Lisa Gardner - Alone

She was suddenly more tired than she had ever been in her life. She wanted to see Nathan. She needed to know that her son, at least, was safe.

She answered evenly, "Yes, Tony and I had a relationship. It ended months ago, however, and as I reassured Jimmy, it was solely in the past."

"And where was the nanny, Prudence Walker, when this discussion was taking place?" Investigator Casella picked up the questioning.

"Thursday night is Prudence's night off. Thursday nights, Sunday days."

Casella frowned at her.

"But it was pretty late when your husband returned home. You're sure Prudence still wasn't back-Maybe upstairs, sleeping in her room?"

"I believe she spent the night with a friend."

"A boyfriend?" For the first time, the blonde spoke up. She was regarding Catherine sharply.

"She often spend Thursday night with him?"

"She's often out all night," Catherine conceded.

"Convenient," the blonde murmured. Catherine ignored her.

"And your son?" Investigator Doomsday said.

"How did he end up being part of the altercation?"

"Nathan had awakened shortly after ten from a nightmare. I had just gone into his room to comfort him, when I heard Jimmy downstairs. I could tell… I could already tell that it wouldn't be good."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I could tell he'd been drinking. By the way he slammed the door. By the way he started shouting my name. Nathan, of course, immediately became more frightened."

Not that he said anything. Nathan never said anything. He'd simply stared at her with those too-solemn blue eyes, his thin young body already braced, waiting. Jimmy was home, Jimmy was drunk. Jimmy was bigger than both of them.

She had wanted so much more for her son. That's what she'd been thinking on Thursday night, when Jimmy slammed the door, when Jimmy started yelling, when Jimmy headed for the stairs. She had looked down into Nathan's eyes and been terrified by the sight of her own hopeless gaze reflecting back at her.

"When did Jimmy get the gun?" the ADA was asking.

"I don't know."

"Where did he get the gun?"

"I don't know."

"He came up the stairs with it?"

"Yes."

"He waved it at you and Nathan?"

"Yes."

"And what did you do, Mrs. Gagnon?"

"I told him to put the gun away. I told him he was scaring Nathan." "And what did he do?"

"He laughed, Mr. Copley. He said he wasn't the threat to Nathan in this house, that I was."

"What did he mean by that?"

She shrugged.

"Jimmy was drunk. Jimmy didn't know what he was saying."

"And what was Nathan doing when all of this was going on?"

"Nathan was…" Her voice snagged, she forced herself to continue.

"Nathan was in my lap. He had his head pressed against my shoulder so he wouldn't have to see his father. He had his hands over his ears. I told Jimmy I was going to put Nathan to bed in our room. I asked him to please calm down, he was frightening our child. Then I walked past him to our room. The minute I got inside, I locked the door and called nine-one-one."

"Is that when Jimmy fired the gun?"

"I don't remember."

"Neighbors reported two shots fired."

"Did they?"

Copley's eyebrows rose.

"You're saying you're not sure if your husband fired the gun?"

"I wasn't focused on Jimmy at that time. I was focused on Nathan. He was scared out of his mind."

Mommy, are we going to die? Turn on the lights, Mommy. We need lights.

"Did Jimmy ever hurt you or your son before this?"

"Jimmy threw stuff when he was angry. Sometimes… We had some troubles in our marriage."

"Troubles in your marriage?" The blonde again, sounding sarcastic.

"Uniformed patrols were coming here every other week to respond to complaints. Except things were finally reaching the point of no return, weren't they, Mrs. Gagnon-Jimmy had filed for divorce."

Catherine regarded her coolly.

"True."

"He had the money," the blonde pressed.

"He had the power. First the guy had been abusing you, now he was setting things up to screw you royally. Frankly, no one here can blame you for being a little pissed off."

"We had issues. It didn't mean we were beyond help."

"Puuuhhhllleeez. This guy beat you. This guy yelled and threw things at your kid. Why would you even want to work it out?"

"Obviously, you never met Jimmy."

"Obviously, it didn't matter once you did, because you were still willing to play hide-the-stethoscope with your son's doctor."

Catherine flinched.

"That's crude."

"You did see Dr. Rocco in the end, didn't you?"

"Nathan had an attack of acute pancreatitis on Friday. Of course I saw Dr. Rocco."

"Did the doc miss you? Want you back? Jimmy's gone now-" "I'm insulted by that insinuation. My husband's body is barely cold-" "Barely cold? You helped get him killed!"

"How? By being used as target practice?"

The blonde moved to the edge of the sofa. Her questions shot out rapid-fire.

"Who started the argument Thursday night? Who first brought up Dr. Rocco?"

"I did. Nathan wasn't feeling well."

"So you decided to mention your past lover to your jealous husband?"

"He was Nathan's doctor!"

"You kept your past lover as Nathan's doctor when you had a jealous, abusive husband?"

Catherine blinked her eyes, faltered, and tried frantically to regain footing.

"Nathan doesn't like new doctors. New doctors mean new tests. I couldn't put him through that."

"Oh, I see. So you kept seeing your old lover as a favor to your son?"

"Dr. Rocco is a good doctor!"

"Is a good doctor?"

"Is a good doctor," Catherine repeated, feeling bewildered.

"Then you must be disappointed he won't be your doctor any longer."

"It wasn't his fault. James Gagnon wields a lot of power. Tony was just doing what Tony had to do."

For the first time, the blonde broke off, frowning.

"When did you last see Dr. Rocco?" the blonde asked.

"Friday evening. When Nathan was admitted into the I.C.U. Afterwards, Dr. Rocco informed me he couldn't be Nathan's doctor anymore. The head of Pediatrics had asked him to remove himself from the case. Instead, he was referring me to a geneticist, Dr. Lorfino. We have an appointment for Monday."

"And when did you make that appointment?"

"I didn't make the appointment. Tony did."

"Personal touch," the blonde murmured with an arched brow.

"My son is very sick. He needs expert care. And in the medical field it takes an expert to get an expert. If I had called Dr. Lorfino I would've been put on a waiting list. But Tony could get us right through. Maybe he doesn't have the best ethics in his personal life but Tony is a very good doctor; he's always done right by my son."

"Sounds to me like you still love him."

"I loved my husband."

"Even when he used you as a human punching bag? Even when he had a gun? Seems to me like you're not making out too badly, Mrs. Gagnon. Now you get all the benefits of the house, the car, the bank accounts, without any of the expensive Jimmy baggage." The blonde's eyes were shrewd.

"Why, there's not even anyone around to accuse you of harming your son. You're totally free and clear."

Catherine stood up.

"Get out."

"We're going to talk to Prudence, you know. And the nanny before her, and the nanny before her. We're going to go all the way back, until we know every single thing that ever happened in this household."

"Out."

"And then we're going to talk to Nathan."

Catherine stabbed her finger at the door. The three finally rose.

"Too bad about Dr. Rocco," the blonde commented casually as they crossed the marble foyer.

"Especially for his wife and kids.

"What about Tony?"

"He's dead, of course. Murdered last night. At the hospital-The blonde stopped, staring hard at Catherine's face. For a change-Catherine didn't bother to shield her expression. She was honestly shocked. Then stupefied. Then, just plain terrified.