Kara and Evan came walking down the driveway accompanied by Chief Baca. Evan was on his cell phone. Kara was as pale as new snow.
I got out of the car, and Morris the gatekeeper didn’t stop me this time. I ran to her, my arms wide.
We hugged long and hard, and she whispered, “Thank you, Jillian,” into my neck. “Thank you for being so good to me.”
Then I reached out and pulled Evan in and embraced him, too. No words were necessary.
Baca smiled at me. “They’re free to go. I have their statements. But I’ll be calling them in to sign formal statements later.”
“We’re parked down that way.” Kara pointed toward where I’d already visited her car earlier. No way was she driving out right now. The SWAT vehicle was still in the way.
“We’ll take Tom’s Prius and head for the Pink House first,” I said. “Evan, you’ve got a mother and brother waiting for you, and Brandt knows enough about these events to be sick with worry.”
“I already called them,” he said. “But they both need to see me to believe I’m all right.”
On the drive, the two of them were pretty quiet at first and got quieter when I told them that Tom was injured. I was eager to get to the hospital once we dropped Evan off.
“Will Tom be okay?” Evan finally asked.
“Yes. He’ll be fine once they set his ankle. But I’m worried about the two of you. Weren’t you scared to death in there?” I said.
Evan said, “I wouldn’t want to repeat that experience, but Patrick isn’t the worst bad guy in all this. He told us everything Lieber did to my dad, said he thought they were partners. All Hoffman was supposed to do was look for any evidence that might have been left behind at the farm. Evidence connecting Lieber to my father’s plans. But then we showed up. I am pissed off-no, more than pissed off. I’d like about fifteen minutes alone with Douglas Lieber.”
“Don’t worry. He’s in jail, and he’ll pay for what he did to your father. Just chill tonight, okay?” I said. “You’ve been through a rough time.” Evan took a deep breath but didn’t say anything.
We rode in silence again until I dropped Evan off at the Pink House. Brandt must have been waiting at the window, because he raced out the door and grabbed his brother to him for dear life.
Dear life. Yes, indeed. “We need to head to the hospital, but could you check my cat cam, Kara? Chablis can’t get to her family, and she’s probably pouting.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket and handed it to her. She pulled up the video feed, and for the first time since she’d come out of that farmhouse, I saw her smile.
She said, “I don’t see Chablis. It looks like there’s catnip scattered all over the living room floor. Syrah and Merlot are totally doped and acting stupid.” She laughed.
I silently blessed my cats for their wonderful power to heal.
Thirty-two
Mercy didn’t have a real hospital, just an emergency clinic, and after a call to Billy Cranor, I learned that Tom had been taken to the county hospital about thirty minutes north-and very close to Lydia Monk’s office.
If the Mercy grapevine was active, I feared Lydia already knew about Tom’s accident. By the time we got to the hospital, sure enough, she was waiting in the emergency room. I thought I didn’t need protection anymore, but maybe I was wrong.
She wore bright pink skinny jeans and a matching scoop-neck T-shirt. Her bleached hair was held back with rhinestone clips, and she had on the biggest hoop earrings I’d ever seen. I introduced her to Kara, but I was surprised and happy when Kara put an arm around my shoulder and said, “Jillian’s my stepmother.”
All at once my fear that Lydia knew about Tom and me was forgotten.
“Wicked stepmother?” Lydia said, eyeing me with loathing.
Oh, she knew about the kiss, all right. Otherwise she would have pretended to be the reasonable Lydia, not the crazy one.
Kara said, “Not in the least. What’s your problem, Ms. Monk?”
“She’s my problem.” Lydia pointed at me, and I saw little rhinestones embedded in the polish on her nails. “Tom Stewart loves me and only me. But she thinks she can come between us. Showing up here is just another excuse to get close to him.”
Kara turned to look at me, staving off a smile. “Why didn’t I know about this love affair?”
Lydia said, “Because-”
But Candace’s arrival interrupted Lydia. “How’s our guy doing?” she said.
“Our guy is waiting for the surgeon,” Lydia said. “Or so I’ve been told.”
“He hasn’t been asking for you, Ms. Monk?” Kara said sarcastically.
“I’m sure he has,” she said.
“I need to talk to him before he goes under,” Candace said. “Hope he’s not too messed up on painkillers to tell me what he found out about Lieber. I want to verify Hoffman’s story.” She took me by the wrist. “Come on. Let’s go, Jillian.”
Lydia started to follow, but Candace turned and said, “Stay away.”
Lydia started to protest, but Kara came up to her and somehow managed to distract her.
Candace flashed her badge at the registration desk, told the receptionist why she was here, and then the magic double doors opened, allowing us in to see Tom.
We were directed to the last cubicle on the left. Tom looked sleepy, but thank goodness the pain so evident on his face earlier was gone.
“I did a good job on this ankle, huh?” Tom said. “They can’t fix it without surgery.”
“I am so sorry,” I said, taking his hand. “This is all my fault.”
“No,” he said, squeezing my hand. “I wasn’t careful in that ditch.”
“Tell me about what you found on the microchip,” Candace said. “I’ve heard some of it from Hoffman. Did Lieber have a big enough reason to murder two people over cat food?”
“Lieber poured several hundred thousand dollars into the research, maybe even his life savings,” Tom said. “There were notes-rambling, copious notes-on VanKleet’s site, and some of them indicated that they’d run out of money and that Lieber was ‘losing confidence.’ ”
“No wonder VanKleet was robbing food, milk and meat. Even the farm could be in foreclosure, for all we know,” I said.
“Nope,” Tom said. “VanKleet called it his ‘research facility’ and paid cash. I’m not sure Lieber was aware that’s how most of the money disappeared.” Tom sounded hoarse, like his mouth was drying up.
“Do you need water?” I asked.
“No water until after the surgery. Man, I cannot believe I did this to myself,” he said.
I wanted to apologize again, but instead I squeezed his hand.
Two young men in blue scrubs arrived, and one of them said, “We’re taking you to surgery. The doctor will speak with you upstairs about what he plans to do to repair the ankle. Your friends and family can wait in the surgical waiting area. It’s a lot nicer than down here.”
I bent and kissed Tom briefly, then said, “See you on the other side.”
“You better be there,” he said. “And do me a favor? Don’t call my mother until I’m out of the operating room?”
“She won’t like that,” I said.
“Believe me, it’s better that way.”
Candace and I left them to their hospital business and went back to the waiting area.
Lydia was gone when we went to pick up Kara for the trip upstairs.
“Where is she?” I said.
“She had to leave,” Kara said.
“Are you a magician?” I said.
“Let’s just say that public officials don’t like journalists all that much,” Kara answered. “I told her she might not
