Page 30 of Intolerable Bishop

“The case is closed. The robbers were never found due to lack of evidence. I’m sorry for your mother’s passing, but there was no attack,” he said, and I shook my head and held up my hands.

“So let me get this straight. My house was broken into, my mother was killed, and no one has been looking into it because you think she had a heart attack?”

Conway leaned back in his chair and was quiet. He seemed so calm, while I wanted to scream and hit him. “Ms. Davies, I know this must be difficult, considering you were so disoriented, but there was no foul play.” My mouth dropped open.

“But I saw them with my own eyes. I watched them smother her with a pillow. They were trying to get to me, but I was in a panic room, and I passed out,” I said frantically. Blake gripped my hand, and it shook in his hold. My head was spinning. “I’m telling you that I saw it happen. Can you please explain that to me?”

Conway shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. When I arrived, the EMTs had taken your mother to the hospital with the hope of saving her, but she succumbed to a major cardiac event and was ultimately pronounced deceased. After the interview with your father, I left and pursued leads for the robbery. Once I received the report from the coroner’s office that Mrs. Davies’s death was from natural causes, that portion of the case was closed.” I just stared at him, blinking. “The only other thing I can tell you is that your father had a private security firm there working when I arrived, but that’s all I know.

“A security firm? I don’t understand. What would they be doing there,” I asked.

He shrugged and looked as baffled as I felt. “Private firms handle all sorts of things, but as far as your case and what it has to do with your mother, I can’t say.”

“No, this is not okay. The room hasn’t been touched since the attack. If I give you permission, can you investigate now? I mean, there has to be some evidence left behind,” I said desperately.

He shook his head. “I know this is difficult, and I really wish I’d known you thought this was an open case. You seem genuinely shocked and confused about the events that transpired, and I hate that I’m the one having to give you this information.”

“What you’re saying is that the people who broke in are just out there somewhere doing whatever, and there is nothing that the police can do because some man says that my mum died naturally? I’m not sure when being suffocated to death became natural.”

“Maybe speak to your father about who the private firm was, and I’d get seen by a doctor again. Trauma has a funny way of playing with our memory of events when we are suffering loss. That is the best advice I can give you.”

He stood, and I looked up at him, not sure what to say. He opened the door, ending any further questions. What had my father done? Or was it Lawrence at that point? Who the hell took over the investigation, and why? Where the hell was my father, and why didn’t he tell me any of this?

I was hit with bright sunlight and a warm breeze as we stepped outside, but I was chilled to the bone. Whatever my father was into was far worse than I ever could’ve imagined. More than ever, I wished that I hadn’t been so stubborn when he came to see me and had spoken to him.

“Are you okay,” Blake asked.

“No. No, I’m not. I hate being in the dark and lied to, and my father has done so much of it. I mean, who came in and took over? The FBI, CIA, RCMP, and some other set of acronyms that I don’t know about? He says that it was the EMTs, but I’m telling you that she was murdered, Blake. There was nothing natural about the way she died, and I’m not crazy. I’m not making this up. It’s not some trauma-induced hallucination.”

“I believe you, and I wish I knew what to say right now,” Blake said and pulled me into a hug. I hadn’t cried for a few days, so I guess I was due. As he hugged me, hopelessness gripped me. Was I ever going to get the answers to what was going on?

It didn’t feel like it. Instead, it seemed like with every step I managed to take, I fell back by two more.

MAY 24 – WEDNESDAY 6:15 PM

Nash

Are you fucking kidding me? I’d gotten dressed up in my suit and made it in to work for the board meeting as I promised I would. Only Ethan and Emmet were there. I’d even gone to the trouble of making a PowerPoint presentation for the occasion, and my father bailed. He didn’t call any of the potential investors to let them know.

I made a couple of calls and set up my new office the way that I wanted to cool off, but as I pulled into my driveway and saw his car sitting at home, the rage came back. I pushed open the door and walked inside as I pulled at the tie around my neck. Wearing a suit felt oddly natural as if I was finally stepping into the role I was meant to have.

Lawrence was always bitching at me about how I needed to take responsibility and ownership for my actions and that my stepping up in the company was something he wanted to oversee personally. How was he supposed to oversee anything personally when he didn’t bother to show up?

It also meant that I had to push back a very important conversation with a large developer and our contractor. He made me look like an idiot when they called in and I needed to reschedule. I didn’t even have a reason for them.

My father’s office door was closed, and normally, I would respect that and walk on, but I was livid. I slammed open his office door and walked in, holding the folder with the presentation I’d made under my arm and froze in my tracks.

“Oh shit,” Vicky said and then moaned as my father fucked her on his desk.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I growled.

“Nash, I can explain,” Vicky said, trying to get up. But my father pushed down on her back, holding her in place.

“Don’t fucking move, slut,” he growled before looking calmly up at me. “Was there something you wanted, son? As you can see, I’m a little busy here. You really should knock.” He never lost pace as he continued to fuck her like I wasn’t standing in the middle of the office or that she wasn’t my ex-girlfriend and half his age. On the list of shit I never wanted to see, this was near the top.

Just when I thought my father couldn’t do anything to surprise me, he always found a way.

I marched forward, ignoring Vicky and the fact that my father was still dressed. He had only unzipped himself for the ceremonious occasion. I slammed the folder down on the desk beside Vicky’s head, making her jump. She turned her eyes up to me, but I ignored her and refused to look down.