— Can you? — she said with a dry little laugh. — Which part would you like to explain first? The seven-year renovation? The fake receipts? Your supposedly dying wife back in town?
Vera lifted a hand to her mouth, came down off the porch, and took a few steps closer.
— Andrew, what is she talking about? You told me your wife was dead. You said you were a widower.
Marina finished the sentence without taking her eyes off him:
— My name is Marina. I’m very much alive. And I’m his legal wife.
Vera went white. Her knees nearly gave out.
— No. No—he told me she died in a car accident.
Andrew panicked. His eyes darted from one woman to the other.
— Vera, don’t listen to her! Marina, please, let’s go inside and talk. Don’t make a scene.
He reached for Marina’s hand. She pulled back as if he were poison.
— Don’t touch me! — Her voice rose for the first time, charged with years of pain and disgust.
At that moment Attorney Peterson and the deputies came closer. Andrew saw them, and his first instinct was to step back.
— Who are these people? This is private. Family business!
— Family business? — Marina repeated, taking one step toward him. — Locking up your mother. Taking away her medicine. Leaving her to die while you played happy family with your mistress and son. That’s family business?
Andrew shouted:
— You’re crazy! You made all this up!
Marina raised the notebook she had been holding and threw it hard against his chest. It hit him and fell at his feet, opening to reveal Eleanor’s shaky handwriting.
— Your mother left you a message, Andrew, — Marina said in a low, cutting voice.
— Take him, — Attorney Peterson said, anger tightly controlled.
The two deputies moved in at once and grabbed Andrew by the arms.
— Let go of me! You can’t do this! I didn’t do anything! — he shouted, struggling like a trapped animal.
— Andrew Nolan Sullivan, — the attorney said in a formal tone, — I am Peter Peterson, legal representative for Eleanor Sullivan. You are being detained for questioning in connection with document fraud, unlawful transfer of family property, and criminal neglect of a dependent adult in your care resulting in her death.
Vera cried out and sank to the grass, pulling Leo close as he began to cry in fear at the sight of strangers holding his father. Andrew fixed his eyes on Marina as they dragged him toward the patrol car. There was no remorse in them. Only hatred.
— You, — he spat, — you’re ruining my life!
Marina held his gaze without blinking.
— No, Andrew. You ruined your own life. You ruined your mother’s. And you destroyed mine. This is just the bill coming due.
She watched them put him in the car. The door slammed shut with a final, solid sound. Dust rose as the vehicle pulled away, carrying off the man who had been her husband and was now simply the face of a crime. The silence left behind felt strange. It was broken only by Vera’s sobbing and Leo’s frightened crying. Marina stood there as exhaustion slowly began to wash over her now that the adrenaline was fading.
Attorney Peterson came over…
