The next day
1:55 p.m.
I knocked on Sherry Ritterman’s front door.
There were still a few loose ends that we were wrapping up, a few questions that we were working on answering, but Brin and Tryphena were okay, and Debra’s daughter, Allie, was fine. Debra was being questioned. Mason and Basque were dead. And I had a promise to keep.
Sherry opened the door and invited me in. I’d decided earlier that it would probably be best if I just said what I needed to say without entering her home. It would’ve just made it harder for her to ask me to leave afterward.
So I politely declined her invitation to come in and we stood there looking at each other from opposite sides of the doorway. Cool air from inside her home seeped out and curled around me.
“I heard about Mason,” she said. “I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad you got him. But Debra?”
“People will take extreme measures to protect the ones they love.”
“Yes. That they will.”
Then neither of us spoke.
“So,” she said, “what did you need to tell me, Patrick?”
I took a small breath. “Sherry, last Monday when we were at the hospital and we were talking about when Stu died, I . . . well I told you what he’d said before he passed away.”
“That he loves me. That he’s always loved me.”
“Well, that wasn’t what he said. In truth, he told me something else.”
She looked at me quizzically. “What do you mean?”
“Actually, he apologized.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He said he wanted me to tell you that he was sorry. That he was sorry about Iris.”
“Iris.” I couldn’t read her tone. “He said he was sorry about her?”
“Yes.”
A tremor caught hold of her and she leaned one hand against the doorframe to steady herself. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
I was trying to protect you.
“I should have. I’m sorry. I was afraid it would hurt you.”
I had the inclination to lay a hand on her shoulder to try to comfort her, but thought better of it.
She began to cry, soft, tender tears that I wished I could wipe away.
See? All you did was bring back harsh memories, Pat.
You shouldn’t have said anything. You shouldn’t have told her.
No, the truth is the one thing no one needs to be protected from. Remember?
Well, maybe sometimes that’s not the case.
Sherry wiped at the tears but didn’t manage to get them all. “I was pregnant last winter.” Her voice was quiet. “We didn’t tell anyone. I wanted to have the baby and Stu told me he wasn’t ready. He . . . Well, if it was a girl, I was going to name her Iris.”
She let the words hang in the air.
I couldn’t tell whether or not she wanted me to respond.
It wasn’t just Stu’s way of apologizing; it was his way of saying that he loved Sherry. Both her and their baby.
I was really struggling here, trying to find a way to help be part of the solution rather than adding any more pain to what Sherry was already feeling.
Remember, when people are hurting they don’t always need answers, sometimes they just need companionship. Just someone to listen.
I wasn’t the right person for that.
“My daughter,” I said at last. “Her mother made the same decision, I mean—it’s a long story. I don’t know if it would help . . . but maybe you could call Tessa. When you’re ready. If you need someone to talk to.”
She looked unsure, but took a moment to write down my daughter’s number. “Thank you.” Then she hastily stepped back to close the door. “I’ll have to see.”
* * *
Four hours later
Brineesha had recovered from the insulin overdose, but considering what she’d been through, the C-section, and the difficulties of the delivery, the doctors wanted to keep her admitted for another twenty-four hours.
She’d just finished nursing Tryphena and was now cuddling her.
Ralph, Lien-hua, and I were in the room. Tessa and Tony had left a couple of minutes ago to get something to eat from the cafeteria.
Brin said, “There’s one thing I still don’t understand: How did Mason plan everything when he didn’t know when Tryphena would be born? I mean, I was past due.”
“It wasn’t your due date that determined the timing,” I replied, “it was the shipment of the anhydrous ammonia.”
Ralph nodded. “He could have come after you and Tryphena anytime. Thank God we stopped him.”
“Yes,” Brin said. “Thank God.”
Kurt had apparently been planning to post pictures of this whole thing, share his story with the world. Ralph found a website link on his cell phone, but Mason had died before he could post it.
Well, too bad for him.
“And Debra?” Brin said. “How did you know she was involved?”
“I didn’t know it for sure,” I admitted. “But she told me Allie was at her dad’s house but she mentioned to Lien-hua that she was at camp. Also, she didn’t identify who accessed the security-camera locations because she was the one who did it and she wasn’t about to implicate herself. Finally, as the receptionist, she knew everyone’s time schedules and who was going to be at work on Monday.”
“So based on that, you guessed it was her?”
“I hypothesized it was.”
She eyed me skeptically. “Sounds to me like you were going with your gut there, Pat. At least a little.”
“Maybe a little.”
“At last,” Ralph said. “We’ve been waiting a long time to hear you say that.”
“I can only imagine.”
“Now that that’s cleared up,” he said, “I understand you have a meeting with Margaret tomorrow—isn’t that right, Agent Powers?”
“Yup.”
“I already put in the good word for you.”
“Thank you.” I had my phone out and was tapping at the screen distractedly. “There.”
“There, what?”
I showed him the picture I’d taken of him wearing the dainty white gloves at the Mint Museum. I’d just posted it to the official NCAVC site. “This is for the Agent Powers comments.”
“Okay, you need to delete that now.”
I shook my head. “I’m not really sure how to.”
“Oh yes, you are.”
While we were going back and forth, Tessa and Tony returned and Tony asked almost reverently if he could hold his sister.
“Come on,” I said to Lien-hua and Tessa. “Let’s give them a little family time. There’s a coffee shop nearby, right?”
“Yeah,” Tessa said. “Not too far.”
* * *
On the way to the car, she leaned close and said, “So, you haven’t said anything yet, and I need to know what you’re thinking. Are you weirded out that I kissed Beck last night?”
“He’s a handsome-enough guy. Seems to be brave, professional, courteous. Good at his job. I think if I were you I would have kissed him too.”
“You know, there’s something very wrong with that statement.”
“That’s probably true.”
“But you’re cool if I hang out with him?”
“As long as it’s okay with your mother.”
Lien-hua winked at Tessa. “Don’t get me in the middle of this.”
“I saw that,” I said.
“What?”
“That little winky deal there.”
“Something in my eye.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You know, Tessa,” I said. “I hope things work out with you and Beck. I really do. It’s about time you ended up getting the guy.”
“I’ll say it is.”
And then we went out for coffee.
As a family.