Falling Apart, Together✓

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I'm sitting next to Ransom at the police station two months after I gave birth to Baker, the family lawyer Alan Stevens, sitting on the other side of him. "Why exactly are my clients here?" Alan asks.

"Some interesting facts came to light during the investigation into Mr. Drysdale's disappearance and death. An eye witness puts Ransom Drysdale at his father's apartment the day he disappeared."

"My father had threatened my wife and my, then unborn, son. All I did was go there to tell him that if he went near her, or anyone else in the family, I'd be getting a restraining order in place." he says, looking to Alan. 

"I can confirm that. Mr. Drysdale came to my office earlier that day to inquire about it."

The detective nodded. "I'm gonna be honest with you. There's not much evidence of this being anything more than him being out at that lake and having a heart attack which led to him falling into that lake."

We nod. "Are my clients free to go?" Alan asks.

"Yes of course. I don't think we'll have any other questions but in case we do, we'll reach out."

Alan walks us out and stops us before we can go. "I don't want to know what you did, but I hope that's the end of it because they're not going to be as oblivious a second time."

We get in the car and drive home, sitting in the driveway for a bit, neither of us saying anything. And then we started laughing, like lunatics. "How the fuck did we pull this off?" I ask as we head inside to where his mom is watching the kids. 

She looks up as we enter. "It's over." he says. "They don't have enough to assume it was anything more than a heart attack." he finishes, ignoring the way his mom was shaking her head. 

"What's over? Who doesn't have enough?" Ransom's eyes got comically wide, as I'm sure I turned as white as a ghost, as my mom came out of the kitchen.

I decided that the best course of action was avoidance. "Mom. I didn't know you were coming over. Your car isn't out front." I say, hugging her.

"I had Archer drop me off since I was meeting up with Linda anyway for dinner. What's going on Bentley?" she asks me. None of us want to make eye contact with each other, let alone her. "I'm not going to ask again. Bentley Eliza Drysdale, you tell me what happened right now!"

Ransom and I wince. Damn! She brought out the full name. "Richard's death might not have been as much of an accident as the police believe it to be." I say softly, knowing she can still hear me.

"What?"

"In my defence, I didn't know what was happening until after it was done." And then I launched into the tale of what exactly happened, Mom becoming paler and paler the longer I go on.

"I don't even know how to respond to this. I need to go." She says, getting up.

"Mom, you don't have a car here." I remind her. 

"I don't care. I'll walk."

"Please don't do that. I'll drive you." I say, grabbing my keys. We get in the car and she sits as far as she possibly can from me. I sigh. "Look. I know you're pissed and you have every right to be. But he was never going to leave me alone. Ransom, Linda and Archer did what they did to protect me, to protect my children. And whether you like it or not, if Dad were here and he knew what Richard did, he would've been in on it too. And it would've been a lot bloodier." She gave me a look but didn't argue. She couldn't, we both knew I was right. 

I pulled into her driveway and shut the car off. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way. If you want some time I'll understand. You can still come and see the kids." I say as she gets out of the car. 

She shuts the door and walks around the the driver's side window, motioning me to roll it down. "I'm not happy about what happened but I can't say I'm upset that the man who hurt my daughter is gone and can't hurt her anymore. I just wish it didn't have to end this way."

I nod, "Me too, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too." She says before going inside. 

As I pull out of her driveway I call Archer. 

"Yello," he answers.

"Could you be a bigger dork?" I ask laughing.

"I can and will hang up on you so cut to the point, brat."

"Mom knows..." I say and the line goes silent. "Archer?... Archer? You still there."

I hear him loudly exhale. "How the fuck did she find out?"

"Ransom and I had been called down to the police station today for that interview they wanted to do when I went into labor. My doctor finally cleared me to go complete it. Turns out Ransom went to the apartment before you guys grabbed Richard and someone saw him. It's fine and no one is aware of what happened after but they needed to question him."

"Then why did they need both of you?"

"I think it was a scare tactic, or they thought I might break if I saw him getting questioned. Either way nothing came of it and they're ruling his death natural causes, so no harm no foul. We're in the clear."

"Good. And hey sis?"

"Yeah?"

"Try to not need me to murder anyone else for you." he jokes. 

"Ha ha. I can handle murder by myself thanks. If I hadn't been on bedrest I would've been right there with you."

"Well thank god you were. I'll talk to you later."

"Love you big brother."

"Love you too squirt." he says before hanging up.