Page 45 of The Liar I Married

FORTY-ONE

It’s the end of summer when the leaves start to turn golden and roses rush to spread their final blooms to the sun before fall arrives.

The heavy perfume wafting from surrounding gardens invigorates me as I take my first steps into the garden unaided.

The physical therapist who’s been coming daily has helped me immensely but I’m still waiting to see my girls.

Although we’ve been talking on FaceTime, it’s not the same as hugging them and smelling their freshly washed hair.

My mom comes by to see me often. She’s caring for my girls and explained the difficulties in getting child protection to give me access.

My case needs to go before a magistrate, so it might take a little longer.

Alex has been amazingly patient, I’m sure he didn’t expect to have me as a visitor for so long.

It’s Sunday and John will be arriving soon.

We have things to talk about. I’ve been bouncing a few ideas off Alex.

The amount of research he does for his books gives him a good insight into crime and the way criminals think.

I can understand why John is a little hesitant toward me.

In my mind I’ve been away from him for a few weeks but to him it’s been over a year.

I’m practically a stranger to him all over again.

When he comes to visit me it’s like being on a date and we’re taking baby steps toward reigniting our relationship.

I’m glad we’re taking it slowly because, although I’ve never stopped loving him, trust needs to be earned.

My stomach fills with butterflies when I hear a knock on the door.

I push to my feet and he walks into the room and embraces me tenderly.

I look at his immaculate blue shirt and gray chinos, so unusually casual I have the urge to ruffle his hair.

He smiles as he pulls two crumpled pieces of paper from his pocket and hands them to me. “What’s this?”

“Open them.” He grins and his eyes twinkle. “The girls painted you pictures.”

I hold them to my heart, feeling the tears spilling down my cheeks. “Oh, that’s wonderful, thank you.”

I open them and both of them are pictures of us as a family, all holding hands and in one is a little dog. “You have a dog?”

“Nope.” John peers at the brightly painted pictures. “It’s just wishful thinking on their part.”

I laugh and suddenly we’re a family again, with a bright future. I remember why I asked John to come around this morning. There are a few things we need to talk about. “Come into the kitchen. Alex has just put on a pot of coffee. I want an update on what’s been happening.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you what I know but before I start, one question.” John takes my hand and looks into my eyes. “When do you plan to come home?”

I get that squishy feeling in my stomach again.

My heart races and I fall into his eyes.

I want so much to go home with him. “The moment child protection tells me I can see my kids. I spoke to them on Friday and they said the case is still pending. They actually have no reason not to believe Michael.” I head for the kitchen, still holding his hand.

We sit around the kitchen table, hot coffee steaming before us.

I look at John. “I was talking to Alex earlier about how we can get around the problems I’m having with child protection.

It all comes down to what happened after I woke from the coma.

The police will establish that Michael was involved in the wreck when they discover his fingerprints but I figure it goes much further than that.

I have no doubt in my mind that Michael was conspiring with Dolly to make me appear insane.

Too many weird things happened when I woke up.

Trust me, I was having trouble deciding what was real and what wasn’t.

Some of the things have already been explained, for instance, Mom told me you’d taken the girls’ photographs and they are on our mantle. ”

“Yeah, we’d discussed that the day the will was read.” John nodded. “Your mom wanted the others. What else happened?”

There’s so much to tell him. “I saw Mom and the girls in the garden. Dolly lied to me and told me there was nobody there. Mom explained that she went with the girls to pick roses and Dolly told her I wasn’t in any fit state to see her.”

“That was a cruel thing to do.” John shakes his head. “Tell me everything you remember.”

Recalling the fear and disorientation I suffered seeing the fragrant blooms on my bedside table, I pause a beat to slow my heart rate.

“Heaps of things, you see, Mom left the roses with the gardener and he took them inside the house and apparently put them into a vase. Maria found them there when she arrived and took them to my room. When I came out of the shower and saw them, I figured they must be a hallucination, the same as the girls.”

“This means that Dolly was involved all the way along.” Alex takes sips from his cup.

“She has no end game. There’s no obvious benefit for her in harming Jessie, so she must be working with Michael.

He could have promised her a huge amount of money for her assistance.

” He rubs the back of his neck. “Think about it. She had access to all the drugs she needed to twist Jessie’s mind.

We know she was heavily sedated when she left the hospital.

” He looks at John. “You mentioned the reason for the medication to continue was to prevent her from having seizures—right? I bet that’s a lie.

What I’d like to know is, how did you come to pick Dolly for the job? ”

“The nurse I had caring for Jessie wanted to work somewhere else, and I needed a replacement.” John rubs his chin and stares into space for a few moments.

“I recall asking Michael if he could look into a replacement. He came up with Dolly’s name; in fact, he took it upon himself to interview her and gave her the job. ”

“Do you have the contact number of the previous nurse?” Alex glances at me and smiles. “Maybe it’s time to give her a call and ask her why she really left?”

“Okay.” John reaches inside his pocket for his phone, scrolls through the contacts and places the call. After introducing himself, and asking the question, the nurse’s attitude changes.

“The patient’s brother told me I wasn’t maintaining her care and he’d report me if I didn’t hand in my notice.

It was a lie. I’m experienced with coma patients.

The next thing I know, I run into Dolly at the agency, telling everyone her boyfriend has gotten her a peach of a job at a manor house.

I chatted with her and discovered she was dating Michael Thompson. ”

Anxiety grabs me by the throat. I can’t believe it!

Dolly is Michael’s girlfriend! I tremble with shock.

The woman I trusted was working with him all the time and played a hand in trying to send me crazy.

I grip the edge of the table so hard my knuckles go white.

I look at John and his eyes flash with anger.

“Why didn’t you contact me?” John flicks me a glance. “I hired you.”

“From what Mr. Thompson told me, he was acting on your behalf.”

“Well, he wasn’t.” John frowns. “I was very satisfied with your care of my wife and if you ever need a reference please call me.” He disconnects and looks at me. “The plot thickens.”

I look from one to the other. “Everything that happened, all the times I believed I was losing my mind, it was engineered by Dolly. She did everything in her power to turn me into a zombie.”

“What’s their motive? It must be one heck of a scheme to go to these lengths.” Alex stands to refill the cups. “If we plan to lay out all this to the cops, we’ll need to look at it through Michael’s eyes.”

Trying to get my head around the implications of the bombshell, I look at John, trying to remember the conversation I had with Dad.

“It’s all about money and getting Grandma’s estate.

I believe Michael is in serious financial trouble.

When I spoke to Dad, he suggested a Ponzi scheme and possibly embezzlement from the firm.

If Michael borrowed money from the wrong people, it might be a motive strong enough to kill me or try to prove I’m crazy. ”

“I hope you’ve acted on this hunch?” Alex looks at John.

“I have indeed but a full audit takes time and I’ve engaged experts to hunt down any schemes.” John adds cream and sugar to his cup. “Friday’s report was damning. I’ve updated the cops and they have Michael under surveillance. He’s not going anywhere.”

I turn my cup around with the tips of my fingers watching the rich brew swirl. “What about Dolly?”

“As far as I’m aware, she’s still at the house and totally oblivious that we’re on to her.

My last conversation with her was that I intended to take Jessie back to the manor.

” John waves a hand dismissively. “You’re aware the firm suspended Michael, pending an audit, and he still believes he can buy his way out of trouble?

I’ve been very careful not to mention Dolly, so I imagine they still believe they can twist Jessie’s mind enough for him to inherit under the terms of the will.

” John shrugs. “I haven’t fired Dolly. I’ve had no reason to go back there since Jessie arrived here. ”

I think for a beat. “Mr. Collins will know if Dolly is still there. I’ll call him in the morning.”

“Don’t bother, I’m paying for the upkeep and I employed Dolly and Maria.

” John smiles at me. “He fired everyone and I re-employed the ones I could find. I didn’t want the house to fall into ruin.

I admit if you’d died, I’d have turned it into a luxury hotel.

That’s what my mom and the Realtor were doing there when you came out of the coma.

It was a feasibility study. A way of making the estate pay for itself and keeping it in the family. ”

I blink. “You’re paying for the upkeep?”

“Yes.” John squeezes my hand. “I know it’s what you’d have wanted.

That’s why I took you to your grandmother’s house and placed you near the rose garden.

It’s your favorite place. I figured if there was any chance of you waking up, it would be there.

It worked, didn’t it? Worst case, if you’d died, it would be in a beautiful place and not a sterile hospital room. ”

I allow the tears to fall. Not of sadness but happiness. All this time, I’ve pushed John away, and he was caring for me when I couldn’t care for myself. “Oh, John. I’ve treated you horribly. I’m so sorry.”

“Do you want me to give you some time alone?” Alex looks from John and back to me.

I shake my head. “Thanks, Alex, but we’ll be fine.” I turn to John. “I know now that Michael tried to turn me against you, feeding me lies. He made me believe you wanted me dead so you could control the estate. I was convinced that was the reason you asked me to sign the power of attorney.”

“Oh, Jessie, I’d never want you dead. I found your grandmother’s letter with her diary on the bedside table.

” John gives me a meaningful stare. “I read it just in case it had anything to do with your state of mind before the accident. I smelled a rat. I was trying to protect your inheritance from Michael. I just knew he was up to no good. Your dad tipped me off. He insisted that Michael had a hand in getting your grandmother to fire him—and he used that word too. He promised not to tell your mom and made up the need to retire.”

Everything is suddenly making sense. “We need to have this out with Dolly. I want to know what doctor was supposed to be treating me. Nobody came to examine me when I woke, and she told me she was speaking to a doctor daily. I figure she’s lying.

I don’t believe there was a doctor. All this crap about keeping me isolated to protect my sanity was the opposite.

They were trying to make me believe I was losing my mind. ”

“Then we go and see her.” John nods as if making up his mind. “We’ll record everything she says and check all the equipment. The history on her computer will tell us if she’s actually been contacting a doctor.”

I hold John’s gaze. “Did you speak to my doctor? Do you even know his name?”

“Of course, I spoke to the one at the hospital, he arranged everything with the nurse I employed to care for you.” John rubs the back of his neck clearly agitated.

“Dolly informed me the hospital doctor referred her to another doctor. I never spoke to him. I had no reason to. Dolly was giving me constant updates. In fact, she gave me more information than the other nurses I’d hired.

I figured she was doing her job. If I’d known, I’d have fired her. ”

Memories of the torment I went through that first week shiver through me like ghosts. A thought hits me. “Why do you figure they decided to wake me?”

“I’ve been thinking about this too.” John’s brow crinkles. “If you weren’t under a doctor for three months, perhaps the drug supply was running out. She had no choice. My guess is that she told Michael and they revised their plan.”

“One thing.” Alex looks at me his face set in stone.

“Maybe you need to go back as a patient? She’ll believe everything is okay.

I doubt that Michael has contacted her. He wouldn’t dare call her to discuss you over the phone, he knows his calls are being monitored.

” He frowns. “Although he might have dropped by to see her?”

“No, he hasn’t. I instructed Maria to call me if anyone showed at the house.” John met my gaze. “It will mean leaving you alone with Dolly while I check her computer. You’ll need to keep her occupied.”

Although my stomach clenches at the idea of returning to the house, I nod. “I can do that.”

“It will be password protected.” Alex frowns.

“Maybe but it doesn’t matter.” John smiles and wiggles a finger.

“When I purchased it, I added both my facial recognition and fingerprint. I doubt she’s smart enough to delete anything.

I had a computer guy install everything a nurse would need to monitor you.

It was set up before she arrived. She had no reason to change any settings. ”

I stand. “Okay, let’s go.”