Page 111 of The Hardest Hit

“Grandma,” he said, tilting his head to catch her eye, trying to catch her eye. “I love you.”

She looked up at him, clearly startled.

“I understand that you’re scared, but I’m not Henry. I’m not Owen. I’m Evan. Remember me? You would whisk me away from Dad’s and bring me home and we would have tea parties in the parlor and you let me wear great grand-uncle Leon’s top hat.”

She put her hand up to his face. “You keep getting older,” she said. “And you keep looking more and more…”

“But I’m not them,” said Evan. “It took me a while and a very expensive therapist to figure how not to be them, but I’m not. I didn’t do anything wrong and I won’t be punished for what they did.”

Eleanor’s bottom lip trembled. “Dominique broke all the cups. She broke your cup.”

“I will buy you lots more cups,” said Evan, hugging her.

“We have a top hat?” demanded Aiden. “Where? Can I get a monocle too?”

“Nice,” said Dominique, sarcastically.

“I could be Mr. Peanut for Halloween.” Over his grandmother’s shoulder, he saw Dominique glare at Aiden, and Evan tried not to laugh. “Well, I could be,” Aiden muttered.

“I’m sorry about the cups, Grandma,” said Dominique, crossing the room to Evan and Eleanor, to rub Eleanor’s back through Evan’s hug. “I’ll replace them.”

“I know you’re not Genevieve,” said Eleanor, wiping her eyes and standing up straight. “But there are a lot of you and sometimes I get the names wrong.”

“That’s true,” agreed Aiden, casting himself down on the other couch. “I called Jacks Nika the other day. Couldn’t look less alike.”

“Aiden, feet off the furniture!” snapped Eleanor.

“But, Grandma,” protested Aiden, “this couch is really old!”

“Yes, it’s an antique,” said Dominique.

Eleanor sighed in exasperation and took another sip of the drink in her hand.

“Well,” said Jackson, “in case anyone’s wondering how Randall and Owen felt about matters,” he reached into his jacket pocket and pulling out a sheaf of papers, “Kerschel did crack the hard drives.”

“Hard drives?” Eleanor looked around the circle of cousins. “What hard drives?”

“I found some hard drives of Randall’s,” said Evan. “I’m sure it’s not important.” He looked hopefully at Jackson.

“There is nothing to indicate that Randall and Owen were planning on flying with Genevieve and Sam,” said Jackson. “But I did find some things about Henry.” He flipped open the pages. “Here’s Randall: The autopsy report came in. Call me. I think Mom killed Dad.Then Owen’s response:Really? Wow. Well… That’s very proactive of her. I guess someone in this family finally ballsed up and did the right thing. Not sure what else to say. Evan is getting some sort of award at school tonight. We’ll be home after eight.Come over then.”

Eleanor pursed her lips, looking surprised. Evan was startled by how relieved he felt at Owen’s response.

“See?” said Aiden, turning to Dominique. “I told you. Not that horrible.”

“Randall replies,” said Jackson, looking amused. “No, seriously. I think she overdosed him on his medication and caused his death. The autopsy report said those levels are unlikely to be accidental.To which Owen responds,” Jackson paused to flip pages, “I was serious. I don’t think I’ve ever loved her more. Too bad she didn’t do it twenty years ago. I’m ordering her flowers right now. She likes gardenias, right?”

“I hate gardenias,” said Eleanor tiredly.

“Randall replies,” continued Jackson. “Toss in some roses for me. Should we tell Gen? Your call.To which Owen says:Why? She’d just freak. See you tonight.”

“I remember that,” said Eleanor. “They sent me a bouquet and I found it deeply suspicious. I could never figure out what they were up to.”

“And that’s it,” said Jackson, tossing the pages on the bar.

“Are you sure?” asked Eleanor, her lips pinching tight. They could all see the desperation in her face.

“There’s nothing else. I looked over the plane crash stuff. But the best that I can tell is the same thing the investigators at the time said. I think Genevieve and Sam’s flight got canceled and they wanted to get home, so they called Owen and they got on the plane. And that was it. Just a plane crash. No deep dark secrets. Just an accident.”