The nurse gave a self-conscious smile. “Old habits die hard, I guess.”
“Do you two want me and Captain Garrity to give you some privacy?” Drew asked, carrying his bloody instruments to the sink.
“I’ll wash those, Dr. Elliott,” Melba said, quickly moving after him.
“No, you won’t. You keep our patient comfortable.”
Melba came back to Tom’s side.
Drew ran water into the sink and waited for it to get hot. “Did you tell him about Mrs. Nolan?”
“Pithy?” asked Tom, suddenly worried. “Has something happened to her?”
“No,” said Melba. “Penn asked me to go by her house and give her a steroid shot. I got Dr. Elliott to prescribe it.”
Tom knitted his brow. “How the hell did Penn know I missed that house call?”
“He went by there to talk to Pithy,” Melba explained.
“About what?”
The nurse shrugged. “He didn’t tell me. And Miss Pithy didn’t, either. She’s sure worried about you, though.”
Walt looked down at Tom and shook his head. “That’s a big club.”
“I appreciate you coming tonight, Mel,” Tom said. “But you need to get on back to Natchez.”
“I’m not going anywhere. Dr. Elliott, leave those things in the sink and go home. Your family needs you.”
Drew nodded, drying his hands. “Will you be at the office tomorrow?”
“I don’t know. Let’s wait and see how our patient does.”
Drew picked up his black bag in preparation for leaving, then looked at Walt. “If you guys absolutely have to drive somewhere, don’t drag Melba into it. You can ‘steal’ the old truck parked down by my pier. The keys are on top of the bathroom medicine cabinet.”
Tom saluted his partner with gratitude. Drew chuckled, started to leave, then walked back to the sofa and looked down at Tom with sadness in his eyes.
“Call Penn, Tom. Nobody in the world will work harder to get you out of whatever trouble you’re in. Your son is your best hope. You know that.”
“He may be, Drew. But I can’t call him. Not this time.”
The young doctor’s face remained hard. “You could die. Right here in my lake house. What do I tell Peggy, if you do? What do I tell Penn?”
Tom looked over at Walt, then back up at Drew, his eyes suddenly wet. “If that happens … tell them I was protecting our family. They may not understand it right away. Penn might never understand. But that’s what you tell him. One day I think he’ll figure it out. Now … get going, before the cops show up and arrest you.”
Drew stared down at his mentor for a few moments longer; then he snapped his head up, walked to the door, and left his house without looking back.
Tom looked up at Walt, his eyes blurred with tears. “I’m tired, buddy. And I’m so sorry I got you into this.”
Walt sat beside Tom, then laid a hand on his forehead with the gentleness he’d always displayed as a combat medic.
“Get some rest, soldier. Tomorrow’s another day.”
CHAPTER 56
SIX BLOCKS FROM my house on Washington Street, ten blocks from the Natchez Examiner, and two hundred feet above the Mississippi River, I kiss my daughter’s sleeping face, then roll carefully out of the bed and move to the central staircase. This house, this unexpected sanctuary, is called Edelweiss. I bought the place two months ago as a surprise wedding present for Caitlin, and I’ve had contractors working practically around the clock to get it ready by the date of our wedding. Three stories high and covered with gingerbread, this authentic German chalet was built on the edge of the Natchez bluff in 1883. You can see fourteen miles of river from its wraparound gallery, and more from its third-floor windows. Rumors have swirled for weeks about the possible new owner: some wags say it’s a Hollywood actor who wants to remain anonymous; others claim the owner of one of the casino boats beneath the bluff bought it as a weekend retreat from Las Vegas. Had Viola not been murdered two days ago, the truth would have been revealed two Saturdays hence, when the horse and carriage leaving the gazebo on the bluff carried Caitlin and me only a hundred yards to the steps of our new home. Now it’s become a safe house in the middle of a town where almost every citizen knows my face.
At the bottom of the stairs, I turn and go into the kitchen, where my mother waits, her face haggard with exhaustion and guilt. Peggy Cage is remarkably beautiful for a woman of seventy-one, but the past two days have taken a toll, and for once she looks her age. Sitting on the stool beside her, I lay my right hand over hers.
“Annie’s finally asleep. Mom, you’ve got to tell me what’s happening.”
She nods, but her expression doesn’t inspire much hope.
“I simply can’t believe Dad would leave you without some way of reaching him.”
“But he did, Penn.” Her eyes look sincere, but I’ve had so little experience of deception in my mother, how would I recognize it? “I don’t think Tom wanted me to be in a position where I would have to lie to the police.”
I give her a few seconds’ grace. “Still. I don’t believe he’d leave you to face all this alone.”
She turns her hand over and squeezes mine. “But I’m not alone. You’re here. Tom knew that he could count on you to take care of me.”
“The last time you saw him was midday today?”
“Yes. An hour after I drove him home from the hearing, he drove himself to the office. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“Did he say anything when he left?”
“No more than usual. But there was something in his face that told me he wasn’t coming back. Not for a while, anyway.”
“And you didn’t try to stop him?”
She gives me a look that says, Are you serious? “You know your father.”
I nod. “I thought I did. After these past two days, I’m not so sure.”