Chapter 17 #2
They entered her study, and it was just as soulless as he’d expected. Roberta was sitting behind her desk. She probably thought that gave her the position of power.
It didn’t.
He walked over and sat in a chair across from her, while Paddy sat on her desk, and half-turned to face her.
“What are you doing? Get off this instant.”
“Nope,” Paddy said cheerfully. “I won’t.”
“This is preposterous. You cannot just force your way into my house and demand to speak to me and then sit on my furniture like this.”
“Apologies, I can’t help the way I sit. It’s just the way I am,” Paddy told her.
Her cheeks started to grow blotchy. And she seemed to be close to the edge of her temper. Which is exactly why Paddy was winding her up.
Harvey took the moment to lean forward. “Why did you drug your daughter?”
“Excuse me?” she said, gaping at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But it was very clear that she did. It was in the way her eyes couldn’t meet his, and the fact that she wasn’t as shocked as she should be at that accusation.
“You drugged Lily with Devil’s Breath. Why? So she’d do what you wanted? So she’d marry Rick without argument?” Harvey asked her.
“Like I said, I have no idea what you are talking about. Obviously, Lily is filling your head with lies.”
“We tested the bottle of pills she was given by Dr. Wallace,” Harvey told her. “They were laced with Devil’s Breath.”
Her mouth dropped open. Oh, she hadn’t even known that they had Lily’s pills, had she?
Stupid woman.
“I demand that you give Lily back to me. She needs me. She needs my care. She’s not well.”
“Are you worried about her health?” Paddy asked. “Or the fact that she might start to remember the things you’ve done to her?”
Oh, it was definitely the latter.
“Why did you do it? It can’t just have been about her marrying Rick.
You drugged your daughter with one of the most dangerous drugs in the world, and a very expensive one.
How did you even get the money if you’re broke?
And the doctor is in on it, isn’t he? He must be.
He must be the one supplying the drugs.”
The older woman just stared at him for a long moment, and then she shook her head, seeming to gather herself.
“Get out. I won’t sit here and hear these accusations against me.
Lily is an ill girl. She has hallucinations.
She makes things up. She was given some sedatives to help her nervous system, which was overloaded.
And I never laced her drugs with something called Devil’s Breath.
I’ve never even heard of that drug. If you found something like that in those pills, well, it must have been that doctor.
He never said anything to me. I had no reason to drug Lily. ”
“Devil’s Breath makes somebody susceptible to suggestion,” Harvey said. “Meaning that you could get Lily to do what you wanted, like marrying Rick without protest.”
“Why would I have to force her to marry Rick when it’s what she wanted?
She was the one sleeping with him behind her sister’s back when Clementine had cancer, after all.
If Lily is feeding you any other information, well, she’s fooling you, isn’t she?
She lies so well it’s difficult to tell what is the truth and what isn’t. ”
“Lily isn’t lying about this. She never wanted to marry Rick. You forced her to. And she wasn’t sleeping with him behind Clementine’s back. That was a lie the two of you made up, one I’m sure that I can get the truth from Rick about.”
He was certain that Lily wasn’t lying. And that this bitch was.
“Then you should go and speak to him.”
“Oh, I will.” Harvey stood and leaned over the desk. Scaring women wasn’t something he enjoyed. Usually.
Harvey took great joy in seeing her eyes flare open as her lower lip dropped.
“You might as well tell us what’s going on, Roberta,” he said to her. “Because we are going to find out the full truth, and then anyone who has hurt Lily is going to pay.”
“Are you threatening me?” she said.
“Jeez, brother, your game must be off if she has to ask whether you’re threatening her.”
“Seems that it is,” Harvey agreed. “I thought it was pretty clear that that was a threat.”
“Be a shame to lose that skill. You should try again. Practice makes perfect.”
“Indeed it does,” Harvey agreed. “Here it is again. I know what you did to Lily. I’m not just talking about the drugs.
I’m talking about the way that you treated her.
The way you talked to her. Hell. I’ve heard the way you talk to Clem.
It’s disgusting. You’re a disgusting human being, and you are going to pay.
Going to jail isn’t going to be enough. I want you to suffer.
And the only way to make things easier for yourself right now is to tell me why you did it. ”
For a moment, he thought she was going to cave. Her mouth was trembling, and he could see that she was breathing quickly.
Unfortunately, she rallied. “Get out now.” She pointed to the door, her finger shaking, and he wished he could pressure her into talking, but they’d taken it as far as they could at the moment.
So, he just smiled and nodded. “We’re going, but you can be assured that we will be back.”
Paddy was whistling as he followed him out, and they headed toward their cars.
“What did you think?” he asked Paddy.
“Desperate, isn’t she?”
“Yes, that’s what I thought too. Her messages to Lily have become increasingly irate and desperate.”
“I think she’s nervous as hell because she’s guilty. Everything that came out of her mouth was a lie. She definitely knew about the drugs that were given to Lily.”
That’s exactly what he’d thought too.
Unfortunately, though, they still didn’t have any straight answers from her or the doctor.
“Who are you going to talk to next? Rick the Dick?” Paddy asked.
That was the logical choice.
“Yeah, and I think I know where to find him at this time of day.”
They entered the country club. The man at the front desk nodded at Harvey.
“Mr. Harvey Gallagher, Mr. Paddy Gallagher, good to see you again. If you’re looking for your brother, I can track him down for you.”
Shit.
Ronan was here?
Not ideal, but they’d just have to do their best to avoid him.
“No thanks, Jeremy. We’re just going to go get a bite to eat. Tell me, have you seen Rick Sampson?” Harvey asked.
Jeremy’s face grew blank, a sure sign that he was trying to hide what he really thought of Rick. “Certainly. I think Mr. Sampson is on the terrace, enjoying lunch.”
“Thanks, Jeremy,” Harvey said, handing him a few bills while Paddy gave him a two-fingered salute.
They headed out to the terrace, walking out to find Rick with several of his friends. He said something to the waitress, and she shied back while he laughed loudly.
This prick, as his grandfather would say.
Rick didn’t even look their way. Could he not sense them walking toward him? The menace that they felt for him? This guy really had no sense of self-preservation, did he?
He had no idea that he was teetering close to the edge of total destruction.
And that all he needed was a slight push to fall over that cliff.