Long Range (Joe Pickett Book 20)(53)

Joe was flummoxed. “We only have one doctor,” he said. “Dr. Arthur isn’t known for special cancer treatments.”

“Who said it has to be a doctor?” Missy asked with a mad gleam in her eye.

“Mom, what are you talking about?” Marybeth asked.

“No,” Missy said. “I can’t tell you any more or I void the deal I made. I’m sworn to secrecy.” Then she wheeled and set the glass down hard on the counter without drinking from it.

“I knew I shouldn’t have come here,” she declared. “I knew I should have just gotten my business done and not said a word about it to either of you.”

She strode toward the front door and snatched her purse from the wicker chair in mid-stride.

Joe watched her go until Marybeth said, “I’m really worried about her frame of mind. Don’t let her leave like this.”

He sighed and followed Missy. He caught up with her as she was opening the door to her Range Rover. She paused and didn’t climb in, but she refused to look over at him.

“Your daughter would like you to come back. She has some questions,” Joe said.

“She does?” Missy said with sarcasm. “Or do the two of you want to make more jokes at my expense? Don’t think I didn’t hear them.”

“We didn’t know about Marcus,” Joe said.

The interior lights from her car were harsh and they made her look older and much frailer than in the house. They also reflected on moisture in her eyes. He’d never seen her cry before and he felt very uncharacteristic mixed emotions as far as Missy was concerned.

She said, “You know, when you two got married I was heartsick. I was depressed and disappointed. You know that, don’t you?”

Joe rolled his eyes and said, “But you always kept so quiet about it.”

Missy ignored him. She said, “I had such high hopes for my daughter. She had such promise. Everything I did, I did for her—to make her life better. I wanted to open doors for her that had always been closed to me. She was my first priority, but she didn’t get it then and I’m afraid she still doesn’t understand what I went through to provide her opportunities and connections. I thought I’d showed her the way, but she refused to give me credit or follow my example. When you two got together I thought she deserved so much better than a state-owned shack to live in and a paycheck-to-paycheck existence with an unimpressive state employee.”

Joe didn’t say, I agree with that. But he agreed. He always had. And he’d heard it all before.

She continued on in a soft cadence that had the tone and rhythm of a dramatic reading, he thought. She said, “That was a long time ago. Before you had children together and raised them well. I’ll give you credit for that, although I think you poisoned them against me. Now the girls have grown up and moved away. I’ll reconcile with them someday. And despite all the odds, you two are still together. And after all these years, you know what?”

“What?”

She looked over at him and, despite the tears, her eyes were ice-cold. “I was right all along.”

With that, Missy slid into her car, slammed the door, and backed away without another glance.

Joe stood for a moment and watched her taillights strobe red through the timber. He hoped the cow moose would startle her on the road and she’d swerve headlong into a tree.

Then he tossed his drink in the gravel and went back inside.

*

“SHE’S LOST IT,” Marybeth said over omelets later. “My guard is always up when she’s around and I’ve learned always to be looking for her scheme or long con, but this time I have to admit that she got to me. She cares about Marcus in a way that’s almost human, and she’s willing to put herself out for him. That’s a very unfamiliar place for her to be. I almost feel sorry for her.”

“Don’t go overboard,” Joe said. “She’s still Missy. You should have heard her goodbye speech to me.”

“I’m afraid she’s getting feebleminded,” Marybeth continued, as if he hadn’t spoken. “She’s falling for some kind of scam where some mystery person claims he can help cure Marcus’s cancer. It’s just crazy. If there was somebody around here making those kinds of claims, we’d know who they were.”

Joe agreed with a grunt. When Marybeth was on a single-minded roll, he knew better than to interrupt.

“There are times in my life when I’ve absolutely hated her,” Marybeth said. “I felt bad about it because you shouldn’t hate your own mother. But if it wasn’t hate, it was shame and disgust. And the way she’s treated our daughters! What kind of grandmother is like that?”

Joe shrugged.

“For the first time I can remember, I actually felt for her tonight,” she said. “My heart went out to her for being so fierce and determined. She thinks she can help Marcus beat this disease and she’s blind to any other possibility. Maybe for once she’s realizing she can’t scheme her way out of it.”

“Sometimes real life just intrudes,” Joe said, repeating Missy’s own words.

“Please, Joe. Don’t mock her when she’s down,” Marybeth said.

“Sorry.” But he wasn’t sure he really was.

“I’m going to spend some time figuring out who is scamming her and put a stop to it,” Marybeth said. “Whoever it is shouldn’t be taking advantage of desperate people, even if it is my horrible mother.