Wasn’t Beth supposed to be at the house?
I walked back out to the living room and found my phone. I sent her a text.
Hey. Are you going to be able to stop by? No big deal if you can’t.
I turned on some lights in the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Nothing there. Mom was long gone, the house long empty. I needed to go to the store, and find out what Ronnie wanted. I’d deal with it when he woke up. I looked through the cabinets, which were pretty well stocked. I found a can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew. Mom usually cooked, but every once in a while she’d take the night off and serve us something like that. I could picture her in the kitchen, working the manual can opener, peeling back the lid, and dumping the contents into a pan. How fascinated Ronnie and I could be just watching her live her routine life.
I did the same thing Mom would have done. I heated the beef stew, then sat at the table spooning it into my mouth. It always tasted better when Mom made it. Even from a can. I checked the phone again. Still no sign of Beth. Maybe her plans had changed. Or maybe…
I tried not to let doubts cloud my mind. I knew Paul and the cops were being cautious. Too much crazy stuff had happened not to be. But I meant what I had told Paul. I wanted to do what Mom would have wanted. I wanted to try to be some kind of family.
The phone buzzed. A text from Beth: B there soon.
I cleaned up the kitchen, then walked down the hallway to Ronnie’s room again and went all the way inside. I gently touched his arm.
“Ronnie?” I whispered.
He opened his eyes. He looked at me for a moment as though he didn’t recognize me.
“Do you know where you are?” I asked.
“Home,” he said, his voice confident.
“That’s right. Do you want to get up? Beth is coming over. She wants to see you.”
He groaned and yawned. “I’m tired.”
“I know. Do you just want to stay in bed? I can tell her you’re resting.”
He groaned again. “I’ll get up. In a minute.”
“Whatever you want.”
I knew he’d get up soon enough. He wouldn’t want to miss seeing Beth. He wouldn’t want to be left out of anything. He hated that.
It wasn’t long before the doorbell rang.
“She’s here, Ronnie,” I called out as I went to the door and opened it.
There was Beth. Eyes red rimmed, her face streaked with tears. She’d been crying. She looked like hell.
“What is it, Beth?” I asked.
I stepped back and she came in past me.
And then Gordon Baxter emerged from the shadows, following her. He stepped right into the house and closed the door behind him.
Chapter Fifty-nine
I backed farther into the room.
My phone was sitting on the kitchen table, far from my reach and any hope of dialing 911. My legs shook. A jittery, rubbery sensation passed down through my body, from my chest to my feet. I concentrated on remaining upright.
I looked at Beth.
She had come into the room and stood about ten feet away from me. She was crying again.
What was going on here? What was she doing bringing Gordon Baxter to my door?
She must have read my thoughts.
“He came to my house right when I was leaving. That’s why I’m late.”
“I wanted to have all of you together,” he said. “It will make everything easier.”
Gordon wore a raincoat over a cheap-looking polyester suit. His right hand was buried in the pocket of the raincoat, clutching something, a small, hard object. I didn’t need to see it to know he was armed.
“What do you want?” I asked. I hated that my voice quaked, that it sounded like a scared little girl’s. “What do both of you want?”
“Both?” Beth said.
Gordon spoke over her. “I’m offering you an opportunity,” he said. “The same one I offered Beth here on that night all those years ago. I know she’s shared all of that with you by now, right?”
“You mean how you ran her off,” I said. I looked at Beth. “If that’s even the truth.”
“It is the truth,” Beth said.
“You know what I want,” Gordon said, taking a step toward me, his hand still in his pocket. “I tried to make a deal with you before, but you wouldn’t go for it. Now the price has gone up.” He looked at Beth and then back at me. “I want some compensation for the years I had to wander in the wilderness. The bad health. The lost jobs. Jail.” He gestured toward Beth. “It all started down that way when this one here started making trouble for me. And your mother didn’t help. I want that insurance money your mom left to you and your precious and special brother. All of it.”
“Why would I give you anything?” I said. “That’s ridiculous. You’re nothing to me. If Beth wants to give you something, you’re her father. I can’t stop—”
“I’m not giving him anything,” Beth said.
“What leverage do you have over me?” I asked. I pointed to his pocket. “Except for that.”
“This,” he said, moving it in his pocket a little. “This is nothing compared to other things. I know some truths I could share. I could share them with you. I could share them with the authorities. Your little protected mind would never be the same, would it?”
“He’s lying,” Beth said.
But her words and her voice weren’t convincing to me. I felt as if I was staring into the eyes of a cobra, being mesmerized by his promise of the truth.
“I know things about certain people,” Gordon said, moving a little closer. “Your sainted mother, for example.”
“If you’re talking about the movies, the things Beth discovered, I don’t believe it.”
“She spilled the beans about all of that, huh?” Gordon said. “And you chose to believe her?” He gestured toward Beth again. “You know, this woman over here, she’s a lifelong liar. She lied when she was a kid, and she’s been lying her whole life.”
“Stop it,” Beth said, her voice ragged with tears.
“She’s an addict,” Gordon said. “An addict will tell you anything to get what they want. If you choose to believe someone like that, then you’re the sucker.”
“Mom would never—”
“Do you know that?” Gordon asked. “She didn’t tell you a lot of things. She didn’t tell you about me. Or Beth. No one in your family did. And now you want to think the best of them?”
“You broke into my apartment. Why?”
He shook his head a little. “I wanted to see the will. I wanted to know who was getting the money from your mom. It was easy to do that. All I needed was a little help.”
I opened my mouth to speak again, but my words were cut off by the sound of footsteps from behind me. I turned. It was Ronnie. He was dressed, his hair combed into place. He was red cheeked and looked healthier than before his nap. He looked at Gordon and Beth and then at me. He read my face as he always did, and his brow furrowed.
“It’s okay, Ronnie,” I said.
“Is this the man?” he asked. “Is this the man who hurt Mom?”
“Yes,” I said. “But it’s okay.” I swallowed hard. “Why don’t you let Ronnie leave? He can go to the neighbor’s house. He doesn’t need to hear all this.”
Gordon looked at me, his face dripping with condescension. “Really? He can go? And call someone to help you?” He shook his head. “The little man can stay.”
“It won’t matter,” I said. I nodded toward Ronnie. “We’re not giving you anything.”
“Are you sure that’s a deal you’re willing to make? Do you want to hear everything I know?”
“I know all I need to know,” I said. “You blackmailed Mom. You sucked money out of her and killed her when she threatened to turn you in to the police for kidnapping.”