The Girls Across the Bay
Page 30
“I’m not right now,” Madigan whispered.
“I know,” Grace said, hugging her tightly. “But you always will be.”
Epilogue
Grace strode down the rocky footpath and onto the beach where Madigan sat on their rock with her legs tucked up by her chest.
When she sits like that, she still looks like she did when we were little, the tough kid who protected me, made me feel brave and never stopped.
The wind whipped her hair across her face, and as if feeling Grace’s presence, Madigan turned her head. Grace waved, and Madigan waved back. She navigated her way over the smaller rocks, and Madigan reached down to help her.
Grace grabbed her cool hand and climbed onto the rock, taking a seat beside her and crossing her legs. They sat in silence, letting the breeze sweep through their hair, breathing in the salty air.
She’s worried about John.
His physical therapy began in November, which meant not only was he getting better, but he would be fit for trial the following spring.
“Have you been to see him today?” Grace asked.
Madigan nodded.
“I’d like to go with you one time,” Grace said. “After the trials.”
Madigan nodded, but her stoic expression remained.
Between wrapping up Lily Martin’s case and Valerie Hall’s cold case, Grace had decided to keep her distance from John. She would be called to stand trial as a witness and official for both cases, and Mac’s fears that her personal connections to each case might muddy the waters in court had become her fears too.
She told herself she had enough to worry about without developing a personal relationship with John, but it hadn’t stopped Madigan from seeing him at least once a week for the past two months since he’d been in the hospital recovering from his gunshot wound.
“He’s still trying to piece together what went on with Mickey and Lily that night,” Madigan said. “He asks me my opinion on these scenarios he cooks up. He spends too much time alone. He has too much time to think.”
“Did you tell him about Evette yet?” Grace asked.
They both knew he’d find out the general details of her arrest in the newspapers and on the local TV stations, but they agreed Madigan should wait until he asked to provide the specifics.
Madigan nodded. “He usually tries to convince me she couldn’t have—wouldn’t have done that to him. Or to Valerie. This morning, he looked at me, and I knew he knew.”
“Just like that?”
“He was shaking,” Madigan said. “Just like I was.”
“You and John had a lot in common when it came to her. It’s good that you can be there for each other.”
Madigan nodded and turned to face her. “You think he’s a bad person, don’t you?” she asked. “Because he buried Valerie and covered it up for all that time.”
Grace shook her head.
Madigan stared at her, and then as if convinced, she let her shoulders droop.
“I want to get to know him,” Grace said. “I just need time.”
“Of course.”
Waves crashed against the rocks beneath them, and a cool mist sprayed Grace’s face.
“Madigan,” she said. “What’s up? I know there’s something else.”
Madigan licked her lips.
“I can’t help but think about what would have happened if I’d called you when I should have. If I’d never gone to see John and help him get away from the lodge.”
“You don’t know what would have happened, and you can’t torture yourself over it,” Grace said. “Trust me—it doesn’t help.”
Madigan pulled her hair over her shoulder, and Grace rubbed her back in small circles.
“I should have trusted you,” Madigan muttered just loud enough to hear over the crashing waves.
“I could say the same,” Grace said and pulled her hand away.
If I’d listened to her instincts about Joe Harris, it could have come together sooner.
Maybe no one would have gotten hurt.
Madigan turned to her. “You followed through on your promise to me,” she said. “I’m the one who went behind your back.”
“We can’t go back,” Grace said.
“I know.” Madigan sighed. “I just wish we knew for sure who broke into your home and attacked me.”
John had been under watch at the time, and Joe Harris seemed confused when questioned about the break-in. Neither had any bite marks from Buster, and no other suspects had been considered, but Grace had a suspicion she kept to herself.
Mickey might have sent someone to threaten me or kill me.
Mac volunteered to take a deeper look into the investigation into Mickey Clarke, but no one talked—a rare occurrence between officers of the law.
Mickey Clarke might really be untouchable, but if I find out he sent someone to hurt me and my sister, I’ll make him pay.
“You know I won’t stop looking,” Grace said.
“I know.” Madigan sat up and crossed her legs under her as Grace had. “I heard that Lily’s mom plead guilty too.”
It finally leaked.
“I guess her guilty conscience got the best of her when her husband was ready to take the fall alone,” Grace said.
“She did the right thing. They both deserve to pay for what they put John through. For what they did to Lily.”
Grace recalled the night she and Mac went to their home to deliver the news about Lily the Martins already knew.
Mrs. Martin was devastated, just as she should have been, and Mr. Martin was angry.
I wish there was something I should have noticed sooner, besides Chris’s prints on the vase she gave her daughter, which they ultimately fought over, sending Lily falling back and hitting her head against the table.
“I believe it was an accident,” Grace said.
“John forgives them.”
“You sound surprised.”
Madigan stared out over the water. “They have to live with their demons like we all do.”
“But we don’t have to do it alone,” Grace said.
Madigan nodded. “I saw that picture you have framed in your bedroom now when I borrowed your top the other day. That’s Leah, right?”
“Yeah. Having her there reminds me of the good times. Of the good I was trying to do. That I still have left to do.”
She had thrown the binder away the day Evette was arrested.
The past is never what it seems. Not even our own memories accurately process everything we’ve been through.
Time and other experiences warp the facts.
Secrets and lies distort whatever truth we thought we knew to begin with, but each experience leaves us with a feeling. Some complex—feelings at odds with each other—but they’re the way we truly remember things.
I want the feeling Leah has left to be one of love and friendship.
One of hope and inspiration.
I’ll never forget those things, and I’ll keep trying to help those who need it in her memory.
Madigan draped her arm across Grace’s back, grabbing hold of her shoulder. Grace smiled and did the same with her arm.
“So—what’s next?” Grace asked.
“I’d say we should go for a drink,” Madigan said, “but I don’t want to go to work earlier than I have to.”
She had barely finished asking Roy for her job as bartender back when he welcomed her with open arms. The job had changed since she’d held the position in college, or rather she had changed.
Bartending in her thirties was a whole different experience, but it wasn’t the only job she had. During her night shifts at the bar, she mulled over her case.
After visiting John for the first time since he awoke from his induced coma, his roommate at the hospital overheard them talking about what they had been through over the week before he’d been shot.
After John had bragged about her behind her back about the way she put things together, the roommate had asked if she’d
look into his past for him. He too, had been adopted, but his wish had always been to find his birth parents. After coming close to death with a bad case of pneumonia, he decided it was important enough to hire someone to do the digging for him.
Before Madigan agreed to help, she conferred with Grace, who to her surprise, encouraged her to not only investigate, but to look into becoming a private investigator. She still considered the latter, but took the roommate’s case seriously.
“We could just go home and have one,” Grace said. “I’ll drive you to work after.”
Madigan smiled and nodded.
“You know I ran into Will the other day at the hospital?”
“Really?” Grace opened her eyes wide and grinned. “Awkward or nice?”
“Still weird.” Madigan smiled. “But it doesn’t hurt anymore. Seems like he’ll move on soon if he hasn’t already. You should see the attention he gets from the nurses.”
“I believe it. I think you made the right choice too.”
It’s hard to give up on love, whether it’s meant for you or not.
She still missed Will from time to time, but as weeks turned into months, she realized it wasn’t so much Will she missed but the way he treated her.
The way it felt to be wanted and loved.
That’s why John and I were so blinded by Evette.
She’d been mad at herself since that day in the hospital room for giving her trust to someone who had hurt her in the past, who had done so much damage to so many. Who had never truly been there for her, but she’d made herself believe it was enough. That it was all she was worth.
“You think she’ll ever admit to what she did?” Madigan asked.
Grace turned to her.
You know who I’m talking about. I refuse to say her name anymore—to give that woman any more of my energy.
“No,” Grace said and sighed. “But we know the truth.”
Madigan nodded.
Good enough?
Maybe it had to be.
“You had her number all along,” Madigan said. “I was so stupid.”
“Nope, I won’t let you say that about yourself. You just didn’t want to see the truth. Seeing her again after all those years, I didn’t really want to either if it makes you feel any better?”
Sometimes it’s more difficult to see the good in people than the bad.
It used to be easier for me, but not anymore.
We’d gaze out our window on Warbler Way, wishing that one day we’d be here.
Here we are.
“Things were supposed to be better here,” Madigan muttered. “Why did we think our lives would be so much better across the bay?”
The offshore breeze tousled their hair, sending shivers down her spine. Grace licked her lips and shook her head, shoving her hands into her coat pockets.
“I’m cold, too,” Madigan said. “Let’s go home.”
Grace pulled her hand out of her pocket and along with it came the matching necklace Madigan had hung on the tree that night. She took Madigan’s hand and dropped it into her palm, squeezing her hand closed tightly around it.
We’ll always find each other.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my formatter and dear friend, Jade Eby, and my cover designer, Amy Queau of Q Design, for the exceptional visual components of this novel. To Roxane Leblanc, for your proofreading and insights, I thank you. To Mountains Wanted Publishing for your exceptional editing and second pair of eyes, I’m so grateful for your help.
I have an immense amount of appreciation for my beta-readers: Jade Eby and Kim Catanzarite. Your opinions and insights are invaluable. Thank you for challenging and supporting me during this process. You’ve each been a catalyst for my growth as a writer through this story. I feel fortunate and proud to have worked with you both.
To Shawna Gavas, Heather McGurk, and J.C. Hannigan, for your input on special components of this novel when I needed it most, thank you.
Thank you to my early readers for joining my team and your interest in Madigan and Grace’s story.
To my colleagues in the book community for “getting me”. Thank you for your support, encouragement, and sharing your knowledge with me. I’m proud to call you my friends.
For the continued support of my family, friends, and husband. I am forever grateful and I love you all.
Each and every person in my life who has supported me and my writing career hold a special place in my heart.
Thank you to my true-blue readers and my reader group on Facebook for sticking with me, for your curiosity, and for your company on this journey. From the bottom of my heart, I’m honored to share this experience with you.
About the Author
Emerald O'Brien was born and raised just east of Toronto, Ontario. She graduated from her Television Broadcasting and Communications Media program at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario.
As the author of unpredictable stories packed with suspense, Emerald enjoys connecting with her passionate readers.
When she is not reading or writing, Emerald can be found with family and friends. Watching movies with her husband and snuggling with their two beagles is one of her favourite ways to spend an evening at home.
* * *
To find out more, visit Emerald on her website: http:// emeraldobrien.com
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If you enjoyed Emerald’s work, please share your experience by leaving a review where you purchased the story.
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Subscribe to her newsletter for a free ebook, exclusive content, and information about current and upcoming works: http://www.emeraldobrien.com/your-free-ebook/
Also by Emerald
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The Avery Hart Trilogy
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Bare Your Bones (Book Two)
Every Last Mark (Book Three)
The Complete Avery Hart Trilogy
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Standalones
Wrong Angle
Closer
All the Dark Corners
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The Anna Kelleher Chronicles
Midnight Motel (Book One)
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The Knox and Sheppard Mysteries
The Girls Across the Bay (Book One)
The Secrets They Keep (Book Two)
The Lies You Told (Book Three)
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Click here to view the complete list of books and purchase links.
About the Author
Emerald O'Brien was born and raised just east of Toronto, Ontario. She graduated from her Television Broadcasting and Communications Media program at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario. As the author of unpredictable stories packed with suspense, Emerald enjoys connecting with her readers who are passionate about joining characters as they solve mysteries and take exciting adventures between the pages of great books.
* * *
When she is not reading or writing, Emerald can be found with family and friends. Watching movies with her husband and their two beagles is one of her favourite ways to spend an evening at home.
* * *
To find out more, visit Emerald on her website:
http://emeraldobrien.com
* * *
If you enjoyed Emerald’s work, please share your experience by leaving a review where you purchased the story.
* * *
Subscribe to her newsletter for a free ebook, exclusive content, and information about current and upcoming works: http://www.emeraldobrien.com/your-free-ebook/
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