Page 101 of I’ll Be Watching You

“Maybe.”

“Rita told me you talked to Naddy.”

“Yes. She was helpful.”

“I never meant to keep my conversations with her private.”

“You do not have to explain yourself to me.”

But she was hurt, and she sounded hurt.

“I love you more than life itself,” Cooper said. “You have been the foundation of my life since the day I laid eyes on you. I’ve consulted with Naddy a few times over the years, but it was never more than a conversation here and there. She tried to help Devin, but I honestly didn’t think about that after he was killed, because he told me she wasn’t able to give him what he needed. I just forgot because it wasn’t important.”

“I understand.”

“She came to the prison nearly a month ago to tell me the Phase 4 trial was nearly finished and that the Neurovantix drug was almost certainly going to be approved. She had been following it because of what Devin told her, keeping track of the serious adverse effects. There are some, but that’s to be expected. The benefits seem to outweigh the negatives, and that’s how these things work. But she believes the formulation may have changed because the percentage of adverse effects in the first trial was substantially higher than in the subsequent trials, if we assume that the ten missing patients all had bad side effects.”

“Cooper, I know she’s helping, it’s okay.”

“I should have told you after she visited. I think—I was cautiously hopeful that she would find something to stop the drug from being approved. I didn’t honestly think she’d find information that would help me, but . . . well, in the back of my mind there was a chance. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, or yours.”

He sounded sincere, and she believed him. She squeezed his hands. “I know that. I’m not mad. I love you. We’re going to find a way to prove who killed Devin—our children are not going to back down. And when we do, you will come home. I know it.”

“But if—”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “No buts. I have hope. I miss you so much, Cooper. I’m so lonely. I have friends and family and work, but at night, all I think about is that you’re not in bed beside me. And then I feel guilty because you have no freedom, you sacrificed yourself for us, and what right do I have to be lonely?”

She didn’t want to cry, but her eyes were wet.

“I’m worried about everyone,” Cooper said. “Especially Margo.”

“Me too. So . . . you really weren’t keeping anything to yourself about the drug trial?”

“I told you everything back then. If I suspected who killed Devin, I would have told you.”

“Okay. I’m going to stay here, in Florence, until you’re transferred.” He opened his mouth to argue, and she shook her head. “I am,” she said.

He smiled. “Okay. Now, tell me good things,” he said. “Tell me about Margo’s new boyfriend. She’s so closemouthed about him, but she told me that he cooks.”

For fifteen minutes, until the assistant warden came to escort Ava out, Ava caught Cooper up on everything their children were up to, about Cal Rafferty and how good he was for Margo, about Tess and Gabriel’s wedding plans, about her brother Tom looking into expanding and opening another restaurant.

And she almost felt like everything was going to be okay.

Almost.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Margo Angelhart

Jack and I had just walked into the office at one that afternoon when my cell phone rang with an unfamiliar number.

“Margo Angelhart,” I answered.

“This is Teri Stockman. You left me a message. But I swear, if this is a sales call, I’m hanging up.”

“I’m a private investigator and have some questions about your ex-husband.”

Silence. Had I lost her?