Scream

Eva was waiting for her. Dressed in a long black gown, her grey-streaked hair pinned into a tight knot at the base of her skull, she sat on the edge of her bed, purse plopped in her lap.

"Cassidy," she said warmly, extending her hand. Her skin was dark and smooth, without a wrinkle, but one eye was clouded by a cataract she refused to have removed. She didn't trust doctors with knives or lasers or whatever it was they used.


"I thought you'd like to visit Ashley," Lindsay said, walking up to her and taking her hand. She'd never felt comfortable around her mother-in-law, and hated to think Eva had been her father's mistress, but it was still hard to see her here away from the home she loved.

"Been looking forward to it."

Eva stood with difficulty. Though her skin was supple as that of a woman half her age, her joints were becoming arthritic--a condition which had worsened, she'd confided in Lindsay years before because she wasn't able to get out to the woods to find the proper herbs. Even when she requested them from a local health-food store, her doctor wouldn't allow her to take anything other than what he prescribed--store-bought pills, synthetic chemicals dispensed by huge corporations. Eva didn't have faith in man-made drugs and often refused medication.

Her old fingers tightened over Lindsay's hand. "Something's wrong."

"Yes, the fire and--"

"No, there's something else," she insisted and Lindsay's stomach clenched. Sliding her fingers from the old woman's grip, she didn't want to believe in the power of her mother-in-law's visions despite that fact that she, regardless of her own arguments against it, had married the man Eva had predicted she would wed.

"Here's your cane." She offered the walking stick, made of smooth dark wood, the handle carved in the shape of a mallard's head.

"You might not recognize Ashley," Lindsay warned as they walked down the carpeted hall past smooth, almond-colored walls where pastel watercolors had been bolted to plaster.

"I know my boys."

"But his face--"

"I can touch him, can't I?" Eva waited for the electronic door to be opened by the smiling blond receptionist who had only to press a button beneath her desk. With a buzz, the lock was disengaged and Lindsay shoved open the glass door.

"He's covered in bandages and he might not want you to--"

"Hes my son. I can touch him," she said stubbornly. "Ashley is a good boy." She said too quickly, as if to convince herself. Lindsay wondered how often Eva had argued with her conscience so hat she could still keep faith in a son who committed her to an institution she detested.

They walked slowly down the steps to the curb where Lindsay's Jeep was parked. Lindsay held the passenger door open while her mother-in-law settled into the bucket seat.

Within minutes, they were passing through the open gates, Eva waving to the guard. "What is it you want to ask me?" she asked.

So she'd sensed the questions racing through Lindsay's mind. With one brief touch. It was damned weird. "It's--It's nothing." This wasn't really the time or place to ask her about her old loves, about Christian Bale.

"Don't lie to me." Smiling sadly, Eva brushed a stray hair from her face. "You wanted to know about your father."

It was uncanny, almost as if she could read Lindsay's mind.

"You found out we were lovers," Eva said and the air in the Jeep seemed to grow stale.

"Yes," Lindsay said, unnerved as she eased the rig into the flow of traffic.

"He told you?"

For God's sake, how did she know? Lindsay's hands were suddenly clammy against the wheel. She cleared her throat, "I, uh, don't think he meant to."

"It was time."

Lindsay's heart was knocking wildly, so hard she could hardly breathe. "I should have known, before I married Ashley. I should have known that you were involved with my father."

"Ashley knew."

Lindsay nearly lost control of the Jeep. She swore under her breath. "He knew?"

"Well, suspected. I never admitted it."

"For the love of God, he knew?" Her mind screamed the truth at her. Why hadn't he confided in her? Why?

"I think he saw your father once when Christian visited. Ashley was just a boy at the time, and after that, we were more careful. "

Lindsay's brain was thudding wildly with questions she didn't dare speak, suspicions that should never see the light of day. "I don't understand--"

"Monica was a cold woman."

"But you could have gotten preg... I mean--"

"I did." Eva cast her a dark look. "It's time you knew the truth."

"The truth," she repeated. How many lies had she lived with, unaware? Lindsay's heart sank and she drove without thinking, automatically slowing for corners, avoiding oncoming traffic by habit, though her mind disengaged, her actions rote.


"Joey is your father's son," she said flatly.

"Joey?" Lindsay repeated, stunned. "Not Andy--?"

Eva sighed softly. "Andy was my husband's boy. As is Ashley's."

"But how could you be sure?"

With a superior expression reserved for women who've conceived and borne children, Eva glared at Lindsay, "I know."

"Oh, God." Lindsay tried to breathe deeply, to think rationally. So Eva and Christian had been lovers, so what? It didn't change things. She wasn't married to her half brother, hadn't made love to someone related to her. Her stomach, so volatile these days, clenche and spewed acid to her throat.

"I would never have allowed you to marry Ashley if he'd been your brother."

"Sweet Jesus!" Lindsay whispered as the town came into view. She rolled down her window hoping fresh air would clear her head.

"What happened to Joey?" she asked, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer. He could be dead, he could be stashed in a mental institution, a vegetable who knew no one, wouldn't even recognize his own mother.

"Joey's safe." She touched Lindsay on the arm with her soft fingers. "He lives with his father."

"What--?"

Eva chuckled deep in her chest, as if she was pleased that she'd pulled the wool over her daughter-in-law's eyes. "You grew up with Joey, Lindsay."

"But--" Then it hit her, like a lightning bolt that exploded in her brain. "Max," she whispered, her stomach tying itself in every tightening knots. Why hadn't she guessed? Why hadn't anyone in town put two and two together?

"Yes," Eva said, relief making her voice quiver slightly. "Finally, after all these years, I can go to him."

"But why--why hide him?"

She stared out the window. "It was your father's idea. After the accident where Joey nearly drowned in the creek, it was obvious that Joey would never be... well, normal again. Too much brain damage from lack of oxygen. Christian offered to take care of him, to see that he was put in the best facility available. He would pay all the bills, and since Frank and I couldn't afford... well, that's when Frank left. Not because of Andy, but because of Joey."

She seemed so lucid, so clear about the past. "How did you find out Joey was Max?"

"Christian told me; oh, it was years later, when Joey was nearly grown. The private hospital where Max--that was the name Christian had given him after paying off the doctor in charge... anyway, the institution was closing. The hospital sold to a group of investors who had plans to tear it down and put in a strip mall or something--" She waved her fingers as if it didn't matter.

"Christian decided Max would come to live with them. He wasn't all that old, about ten or twelve, I think--you were just a little girl. At first, he lived with the family of that foreman of yours, Mac something or other, then Christian gave him a room above the stable. I believe he's been there ever since."

Lindsay didn't recall Max coming to live with at her parents' home. For as long as she could remember, he'd been there, hanging around the stable or the barns or the pool.

"Does my mother know?"

Eva shook her head. "No one knows. Just Christian and me. Not even Joey."

This was too much to handle. "I don't think you should say anything to Ashley. Not until he's better."

Eva shot her a disdainful glance. "I would never do anything to hurt any of my sons," she said, as if Lindsay should understand her. "Never."

"Good."

Lindsay shifted down and nosed the Jeep through the rounded corners of the tree-lined street to Northwest General. She wondered if the story about Joey Biersack and Max was complete--or if there were holes left for her benefit. Eva seemed remarkably clearheaded and yet her thoughts were known to wander; fact and fiction sometimes interwoven. How many times had Ashley worried aloud about his mother's sanity? Before he'd had Eva committed, he'd always been concerned for her safety.

She dropped her mother-in-law off near the front doors, parked, then joined her in the reception area.

Together, they took the elevator to the second floor, and at the door to her husband's room, Lindsay paused knowing that he would be furious with her for openly defying him and bringing his mother to the hospital.

"Ashley?" she called softly, and entered the room where her husband laid still.

Eva tensed as she saw her boy, but she walked forward. "Can you hear me?" Eva asked, and the uncovered eye that had been closed, open suddenly. "I thought so."

The eye narrowed up at her shifting to Lindsay and accused her of horrid things.

"She wanted to see you," Lindsay offered.

"Are they treating you well?" Eva reached forward, and though Ashley pulled away, she touched his swollen fingers with her gentle hands.

He blinked rapidly as she closed her eyes and whispered in Cherokee. Lindsay couldn't understand a word, but Ashley seemed to. His eye focused on his mother and some of the anger disappeared from his face.

"You will be well," she said. "It will take time, but you will heal."

Tears filled the older woman's eyes as she released his fingers, "I've been worried about you."

Ashley looked away, staring past Eva to the wall behind her, and there appeared to be a tensing of the muscles in his face, though with the discoloration and swelling, it was hard to tell.

Lindsay opened the door. "I’ll just be down the hall,” she said, understanding that she shouldn’t interfere between mother and son. Not that she ever had. Ashley had never allowed it.

“I’ll deal with my mother, you deal with yours,” he’d always said when there was a problem with Eva.

It was as if he considered her his personal burden; but he’d always felt that way, even before Andy had left. She walked past the nurses’ station and took a seat in the small waiting area near a picture window. From her vantage point, she could look outside or at the door to Ashley's room, so that she'd see Eva when she emerged. Later, she'd talk to Ashley herself, tell him that Williams was about to identify the man in CCU.

As she glanced out the window, she noticed a cruiser from the Sheriff's Department rolling into the parking lot. Lights flashed as it was parked near the front door. Detective Williams and Bonham threw open the doors of the vehicle, kicked them shut, and strode quickly into the hospital. Sunglasses firmly in place, faces grim, they disappeared from her view. Lindsay's insides jelled. She told herself to remain calm, that even if they did come up to interview Ashley, she could handle it. She'd wanted to warn Ashley that they knew he could speak, that she'd told them he was stonewalling them, but she'd hoped to tell him when they were alone, without Eva overhearing.

Now, it didn't matter. She braced herself for the worst, expecting two determined detectives to storm past the nurses' station and throw her hate-filled glances. With a soft chime, the elevator landed and an elderly couple emerged, a grey-haired man helping a stooped woman who shuffled slowly down the corridor.

Five minutes passed, then ten. Maybe Willams was stopping at CCU, she thought. There was also a chance he was at the hospital for another reason--there were certainly other accidents to be investigated--but she couldn't stop the restless feeling that something was wrong.

She glanced to the door of Ashley's room, still closed, then looked out to the parking lot again where the cruiser was parked at the front door. She licked her lips and told herself that she was just edgy, that she had no reason to be nervous, and yet... her reporter's instincts were on overdrive. Something was happening. Something big. And she'd bet all the money in her checking account that it was about the fire. The elevator landed again. This time a doctor emerged, his face masked in a scowl.

Lindsay couldn't stand the suspense a second longer. She walked into the nurses' station. "I'm going to run back to the car for a minute," she said, lying easily to the portly blond nurse at the desk. "Would you mind seeing that my mother-in-law--she's in room 212 with Ashley Biersack--that she waits for me here? I'll only be gone for a second."

"No problem." The nurse didn't bother looking up.

"Thanks."

Lindsay walked down the hall and into the elevator car. Within seconds, she was in the hallway of the CCU, wondering how she could get inside without a police escort.

Reaching for the phone connected directly with the Critical Care Unit's nurses' station, she heard voices, angry voices, then the doors burst open.

Detective Williams, chewing gum furiously, his features drawn together in a severe grimace, strode through. Bonham at his heels.

Williams' sunglasses had bee shoved into a front pocket of his shirt, and his eyes, dark and ominous, landed on Lindsay with such intensity she backed up a step and hung up the phone.

"Well, well, look who's here," Williams drawled, unable to hide his sarcasm. "Seems like you're always around when there's trouble."

"Trouble?" she repeated, feeling the floor beneath her start to buckle.

Williams wiped a hand through his short hair and sighed. "Our man in there," he hooked his thumb to the doors swinging shut behind him, "didn't make it. John Doe, or whatever the hell his name is, just died twenty minutes ago."

Notes

There is A LOT of revealing going on in this chapter, and if you have been reading hard enough, you will start seeing some clues popping out as to things related to Andy's location.

He will be back, but there's going to be a huuuuge twist that leads up to that. You'll be mad at me (as a warning). but that won't last long after a couple chapters ;)

Please, stay tuned! <3