Over the Falls

by Rebecca Hodge

  “Thank you for explaining. I hate to bring up the subject of money, but Del’s resources are very limited. We’ll need to evaluate the current bill and consider whether alternate arrangements are needed.” Alternate arrangements. The understatement of the century.

  Dr. Wilson looked puzzled, and it pissed me off. Didn’t she realize a facility like this was beyond the reach of the average person? Had she spent too many years hanging out with Aspen millionaires?

  She rubbed her hands together and gave me a questioning look. “I’m sorry, I must have misunderstood. I thought you were sent here by Ms. Whitman’s husband before his death.”

  Her phrasing didn’t quell my irritation. “He told us she was here. He didn’t give details.”

  “I see. He didn’t explain the financial arrangements he’d made?”

  “No.”

  “I can ask the administrator to make copies of the paperwork for you. You’ll need them if you’re now our primary contact for communication. You don’t need to have financial concerns. Mr. Whitman has transferred a significant sum into a trust for his wife’s care.” She emphasized the word significant with raised eyebrows.

  “Enough to cover costs at this place? How much money is involved?”

  She cleared her throat. “Four point six million dollars.”

  “What?” It came out screechy. “Four. Point. Six. Million?” I couldn’t even conceive of that much money.

  The numbers Sawyer had jotted on the paper in his desk suddenly fell into place. Six percent of 4.6 million equaled 276,000 dollars. He had been calculating annual return on invested money, making sure what he set aside would provide adequately for Del.

  “Correct. Don’t worry, this was all set up through his lawyer. It’s completely aboveboard.” She chattered on, explaining contingencies if Del improved and needed less care, contingencies if she got worse, contingencies if she died. The paperwork specified an annual independent review of her condition and the therapies Elk Creek used. Every potential outcome provided for. The details passed by in a blur, but the bottom line appeared to be that Sawyer had set things up to provide care for Del for the rest of her life.

  I couldn’t help but give a moment’s thought to what all that money might have done for Del if she didn’t need it for care. Put her onto a better path? Or given her the resources for complete destruction? It was foolish speculation. Sawyer’s guilt-ridden reevaluation of the mess he’d made of his life had been prompted only by Del’s disaster. If he’d found her at the bar and she’d remained healthy, he probably could have paid her off for next to nothing.

  “When were all these arrangements made?”

  “He initiated the paperwork when he first transferred her here from the hospital. When he realized how guarded the outlook for recovery was.”

  Weeks ago. While Josh was hanging out with neighbors and I was at home, hating him, Sawyer was out here putting everything in place to take care of her.

  The doctor checked her watch and took a step away. “I’ll get you copies of the pertinent documents. If you have additional questions, I suggest you talk with the lawyer who drew up the agreement. I’ll leave his contact information with the receptionist out front.”

  I nodded, feeling numb. “Thank you.” She hustled down the hallway, and I turned to Landon. “I can’t believe any of this. It feels surreal.”

  “Understandable. How much money did he originally steal?”

  “He said two million. I had assumed he spent it all—he always wanted to be rich—but he must have invested almost everything to let it grow to that extent.” Sawyer’s aging SUV. The one-room house with its low-key furnishings. He’d spent little. His guilt over that money must have weighed heavily long before Del showed up.

  “I can’t bear this. I keep thinking I should have done more. Gotten in touch with Del after Sawyer’s plane crash. Tried to offer some support. Maybe if I had, none of this would have happened.”

  Landon gave me an emphatic shake of the head. “Blaming yourself for this is the same as Josh blaming himself for Sawyer’s death. Del and Sawyer made their own choices. They betrayed you, and that set up a chain of events that had nothing to do with you. You built a wall to protect yourself, and that’s understandable.”

  Nice of him to believe all that. I wished I could believe it myself.

  He rested a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t forget, when Josh landed on your doorstep, you turned your life upside down to try to find your sister. That doesn’t sound like someone who’s walled herself off from life.” He gave a wry smile, and I got the sense he was thinking about the barricade that still existed between the two of us.

  I reached up and took his hand, then led the way back into the room where Del and Josh remained. Landon and I sat on the couch. Josh sat cross-legged at Del’s feet. He was still holding her hand, but now he was talking steadily.

  “… and Bryn let me canoe on the lake. You’d like it there. It’s not all that far from home, so maybe we can go there one day. The drive to get here took forever, but the camping was fun. We cooked on a Coleman stove, and I got to light it in the morning to make breakfast. Then, after we went to the Games …”

  Del pulled her gaze away from an end table, and our eyes met. It was like looking into the eyes of a faded doll. I had wanted to punish my sister, but I would never have wished this sort of horrifying half life for her.

  Landon pulled me tight against him. “I’m so sorry, Bryn. So sorry.”

  We sat for a few more minutes, then a nurse bustled into the room. “I hate to interrupt, but it’s time for Ms. Whitman’s physical therapy.”

  “Josh.” I kept my voice quiet, and he turned to face me. “Are you okay leaving?” I didn’t like pulling him away, but the calm veneer he’d pinned in place was beginning to worry me. “We can come back tomorrow if you’d like.”

  He closed his eyes for a moment, as if bracing himself for whatever came next, then he scrambled awkwardly to his feet, still holding his mother’s hand. He leaned forward to give her a kiss on her forehead. “Bye, Mom. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  He came over to join Landon and me. The nurse took Del by the arm, and in response to a gentle tug, she rose to her feet and shuffled out of the room at the nurse’s side, her movements stiff and jerky. She didn’t even glance our way.

  Josh watched her leave, then slumped forward, collapsing into my arms. “She didn’t even know who I was.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Josh

  We went from the rehab center into town to get some dinner, stopping at a restaurant with a flashing “Hot Food” sign and a six-page plastic menu. Nothing tasted any better than it had at lunch. I kept thinking about Mom. She looked too skinny. Maybe they didn’t know what foods she liked. Maybe that was why she didn’t recognize me. Maybe if I started taking her food, making sure she ate right, she would get better.

  But maybe not. “What did the doctor say? What exactly happened to her?”

  Bryn looked away before she spoke. “Maybe we should wait. Talk about this in private after we’re done with dinner.”

  Bullshit. “No. Now. Tell me now.”

  Bryn’s lips tightened up, and she didn’t look too happy, but she nodded. “When your dad found her, she wasn’t breathing, and even though he did CPR, it wasn’t until the ambulance got there that they got her breathing on her own.”

  “You said I wasn’t breathing when you found me in the river, and I’m okay.”

  “I got there fast, and you didn’t have drugs in your system. To make things worse, after they got her to the hospital, she stopped breathing again. Several times. Oxygen levels in her brain dropped dangerously low, and that’s why she’s having trouble now. The combination of the pills she was taking and the alcohol …” She stopped, like saying any more would only make things worse.

  I couldn’t imagine how things could be worse. “Not enough oxygen in her brain. You mean she’s brain damaged.” I felt like a traitor saying those words.
I didn’t know exactly what they meant, but I knew it was the sort of thing people said on TV when everything was hopeless. Not blood and bruises and bandages like I’d imagined. Something far worse. “They can help her, right? She’ll get better?” My whole world hung on the answer.

  Bryn fiddled with the salt and pepper shakers and wouldn’t even look at me. Any hopes of good news sank into my stomach and turned into concrete.

  “They’ll take good care of her. And they’ll try to help her get better. But I have to be honest, Josh. The doctor didn’t sound very hopeful.”

  A baby laughed at a table beside us. A clattering sound came from the kitchen. The lady in the front of the restaurant counted out five menus, spoke to a family who was waiting, and led them to a table.

  Mom, not knowing me. I’d made a fool of myself falling apart like a little kid at the rehab place. I didn’t want to do the same thing here in a restaurant. I picked up my fork, held it under the table, and dug the points into my hand until the tears that threatened slid back where they belonged. I told myself I needed to think about what was best for Mom, but how was I supposed to know what that was?

  “There’s something else you need to know.” Bryn made sure I was looking at her before she went on. “Your father set aside money to take care of your mother. Lots of money. She’ll be able to stay here where people can try to help her.”

  I hadn’t even thought about money, which was dumb, since I was the one who always kept up with the bills. A place that fancy had to cost even more than our rent. “She’s already been there a few weeks. It’s enough to pay for that and let her stay longer?”

  “It’s enough to pay for her to stay there forever, if she needs to.”

  Forever. I’d heard all the words that came before, but she stumbled over that one, and it smacked into me like a sucker punch. It was one of those words that was heavy to say and heavier to hear. I could tell from Bryn’s voice that forever was what she expected would happen.

  I’d set out to find Mom so I could take care of her. Instead, I’d proven she wasn’t coming home.

  I pushed my plate away, two bites of the burger gone and the fries untouched. My wrist ached under the splint. My hand burned from the fork points. I couldn’t ask anything more about Mom. And I couldn’t face the question of what was going happen to me if Mom was staying here in Colorado.

  Bryn had said no foster care, but that promise was made back in Tennessee, and that was when she thought we’d find Mom in just a few days and bring her home. A lot had changed, and none of the changes were good news. Right then in that restaurant, I couldn’t look that far ahead. “So, what happens tonight?”

  “We thought we’d find a motel for tonight that will take Tellico,” Landon said. “No sense you two pitching a tent this late.”

  Bryn pushed the food around on her plate. “In the morning, I need to see your father’s lawyer. Find out what he knows. Then we can go see your mom again. We’ll decide what’s next after that.”

  “What are you going to do about Carl?”

  She did her finger-drumming thing, like she couldn’t make up her mind. “Tomorrow is Wednesday, and I don’t think he’s in the mood to wait later than his noon deadline. He said he would text, and he wants us to just hand over those pills. At least we have them now to barter with, but it’s not that simple. Maybe giving them to him would keep him off our case. Maybe. But after seeing your mom and how bad she is …”

  A surge of burning anger warmed me as I understood what that meant. “Those pills. That’s what did it right? That’s what made Mom this way?”

  Bryn nodded.

  “Then this is Carl’s fault. You can’t give that stuff back to him.”

  Bryn reached across the table and squeezed my hand. “I agree. If we give them back, and they hurt someone else, then it would be our fault.”

  I hadn’t thought about it that way. Mainly I just wanted to get back at Carl. He’d strangled Annabelle, and he might as well have strangled Mom for all the damage he’d done.

  Landon looked serious. “You’ve got to get the police involved. Any other path isn’t safe.”

  “You’re right.” Bryn’s face had the same determined look as when she’d taken a kitchen knife with her to find Carl at her farm. “Talking to the police can’t hurt Del now. I’ll call Steven when we get to the hotel and lay the whole thing out—he gave me his cell number. We’ll see what he suggests. See if he can give me the name of an officer out here in Colorado. We’ve got the pills. We’ve also still got that tracker in the glove compartment. Maybe the police can activate it and trace its signal somehow to find him. Or turn it on to lure him in.”

  For once, the cops sounded like a good idea. The way Carl had looked when he talked about shooting me was seriously sick.

  The two of them finished their meal, and by the time we went outside, it was getting dark, the sun disappearing behind the tall mountains. Bryn pointed to the moon, which had already risen. “A waxing moon, almost first quarter. Always a good omen.”

  Waxing, waning, the solstice coming soon—Bryn was trying to teach me all that stuff, but I didn’t get why it mattered. Good omen or not, the moon didn’t even give enough light to see by as we made our way from the café.

  Bryn’s truck was parked in the back corner of the parking lot. I pulled out my phone to see if I had any texts, and Bryn clicked the unlock button on her remote. She was reaching for the door handle when a man’s voice came out of the shadows.

  “Time’s up. You’ve reached your deadline.”

  We all three whipped around to face Carl. Bryn and I were on the same side of the truck as him, Landon on the far side. Tellico was in the truck with the windows half open, tense and watching. I looked into the shadows, expecting to see Carl’s other two guys there, but he was by himself.

  He smiled like he was pleased he had our attention. “A day early, but I saw you spent a few days at a hospital. Is that where Del is?”

  Bryn shook her head like she couldn’t believe he’d found us again. “That tracker. We turned it off.”

  Carl gave a scratchy laugh. “Yeah, nice try. I can turn it on and off remotely. Thanks for hanging on to it. I’ve known exactly where you’ve been every day.”

  My fault. I should have thought of that. With the tracker sitting in the glove compartment and Carl able to manage it from his app, it was the same as if we hadn’t found it in the first place. That creepy feeling of being watched came rushing back, but it reminded me of everything that could be done from a cell phone. I quickly pushed a few buttons on my phone screen.

  Carl stood ten or twelve feet away, his eyes switching back and forth between Bryn, closest to him, and Landon, who was blocked by the truck from doing much. Landon started around the truck to join us, but Carl reached his right hand into his pocket and casually pulled out his gun. Landon froze. My mouth got so dry my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. Like at the campground, Carl looked like he’d be happy to use it.

  “Easy. No need for that. We found Del.” Bryn sounded angry, but she stood very still, her eyes glued to Carl’s hand. “We found your pills. They’re all yours. Congratulations. They’ve destroyed Del.”

  “She deserves whatever she gets after running like that.”

  My hand gripped my phone so tightly my fingers hurt. Mom deserved what she got? All those months when he sold her pills. The way he held his cigarette next to Patsy and hit me when I tried to protect her. Carl followed us. Scared Bryn. Scared me.

  I took a few steps closer without him noticing.

  His hand with the gun never shifted away from Bryn. “A shame Del’s not here so I can give her a piece of my mind. That bitch has been far more trouble than she’s worth. You found all my tablets? All two thousand of them?” He sounded excited, like a little kid offered a treat. “I have customers waiting. If you’re bullshitting me, I swear I’ll laugh while your house goes up in flames.”

  Bryn got even more tense. “I haven’t counted them,
but it looks like we found everything. They’re here in the truck.”

  I was breathing fast, like I’d been running to escape instead of standing frozen. I tried not to stare at the gun. Tried not to think about how Carl was going to win. Mom had lost everything, but Carl was going to get exactly what he wanted.

  Bryn reached again for the truck’s door handle, but her other hand was sliding toward the pocket where she carried Landon’s knife.

  Carl took a long stride toward her as if he realized she was up to something, and Tellico pushed his head through the open part of the window, snapping and snarling. Carl twisted to look at the dog, pointing the gun away from Bryn and putting his back toward me.

  All my anger swelled up inside and made me bigger. Mom. Annabelle. Threats about fire. Carl saying so casually that Mom deserved what she got, like she was nothing, like she was dirt. Worse than dirt. Each thing I thought about made me stronger.

  So I did it. I took two running steps and kicked as high as I could, as hard as I could, like I was trying to kick Carl over the top of the farthest mountain. My foot caught him right on target, directly in the crotch, and the toe of my shoe dug in deep. He screamed and doubled over, clutching himself. His gun hit the pavement and slid under the truck.

  “You bastard! You hurt my mom!” I kept kicking him, over and over, even after he was on the ground, my kicks slamming into his ribs, his head, his arms. He curled into a ball, swearing like crazy. I’d been the one who told Mom Carl was a good thing. I needed to be the one who finished things.

  “Enough, Josh.” Landon pulled me away. He picked up the gun and pointed it at Carl like he knew what he was doing. Carl just lay there on the pavement, moaning.

  I stepped back, out of breath. Bryn called the police, then came over to give me a big hug. “Thanks.”

  I was still pissed, but the hug felt good, and after a while I could breathe almost normal again.

  The police got there fast, and things got complicated. Landon dropped the gun and held up his hands, Bryn pointed to Carl as the criminal and told them about the drugs, the tracker, the threats. But the cops weren’t happy when they found the knife in Bryn’s pocket and the drugs in Bryn’s truck, and they made all of us sit on the ground while they tried to sort it out.