Chapter Twelve
Malone joined Hope in the observation room as Sam burst through the door of the interrogation room, taking Thelma by surprise. She visibly recoiled at the sight of Sam. Also excellent.
At forty-seven, Thelma had long dark hair and light brown skin. Her eyes were puffy and rimmed with red, as if she’d been crying.
“I’m Lieutenant Holland. You’ve met my partner, Detective Cruz. Detective, please remind Mrs. Bingham of her rights in this matter and record the interview.”
Freddie pressed the button on the recorder, recited the Miranda warning and named the participants, including Malone and Hope in observation.
“Please state your name for the record,” Sam said.
“It’s… Thelma Robinson-Bingham.”
“Do you know why you’re here, ma’am?” Sam asked.
“I… uh… No, I don’t know. You… You came to my office and arrested me.”
“You never asked why. You got up and came with us like you’d been expecting us. Had you? Been expecting us, that is?”
“No! And you didn’t give me a chance to ask anything!”
“Okay, so why did we arrest you then?”
“I don’t know! No one has told me anything.”
“Have you asked anyone what you’re being charged with?”
“I… I … No.”
“Is it because you already know?”
Her expression went completely blank for a second before she blinked. “I don’t know.”
“Are you aware that we’ve also detained your husband?”
“What? No… Why?”
Sam stared her down. “Maybe you could tell me why.”
“I don’t know!”
“Well, Louis has had plenty to say to us.”
Her eyes bugged, and then she seemed to realize the need to school her expression. “He wouldn’t dare.”
Sam tipped her head as she studied the other woman, wondering how it was possible that she’d gone from the loving mother Amara had described in the years before she’d married Louis to a participant in the murder of her own son.
“He wouldn’t dare do what? Rat you out?” Sam leaned in, arms on the table.
“Let me tell you what happens when someone realizes they’re in big trouble.
They do anything they can to mitigate the risk to themselves.
They don’t care who they have to sacrifice to protect their own asses.
So let me ask you again… Is there anything you want to tell us before Louis does all the talking for you? ”
Thelma looked down for a full minute.
Sam noticed tears dropping onto the table and decided to give her a minute or two to decide how she wished to proceed.
“Let’s go talk to Mr. Bingham,” Sam said to Freddie. “He was much more forthcoming.”
They stood to leave the room.
“Wait.”
Sam and Freddie paused by the door.
“Wh-what did he say?”
“That’s not how this works. You tell us the truth, and then we figure out the next steps.”
She began to cry in earnest, shaking her head. “I can’t. He’ll kill me, too.”
Ding, ding, ding, Sam thought and glanced at Freddie, proud of him for suggesting this tactic. Now we’re getting somewhere.
They returned to their seats.
Thelma wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
“What do you mean that Louis will kill you, too?” Sam asked.
Raising her hands to her face, Thelma shook her head. “He’s not a good man.”
Sam had to summon patience to resist slapping her hand on the table and telling the woman to get on with it.
As if he could read her mind, Freddie glanced at her and shook his head.
Sam scowled at him.
“What did he do?” Freddie asked Thelma in a far gentler tone than Sam would’ve used.
“I still can’t believe what he did. It’s been years and still…” After another endless pause, she dropped her hands from her face and said, “He killed my little boy.”
Tracy sat across from Mike at a coffee shop in Georgetown that had a busy flow of young professionals, students and parents with young kids. They’d found a corner out of the fray to enjoy a latte for him and water for her.
“I shouldn’t have suggested coffee so late in the day,” he said.
“If I have it one minute after noon…”
“You’re up all night.”
“Yep.”
“Do you want to go somewhere else?”
“No, this is fine.” She glanced at the time on her phone. “I have to pick up Abby from school in an hour. She stayed after for extra help in math.”
“Is she struggling again?”
“Not really. She’s trying to stay ahead of the struggle.”
“She’s such a good kid. I wouldn’t have given a shit about something like that at her age.”
“I know. Me either.”
“I want to apologize for the fight and the arrest and all of that. I’m sure it was embarrassing for you.”
“After what he said, I’m glad you punched him. What’s the lawyer saying about it?”
“He thinks I may have to do some community service, but whatever. I don’t regret it. I couldn’t deal with someone saying Ethan had killed Luna. It took me right over the edge.”
“Understandably.” Tracy focused on her water bottle as she tried to think of something else she could say to keep their conversation going. That’d never been an issue until lately. They used to talk endlessly about everything.
“Why’d we stop talking to each other?” she asked before she lost her nerve.
“I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “I think we let life take us over and lost each other at some point. I sure as hell never intended for that to happen, and I don’t think you did either.”
Tracy picked at the label on her water bottle. “I didn’t.”
“Trace.”
She looked up at him.
“We’re talking now.”
Nodding, she said, “I’m glad.”
“Me, too.”
“What you said before, during therapy… That matters greatly to me, that you understand why I feel the way I do. I was worried you might never get there.”
“Like I said, I’ve had a lot of time staring up at the ceiling in Ang’s guest room, thinking about everything.
And… You were right. You’re always right, and I never should’ve lost sight of that.
One of the things I’ve always loved about you is that you always know what to do.
I’d be flailing about, and you’d be like, ‘Nope, this is what we’re going to do,’ and it was the right move.
No matter what it was, you knew the way to go. ”
“That comes right from my dad,” she said with a small smile.
“The wisest man any of us has ever known.”
“Yes, he was.”
“I’ve been picking over the last few months, and I want you to know…
I totally get why you were furious. I think our dynamic with the kids began early because you already had Brooke when we met, and your parenting style was set in stone.
I had to catch up, and mostly I followed your lead.
Or, I should say, I deferred to you because it was easier than having to figure out my own style, you know? ”
“I can see that. Plus, I’m just better at it.”
He laughed, as she’d hoped he would. “Yes, you are.”
“Which is why I was so shocked by your permissiveness with Ethan. I’ve struggled to understand what you were thinking when you said, in front of him, that we should give him some freedom.”
Mike winced. “Saying that in front of him was a huge mistake. I knew it at the time.”
“So why’d you dig in when I called you on it?”
“I have no good explanation for that. I think I was feeling rebellious or something. Like I felt that maybe it was time for me to have an opinion, especially with Ethan as our only son.”
“You picked that time to have an opinion?”
“I thought I needed to step up more as he and Abby get older and the questions get more complicated.”
“That’s exactly the time you should defer to the one you said yourself is always right.”
“I sure as hell know that now, but I want to add another factor to the mix that needs to be said.”
“What’s that?”
He took a second, seeming to choose his words carefully. “Since Brooke was attacked, your default is set to ‘absolutely not’ with the kids. Their world, our world, has become smaller. You won’t let them do sleepovers with anyone other than their cousins—”
“Because the world is full of creeps.”
“Agreed, but the default is set to ‘no,’ and I think that’s having a negative effect on them.”
“How so?”
“They see their friends getting to do stuff they aren’t allowed to do, and over time, that’ll build resentment.
That was one of the reasons I wanted to say yes to Ethan when he asked to go out with his friends.
I don’t want him to hate us someday for not letting him do things his friends are doing.
And before you say anything, you have to factor Brooke’s attack into the mix, because it’s the reason you say no. ”
“It’s not the only reason.”
“No, but it’s a big one.”
“Yes, it is,” she conceded. “I think about that night all the time and how close we came to losing her.” Tracy shook her head. “I honestly don’t think I would’ve survived losing her—or Ethan.”
“Yes, you would have, because you’re the strongest person I know.”
“Not when it comes to them, I’m not. I feel like Brooke and I grew up together, and I made all the mistakes with her.”
“You were always a great mom to her.”
“Brooke left school and snuck into the city for a party. I still can’t believe that actually happened. And then later, Sam was nearly killed in the same house where Brooke was attacked. I’m haunted by all of it.”
“You can’t blame yourself for what happened to her. We thought she was safe and secure at school. I assumed the trauma of it had stayed with you the way it has with me, but I didn’t know you were haunted by it.”
“My daughter was gang-raped at a party where multiple kids were murdered—and then my sister was nearly murdered during the investigation. Yeah, it haunts me.”
“I’m sorry you felt you couldn’t talk to me about that.”
“I didn’t want to talk about it.” Her throat always went dry when she thought about that time, so she took a drink of water. “Your point about my default being set to ‘no’ since then is fair, though.”
“I certainly get why, but here’s the thing… We have to find a way to be fair to Ethan and Abby while trying to ensure their safety. We’ve learned the hard way that’s easier said than done.”
“Yes, it is, but it’s impossible when we aren’t on the same team.”
“I know.”
“You cut me off at the knees and undermined the authority you’d ceded to me. Kids never miss a crack in the armor. The minute those words were out of your mouth, we’d lost the battle. It’s so, so important that we never let them see the cracks again.”
“I swear to you it won’t happen again.”
“I appreciate that.”
“But…”
She raised a brow. “But what?”
“I want to be part of the team making the decisions for them. I want to be consulted and allowed to express an opinion—privately, of course.”
Tracy thought about that for a second. “Okay, but only if you remember you said I’m always right.”
He smiled. “How could I forget?”
“What about the rest of it?”
“Between us, you mean?”
She nodded. “Things have been… off… for years.”
“Since Brooke’s attack.”
Tracy hadn’t made a direct connection between the two things. “I guess so.”
“I think we should keep seeing Dr. Trulo to work through that part of the picture.”
“He’s the best, isn’t he?” she asked.
“I can see why Sam loves him so much. Do you agree that we should keep talking to him?”
“For sure. I wouldn’t know where to start on our own.”
“We can start by forgiving each other for the mistakes we’ve made and committing to do the work to find our way back to each other, assuming that’s what you still want.”
When she didn’t respond for a long moment, he winced.
“It’s what I want,” she said.
He grunted out a laugh. “Way to make me suffer.”
“That wasn’t intentional. It’s just that it has to be different going forward. We’ve drifted as far apart as two people can get while living under the same roof.”
“We took our marriage for granted,” he said. “We’ve had a serious wake-up call. Things will be different.”
“Not just in how we deal with the kids, but in how we deal with each other, too.”
“Agreed. So what now?”
“The kids would like for you to come home.”
“Just the kids?”
“I would, too. As long as we both understand there’s still a lot of work to do to get back on track.”
“Understood.”
“Okay, then.
“One thing… I need to see Jack at some point every day. He’s gotten used to having me around and…”
Tracy took him by surprise when she reached across the table for his hand. “Of course you need to keep seeing him. Thank you for how much you care for Ang and her kids.”
“I love them. They’re my family.” He turned his hand up to clasp hers. “And so are you.”
“Likewise.” She blinked back tears as she looked at the man who’d been at the center of her life for twenty years. “Brooke reminded me of how you stepped up for her all those years ago, not that I needed the reminder…”
“That was the easiest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“I just want you to know that I’ve never once taken your devotion to her for granted.”
“I know, Trace. I know that.”
“So you’ll come home, then?”
“I’ll come home.”
“And we’ll keep working on things?”
“For the rest of our lives.”
Thankful for the progress they’d made and grateful to hear he understood why she’d been so upset, she was relieved that he’d soon be back where he belonged.