Page 163 of Nash Falls

Rhett sat down next to her and gripped her hand. “Yeah, I can see that.” He snagged the bottle of pills. “I’m taking these with me, Judith. This is thesecondtime. You can’t keep doing this. Something bad will happen, honey.”

“Something badhashappened!” she exclaimed. “Maggie is dead!”

“I know, I know,” he said soothingly. “And I’m so sorry. So very sorry for it all.”

Judith set her cup down, leaned over, and put her face in her hands. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take, Rhett, I really don’t.”

“I offered to get you help a dozen times. I know people, good people, who deal with this sort of thing all the time. They can help you, Judith.”

“I don’t want any help. I don’tdeserveany help.”

“None of this is your fault. It’s his fault, your husband’s. This whole fucking nightmare is down to Walter, not you.”

Nash glanced out the window and in his mind’s eye he conjured the painting of the girl and the dog. But Nash wasn’t sure how much more of thishecould take.

“I’ve been thinking about that.”

Nash shot her a look because her voice had suddenly become more like the old Judith—focused and firm.

She took several more sips of coffee, ate another cracker, and composed herself.

“You’ve been thinking about what?” asked Rhett, with an edge to his voice that Nash did not care for at all.

“The night Maggie disappeared, we had an argument.”

Rhett looked up at Nash and said, “Dillon, go wait outside.”

Nash glanced at Judith and then nodded and walked out. But he didn’t go far and he left the door open, so he could still hear their conversation.

“An argument? About what?” asked Rhett.

“She knew I’d been with another man. She didn’t know it was you, but she knew that I’d had sex. And do you know what she told me?”

“What?”

“That I didn’t deserve Walter. That he doted on me, loved me with all his heart. That he was too good for me.”

“I’m not following—”

“Why would she have said those things if he was going into her bedroom and doing all those awful things to her? Why would she have gone online and said he was abusing her just a few days later? Why didn’t she tellmethat the night of our argument? She could have opened up, told me the truth. But she didn’t. Why!”

Rhett said nervously, “I don’t know, Judith. These things are complicated. She could have been in shock. She could have been confused. Sexual abuse by a parent can do funny things to you, or so I’ve been told.”

Judith shook her head before looking directly at him. “Do you know what I think?”

“What?” said Rhett with a tightness to his voice.

“I think Walter was telling me the truth when he denied abusing her.”

“Then why did he run?”

“Because I called the police.”

“Are you saying your own daughter was lying about all of it? Is that what you’re saying!”

She let out a sob and dipped her head. “I don’t know. I just don’t know. I can’t figure out that part, why she would, why Maggie would…”

Rhett said gently, “Look, you just need to get some rest. And no more pills.”