“Some secrets are necessary. It’s better that the past stays in the past.”
Max asked the question she’d been wondering since she realized that the postcards Faith received had been forged. She couldn’t help but think about the birthday cards from her mother that stopped on her sixteenth birthday. What if something happened to her mother the day she left town, like what happened to Carrie?
“Do you know where my mother is?”
“No.”
“Would you tell me if you did?”
Eleanor didn’t answer that question. Instead, she said, “Martha was always wild. James called her a free spirit and doted on her. I saw her—I see everyone—for who they are. I assess how I can protect them from themselves and protect the family from their actions. Martha was selfish. She wanted what she wanted when she wanted it. She was irresponsible with her wealth, irresponsible with her body, and irresponsible with her relationships. I don’t know where she is, and I never looked for her. I didn’t want to know.”
“Why? I’ve been looking for her for years!”
“I know.”
“Have you been working to stop me? To thwart me?”
“Of course not.”
“I don’t know that I can believe you.”
“Believe this: I don’t approve of everything you do, but you are my granddaughter.” “You are my granddaughter” was Eleanor’s way of saying “I love you.” “You were wild, but in a different way than your mother. You’re much smarter than she ever was. You have common sense. You’re responsible with your wealth and generous with your philanthropic duty. I respect you in ways I can’t say I do of William and the others. But you will never be happy if you think the truth is the key to peace. On the contrary, the truth is dangerous. Whatever truth you’re looking for, you will be hurt. And it pains me that I can’t protect you from the damage, I can’t protect William from his coming trials, or from his weakness for women. Your chosen path has filled you with an emptiness that grows with each day. I’m just relieved that my James isn’t here to watch our family suffer.”
*
Max went back to her hotel with a heavy heart. David, thankfully, understood that she needed to be alone, and he went to his room.
She didn’t regret exposing Caitlin; justice had to be served.
It didn’t make it fun or satisfying. She kept thinking of her cousins, and it left her feeling empty inside.
All she wanted was to go home. To her apartment in New York City. To the trials and cold cases she didn’t have a personal stake in. Where the truth didn’t hurt her heart.
She had a completely new perspective on the people she helped. She didn’t regret anything that she’d done, but she looked on the families, the victims, the survivors with an empathy she hadn’t had before. She didn’t know if this insight would make her a better investigative reporter, or if her emotions would cloud her judgment. Or worse, make her hurt like she did right now.
She unlocked her door and was stunned to see Nick Santini sitting on her couch.
“Breaking and entering?” she said.
He held up a key. “You gave it to me when I stayed the other night. To make sure you didn’t lapse into a coma.” He smiled. As he watched her, he lost his humor. “What happened?”
“Family.” She shook her head. She really didn’t want to talk about it, but she added, “I came here and set off a bomb, but I’m not staying around for the cleanup.”
“It’s pretty messy out there,” he said.
She didn’t know why, but she thought she might get a little more sympathy from him. She put her things down on her desk, averting her eyes. She was so tired and weary. “I need to go home.”
He stood behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Max, I wasn’t laying blame. It’s messy for your family, it’s messy for law enforcement, and I’m pretty certain the district attorney is sitting in a fallout shelter just waiting to wade in. But it couldn’t be avoided.”
“I keep thinking about my cousins.”
“You were really stupid,” he said.
“You said that already.”
“And brave. When I saw you swing up to the roof of the SUV, all I could think was that Wonder Woman’s real name is Maxine Revere.”
She laughed. The first chuckle in days. “I wasn’t thinking. I just acted.”
“I would have done the same thing.”
“If you didn’t have a gun to shoot out the tires…” She hesitated, then said, “Off the record—”
He turned her around and smiled. “Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?”
She conceded the point with a tilt of her head. “Caitlin is going to push for an insanity plea. And my grandmother can make it happen. Don’t doubt that.”
“We’ll see.”
He didn’t believe Eleanor Sterling Revere could do it, but Max did. This was family. Eleanor would pay anyone and call in any favor to make it happen so Tyler and Talbot didn’t grow up with a mother in prison. Better to be insane than calculating.
“William isn’t going to forgive me.”
“Give him time. He can’t possibly have absorbed everything yet. He’ll work through it. Especially when he learns that you saved his sons.”
“Surprisingly, my grandmother didn’t disown me. Instead, she told me, in her own way, that she loves me. And that I have an empty life which will lead me to suffer greatly, and it’s a bed of my own choosing.”
“You don’t believe that.”
“She’s partly right.”
“Your life is not empty. After I turned Caitlin over to the jail, I went to tell the Hoffman family that we have Jason’s killer in custody. They have peace knowing what happened. Yes, it would be better if he were alive, but I wouldn’t be a cop if I didn’t think that bringing criminals to justice wasn’t a worthy goal. If I can’t stop them, I’m sure as hell going to punish them.”