She hung up and dialed the telephone number of a contact she had at the nineteenth precinct on the Upper East Side.
“Harvey? It’s Casey Woods. I need your help.” She gave him only the details he needed to know, stressing that Madeline’s life was in danger, and that Patrick—who was standing guard outside the E.R.—wasn’t answering his phone. “Please send a couple of squad cars over to Manhattan Memorial and see what’s up. We’re on our way, too. Thanks.”
She hung up and grabbed her purse.
“We’ll get the car,” Ryan called over his shoulder as he and Claire raced downstairs to get their coats.
Aidan rose and met Casey’s gaze. “If you need me, I’m here.”
“We’re okay, but Marc might need you. I’ll keep in touch. And, Aidan, thank you so much for everything.”
He shook her hand. “I’ll hang out with Hero and wait to hear from you. Good luck.”
Casey nodded, and then dashed after her colleagues.
34
JANET SHIFTED IMPATIENTLY in her seat. They’d traveled exactly one and a half miles in twenty minutes.
“Get around this traffic,” she ordered.
“How?” Madeline was trying to keep her hands steady and her focus on the road. “If I drive on the sidewalk and run people down, that’s not going to get you what you want. It’s going to get me arrested.” She dashed away the tears on her cheeks quickly so Janet wouldn’t notice. Madeline was desperately trying not to show weakness in front of this woman. It would give her even more power.
“You said you’d tell me what this is about,” she reminded Janet. “What’s on that recording that would make you kill Conrad and me to get it?”
“I needed you dead if you knew what was on that tape. Clearly that was a waste of my time and energy. I just should have kidnapped you and beaten the truth out of you. We would have ended up here a lot sooner.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because it was a last resort, you idiot. No one knew anything. Now I’m going to have to get my hands dirty.”
Another icy shiver ran up Madeline’s spine.
“Did you know that Diana is Ronald’s daughter?” Janet asked conversationally. “Did you know that he and I were together for almost twenty-nine years?”
“What?” Madeline jerked back in surprise, making the car jerk, too.
“Easy,” Janet cautioned. “No fender benders.”
“If you and Ronald were to
gether, and Diana is his daughter...”
“Then why didn’t he stay faithful to me and raise our child by my side? Why didn’t he leave Nancy, whom he didn’t give a damn about, and marry me, rather than stay put and father two children with that bitch? Because he was a coward, that’s why. Nancy had all the power and influence from her rich, political family. Ronald swore to me that that didn’t matter, that we’d be together—all three of us—just as soon as he could arrange for a divorce. Well, that divorce never happened. And he never even acknowledged my child as his. He just paid for us to live very comfortably, far away. He kept me beholden by promoting me up the employment ladder until I could be his assistant, all the while helping himself to a dozen women along the way.”
“You stayed with him, anyway?” Madeline was processing the information as rapidly as she could, simultaneously inching the car along. “Did you love him that much?”
“Yes.” For the first time, there was raw pain in Janet’s voice. “I adored him. I would have done anything for him—including look the other way when he hooked up with one woman after another. I was his staple. His official ‘other woman.’ But God help me, he was worth it.”
“How did Diana cope with this all these years?”
“She didn’t. I never told her the truth. She found out on her own about six months ago. She was beyond devastated. She fell apart right before my eyes.”
Janet loved her daughter, even more than she loved Ronald. Was it possible...?
“Did you do something to Ronald before his surgery that caused him to die?” Madeline asked carefully.
“Me?” Janet’s voice rang with shocked denial. “I could never hurt Ronald. I could hate him as much as I loved him. I could resent him. But I could never, ever kill him.”