Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“She may never wake up,” I say.
“Oh, she’ll wake up.” This from Ryan. “She will wake up, and she will answer to me.”
“Don’t you think you should call her daughter?” I ask.
“I already have. Her daughter doesn’t want anything to do with her.”
I say nothing more on that subject. I believe Ryan. Lauren clearly has no love for Wendy.
“That actually reminds me,” I say. “The reason why Ava and I wanted to stop by tonight. Ruby, what do you know about the Foster Diagnostics Lab in Grand Junction?”
Ruby meets my gaze, her forehead wrinkled. “Why do you ask?”
“Jack Murphy, Lauren’s son, has asked Dad and me to submit our blood for DNA sampling. Jack wants to find out if he’s related to our family. That’s the name of the lab he asked us to go to.”
“I can give you someone to call,” Ruby says. “Someone who can get the results done quickly.”
“All right.”
Except…right now I’m not sure whether to trust Ryan or Ruby.
Why would they care whether Dad and I are related to Jack Murphy?
Ruby pulls out her phone and taps on it. “I’m sending you the info. Tucker Madden is a science geek. Genius, but never had it together enough to actually do anything with his microbiology degree. So he worked as a lab tech for years and now he’s completely freelance. He works out of a private lab in the city. He’s a wiz with DNA. He can pick out strands from samples that other techs can’t make heads or tails of. The DA used to call him as an expert witness frequently, and then when I left the force, I continued to use him. He’s the best in the state. Maybe the country.”
My phone vibrates as the text message comes through. I take a quick look. Tucker Madden, and an address and phone number. “Great. Thanks, Ruby.”
“You can text him now. In fact, if you want, I’ll text him and get you in tomorrow.”
“That’d be perfect. Thanks again.”
“No problem.” She taps on her phone again. “I’ll forward you the time.”
A pause.
Then, “He says just come by anytime tomorrow. He’ll be there.”
I nod. In the morning, Dad and I will drive to the city and see Ruby’s contact. But we’ll also go to the clinic Jack recommended.
Doesn’t hurt for the results to be checked.
Michaela and the other two enter the sitting area from the bedroom. “Mr. Steel?” one of the women asks.
Ryan nods. “Yes?”
“She’s not going to wake up tonight. Her melatonin is at work. It’s nighttime. Her body isn’t going to recognize that it needs to be awake.”
Ryan sighs. “All right, Doctor.” He turns to Ava. “Doctor, this is my daughter, Ava, and her friend Brendan Murphy. This is Dr. Louisa Parks and her nurse, Jemima Landry. They’ll both be staying here as long as Wendy is. Michaela will be moving into the family wing while our guests are here.”
Guests? Interesting choice of words.
We shake hands all around. Leave it to the Steels to be able to hire a doctor and nurse to care for one patient at their home.
“If you don’t need me for anything else,” Michaela says, “I’d like to get to bed.”
Ruby smiles. “Of course, Michaela. You’ve been a huge help today. Thank you.”
Once Michaela is gone, Dr. Parks leaves as well, and Jemima returns to the bedroom.
“Ryan,” Ruby says, “you heard the doctor. She’s not going to wake up tonight.”
Ryan’s jaw goes rigid. “I’m not leaving this room until she stirs.”
Ruby grabs his hand. “She can’t go anywhere. She’s in her eighties and strapped down. You need to get some sleep.”
“Nope. I’m still not leaving, Ruby. I’ve seen this woman disappear into thin air before, and it’s not happening on my watch. I’ll be staying in here. I’ll tell Jemima she can go to bed. In the meantime, if Wendy so much as flutters her eyelid, I will be here.”
“I’m not going anywhere either,” Ava says.
Ruby shakes her head. “Ava…this isn’t your battle.”
“Are you kidding me? Who got all the messages? Not you and Dad. I did. This woman turned my life upside down to let me know she was alive.”
“You’re assuming the messages came from her,” I say, though I’m playing devil’s advocate.
Ava turns to me, hands on her hips. “Brendan, where else could they have come from? Perhaps the end of her life is near, and she wants to know me.”
“You don’t want to know her,” Ryan says.
Ava meets her father’s gaze, frowning. “Who are you to say that?”
“For God’s sake, Ava,” Ruby admonishes. “You’ve heard the horror stories.”
“I have,” Ava says. “There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s a complete and total psychopath. But the messages came to me, Mom. Me. Not to you. Not to Dad. Not to Gina. To me. And I want to know why.”
“We don’t know that the messages came from Wendy herself,” Ruby says. “Indeed, they most likely didn’t. Her hospital records indicate that she’s been in a medically induced coma for the last six months. The messages began to come after that.”