***
The next morning, I rose early, patted Auggie on the bottom and left for the clinic. I had a first-thing patient but when we were finished, I checked with Patsy and she told me what I had hoped I would hear. Deborah Hunt had called to say she wouldn’t be in again and to transfer her patients to my workload. I sighed with relief internally, despite the extra work I didn’t really need right now. It was a white flag of surrender. The bitch was gone. I had won.
It was Halloween and leaves were blowing across the parking lot. Kids in costumes were going to the various stores that displayed signs offering treats. The sun was shining and the colors were splendid in their presentation. There was a festive atmosphere in the air and the juice bar was offering a selection of themed drinks based on apple cider.
I was in a jubilant mood and two of my clients had canceled for the end of the afternoon which gave me an early day after all. I was about to call Auggie and ask that she bring Mother in and the three of us would go to dinner when Patsy came up to me, her face solemn.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“There’s someone out here to see you, Worth, and I don’t think it’s good news.”
She never called me by my first name at the office so I knew this was not going to be something I would find pleasant.
He was dressed in a police uniform and his face was grave. I felt my heart racing, unsure whether he’d come to arrest me for some trumped up charge by my father or perhaps to serve papers for Jervis. It was neither.
“May we,” he said, motioning to my office and I nodded, taking him inside. I took my seat behind my desk and he sat opposite me.
“Dr. LaViere, when was the last time you saw your father?”
“Why, what’s he done now?” I asked, perturbed that the old man was not yet finished with me.
“Could you answer the question, Dr. LaViere?”
My mind raced, looking for an angle and deciding whether I should play my ace in the hole. After all, the law was sitting in front of me.
“I saw him last night. We talked and then I brought my mother home with me for a few days for a visit.”
“Everything was fine with him then, sir?” he asked. This wasn’t about what I thought, clearly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’m sorry to tell you, Dr. LaViere, that your father was discovered late this morning by someone who works at the house. He’s dead, apparently from a gunshot wound to the head.”
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
Worth
I followed the officer out to the farm and retched in the yard when I got out of the car. In my head, I was back to being that little boy who had forgotten to close the barn door and spent half the night chasing the mare who had escaped. I would come home, shaking and wet with mud after a dozen falls, my knees bleeding, but the mare safely put away. He would beat me with a horse whip. Worst of all, he seemed to enjoy it immensely.
Now, here I was, entering the house I’d left so recently and, this time, I was here to see him again, but not as a cowering child. I was here to identify his bloodied body.
He was just as I’d left him, seated at his desk, the bottle of bourbon empty and the glass turned over. It was his last mockery of the night — to leave a stain that could never be erased. I could see the gray tufts of hair stuck to the high back of his desk chair. The left side of his face was gone but there was enough left for me to recognize him. I nodded and the coroner replaced the sheet over the body.
“I think that will be all for now,” the coroner pronounced. “There will be an autopsy, of course, but it’s pretty apparent that he took his own life with the gun we found in his hand. One bullet was fired and the gun has been bagged for dusting. I’m sorry to bring you here to see this, Dr. LaViere, but we needed a family member to identify his remains.”
“I understand,” I said and felt the sourness in my stomach wanting to surface again. I turned away from the sight and went into the foyer. There were officials all over the house, taking photographs and stringing that horrid yellow crime scene tape everywhere. What was I going to say to Mother?
I stood outside in the yard beneath the spotlight and looked up at the sky that late October afternoon. There was a breeze rustling through what was left on the trees and the rest scattered across the yard and into the back near the barns. The horses were restless. They sensed something was terribly wrong and were anxious to run away. One of Father’s stable hands was standing at the edge of the yard and I strolled over to him. He was shaking and half-dressed, his shirt buttoned wrong.
“Pete,” I acknowledged.
“I’m awful sorry about Mr. LaViere, Doctor LaViere,” he mumbled, unsure what to say at a time like this.
“I know, Pete, and I appreciate it. Were you the one who found him?” I asked and he nodded.
“He didn’t come down to the barns like he always does and with your mother gone and no one else around, I got a little worried. I knocked on the door but no one came. I tried the handle and it was unlocked. I went in and called his name and when there was no answer, I kept on going until I found him like that, slumped over his desk.”
“You didn’t hear the shot?” I asked.
“No, sir… I was down at the next farm playing pinochle until real late and when I came back, I just went into the ranch house and went to bed. I did notice that the horses were restless, though, but I figured it was just because I’d been gone. They’re used to me always bein’ around, you know.”
I squeezed his shoulder in acknowledgment and sympathy. “Nothing you could have done, Pete. The old man always had his own way of doing things.”
Pete nodded, “That he did, Dr. LaViere… that he sure did.”
“Pete, I’d appreciate it if you’d keep this to yourself for a bit more today. I haven’t told my mother yet and I wouldn’t want her to hear it from anyone else or to see it on the news.”
“They were already here, Dr. LaViere. The crew from channel three. Isn’t much you can keep from those people.”
At Pete’s words, I pulled out my cell and quickly called Auggie’s number. She answered on the third ring.
“Auggie, listen to me and don’t say a word in return. Just trust me this once. Whatever you do, I don’t want you or Mother to turn on the television or the radio. If anyone comes to the door, don’t answer it. I’ll explain as soon as I get home. I’m fine and things will be okay, but you have to do as I say this once without argument or questions. I’m hanging up now and I’ll be home as soon as I can.”