Page 54 of Cole's Joy
“Nothing,” Lois said in shock, then laughed at his expression. She held up her hand. “I swear, we didn’t do anything illegal.”
“It’s Officer Gerard,” Cole said as he took her hand in his. Tim took that minute to start squirming, and Lois automaticallystrapped on his leash and let him down. She looked at Duane with a smile when he took the leash from her and walked a few feet away, still well within hearing distance.
“Officer Gerard,” Cole said as he saw the other man and waited for the police officer to approach. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, at least I think it is. I wanted to give you an update, and there’s someone here that wants to talk to you.”
“It’s not Miss Mallory is it?”
“No.” He reassured him and looked over and nodded to the other officer. He opened the door to his squad car and helped a woman out. They slowly approached and Cole could tell she was nervous.
“Are you Cole Mercury?”
“I am. May I ask who you are?”
“Ellie Mallory. I’m Susan’s mother. First, I want to apologize for what my daughter did to you, along with everyone else.” She sighed heavily, and Cole could tell the toll everything was having on her. “I’m here to take my daughter home, and to get her admitted to a mental facility. I know it’s not an excuse, but after she went off her medication, she assaulted that other man with a knife, thankfully she didn’t do too much damage, and though he’s still pressing charges, I’m glad because maybe this will give her the wake-up call she needs.”
She rubbed her forehead and opened the bottle of water she carried. “I don’t know if you want to hear this, but Susan was diagnosed with bi-polar about a decade ago. We didn’t realize until about two years ago that it was wrong.”
“What is the correct diagnosis?”
“Schizophrenia.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, you can bet my lawyer will be hearing about this. Anyway, if you don’t mind my asking, could you please tell me what Susan said to you?”
“She accused me of getting her mother pregnant and leaving her at the altar when I found out her mother was pregnant. That he, me, didn’t want to be baby trapped. She said I owed her, and I guess you, since you’re her mother, child support.”
“I asked questions and her claims didn’t add up,” Lois spoke for the first time.
“Yeah, they wouldn’t.” Ellie shook her head. “When I leave here, the police are taking me to the airport and I am taking Susan back home. Her regular psychiatrist is with her now, and she’ll fly back with us.” She shook her head and gave them a small smile. “Not the one that got it all wrong. This is the new one. Susan will be heavily medicated on the flight home.”
“Got it,” Lois answered. “May I ask a question?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Is there really a Murray Coleman?”
“There was.” Ellie shook her head again, drained the bottle of water, and paced in a circle. She looked at them with anguish in her eyes. “I call Susan my daughter, but in reality, she’s my niece. She’s my sister’s daughter. My sister experienced SA when she was young. Like twelve, our parents didn’t believe in abortion, so they forced her to carry the baby to term, and they refused to allow her to put the baby up for adoption.”
“Wait, what’s SA?” Cole asked in confusion.
“Sexual assault.” Officer Gerard answered.
“She was raped, forced to carry the baby, then keep it?”
“Yes. The person that assaulted her was named Murray Coleman. When Susan was about nine months old, my sister woke up one morning, dressed, walked out the front door, and no one has ever seen her since. We’ve looked, but it’s been almost thirty years. The idea of her walking in the back door again are nil. My parents forced me to raise Susan as my own. I was only sixteen at the time of her birth.” She shook her head sadly. “I’m not making excuses, but my father ruled his homewith a heavy hand, and a belt. If you defied him, you literally wouldn’t be able to sit down for a month. I remember how he beat Sara, my sister, when they found out she was pregnant. They didn’t believe she had been assaulted. It wasn’t until Dad was in the bar one night that he overheard Coleman bragging about it.”
“What happened?” Cole asked when she remained silent for several minutes.
“Let’s just say that Coleman will never hurt anyone else, and my father’s doing life in a Virginia State Penitentiary for murder. My mother shut down after that, and with Sara gone someplace, my father locked up, it was just the three of us. Mom would babysit while I was at school or work. However, as Susan grew, she filled Susan’s head with lies.”
“What type of lies?”
“Lies that my mother told in order to get on with her life. Lies that made it seem like the man that raped my sister wasn’t as bad as he actually was. Lies that tried to paint her husband in the role of the avenging angel. By the time I realized what she was doing, Susan was so entrenched in the lies, there was no talking to her.”
“I don’t understand,” Duane said. “Why type of lies?”
