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By Root 720 0

too," he muttered. His mother had always been small and slender, but today she felt frail in his arms, as if she could be easily broken. It occurred to him that he'd spent the first part of his life worrying about his little sister and the last decade worrying about his mother. At least his father was strong, except when it came to his wife. She was his Achilles' heel. As he looked over his mother's shoulder, Cole could see the worry in his father's eyes.

"We should get you into the car, Janet," Richard said. "It's breezy out here. The last thing we need is for you to catch a cold."

Janet pulled back and put her hand against Cole's cheek, a sorrowful look in her brown eyes. "You look tired, Cole. Are you all right?"

"Hey, I'm the one who should be asking you that question. Dad said you collapsed."

Richard gave Cole a warning shake of his head, but it was too late to pull back the question.

"I couldn't believe what those reporters at the house were saying about Emily," Janet replied. Her expression pleaded with him to tell her it wasn't true, that it was all a horrible nightmare, and he wanted to do just that, but he couldn't.

"We're going to fix it," he said instead. "Don't worry about anything. Just take care of yourself and feel better."

Her eyes blurred with tears. "I thought it was over, Cole. It should be over. Why isn't it?"

"It will be," Richard Parish said with authority. "We'll find out everything we need to know, Janet. But you need to go home and sleep now. That's what the doctor said. Lots and lots of rest."

"Will you come to the house with us, Cole?" she asked. "We can still have dinner as we planned."

"Don't worry about dinner. Rest tonight and we'll talk tomorrow."

"All right. Don't work too hard." She got into the car and Cole shut the door behind her.

"Is she really okay?" Cole asked his father.

"She's never okay, not when it comes to Emily," Richard said with a heavy sigh. "We were having such a good trip, too. She was happy in Italy. She loved Venice. I couldn't get her out of those gondolas. But she got a little stomach bug the last few days. Combine that with the long flight and the reporters waiting for us at the house—it was just too much for her. When she heard those words about Emily being ..."

His father's face turned pale, and he shook his head, obviously unable to finish the sentence. Cole didn't blame him. He'd had a little longer to deal with the situation, and he still flinched every time he thought about Emily being pushed off that roof.

"The doctor prescribed a sedative," his father continued a moment later. "I want to get her home and into bed, so she can sleep for the next twelve hours."

Cole nodded. "That sounds like a plan."

"What's happening with the case? Have you found out anything yet? Have you spoken to the police?"

"Not yet."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because we need to find Malone first."

"And you don't think the police can help with that?"

"I've got Hinkley working on it," Cole replied. "You've said yourself he's the best. I was trying to avoid publicity."

"Obviously you weren't successful. There were reporters from all the networks at the house. We're the biggest news story in town. Speaking of which, are we covering ourselves?"

"Marty wrote up a neutral piece stressing the process of investigating the situation. It will be in tomorrow's paper."

"What about Natalie Bishop? I can't believe I didn't see this possibility sooner. I thought she and Emily were friends."

"They were friends."

"Maybe they weren't. You broke up with her. Maybe Emily had a problem with her, too."

"It was different between us," Cole started to explain, but his father interrupted.

"I don't give a shit about your relationship with her. I want to know what was going on with Natalie and Emily. When I get home, I'm calling Detective Boland. With any luck he's still working for the Santa Cruz Police Department."

Cole was relieved when his mother opened the door to ask if there was a problem. "No problem," he lied. "We're just talking business."

"I'll be right there," Richard said, closing