpol has him on a most wanted list. They found that both Henderson and Westmoreland had traveled extensively to war-torn areas on phony passports. Robinette had created identities for employees that never existed. They delivered his vaccines to third world nations, then took a side trip to deliver the real goods. Apparently Fletcher is a genius. He developed a way to manufacture and package the sarin that increased its shelf life by two to three times. That’s what he was carrying with him. He’s cooperating with the German authorities. That’s all Joseph would tell us.’
‘What was Robinette doing at his house last night? If he’d escaped with Brenda Lee, why did he come back?’
‘Ah. That would have been because Lisa moved all of his money from his bank accounts and canceled his credit cards. He had a phony passport in his home office safe and came back to get it so he could get away.’
‘Why did Lisa take his money and cancel his cards?’
‘Because of the affair with Fletcher. That cook that “tried not to listen” in on her employer’s personal business told us that she “accidentally” overheard Lisa telling her mother that she’d “fixed him”, that no man was going to get away with cheating on her.’
‘Did the cook actually do any cooking?’ Clay asked wryly. ‘Sounds like she spent all her time listening behind doors.’
‘She had her eye on a bigger prize – payment for a tell-all article. She’d overheard the after-dinner conversation between Robinette and the political guys who wanted him to run. Figured she’d scoop up tidbits she could sell to the tabloids.’
‘Good old-fashioned capitalism. Gotta love it.’ He squeezed her hand and changed the subject. ‘Did you go back to the farm last night?’
She shook her head. ‘The farm came here. Everyone but the horses. The whole gang is here. It’s SRO in the waiting room. Emma and Ethan and Maggie, Paige, Izzy, my parents. Grayson and Daphne came in early, but they had court this morning. They’ll be back later. Same with Joseph and his crew. They’ve got a mountain of reports to file. Hyatt’s here. He’s getting along famously with your father, by the way.’
‘Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. Did Dad bring Nell?’
‘He did. She and my mother,’ she rolled her eyes, ‘are picking out china patterns and Izzy’s been egging them on.’
‘Does that bother you?’ he asked carefully. Because he
could already see them living as a family, in a big house with the puppy. And more children. Definitely more children.
She smiled and he relaxed. ‘Not at all. Although I am a little nervous about the growing menagerie. Maggie gave Cordelia a horse and your father gave us a puppy.’
Us. ‘I like the sound of that.’
‘A drooling, shoe-chewing puppy?’ she asked but he could see she knew what he meant.
‘No. “Us”.’
‘Me, too. On the “us”. The jury’s still out on the puppy.’
He traced her mouth with his fingertip. ‘You know you’re gonna say yes. You might as well do it now and get it over with.’
‘I know,’ she said glumly. ‘I’m a sap who’s going to clean drool and buy new shoes.’
‘No. You’re a mother who loves her child . . . A child who, by the way, has run the most effective campaign for getting a dog of any kid I’ve ever seen.’
‘I know. She’s earned it.’ But then she frowned, something clearly still on her mind.
‘If you’re that against the dog, I can try to talk her out of it.’
‘No, it’s not that. It’s about Sam Hudson. I called him to tell him what happened last night and to tell him that he shouldn’t feel responsible, but something bothered me about his story. He said he got a package in the mail with his father’s things.’
‘Along with the matchbook that led him back to the Rabbit Hole. You’re wondering who sent the package?’
‘I know who did it. I figured the only one who could have was Silas’s wife, Rose, or his attorney. I called Rose after I got done talking to Sam, and I asked her point-blank. She admitted it. She said that their personal attorney had given her letters from Silas, along with instructions to mail the package to arrive on Saturday – the eighth anniversary of John Hudson’s death.’
Clay frowned too. ‘Shouldn’t that attorney have turned them in as evidence?’
‘I asked Grayson and he said not if they were personal communication between husband and wife. Now that we know what was in it, they damn well should become evidence and in Sam’s case, they have.’
‘But?’
‘What if there are more letters? What if there’s a letter for me? When Rose admitted she’d sent it, I asked if there were more. She hung up on me without answering.’