years. I followed you after you left work tonight. Okay?”
My head rung in disbelief, but somehow it didn't matter.
Then, as I stared at my father, something else flashed in my mind. Something that wasn't adding up. I remembered Coombs leering over me. “He knew who I was.”
“Of course he knew. You met him face-to-face. You're in charge of his case.”
“I don't mean from the case,” I said. “He knew about you.”
My father's eyes looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“That I was your daughter. He knew. He called me Marty Boxer's little girl.”
A light was blinking from a beer sign in the 7-Eleven window. It illuminated my father's face.
“I already told you,” he said, “Coombs and I were familiar. Everybody knew me back then.”
“That wasn't what he meant.” I shook my head. “He called me Marty Boxer's little girl. It was about you.”
I had a flash of my face-to-face with Coombs that morning at the hotel. I'd had the same fleeting sensation then.
That he knew me. That there was something between him and me.
I pulled away, my voice straining. “Why were you following me? I need to hear everything.”
“To protect you. I swear. To do the right thing for once.”
“I'm a cop, Dad, not your little Buttercup. You're holding something back. You're involved in this somehow. You want to do the right thing for once, this is the time to start.”
My father leaned his head back, eyes fixed straight ahead.
He sucked in a sharp breath. “Coombs called me when he got out of fuel. He managed to trace me down south.” “Coombs called you?” I said, wide-eyed, completely in shock. “Why would he call you?”
“He asked how I'd enjoyed the last twenty years of my life, while he was away. If I'd made something of myself. He said it was time to pay me back.”
“Pay you back? Pay you back for what?” As soon as I asked the question, the answer shot through me. I stared hard into my father's lying eyes.
'You were there that night, weren't you? You were in this twenty years ago.
Womans Murder Club 2 - Second Chance
Chapter 91
MY FATHER AVERTED HIS EYES. I'd seen the shamed and guilty look before - too many times - when I was just a little girl.
He started to explain. Here we go again, huh, Daddy?
'Six of us got to the crime scene, Lindsay. I was only there by chance. I was subbing for this guy, Ed Dooley. We were last on the scene. I didn't see shit. We got there after everything had been played out. But he's been badgering us, all of us, ever since.
“I never knew he was Chimera, Lindsay,” my father said.
“That you have to believe. I never heard of this cop Chipman until you told me the other day. I thought he was just threatening me.”
“Threatening you, Dad?” I blinked in disbelief. My heart was breaking a little. “Threatening you with what? Please make me understand. I really want to understand.” “He said he was going to make me feel the way he did all these years. Watching himself lose everything. He said he was going after you.”
“That's why you came back,” I said with a sigh, 'wasn't it?
“All that stuff about wanting to set things right. Make amends with me. That wasn't it at all.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I'd already pissed away so much. I couldn't let him take the rest, the part that was good. That's why I'm here, Lindsay I swear it. I'm not lying this time.”
My head was ringing. I had a murder suspect loose. Shots had been fired. I didn't know what to make of this. What to do about my father? How much did he really know? How to deal with Coombs now? With Chimera?
“You're telling me the truth? For once? This is my case, my big, important case. I have to know the truth. Please don't lie to me, Dad.” “I swear,” he said, his eyes hooded with shame. “What're you going to do?”
I glared at him. “About what? About Coombs, or us...?”
“About this whole mess. What happened tonight.”
“I don't know.” I swallowed. “But I do know one thing... If I can, I'm bringing Coombs in.”
Womans Murder Club 2 - Second Chance
