Marla glanced at her father. “Don’t.”
He stopped. “Please, honey. Just put that down. I’m betting Dr. Sturgess can give you something that will make you feel better.”
“I can help you,” the doctor said. “Let us all help you, Marla.”
“They’re going to put me away,” she said. “I’m going to go to jail.”
“No,” Agnes said. “We won’t let that happen. We’ll hire the best lawyers there are. If Natalie isn’t the best, we’ll get someone else.”
“That’s right,” Gill said. “Whatever it takes.”
“I don’t think so,” Marla said, then brought the blade down on her wrist and drew it across.
“No!” Agnes screamed, her hands going to her mouth.
Gill rushed forward and clutched Marla’s right arm to wrest the knife from her, but she made no effort to hold on to it. It clattered to the floor, narrowly missing Gill’s shoe.
Marla allowed her left arm to drop. Blood emerged from her wrist, coated her hand like dark red paint, and dripped off the tips of her fingers.
Dr. Sturgess raced forward, grabbing a tea towel hanging from the oven door handle along the way, and bound it tightly around Marla’s bleeding wrist while Gill held on to her. Agnes was frozen, hands still over her mouth, watching the scene in front of her in horror.
“Call nine-one-one!” the doctor screamed at her. “Agnes! Call an ambulance!”
She ran to the wall phone, picked up the receiver, and punched in the number.
Marla, for the first time since she’d had Matthew taken away from her, allowed herself a smile.
TWENTY-THREE
David
ETHAN must have been watching from his bedroom window and seen me pull into the driveway in his grandmother’s ancient Taurus, because he was waiting for me at the door when I came into the house. Mom and Dad were in the kitchen, so he didn’t have to worry about interrogating me in front of them.
“Did you get it?” he asked. “Did you get the watch?”
I shook my head solemnly. “No.”
“Was nobody home?”
“They were home. Carl’s mother talked to him and told me he said he didn’t have it.”
“He’s lying!”
“I know,” I said.
“Didn’t you tell his mom that he was lying?”
“Come on out front,” I said. I led him onto the porch and directed him to the white wicker chairs. I put him in one and I took the other. “It’s complicated,” I said.
“But he has it. He’s lying.”
“If I’d told his mother that, it wouldn’t have helped. She wouldn’t have believed me. Look, if someone came here and said you’d stolen something, and you said you hadn’t, I wouldn’t believe them; I would believe you.”
“But I would never steal anything,” he countered.
“Yeah, well, you did kind of take that watch without permission,” I reminded him.
That stopped him for a second. “But that wasn’t really stealing. I was going to put it back.”
I nodded, rested a hand on his shoulder. “What I’m trying to say is, parents don’t like to think their kids have done things they shouldn’t. We just naturally defend you. And that’s what Carl’s mom did with him.”
“Did you talk to Carl?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
I’d already decided not to mention Samantha Worthington’s shotgun. “His mother took steps to make sure that didn’t happen.”
Ethan looked defeated. “What about Poppa?”
“You’re going to have to tell him,” I said.
“Me?”
I nodded. “Yup.”
“Can’t you tell him?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t take it. I tried to save your bacon on this one, buddy. But I couldn’t. So you’re going to have to own up to what you did.”
“Will he kick us out?”
“No, he won’t do that. Let’s go find him.”
Mom was in the kitchen, her weight mostly on one leg as she stood by the counter peeling potatoes.
“Where’s Dad?” I asked.
“I think he’s out in the garage,” she said. “He’s gotten awfully quiet this afternoon. He was okay at first, but as the day’s gone on, I don’t know. Something’s not right.”
“Is he sick?” I asked. “His heart’s not acting up, is it?”
Mom shook her head, downplaying the seriousness. “Nothing like that. I thought maybe he was mad at me for being such an idiot and tripping on the stairs, but I don’t think that’s it. I’m wondering if it has something to do with Walden.”
“Walden?” I asked.
“Walden Fisher. He called your father out of the blue, wanted to go get coffee. You remember him?”
I did not.
“Your father helped him get a job with the town years ago. I’m betting you remember that horrible business with Olivia Fisher?”