I showered and ate breakfast. About to leave, my phone rang. As if by some weird kind of telepathy, it was Mum.
“Molly, can I come round?”
“I’m just on my way out, Mum.”
“Could you hang on for a few moments?”
“Sorry, I have a hellish schedule.” Not the real reason for my reluctance to see her.
“Please, Molly. We’re all upset.”
I bet.
“This is important.”
“Then say it now.”
“No, sweetheart, not like this.”
I blinked back sudden tears. My mother rarely applied terms of endearment. I don’t think she’d ever called me ‘sweetheart’ in her life.
“Please, Molly. Don’t shut us out.”
Shut me out, more like. Grappling with my temper, I said, “If you’ve come to plead on behalf of Dad or say you didn’t know, forget it.”
“This is between you and me, Molly. Your father has no idea I’m making this call.”
Had to rate as a first in Napier history. Everything they did, they did together. No secrets between them; only secrets between them and me. “Did you cover for him?”
“Molly, it’s complicated.”
I took a deep breath, looked at the wall. I’d spent so long wanting to know and now I did, I couldn’t bear any more lies. And I was wary. I didn’t want my mother knowing to what extent I could ruin them. “I’ll be here for the next twenty minutes.”
She must have been virtually on my doorstep because, by the time I’d popped to the loo, she was in my kitchen. I stood with my back to the sink, arms crossed, as defensive as I felt. Mum stared at me with haggard eyes. Dusty was right. My father’s actions and Scarlet’s death had cost her everything.
“I’m not apologising for what your father did.”
“Good.”
“I had no idea until after it was done.”
“I believe you.”
The lines around her eyes relaxed a little. “But I was in a difficult position. If I’d told the truth, my husband and my son would have gone to prison. You know how badly police officers are treated behind bars.”
Which was why I felt so torn. “Did it ever occur to you that Zach could have killed Drea Temple?”
“Never. It’s not in his nature.” Her voice was strong, unwavering. I believed her, or at least I believed that she had no doubt. Mother love is as powerful as dragon glass.
“Your silence protected a murderer.”
She flushed angrily. “I was told it was an accident. As soon as your father told me what he’d done, I asked for a divorce.” I blinked in surprise. “He begged me to stay. It took him a while to get me to change my mind. We paid for Zach to go away, making it clear that, although we still loved him, he was no longer welcome at home.” She glanced down so that I wouldn’t see the tear of frustration and distress beading down her cheek.
“And Mallis? Why does my father stay friends with a corrupt police officer? He’s a thug and he threatened me.”
“He did what?”
I described my recent encounter. I’d like to say she looked surprised. She didn’t. “Clive will do anything to protect his interests.”
“His interests meaning himself.” I repeated my question.
“Have you ever heard the saying about keeping your enemies close? Your father saw a greater advantage in controlling Clive than making an adversary of him.”
“He’s afraid of him?”
“Mallis is not a man to cross, Molly.”
And I’d made a big mistake in being so loose mouthed around him. The sooner I could speak to Dusty’s contact, the better. “That night Mallis visited, what was that all about?”
“I wanted to come clean with you. I thought if I explained, we could work something out, but your dad and Clive were dead set against.”
And they were right, her expression said. At least we could agree on something. “What made you change your mind about leaving Dad?”
“You and Scarlet.”
I expressed disbelief. “We’d already left home by then.”
“It was still important to keep the family together.” It seemed like a lame, badly rehearsed response. Recalling my aunt’s words, I believed that my mother’s strong sense of self-preservation was a more compelling reason. I think she read the cynicism in my eyes because she said, “You were always such a daddy’s girl. It would have broken your heart.”
“And yet he broke it anyway.” The sad truth: it would take me more than a lifetime from which to recover from his betrayal.
“He’s not a bad man, Molly.”
“How can you say that?” Except I knew; because he’d rescued her.
“Your father didn’t set out to deliberately hurt. He was only protecting his family.”
“Well, sometimes that’s not possible.” My voice was uncomfortably on the rise. “Sometimes you have to let people take the rap for their mistakes and pay for them.”
My mother spread her hands, eyes glistening, fingers trembling. “Don’t you think that’s exactly what we’re doing?”
I couldn’t argue with that.