Cold Betrayal

The nurse, arms folded across her chest, stood behind the doctor and watched the unfolding drama with rising interest.

“I have no idea what you think you’re doing, young woman,” Munson said to Athena. “It would be a good idea if you left now.”

“We’ll do just that,” Athena said agreeably. “I can’t imagine that any of your findings about Gram’s ability to manage her own affairs will pass muster once the judge sees a sampling of these photos.”

With that, Athena turned on her mother. “As for you? My independent investigators have established that a minimum of sixty thousand dollars has gone missing from Gram’s savings accounts in the past year. It was withdrawn by way of fraudulent ATM transactions. That money is to be returned, with interest, as are Betsy’s cameo pin and the diamond earrings that were removed from her jewelry box by you on Friday night while she was at the fish fry.”

Sandra’s mouth fell open. “How can you say such a thing?”

“Easy,” Athena said. “Because I happen to have the video. Care to see it? This isn’t a court of law, Mother, and I’m not a journalist, either. I’m not using the word ‘alleged.’ I don’t have to. I’m your daughter. Right now this is still a family matter, but if you don’t return every dime of what you’ve taken, it will become all too public. As for telling Daddy about your friend here? You probably don’t need to.” She glanced meaningfully in the direction of the mesmerized nurse and the openmouthed receptionist. “I’m sure people will be lining up all over town to give him the news.”

Grim faced, Munson pushed past his nurse and disappeared down the hall, slamming an invisible office door behind him. The receptionist was still slack-jawed while Sandra stared at Athena in tight-lipped fury.

Unconcerned by her mother’s reaction, Athena took Betsy’s arm and led her grandmother out of the room. Howard followed, with Ali tailing along behind. Before the door had time enough to close entirely, it opened again and Sandra marched out, leaving a storm of conversation behind her in the waiting room.

“By God!” Howard said out on the sidewalk with a chuckle that was more a cackle than it was a burst of laughter. “That’s more fun than I’ve had in years! You certainly put that mother of yours in her place!” he declared. “Good on you, Athena, girl. Good on you.”

Betsy was smiling, too, but a moment later the smile disappeared and her expression turned serious. “We’ll need to find a bench somewhere. I told Marcia to come back in an hour,” she said. “We’ll need a place to wait.”

“No waiting,” Athena said. “We’ll give you a ride. We’ll call Marcia and let her know that she won’t need to come back to pick you up. How about an early di

“By all means,” Howard said. “We’re just in time for the blue-plate special at the diner. My treat.”

It turned out that the blue-plate special—served on honest-to-God blue plates—consisted of passable meat loaf accompanied by lumpy mashed potatoes with parsnips lurking inside them. The rest of the plate was covered with a pile of pale green beans. By color alone, Ali determined the beans had come straight from a can. Ca

“Jimmy must have known what was going on the whole time,” she said at last. “How could my own son betray me like this?”

“Trust me,” Athena said. “My guess is he didn’t know. In fact, I doubt he had any idea. This is all Mom’s doing, Gram—all of it. We don’t have tapes of her coming into your house and turning on the gas, but I’m sure she did that, too. She may not have been trying to kill you, but her intent was to do you harm. She drove you out of your house and into the snow in the middle of the night with no care at all about what might happen. It’s a wonder you didn’t catch pneumonia.”

Betsy still looked pensive and lost. “What’s going to happen when Jimmy finds out your mother has been stepping out on him?”

“He won’t unless somebody tells him,” Athena said. “In fact, I doubt he’ll ever figure it out on his own. Mom has betrayal down cold. As far as Dad is concerned, what she says goes. She’ll convince him that no matter what anyone says, you included, nothing happened between her and Elmer Munson. She’ll claim people are telling lies about her, and Dad will believe every word that comes out of her mouth. And you know what? It doesn’t matter because I don’t care anymore. As long as she pays back every cent of the money she stole from you, what she does is none of my concern. And if she doesn’t pay you back? Then we go to the cops, plain and simple, and she goes to jail.”

“What about turning the other cheek?”

“No,” Athena said decisively. “Not with her.” She paused, then asked, “But what about from here on out, Gram? It makes me sick to think that anyone, especially my own mother, would take advantage of you this way, but what if someone else tries to do the same thing? You need someone looking out for you, someone closer. I’d like to see you out of that house—a place where you live all alone in the middle of nowhere. I’d like to see you in a spot where you’ll have people around who can help you in case you’re in trouble or having issues of some kind.”

“I’ve invited her to come live with me at my assisted-living place,” Howard interjected, “but she always turns me down.”

To Ali’s amazement, Betsy blushed at that remark. “They don’t take dogs,” she said, primly. “I won’t leave my Princess behind.”

“I’m glad you mentioned that,” Athena said. “I did some checking before we came here. Sedona Shadows, the place where Ali’s folks live, doesn’t take dogs either, but I’ve found another facility that does, and they happen to have a two-bedroom unit that just became available.”

“Why would I need a two-bedroom?” Betsy asked. “Besides, Sedona is too far away from home.”

“Having a guest room is always a good idea, because you just might have company,” Howard said, with a smile that was one short step from co

“Of course,” Betsy said, but the way she said it sounded as though she was warming to the idea.

“When school’s out, the kids and I can come north, help you sort things, and get your place listed,” Athena continued. “Then we’d hire movers to pack your stuff into a van to move it to Arizona. Meanwhile, you and Princess would drive back to Sedona with us. Easy-peasy.”

Betsy looked across the table at Athena. “I’ll think about it,” she said finally. “I really will.”

41

For the next six weeks Sister Anselm and Ali spent most of their waking hours working hand in hand with Andrea Rogers and the other Irene’s Place volunteers, shuttling The Family’s displaced women and children to new homes. The Encampment was now mostly deserted. Inspections of The Family’s housing facilities had revealed that they’d been built without permits and with little or no effort to meet building codes. Now all of them had been condemned. Rather than being sold, the structures were due to be demolished.

As The Family’s collection of livestock was sold off, the proceeds from those sales were placed in escrow to pay for some of the former residents’ care and keeping. Everyone knew that considerable funds were still squirreled away in Richard Lowell’s banking accounts in the Grand Caymans. The problem was, authorities were still trying to decide how much of that money was a result of a criminal enterprise and how much was legitimate. Once all that was sorted out, some legal determination would have to be made about who inherited the money. As one of Richard Lowell’s direct descendants, Enid Tower might one day be in a position to inherit some of it, but decisions about that were most likely years of legal wrangling away.