Page 90 of What the Wife Knew

“Let’s go find Portia.” Wyatt put a hand under his mom’s elbow.

Drowning in entitlement and too self-focused to see the destruction she left in her wake, Kathryn didn’t give in. She gasped as if to sayhow dare you. “I’m not done here.”

That ugly paperweight. I looked at it then at Kathryn. Aiming for the bat made sense. She could drop it, but I wouldn’t be sad if I hit any part of her and stopped this madness.

“Mom, please.”

Wyatt’s caring tone appeared to incite her. She twisted her hands on the bat. “You don’t understand what she is. She’ll do and say anything to get her hands on our family money.”

Wyatt gestured in my direction. “She’s just standing there.”

Still no reinforcements. I silently willed Portia to call the police since the alarm company seemed to be slow to act this time.

“I would point out you’re all in my house.” I took a step back, bringing me even with the edge of the desk. So close to that paperweight.

Kathryn ignored me. “What is it about this woman that makes you and your father listen to her and fall in line? You keep running over here like her pathetic lapdog.”

She didn’t slap him, but Wyatt winced as if she had. “I thanked her for paying for school. That’s it.”

“Why? Do you really not understand what she’s done? How much damage she’s caused? Your father is dead. Our money is in her hands. She is the villain, not me.” Kathryn stilled. “Or are you sleeping with her, too?”

“Mom!”

“Kathryn, that’s enough.” She’d passedenoughfive minutes ago but now I’d end it.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. She’s even got Elias jumping to her commands. He used to listen to me, but not now.” Kathryn practically spit the last part out.

Keeping calm grew harder by the second. “Look, Richmond is not my father. I am not having sex with your son or Elias. End of conversation. Leave.”

Rushing to someone’s defense was not my thing. I didn’t have a martyr complex. I’d sloughed off the need to be liked long ago but bouts of unexpected empathy for the Dougherty children kept kicking my ass. Having both parents spin out of control and land in the public spotlight with their faults on vivid display promised a bleak future for the kids.

“She tried to kill your father. Have you forgotten that?” Kathryn fueled up on fury until she sounded manic. “Before she pushed your father down the stairs she tried to kill him with poison.”

“That’s not true.” Wyatt shot back the denial.

The force of his defense surprised me. Could be he used the firm response to talk his mother off the emotional precipice, but nothing in our interactions to date suggested that he had that level of emotional maturity.

“Your father said so. He confided in me right before he died.” She gripped the bat with enough force to turn her knuckles white.

Wyatt’s gazed shifted around the room. “An accident at the deli. Then he had a car problem. No one’s fault.”

Wait... he looked up and to his left as he talked. That was histell. I learned he had one the first time he let himself into this house after Richmond died.

Wyatt knew details. I wanted to know how but spilling what he knew now would only inflame an already hostile situation. De-escalation was key. “You should take your mom home and help—”

“Stop treating me like a child who needs to be handled. Richmond did that and I hated it. This time I’m the one handling things. For once, I decide.”

Richmond. His fault. All of it. For being a piece of crap as a kid and for turning into a ruthless piece of crap adult. For a man who thought so highly of himself and soaked in every compliment, he sucked at being a father, a husband, and a doctor.

“Right before she killed him, your father warned me about her attacks. I thought he was lying to make me feel bad for him.” Kathryn moved closer to me with her bat and her unblinking stare. “He miscalculated by marrying her and couldn’t admit it. No, not the perfect Richmond Dougherty.”

How did you stop someone from tripping and falling over an invisible edge? “Kathryn, don’t do this in front of your son.”

“Richmond was so manipulative. So sick. You don’t even know.” Kathryn’s eyes looked glassy, as if she’d gotten lost in her own thoughts. “He hid so much.”

Decision time.

She knew I’d discovered something about Richmond. That our marriage wasn’t based on anything resembling love or attraction. But it didn’t sound as if she knew specifics about my blackmail. It was possible she didn’t even know Richmond’s biggest lie, but I doubted it.

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