Page 71 of Fatal Deception
“Can we see her?” Audra asked, without fully thinking the question through. Everything just felt…so unsettled, even with what Copeland had told her.
Laurel looked from Rosalie to Audra, then back to the uniformed officer outside the hospital-room door.
“It’ll be up to her. I’ll go see if she’s okay with it, and I’ll have to stay in the room with you.”
Audra nodded, and Laurel slipped into the room.
Rosalie turned to Audra, concern etched across her features. “Why?”
“I don’t know. It just seems… Dad convinced her of all this stuff that wasn’t true, and she was acting on it in good faith.”
Rosalie scowled. “She would have killed Copeland. And possibly you. Even if she believed every lie Dad ever told, that’s not an excuse formurder.”
“She had chances to do both and didn’t.”
Rosalie shook her head. “I don’t know how you can have any sympathy for her, Aud. She’s a damn criminal.”
“She’s troubled. She needs help. She’s our sister.”
Maybe, just maybe, that softened Rosalie a little. When Laurel reappeared and ushered them into the room, Rosalie linked arms with Audra. They stopped at the end of Karly’s hospital bed.
She was hooked up to an IV and some other kind of machine. Her gaze slowly landed on them, settled on their linked arms while a scowl sank into her face.
“Well. What do you two want?” she said it with a sneer. “If you’re expecting an apology, you can jump off a cliff.Youshot me.”
Audra supposed it should make her mad, but all she could seem to work up to was sympathy. To be this…angry at all the wrong people. It was just sad.
“I’m sorry it was the only option,” Audra said, and meant it. “But I think we both know you were ready to kill someone, and that’s just…not okay.”
Karly’s belligerent gaze moved out to the window, even though it was dark outside, and her jaw worked, like she was trying to hold back tears. Like sheknew, deep down, what she’d done was wrong.
Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Audra, who’d given up on wishful thinking since her father had died, decided she wanted some of that hope, some of that belief back.
“I would have given you a piece of the ranch,” Audra said very calmly and clearly. “I would have given you so much. I offered. You didn’t even consider my offer.”
Karly stared at her. There was hate deep in the eyes the same shade as Audra’s, but Audra thought she saw something else. Maybe she was fooling herself, but she hoped she saw some doubt.
So she pressed. “Hetricked you. He tricked all of us. He’s the enemy. And if you can ever accept that, believe it, I’ll be here.”
“We’ll be here,” Rosalie corrected, surprising Audra. Because her sister wasn’t exactly known for her forgiving nature.
Karly still said nothing. She would do some time. Hopefully she’d get some help, and maybe someday in the future they could put this behind them.
But if they didn’t, at least Audra tried.
“Whatever,” Karly muttered. “Go away.”
Audra exchanged a glance with Rosalie, who nodded. They’d done what they needed to do for some closure, and left the door cracked open if Karly ever decided to step through it.
COPELAND SWAM OUTof the dark in a weird fuzzy kind of confusion. He didn’t feel much of anything, least of all his body, but when his eyes opened to a bright, white hospital room he was met by a familiar dark gaze.
He stared for a full minute before it made sense. “Mom?”
His mother was frowning disapprovingly at him from a seat next to his hospital bed. “Well, who else would be here?”
Copeland shifted uncomfortably, not sure if it was the anesthesia from surgery wearing off or what. “You didn’t have to come all the way here.”
“My son was in surgery and I didn’t have to come all the way here.” She scoffed. “Leave it to you, Copeland.”