Pieces of Her (Andrea Oliver 1)

Jasper’s signature was on every single one.

She worked to swallow down her devastation. “Are all of these patients dead?”

“Most of them. Some moved out of state. Their patient credentials are still being used to charge for treatment.” Andrew explained, “Jasper and Father were running up the numbers. The investors were getting antsy that the public offering wasn’t going to be as much.”

The investors. Martin had taken them on a few years ago so he could buy out the competition. Jasper was obsessed with the group, as if they were some sort of all-seeing monolith who could destroy them on a whim.

Andrew said, “Jasper has to be stopped. If the company goes public, he’ll be sitting on millions of dollars in blood money. We can’t let that happen.”

Jane felt a quiver of panic. This was exactly how it had started with Martin. One bad revelation had followed another bad revelation and then suddenly Laura Juneau was shooting him in the head.

Andrew said, “I know you want to defend him, but this is indefensible.”

“We can’t—” Jane had to stop. This was too much. All of this was too much. “I won’t hurt him, Andy. Not like Father. I don’t care what you say.”

“Jasper’s not worth the bullet. But he has to pay for this.”

“Who are we to play—” She stopped herself again, because they had played God in Oslo and none of them had blinked until the second it was over. “What are you going to do?”

“Release it to the newspapers.”

Jane grabbed his arm. “Andy, please. I’m begging you. I know Jasper hasn’t been the perfect brother to you, but he loves you. He loves both of us.”

“Father would’ve said the same thing.”

His words were like a slap. “You know that’s different.”

Andrew’s jaw was set. “There’s a finite amount of money in the system to take care of these people, Jinx. Jasper stole those resources to keep the investors happy. How many more Robert Juneaus are out there because of what our brother did?”

She knew he was right, but this was Jasper. “We can’t—”

“It’s no use arguing, Jinx. Nick’s already put it into play. That’s why he told me to come here first.”

“First?” she repeated, alarmed. “First before what?”

Instead of answering, Andrew rubbed his face with his hands, the only sign that any of this was bothering him.

“Please.” She could not stop saying the word. Her tears were on an endless flow.

Think of what destroying Jasper will do to me,she wanted to say. I can’t hurt anyone else. I can’t turn off that switch that makes me feel responsible.

Andrew said, “Jinx, you’ve got to know that this decision is not up to us.”

She understood what he was telling her. Nick wanted revenge—not just for the bad things that Jasper had done, but for snubbing him at the dinner table, looking down his nose at Nick, asking pointed questions about his background, making it clear that he was not one of us.

Andrew reached into the metal box again. Jane cringed when he pulled out a bundle of Polaroid photos. Andrew took off the rubber band and snapped it around his wrist.

She whispered, “Don’t.”

He ignored her, carefully studying each photo, a catalog of the beating that Jane had endured. “I’ll never forgive Father for doing this to you.” He showed her the close-up of her pummeled stomach.

The first time, not the last time, that Jane had been pregnant.

“Where was Jasper when this happened, Jane?” Andrew’s anger had sparked. He could not be talked down. “I own my part. I was stoned. I didn’t give a shit about myself, let alone anybody else. But Jasper?”

Jane looked into the parking lot. Her tears kept falling.

“Jasper was home when this happened, wasn’t he? Locked in his room? Ignoring the screaming?”