Chapter Fifty
Thomas Horan woke up from a deep, peaceful sleep. He had not had a nightmare for a while, and the few dreams he had experienced in the past few weeks had not left him terrified and exhausted.
Horan was usually up before the sun, but today, he had slept past seven.
He got out of bed quietly so as not to disturb Francine and went into the bathroom.
Thomas was certain that the disappearance of his nightmares was the result of the reappearance of his memories of the night Terrance Cogen died.
The memories had returned slowly and they made him sad, because Terrance was his oldest friend.
On the night Rosemarie killed her husband, Terrance called his friend and told him that his lawyer had warned him that criminal charges were imminent.
Then he had begged his friend for help. Thomas knew that he would not be able to help.
He had skirted the law on occasion, but he had never crossed the line.
If Terrance had, he would have to face the consequences.
Thomas dreaded going to Terrance’s home and telling Terrance that he would not try to influence the outcome of an investigation. But he knew he had to go to provide comfort for his friend, who had always stood by him.
Horan still did not have a clear memory of the events at the house, but Rosemarie had probably given her husband the doctored milkshake after he’d made the call and had killed him shortly before Horan entered the house.
It was a brutal way for Terrance’s life to end, but maybe a quick end was better than the public humiliation of a trial and years in prison.
When Thomas started to shave, he looked in the mirror.
Who was the man he saw there? The latest polls showed him with a significant lead over his opponent, but the lead did not excite him the way it had in the past. He had managed to sidestep and finesse questions about his claim of an alien abduction, but he knew that there would come a time when he would have to face them head-on and admit that he had never been a prisoner of visitors from another planet.
He wondered if that would mark the end of his political career and whether he would care.
Winning had always been so important before.
Now he wondered if winning was worth it.
When he told Francine about his doubts, she reminded him of how important his work was for the people he represented in Congress.
Being a lawmaker did matter, but his ordeal had made him think about other ways he might make a difference.
When Thomas returned to the bedroom, Francine was getting dressed to drive him to the airport for his trip to DC.
“Did you sleep okay?” she asked. In the past, that had just been a nice question to ask a spouse. Since his ordeal, it was an important thing to know.
“Yeah, honey, I slept great.” He smiled and hugged his wife. “I think the worst is over.”
And he truly believed that the trauma that had ravaged him was in the past. But the aftermath had left him with questions about who he was and what he wanted to be. He could only hope that he would make the best choices.