Chapter 12

Molly let her cell phone fall away from her ear and tried to sit down on a kitchen chair. She’d been gathering the ingredients to make bread when she got a call from the private investigator. It was after that call that her knees failed her. She missed the chair, landing on only one butt cheek, and she fell with a yell and a thump that brought Delores running from the hallway where she had been taking a basket of clothes to the laundry room to wash them. She dropped the basket and rushed to kneel by Molly.

“What’s wrong?” she gasped. “Are you hurt?”

Molly waved a hand and then reached in the motion that almost everyone knows means, “Help me up.”

Delores gripped her hand and planted her feet, leaning back. She almost lost her balance as she pulled Molly up. They weighed within ten pounds of each other, but Molly was the heavier, at a hundred and thirty pounds.

Molly looked at the chair and sat, carefully in it. She looked up at her friend with haunted eyes.

“The girl Brad has been cheating with is dead.”

Delores grabbed another chair and pulled it close. She sat and reached for Molly’s hands and held them. Molly looked up and spoke slowly.

“That was Stephanie on the phone. She’s the private detective I hired to follow Brad and get me some dirt on him. She followed them to a motel last night and after they’d been in there two hours, she jimmied the lock somehow and opened the door. She saw them on the bed, naked, and he took a picture. Then she said she ran because Brad jumped up and was obviously going to chase her. But Brad was naked and couldn’t leave the room, so Stephanie got to her car and got away.

“A little later ... I can’t remember how long he said it was ... but it was hours. Anyway she heard on her police scanner that there had been a fatal car crash. The description of the car and the license matched Brad’s car. I guess Stephanie had been watching long enough that she had the tag memorized. She didn’t call me right then because she knew I’d want more information. She pretended to be the press and went to the scene. They wouldn’t let her in but they told her there had been two people in the car, a man and a woman, and that the woman was dead. The driver, the man, smelled of alcohol and it was believed he had been driving drunk. He hit a tree at a high speed. That was all she could find out last night. This morning the real news people announced it on TV and gave both Brad’s name and the name of the girl, who was said to be twenty.”

“So he’s alive but the girl is dead?”

“Yes. I didn’t want her to die!” wailed Molly. “I just wanted a divorce. I didn’t mean to kill her!”

“Calm down,” said Delores, squeezing Molly’s hands. “You didn’t do anything. Brad didn’t even know you were going to do something. This is all him, Molly. He was the one driving and she was with him voluntarily. You have absolutely nothing to do with this.”

“I have to tell Robin,” moaned Molly. “She has to know her father killed someone!”

“You can tell her when you’ve calmed down a little. You’re in shock, Molly. You need to lie down and let the shock dissipate. What can I do?”

“Can you do anything?” Tears were beginning to roll down Molly’s cheeks. She was breathing fast. Suddenly she said, “I don’t feel very good,” and fell sideways. Delores managed to catch her, but her backside slid off the chair anyway and Molly ended up on the floor again. She was gasping, hyperventilating, and Delores looked for something for Molly to breathe into. There was a small, white bag that the pharmacy had put the pills in that both Molly and Robin were supposed to take to avoid pregnancy. The boxes were sitting on the table beside the sack. Delores grabbed the sack and molded the opening around her own mouth. Then she pushed the bag against Molly’s face with one hand and used the other behind Molly’s head to stabilize it.

“Breathe, Baby,” Delores cooed. “Big breaths. Just breathe.”

Slowly Molly exhibited the ability to move her limbs voluntarily and her eyes, which had been rolling as if to take in the entire room, settled on Delores. She kept breathing and Delores kept saying things like, “That’s good. Yes. Breathe, just like that.”

Four or five minutes later Molly was sitting on the chair again, looking less pale and breathing normally.

“What do I do now?” Molly said, her voice listless.

“You have a lot to do,” said Delores. “If he was driving drunk he’ll be in jail. There will be court dates and all that kind of thing. You need to know the name of the girl and where her family is. They’ll probably sue for wrongful death if his blood alcohol was over the legal limit. You need to contact them wherever they are and identify yourself as his wife. You need to demand answers. Why haven’t they called you already? I’m sure they looked in his phone. Doesn’t he have you in there as an emergency contact?”

Molly stared at the wall.

“I hated him, but I didn’t want this to happen.”

“Of course you didn’t, Honey. He was a beast and you’re pure of heart. If the situation was reversed he would just use it as an excuse to get custody of Robin when he divorced you.”

“I didn’t file for divorce, yet,” said Molly.

“Well, you should. In fact that should be one of the first things you do. Call your attorney and tell him what happened. He may be able to get more information because he’s a lawyer. This wasn’t your fault, Molly. If he drove drunk then it was vehicular murder, or whatever they call it. If he was over the legal limit, they’ll send him to prison. You need to be divorced before that happens, so if he gets sued, you won’t be involved.”

“I don’t know what to do first,” groaned Molly. “You have to help me.”

“I will. Don’t worry. We’ll navigate this together. You need to go lie down for a bit and rest. I’ll make up a list of things we need to do. When you’ve gathered yourself, we’ll look at it, okay?”

“Yes. Okay.” Molly looked at Delores. “I can’t sleep.”

“You don’t need to sleep. Just lie there and calm down.”

“All right. Should I go tell Robin now?”

“That can wait. She can’t do anything and might get just as upset as you are. We don’t need two women who need to calm down. We can tell her later. Where is your phone?”

“There,” said Molly, pointing on the floor where she had fallen. Delores picked it up.

“Can I call this private investigator and ask him to do some things while you rest?”

“Uh huh.”

“Let’s get you in bed, first.”

Delores led Molly by the hand to her bedroom and got her settled with a pillow under her head. She was still in shock, at least a little bit. Delores held the phone in front of Molly’s face and when she saw it was unlocked she left the room. She looked at recent calls and saw one was from “Detective.” She punched that one and called back.