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“The very same.”
Rina went for a run alone, trying to shove her thoughts of Steve, Gail’s disappearance, and her mother’s accident into the back corners of her mind. Her muscles screamed as she got faster, faster, charging down the boardwalk as though someone was chasing her. When she got back home, she was slick with sweat, and Steve’s eyes lit up even more—proof that he was attracted to her. But attraction had never been the problem between them.
Rina drove to the hospital and found her father, Wally, downstairs with a cup of coffee, chatting with another older man whose wife, apparently, was staying in the same ward as Ellen.
“We grew up down the block from each other,” Wally announced to Rina. “And we never even met!”
Rina stuck out her hand. “I’m his daughter.”
“Penny, right?” The man’s smile showed that he’d lost several teeth on the righthand side. “Your father has told me so much about you.”
Rina couldn’t breathe for a moment. She had no idea her father just casually mentioned Penny’s name like that; talking about her as though she’d just gone across the road to buy a carton of milk. Wally didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he said, “This is my other daughter. Rina. She’s a detective. Sort of like Sherlock Holmes.”
The man’s eyes sparkled. Rina suddenly felt very dirty. “I’m going upstairs,” she said. “See you later.”
As Rina walked down her mother’s hallway, she breezed past Dr. Bartlett, then stumbled backward and called his name. “Excuse me?”
Dr. Bartlett gave her a sleepy smile. “Good morning. I was just with your mother. She’s still confused, but she’s healing well.”
“That’s great. Thank you.” Rina’s heart skipped a beat. “I wondered if you could tell me something.”
“Sure thing.”
“Where did the ambulance pick my mother up? After the accident, I mean.”
Dr. Bartlett nodded and beckoned for a passing nurse. He asked her to access Ellen’s file and pass along this information to her daughter. Rina thanked him and followed the nurse, who slipped the file into her hands without a second glance. Being related to someone, it seemed, allowed you unlimited access to information. As a private investigator who often had to go to great lengths to get information, this was a completely different game.
According to the report, the ambulance picked Ellen and Wally up at the side of the busy road near the beach. In it, Wally was reported as saying he’d tried to carry Ellen to their car before losing energy and needing assistance. This boggled Rina’s mind. Her father had tried to carry her mother? Despite broken bones? Despite blood?
The accident had happened early in the morning on New Year’s Eve—six thirty, in fact. That meant Wally hadn’t contacted Rina about the incident until hours later. Had she been an afterthought to him? Had he jolted awake at the hospital and remembered, “Oh, yes. Our other daughter should know about this?”
But the fact that Wally had moved her after the accident begged the question: where had the incident happened? Had there been any witnesses? Had someone seen Wally attack Ellen?
Rina thanked the nurse and proceeded into her mother’s hospital room. Ellen was awake, watching a soap opera on the television. Using her good hand, she dug through a bowl of oatmeal and fruit and ate slowly, as though chewing irritated the bruises on her jaw.
“Oh, Mom,” Rina breathed. “What happened to you?”
Ellen turned to look at Rina curiously. Then she said, “You know, I think he’s cheating on her.”
Rina blinked. “Excuse me?”
Ellen gestured toward the television with her spoon. “I think he’s cheating. You can see it in his eyes when he talks to her. She shouldn’t trust him. I wouldn’t. You know, your father never cheated on me. Not in almost fifty years of marriage. We were always in love. Always.” Ellen spooned another bit of oatmeal and chewed gingerly. “And most married couples can’t say that, you know. Most everyone divorces. You divorced. Remember, Rina?”
“Yes, Mom.”
“We never liked that Vic.” Ellen went on, not looking at Rina. “Maybe we should have said something before you went ahead and married him. I don’t know.”
Well, Rina thought to herself. At least her memory is coming back to her. Slowly.
It made sense that she brought up the dark parts first. That was how Ellen’s brain operated. Maybe she’d already obliterated the lighter parts, the happier days of Rina’s life.
Rina sat on the plastic chair by her mother’s bed and watched the soap opera for a while. It was true what her mother said, that she was pretty sure the main guy was cheating on his fiancée. But the fiancée wasn’t totally without blame, either. She was having an intense emotional affair with her ex-boyfriend from high school, a science teacher who often spoke in science-related riddles. Rina was embarrassed to admit she got wrapped up in the soap opera story. She tried to guess what might happen next—where the twisted minds of the writers were going. When her father came in with another cup of coffee and sat with them, Ellen shushed him and said she was “watching her stories with her daughter.” Rina was again embarrassed to admit her mother’s desire to spend time with Rina pleased her, even if they weren’t speaking.
After visiting hours, Rina and Wally walked downstairs and said goodbye without hugging. Just before she left, Rina asked, “And you’re sure Mom just fell down like that? While she was walking?”
Wally sputtered, “What else could have happened?”
Rina sighed. She didn’t want to get into it. Not now. Not when she didn’t have more proof. “All right, Dad.”
