Page 25 of Into The Rabbit Hole
Chapter 5
Regina
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Detective Fray’scalls always meant that something else had happened. When Regina looked at her phone earlier and saw his number come up, her stomach tightened. When he told her that a hand—the rest of Jackson Donovan’s hand—had been delivered to Ben last night, and asked her if she had received anything, she threwup.
Literally threw up. Her mind had pieced together the image of the finger she received weeks ago and conjured up one of the hand. It took her a good hour or so before she could calm herself. And that was with Brian’sassistance.
A finger and a hand. Jackson Donovan’s finger andhand.
She’d never gotten the chance to finish her conversation with Ben last week when they were at the station. Detective Fray had come in at the moment she thought Ben was going to go into a little more detail about what they were up against. Since then, he was busy with Wade, and his office wasn’t too happy with his decision to representWade.
His firmness with them was impressive, but it made her question things even more. She knew Ben all too well, and knew his strength behind his power. However, his actions were that of a man who had hit a stumbling block. He seemed to be clawing at the areas where he could still have some influence. She hadn’t seen this side of him often, probably once before during the oil rig incident, but his actions then weren’t as bad as they werenow.
She thought that with him getting Jackson’s hand, it gave her every reason in the world to visit her soon-to-be-ex-husband and get the information she deserved fromhim.
It was just before noon. Ben was sitting out on the terrace behind one of the wooden tables. A file lay open beforehim.
A sickly green color washed over his face when he saw her. The reaction was enough to highlight the severe direction their situation hadtaken.
“Detective Fray told me what happened,” shebegan.
She pulled out the chair opposite him and sat down. He straightened up and looked ather.
“I got the finger, you got the hand. How comes you didn’t call?” She knew he wouldn’t call. That part was just a goad. Throughout this whole event Ben had never called her, not even once. Not even to ask what hadhappened.
She thought his lack of care was appalling, but it didn’t surpriseher.
“Didn’t want to worry you. You seemed content playing house with Brian. The happy couple and their daughter.” When Ben was sarcastic it normally had that double-edged effect where it would make her feel humiliated, but also produce some level of fear inher.
Not today. She’d risen above that. She’d risen so far above his tactics that she was looking down on him. He couldn’t hurt her anymore. At least not with his words, and definitely not with histhreats.
“Brian and I are doing well. Taylor’s getting to know him, but like the angel she is, she’s made her love for you quite clear.” Openness and transparency. That was what she needed here. Because that was what she wanted from him. Regina had spoken to Taylor the other day, to see how she wascoping.
Wade was in some serious trouble, and everything that was going on with him terrified her, but in the midst of that, she had to remember all that Taylor had gone through in such a short space of time. Finding out that Brian was her father had to have done a number on her mind, too, so Regina had sat her down and they had a nice long talk about all that hadhappened.
As always, Taylor never failed to impress her with the extent of her love. Sharing how Taylor felt was probably what would help her now to talk to Ben. She needed answers. She needed to know what they were up against. Her boy was suffering for something he didn’t do. At the very least she wanted to knowwhy.
“Did she say that?” Ben asked. There was a flicker of something in his eyes. It seemed to soften the hardness in hisexpression.
“Yes, she did.Specifically.”
He looked away from her and gazed out to the garden. She followed his gaze and noticed that all the roses had wilted. There was a time when she spent hours in that garden tending to the flowers. It was a way of getting her mind off the mistakes she’d made in her life. She’d busy herself with growing miniature roses and other flowers, some of which were difficult to keep. It was soothing at the time, but then everything became too much and shestopped.
When she looked back to him he was already looking ather.
“Why are you telling me this? Why are you telling me that Taylor lovesme?”
She pulled in a breath. “So that you can be honest with me. I need to know why my son is in prison. Why does he need to suffer for something you did? Things are just getting worse, Ben, and you need to start talking before someone elsedies.”
That was the truth of the matter. He looked down at the table, at the folder, and then back to her. He reached out and slid it over towardsher.
She noticed that his skin grew paler and that haggardness she’d seen on him last weekreturned.
Regina opened the folder. The first thing that greeted her was a drawing. It was of a very beautiful woman with long dark hair. She thought she recognized her but couldn’t be certain. She continued to look through and found at least twenty more drawings of the woman in different settings and with a child. Aboy.
Those depicted happy moments of them at the beach, in a woodland park, at thefair.