Page 120 of Nobody's Fool

She waits for me to prompt her. I play my part.

“The guilt,” I say.

“Yes.”

“Because she didn’t report her daughter was missing right away,” I say. “Because she was away that night.”

“Not just away,” Judith says. The teasing is back. She’s enjoying this. Part of me wants to strangle her, but most of me is just weary of the injustice of it all.

I give the expected line as though I’ve overrehearsed it. “What do you mean, not just away?”

Judith is suddenly coy. “I really shouldn’t say more. Patient-client confidentiality.”

“Talia Belmond was in Chicago that night.”

“That’s true, yes.”

“Her father was dying.”

“Also true.”

“Then?”

“The Belmonds are new money. You probably know that. When they first became wealthy, my husband and I welcomed them into our circle. Many did not. We got Talia on the board of the philharmonic. Made sure that she and Archie were allowed into the right clubs. Ihosted them in this very house. Our children became close. Thomas used to play soccer on that pitch with Andrew and Joe. Victoria and Caroline were inseparable. When Victoria vanished, Caroline too suffered severe trauma. You can imagine. Her best friend walks out of a party they’re cohosting—and never returns. And when Talia Belmond was at her lowest, when she needed professional help to deal with her daughter’s kidnapping, I was there for her—first as her friend, and then as her doctor.”

She turns again and stares at that damn painting.

“And yet when we Burketts had our troubles, when the accusations around my family started to swirl, Talia Belmond never reached out to me. Never called. Never sent a note to see how we were doing. So do I owe Talia Belmond loyalty? I don’t think so.”

I wait. She is making the argument for me. It’s a stupid, nonsensical argument, but so be it. There is no reason to push when she was already doing all the pushing.

“Before I say anything else, I have a question for you, Mr. Kierce.”

“Okay.”

“Have you seen my granddaughter?”

She is talking about Lilly. Lilly is four years old now.

“No,” I say.

This is a lie.

I see Lilly a lot. I’m still in her life—and always will be if it’s up to me. I have made a vow to protect Lilly from monsters.

Monsters like her grandmother.

I see Judith Burkett’s eyes well up. “Is that the truth?” she asks. “You haven’t seen Lilly?”

I have no qualms about lying to her. “I haven’t seen her, no.”

She turns and studies my face. I don’t know whether she sees the lie or not. I don’t really care one way or the other.

“She was meeting a man,” Judith Burkett says. “In Chicago.”

I feel a rushing in my head. I know what she means. I understand the implication. But I still mutter, almost against my will: “What?”

“Talia Belmond,” Judith says, turning back to the portrait. “She wasn’t just going to Chicago to see her sick father. Talia was meeting a man. That’s why she wasn’t focused on their daughter. And that’s why she still blames herself for what happened that night to Victoria.”