“Good. I’m not by myself this time. I have family and friends who care.”
“Like the Texas Ranger?”
“Yes, he’s a good friend,” she said, realizing she wanted more than friendship. For the first time in thirteen years, she was ready to move on. Was Harris’s appearance in Summerton what prompted this change? Maybe she’d needed to confront him with what he did and how she felt in order to move on.
“Any suggestions to get to know my son?”
“Time, I guess. Truthfully, I’m not sure what’s going on. He’s angry all the time.”
“You think it’s me, don’t you?”
“Yes. Remember how angry I was at my dad when he cut me out of his life after we ran off and got married?”
He nodded.
“I think that’s Steven concerning you. Dad and I are slowly working things out between us. He doesn’t leave when I come over to see Mom like he did a year ago when I came back to Summerton. He even came over here the other night. That’s why I say time might be your best bet.”
“I don’t have much of a choice. I haven’t seen much of him. He’s scarce when I come over.”
“He’s starting basketball practice soon and in November there will be games. You could go to them with Ashley and me. If he sees us together getting along all right, he might reconsider. But I can’t stress it enough. The first time you aren’t who you say you are now, that’s it. We’ll have to fight it out in court no matter what Ashley wants.”
“So you’ve really forgiven me?”
Forgiven him? She hadn’t thought of it in those terms, but she knew she couldn’t keep the hostility up much longer—not with everything else happening around her. “I guess so, but I haven’t forgotten what you did. It was a hard lesson to learn, but you have taught me what I want in a relationship. Good looks and charm will only get a man so far.”
“Does that mean you think I’m good-looking and charming?”
“Marginally,” she said in a serious voice, but her mouth cracked into a grin. “Okay, you know you are. All the girls in high school were after you. I think it was that bad rep you had.”
He stood. “Thanks. I’m trying my best to change that ‘bad rep.’ I won’t let you down this time.”
She’d heard that a number of times when they had been together. She prayed he meant it this time. She might have forgiven Harris for what happened in the past, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t keep an eye on him because she assumed everything was all right. Not with her children in the middle of it.
As soon as she closed the front door and locked it, she climbed the stairs to the second floor and continued to Steven’s room. She hadn’t forgotten what he’d said about the other kids taking cough syrup. Please give me the right words to say, Lord. I’ve been naive when it comes to what’s going on around me at home and work. My focus has been what it has always been, surviving one day at a time, raising my children, and making a living. It needs to be more. That’s not enough with all that’s occurring in the world.
Sadie half-expected her son to ignore the knock, but seconds later he thrust open the door. “Is he gone?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’m starved.” He started for the stairs.
“We need to talk.”
“Now? I haven’t had anything all day.”
If he didn’t appease his ravenous appetite, she would never get anywhere with him. “Yes, now. I’ll come downstairs with you, and we can talk in the kitchen.”
Five minutes later, with the box of leftover pizza in front of him at the table and a large glass of milk, Sadie asked, “What do you mean by the other kids at school are taking cough syrup?”
He scrunched his mouth into a frown. “Just that. I wouldn’t have thought about it if I hadn’t heard about it at school. A little of it is fine. A lot taste yucky. Made me sick to my stomach.”
Good. She hoped that would at least stop him in the future. “Why did you do it?” she asked. Although after talking to the school nurse, she had a feeling why, but she wanted to hear it from her son.
Steven shrugged. “To make me feel better.” He popped half a slice of pizza into his mouth, eating it, then downing several swigs of milk.
“Did it?”
“No. I told you I felt sick to my stomach.”
“Then why are the kids doing it?”
“I guess not all kids feel that way. I’ve heard a couple of students are selling the crushed kind that doesn’t do that to you. But honestly anything labeled a cough suppressant, DM, or has ‘tuss’ in the title will give a person a high if they take a lot of it. It’s easy to get. Not expensive.”
“Who’s selling it?”
“Mom! I’m not a narc.”
She shouldn’t be having this conversation with her son. In a perfect world, this would never be an issue. What have I done wrong as a parent? “Do you know what can happen to a person who abuses cough syrup and remedies like it? They can become addicted to it. Taking excessive amounts can lead to death. What if when you fell and hit your head, it had killed you or put you in a coma?”
“Calm down, Mom. I’m not gonna do it. I didn’t like it. Not worth a cracked head and my stomach pumped out.”
Sadie closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm down. “These kids selling it at the middle school should be stopped.”
Steven took the last piece of pizza and shut the empty box. “I don’t know who they are. I think they’re a couple of eighth graders selling various drugs.”
“Various? What?”
“I don’t know. Things to calm you down, perk you up.”
“Are your friends buying any?”
He shook his head. “Not my close ones.” His gaze slid away.
“But some of the kids you know?”
“Maybe. I don’t know for sure.”
“You should talk about your experience with your friends. Let them know how close you came to really hurting yourself. Let them know how it felt to have your stomach pumped out. They need to hear the other side of taking cough syrup.”
Steven downed the rest of his milk and shoved to his feet.
“Was your dad’s return the reason you wanted to get high?”
He blinked then looked toward the door.
“We need to talk about this. Your dad isn’t going away.”
“Why not? Aren’t you going to fight him in court? I’ll testify I don’t want him around.”
“Why do you feel so different from Ashley?”
He clenched his hands at his sides, his eyes becoming slits. “Because he deserted you—us. A man doesn’t do that.” Grandpa told me. He whirled around and hurried from the room.
Sadie rubbed her fingertips down her face. She felt in the middle of two warring factions—Ashley on one side, Steven on the other. And in the middle of this, her eyes had been opened to what was going on around her. She’d held herself apart from others for long enough. Tomorrow she would inform the principal at the middle school what little she knew, and then in the afternoon after work, she would go see her father. The talk she’d had with Harris tonight and even Steven was the first step in righting her life.
Her feet dragged with fatigue as Mary Lou entered her house through the garage early Tuesday morning. She noticed the blinds over the sink were still open. Kelly usually shut all of them before she went to bed.
She went over to the counter and pulled the string to close the slats on the darkness that still blanketed the landscape at 6:10 a.m. in the morning. Mary Lou trudged up the stairs to her bathroom, exhausted from dealing with a patient’s death a few hours ago and searching for the right tools to use to pick the lock on the medicine cabinet. Mary Lou withdrew the bottle of her last two painkillers from deep in the linen closet. Shaking one out into her palm, she stared at the oblong pill. This and the last one would get her through the day. Then tonight she would get a new supply to hold her for a while until she came up with another source.
Mary Lou pop
ped the painkiller into her mouth and swished it down with a gulp of water from the faucet. She followed it with one of her tranquilizers so she could sleep. Then, as she padded to her bedroom, she thought about checking on Kelly. Nah, her daughter was asleep, and she certainly didn’t need to disturb her.
But later she would have a word with her about not returning her call last night, and the fact she had to go to the police station again at one. Mary Lou would only be able to sleep a couple of hours. In her room, her bed beckoned her, and she fell face down onto the mattress, the darkness like the night blanketing her.
Mary Lou rolled over and fumbled for the phone. “Hello.”
“Mrs. Winston, this is Summerton High School again. Kelly hasn’t been at school today, and you haven’t called in this morning yet.”
The hazy red numbers on her digital clock read 12:30 p.m. At least she thought they did. She rubbed her eye and tried to focus better. Yeah, 12:30. Didn’t she set the alarm for 7:45 a.m., so she could catch Kelly before she left for school?
“Mrs. Winston, are you there?”
“Yes. Sorry. I worked last night and came home early this morning and fell asleep. I meant to call. She’s still not feeling well. I’ll make sure she gets to school tomorrow.”
Before the secretary could say another word, Mary Lou slammed the receiver in its cradle and pushed back the covers. She didn’t even remember pulling them over her. The softness of her bed enticed her to return to sleep, but she had to make it clear to Kelly she couldn’t skip school, and she had to get over Jared. But even more importantly, they only had half an hour to get to the police station. Last night she’d left a message for Jeffrey to meet them there. She hoped he would because she couldn’t deal with Cord or Ethan without him.
Mary Lou shook her head. Kids think they know what love is. They don’t have any idea what it is.
She shuffled toward Kelly’s room, barely able to pick up her feet. Her muscles protested the exercise. Inside, she made a slow three-sixty. This was exactly like it was a couple of days ago. Slowly, the significance of what she was seeing seeped into her foggy brain. Her daughter was gone.
13
Thanks for calling me and letting me know Dad was here.” Sadie entered her parents’ house right after work on Tuesday. “I have to pick Steven and Ashley up at school by four.”
“I’m not sure having a talk with your father will do any good. He’s one stubborn man. Don’t you think I’ve already tried?”
“I know he never liked Harris, but why?”
“You didn’t ask him?”
“Yes, but all he would say was he had his reasons, then expected me not to date him.”
Her mother fiddled with the pearl drop earrings she was wearing. “He never would say, but I have my suspicions.”
“What?”
“Harris’s mother. Your dad dated her in high school, and she dropped him for Harris’s father. Then the man was caught breaking and entering homes of people he knew and stealing their valuables.”
“So you think Dad was angry at Harris because his father took his girlfriend away? A man who robbed people?”
Her mom nodded. “All these years I’ve known I was his second choice. That Veronica was his first one, and he would have left me if she’d ever encouraged him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What woman wants to admit she’s the runner-up, not the winner?”
Sadie enfolded her mother into her embrace, trying to tamp down her anger. She had come to reconcile with her father, to apologize for leaving all those years ago. Now she didn’t know if she could. “Where’s Dad?”
“In his office.”
Sadie strode toward her father’s home office. At the door at the end of the hallway, she filled her lungs with as much air as she could and raised her hand to knock. She blew a long breath out and dropped her arm, turning away. She couldn’t do it. Earlier, listening to the pain in her mother’s voice stirred up Sadie’s anger again. How could Dad do that to Mom?
The sound of the door opening startled her, and she gasped, whirling around to find her father in the entrance.
“Why are you standing there? Did you need to see me?” His brusque voice rubbed her nerves the wrong way.
All the years of tiptoeing around her father, avoiding the real subject she wanted to discuss overwhelmed her with the wasted time and the prideful bearing of not only her father but her own. Someone had to give, and looking at his proud stance as though he was readying himself to do battle made her realize it wouldn’t be him.
“Mom told me about Veronica. Is she the reason you were so against Harris?”
Shock filled his eyes. “I don’t owe you an explanation.” He strode toward his desk.
Sadie charged into the office. “Harris wasn’t his mother,” she said to his back, startled she was defending her ex-husband after all he had done to her and the kids.
Her father pivoted, the sharp needles of his eyes piercing right through her. “No, he was worse. Look what he did to you. He left you with two babies.”
The blast of his voice hit her with its full force. She stepped back. “Since when do you care?”
“His mother and father were no good, and neither is he. I’m glad you’re going to fight him being in the children’s lives.”
“I’m not going to fight him. Ashley wants to get to know her dad.”
“Just because your child wants it doesn’t mean you should give it to her. Didn’t you get it all those years ago when I forbade you seeing Harris? Look what happened to you in the end. He abandoned you at the worst possible time.”
And so did you. “Oh, I got it. If I chose Harris, you would have nothing to do with me. I was only weeks away from being eighteen, and you were dictating what I was going to do. It was your way or the highway. It always was and still is.” Words spilled from her bruised heart that she hadn’t acknowledged in years.
“He’s going to hurt you again.”
“Then so be it. That isn’t a reason you should turn your back on me. My wise, thirteen-year-old daughter told me a person deserves a second chance in life. That’s what the Lord would want. I’m giving that to Harris. Don’t you think your own daughter deserves one?”
The veins in her father’s neck stood out. She could almost see them throbbing faster and faster. “I didn’t want you making the same mistakes. I knew what kind of person Veronica was—a user.”
“Well, you might want to talk to your wife about what she thinks. She always thought she came in second in your life to Veronica.” Sadie backed away until she was in the doorway and said, “And Harris wasn’t the only one who abandoned me at the worst possible time,” then swept around and hurried down the hall.
I can’t do it, Lord. He’s too bitter and hard. He doesn’t know how to give any.
“Meet me at Mary Lou’s house,” Cord said to Ethan over his cell phone.
“What’s going on?” Ethan slowed and parked along a street while he talked with Cord. “I was headed that way now because she and Kelly didn’t show up at the station. Jeffrey didn’t know what was going on. I told him I would bring them in.”
“Kelly is gone. Mary Lou thinks for at least thirty-six hours, possible forty-eight.”
“But she doesn’t know for sure? Does she check on her daughter at all?” Ethan snapped his teeth together so hard, he hoped he didn’t crack a tooth.
“I know. That’s a conversation for another day. Believe me, I intend to have it out with Mary Lou, especially in light of everything going on lately. I haven’t gotten to call you yet. I’ll be coming from the scene of a wreck. Luke Adams ran into a tree. DOA.”
Dead on arrival. Ethan closed his eyes. “What happened?”
“Don’t know. I’ll leave my men to process the scene. No other car was involved. It appears he lost consciousness because there are no skid marks to indicate he attempted to swerve away or put on his brakes.”
“Two teens dead and one missing in less
than ten days—all, we believe, at that pill party.”
“It would seem. See you at Mary Lou’s.”
Ethan had the strong urge to call his sister and make sure Lexie was all right. Before pulling back onto the road, he punched in Beth’s cell phone number. She answered on the second ring.
“Ethan, I’m glad you called. We had a patient die last night who shouldn’t have.”
“You’re work in a nursing home with old and ailing people. Why do you feel the patient shouldn’t have?”
“Lucy was in the room next to our grandmother. Remember that day she was screaming and moaning. She may have dementia and severe arthritis, but otherwise she was quite healthy. On her meds, she is harmless, docile. Last night she went berserk and ended up stabbing herself with a pair of scissors over and over.”
“Where did she get the scissors?”
“From the patient across the hall who is perfectly lucid and knits a lot to keep herself active. What I don’t understand is why she did it? Something doesn’t feel right. I’m requesting an autopsy.”
“You expect foul play?” With tension twisting the muscles in his neck, he rolled his head.
“I don’t know. I can’t see why. But I do have questions, and since I’m the supervising nurse at Greenbrier, I need to have answers, even if Lucy doesn’t have any family. I didn’t mean to lay this all on you. It’s probably nothing. Why did you call?”
“Where’s Lexie?” Ethan asked in the calmest voice he could. He had a bad feeling about all of this. It all seemed connected somehow. Drugs were at the center of a lot of events occurring in Summerton lately.
“Why?”
“Kelly has been missing for at least thirty-six hours. Do you think Lexie knows anything?”
“She said something to me about Kelly not being at school and that she’s left several voice messages and texts on her phone. She was going by to see her this afternoon and make sure she was all right. I’m not sure when.”
“Call her and ask her to stay home. I’ll come by later and let you all know what’s going on.”
“Should I go home?”
Severed Trust: The Men of the Texas Rangers | Book 4 Page 22