Chapter Eighteen Ava Angelhart
Chapter Eighteen
Ava Angelhart
Ava sat at her vanity, but didn’t see her reflection. Her mind was with Cooper, worried about where he was, what he was doing,
whether he was safe.
Ava had never doubted they’d done the right thing to protect their family. She forced herself to act normal, to be the smart,
tough lawyer that was her reputation. She put her foot down with Margo because only by being firm could she protect her dangerously
curious daughter.
Had Margo been right? Should they have investigated Devin’s murder? Should she have told her children about the threats? Would
they have agreed with Cooper’s decision to plead guilty? Could they have kept the secret?
Ava didn’t know who killed Devin. She didn’t know who was behind the threats. But it had to be someone who knew both men,
who knew that Cooper was the man who’d found Devin dead. Could it be someone he trusted? Someone he would never think capable
of murder?
Cooper wasn’t privy to what Devin was doing related to the drug trial, but since they were friends and Devin had called Cooper that night, perhaps the killer thought he knew something? Was forcing him to confess a way to make sure he stayed silent?
She’d thought about all the possibilities then, but never had a name, never had someone to investigate. With Cooper in prison,
his lack of freedom had put him in greater danger. If she had started looking for answers, and the person—or people—behind
Devin’s murder found out, Cooper was a sitting duck behind bars.
So she’d agreed to shut down any investigation by her family. It hadn’t been easy, but eventually her children came around.
Everyone except Margo.
Her actions may have cost Ava her daughter’s respect and trust.
And now, knowing that Cooper had been talking to his ex-girlfriend, and hadn’t told her, that hurt. She trusted Cooper, of
course—nearly forty years of marriage and five children gave them a foundation that couldn’t be easily shattered.
But it could be shaken.
Cooper had a reason for confiding in Nadine and not telling her. But Ava didn’t know what it was. And that disturbed her.
They had no secrets between them. Or so she thought.
A knock at her door made her jump. “I’ll be out in a minute,” Ava said.
The door opened and Margo walked in.
“Give me a second,” Ava said.
Margo closed the door behind her. “It’s getting late, you have a flight to Colorado Springs in a few hours, and we have things
to discuss.”
Margo was assessing her, and it made Ava uncomfortable. She rose, straightened her spine, and walked to her closet for her
shoes. She slipped on three-inch heels that matched her charcoal-gray skirt, and from the corner of her eye saw Margo roll
her eyes.
Ava was barely five foot one. Even in heels she was shorter than all her children and all her siblings.
“You look exhausted,” Margo said. “But put together.”
“I’m tired, Margo. I need coffee.”
“And food.”
“I can’t eat.”
She walked out of her bedroom and Margo followed. “It doesn’t have to be bacon and eggs, just a little something.”
Margo wasn’t usually the one worried about what people ate and when. Ava realized she must look worse than Margo said.
“I made oatmeal,” Jack said when she walked into the great room.
Her son was leaning against the counter finishing his breakfast. The thought of eating the thick cereal made her stomach roll
over.
“I’m not hungry,” she said.
“You didn’t eat much last night. You need something or you’re not going to be any help to Dad.”
Ava frowned, pulled out a piece of wheat bread from the bread box, and put it in the toaster. “This is about all my stomach
will handle right now, Jack.”
She stared at the toaster, willing herself to get her act together.
She was a fifty-nine-year-old professional woman, a lawyer, a former prosecutor, someone who never took crap from anyone.
And she felt like she’d had a house land on her.
“Do you know anyone at Honor House?” Margo asked.
Ava glanced at Margo. “Yes, why?”
“That’s where Liz and Georgia volunteered, and I remember Dad had been supportive of the charity.
Georgia gave us the names of two trial recipients.
Jim Novak had a bad reaction to the drug and that’s how Dr. Klein suspected the results were altered because his data had been excluded.
In addition, Christina Aberdeen committed suicide in the middle of the trial, and her data also wasn’t included.
Lu couldn’t find a death record for Jim or James Novak in the last four years, so he might still be alive.
She also couldn’t find a current address or phone number, so maybe he moved.
It’s worth asking him about the trial—he might know something important, even if he doesn’t know it’s important. ”
“The director of fundraising is Grace Poling, a personal and professional friend,” Ava said. “She’ll help if she can. I’ll
send her a note that you want to talk to her.”
“Thanks,” Margo said. She pulled out her phone and typed in the name.
Ava noticed that Jack and Margo exchanged worried looks. She mouthed something at him, but Ava couldn’t tell what it was.
The tension in the room was giving her a headache—the vast amount of coffee she’d drunk over the last couple days contributing
to it.
She turned her back on them because she needed to get her head in the game. Game? It wasn’t a game. It was Cooper’s life.
It was the lives of her family.
She usually had a spine of steel, but today, she felt like a feather could knock her over.
She had to find a way to get through this or she would be good to no one.
Luisa said, “Mom, we found Nadine Wallentine Pierce. She’s an oncologist at the VA in Austin, and we think you would be the
best person to call her.”
Naddy Wallentine. Cooper’s first love. Ava wasn’t jealous.
Maybe just a bit.
Luisa was right.
“Okay,” Mom said. “Give me a couple minutes.”
“Of course,” Jack said.
Again, he and Margo shared a glance. It was like they could psychically communicate. Would they forgive her?
Ava didn’t know.
She ate her toast with homemade jam and finished her first cup of coffee. Luisa was working on her computer doing who knows
what. Ava had thought she understood Luisa better than all her kids, until Luisa decided to forgo college and enlist in the
Marines. It had thrown Ava for a loop. Now she was back home, going to college. Quieter than she’d been as a child. Not so
much moody as contemplative. Her six years in service had changed her. For the better? Ava didn’t know. She’d grown up and
Ava hadn’t been a witness to it. That made her melancholy, like she’d missed out on something important.
Jack glanced down at his phone, smiled.
“What?” Ava said, wanting good news.
“Laura sent me a picture of Austin and Cody playing video games with her dogs and Logan’s dogs as pillows.” He turned the
phone around to show Ava. She smiled too. “Apparently,” he said, “they got up early to do all their homework so they could
play video games all day.”
“It’s like a staycation at Logan’s spread,” Margo said.
“I wish I could join them,” he said wistfully.
Ava loved that Jack had fallen in love again, especially with a woman who everyone in the family genuinely liked. Even Margo,
who could be so judgmental sometimes.
She probably learned that from me, Ava thought.
Ava poured a second cup of coffee, the toast already feeling like sludge in her stomach. But she couldn’t put this off any
longer.
She sat down at the large table in the breakfast nook and said, “I’m ready.”
Luisa pulled out her cell phone and said, “When we called yesterday and left a message, she didn’t answer. So I spoofed Dad’s name.”
“You what?” Ava asked.
“When we call on my phone, caller ID will read Cooper Angelhart.”
“Oh.” She had heard of spoofing, of course, but she had always considered it only in relation to a crime. She couldn’t think
of anything illegal about what Luisa was doing.
“Devil’s advocate,” Margo said. “Why would she pick up anyway? She knows Dad is in prison with no access to his phone.”
“I figure she won’t pick up an unknown caller, but would if she thought it was someone who knows Dad.”
“Put my name in,” Ava said quietly. “I’ve never met her, but she knows who I am.”
“Okay,” Luisa said and worked quickly on the phone.
“You may listen,” Ava said. “But please, let me handle the conversation.”
Jack and Luisa agreed; Margo just stared at her and Ava could practically read her mind.
If I want to ask questions, I’ll ask questions.
Luisa dialed, then put the phone on speaker and slid it in front of Ava.
Two rings later, a woman picked up. “Hello? Ava?”
Ava kept her face as impassive as possible. She didn’t need her kids to see how hard this was on her.
“Yes. This is Ava Angelhart. Is this Nadine Pierce?”
Silence, but she hadn’t hung up. The seconds ticked away on the phone screen.
Ava cleared her throat and sounded more like herself when she said, “Nadine, Cooper is in trouble, and I need information.”
“What happened?” Nadine asked.
“He was transferred in the middle of the night to Supermax in Colorado. I’m about to leave for the airport. I know you visited
him at the prison a few weeks ago.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“You mean it’s not about Dr. Klein’s murder?”
“Oh. I guess it is what you think.”
“Naddy—Nadine—I know Cooper loved you once. It was a long time ago. We’ve both kept a lot of secrets trying to protect each
other since Devin was killed, but I fear those secrets have put Cooper and our family in greater danger. Were you helping
him?”
“Hold on one minute, I need to go to my office.”
It took more than a minute, but Nadine came back on the line. Ava was grateful that her kids didn’t comment during the interlude,
because Ava had nothing to say.
“Thanks for waiting,” Nadine said. “I just got into the building when you called. Now we have privacy. What do you want to
know?”
“Please start from the beginning. I know Cooper gave Devin your contact information shortly before he was killed. Why?”