“Who was more innocent,” Myron said, “than your unborn grandchild?”
She may have nodded. It was hard to tell. “Go on.”
“You said it yourself when we talked about choosing patients. It’s about prioritizing. It’s about saving the innocents. Your motives were almost pure, Edna. You were trying to save your own grandchild.”
Edna Skylar turned and looked down the corridor. When she faced Myron again, the sad smile was gone. Her face was oddly blank. “Aimee was already almost three months pregnant,” she began. Her tone had changed. There was something gentle in it, something distant too. “If I could have held that girl for another month or two, it would have been too late to terminate. If I could just put off Aimee’s decision for a little while longer, I would save my grandchild. Is that so wrong?”
Myron said nothing.
“And you’re right. I wanted Aimee’s disappearance to parallel Katie Rochester’s. Part of it was already there for me, of course. They both went to the same school and both were pregnant. So I added the ATM. I did all I could to make it look like Aimee was a runaway. But not for the reasons you said—not because she was a nice girl with a nice family. Pretty much the opposite, in fact.”
Myron nodded, seeing it now. “If the police started investigating,” he said, “they may have found out about her affair with your son.”
“Yes.”
“None of the suspects owned a log cabin. But you do, Edna. It even has the brown and white fireplace like Aimee said.”
“You’ve been a busy boy.”
“Yes, I have.”
“I had it pretty well planned out. I would treat her well. I would monitor the baby. I made that call to the parents hoping to offer some comfort. I would keep doing stuff like that—leaving hints that Aimee was a runaway and was okay.”
“Like going online?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get her password and screen name?”
“She gave it to me in a drug stupor.”
“You wore a disguise when you were with her?”
“I kept my face covered, yes.”
“And the name of Erin’s boyfriend. Mark Cooper. How did you get that?”
Edna shrugged. “She gave me that too.”
“It was the wrong answer. Mark Cooper was a boy nicknamed Trouble. That was another thing that bothered me.”
“Clever of her,” Edna Skylar said. “Still. I would have held her a few months. I would have kept leaving hints that she ran away. Then I would let her go. She would have told the same story about being abducted.”
“And no one would have believed her.”
“She would have the baby, Myron. That was all I was concerned with. The plan would have worked. Once that ATM charge came in, the police were certain that she was a runaway. So they were out of it. Her parents, well, they’re parents. Their concerns were dismissed just like the Rochesters’.” She met his eye. “Only one thing messed me up.”
Myron spread his hands. “Modesty prevents me from saying it.”
“Then I will. You, Myron. You messed me up.”
“You’re not going to call me a meddlesome kid, are you? Like on Scooby-Doo?”
“You think this is funny?”
“No, Edna. I don’t think it’s funny at all.”
“I never wanted to hurt anyone. Yes, it would inconvenience Aimee. It might even be somewhat traumatic for her, though I’m pretty good at administering drugs. I could have kept her comfortable and the baby safe. And her parents, of course they’d go through hell. I thought if I could convince them that she was a runaway—that she was all right—it might make it easier on them. But add up the pros and cons. Even if they all had to suffer a little, don’t you see? I was saving a life. It was like I told you. I messed up with Drew. I didn’t look out for him. I didn’t protect him.”
“And you weren’t going to make those same mistakes with your grandchild,” Myron said.
“That’s right.”
There were patients and visitors, doctor and nurses, all sorts of people moving to and fro. There were dinging noises from above. Someone walked by with a huge bouquet of flowers. Myron and Edna saw none of that.
“You said it to me on the phone,” Edna went on. “When you asked me to look up Aimee’s records. Protect the innocent. That’s all I was trying to do. But when she vanished, you blamed yourself. You felt obligated to find her. You started digging.”
“And when I got too close, you had to cut your losses.”
“Yes.”
“So you let her go.”
“I had no choice. Everything went to hell. Once you got involved, people started dying.”
“You’re not blaming me for that, are you?”
“No, and I’m not blaming me either,” she said, head high. “I never killed anyone. I never asked Harry Davis to switch transcripts. I never asked Jake Wolf to pay anybody off. I never asked Randy Wolf to sell drugs. I never told my son to sleep with a student. And I didn’t tell Aimee Biel to get pregnant with his baby.”
Myron said nothing.
“You want to take it another step?” Her voice edged up a notch. “I didn’t tell Drew to pull a gun on Jake Wolf. Just the opposite. I tried to keep my son calm, but I couldn’t tell him the truth. Maybe I should have. But Drew had always been such a screw-up. So I just told him to relax. That Aimee would be okay. But he didn’t listen. He thought Jake Wolf must have done something to her. So he went after him. My guess is, the wife was telling the truth. She shot him in self-defense. That’s how my son ended up dead. But I didn’t do any of that.”
Myron waited. Her lips were trembling, but Edna fought through it. She would not collapse. She would not show weakness, not even now when it was all unraveling, when her actions not only failed to produce the desired results but had ended the life of her own son.
“All I wanted to do was save my grandchild’s life,” she said. “How else could I have done it?”
Myron still didn’t reply.
“Well?”
“I don’t know.”
“Please.” Edna Skylar clutched his arm as if it were a life preserver. “What is she going to do about the baby?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“You’ll never be able to prove any of this.”
“That’s up to the police. I just wanted to keep my promise.”
She may have nodded. It was hard to tell. “Go on.”
“You said it yourself when we talked about choosing patients. It’s about prioritizing. It’s about saving the innocents. Your motives were almost pure, Edna. You were trying to save your own grandchild.”
Edna Skylar turned and looked down the corridor. When she faced Myron again, the sad smile was gone. Her face was oddly blank. “Aimee was already almost three months pregnant,” she began. Her tone had changed. There was something gentle in it, something distant too. “If I could have held that girl for another month or two, it would have been too late to terminate. If I could just put off Aimee’s decision for a little while longer, I would save my grandchild. Is that so wrong?”
Myron said nothing.
“And you’re right. I wanted Aimee’s disappearance to parallel Katie Rochester’s. Part of it was already there for me, of course. They both went to the same school and both were pregnant. So I added the ATM. I did all I could to make it look like Aimee was a runaway. But not for the reasons you said—not because she was a nice girl with a nice family. Pretty much the opposite, in fact.”
Myron nodded, seeing it now. “If the police started investigating,” he said, “they may have found out about her affair with your son.”
“Yes.”
“None of the suspects owned a log cabin. But you do, Edna. It even has the brown and white fireplace like Aimee said.”
“You’ve been a busy boy.”
“Yes, I have.”
“I had it pretty well planned out. I would treat her well. I would monitor the baby. I made that call to the parents hoping to offer some comfort. I would keep doing stuff like that—leaving hints that Aimee was a runaway and was okay.”
“Like going online?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get her password and screen name?”
“She gave it to me in a drug stupor.”
“You wore a disguise when you were with her?”
“I kept my face covered, yes.”
“And the name of Erin’s boyfriend. Mark Cooper. How did you get that?”
Edna shrugged. “She gave me that too.”
“It was the wrong answer. Mark Cooper was a boy nicknamed Trouble. That was another thing that bothered me.”
“Clever of her,” Edna Skylar said. “Still. I would have held her a few months. I would have kept leaving hints that she ran away. Then I would let her go. She would have told the same story about being abducted.”
“And no one would have believed her.”
“She would have the baby, Myron. That was all I was concerned with. The plan would have worked. Once that ATM charge came in, the police were certain that she was a runaway. So they were out of it. Her parents, well, they’re parents. Their concerns were dismissed just like the Rochesters’.” She met his eye. “Only one thing messed me up.”
Myron spread his hands. “Modesty prevents me from saying it.”
“Then I will. You, Myron. You messed me up.”
“You’re not going to call me a meddlesome kid, are you? Like on Scooby-Doo?”
“You think this is funny?”
“No, Edna. I don’t think it’s funny at all.”
“I never wanted to hurt anyone. Yes, it would inconvenience Aimee. It might even be somewhat traumatic for her, though I’m pretty good at administering drugs. I could have kept her comfortable and the baby safe. And her parents, of course they’d go through hell. I thought if I could convince them that she was a runaway—that she was all right—it might make it easier on them. But add up the pros and cons. Even if they all had to suffer a little, don’t you see? I was saving a life. It was like I told you. I messed up with Drew. I didn’t look out for him. I didn’t protect him.”
“And you weren’t going to make those same mistakes with your grandchild,” Myron said.
“That’s right.”
There were patients and visitors, doctor and nurses, all sorts of people moving to and fro. There were dinging noises from above. Someone walked by with a huge bouquet of flowers. Myron and Edna saw none of that.
“You said it to me on the phone,” Edna went on. “When you asked me to look up Aimee’s records. Protect the innocent. That’s all I was trying to do. But when she vanished, you blamed yourself. You felt obligated to find her. You started digging.”
“And when I got too close, you had to cut your losses.”
“Yes.”
“So you let her go.”
“I had no choice. Everything went to hell. Once you got involved, people started dying.”
“You’re not blaming me for that, are you?”
“No, and I’m not blaming me either,” she said, head high. “I never killed anyone. I never asked Harry Davis to switch transcripts. I never asked Jake Wolf to pay anybody off. I never asked Randy Wolf to sell drugs. I never told my son to sleep with a student. And I didn’t tell Aimee Biel to get pregnant with his baby.”
Myron said nothing.
“You want to take it another step?” Her voice edged up a notch. “I didn’t tell Drew to pull a gun on Jake Wolf. Just the opposite. I tried to keep my son calm, but I couldn’t tell him the truth. Maybe I should have. But Drew had always been such a screw-up. So I just told him to relax. That Aimee would be okay. But he didn’t listen. He thought Jake Wolf must have done something to her. So he went after him. My guess is, the wife was telling the truth. She shot him in self-defense. That’s how my son ended up dead. But I didn’t do any of that.”
Myron waited. Her lips were trembling, but Edna fought through it. She would not collapse. She would not show weakness, not even now when it was all unraveling, when her actions not only failed to produce the desired results but had ended the life of her own son.
“All I wanted to do was save my grandchild’s life,” she said. “How else could I have done it?”
Myron still didn’t reply.
“Well?”
“I don’t know.”
“Please.” Edna Skylar clutched his arm as if it were a life preserver. “What is she going to do about the baby?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“You’ll never be able to prove any of this.”
“That’s up to the police. I just wanted to keep my promise.”
