Long Range (Joe Pickett Book 20)(52)

“So you were out driving around and just decided to drop by?” Joe asked her.

Missy turned in her chair to look at him. She said, “I suppose I could have come over here and gotten my business done and not called at all. But I wanted to see the girls and my only daughter. I’ve been out of the country for a long time and I missed them.”

He squinted at her. Was she getting soft and sentimental? Was he too hard on her, given her age? Then he thought: Naw.

“What business could you possibly do in Saddlestring that you couldn’t get done in Jackson Hole?” Joe asked.

Missy and Marcus Hand lived in an exclusive gated community north of Jackson. They had access to private aircraft and amenities few others in the state could even imagine.

Missy took a thoughtful sip of wine and looked out at a middle distance between Joe and Marybeth. She said, “I had no choice but to cut my trip short and return. In my case, it happened in the Venetian lagoon. Marcus told me to continue on, but I just couldn’t.”

She paused dramatically, then said, “Sometimes real life just intrudes.”

Joe had no idea what that meant. Intrudes on what?

Perhaps, he thought, the feds were closing in on her. Maybe the IRS, SEC, or FBI? All three agencies likely still had her in their sights.

“Let me guess,” Joe said. “You needed to come back in order to destroy evidence.”

Marybeth had to turn her head away so she wouldn’t be caught giggling at that. But Missy simply scoffed. “Joe, when you reach my station in life and you’re married to a man who is an absolute titan in the legal profession, there are certain things you no longer need to worry about. That’s why we pay lawyers, accountants, and politicians such ridiculous amounts—so we’re insulated from all of that.”

“So what’s the occasion of your visit?” Joe asked. “Are you hatching another plot to get me fired?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said.

“Right,” he said. Two years before, Missy had used her influence with Governor Allen to set Joe up in a situation where he’d fail spectacularly and therefore lose his job. Apparently, she’d thought that when it happened, Marybeth would come to her senses and move on.

There was no need to point out to her that he, and they, were doing better than ever with a new home, a new truck, and a raise in salary. It seemed petty to do so, although he had no doubt that if she had pulled off her scheme, she would have rubbed his nose in it.

Missy tucked a stray hair behind her ear and said, “It’s about Marcus. He’s been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.”

Marybeth gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. It was very much to his wife’s credit, Joe thought, that despite what her mother was and all the things she’d done, her first reaction was empathy. Marybeth was the precise opposite of Missy.

“You didn’t know?” Joe asked Marybeth. She shook her head.

“My daughter has a much firmer grasp on what this news means than you do, Joe,” Missy said with distaste.

Joe looked to Marybeth for an explanation, but before she spoke, Missy provided it in a schoolmarm tone, since he was obviously not smart enough to understand.

“Pancreatic cancer is a death sentence ninety-five percent of the time,” Missy said. “Most people who have it die within three years. With the exception of small-cell lung cancer, it’s the worst cancer you can get. That’s because the tumor releases cancer cells that infect other organs even if the tumor has been surgically removed.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Joe said.

“We’re so sorry,” Marybeth added.

Missy thrust her chin out defiantly and looked at them both. “Oh, I’m not going to let him die. He’s not going to get off as easy as that.”

“What are you talking about?” Marybeth asked.

“I’m going to save his life,” Missy said. “He’s really going to owe me.”

Joe and Marybeth exchanged a puzzled glance.

“Despite what Marcus told me, I had to come back here,” Missy said. “Marcus was all ready to give up. But one of the many things I learned abroad is that we tend to look at sicknesses and diseases from the perspective of our own health industry. We don’t know what else is out there in the world. There are creative ways to treat even the worst diseases—we just have to find them and embrace them.”

Missy launched herself up and walked over to the kitchen counter to refill her wineglass. As she did so, she said, “He’s too sick to travel internationally right now to where the clinical trials are taking place. But that doesn’t mean he has no options. I told him to leave it up to me. I told him I’d save his life and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Joe was shocked to realize that he found himself admiring her will and tenacity. It was an uncomfortable feeling. Until that moment, he hadn’t known Missy could have such deep feelings for anyone in her life as she apparently did for Marcus Hand. When he looked over at Marybeth, he could see she had tears in her eyes as well.

“There are experimental treatments for pancreatic cancer,” Missy said. “I’ve read all about them. They might not yet be approved in this country, but they exist.”

“Where?” Marybeth asked.

“The treatments are being done in France and the Netherlands,” Missy said.