Someone Is Watching (43 page)

I don’t know, and to borrow a famous line from one of my mother’s favorite old movies, I don’t give a damn.

Although the truth is there’s a part of me that wishes Claire had succeeded in her scheme. Part of me would rather be crazy than to have been so totally, utterly, betrayed. I stare at my half-sister through a shroud of tears.

The color drains from Claire’s cheeks when she sees us sitting on the bed. Clearly, whatever she was expecting when Paul phoned her, it wasn’t this. “Oh, God.”

“Mom?” Jade says again. “What’s going on?”

“What are they doing here?” Claire asks Paul. She’s so pale, she looks as if she’s about to pass out.

“Your kid broke in,” Paul explains. “Picked the goddamn lock. Just like on TV.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” Claire cries, turning on her daughter.

“What am
I
doing here? What are
you
doing here?” Jade counters. “Would you please tell me what in fuck’s name is going on?”

I wait for Claire to say, “Jade, language.” But she doesn’t. In fact, nobody says anything for several excruciatingly long seconds.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Claire sputters. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry.”

“What are you sorry about?” Jade asks her.

“Please understand, sweetheart. I did this for you, so you’d have all of the things I missed out on.”

“What exactly did you do, Mom? Tell me.”

“What can I say?” She’s crying now, her breathing coming in a series of shallow bursts. “You want a confession, like the kind you see on one of your stupid TV shows?”

“A confession of what?” Jade is crying now, too.

“Bailey?” Claire asks, as if there’s anything I can say to mitigate what she has done, anything I can do to make this better.

“So this was all about the money,” I say. Even knowing this to be true, there is still something inside me that needs to hear the words out loud. “You knew that Heath would never agree to settle the lawsuit, and that the damn thing could take years to crawl through the courts, that there’s a good chance you wouldn’t win.…”

“Please try to understand, Bailey. You’ve always had everything. The looks, the money, the mansion, the father who adored you. And me? What did I ever get? A goddamn Elvis impersonator! That’s what I got.”

“Are you asking me to feel sorry for you?”

She shakes her head, vigorously. “I’m just trying to explain.…”

“Gene and the others, are they …?”

“Involved? No way. No, this is all on me.” Claire rubs her forehead. “Please understand. This was never personal, Bailey. You have to believe that. You’re a really sweet girl. Sweeter than I ever imagined.”

“Where did you find
him
?” Jade throws a disgusted glance toward Paul Giller.

“He was her patient,” I say before Claire can answer.

“A sweet girl
and
a good detective,” Claire says, a surprising note of pride in her voice. “I just never realized
how
good.”

“But where’d you get the money to set all this in motion? You had to rent the apartment, pay first and last month’s rent in advance.…”

“I called Gene, told him I was drowning in debt and that if I didn’t pay off my credit cards, I’d have to file for bankruptcy. I knew his pride would never allow that.”

“I’m sure that check I gave you helped with the carrying costs. Even if I did take some of it back,” I say. “Although that kind of worked in your favor, didn’t it? You knew I’d never suspect you were after my money when you kept refusing to take it.”

Claire struggles to maintain eye contact, but her eyes are so full of tears, I doubt she can see anything at all.

“And getting me to a therapist was a stroke of genius. It would only bolster your attempts to have me declared incompetent, should that become necessary.”

“I would never have done that to you, Bailey. Never.”

“It must have been quite the balancing act,” I continue, “trying to put yourself inside my head, figure out what my next move was going to be, which couldn’t have been easy. I was all over the place.”

Claire looks helplessly around, first at Jade, who glares back at her mother with a combination of shock and contempt, then back at me.

“You just never figured on
this
happening,” I tell her.

“What I never figured on was how much I’d come to care for you. It’s just so ironic when you think about it. You’re more than my sister, Bailey. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. Maybe the
only
real friend I’ve ever had.”

“Wow,” Paul Giller exclaims. “I’d hate to be your enemy.”

“I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to pull the plug, how often I was on the verge of calling the whole thing off.…”

“But you didn’t.”

“No.” Claire swipes at her tears. “I didn’t. I couldn’t. I’d gone too far.”

“So, where do we go now?” Paul asks.

“Yes, Mother,” Jade says, her cheeks red with anger. “What happens now?”

“Now?” Claire lifts her hands into the air in the universal gesture of surrender. “I guess we pack up our things and go home. I spend the rest of my life trying to make amends.…”

“Amends?” Paul repeats. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that it’s over, finished, done. We cut our losses and call it a day. We haven’t really broken any laws. Except maybe for Jade here, breaking into your apartment.”

“What about lying to the police?” Paul demands. “What about interfering with a police investigation?”

Claire wipes away the last of her tears. “What investigation?
You were never a suspect in Bailey’s rape. The police were only here at Bailey’s instigation. What are they going to arrest you for? Public mischief? Believe me, it isn’t worth their time.”

“How about forcible confinement and threatening bodily harm?” Paul glances toward the gun on the bed.

“With a water pistol?” Claire shakes her head. “What were you going to do with it—squirt them to death?” She sighs. When she speaks again, her voice is flat, depleted of energy, devoid of emotion. “Do I have to spell it out for you? There’s been no real crime committed, no murder, no fraud. Just an elaborate practical joke that got out of hand. Bailey won’t press charges. For one thing, no one would believe anything she says, and for another, no matter how she feels about me, she doesn’t want to get Jade in trouble. And for all her bravado, Jade doesn’t want to go back to Juvenile Hall. Nor does she want her mother to end up in jail. Am I right?” she asks, not waiting for an answer as she turns back to Paul. “So, all you have to do is go home and forget this ever happened. It’s over.”

“What about the rest of the money you promised me?” Paul asks.

“In case you haven’t figured it out yet, there won’t be any more money.”

“You’re shitting me, right?”

“No, I’m most definitely not shitting you.”

“God, Mom,” Jade says, as the enormity of everything she has just heard begins to sink in. “What have you done?”

“I did it for us, for
you,
” Claire says, as she said earlier.

“The hell you did!” Jade shoots back. “You did this for you! Don’t you dare try to fool yourself that it was ever about anybody else.”

“You don’t understand.…”

“Oh, I understand all right. I understand that you’re a liar and a fraud and that I never want to speak to you again.”

“Jade …” Claire’s gaze shifts from her daughter to me, her shoulders slumping, a fresh gathering of tears in her eyes. “Bailey, please …”

I stare long and hard at my father’s eldest child, recalling all the things she’s done for me these past weeks: the countless meals she prepared, the many hours we spent together, the myriad acts of kindness, the heartfelt confidences we shared.

“You have no idea how sorry I am,” she says. “I know I’ve done a terrible thing. I can only hope that some day you’ll be able to forgive me.”

I think about taking her in my arms and telling her yes, I do understand, and that in spite of everything, all is forgiven. The way I always do with Heath.

But Heath is merely weak, not greedy. And for all his faults, he has never betrayed me.

So I don’t take her in my arms and tell her I understand.

Instead I slap her, hard, across the face.

Because all is definitely not forgiven. It never will be.

—

The police, responding to Finn’s phone call, arrive soon after. Thinking they are interrupting a robbery in progress, they haul us all down to the police station but mercifully hold off on making any arrests until the situation can be thoroughly assessed.

Detective Castillo and Officer Dube show up almost immediately, as does Detective Marx, newly back from her honeymoon. Suspecting we might need a lawyer, I call Sean. I’m told he’s in the middle of an important meeting and can’t be disturbed. His assistant promises to send one of the firm’s junior associates right over.

Jade and I take turns explaining the morning’s events to the police. Our stories sound incredible, even to our ears. “Are you crazy?” Detective Castillo asks when we are through, throwing his hands into the air.

This sentiment is echoed by my brother, Gene, who arrives at the station a short time later. “Are you out of your fucking minds?” he demands repeatedly, after listening to everyone’s story.

I am many things: impulsive, reckless, even foolhardy. But I am not crazy.

“You’re sure Paul Giller isn’t the man who raped you?” Detective Marx asks me when we have a few minutes alone.

“I’m sure.”

“Too bad. It would have been nice to wrap it all up.”

“How was your honeymoon?” I ask her.

She gives me a shy grin. “Great. I really lucked out.”

There are still some good men out there, I remind myself. Not all men are bad.

Not all women are good.

At almost two o’clock in the afternoon, no final decision having been made as to what, if any, charges will be pressed, we are finally granted permission to go home.

“I’m not going anywhere with her,” Jade says, glaring at her mother, who turns away, refusing to meet her daughter’s eyes.

“Jade, for God’s sake,” Gene says with an exasperated sigh.

“I’m sixteen, and I’m not going home with her, and you can’t make me.”

“You want to spend the night in Juvenile Hall?” Gene asks. “You’re certainly not coming home with me.”

“You’re fucking right I’m not.”

“Watch your mouth, young lady. I can still have you charged with breaking and entering.…”

“She can stay with me,” I say quietly. And then louder, warming to the idea, “She’s staying with me.”

Gene shrugs and shakes his head. “Suit yourself.” He walks over to Claire and grabs her elbow. “What the hell’s the matter with you? What were you thinking?” He leads her roughly from the room. “You know what this could do to our lawsuit?”

I almost smile. Maybe I would if I weren’t so utterly exhausted.

“Thank you,” Jade says, appearing at my side. “I was kind of counting on you offering.”

This time I
do
smile.

Jade slips her arm through mine and together we walk from the room, down the hall, and out the station’s front door.

“Looks like somebody is here to stay,” Heath is saying as we peek into my former office, now a second bedroom once again. It’s half past nine on a Saturday night, and three months have passed since Jade came to live with me. Or maybe
I’m
the one who’s living with
her.
Evidence of her takeover is everywhere: school books and fashion magazines lie scattered on every available surface throughout the apartment; skinny jeans hang from every doorknob; well-worn, high-heeled boots litter the hallway. My desk and computer have been moved to my bedroom, where they sit in front of my window, mercifully blocking much of my view of the apartment where Paul Giller once pretended to live.

“Her new bed arrives next week,” I tell my brother, marveling at how happy he appears.

And why not? Good things are finally starting to happen for him. He landed a series of commercials for a popular chain of Miami gyms, the first one of which was shot last week. While the commercials are local and not more lucrative national spots, they do mean a little bit of money and a lot of exposure, at least here in South Florida. Heath is sure the ads—which take full advantage of
his glorious face and trim, muscular physique—will lead to more and better things, and I hope he’s right. At least he’s no longer sleeping on the floor of Travis’s apartment and has rented a furnished place of his own. He’s also sworn off weed. “I need to look not only gorgeous,” he told me without a hint of false modesty, “but healthy. Besides,” he added, “if you can get your act together after everything that’s happened to you, then the least I can do is try.”

So far, so good.

“Bet she’ll be happy not to be sleeping on this thing anymore,” Heath says now, plopping down on the sofa bed and causing the laptop Jade left lying there to jump into the air. “It’s a real backbreaker.”

“Don’t tell Wes that,” I warn.

“Who’s Wes?”

“One of the valets. Jade told him it’s for sale and he’s coming up later to have a look.”

Heath leans his head against one of the purple velvet pillows and closes his eyes. “So, what else is new?”

I give the question a moment’s thought. “Not much. My friend, Sally, brought her new baby over the other day.”

Heath’s eyes pop open. “You have a friend?”

I laugh, although the question isn’t that far-fetched. “Amazingly, yes. Don’t think you’ve ever met. She works at Holden, Cunningham, and Kravitz.”

“Are you considering going back there?”

“Not a chance. I’ve actually been thinking of starting up on my own.”

“What?”

“I know. It’s a stupid idea.”

“It’s an awesome idea. ‘Bailey Carpenter, Private Investigator.’ Sounds great.”

“Jade thinks ‘Bailey Carpenter and Associates’ sounds even better. She’s already started looking into courses online.”

“What a woman,” Heath says, and I laugh. “God, it’s good to hear you laugh again. It’s been a while.”

“Getting a little stronger every day.”