Page 18 of I’ll Be Watching You

Ava stopped herself from throwing the phone across the room. Instead, she called her brother Rafe.

“Raphael, can you come over after Mass?”

“I don’t have Mass this evening. What’s wrong, Ava?”

“Everything. I don’t know what to do. I am so lost right now.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

Rafe warmed up leftover stew while Ava told him what Margo had learned. “While I waited for you, I called a friend of mine in the county attorney’s office. Liz Swanson and her husband were killed in their vehicle as they backed out of the garage. No suspects, no witnesses, police are stumped. The husband is a lawyer and they’re looking at his clients, but he’s a tax attorney for a bank, not a trial lawyer. They were killed because of something Liz learned at the VA. She talked to Margo. Margo is in danger.”

“Ava,” Rafe said calmly, “Margo is a smart young woman, but she needs all the information so she can protect herself.”

“I don’t know what to tell her! I don’t know who killed Devin. I don’t even know where to start looking! And if I start looking, Cooper is dead.” Her voice cracked. “I’ve never felt this . . . broken. Even when Cooper told me about the threats, I had a plan. But now . . . what do I do? How can I protect my family?”

“Breathe, Ava. Breathe.”

She sat down but didn’t touch the food he placed in front of her.

He sat next to her, took her hand. “Did Margo leave angry? Did she tell you what she plans to do?”

“We’re talking to Cooper in the morning. She’s not going to back down this time, and I tried. Maybe I tried half-heartedly. I know my daughter. She won’t leave it alone now that someone who reached out to her is dead. Liz had two boys. Why would they kill her? Because of something she saw . . . or because she called Margo?”

“How would anyone know she called Margo?”

She tossed her hands into the air. “How do they know anything?”

“Ava, listen to yourself. These people are not omniscient. They are not God.”

She took a deep breath. “You’re right. Margo was supposed to meet her this morning. I’m scared they know, that they’ll go after my daughter.”

“You and Margo need to encourage Cooper to share everything he knows.”

She looked at her brother. “We’re all in danger.”

“I understand your fear. But it’s the right thing to do.”

“I’m going to suggest that Mom and Dad go to the cabin, maybe you should join them. Take Austin.”

“We can discuss that.” He said it in a way that told Ava he had no intention of leaving town.

“When Jack knows the truth, he’ll want Austin safe.”

“You knew it was only a matter of time before Margo found a bone and started chomping on it again.”

“It was Georgia. She told Liz to call Margo because she was angry at me for asking her to leave.”

“I don’t think you asked her, Ava. You bribed her. And, if I remember correctly, you helped her change her name so Margo couldn’t easily find her.”

She nodded. It had not been her finest hour.

“Rafe, I’m scared.”

Her brother squeezed her hand. “The truth was always the answer, Ava. I know it’s difficult for you and Cooper. It hurts me that you both have suffered so much and refused to let anyone help.”

She closed her eyes. Her life was falling apart around her. It had been falling apart in slow motion since the day Cooper told her he planned to go to the police and confess to killing Devin.

“You know it’s not that simple,” she whispered.