Chapter 44 Maggie
Chapter 44
Maggie
Elizabeth Conover had yet to make a move.
For the past twenty minutes, the woman had not stirred from the chair but seemed to have fallen into a trance, as if hypnotized by the sight of her granddaughter sleeping so soundly in the bed.
“Strange,” said Maggie. “It’s as if she’s keeping watch.”
“This is not what we expected,” Ben said.
Not what they’d expected at all. While Jo Thibodeau had balked at the idea of using Zoe as bait, the Martini Club had had no such qualms. It would be routine surveillance, they’d told her, just a camera feed to assess if hospital security was adequate, now that Zoe was no longer under the watchful eyes of the ICU staff. They hadn’t told her there’d be a multiple-channel feed, including audio, to alert them when to move in. When Elizabeth had walked into the hospital, it seemed as if their trap was about to be sprung, that Elizabeth would finally make her move.
Instead, the woman just sat there, watching. Waiting for what?
Her phone buzzed. It was Declan, calling from the car. “Guess who just walked into the hospital?” he said. “Colin.”
This was a surprise. She looked at the video feed from the second-floor hallway, and a moment later she spotted Colin stepping out of the elevator. Walking toward Zoe’s room.
“Now what?” said Ben.
Colin opened the door and stepped into Zoe’s hospital room. The door shut behind him as he stood in the gloom, facing his mother.
“What is this all about, Mom?” Colin asked. “I thought you were with Ethan.”
“I told him to go home.”
“You said this was important.”
“It is. We need to talk. Just you and me.”
“Couldn’t we do this at home? Why drag me to the hospital? What are you even doing here?”
“I had to be sure she’s safe. I can’t let anything else happen to this girl.”
“That’s what the police are for. You should just let them do their—”
“Let them do what ?” Elizabeth snapped back. “Catch you in the act?”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“I’m trying to protect you . Keep you from making things worse.”
“Mom, you’re making no sense.”
“I know, Colin. I know what happened to Anna.”
There was a long silence. Colin stood frozen, staring at his mother. “Why are you talking about Anna?” he said softly.
“Those bones in the pond? They’re hers. The police showed me the facial reconstruction of her skull. They plan to share it with the public, and I’m not the only one who’ll recognize her. Arthur will too. And Hannah. They’ll see her face, and it won’t take long for them to put it all together. How long before her family in Mexico gets wind of it? All these years, they’ve been asking where she went, and I kept telling them we had no idea, that she just quit her job and left. When the truth is, she never did leave. She’s been there, the whole time. In the pond.”
Colin shook his head. “No, that can’t be true. Dad said he drove her to the airport. He said he gave her money, a lot of money, to help her go away—”
“And why did she need to go away?”
“God, this was years ago. What does it matter now? Why are you suddenly—”
“ Why did she need to go away? ”
He went silent. Stared down at the ground and sighed. “I never—I never wanted it to happen. It just—it just did.”
“You and Anna.”
“The baby was sick all the time. Brooke was spiraling down and down, so depressed she was barely speaking to me. It’s like our house was a fucking morgue. But Anna, she was always ready to listen. Always ready to ...”
“You had an affair with the nanny ?” Elizabeth looked up at the ceiling and laughed. “How stupid could you be? How ordinary .”
“Who else could I turn to? Brooke was completely—”
“Don’t fucking blame this on Brooke! You’re the one who had the affair.” She gave a snort of derision. “Oh God, you’re just like your father.”
“What?”
“Just like him, you thought you’d skate away, didn’t you? And your father helped you, didn’t he? Oh, George always excelled at cleanup. That was his superpower, making problems go away. Of course he’d clean up after your mess as well. When Conover men get into trouble, they always manage to walk away, none the worse for wear. But killing her, Colin?”
“What are you accusing me of?”
“Anna was murdered.”
“I had nothing to do with it!”
“You’re denying it to my face? Denying that you and Anna ...”
“No, I’m not denying the affair.” He sank into a chair and groaned. “I’m not proud of it. But it just happened.”
“Where have I heard that before?”
“Then it all got complicated. After she became ...”
“Pregnant?” Elizabeth stared at him. “Is that what happened?”
He gave a miserable nod.
“Yes. That would have been a complication.” She shook her head. “You should have told me. If I’d known ...”
“There was no point telling you, not after she left. Dad told me he’d paid her in cash, asked her not to contact us again, and then he sent her on her way. I was in Boston for a meeting, and when I got back here, Anna was already gone. I thought the problem had been resolved. Dad said he took care of everything, that Anna was going back to Mexico.”
“But she never left, Colin. She’s been dead and rotting in that pond all these years. Are you going to blame that on your father?”
“No.”
“But he helped you get rid of her. Is that how it went? You needed your mess cleaned up, so you turned to the man who excelled at it?”
“You don’t really believe Dad would cover up something like this?”
“Oh, your father was capable of many things.”
“Hiding a murder?”
A long pause. “I don’t know,” Elizabeth murmured. “The older I get, the less I seem to know anyone. Even my own sons.” She slumped forward and rubbed her temples. “All I ever wanted was to hold this family together. I went through hell with your father. His lies, his affair.”
“I didn’t know, Mom.”
“Of course you didn’t. That’s my superpower—keeping secrets. But this is one secret I can’t keep hidden. The police will eventually identify the bones as Anna’s. And when Zoe wakes up, if she remembers you attacked her, I can’t protect you. I won’t protect you.”
“Have you been listening to me at all ? I had no reason to hurt Zoe! And I had no idea Anna was dead. Father told me he paid her to go away. Brooke said she helped Anna pack her things, and ...” He stopped.
“Brooke,” Elizabeth said quietly.
The room was silent as mother and son stared at each other.
Maggie reached for her cell phone.