Blake rubbed his eyes, and leaned back into his chair. “Yeah, seems like I do. What’s that got to do with anything?”
“According to Walter’s magic box here”—Adam eyeballed Walter’s laptop—“Dr. Macklin was the one who okayed the young girl’s weekend furlough.”
Curious, Casey sat up straight and watched the expression on Blake’s face. Bewildered. Confused, maybe.
“I’ve been trying to call Macklin for days. His housekeeper told me he’d relocated someplace in Europe.”
“She told me the same thing when I called earlier. She said she’d given Macklin your message when he called in. He said he would call you soon.”
“What does this have to do with anything?” Casey asked.
“Quite possibly everything,” Adam told her. “There’s more. It seems her family suspected her death wasn’t a suicide as the Savannah PD claimed. They begged and pleaded with the authorities to investigate her former lover, but the police never took them seriously.”
“Where did you get all this information?” Blake asked.
“The magic box. Walter’s GBI, don’t forget. He has access to records and files all over the country.
“Amy’s family finally hired a private detective, Dick Johnson, to investigate their daughter’s death. And while it’s never been proven in a court of law, Johnson was sure the young girl was murdered by her lover.” Adam paused and looked at Casey, then at Blake. “Her lover was Jason Dewitt, grandson of the honorable Judge William Dewitt from one of Savannah’s finest families. According to the autopsy report, she was pregnant.
“Not long after the girl died, Jason went away to Harvard. Macklin was fired from Mercy and termed a ‘no hire.’ In just a few short weeks, Macklin went to work for Bentley at Sanctuary.”
“I knew I recognized that name!” Casey cried out. “He gave me the creeps the other day in his office. I remember hearing Bentley mention his name once while I waited for Dr. Macklin outside his office!”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Blake asked Adam.
“You bet. Now all we have to do is prove it.”
“Prove what?” Casey said to the two men.
“Bentley blackmailed Macklin.”
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Explain it,” Casey said.
“I’m not talking blackmail in the traditional sense of the word, Casey. If Bentley had something to hold over Dr. Macklin’s head, wouldn’t Macklin be obliged to do as he ordered? To keep his job?” Adam looked at the three of them.
“But what could Bentley possibly need Dr. Macklin to do? If it’s drugs, Bentley could get all he wanted from Sanctuary; he didn’t need Macklin for that.” Casey stood up and began pacing the small office.
Adam and Blake looked at one another, then at her. Blake spoke first. “Casey, didn’t you say you spent the past ten years in a fog?”
“It was the medication. Sometimes when I remembered, I wouldn’t swallow the pills they gave to me. Then when it seemed like things weren’t in such a fog, one of the orderlies would give me a shot. Doctor’s orders.” When it came, realization was swift.
“Does this mean for the past ten years Robert Bentley blackmailed Dr. Macklin to keep me drugged?”
“You’re not going to believe this!” Parker said as he burst through the door.
“Try us,” Blake said.
“Norma Bentley just wrecked her car in front of the hospital. She’s gonna be okay, but I wonder if she knows Robert is in surgery with a gunshot wound.”
“This night is full of surprises,” Adam said as he proceeded to fill Parker in on all that he’d missed.
“I’m thinking my services are of no further use, Roland. What do you say?” Walter said to all of them.
“I say we call it a night. I’ve got a genuine prisoner to baby-sit, and that cot in my office is starting to look good. It’s three A.M., and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I haven’t seen this much excitement in Sweetwater since . . .”
Casey trudged downstairs with her eyes half-closed. The scent of freshly brewed coffee wafted up to the landing as she hurried to the kitchen. When she saw her mother seated at the long wooden table talking to Flora, she almost fainted.
“What are you doing here?” Casey knew she sounded hateful, but she didn’t care.
“You’re in a mood, I can see. I live here in case you forgot.”
“I’m sorry. It’s been a rough night. Morning, Flora.” She helped herself to a cup of coffee. “I’m just surprised to see you. I figured you’d be with Robert. At the hospital.” She glared at her mother, hoping to get a reaction out of her.
The woman was cold as marble. “It’s been all over the radio this morning,” she said. “When I woke up and heard the news, I almost died. Then to hear that poor Norma was nearly killed, why I’m not even sure if I can get through the day. First John, now Robert, and poor, poor Norma.”
“Did they say anything about Bentley’s condition?”
“Guarded is what the TV and radio are reporting,” Flora said. “I’m sure Mr. Adam and Mr. Blake will tell us if they find anything out. Norma is in stable condition; she suffered a broken leg and three cracked ribs. Reports say she’d been drinkin’.”
“That doesn’t come as a surprise to me,” Eve said. “Yesterday when she left the luncheon she could barely stand up.
“Now, Casey, I told you when the time came we’d see about your hair and a makeover. This is the time. We can have lunch. Spend the day doing ‘girl stuff.’ What do you think?”
Casey realized it was her mother who should’ve spent the past ten years in Sanctuary. “Are you serious? Today?”
“It’ll be good for you to get away, Casey. Go with your momma and enjoy yourself.” Flora smiled at her. “You need to do that girl stuff your momma’s talkin’ about.”
“You’re right, Flora. In spite of all that’s happening, it’s past time for Mother and me to spend some time together.”
She narrowed her gaze at her mother, then forced herself to smile.
Spending the day with her mother was the last thing she wanted to do. But she would go, in the hope that maybe, just maybe, Eve could offer up some kind of explanation for allowing her stepson to abuse her only child.
The Sweetwater ferry was empty because virtually everyone who lived on the island was attending a vigil in the parking lot at Memorial Hospital. Casey and her mother, along with two elderly ladies, were the only passengers making the trip to Brunswick.
Casey gazed out at the coastline, where white puffs of smoke billowed from the smokestacks, courtesy of Worthington Enterprises. Her mother stood next to her, and Casey felt her icy glare penetrating right through her.
“You know you can stop the pretense,” her mother said.
Casey whirled completely around, shocked when she saw the grimace on her mother’s face. Not the sweet, silly smile of a slightly deranged, one-too-many-glasses-of-bubbly-genteel-Southern-lady-from-a-fine-family she pretended to be.
Wicked came to mind, reminding her of that day in the closet when she’d found Ronnie’s picture.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she muttered, dismayed at her mother’s sudden shift of mood.
“Oh, I think you do. Tell me, something, Casey.” Her mother walked toward the bow, Casey trailing behind her. Eve stopped, almost causing Casey to slam into her back. “This memory lapse of yours, just how lapsed is it?” A gust of wind lifted Eve’s honey blond hair, the short strands catching her in the eye. She combed a hand through her hair, her glare never wavering. “Well?”
Casey looked around the deck, suddenly frightened. The two elderly women had gone belowdecks, and the crew was nowhere in sight.
“You know, Mother. I’ve recalled certain parts of my childhood.” Casey paused. This was not the time or place for a confrontation. “But nothing important, at least I don’t think so.”
The relief on her mother’s face was visible. “All those y
ears on so many medications, if and when your memory returns, you’ll probably never be able to distinguish what’s real anyway. I’m sure it’s for the best.”
Alarms sounded in Casey’s head. How could she have been so stupid? Forgetting her fear of moments ago, she was about to ask her mother a question when a gush of the past flooded her brain.
A dead calm invaded her, swam through her as assuredly as blood surged through her veins. She let its serenity possess her. She floated on a plane unattainable to her before, soaring to an otherworldly realm of consciousness.
Then she remembered. She’d been in the shed with Ronnie. They’d fought. Then she went to her room. Hours later, a shadow. An unknown presence invaded her space. A cloak of darkness blanketed her. She must have blacked out.
“Oh my God!” Casey’s hand flew to her mouth. She looked at her mother, who was watching her through narrowed eyes. She inched back toward the bow, wanting to put as much distance as possible between them.
“What is it, Casey?” Her mother came toward her, forcing her to take another step back.
“You were there.” Casey’s hands trembled as she inched even farther toward the bow. “In my room . . . I remember the shadow!”
Her mother gave a demonic laugh. “I was right after all. You do remember!” Eve appeared to wage a silent battle with herself before centering her hard blue gaze on Casey. “Yes, I was there that evening. You should be glad, too. If I hadn’t been there, there’s no telling how far Ronnie would’ve gone.”
Casey’s burst of anger made her brave. “Did you know he’d been coming to my room for nine years! Nine long, horrid, miserable years!” She was screaming, and she didn’t care. She wanted to slap the smirk off her mother’s face.
“Oh stop it, Casey. You’re just like that self-righteous, do-gooder father of yours! If you were so miserable, you should have told me. I would have done something about it sooner.”
Casey clenched her fists, then shoved her hands in her pockets. She could feel her heart pounding in her rib cage. Her past clear now, she wanted answers only her mother could provide. She forced herself to take a deep breath before continuing.
“How could you, Mother! I tried several times to tell you about Ronnie. You were always with Robert Bentley or John Worthington. Why, Mother, can you just tell me, why? How could you allow that deranged psycho to rape me!” She wanted to smash her fist into her mother’s face, wanted to obliterate her indignant smirk into oblivion.
For the second time Eve appeared to be in a battle with herself. Her decision made, she spoke. Her voice was sure and clear, her blue eyes glassy, almost crystal-like. Casey knew right then that her mother was truly insane. No sane woman would have allowed her child to be molested.
“Mother, how could you?” she shrieked. “Can you at least give me a goddamned reason for it? Maybe I can understand then. I need to understand!” Angry tears slid down her cheeks as she stood in front of her mother, waiting for an explanation, anything so she could begin to understand the woman who called herself mother.
Eve sighed. “Oh, I suppose I do owe you some sort of explanation. It was all so long ago.” She looked over the ferry’s bow, then sat on the bench on the starboard side of the vessel. Casey sat opposite her, waiting.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be poor, Casey. You’re lucky.”
“I’d rather be poor than raped!”
“It started the day I met Robert. I went to his office right after you were born. We fell in love, and it hasn’t stopped. Ronnie found out about us. By then John and I planned to marry. That crazy boy threatened me. Threatened everything Robert and I had worked for.” Her mother took on a faraway look as she went on.
“But what about me, Mother? What about all the horrid things Ronnie did to me?”
Chapter 28
Eve picked up the first thing in sight and sailed it at her stepson. Too bad it was her mother-in-law’s antique lamp. She was dead anyway, she’d never know.
“Listen,” she said, “I know what you’ve been doing all these years. Don’t think for a minute I don’t!”
“Yeah, old woman, I know you knew about me ’n’ Casey girl. And I’m thinkin’ while you laid in that there bed of yours you jus’ mighta liked hearing us.” Ronnie laughed. “You know she went to visit Doc Hunter today?”
“Who told you that?” she asked.
“I didn’t have to be told. I followed her. Hell, I sat right in that dumb doctor’soffice and listened at the top of the stairs. She was knocked up, all right. I was thinkin’ of runnin’ over to Swan House, before she stabbed me. I thought ol’ John might want to know what kinda woman he’d be marryin’.” He laughed again.
“You wouldn’t dare!” she screamed.
“Oh, yes I would. Yes, I would. Matter a fact, I been thinkin’ about limpin’ over there later. Maybe tomorrow morning. After me ’n’ Casey, well, you know tonight.”
Ronnie left then, thank God, because she needed to think.
Sure that Casey’s child belonged to Ronnie, Eve knew she’d have to arrange for her to have an abortion. Robert would know who to call.
Think! Think! Think!
She’d suspected Ronnie was messing around with Casey, but had no idea he’d actually had intercourse with her. Casey should have told her when it first happened, but then again, Eve thought, they weren’t blood-related, it could be that Casey liked Ronnie’s visits. It didn’t matter now, she told herself, what mattered was Ronnie keeping his big mouth shut.
Why she’d kept him after Reed’s death baffled her. She really didn’t like him, she had to admit, but he could be amusing at times. All those trips to his school, they’d both had a good laugh. Too bad Carolyn’s family hadn’t wanted him. Eve really didn’t blame them. Why would they want to raise a child who’d been fathered by his grandfather? A genetic screwup. Made sense to her.
She placed a call to Robert at Sanctuary. He’d tell her what to do.
“What is it, Eve? You shouldn’t be calling me here. If Worthington finds out about us, you can kiss that mansion and all those prosperous holdings of his good-bye.”
“It’s Ronnie. He knows about us. I told him I knew about him and Casey. He threatened to go to John. I’m scared, Robert. That little son of a bitch will do what he’s threatened.”
“Where is he now?” Robert asked.
“He just took off. And Robert, guess what?”
“I don’t like guessing games, Eve, you know that.”
“She’s pregnant. Ronnie’s threatened to tell John that, too. He’ll never marry me if he thinks I’ve stood back and let this thing happen to my own daughter! God! I wish I’d given her to Gracie. I wasn’t cut out for this motherhood business.”
“Shut up, Eve, and listen. How often does he visit her room?”
“Almost every night, why?”
“I want you to cancel any plans you have tonight,” Robert’s strong voice was comforting. He’d tell her what to do.
“I don’t have any.”
“Good. Where’s the girl right now?”
“She’s upstairs in her room, why?”
“Do what you have to do to keep her there. You’ll think of something; you’ve always had a large supply of tricks.”
“Robert!”
“Oh, damn, Eve, this is important. Listen: Do you want all that money? Worthington can’t last much longer. If he does we’ll help him out.”
“Robert, what do you mean? Surely you’re not planning . . .”
“No Eve, I’m not. Now listen.”
Eve waited in the dark, hot closet for Casey’s bedroom door to open. Casey had been asleep all day and it had been easy to slip into the closet. Something was definitely wrong with the girl. Well, she couldn’t help that.
She heard the creak of the door and knew it was just a matter of time. She peered through a crack in the door and watched as Ronnie stood next to Casey’s bed. Casey lay curled up in the fetal position against the wall.
For a minute she was tempted to run out of the closet and stop him, but the thought of her and Robert with all of John’s holdings kept her rooted in place.
Ronnie dropped his pants on the floor and Eve watched as he piled on top of her daughter. Casey wasn’t putting up a fight, so maybe she’d been right after all. Casey must enjoy Ronnie’s visits.
She saw Casey’s arm reach over to the nightstand and grab a hold of something shiny. The moonlight filtered in through the lace curtains, allowing Eve a shadowed picture of the couple on the bed.
Casey struggled against Ronnie, and that was when Eve made her move.
Casey held a letter opener in her hand.
Eve ran to the side of the bed and yanked the letter opener from Casey’s hand.
He had to be stopped. She knew about the scene in the shed and his injuries. Though serious, they certainly weren’t fatal.
That was about to change.
Without another thought Eve plunged the dull blade into Ronnie’s neck, sending blood flying everywhere. She thought she would vomit. Ronnie’s body pulsed one last time, then flopped on top of Casey.
Casey had passed out. Before she could think, Eve placed the letter opener in her daughter’s hand and disappeared downstairs to call Robert to finish the job.
“And all those years you allowed Robert to instruct Dr. Macklin to drug me, so I wouldn’t remember?” Shock didn’t come close to the emotions racking her body and soul.
Eve looked up at her, her age suddenly visible. “And it would have worked if that Dr. Macklin hadn’t been cleared. He would have continued to give you the medication as Robert ordered. John can’t hang on much longer, then it’s all ours.”
Her mother’s eyes took on that glassy look again, and this time Casey was truly frightened. “Mother, what if Robert doesn’t make it? What if he dies, then what?”
“Then I’ll have it all. I thought about that, too. After Norma left Robert’s office last night, I followed her. I saw her toss the gun on the side of the road. Hell, she almost ran over some poor fellow.”
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