“Okay. It’s been quite the night.”
“That it has.” My own brother, Caroline was thinking. That her sister-in-law could have done something so heinous was bad enough, but her own brother. Had he really hated her that much?
Or worse, had he not cared at all?
Jerrod and Rain had left almost immediately after Greg Fisher escorted Steve to the waiting police car, Mary following them to the station in Steve’s Buick. “There goes our lift,” Rain had remarked.
Peggy could only shake her head. “At least she’s consistent. You gotta give her that.” She looked over at Hunter. “You’re an idiot,” she said.
“No arguments there,” Hunter agreed. “I’m so sorry, Caroline,” he apologized again.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Caroline said. “Turns out that even if you hadn’t been with Rain, even if you had checked on the girls, it was too late. Samantha was already gone.”
“Thank you for that,” he said, turning to the daughter he’d lost. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Samantha told him.
“I hope you’ll give me a chance to make it up to you.”
She nodded, allowing him to take her in his arms.
He kissed her forehead. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
Peggy and Fletcher had helped Michelle clean up before they left. “Try to get some sleep,” Peggy advised. “It’s going to be another media circus tomorrow.”
She was right, Caroline knew. Her brother’s arrest meant more questions, more headlines, more public scrutiny. That was okay. She’d had fifteen years of practice. She could handle it.
The phone rang.
“Who’s calling at this hour?” Samantha asked as Caroline reached for the phone.
“Hello, Mother,” she said, not even bothering to check the caller ID.
“How could you?” Mary demanded.
“How could I?”
“They’ve arrested him. Charged him with kidnapping. Did you know there is no statute of limitations on kidnapping? That it’s a federal offense? He could spend the rest of his life in jail.”
“Which is no less than he deserves.”
“You have to go to them, convince them it’s all a tragic mistake. Michelle doesn’t know what she’s saying. She doesn’t know what she saw.”
“She knows exactly what she’s saying. She knows exactly what she saw.”
“Even if that were true, and I’m not saying it is, it happened so long ago, darling. Fifteen years!”
“I don’t care if it was fifty years!”
“I understand you’re angry. I really do. But what do you gain by putting your brother in jail? Samantha’s home. You have your child back. Please don’t take mine.”
Caroline could scarcely believe her ears. Even coming from her mother, this was too much. “He’s not a child, Mother. He’s a grown man who committed an unspeakable act—”
“He was desperate. If he was involved with the mob, as you yourself suggested, they would have killed him. Maybe you, too. He didn’t know what else to do.”
“Are you seriously suggesting he did this to protect me? That he had no other option but to kidnap my baby?”
“I’m saying he didn’t know what else to do. He’s weak, darling. He’s always been weak. Not like you. You’re so strong. You’ve always been so sure of yourself. There’s a right answer, and there’s a wrong answer. That’s always been your motto.”
“And the right answer in this case would be to let him off the hook?”
“What happened is a tragedy, darling. There’s no doubt about that. But it has a happy ending. The right thing to do now would be to put it behind us and move on.”
“I don’t think I can do that.”
“Then think of the horrible publicity, the indignity of a trial…”
Caroline almost laughed. “I assure you I’m way past worrying about indignity.”
“I’m begging you not to do this.”
“You’re asking for too much.”
An angry silence, followed by her mother’s low growl. “He’ll never be convicted,” she said. “It’s Michelle’s word against his. The word of a mixed-up, spiteful young woman who’ll do anything for attention…”
“Goodbye, Mother.”
“Just think about what you’re doing. He’s your brother, for God’s sake.”
“No,” Caroline said. “Not anymore. But he is definitely your son.” Then she pressed the key to disconnect the call.
—
The all-news channels were filled with breathless reports of her brother’s arrest. Caroline watched them from her bed, switching channels continuously, as if one of them might tell her something she didn’t already know. Samantha finished up in the bathroom, then crawled into bed beside her, glancing at the TV image of Greg Fisher guiding Steve from the house to the waiting police car. “Do you think he’ll be convicted?”
“I have no idea.”
“Maybe he’ll cut a deal.”
“Maybe.”