“What could I have done? Nothing. My opinion would have meant nothing.”
Miranda opened her mouth to tell her it would have meant everything to her, that knowing somebody cared enough to fight for her would have meant everything.
Then her mother went on. “I needed you to get away from Jasper before you were ruined like me. So I lost you.”
She started to cry and something deep inside Miranda broke free, all the things she’d imagined saying to her mother falling away with it—accusations about not being loved or protected. About a mother who didn’t stand up for her child.
Now she saw that in her own way her mother had tried to protect her. And that she had been loved.
“You were right, Mama,” she said, voice thick with tears. “I was heading down a really bad path. Juvie was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it changed me. I realized I didn’t want to be that person I was becoming.”
It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was all the truth her mother needed to know.
“You were right,” she said again, leaning closer, smoothing away her mother’s tears. “I was wrong to be mad at you all this time. And I’m sorry, so very sorry, that I’m only realizing that now.”
They were both crying when Robby walked in. He stopped in the doorway, looking confused. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Miranda said, smiling through her tears. “Mom and I were just catching up.”
He frowned slightly, like that didn’t make any sense at all to him. But instead of saying so, he crossed to the bed. “Morning, Mom. How’re you feeling today?”
“Randi came,” she said.
He chuckled. “I see that.”
The aide arrived with a breakfast tray. Robby used the opportunity to motion Miranda out to the hall.
“I didn’t expect to see you this morning,” he said softly.
“I spent the night.”
He seemed to digest that and nodded. “Thanks for coming. It means a lot to her.”
“It meant a lot to me to see her.” She paused. “Thanks for … letting me know. And for all you’ve done for her.”
He seemed taken aback and cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, she’s my mother. What was I gonna do?”
Honorable, she thought. Her brother had grown into an honorable and good man. Suddenly, absurdly, she felt like crying again.
She glanced away, cleared her throat. “What’s her prognosis?”
“She needs to start taking care of herself. Eat right. Exercise. Take the medicine they prescribed. Apparently, high cholesterol and high blood pressure run in her family.”
“They do?” she asked, surprised. “I didn’t know that.”
“Me, either. I just learned her mother died in her fifties from a heart attack. Did you know?”
She shook her head. “But she’s going to be okay?”
“If she follows doctor’s orders.” He paused a moment before going on. “So, what now?”
“What do you mean?”
“You gone again?” he asked, not quite meeting her eyes. “Or are you going to come around sometimes?”
“Is it okay if I come around?”
This time it was he who looked overcome with emotion, he who glanced quickly away. “Yeah,” he said. “That’d be good.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
9:15 A.M.
“Since Mom’s napping,” Miranda said a short time later, standing and hooking her purse strap over her shoulder, “I’m going to grab a coffee and something to eat. You want anything?”
Robby looked up from his phone and nodded. “Coffee. As big as they’ve got.”
“Done. Be right back.”
She slipped out of the room and into the hall. As she cleared the room, her cell vibrated in her pocket. Jake, she saw. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to him, but she answered anyway.
“Hey, Jake.”
“Hey. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” He paused a moment. “Miranda?”
“I’m here.”
“I wanted … I needed to tell you I’m sorry.”
“For what, Jake?”
He paused again, this time longer and more awkward than the first. The silence grew to deafening proportion. Still, she waited. He’d called her; she had nothing to say.
“I had to tell Buddy.”
Her heart began to rap against the wall of her chest. She willed it to slow. “Tell him what?”
“That I lied about seeing you at the Stark scene with your gloves off.”
Which explained one line of Buddy’s interrogation and answered the question of whether Jake had come clean about that.
“I had to,” he added, “considering the turn of events.”
“I get it; you have a job to do.”
Which didn’t change the fact that it felt like a betrayal. Her chest tightened. And now, it was just her word about the prints. How much faith would Buddy put in that?
“Did he suspend you?” she asked.
“Not yet. But it’s coming, I think.”
“I’m sorry about that, Jake. I’d never want that to happen to you.”
“You didn’t ask me to back you up. That’s on me.”
“I’m still sorry.”
“It’s physical evidence tying you to the scene.”
“I know. And there’s nothing I can do about that. The fact is, I didn’t kill Stark and I have no idea how my prints ended up at Stark’s home. And like I told Buddy, I didn’t even know who he was before that night.”
“There’s more.” This time he didn’t wait for a reply. “I told him about the button, and that I was there with you that night. That we’re … in a relationship.”
That hurt more than the other. Because it was personal. Because she’d asked him not to.
She felt exposed. Like that shivering fifteen-year-old, alone and exposed with no place to hide.
But she wasn’t, she reminded herself. Not anymore.
At her silence, he went on. “He brought Catherine Stark in for questioning. About the box.”
“And?” The word came out a croak.
“She said she didn’t know what he was talking about.”
“But I mentioned the key to her!” A couple passing in the hallway looked her way. She lowered her voice. “I asked her if she knew about a strongbox—”
“She acknowledged that, Miranda. But claimed she had no knowledge of the box and absolutely no part in it ending up on your porch.”
“I don’t believe her.”
“I sat in on the interview. She was shocked by the suggestion, Miranda. Shocked.”
“Then where did it come from?”
“You’re going to need a lawyer. A good one.”
“You can’t be serious.” But he was, she knew. “Is Buddy issuing a warrant?”
“Not yet.”
“But you think he will?”
He hesitated. “Yeah, I do. Ian Stark’s breathing pretty heavily down his neck.”
“What, besides what we discussed, does Buddy have?”
“I don’t know. And even if I did, I couldn’t tell you. I’m sorry,” he said again.
“It’s crazy. He can’t have anything because there’s nothing to have.”
“Stark says if Buddy doesn’t do it, he’s calling a press conference and going to the Sheriff’s Department. I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Miranda?”
“Yeah?”
“Where are you? I went by your place last night and waited.”
“My mom’s in the hospital. I’m here with her and my brother.”