‘Why Michael? We’re talking vehicular homicide here, Annabeth. Austin murdered the father of your children.’
‘Do you honestly think I don’t realize that?’ Her eyes welled up with tears. ‘I called Michael because that’s what I’d been ordered to do when I took Austin on as a patient. That was the deal. If there was any kind of trouble, I was to call Michael. No one else. So I called him. I–I was a shattered wreck when I did. I’d just lost the great love of my life. Paul was … He was so kind, funny and sweet. You remind me of him sometimes.’
‘Please don’t say anything like that again.’
‘But it’s true,’
‘I don’t care. Please don’t say it.’
‘OK.’ She lowered her head back on to my shoulder, nestling close to me. ‘I did tell Michael we should inform the state police immediately that Austin was responsible for Paul’s death. He said, “We will do no such thing.” Furthermore, he said that if I did so on my own he’d see to it that I lost my position at Yale as well as my license to practice. Put yourself in my position, Hoagy. I was a grief-stricken thirty-seven-year-old woman who’d just lost her husband and had three small kids to support. What choice did I have? So I did what Michael told me to do. Continued to treat Austin and collect my million dollars a year.’
‘Annabeth, there’s something I really don’t understand.’
‘What is it?’
‘Michael was so utterly terrified of Austin that he couldn’t even be in the same room with him unless there were armed guards present. Wouldn’t he have welcomed the opportunity to have Austin arrested and put away for life? Wouldn’t he have wanted to be free of him?’
‘Austin was his kid brother. Family. And it was Michael’s responsibility to look after him, even if he was terrified of him. It sounds crazy, I know. But the Talmadges have never been like other people. Besides, they’re above the law. Austin would never have been charged with a crime or seen the inside of a jail. So I kept my mouth shut and sent him off to McLean.’
‘Did he go willingly?’
‘Far from it. Two of Michael’s bodyguards had to hold him down so I could shoot him up with Haldol. He was transported there by private ambulance.’
‘How often did it come up in your subsequent therapy sessions with Austin over the years?’
‘How often did what come up? What are we talking about now?’
‘The fact that he killed your husband. What do you think we’re talking about?
She let out a sigh. ‘I guess I was just hoping you’d changed the subject. I don’t find this a very pleasant one to talk about. Austin always pretended he had nothing to do with it. Told me he hoped I found out who was responsible for Paul’s death so that law and order would be served. He was very big into law and order, as you know.’
‘Why did he kill Paul?’
‘I already told you. He’d stopped taking his Thorazine. When I threatened him with a return trip to McLean he became enraged.’
‘I’m not buying it. You must have had that very same conversation dozens of times before. Why did he really do it?’
She snuggled there against me in silence for a long moment. ‘To show me that he was in charge.’
‘OK, that I can believe.’
‘Part of me died inside after that, I swear. I became like a zombie. Just kept on treating him and putting one foot in front of the other. He’d stay at McLean for weeks or months at a stretch, return home, stay on his meds, show up for work at the A&P and our therapy sessions. Then, inevitably, he’d stop taking his meds, stop showing up, grow increasingly erratic and have to be hospitalized. The pattern repeated itself over and over and over again until two years ago, when Frank told Michael that Austin was simply too disruptive and that he couldn’t allow him to work at the A&P anymore. Michael was dismayed, but it came as no surprise to me. Austin’s condition, despite my best efforts, was steadily deteriorating.’
‘Were you ever concerned that he would attack you?’
‘Never. He was too dependent on me.’
‘What about one of your children?’
‘I never, ever mentioned a single morsel of personal information about them. And I made sure they were never on their own after school. If I had to be in New Haven then my mother would pick them up and stay with them until I got home. Mind you, these past two years were less of an issue because he was away at McLean most of the time. Practically all of last year and most of this year, until just a few weeks ago.’
‘Which explains why I never saw him on patrol this summer when I was working on my novel in Merilee’s guest house. When I came out here last week he showed up almost instantly in his tricked-out police car, incredibly anxious to meet her. I just figured he was a goofball celebrity stalker with a serious personal hygiene problem, but Mr MacGowan warned me he was much more dangerous than that and told me to report the encounter. Next thing I knew the kitchen was full of Very Important People who were talking about “pulling the ripcord.”’
‘The matter was taken quite seriously,’ she acknowledged. ‘Merilee is a huge star and Austin, he wasn’t doing well. I don’t need to tell you that.’
‘No, you don’t.’
‘After Michael’s security team had reeled him in and brought him home to his private sanitarium, I had the substitute nurse, Eileen, knock him out with a heavy dose of Ambien, as I told you. Except he’d become incredibly adept over the years at pretending to swallow pills. Also at sneaking around. He managed to get out of a locked room without
