Leann Sweeney - A Wedding To Die For

“Hey,” she said when I entered. She wore blue jeans and a checkered shirt with a lace collar that had Roxanne’s taste in clothing written all over it.

“Hey,” I replied. “Tough couple days, huh?”

She nodded, her gaze focused on her lap.

“Kate said you wouldn’t mind if I talked to you.”

“I’ll talk to you, but not about my sister. I don’t want her to get in trouble.”

“Seems she’s done that all by herself,” I said.

Kate had taken a seat on the empty bed across from Courtney, and I did the same.

“Okay, in any more trouble,” Courtney replied, shades of her old contrary self surfacing.

“I only want to help you—you and your family. A little honesty is required first, though.”

She lifted her head and looked at me for the first time. Her eyes were red rimmed and her nose was running. “You lied, so why I should I trust you?”

“I lied?”

“I know why you and Megan are tight, so you can quit acting like you’re her best friend.”

I looked over at Kate, eyebrows raised.

“Can you please explain, Courtney?” Kate said.

“Why should I? We’re all fucked anyway.” Courtney crossed her leg and her tennis-shoed foot began to bounce. She wiped her nose with one bony hand.

Kate said, “This might be the way out of the mess you’ve made. Abby is pretty good at what she does, and when she says she wants to help, she’s being sincere.”

Courtney stared at Kate for a second. “You mean she’s a good PI?”

“That’s exactly right,” said Kate.

“Both of you are good at your jobs, aren’t you?” Courtney said. “So fucking perfect. And then there’s Roxanne and me. Weirdos. Misfits. That’s who we are.”

“We went over this earlier,” Kate said softly. “No one is perfect. And even if you were, your being perfect will never change anyone else. It wouldn’t have made your father love you any more than he was capable of, and it won’t bring your parents back from their graves.”

If Courtney didn’t start crying I just might. This was heavy stuff. So I focused on what Courtney had said. She knew I was a PI. Had Kate told her? “Did my sister explain about my professional relationship with Megan?”

“No.” A short, sullen no at that.

But I pressed on. “So how did you find out?”

“Roxanne.”

“Okay. And how did she know?”

“When we came down for the wedding a couple weeks ago, she overheard Megan talking about you to Travis. About how she wanted to find her real mother.”

“You both knew who I was the first time we met?”

“Yeah.” More foot wagging. She looked at Kate. “When’s the next medicine? Because I’m getting pretty shaky again.”

“Dr. Wagner does your meds, but I’d guess you’re on an every-four-hours schedule,” Kate said.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Three,” I answered.

“Shit. Another hour. Are you about done? ’Cause I need to walk around or something.”

“I’ll walk with you,” I said softly.

“Yeah, right. So you can pump me for more info and then get the hell out of here? Everyone takes what they want and leaves.”

“You don’t have to talk to me,” I answered.

We locked eyes for an uncomfortably long time.

“You can do what the hell you want, but I’ve gotta move before I crawl out of my skin,” she finally said.

“I need to make notes on Courtney’s chart,” said Kate. “You can meet me at the front, Abby.”

“Write something that will get me out of here, okay?” Courtney asked, almost smiling.

“When you’re ready,” Kate replied. “And we both know that’s not today.”

Courtney seemed to accept this, and we left the room together. We traveled every wing in silence, passing a few other “pacers” on the way. When we started the same route over, Courtney finally spoke.

“My dad wasn’t such a bad guy.”

“I didn’t know him very well, but he sure did step up to the plate the day his brother died. That showed character. So tell me what you liked about him.”

“He was funny and smart. Yeah, he drank too much. But he would have been okay if my mother hadn’t died.”

“And maybe you would have been okay, too?” I asked.

She fell into silence again. We kept walking, with me matching her rapid strides past closed doors, kitchens, and therapy rooms. I shouldn’t have mentioned her mother. She probably wasn’t ready to deal with that right now.

About five minutes later she spoke again. “That shit the doc was saying about needing to be perfect? It must run in the family, because my dad was that way, too.”

“Did he want to be perfect for you?” I asked.

“Nah. For Uncle James. He always looked up to him—the big brother and all that crap. But then Dad had to go and ask for his job back. Uncle James practically laughed in his face.” Her tone had turned bitter.

“You were there?” I asked.

“Oh, I was there, all right. It happened the first night we arrived, and the family went out to dinner. Uncle James humiliated Dad in front of Megan, Aunt Sylvia—hell, everybody. And it got so quiet at that table I had to split. Made my first score in Houston that night. Another shining moment in Courtney’s life.”

“How did Roxanne handle that wonderful dinner moment?” I asked.

“She pretended it never happened. But Dad didn’t. He got even. I was there for that, too. ’Course he didn’t know I was just around the corner listening.”

My heart sped up. Was she about to tell me she saw her father kill his brother? “You heard or saw something?”

She halted. Turned to me. “My father did not murder his brother, if that’s what you think.”

“I was thinking that, but obviously I’m wrong. Set me straight. Help me solve these murders, Courtney.”

She cocked her head, her expression serious, the anger gone from her face. “You hardly ever hear I’m wrong. Everyone wants to be right. Hell, I want to be right. But I was wrong, too. I was so wrong to do what I did.”

This time I made a conscious effort not to prejudge or assume. I just wanted her to keep talking. I touched her emaciated upper arm and gently squeezed. “We all make mistakes. God knows I’ve made plenty in my lifetime.”

“I heard him make the phone call, Abby. I heard every word.”

“What phone call?”

“He called Megan’s birth mother. He knew her. He knew where she was, and he called and he told her that her daughter was getting married in a week.”

So that’s how Laura Montgomery found out about the wedding. “And you feel guilty for eavesdropping? That’s not exactly a crime, Courtney. Did you tell the police?”

She started walking again, and I followed.

“No way. See, I was looking out for myself, and I could have gotten in big trouble. But now, without the big C, it’s sunk in that I blackmailed my own father. Makes me feel like I drank Drano. What do you think of a person who blackmails her own father so she can buy cocaine? What kind of person does something that despicable?”

“A person who isn’t thinking clearly,” I said evenly. “Did you threaten your father, tell him you would talk to your uncle James about Megan’s birth mother?”

She nodded. “Dad so wanted to make Uncle James pay for being an asshole. Wanted to see his face when this woman showed up at the wedding. So he gave me five grand to keep my mouth shut for a week. And every fucking penny went in my arm or up my nose.”

She sounded so disgusted with herself it was almost scary. She obviously needed the protection this place offered. I said, “Kate is a wonderful therapist, and you’re getting the help you need now.”