“Should I ask who this belongs to?” Abigail asked as she walked through the house overlooking Lake Pontchartrain. It had only two bedrooms but was spacious and decorated in a warm, inviting way.
“Don’t worry. We aren’t trespassing or getting evicted,” Finley said as she put the rest of the children’s bags in the guestroom “It’s secluded enough that you’ll be safe, but close enough to your place to allow us to figure out what’s going on.”
“My life here has nothing to do with all of this,” she said and folded her arms, daring Finley to argue that point.
“Mom,” Sadie said softly. “I’m scared, and she’s a police officer, so why can’t she help us?”
“She will,” she said as she hugged Sadie to her and watched Finley walk away. “Finley’s right. We’ll be safe here, so you don’t have to be scared.”
It took over an hour, but she managed to calm not only Sadie, but Victoria and Liam as well. Considering everything that had happened, the kids had been really good and were well overdue their freak-out moment. Once they were happy watching TV together, she went looking for Finley.
“What’s our next step?”
“We had to run to a safe place so we could go on offense,” Finley said as she waited for the printer to stop spitting out sheets. “I say ‘we’ because I believe this will be easier with you, but you can take a pass if you want.”
“Will you be totally honest with me?” Abigail said as she sat on the corner of the desk. “I’ll do what I have to, but I’m not one to be kept in the dark. Not anymore anyway.”
Finley stared at her for a long while before nodding. “Can we have a conversation that’s a little more informative than usual? Hopefully by now you can trust me a little, but I’m working blind and think you can help me. You might not realize you have information, but you might.”
“How about you and I make a deal?” Abigail held out her hand, and Finley could’ve sworn she was in a high-stakes business meeting, but she took it.
“What are your terms?” She concentrated on Abigail’s pupils as they widened a little.
“That it’s a two-way conversation. I might have answers, but so do you, no matter how blind you protest you are.”
“Seems fair, since I’ve got a feeling we’ll be together for longer than you’re probably comfortable with.” She squeezed Abigail’s fingers and smiled. “You go first.”
“What do you know about my in-laws?”
The question surprised her, since that’s where she’d intended to begin. “I can honestly say the name Eaton has never come up in anything I’m working on. But it seems strange that your mother-in-law would’ve called Sadie instead of you, or should I ask if you think that’s strange?”
“Nicola’s family is demanding, and that’s when she was alive. Now it’s an interesting dance we do because of those three little kids in there.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of infuriating?” she asked, and Abigail laughed. “I take that as a yes.”
“I’m sure it’s occurred to you that a limited number of people knew where we were the night we ended up at the Plaza. Did you tell anyone?” Abigail crossed her arms over her chest and simply stared at her, as if their thought processes had suddenly meshed.
“Does your mother-in-law have a reason to want to kill you?”
For a second she thought she’d overstepped when Abigail shut her eyes. “She wants the same thing Nicola wanted if I made steps to leave, and that’s control of my children.”
“Full custody, you mean?” Finley needed a cold beer. This was fucked up.
“I have full custody, Detective. The Eatons want full control.” Abigail crossed her arms and shook her head. “There’s a difference, believe me.”
“And you really don’t have any idea what kind of business they’re in?”
“You’re persistent,” Abigail said and laughed. “Maybe I’m a little embarrassed about that since I asked and was told it was beyond my scope of understanding.” She sighed. “It was then that I realized love makes you incredibly stupid.”
“Maybe that’s why I’ve avoided it all these years.” She placed her hand on Abigail’s knee. “Let me do some research on the Eatons, and I’ll share what I find.”
“Do we have food in our little hideout?” Abigail asked, and she nodded. “Good. I’ll make dinner and we can review after the kids go to bed.”
“If you’re tired I can go pick something up.”
“I don’t mind. Perhaps if you enjoy a little taste of domesticity, it’ll help prepare you for the one you won’t have any choice but to love.”
*
Abigail enjoyed the few hours of doing something normal after her bizarre vacation. On the drive back home she’d made up her mind that they wouldn’t be taking any family trips up North anytime soon. If Nicola’s parents wanted to see her children, they could come to New Orleans, and if they didn’t like it, they could take her to court. She was confident that any court, especially locally, would side with her.
“Mom, do you think we can go home soon?” Sadie asked, slicing through her daydreaming.
“I do, but we’re going to wait until Finley says it’s okay. She promised to keep us safe.” She put her arms around Sadie and squeezed. If somehow Valerie did have something to do with what had happened at the Plaza, she’d make her pay. “Can I ask you something just between us?”
“Sure, what?” They sat together on the bench in the large window opposite the dining table. The house didn’t have a lot of rooms, but it was spacious and nicely designed.
“The night you talked to your grandmother, do you remember exactly what she said and what you said back?” She combed Sadie’s hair back and smiled to not alarm her. “You didn’t do anything wrong, but it might help Finley.”
“She called to see how we were doing and where we were,” Sadie said, and Abigail immediately figured out there was so much more to this because Sadie wouldn’t make any eye contact. That was Sadie’s first tell when something was off.
“Baby, I promise I won’t be mad, but you have to tell me everything. It’s really important.” She kissed Sadie’s forehead and held her to make it easier for her to talk without her staring her down.
“I thought it’d be okay because she calls me all the time.”
It took effort not to react. “Really? What do you guys talk about?” She was proud of how steady her voice sounded.
“Do we really have to move away? If you don’t want us anymore, you can say so, and if we did something wrong, we promise to be better.” Sadie’s sudden tears broke her heart. “I want to stay with you, Mama. Please.”
“Hey,” Finley said softly as she put an arm around both of them when she came in, obviously having been eavesdropping on them. “Come on, kiddo. Don’t cry.”
“But…but,” Sadie said, her face red and splotchy.
“Listen, okay,” Finley said as she wiped Sadie’s face with her free hand and glanced up at her as if she understood the hot rage that boiled inside her. “I haven’t known you guys long, but your mom does nothing but talk about you and your siblings. She loves you, and she takes you to see your grandparents because they love you too, but until you’re old like me, you’ve got to live with your mama. That’s the rule.”
“The rule?” Sadie said, hiccupping.
“Let me show you,” Finley said, holding her hand out to the child, and Abigail saw the gesture as Finley pulling her kid from her sea of turmoil. They headed upstairs to the office at the back of the house. The large bookcase was full of computer and software-type manuals, so Abigail had barely looked at it before, so she’d missed the pictures. “This is me at your age.” Finley handed a frame over and Sadie studied it intently.
“You’ve got a black eye,” Sadie said, glancing from the picture to Finley.
“Little misunderstanding between me and a boy who insisted on kissing me,” Finley said, getting both Sadie and her to laugh. “He had two black eyes, and I got two weeks of detention, so after that I hung up my boxing gloves.”
“Is that your mom and dad?” Sadie asked.
“And my brother Neil. We were all together until I went away to college, and I’m positive that’s how long you and your posse will live with your mama. But even after you leave for school, you still have to call home. Don’t forget that part.”
“Thanks for telling me. I didn’t want to go, and it was making me sad that I had to.”
“Did your grandmother tell you why you’d have to come live with her?”
Abigail was amazed at how easily Finley broke through all of Sadie’s walls. Her daughter hadn’t processed Nicola’s death well, but the therapist she’d taken Sadie to had said the grieving process was normal, and given time and love, Sadie would be fine. “It’s okay to say, baby.”
“She said it was a secret like our calls were a secret. I’m sorry, Mama. I should’ve told you. It didn’t make me feel good not to, but Grandmother said Nan would’ve wanted me to talk to her so I’d know about our family. The truth about them, I mean.”
Finley hugged Sadie to her, and Sadie cried a little more as Finley looked at Abigail.
If Valerie Eaton were in the room, Abigail would’ve fileted her with no remorse for tying her daughter in knots. Once it was safe, she’d be going to court to change their arrangement. From now on, until her children could decide for themselves, she wanted supervised visits. She wasn’t providing any more chances for the Eatons to take cheap shots.
“Want to get your sister so we can eat whatever smells so good downstairs?” Finley asked Sadie, and the little girl nodded before plastering herself to Abigail. “We need to talk, but it can wait until after dinner,” Finley said after Sadie ran off.
“Any hints? I’m so mad I’m about to explode.”
“I think there might be something to our theory. Did your partner ever work from home?”
“We have a study she used sometimes. I haven’t really touched it much since my life’s been hectic, but I thought on my next couple of free days I’d clean it out to make a space for the kids.” She stood up and waved Finley downstairs so she could check on her meal.
“Do I have your permission to search your house later?”
“I thought my place wasn’t safe.”
“There are ways to go about it that won’t announce my arrival, and if it’s late enough I might be able to spot anyone too interested.”
“I want to come.” She put her hand up when Finley started to probably protest. “I know I can’t, since I’d have to leave my kids alone, and I’d never do that.”
“You can trust that I’m not going to leave you in the dark.”
She nodded slightly and smiled, thinking perhaps Sadie wasn’t the only one Finley had reached with her easy charm. “Good, because there are plenty of pictures up there with stories attached to them, and I’d like to hear them. You’ve got a lovely home, but I’m a little surprised it’s here.”
“You can hear my story anytime, if you want, but right now you’ve got the more interesting one.”