Second Honeymoon

Chapter 72

“HOW?” I ASKED. “When did it happen?”

“Two months ago,” answered Emily. “Pancreatic cancer. It took her very fast.”

She was about to say something else, but stopped.

“What is it?” I asked. “You were going to say…”

“Nothing, really. I was just remembering what Olivia told me after she was first diagnosed. She said the cancer was from the grief—you know, from her daughter’s death. She holds herself responsible.”

“She loved Nora very much,” I said. I couldn’t resist the segue. “Do you remember her ever mentioning that she also had a son?”

Emily thought for a few seconds before shaking her head. “I don’t believe so.”

I looked over at Sarah, who surely had thoughts of decking me right there in the hallway for taking her on a wild goose chase. To her credit, though, she seemed determined to make the most of it. Or, at the very least, to exhaust every angle.

“Her son’s name is Ned,” said Sarah. “Maybe that helps.”

It didn’t. “You have to keep in mind, Olivia barely talked at all for years,” said Emily. “It wasn’t until after Nora’s death that she actually spoke more than a few sentences to me. But it’s not like we struck up a friendship.”

Sarah listened and nodded, but I could tell she was already a few questions ahead in her mind. “Did Olivia pass away here?” she asked.

“No. Toward the end she was transferred to a hospice. That’s where she died.”

“What about her personal effects? Did they go with her to the hospice?”

Emily hesitated. It was as if she was trying to figure out how to answer without lying. I’d seen that hesitation countless times in the course of interrogations. Clearly, so had Sarah. We traded glances.

“Is there something you need to tell us?” asked Sarah.

It was a simple question, but through her tone and inflection my “bad cop” partner had managed to insinuate that Emily’s world would come crashing down like a house of cards were she not to level with us. Pretty damn intimidating, actually.

Dick Cheney could keep his waterboarding kit. I had Sarah Brubaker.

Emily nervously looked left and right to make sure no one else was within earshot. “Wait here,” she said. “I’ll be right back. Please. Just give me a minute.”

She disappeared into the room behind the nurses’ station. No more than ten seconds later, she returned with something wrapped in a plastic shopping bag.

“Olivia kept it hidden at the bottom of a box in her closet,” said Emily. “I know it was wrong of me, but after everything I learned about her daughter, Nora…well, I just couldn’t help myself.”

And with that, she handed the bag to Sarah.