Page 122 of A River of Crows

There was a brief silence followed by a muffled sob. “I wish things were different, Mom. I want to have a relationship with my family here.”

Libby swallowed. Don’t take it personally, she told herself. This is normal.

“Sloan asked me to come over for Thanksgiving. But I can’t. Not with Mom around.”

“We can get a lawyer.” Libby laid back on a pillow. “Caroline tried to kill you. That should be enough to get her committed.”

“I can’t go to the cops with that. Not unless I want to open a whole can of worms.”

“Oh, right, right.” Libby rubbed her forehead. “Tell Sloan to take good notes. We can build a case.”

“Sloan doesn’t want to build a case.”

“Why on earth not? After all Caroline has done?”

“She’s got this weird guilt thing about Mom. Makes excuses for her. Tonight, when she called Noah, she said Mom had a gun. Later, she claimed she was mistaken, but I saw the gun in the backseat when we were driving home.”

“Wow. Did you call her out on that?”

“I didn’t. It’s pointless to argue with Sloan. Mom will end up killing someone or drown herself in the river.”

“Drown herself? Caroline’s suicidal?”

“No. Noah said he gets lots of calls about her walking along the rocks, and she fell and hit her head recently. She goes to the creek every day. Stays super late. Sloan’s boyfriend has had to stay at the house to make sure she doesn’t leave when Sloan is out at the creek with me.”

“Goodness. Poor Sloan.”

“Yeah. I hate to say this because I know it would be hard on Sloan to lose Mom to prison or the creek, but at least she’d be free. At least we’d both be free.”

Unless you’re the one she kills, Libby thought. If she knew anything about Caroline Radel, it was that vengeance drove her. She had and would continue to do anything in the name of it. “So, when are you heading back?”

“I’m going to stay one more day. The plan is to spend some time with Noah in the morning and Sloan in the afternoon, as long as Mom goes to the creek.” He paused. “Does it bother you that I call her Mom? It’s just a habit.”

“Why would it bother me? She is your mother.”

“You’re my mother,” Ridge said without hesitation.

Libby hated to admit how badly she needed to hear that. It was hard not to be insecure, hard not to worry about being replaced, but she’d reminded herself one thousand times that this was about Ridge, not her. It had always been about Ridge.

“I’ll head back Friday and take the RV to you guys before driving home,” Ridge said.

“Dad got the oil changed in your truck. It’s filled up and ready for you to take off, but we hope you’ll stay a few days.”

“You bet I will.” He yawned. “It’s been a long day. I’m going to let you go. Love you.”

“Love you too,” she said. “Always, forever . . .”

“And no matter what,” he finished for her, reciting what had always been their mother-son mantra.

Libby hung up the phone and went into the bathroom to remove her makeup. She splashed cold water on her face and thought about Caroline. She’d always suspected that her family hadn’t seen or heard the last of her.

Libby remembered back to those early days. The decision to keep Ridge, the decision to try to get Sloan too. The memory still made Libby shudder all these years later. How terrible the depths they had to sink to play Caroline’s game. Of course, grabbing Sloan like that was not part of the plan, especially in broad daylight. It was supposed to look like she ran away; it was all supposed to be different.

If only Caroline would have let Sloan visit, if only the guy Vince’s POS little brother had hired hadn’t gone rogue, if only Libby had gone to Mallowater and gotten Sloan herself.

Vince said it was for the best. That if Sloan went missing, Ridge’s case would be reopened. That it would jeopardize everything.

Caroline called that night; said she was ready to pick up Ridge. There was no time to try again for Sloan. It’s for the best. It would have jeopardized everything. Libby still repeated Vince’s assurances all these years later.