They had gone back to the shack, gotten Reel, and driven off in the same ambulance that Robie’s father had been loaded into back at the Willows.
While his father drove with Tyler buckled in the seat next to him, Robie had called Taggert and triaged Reel on the way to the hospital. She had been immediately taken into surgery.
It was only when Reel was safely away that Robie had collapsed from his own blood loss and what was later determined to be a broken clavicle and a perforated artery in his arm that had come close to rupturing.
He had been stabilized and then taken by medevac chopper to Jackson for the surgery that had permanently fixed his injuries.
Robie focused more fully on Taggert. In a croaky voice he said, “Jessica?”
“She’s going to be fine. She came out of surgery fine, Will.”
He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. When he reopened them he said, “My dad showed up in an ambulance? How?”
Taggert drew up a chair and sat down next to him.
“Well, the way my colleague laid it out to me, your daddy sat up in that ambulance, took the deputy’s weapon, and made everyone get out, and then he drove off in the damn thing.”
“But how did he know where we were?”
“I have not been made privy to that information.”
“Where is he now?”
“At home. With Ty.”
Robie slowly nodded again. Though the anesthesia was receding he still felt in a fog. It was disconcerting. He didn’t like it. “Is Ty okay?”
“Physically, yes. Emotionally? It might take a while. I got briefed a little, but you’re really the one who knows everythin’ that happened. We’re goin’ to need a statement from you when you feel up to it.”
“I know,” said Robie groggily. “Don’t worry. I won’t be forgetting a single detail. Ever.”
“So, Laura Barksdale, huh? Who would have ever thought?”
“Yeah,” said Robie. “Who would’ve thought?”
A week later Robie was brought back to Cantrell and spent several hours with Sheriff Monda and Agent Wurtzburger. Evidence linking the crimes across the various states was compared with forensic evidence taken from Victoria’s body. The results matched, and the case was closed on each of them.
The woman had indeed been busy.
He was reunited with Reel the next day.
She was in a wheelchair, looking pale and tired. The shot fired by Victoria had done more internal damage than was first thought. A full recovery was expected to take at least a few more weeks. Clearly not fast enough for her.
After Robie filled her in on everything they sat together in a room at the Cantrell police station.
“Mississippi did not turn out to be so good for us,” said Reel, wincing slightly as she adjusted herself in the wheelchair.
“No, it didn’t.” Robie fell silent and studied the floor. His arm was back in a sling and would be for a while.
“What?” she finally asked.
“I left you behind, Jess. I…”
“You had no choice, Robie. You were between a rock and a hard place. You took Ty. You saved him from that…monster.”
“I was going to come back for you.”
“I had no doubt. I only wished I could have been the one to shoot her.”
“When I saw my dad I’d never been more stunned in my life.”
He fell silent again, his features troubled and brooding.
Reel noted this and said, “She wasn’t Laura anymore; you realize that, right? She wasn’t your…Juliet anymore.”
“Maybe she never was.”
“Like you said, people can rationalize anything.”
“But I keep thinking that none of this would have happened if I had just walked into the house that night and taken her with me out of Cantrell. But I just drove off to a new life and left her behind. I abandoned her. Or at least she saw it that way. And maybe she was right.”
Reel considered this for a few moments. “You can’t put that burden on your shoulders, Robie. You can’t live someone else’s life for them. Hell, it’s hard enough living your own.”
“I guess,” he said, not sounding convinced.
Reel looked down at her hands. “But what happened to her, well, it was terrible.”
He looked at her in surprise. “So now you’re defending her?”
“No. I would never do that. But I guess I can understand how all this happened. We’re not all created the same. Some are more fragile than others. And you never know which one you’re going to get. Or which among us is going to crack.”
The door opened and Taggert poked her head in.
“You guys ready?”
“Ready?” said Robie. “For what?”
“To go see your dad.”
Chapter
79
They were driven over in a transport vehicle to accommodate Reel’s wheelchair. As soon as they entered the foyer of the Willows, Robie received a shock nearly equal to that of seeing his father standing under the moonlight holding the gun he’d just used to shoot his wife.
Blue Man was emerging from the front room with Dan Robie.
As always, Blue Man was dressed in a suit and tie, but apparently in deference to his current location, and taking in the heat and humidity, he was wearing, of all things, seersucker.
“What are you doing here?” asked Robie.
Reel just looked on in amazement from her wheelchair.
“Briefing your father and getting debriefed in return. Enlightening. Quite enlightening. I think I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be at the airport. You two are riding back with me. Until then, I have one more person to visit.”
“Who?” demanded Reel.
“Little Bill Faulconer, I believe he’s called. We can always use talented hackers. Even more so now that the NSA’s actions have been uncovered. One agency’s loss is another agency’s gain.”
And then Blue Man was gone as quickly as he had appeared.
Robie looked at his father. Dan Robie looked like he had aged ten years. The posture wasn’t as straight, the shoulders sagged, the hair seemed less thick, the man’s energy level was not as robust.
And who could blame him?
“How are you two doing?” Dan said quietly.
Reel said, “I’ll be doing better when I can ditch the wheels.”
Dan looked at his son. “And you?”
“I’m okay.”
“Let’s go in here.”
Dan led them back into the front room. Robie rolled Reel into the room and then sat in a chair next to her and across from his father.
“Your colleague filled me in on some things,” said Dan.
“That is stunning. And possibly illegal,” noted Robie.
“Nothin’ classified, he assured me,” said Dan. “But enough to let me know what you’ve been up to generally, Will.” He looked at Reel. “Both of you.”
Robie could only gape at his father while Reel looked just as surprised but found her voice. “Were you surprised at what your son is doing?”
“I guess I am surprised that I ever found out anythin’ about it.” He looked over at Robie. “Seein’ as how I never thought I’d see you again.”
“How’s Ty?”
“He’s with some friends right now. People he knows. People he feels safe with.”
“But he’s coming back, right?” said Robie.
“I’m not abandonin’ my son,” replied Dan firmly.
As he said the words it was clear to Robie that the man was not simply talking about Tyler.
Robie said, “He saved my life, you know. If he hadn’t screamed when he did I wouldn’t be sitting here.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the drawing that Ty had done of him and Robie. Stick figures with a heart in between. “I’ve never had anything personal where I live. No photos, no mementos.” He held up the drawing. “But this one I’m framing.”