Page 95 of Shattered Hearts

That vacation Pop and I were planning isn’t going to happen, either. I’m not leaving Zarah alone, and she shouldn’t be traveling. Zane can fly her, them (us?) anywhere they want to go but sticking with the familiar is probably for the best right now. Maybe one day soon Pop and I can catch a football game at the stadium. If I can stay out of Zarah’s bed long enough.

The Mesa’s house is just as big as the others I’ve visited during the investigation of this case. I don’t think I’d like to live in a house so large you wouldn’t hear people coming or going. A technician in my little apartment wouldn’t be able to hide. I’d have my Glock to his head before he could flip open the circuit breaker box.

I park off to the side, and a maid lets me in. Pop should be here, too, but we decided only one of us would go. Savannah’s mother speaking to me is an interesting turn of events, and Meredith’s suicide could be part of the reason she changed her mind. A week ago, she would barely talk to Pop on the phone much less invite one of us into her house.

Audrey Mesa isn’t anything like what I pictured her to be. Mostly, I envisioned her as an older version of her daughter Meredith, blonde hair and blue eyes, sad and somber, but Audrey is a brilliant redhead. Her skin is clear, freckles dotting the bridge of her nose, and her eyes are a vivid blue. She must be twenty years older than me to even be close to the right age to have a child Savannah’s age, but she looks ten years younger.

What surprises me most is when she stands to greet me. She can look me in the eye without high heels. Not many women can do that.

“I know what you’re thinking, and I took advantage of my height and modeled for many years.” Her voice is rich, smokey. When her husband first met her, I bet he didn’t stand a chance.

She’s dressed in leggings and drowning in a sweater two sizes too big. Shadows rest under her eyes, and she’s too thin. Grief can do that to you.

“Sit down, please,” she invites, and we sit in a little area near a large window that looks out over a snowy backyard.

“I’m surprised you agreed to talk to me,” I say and gratefully accept a large mug of coffee. It steams hot, and the scent is earthy, woodsy. For some reason it brings to mind walking in the forest with Zarah, kissing her as squirrels play in the trees.

Audrey sinks into the chair and lets it cradle her, tucking her lean legs under her ass. Tears roll down her cheeks. “I keep telling myself I should have then, at least to appease Meredith. She was so certain someone came into the house and killed Savannah, but the idea’s preposterous. Who ever heard of such a thing? I should have listened, but I brushed her off. She knew I didn’t believe her, and it made her feel unloved.”

“You don’t think Savannah was murdered?”

She holds a tissue to her lips. Her fingers are long and only a plain wedding band encircles one finger. “The idea is absurd. Meredith didn’t want to believe Savannah hurt enough to end her own life, but depression runs in our family, Mr. Davenport. I know how deadly it can be if left untreated. I suffer from it, but I control it with diet, exercise, and regular visits to my therapist. I take an antidepressant. I do all I can. My mother was fortunate and has dealt with a mild case off and on throughout most of her life, but my grandmother had severe depression and committed suicide when my mother was just about to graduate from high school.”

I recall my similar conversation with Mrs. Grayson. I think she said depression ran in her family, too. I guess I’m luckyI didn’t inherit anything like that from my parents. Pop’s rock solid. My mother can be flighty, but most of the time I think it’s an act to keep Rourke interested.

“How were Savannah’s experiences in Quiet Meadows? Meredith said she spent time there, off and on.”

A hard look enters Audrey’s eyes. “That place can burn to the ground for all I care. I popped a bottle of champagne the day Zane Maddox closed the facility.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Really? Everyone seems quite angry Mr. Maddox instigated the closing of the sanatorium. At least, everyone I’ve spoken with. It left a hole in the community, one that still hasn’t been filled.”

“The last time we admitted Savannah into an in-patient program, one of her psychiatrists sexually assaulted her. A nurse caught them being...intimate in her room. He went from denying it to saying she wanted it, went so far as to say they were in a relationship! They tested Savannah and found traces of his semen in her vagina.” She closes her eyes in disgust. “He was a guest psychiatrist from Saskatchewan. He’s serving time in a prison in Regina.”

“How long ago was that? I didn’t hear about it in the news.”

“We settled out of court, very quietly. They didn’t want it to get out, and neither did we. Savannah had already been through so much. My husband calls the prison once a month. That bastard won’t get parole without us knowing.”

“Did Meredith know to what extent this was going on? She mentioned the last time I saw her that Savannah said her doctors liked to touch her to see how she would react.”

“We kept it from Meredith. We didn’t want her to know, and neither did Savannah. She didn’t want Meredith to look at her differently.”

“You didn’t try to close the facility yourselves after what happened? You weren’t afraid the doctors or staff would do it to another patient?”

Audrey scoffs. “That place was a golden goose. They weren’t going to close it down. There was only one person in the world who had the power to do it, and he did. I include Zane Maddox in my prayers every night.” She lifts a coffee carafe. “More coffee?”

“Sure. Thanks.” I pause while she pours, try to delicately phrase what I want to say. “Perhaps had you been more forthcoming, Meredith would still be alive.”

Her hand trembles, and I wait for the expected expletives and for her to throw me out of her house, but all my words do is cause more tears to wet her cheeks.

“You’re probably right, but Mr. Davenport, how do you explain to your child that her sister committed suicide because of a past sexual assault? What that doctor did made Savannah’s depression worse than it ever had been before. Savannah begged us not to say anything, and that was her choice. Her father and I didn’t go against her wishes.”

“Even after Savannah passed away?”

“What good would that have done? Meredith missed her sister and took her own life because of it. Her father found a note in her room. Troy, God bless him, loved Savannah, but after the abuse she suffered, she never would have been able to have a normal relationship, not without therapy. Her trust in the psychiatric community was shattered and we couldn’t beg her long or hard enough to see someone else.”

“She wasn’t seeing Jerricka Solis?”

Audrey frowns. “No. I’m sorry. I don’t know who that is.”

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