CHAPTER 48
Deborah
“No, Miles.” A soft, gravelly voice speaks from the hallway. “Deborah’s right. Well, partially right.”
The footsteps arrive in the kitchen, belonging to a woman wearing black combat boots. Her blonde hair is tightly wound into a chignon, and she’s wearing glasses with thick black frames.
“Alice!” Miles screeches. “What’re you doing here?”
“Oh, Dr. Alacoy, you scared me!” Deborah half rises out of her chair in surprise. “That’s quite the entrance. You could’ve knocked at the front.” She murmurs to Miles, “Did we not hear someone knocking?” To Alice, she says, “We were caught up in a deep discussion. Sorry about that.”
Holding up a key, Alice smiles. “Not to worry, I let myself in.”
The corners of Deborah’s face crease in confusion, and Alice shrugs. “I got the key from your purse during our sessions. When you passed out, I was able to make a copy.” Nodding at Miles, she giggles. “Hello, future stepson.” The woman reintroduces herself to Deborah. “You know me as Dr. Alacoy. But before Edward divorced me, I was formerly known as Mrs. Alicia Pearson, or Alice. Alacoy is my maiden name. But soon”—she beams—“I’ll be a Fletcher. Robert and I are engaged. Woo-hoo! And I’d show you the ring if I weren’t wearing gloves. Maybe later?”
Deborah’s eyes flicker between Alice and Miles in stunned silence.
“And hello, Debbie.” She greets her with a wicked grin. “My current patient—and soon-to-be committed patient.”
After first patting Deborah’s knee, Alice settles against the kitchen counter. “Go on with your chat, you two. That was rude of me to interrupt in the middle of an intense conversation. Please forgive my impatience. I just want to make sure the story is accurate.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m so sick of hearing it told wrong. As much as I wish I could correct everyone, it’d be a dead giveaway I was hiding in the loft the night that Jonathan went splat”—she smacks her hands together—“and Cindy bled to death.”
“So you’re the woman Sibley saw sneak onto the property . . . ,” Deborah murmurs. “I thought she got it wrong. Or she lied.”
“Shame on you, Deb. You should’ve believed your own flesh and blood.” Alice lets out a maniacal laugh. “Sibley did come to see me this morning, and we had a nice little chat. She’s very, very worried about you. Says you’ve become unstable . . .” Alice throws her gloved hands up. “But don’t worry; we talked it through. I didn’t tell her the reason you’ve been experiencing all the brain fog and confusion and mental anguish is a result of your medication. Before I started treating you, I made sure I had the right diagnosis. Some people wait for the patient to come to them before they treat it, which is so reactive, don’t you think?”
She brushes a strand of hair off Deborah’s cheek. “But with you, I wanted to be proactive. I owe you that. Especially because you are harmful to society, a real crazy person who belongs in a mental institution. Cuckoo. I gave Sibley your records to show her exactly how batshit you are.” Alice grins. “But don’t worry—they were in her room, and I got them all back. Plus her laptop and phone. A word of advice: she might want to think of a stronger password in the future.”
“Leave her out of this.” Deborah’s lip trembles.
“She looks just like Edward.” Alice sneers. “I wanted to smack the freckles off her face.” She leans down so she’s level with Deborah, her eyes boring into her skull. “Cindy told me back then she thought you were having an affair with Robert, back in early September. It brought all these suppressed memories back, how Edward was obsessed with you. He never wanted me; he only wanted you.” Jabbing her finger at Deborah’s throat, she cries, “I figured if he was so obsessed with you, I should be too.
“I told poor Cindy you were a shrew, a terrible human being, a whore, a home-wrecker, every word I could think of.” Alice lets out a loud sigh. “And she ate it up. I mean, you gave her all the proof she needed.” Alice stares at Miles. “Both you and your dumb, dead girlfriend—I mean wife. Kristin.” She looks at the ceiling. “Rest in peace, Kristin.”
“So it is true.” Miles leans back in his chair, deflated. “Kristin never did see you and my father doing anything at the Halloween party.”
“You’re smarter than I gave you credit for!” Alice pats his shoulder. “I had been following Deborah and knew it was totally believable. She’d been meeting up with Robert to plan her escape from her deadbeat husband. You know how small towns are—everybody knows everybody. Kristin coached a sports team my little girl was on at the time, and I gave her five hundred bucks to lie. She had a real mean streak, the perfect mean girl to spread that rumor. Another instance of a poor kid needing a dad in her life.”
“But why?” Deborah runs a tired hand over her face. “Why would you do that to my family?”
“Because you ruined mine,” Alice hisses. “After Eddie divorced me, my poor kids went the same route. Their father abandoned them. Fucking Edward just relinquished his parental rights. Gave up his two children so he could be with you and your shithead kid. We went from having a decent life to being practically homeless. We had to move back to the East Coast so we could live with my parents.”
Deborah wrings her hands in her lap. “But Edward didn’t leave you for me and Sibley.”
“Yes, he did. He moved back into town and started attending all of Sibley’s events, watching her grow up, instead of his precious kids that weren’t part of some short-lived, puppy love relationship, born out of wedlock and passed off as another man’s. And the nail in the coffin”—Alice points a crooked finger at Deborah—“he left everything
