Under the Dog Star: A Rachel Goddard Mystery #4 (Rachel Goddard Mysteries) (40 page)

Tom felt as if he’d come to deliver the final blow for Vicky. He was about to destroy what was left of her family.

He found Beth Hall sitting on the floor outside Vicky’s room, her back against the wall. For one white-hot moment Tom wanted to drag the girl to her feet and shake the breath out of her. He wanted to make her answer for her stupidity.
Do you have any idea what happened to Marcy and David today?
Would she give a damn?

The moment passed. Marcy and David were safe in temporary foster care while the sheriff himself pulled strings to get their real grandparents declared their guardians. Leo Riggs had died on the operating table and Rayanne was being held on suspicion of drugging Vicky. Beth turned out to be relatively blameless in this mess, and she had a hard enough time ahead, with a lot of fast growing up to do. Tom didn’t need the satisfaction of ripping into her. Instead, he asked, “How’s your mother doing?”

Beth looked up at him with tear-reddened eyes. “She’s a little better now, but she’s in really bad shape.”

Tom looked through the glass at the frail figure lying in bed with an IV tube in one arm and a cannula delivering oxygen through her nose. At the foot of the bed stood Ethan, unshaven and rumpled, his shoulders slumped with exhaustion.

“Soo Jin!” Beth exclaimed. She scrambled to her feet.

Tom turned to see Soo Jin coming down the hall in a wheelchair pushed by a young blond nurse. An IV bag hung from a stand attached to the chair.

“She wants to see her mother,” the nurse said when they reached Tom and Beth. “The doctor okayed it. But not for long. She needs to get back in bed.”

Beth dropped to her knees beside the wheelchair and grasped one of Soo Jin’s hands. “I’m so glad you’re all right, I thought you were going to die too.” Fresh tears spilled down Beth’s cheeks. “I’m sorry I was so nasty to you. Please don’t leave me alone. Please.”

Soo Jin laid her free hand on the girl’s head. The IV tube trailed from the back of her hand. “You’re not alone, Beth. Let’s go in and see Mother.”

“Just two at a time,” the young nurse said.

“I’ve got business with Ethan,” Tom said. “He’ll be leaving.”

“Leaving?” Beth said. She pushed herself to her feet. “Why?”

“I’ll explain later.” Tom tapped lightly on the glass. When Ethan’s eyes met Tom’s his face went slack as realization flooded in. He’d probably heard that Leo Riggs had been arrested, that he was here in the hospital undergoing surgery. Ethan knew what was coming. He’d simply been waiting for Tom to uncover the truth.

Tom motioned for him to come out. Ethan went to his mother and kissed her forehead. He looked down at his mother for one long, last moment before he walked out of the room to face Tom. He didn’t seem surprised to see Soo Jin in the hall in her wheelchair.

Beth cocked her head. “What’s going on?”

“Go in with Mom,” Ethan said.

“But—”

“Beth,” Soo Jin said, taking the girl’s hand, “come with me.”

For a second Soo Jin’s eyes met Tom’s, and he realized that somehow she understood what was happening.

Tom held the door open for them. Doubtful and reluctant, still looking back at Tom and Ethan, Beth followed her sister into their mother’s room.

Tom watched panic building in Ethan as he clenched and unclenched his fists and his gaze darted around without lighting anywhere.

“Come on,” Tom said, gripping Ethan’s arm. “It’s time to go.”

***

At headquarters, Tom sat across the conference room table and waited while Ethan laid his head on his folded arms and sobbed. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he moaned.

A tape recorder lay on the table between them, but Tom hadn’t turned it on yet. Ethan had been pouring out his misery in tears for almost twenty minutes. Watching him, Tom wondered how this kid—in almost every way except age, he was still just a kid—could possibly survive in prison.

When Ethan’s sobs subsided to faint gasps and he raised his head, Tom switched on the recorder and recited the date and his and Ethan’s names. “Why did you do it, Ethan?” he asked. “How did you ever get hooked up with Leo, and why would you hire him to do something like that to your father?”

“I didn’t know he was going to use a dog. I didn’t know it was going to be…” His voice trailed off and he hung his head.

“So killing your father with a gun or a knife would have been okay?” Tom asked. “Your only regret is the murder method Leo used?”

Ethan buried his face in his hands.

“You’ve cried enough.” Tom reached across the table and tore Ethan’s hands away from his face. “It’s time for you to own up to what you’ve done. Tell me why you wanted your father dead.”

“You don’t understand what it was like.”

“Okay, tell me what it was like. Tell me your story.”

“Nothing I ever did was good enough for him,” Ethan choked out.

Jesus Christ, Tom thought. Had Ethan ever made it past the emotional age of ten? “So you hated him.”

“No!” Ethan cried. “I loved him. He was my dad. But my whole life, he made me feel like I was never going to measure up. All of us, we were…” He searched for a word. “We were just
projects
to him, like the hospital was. He was proud of Soo Jin, as if she was something he created. And Marcy and David, he liked the thought of rescuing them and making them into something better, so he could get the credit. I think Mom wanted them because she thought they were cute. Like pets. Beth and me, we didn’t mean much to them either. And Soo was the only one who turned out the way they wanted.”

Tom’s mother had seen past the facade of the Hall family, and Rachel had picked up on the truth in just a few brief encounters with the Halls. Part of the truth, anyway. A lot more might remain to be uncovered. “Leo claims your father killed Marcy and David’s real mother so he could get the kids for your mother,” Tom said. “Do you think that’s true?”

Ethan shook his head. “I don’t know. But I can tell you, it wouldn’t surprise me. He thought there were some people who didn’t deserve to be helped. He thought drug addicts ought to be allowed to kill themselves with overdoses, nobody should try to help them get clean. He called them garbage. He said the world would be better off if we got rid of the garbage.”

“How did you get involved with Leo?” Tom asked.

“He came after me,” Ethan said. “He sought me out. And he played me, he made me feel like he was the only one who understood what I was going through. He really got off on getting me to do things behind Dad’s back, things Dad would’ve hated. He gave me drugs, he paid me to sell drugs at school.”

Tom interrupted. “You’re saying Leo’s been dealing drugs since you were in high school?”

Ethan nodded. “He was working for the Shacklefords. Then when you arrested them back in January, he just took over and kept the business going.”

All this time,
Tom thought,
and I didn’t have a damned clue. Some sheriff material I am.
“Are you still part of it?”

“Yeah. I’ve been a courier ever since I moved to Florida. And Dad found out. It was my own stupidity—It was almost like I wanted him to find out, you know? I didn’t, not consciously, but I brought stuff into the house the last time I visited, it’s like I set myself up to get caught.”

“You told him you were working for Leo?” Tom asked.

“Yeah.” Ethan sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “He said he’d rather see me in prison than know I was living that way.”

“But he didn’t turn you in,” Tom pointed out. “You or Leo.”

“He was trying to decide how to handle it. He went to see Leo, he cut off the money—he’d been giving Leo money regularly. Dad didn’t know he had money coming in from dealing, and he thought Leo needed help to keep the garage going. When he found out about the drugs, he cut off the money supply and said he was going to make Leo pay for what he was doing.”

It was all clear to Tom now, the whole pathetic mess. Hall had no idea how much danger he’d put himself in by voicing his threat. The man’s massive ego probably made him feel invulnerable. He thought he could continue with his life while he kept his son and a lunatic like Leo waiting to learn whether he was going to expose them.

“It was Leo’s idea to kill him, not mine,” Ethan said, “I swear it was.”

“But you thought it was a good idea,” Tom said.

Ethan’s eyes, hot with shame, met Tom’s briefly. “He said he’d do it, but he wanted money. He wanted ten thousand up front, and more after it was over. I didn’t know he was going to use a dog. I didn’t have any idea. Once it was done, he had this hold over me; he was in charge. His girlfriend was already working in the house, and she was telling him every move I made. Then he sent his friends to the house with guns, and I had to act like I wanted them there guarding the place. They were there to scare me. To remind me I had to go along with the plan.”

“So Leo wanted your father out of the way because he blamed your father for his sister Jewel’s death, and also because he was afraid of being turned in for drug dealing.”

Ethan nodded. “But that wasn’t all. After he killed my dad, he wanted to get rid of my mother too. He figured if they were both out of the way, I’d get control of all the money and they could bleed me dry.”

“Has Rayanne been drugging your mother? I asked for a tox screen before she had dialysis. When the results come back, are they going to show something in her blood that shouldn’t be there?”

“Yes. I don’t know exactly what it was, but she was giving Mom a tranquilizer or something, and I couldn’t stop her. I tried, I swear I did.”

“Who slashed Soo Jin’s tires? Did Leo make you do that?”

“No! That was Rayanne too. She told me she did it. Soo was asking a lot of questions. She’s smart, smarter than I’ll ever be, and she was figuring it all out. Rayanne was scared of her. If I hadn’t gone out to see Leo that night, Soo wouldn’t have gone out either, and the accident wouldn’t have happened. But Rayanne and Leo would’ve found another way to kill her.” He covered his face with his hands.

“Ethan,” Tom said, “do you admit that you paid Leo Riggs to kill your father?”

“Yes,” Ethan said, his voice hardly more than a whisper behind his hands.

“Say it. Clearly.”

He dropped his hands. “I paid Leo Riggs to kill my father.”

Chapter Forty-two

One week later

Rachel watched Marcy’s reflection in the mirror as the girl filled the dresser drawers with her underwear and sweaters. She was transferring everything she owned, all the clothes and books and toys she’d accumulated as a member of the Hall family, into a small bedroom at her grandparents’ house, but her expressionless face offered no clue to her feelings about this monumental change in her life.

A burst of laughter came from the kitchen down the hall, and Marcy paused as if listening. Rachel heard David’s voice, then Raymond’s. Marcy had chosen not to join the rest of the family in a snack, and Rachel had followed her to the bedroom to help her unpack and keep her from being alone.

“Let’s sit down and talk for a minute,” Rachel said. She stepped around the big box they’d been emptying and sat on the bed.

Obediently, Marcy left a dresser drawer standing open and came to sit beside Rachel.

“Your grandparents put a lot of time into fixing up this room for you,” Rachel said. “Your grandmother made the curtains herself.”

“They’re pretty. It’s a nice room.” But Marcy wasn’t looking at the blue walls and curtains, the new throw rug and bedspread. She sat with her head down, her hands clasped in her lap.

“Do you understand everything that’s happening?” Rachel asked. “Did the judge explain it clearly enough?”

“He said David and I are going to live here until our real dad gets custody. He said that Mother and Daddy—I mean—”

“I know who you mean, sweetie.”

“He said they didn’t do the adoption the way the law says they’re supposed to.”

“They didn’t have your real dad’s permission to take you.”

Marcy was silent a moment, her body perfectly still. Rachel had never seen a child who could hold herself as still as Marcy did, like a rabbit afraid of catching a predator’s eye. When she spoke again, her voice was so soft Rachel had to ask her to repeat what she’d said.

“Is Mother going to die?”

In that quiet question Rachel heard a sadness and longing that broke her heart. Vicky Hall, whatever her flaws, was the only mother Marcy remembered, and now she’d vanished from the girl’s life. “Mrs. Hall is very sick,” Rachel said. “Rayanne made her condition worse by giving her sedatives that her body couldn’t handle. She’s better now, but I won’t lie to you, I don’t think we can expect her to live much longer.”

Marcy nodded as if accepting this. “But Soo Jin’s okay?”

“She’s recovering. She’ll look after Beth.”

“They don’t like each other.”

“They’ll have to learn to get along,” Rachel said. “They’ll be the only ones left to inherit the hospital. They might end up as business partners, although I’ll admit that’s hard to imagine.”