Page 78 of Always Us

“Is the senator a member?”

“No, but he’s been working with us behind the scenes for years.”

The organization has people within the government helping them get away with stuff. Get confidential information. Destroy files. Whatever they need. And in exchange, the person gets rewards. For politicians, like this senator, the reward is a promise of more power, such as a higher position. I learned this last spring when I was at one of the organization’s meetings.

My dad continues. “Katherine also wanted your grandfather gone because her father was one of the men being considered for Arlin’s position. But instead, it was given to your grandfather. By getting rid of him, Katherine was hoping her father would take his place, but now, he’ll most likely be demoted and forced to do the jobs no one wants to do.”

“But how can you prove she did this?” I ask him.

“We can’t. It’s our word against hers, but they’ll believe William and me long before they’ll ever believe Katherine. And she had motive. The members know how much she wanted the divorce. When my father stopped it from happening, she had to find another way. She needed to get rid of him. But I knew she wouldn’t attempt to do it herself. She’d need someone to help. So I purposely told her what my father had done to Arlin because I knew she’d run to William, assuming he’d want revenge. He played along, but told her he couldn’t kill him because of the new rule forbidding it. So Katherine agreed to do it.”

“But the drug she gave him will be traced back to you,” I say to William.

He shakes his head. “No. The drug is nothing special. It’s one he’s already getting in his IV, but in large doses it can be lethal. That syringe contained ten times what his body can tolerate.”

“So what are you going to tell the organization?” I ask William.

“I’ll tell them that Katherine came to me and was asking about various drugs and their effects. I’ll tell them how I answered her questions, but became suspicious of why she was asking, concerned that maybe she planned to drug and kill Pearce so that she’d be free to marry the senator. I’ll explain that I immediately called and warned Pearce, telling him to be careful. And then your father will tell the members that he wasn’t the intended victim. Holton was. He’ll say he found Katherine here, injecting Holton with a lethal dose of drugs, but that it was too late to save him.”

I stand there, trying to sort this all out in my head.

“Pearce, we need to leave,” William says. “Do you want your mother to find out in the morning?”

“No. She needs to find out now. I don’t want the maid to find him here in the morning. Then we’d just have more witnesses to deal with. We need to get him out of here. I’ll make the necessary calls. You speak with Dr. Cunningham. Have him wake my mother. Tell him to go with the story we talked about.”

William leaves and I’m left with my dad. He gets his phone out, but I stop him before he makes his call.

“Dad. You killed him.” I say it quietly.

“No. Katherine did.”

“But you arranged for it to happen.”

“My father taught me how to make the hard decisions. He taught me to make sacrifices for the greater good. I simply did what my father taught me.”

He says it without the slightest hint of emotion. This isn’t the dad I saw earlier at the house. Now I’m seeing the other side of him, the one he pretends isn’t his real self. The dad I’m used to seeing couldn’t do this. He couldn’t plot his own father’s murder. But he knew he had to, so he used the other side of himself, the dark side, to do it.

“Garret, go back to the house. Get some rest.”

“I don’t think I can after this.”

“Then call Jade. Tell her this is over.”

“Is it? Or is someone else going to follow through on his plan?”

My dad sighs. “Let’s not get into this right now. One problem at a time.”

“What does that mean? Who else is in on this?”

“Garret, you need to leave. Cunningham will be waking up my mother soon and you can’t be here.”

“It’s Roth, isn’t it?”

He doesn’t answer. He just looks at his phone.

“Dad, tell me.”

He sighs again. “William and I suspect Roth might’ve been in on it, but not for the same reasons as your grandfather. Roth has no interest in you taking over the company or going to Yale. But he does want you back at the organization, mainly to prove to the other members that you didn’t defeat him last spring.”

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