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)
“Oh, God…” I run down the hall toward Wendy’s room.
Mom follows me. “What, Ava?”
“Don’t you see? It could all be a trick again. She could—”
Mom grabs my hand right before I enter the room.
“Honey, I thought of all that. Jemima hasn’t left the room, and when she does, either you, your father, or I will be there. No one is going to leave that body until it is safely at the crematorium.”
“Okay. But can Jemima be trusted?”
“Yes. Your father and your uncles vetted her very carefully. Along with Dr. Parks.”
“Are you sure? Because Dr. Parks assured us Wendy was in perfect health.”
“Yes, and we’ll have an autopsy done to make sure Wendy didn’t end her own life, but she was an old woman, Ava. An old woman who kept herself comatose. That was not easy on her body. She may have just died. It was her time.”
“Have you told Dad?”
“I texted him. He’s on his way home.”
A few moments later, Dad and Brendan return.
I run into Brendan’s arms.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he says.
“I didn’t get all the answers, Brendan. I need more answers.”
“We may be able to get them,” Dad says. “Now that Wendy’s dead, truly dead, any contingency mechanism she had in place will engage. There will probably be more information. It wouldn’t surprise me if she knew she were about to go, and that’s why she started calling in those liens.”
“But the nurse said she was in good health.” I shake my head. “And her name isn’t anywhere on that trust.”
“I know, baby. We’ll figure it all out.”
“Brendan?”
“Yes?”
I stare into his eyes. I don’t want to tell him, but he deserves the truth. “You can put one thing to bed. You and your father. She admitted to me that she orchestrated your great-uncle’s death. His and Patty Watson’s.”
He hugs me to him. “At least that will give my father some peace.”
“Do you want to call Jack and Lauren?” I ask.
“Yeah. I will. By the way, Jack and Lauren have agreed to a DNA test for Lauren. To find out if…”
Dad nods. “If she’s my full-blooded sister. Yes, I know.” He walks out of the kitchen, Mom following.
“If she is…” Brendan says.
“If she is, then I have an aunt. And she will be very rich, I’m sure.”
“I suppose your family will have to decide how to handle that.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” I say. “In the meantime, Brendan, I have to stay here. Someone has to be with my grandmother’s body at all times until we see it get cremated.”
“I understand, baby. After everything you’ve been through, with her coming back to life once before, but don’t you think that, given her age, that’s unlikely this time?”
“I’ve learned not to go with the odds when it comes to my family, Brendan.”
“All right.” He brushes his lips over mine. “I need to get home. I have a lot to tell my father.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Brendan
Mom and Dad listen intently as I tell them what Ava told me.
“But all we have is her word?” Dad finally says.
“Oh, Sean,” Mom says. “She was an old woman, and now she’s dead. Those were her last words. Can’t you accept that? Accept that maybe she knew she was not long for this world, and she was letting go of something that’s been eating you alive for so long?”
Dad looks to the floor. “But I always wanted proof. Not just the word of some crazy woman.”
“That is your proof, Dad,” I say. “From what I understand from Ava and her father, Wendy Madigan was brilliant. I’m sure you could’ve searched forever, especially given how long ago it was, and you never would’ve found the proof. Hearing it from her mouth is as good as you’re going to get.”
“Brendan’s right,” Mom says. “This is the proof you’ve been looking for. From Wendy Madigan herself.”
“But we don’t know how she did it. How she got the poison, how—”
“That’s enough, Sean.” Mom’s voice is harsh. “I put up with this quest of yours for decades now. This is the best you’re going to get. It’s over now. I won’t have it brought up again.”
“What about the Steel Trust?” Dad asks.
“You just let the attorneys deal with that, Sean.”
Dad scoffs. “While they’re being paid off by Donny Steel? I don’t think so.”
“What? What do you mean they’re being paid off by Donny Steel?” Mom asks.
“Your son here went to Donny Steel for a recommendation for an attorney in the city.”
“Well, Donny Steel is an attorney.”
“But it’s the Steel Trust—”
“Enough.” Mom sets her hands on her hips. “I think we’ve established that the Steel family doesn’t even know what that trust is.”
“I haven’t established that,” Dad says.
Mom walks to Dad, cups both his cheeks, looks directly into his eyes. “I mean it, Sean. This is over now. Your uncle has been dead for over fifty years. Let it go. Let it fucking go.”