Page 125 of Remiss

“Not yet.”

“I think you two need this time alone. Mother/daughter bonding.”

Meggie sighed. Shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. Besides, I feel betrayed all over again. I’m angry and hurtandbetrayed. Returning home right now won’t do anyone any good.”

“So you’ll stay?”

“I guess.”

Kendall gave Meggie a quick hug, then shooed her to a chair. “I’ll be back, darling,” she said brightly.

“I’ll be here.”

The moment Kendall left the dining room, she stormed to the kitchen long enough to slam the biscuit in the trashcan, then continued upstairs to her bedroom, slammed the door shut and dug her tablet out of her suitcase. Since she was returning home, turning it on wouldn’t make a difference.

After logging in and checking her email, it pleased her to see she’d received the requested files. She opened the one with the most recent date and read it carefully.

“Motherfucker,” she said, her anger surging again.

Logging off and setting the tablet aside, she grabbed her cell phone and dialed the priest’s number. Of course, it went to voicemail, so she sent a text.

This is Kendall. Return my call or answer me. Your choice, but I suggest you don’t ignore me.

Her phone rang almost immediately after she pressed send.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” she answered in greeting.

“I take it Mrs. Caldwell has complained to you about my decision?”

“Rule is Meggie’s son.”

“Tsk, tsk. You, as a mentally ill patient, disappoints me.”

Kendall bristled. “What?”

“You heard me. I understand medications for the mentally challenged can affect memory, cause confusion, perhaps even alter moods for the worse, but you should show more empathy for your young nephew. Never your strong suit, I realize, so I’m probably wasting my breath.”

Counting to three didn’t help her rage. Counting tothree hundredprobably wouldn’t do the trick either, so she let him rant, extol his own virtues while casting aspersions on her own.

“No response?” he said smugly. “Not too quick on the uptake when someone so rudely confronts you as you did me when I followed your orders to call you. In case you haven’t realized it, you’re all about whatMeggiewants. You haven’t once asked if seeing her would be healthy for Rule. Or,if, his doctor would allow it.”

“Listen up, motherfucker,” Kendall snarled, so fucking livid everything surface in that ugly gray room was red as she imagined the priest’s blood spattered up, down, and all the fuck around. “I know what the fuck is going on because the facility sends reports to me.”

“They cannot!I’mthe boy’s guardian.”

“You’re a miserable fucking opportunist,” she spat. “Do you actually fucking think I’d trust you to play by the rules, fucker? A low-down history deserves a motherfucking low-down contingency plan.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Read that fucking contract. I don’t give a fuck what you believe.”

“Does Outlaw know?”

“He sure the fuck doesn’t, asshole. It isn’t my fucking job to hold that motherfucker’s hand. As an attorney, if I would’ve suggested it, he would’ve told me no. It wouldn’t have mattered how vigorously I advocated for safeguards. But as his sister-in-law? As Rule’s aunt? AsMeggie’sfriend? You’re fucking with the wrong bitch. I will see you hung by your motherfucking ears.”

It had taken her a few days to catch up since she’d had in her mind the facility where Rule jumped out the window. Once she discovered Rule’s new location, she double-checked her wording and found she was safe to demand updates wherever Rule went as long as she knew his location.

When Meggie came to her office and Kendall told her to stay away from Rule, she hadn’t had a chance to read the files she’d demanded before her sister-in-law’s arrival. Her brief scan before she called Father Wilkins provided the tools she needed to fight on Meggie’s behalf, but the little fuckhead was a fuckhead. She didn’t want to tell Meggie to go to the facility and then the priest caused a scene to have his fucking way.