“I don’t know if he was Cory’s. He was Ace’s friend. He used to party with Ace and Ursa’s mother.”
“What’s his name?”
“I’m not sure. Sometimes they called him ‘Nate’ and sometimes they called him ‘Todd.’”
“Nathan Todd!” The detective slapped the back of his hand against his notebook. “Now I’ve got him!”
“Do you know him?” Gabe said.
“Oh yeah, I know him. And the phone we found on Ace’s body shows he received a call from Todd around the time you were in the restaurant. With Ursa’s ID, I can pick him up.”
“On what charge?” Gabe asked.
“He’s an accessory to attempted murder.”
“Won’t that be difficult to prove?” Gabe said.
“We have our ways.” He put the notebook in his pants pocket and walked over to Gabe. “I have to thank you, Mr. Nash,” he said, shaking his hand. “We’re rid of two major scumbags. You’ve made my job a lot easier.” Jo found it unsettling that he was congratulating him for killing two human beings. But she saw the world differently than most, having been raised by pacifist parents.
Jo had absorbed many of her parents’ philosophies, and one of them was the belief that children deserved to be told the truth as much as possible. She often pondered how Gabe’s life might have been different if he’d been raised with the truth, knowing he had two fathers who cherished him.
Jo climbed off the bed. “Before you all leave, I’d like to say something.”
Everyone in the room—detective, deputy, psychologist, and social worker—faced her. Gabe looked nervous, maybe for good reason. Jo was too exhausted to know if what she was about to do was best for Ursa.
“I have a feeling this will be the only time I have so many people who are deciding Ursa’s future in one room.” Facing the two law officers, she said, “I know you won’t decide where Ursa goes, but whether or not I’m charged with a felony will affect her future.”
“Let’s have this conversation in the waiting room,” Lenora said.
“Why? Ursa wants to know what’s going on, and you know she can handle it.” Jo turned back to the policemen. “If I’m charged, I may be expelled from the university and graduate school.”
“Are you sure?” Gabe said.
“My advisor confirmed it. Before you decide my fate,” she said, turning to the men, “I want you to know what could happen if you charge me. I admit I made bad decisions with Ursa, but everything I did came from a place of compassion. Please make sure the punishment fits the crime before you completely wreck my life—and Ursa’s—because I’ll have no hope of becoming her foster parent if I’m charged.”
“I want you to be my foster parent!” Ursa said.
“I know, love bug. Let me finish, okay?” She faced Lenora and Dr. Shaley. “I have a lot more to say to you two. I have to be certain Ursa won’t be haunted with doubts about me if someone lies to her in the future.” Jo stepped back so Ursa could clearly see her face. “Right here, in front of Ursa, I’m asking you to please let me be Ursa’s foster parent. I would also like to apply for adoption rights. Let me tell you my qualifications—”
“Joanna,” Lenora said, “this isn’t the time or—”
“Please, hear me out. My number one qualification is that I love her—and I know no other applicant can say that. Number two, she and I are bonded by this tragedy. My understanding of what she’s been through will be healing for her. Number three—my parents left me significant inheritances when they passed away, so I have the financial resources to raise a child as a single parent. Number four, I don’t drink or use drugs, and I’ve never been in trouble with the law—not even for a traffic ticket. Number five—”
“I think we’ve heard enough,” Dr. Shaley said.
“This one is important,” Jo said. “Number five, my parents were scientists who taught me to value nature and be curious about the world. Ursa thrives in natural and scientific realms because they satisfy her need for intellectual stimulation. My goal is to be a professor at a top university, and I can’t imagine a better environment than academia for a child with Ursa’s abilities.”
“Are we done?” Dr. Shaley asked.
“Not yet. I’d like to talk about something you may see as a problem. I’m a cancer survivor. But my cancer was caught at an early stage, and my prognosis is good.”
Jo looked at Ursa. “Do you understand everything I said? No matter what happens, never doubt that I love you and I tried to keep us together. Beyond this, I have no control over what happens.” Jo sat on the bed next to her. “Seems our fates are as topsy-turvy as the characters in Shakespeare’s plays.”
“But this will end like Twelfth Night!” Ursa said. “Everyone will be happy!”
“Good lord, she knows Shakespeare?” Lenora said.
Detective Kellen grinned. “Our wills and fates do so contrary run,” he said.
“Hamlet, great line,” Gabe said.
“My favorite since high school,” Kellen said.
A nurse entered with liquid medication in a cup for Ursa.
“Looks like Ursa is fated to get some rest,” Lenora said. “Let’s take this conversation to the waiting room.”
“I don’t want to rest!” Ursa said. “Jo and Gabe have to stay!”
Jo and Gabe kissed her goodbye and let the nurse handle the imminent clash of will and fate.
36
Gabe’s hotel room was unaccustomed luxury and privacy after Jo’s sit-in at the ICU. The warm shower felt especially extravagant. “Sorry about this,” Jo told Gabe, “but I didn’t bring clothes in the bathroom.” She couldn’t hold the towel around herself while using the crutches.
Gabe looked up from his phone and appraised her naked body. “You’re apologizing?”
“Will you help me rebandage my leg?”
“Sure, I’m up for playing doctor.”
She put the bag of medical supplies on the bed and lay on her stomach.
“Especially when I get to look at your ass while doing it,” he said.
“Does it look okay?”
He stroked her cheeks. “It looks great.”
“What about the wound, Mr. Bottom? How does it look?”
“It looks like someone put a bullet in you.”
“Not infected?”
“Nope, it’s good.”
“First put on the antibiotic ointment—then a gauze pad before you wrap it.”
He touched her gently as he worked. He wrapped her leg, his fingers brushing her inner thighs. “I was badly distracted, but I think that will hold,” he said, taping down the edge of the bandage.
She rolled over. “Take off your clothes.”
He stood over her, staring into her eyes as he pulled off his clothing. He stretched his warm body over hers. “Am I too heavy on your leg? I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m not exactly feeling my leg at the moment.”
Afterward, they held each other in a private little galaxy created by blackout curtains and the air-conditioning set on high. Only the loudest sounds of the city reached them.
“Tomorrow I have to go home and take over my mother’s care,” he said. “I was texting with Lacey when you came out. She has to come back to Saint Louis because her sons will be home the day after tomorrow. She wants to spend time with them before they go back to college.”
“That’s nice they’ll all be together.”
“Want to come home with me—just to pick up your car?”
“I can rent a car when I leave. I have to be here for Ursa.”
“You do.” He cuddled her closer. “It was good that you spoke your mind today. At first I wasn’t sure, but I think what you said is part of the reason they’ll let you keep visiting.”
“Or they’re using me to keep her under control.”
“Maybe a little of both.”
“I got the idea to speak out from your mother.”
“Really?”
“I knew what I wanted to say while they were all there, but I almost lost my nerve. Then I thought of Katherine having the guts to bring Arthur and George together.”
“You two are badass ladies.” He was drifting into sleep.
“Gabe . . . ?”
“What?”
“Does it worry you that Ursa refers to herself in third person?”
“It does. But I guess it’s how she’s handling it.”
“I’m afraid making her talk before she was ready split her in two.”
“That’s what the psychologist is for.”
“I don’t like that woman.”
“I think it’s mutual. Go to sleep.”
Jo’s first rest in a regular bed since Kinney Cottage was more like a coma. The soap-scented steam of Gabe’s shower woke her. “You were exhausted,” he said.
“I was. I like this room. I’m going to keep it.”
“Should I check out?”
“No. I wanted to pay the bill anyway.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know, but I want to.”
“All right, moneybags. Let’s have breakfast before I get on the road—your treat.”