Page 119 of The Lie Maker

“I’m so sorry,” the doctor said. “I wish the news were better.”

One night, just before Gwen was going to get into bed, her cell rang. It was the doctor.

“I believe this is it,” she said. “It’s unlikely your father will make it to morning.”

Gwen began to weep.

“I wondered if you wanted to say goodbye. Not in person, I’m afraid, but over the phone.”

Gwen said yes, she would like to do that.

“I’m heading down there now,” Sloan said. “I’ll get back to you shortly.”

Gwen waited.

When the doctor called back, she said, “Go ahead.”

“Dad, Daddy, can you hear me?” Gwen said. “Come on, Dad, talk to me.”

“...uhhhh... uhhh...”

“Daddy, I want to see you more than anything in the world. I do. But they won’t let me in. I tried and they kicked me out, the bastards. You have to know that if I could be there, I would. If only they’d let you out, if they’d let you come home...”

“...uhhh...”

“Everything that’s happened to you, it’s never been fair, it’s never been right. And for it all to end like this... Please, just say something. There’s never been a day, not one, since you had to leave us that I haven’t thought about you, that I haven’t wanted to see you. I love you so much.”

There was nothing.

“Daddy, if you can hear me, just know that I’ll make this right. I will. I swear, I will make this right. Christ, are you even hearing any of this? Have they got the phone to your ear? Do you even know it’s me? Daddy? It’s Gwen. It’s Gwendoline, your good little witch, Daddy, and I love you so much.”

She waited, hoping for some acknowledgment that would suggest her father had heard her.

Dr.Sloan came on. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Your father’s gone.”

Tears ran down Gwen’s cheeks. “But he did hear me, right? He heard me say goodbye.”

There was a pause at the other end.

“Doctor? Did he hear me say goodbye?”

Later, Gwen would think, why didn’t she just lie? She could have made something up. She could have said yes, her father had heard her, and not only that, he had mouthed the words “I love you, Gwen” in the moments before he passed.

Maybe, Gwen often thought later, if the doctor had told a little white lie, she’d still be around today.

If only she hadn’t said, “I’m sorry, he passed before your call was finished.”

Looking back, Gwen believed that was the moment when her thirst for revenge had to be quenched. That was when Gwen decided people would pay for what they had done. Three people were on her list. Two could be readily found.

It would take some planning. She did not want to rush into it. But when it came time, she wanted her punishments to be meted out in quick succession.

She would start with the judge who sentenced her father. She sent Cayden, her longtime assistant, to bring him to her one night. She wanted him to know how his actions had changed her life, devastated her family.

And then Cayden held him under the water until he was dead.

Next, the doctor.

Before Cayden drowned her, Gwen explained how she’d kept her from saying goodbye to the most important man in her life. First, by not letting her into the hospital to see him, and second, by not getting the cell phone to his ear in time.