Christmas at Timberwoods - Fern Michaels [69]
Sylvia took a deep breath and forged on. “Just let me ask you one simple question, just one, Murray, darling.” She drew out the chilly endearment for emphasis. “What will we do if what Angela says comes true? No, I take that back,” she said, shaking her head. “What will we do when what Angela says comes true? Because it will come true, Murray. Her visions seem so—so real to her. Before now no one has known about them except me and sometimes you. But now a whole lot of people know. And once Timberwoods blows, every newspaper in the country will be carrying the story. I can see the headlines now. GIRL PSYCHIC PREDICTS MALL DISASTER. And worse. But you know what, Murray? The public isn’t going to believe she has visions. They’re going to believe what’s easiest—that she’s the one who set the bomb. You know that’s what will happen! They’ll probably call her a terrorist!” she continued in horror. “How will you explain that to your business partners? When Dr. Tyler opened his mental health center, Angela should have been his first resident patient. I thought about it, but when you said to let her try her wings for a while and then decide, I went along with you. And this, too, shall pass!” she finished dramatically.
“Can we skip the clichés, Sylvia? Let’s look at this calmly and discuss it like the adults we are. After all, we are her parents. I’ve made some mistakes, and so have you. Blaming each other isn’t going to help her or us now. Fix me a drink and we’ll go over it and decide what to do.”
“You aren’t at home now, Murray. This is a motel, or did you forget that? Your answer to everything is to have a drink. Alcohol isn’t the answer. For once I’ll have a discussion with you cold sober. You know what my position is—what’s yours?”
Murray looked at his wife helplessly. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. But there has to be an answer.”
“Let me ask you another question, Murray. Knowing what you know now, would you go to Timberwoods to shop?”
“My God, no, I wouldn’t go there. Why do you ask? Would you?”
“No. Hell no!” Sylvia turned away from him and picked her Chanel purse off the bed.
“Where are you going? What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find Angela and have her put under a doctor’s care. I’m certain that’s the thing to do. Everything will work out, I’m sure of it. But if you can come up with something better, Murray, I’m willing to listen.”
“There has to be another way. Somebody has to be able to do something. If not, then they have to close the mall,” he said stubbornly.
“Oh, please! They aren’t going to close the mall and you know it. Not during Christmas week. Don’t you understand—no one is going to believe her. Would you if you were in their place?”
“I’m going out,” Murray said briskly. “I want to walk and think this over.”
“While you’re out, why don’t you stop by the house and see what your little angel did? You’ll be lucky if twenty thousand dollars covers it.”
“Would you tell me why you have to put a price tag on everything? So what if it costs twenty thousand dollars or even a hundred thousand? I’m the one who’ll pay it, not you,” he said, putting on his jacket. “We’ll talk later when I get back. This isn’t the end of it.”
“It is as far as I’m concerned,” Sylvia glowered. It was the end and there was nothing more to discuss.
The roof of the Timberwoods Mall was an immense sea of drifting snow. The uniformed policemen looked like tiny ink spots staining the surface of a blank sheet of paper.
“Hey, don’t go too near the edge!” one of the policemen called to the others. “The abutment isn’t very high and it would be easy to go over.”
“We’ll never find anything up here,” his partner said as he slapped at his arms to keep warm. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for. How will we see anything in all this snow?”
“Yeah, well, just a few more minutes and the captain will be happy. If we go in too soon he’ll only send us out here again.”
“I thought this bomb business was yesterday’s news. Then somebody gives a green