Chapter81
DECKER HANDED HERANOTHERTISSUEand then sat back.
Mitzi Gardiner dabbed at her eyes as she sat there in her hospital bed. She had finally regained consciousness and the doctors expected her to make a full recovery.
Decker had told her some, but not all, of what had happened. But he had told her about her husband’s death. And also about his participation in Egorshin’s spy operation.
“I always wondered why a guy like Brad would have chosen someone like me,” she said, sniffling.
“Don’t sell yourself short.”
“And I can’t believe that this Bill Peyton was a Russian spy named, what was it again?”
“Egorshin. And that’s sort of the point. To make it not obvious.”
He had decided not to tell her that Egorshin was her real father, because Decker considered Meryl Hawkins to have earned that distinction. And he wasn’t sure the fragile Mitzi could actually handle the truth.
“I guess.” She tossed the tissue into the trash can next to her bed and looked at him. “That’s not all, is it?”
“No, it’s not.”
“You’re here for other reasons?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to Rachel?”
“She’s been charged, but can probably work a deal. Since we still haven’t located Egorshin, her life is in danger. She might end up in witness protection once she tells the Feds all she knows.”
“But won’t he come after me too?”
“Doubtful. He seems to have liked you.”
“Hedidhelp us. I remember he got painkillers for my mom, though I knew him as Bill Peyton. I still can’t believe he was a Russian.”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t so kind to your father.”
“He told me things about my dad. Not good things.”
“And they were lies. He told me they were. He just wanted to get you on his side, Mitzi. That was all.”
“But I believed him. And I helped send my father to prison.”
“Did you know that they planned to frame him for murder?”
She shook her head. “Absolutely not. I had no idea. I didn’t know what was going on really. I was so strung out back then.”
“They probably wanted to keep you in the dark, because they couldn’t count on your not telling someone. But after he was charged? And then convicted?”
“I didn’t know what to think. Part of me thought he was guilty.”
“I think he figured out, at least partly, your complicity. But he wasn’t going to do anything to implicate you in the deaths. So he just kept quiet and went to prison. It was only after he ran into Karl Stevens that his mind changed. He was dying, after all, and what Stevens told him about your involvement and the people behind it probably didn’t sit well with him. So he came back here to clear his name.”
“I can’t say I blame him.” She lay back and closed her eyes. “I’m so tired.” Then she snapped forward. “Oh my God, my son, where is—”
“He’s fine. He’s with child services. He knows nothing about any of this, though.”
“I…I can’t believe I just thought of him.”