Beyond Suspicion

67

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Jack had a view of the restrooms from his seat in the hospital waiting room. Cindy’s mother was off to his left, several rows of seats separating them. Over the course of two hours, they’d made eye contact once. He’d just happened to look up and caught her shooting death rays in his direction.

A little after eleven o’clock, the doctor came out to see them. “Mr. Swyteck?”

Evelyn jumped from her seat and came between them. “I’m Cindy’s mother.”

“I’m Dr. Blanco. The good news is your daughter-your wife-is going to be just fine. She dodged a bullet. Literally. It scorched a path right past her ear. Right down to the skull. Still, it’s in the superficial category.”

Jack asked, “What about Katrina, the woman who came in the same ambulance? How’s she?”

“She’s in recovery. Lost a lot of blood, but she made it here in time. I’d expect a full recovery. Probably a couple months of rehab on the shoulder.”

“Can we talk about my daughter, please?” said Evelyn. “When can she come home?”

“That’s a little problematic. With any self-inflicted wound, we don’t want to rush these things. Before I make any promises, I want to get a psychiatric evaluation.”

“That seems wise,” said Jack.

“Psychiatric?” said Evelyn. “She’s not a-I mean, she’s a bright girl. She’s just been under so much stress.”

“Stress may be part of it. But let’s get a professional to take a look at the whole picture. Then we can make a judgment.”

“When can I see her?”

“That’s something our psychiatrist should determine. You can wait here, if you like. I’ll send someone down from psych just as soon as I can.” He offered a polite smile, shook their hands, and was on his way.

Jack returned to his seat. Evelyn started toward hers, then stopped and turned back. She took the seat across from Jack but said nothing. She just stared.

“I’m sorry for all this, Evelyn.”

“You should be.”

“No need to beat me up. I’ll be beating myself up over this for a long time. It’s so obvious to me now.”

“What’s so obvious?”

“Cindy and Jessie. There’s no good reason for Jessie’s body to have been found in my own house. Unless Cindy killed her.”

“Do you honestly believe that Cindy is capable of murder?”

“No. But the little things are starting to add up now. I remember one of the first nights we spent in your house. Cindy was all upset because she found out she wasn’t pregnant. We started talking about fertility, and she was so certain that the problem was with her, not me. Neither one of us had been tested. How would she have known it was her, unless Jessie had told her…” He stopped himself, suddenly uncomfortable about having this conversation with his mother-in-law.

“Told her that you had already fathered a child?”

“All I’m saying is, I just can’t believe it.”

“Then don’t believe it. Look, Jessie may have died in your house, but Cindy wasn’t even home when it happened. She was with me that whole day.”

“Nice try, Evelyn. But you’re not the first parent to concoct an alibi for her child.”

“You listen to me, smart guy. Cindy’s not well to begin with. That man Yuri knocked her out with some kind of drug and then put a gun to her head. How coherent would you be after all that? You can’t take anything she said this morning at face value.”

The elevator doors opened, and a woman stepped out. Jack caught her eye, and she walked toward him. Jack hadn’t seen her in a while, but it seemed that the older Cindy and her sister got, the more they looked alike.

“Hello, Celeste,” said Jack.

“Thanks for calling me. How’s Cindy?”

“She’s going to be fine.”

Evelyn turned and walked away, saying nothing to her older daughter. If there was ice between her and Jack, she and Celeste were glaciers apart. Jack had never fully understood it, just accepted it as part of a strange family dynamic.

He escorted Celeste to the vending machine, well away from Evelyn, then took a few minutes to explain everything over a cold soda. He glanced toward the in-take desk and saw Evelyn talking with another doctor, presumably the psychiatrist.

“Excuse me one second.” He quickly crossed the waiting room and introduced himself to the doctor. As Jack had figured, she was from psych.

“As I was telling your mother-in-law, I will probably want to keep Cindy in the hospital at least overnight, mostly for observation.”

“That’s fine.”

“If she does become violent or show some signs that she might injure herself, we may need to sedate or even restrain her. I’m not saying that’s going to happen, but to be on the safe side, I’d like your written authorization to do that.”

“You really think that’s necessary?”

“I’m her mother. I’ll sign.”

Jack deferred. The doctor handed a pen and clipboard to Evelyn. She looked over the form, then took the pen. Jack watched her sign.

He tried not to show it, but it was as if he’d been hit by lightning.

“There you go,” she said.

The doctor thanked her and tucked the executed form under her arm. “I should have an update for you later this evening. I’ll phone you.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

She turned and headed for the elevator. Jack checked his watch and said, “I have to go, too.”

“Fine. You’re not needed.”

“I’d like to stay, but the homicide detectives are already breathing down my neck.”

“What’s that all about?”

“Something to do with knives. Whoever killed Jessie also slashed up some pictures of me and Cindy from our wedding album. With everything that’s happened now, they want to check out our collection of knives, see if the slashes in the wedding photographs came from any we own.”

“They think Cindy slashed her own wedding photos?”

“If she killed Jessie out of jealousy, that would fit, wouldn’t it?”

Evelyn mulled it over, then shook her head. “Just go, please. Can’t you ever bring anyone good news?”

“I’ll be sure to work on that.” He walked away but took the long route back to the elevators, making a point of passing by Cindy’s sister.

“How about a cup of coffee?” he said.

“Sure.”

He led her to the elevator and punched the down button. The doors opened, and they got inside. “There’s something I have to talk to you about,” he said.

“What?”

“Dreams.”

She rocked on her heels. “What kind of dreams?”

“For a few months now, Cindy’s been having this same nightmare about your father coming to her. And when he leaves, he wants to take me with him. Do you have any idea what that might be all about?”

She didn’t answer.

From inside the elevator, he took one last look at his mother-in-law seated on the other side of the waiting room. Then the doors closed, and the car began its descent.

The color had drained from Celeste’s face.

“I thought you might,” said Jack.

“I guess maybe it’s time you learned our dirty little family secret.”

“I’m all ears,” he said as the elevator doors parted.