The Truth About Comfort Cove

“I wish the news was better…?.”

“It’s okay, Bill, I’m prepared for whatever it is.”

Ramsey wasn’t sure about that, but he knew that if anyone could be prepared on such short notice for life-altering change, it would be Lucy Hayes. And the doctor had said she was the boss.

“Colton’s in custody. We picked him up at Sandy Hayes’s residence.”

Lucy’s sharp intake of breath filled the car, and possibly transmitted to Bill, too.

“Go on,” she said a few seconds later.

“You were right. Haley Sanders and Sandy Hayes is one and the same. She fell in love with him during their brief time together at UC. She got pregnant. When she told Jack, he broke up with her. But he sent her money every single week.”

“Jack Colton is Allie’s father?” Lucy spoke. He shared the thought.

“Yes. Sandy called him a month or so after the rape. Told him about the attack and that their baby had been abducted—”

Lucy sat forward. “She has no memory of what happened to Allie?”

Ramsey wanted to disconnect the call. He watched Lucy, looking for any sign that this was too much for her. She didn’t seem to notice him.

“She didn’t remember, and it was pretty much touch and go, emotionally. Apparently Colton, on hearing of his daughter’s abduction, grew up quickly. He took complete responsibility for the child’s disappearance, saying that if he’d been there it wouldn’t have happened. And he took complete responsibility for Sandy. Which was why, when he realized we were on to him, he went straight to her. Seeing him, coupled with seeing Wakerby so recently, probably jolted her memory. She was pretty much incoherent but was able to tell the authorities what had happened to Allie.”

“Wait,” Lucy said again, her tone demanding. “What happened to Allie? How did she die?”

“She was crying. Wakerby hit her to shut her up.”

“Mama saw him kill Allie?”

“She was holding the baby up to her chest at the time. Which is why the injury to the baby’s skull was in the back of her head. It’s also when Sandy’s face got bruised. A psychiatrist from the hospital was called in. He believes the blow to Sandy’s face and head, combined with the trauma of seeing her baby daughter killed, triggered the amnesia.”

“Oh, my God.” Lucy’s eyes filled with tears. She was rocking back and forth. And Ramsey took the call off speakerphone.

Ramsey had grilled the steaks. He was eating his slowly. Lucy picked at her potato and looked at the salad. She was going to eat some of both. She just had to get used to the smell first. Let it convince her that she really wanted to eat.

“I have to know the rest,” she said. He’d suggested one glass of wine might do her good. She’d agreed and sipped at it.

“Eat something and I’ll tell you.”

“That’s how you bribe a child.” And she sounded as petulant as one. She felt a bit petulant.

“You’re drinking wine on an empty stomach.”

He had a point. So she put food in her mouth. Chewed and swallowed. Enough times so that Ramsey started to talk.

“Colton was sick with guilt when he found out what had happened. He blamed himself for leaving Sandy alone to fend for the baby herself.”

“I blame him, too.”

“After Marie called, telling him about Sandy hanging out in downtown Cincinnati—looking for Allie—he brought her to Comfort Cove to live with him.”

“That’s the girlfriend Amelia never got to meet because it was during her semester in Boston.”

“Right.”

Lucy nodded.

“She was drinking too much and getting worse by the day and Colton couldn’t afford to put her in rehab or get her any real help. They had no insurance. While she had Allie, Sandy had had assistance, but since the baby was gone…”