Page 136 of Nobody's Fool

“I do.”

“He was the older brother, but she was always the one looking out for him. I guess he called her. Drunk out of his mind. That’s who she’d been talking to when I went over and kissed her.”

I swallow. “Thomas was at home, right?”

“Home?”

“Yes. After he dropped you two at McCabe’s Pub, didn’t he go home?”

“Oh no,” Caroline says. “He was far too drunk. In fact, Victoria took his keys to make sure.”

I swallow again. “So where was he?”

“He was at another bar down the street. She figured he’d be safe there, but I guess he kept drinking and then he called her sobbing. Anyway, she said she was going to check up on him.”

“Did she?”

“Yes. I mean, I watched her go into the bar.”

“And then?”

Caroline shrugs. “That’s the last time I ever saw her.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Golfer Gary is waiting for me in his Range Rover. “Debrief, please.”

I don’t say anything. He reads the room—or to be more precise, the car—and shifts into drive without another word.

Thomas lied to me. Did his parents know?

I check my phone for messages. Molly and Marty both called. I call Molly first.

“You’re being an idiot,” Molly says.

“I’m heading back to the hospital right now.”

“Don’t bother.”

“Huh?”

“I got you discharged. Come home. I have a bed ready for you.”

“And a sponge bath?”

“Don’t push it,” she says. “But yes.”

I switch hands. “I love you,” I say.

“You should.” Then she adds, “You have that voice.”

“What voice?”

“The this-case-is-a-total-mess voice.”

“You know me well.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?” she asks.

---