Harlan Coben: Fool Me Once

“He tortured her,” Maya said.

“He panicked. That I will admit. She wouldn’t tell him what she’d done. She wouldn’t give him back the information. I’m not condoning his behavior, but your sister started this. She tried to destroy this family. You, Maya, should understand. She was the enemy. You attack the enemy with full force. You fight back with whatever you have. You never show mercy.”

Maya felt the rage, but she wouldn’t let it consume her. “You stupid, evil woman.”

“Hey.” It was Neil, coming to his mother’s defense. “That’s enough.”

“You don’t get it, do you, Neil? You think Joe was protecting the family fortune? That it was about the EAC Pharmaceuticals stuff?”

Neil looked at his mother in a way that confirmed that Maya was right. Maya almost burst out laughing. She turned to Judith.

“That’s what Joe told you, right? Claire had gotten the goods on your pharmaceutical scam. And with everything coming down now around you, you, Neil, no longer trusted Mommy’s plan. You panicked and sent those kidnappers after me. You wanted to see what I knew. And you told the guys about my mental state. You told them that if they said Joe was waiting for me, I would, what, crumble?”

Neil stared at her with undisguised hatred. “You’d weaken at least.”

Judith closed her eyes. “Stupid,” she muttered.

“‘Joe is waiting.’ That’s what the guy said. And that was your mistake, Neil. You see, if Joe was behind it, if Joe had sent guys after me, he would have made sure they knew that I was armed. Those guys didn’t.”

“Maya?”

It was Judith.

“You killed my son.”

“He killed my sister.”

“He’s dead. He can’t be prosecuted. But three witnesses heard your confession. We’ll make a case.”

“You don’t understand,” Maya said. “Joe didn’t just kill my sister. He killed Theo Mora—”

“That was a hazing incident gone wrong.”

“He killed Tom Douglass.”

“You have no proof of that.”

“And he killed his own brother.”

Everyone stopped then. For a few seconds, there was dead silence, that kind of heavy silence like even the furniture was holding its breath.

“Mom?” It was Caroline. “That’s not true, is it?”

“Of course it’s not,” Judith said.

“It’s true,” Maya said. “Joe killed Andrew.”

Caroline turned to Judith. “Mom?”

“Don’t listen to her. It’s a lie.”

But there was a quake in Judith’s voice now.

“I visited Christopher Swain today, Judith. He told me that Andrew was cracking, that on that boat, Andrew told Joe that he was going to turn them all in for what they did to Theo. Then Andrew went up alone to the top deck. And Joe followed him.”

Silence.

Caroline started crying. Neil looked at his mother as though pleading for help.

“That doesn’t mean Joe killed him,” Judith said. “You may believe it does in some horrible fantasy in your diseased head, but you yourself told me what happened. You told me the truth.”

Maya nodded. “Andrew jumped. He committed suicide.”

“Yes.”

“And Joe saw it. That was what he told me.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Except that’s not what happened. Joe and Andrew went up on that deck at one A.M.”

“That’s right.”

“But nobody reported Andrew missing until the next morning.” Maya tilted her head. “If Joe had seen his brother jump, wouldn’t he have sounded the alarm right then and there?”

Judith’s eyes went wide as though she’d taken a punch to the gut. Maya saw it now. Judith had been in denial too. She knew, yet she hadn’t known. It was amazing how much we can blind ourselves to such obvious truths.

Judith dropped to her knees.

“Mom?” Neil asked.

Judith started to cry like a wounded animal. “It can’t be true.”

“It is true,” Maya said, standing up now. “Joe killed Theo Mora. He killed Andrew. He killed Claire. He killed Tom Douglass. How many more did he kill, Judith? He took a baseball bat to some kid’s head in the eighth grade. He tried to burn a kid alive in high school over a girl. Joseph Senior saw it. That’s why he gave control of the company to Neil.”

Judith just kept shaking her head.

“You raised and protected and nurtured a killer.”

“And you married him.”

Maya nodded. “I did.”

“You really think he could have fooled you?”

“I don’t think. I know it.”

Judith, still on her knees, looked up at her. “You executed him.”

Maya said nothing.

“It wasn’t self-defense. You could have brought him in.”

“Yes.”

“But you chose to murder him instead.”

“You would have tried to protect him again, Judith. I couldn’t have that.” Maya took a step toward the front door. Neil and Caroline moved backward. “But it will all come out now.”

“If it does,” Judith said, “you’ll go to jail for life.”

“Yeah, maybe. But the EAC Pharmaceuticals thing will come out now too. It’s all over now. There’s nothing left.”

“Wait,” Judith said. She stood.

Maya stopped.

“Maybe we can make a deal.”

Neil said, “Mom, what are you talking about?”

“Hush.” She looked up at Maya. “You wanted justice for your sister. You got it. Now we all come together.”

“Mom?”

“Just listen to me.” She put her hands on Maya’s shoulders. “We blame the EAC Pharmaceuticals scandal on Joe. We suggest that maybe that was what led to his murder. Do you see? Nobody has to know the truth. Justice has been served. And maybe... maybe you were right, Maya. I... I’m Eve. I raised Cain to kill Abel. I should have known. I don’t know if I can live with myself or if I can ever make amends, but maybe, if we all just keep our heads, I can still save my other two children. And I can save you too, Maya.”

“It’s too late for deals, Judith,” Maya said.

“She’s right, Mom.”

It was Neil. Maya turned to him and saw that he was pointing a gun in her direction. “But I have a better idea,” he said to Maya. “You stole Hector’s truck. You broke into our house. You are, I’m sure, armed. You admitted killing Joe and now you are going to kill us. Only, I shoot you in time and save us. We still pin the EAC scandal on Joe, but now we don’t spend our lives looking over our shoulders.”

Neil glanced at his mother. Judith smiled. Then Caroline nodded. The whole family had come together.

Neil fired the gun three times.

Poetic, Maya thought. That was how many times she’d shot Joe.

Maya collapsed to the ground, arms and legs spread. She was on her back. She couldn’t move. She expected to feel cold, but that wasn’t the case. The voices came to her in quick snatches:

“No one will ever know...”

“Check her pockets...”

“She doesn’t have a gun...”

Maya smiled and looked toward the fireplace.

“What’s she smiling about...?”

“What’s that above the fireplace? It looks like...”

“Oh no...”

Maya’s eyes blinked and then closed. She waited for the sounds — the copters, the gunfire, the screaming — to begin their assault. But they didn’t come. Not this time. Not ever again.

There was darkness and silence and then, finally, peace.

Twenty-five years later

The elevator doors are about to close when I hear a woman call out my name.

“Shane?”

I stick my hand out to hold the elevator. “Hello, Eileen.”

She rushes in, smiling, and kisses me on the cheek. “Been a long time.”

“Too long.”

“You look good, Shane.”

“So do you, Eileen.”