Envy(150)

“Mary Catherine?”

“Her body was never recovered. It was officially ruled death by drowning.”

“What about Parker?”

Mike sipped his coffee before answering, a delay tactic she saw through.

“Parker was found that night by sheer accident. A fisherman spotted him. The coordinates Todd had given the Coast Guard were ‘approximate.’ ”

“Meaning off by miles.”

“Miles. After being in the water for hours, it was a miracle that Parker was still alive. Shock probably saved his life. He had kept his arms moving so he wouldn’t sink and drown, but God knows how he was able to move at all. His legs had been chewed to pieces by the blades of the outboard motor. When the fishermen first saw him, they mistook him for an animal carcass that had been used for chum. There was so much blood around him, you see.”

With a shaky hand, Maris set aside her tea, untasted after that first sip.

“For over a week, his condition was listed as critical,” Mike continued. “Somehow, he lived. Eventually his legs were pieced back together bit by bit.”

“He told me he underwent several operations. What was Noah doing all this time? Surely he was afraid that Parker would give his version of the story and convince the authorities of the truth.”

“I’ve given you a much-abbreviated summary,” Mike explained. “The reconstruction of Parker’s legs took years. In those first few days, the trauma doctors worked frantically just to keep him alive. Eventually he was taken off the critical list, but he spent weeks in an ICU fighting off infection. There weren’t drugs strong enough to keep him unconscious except for brief periods. The rest of the time he spent screaming, begging them to kill him. He’s admitted that much to me.”

Maris covered her trembling lips with her hand, which was cold and clammy. Tears stung her eyes.

“He’d suffered tremendous blood loss. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t amputate his legs immediately. They were afraid he’d bleed out on the operating table. Or they wanted his condition to stabilize before they attempted a surgery that traumatic. I’m surmising. I don’t know. I learned all this long after the fact. No one notified me of the incident. I found out later, by happenstance.

“When he was strong enough to begin the reconstructive process, he fought like hell if any of the consulting physicians so much as mentioned amputation. Even partial. Honestly, I don’t know why they heeded his wishes. Maybe because he was a young man. Maybe… I don’t know,” he repeated with a shrug. “Divine intervention? Providence? Maybe the doctors simply admired the power of his will and decided to honor it. Anyway, they didn’t take his legs. They elected to rebuild them the best they could.”

“I’ve seen his scars.”

“The visible ones. The ones you can’t see are even deeper.”

“Caused by Noah’s betrayal.”

“During those weeks that Parker was fighting for his life, Noah was putting on quite a dog-and-pony show for the authorities. Mary Catherine wasn’t there to dispute his version of what had happened. It came down to his word against Parker’s. He painted Parker as a jealous, envious hothead who had gotten drunk and snapped, turned violent. He attacked Noah. When Mary Catherine tried to break them apart, Parker lashed out and knocked her over the railing. His momentum caused him to fall overboard, too.

“By the time the doctors granted the investigators permission to question him, Parker had already been cast in the defensive role. Confronted with these false accusations, Parker, by his own account, played right into Noah’s hands. He reacted like a jealous, envious hothead with violent tendencies. His ranted denials made him appear guilty rather than innocent. From his hospital bed, he threatened to kill his lying friend.”

Mike smiled. “I imagine that he put his command of the English language, as well as his gutter vernacular, to good use. I can imagine him pulling against arm restraints and practically foaming at the mouth.”

“That probably isn’t exaggerating by much.”

“In any case he came across as a raving maniac, dangerous to himself and others. Noah was believed. Parker wasn’t. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter for Mary Catherine’s drowning. When he was well enough to leave the hospital, he was taken to court for his arraignment. He pled no contest.”

“Why?” Maris exclaimed. “He wasn’t guilty.”

“But he felt responsible.”

She shook her head. “Noah was.”

“I agree with you. But Parker blamed himself for being unable to save her. Noah didn’t attend Parker’s sentencing, but he sent a videotaped deposition. He was humble, sorrowful, soft-spoken when he wasn’t openly weeping. He said he regretted having to tell the horrible truth about that day. A dual tragedy had occurred, he said. Mary Catherine’s drowning. And the death of his friendship with Parker Evans. He thought he knew him, but in a matter of hours his best friend had become his enemy.

“He said that he and Parker had been closer than any two brothers. But when Noah succeeded ahead of him, it did something to Parker. Twisted him. Noah looked earnestly into the camera and sobbed. ‘I don’t understand what happened to Parker that day. He turned devious, lecherous, and murderous.’ I think I’m quoting correctly.”