Page 94 of The Right to Remain

The barking stopped, but the digging continued. Helena let thedog have his fun, but she seemed to have the opposite in store for Jack.

“Mr. Swyteck, I want you to know something. Ms. Weller was very upset with you at the hearing. I actually stood up for you and told her you were just doing your job by pointing the finger at me. But you’ve gone too far.”

“Have I?” asked Jack.

“Yes, you have.”

“The argument could be made that I didn’t go far enough.”

“Seriously? I’d like to hear that argument.”

“I could have asked you about your husband’s list of ‘Things Stressing Me Out.’ The repeated reference to ‘BB’s mom’ has always struck me as curious.”

The dog started barking again. Digging through South Florida’s mixture of sand, marl, and rock wasn’t easy, and it didn’t take long to hit a solid bed of Miami limestone, but Boo seemed up to the challenge.

“Boo, stop!” said Helena, but her focus remained on Jack. “What about ‘BB’s mom’?”

Jack considered whether to take the shot he’d chosen not to take in court. He decided to go for it this time, using a machine gun cadence that would have never flown before Judge Garrison.

“Mrs. Pollard, you knew that ‘BB’—Big Boy—is what Elle Carpenter called Austen in the womb, correct? You knew that no one referred to Austen as ‘BB’ after the adoption, right? So, if you wanted to lead someone to believe that my client drafted that list, using ‘BB’s mom’ instead of ‘Austen’s mom’ would be a smart move—wouldn’t you agree?”

Helena’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t kill my husband, Mr. Swyteck.”

The barking was suddenly more aggressive.

“Boo!”

The dog froze, then backed away from the pile of dug-up rocks, darted across the yard, and stopped at the gate. Jack had seen his golden retriever settle into the same perfect “sit” in the same display ofself-pride. It was a sure sign that Boo had something in his mouth for his master, though with a sheepdog the prize wasn’t exactly in plain sight.

“What you got there, boy?” asked Helena.

“Stop,” said Jack.

“What’s wrong?” asked Helena.

“Stay calm and move slowly,” said Jack. “I think it’s a gun.”

Chapter 34

Helena spent Saturday afternoon at the ballet studio and stayed into the evening. Austen was with her but only to watch.

Helena was the instructor for intermediate-level girls on pointe, and she wanted Austen to observe their first partnering class with boys. Austen sat quietly on a bench by the window, right beside Helena’s teaching assistant, a twenty-year-old ballerina whose professional career had ended overnight with a knee injury. Helena moved around the classroom offering corrections to the dancers. Her son might have been bored, but it was better than letting him exercise his thumbs playing videogames all afternoon, and the raging teenage hormones provided some entertainment. One of the eighth-grade girls sought out Helena during the midway break, literally holding her nose.

“Ms. Pollard,” she whispered, “Jason smellsso gross.”

It was a common complaint. Girls could be on the younger side in pas de deux, but the boys had to be strong enough to lift, and some were practically men. Helena always came to class prepared.

“Kirsten, I’m going to let you in on a ballerina’s little secret,” Helena said. She pulled a small jar of Vicks VapoRub from her bag and placed a dab between Kirsten’s nostrils and her upper lip.

“How does that smell?”

“Like medicine.”

“Better than Jason?”

“Much.”

“On your way, girl,” said Helena, and Kirsten happily took her place with the other ballerinas at the barre.