Page 11 of No Quarter

“The meds?” Valerie asked.

“Yes,” Suzie said. “They just knock me down a bit.”

“But better that than…”

“Than being back in the psychiatric hospital staring at padded walls?” Suzie asked. “Damn straight.”

Valerie looked around the room. It was a long way from the sterile padded rooms of the previous hospital. Suzie even had a Razor’s Hell poster on her wall, the same one she’d had as a teenager.

“Blackhole Maelstrom?” Valerie said, nodding toward the poster, depicting the band falling into a collapsing star.

“Is that a film?” Tom asked.

Valerie and Suzie laughed together.

“Tom,” Suzie said, wiping a tear from her eye. “I’m going to like you.Blackhole Maelstromis the name of a Razor’s Hell album where that photo comes from.”

“Oh right, sorry,” he said. “I’m more a Motown kinda guy.”

Valerie stood for a moment, watching her fiancé and her sister exchange banter.

She almost felt normal. Almost.

There was a guilt in that.

It had been five weeks since the Boston case and the altercation at Charlie’s home. Valerie knew things were changing for her family and her FBI partner’s.

She felt as though something good was finally happening for hers, but Charlie’s was in distress.

How the tables had turned. She wondered why life couldn’t always be good across the board for everyone she cared about. Why did there always have to be something to sour it?

Something worse always seemed to be on the horizon. And for Valerie, thatsomethingwas the question of whether Suzie and she knew their real father.

“Val?” Suzie said, quietly.

Valerie shook herself from the daydream and was suddenly aware that they were both looking at her.

“Sorry. I’m a little preoccupied. Nothing to worry about.”

“You need to take care of yourself, Val,” Suzie said. “What’s on your mind?”

Tom gave Valerie a glance. He knew some of it. But she could almost feel him wondering if she was going to ask about the DNA test or not.

There was a moment of quiet.

Then, Tom changed the topic of conversation as though he concluded Valerie wasn’t going to say anything.

“So, how do you feel about becoming a sister-in-law?”

“I’m just happy Valerie is getting on with her life,” Suzie said. “When my delusions take over, I’m not the easiest person to be around, neither is my mother, but Valerie is the one shining light in our family. The stable one. I’m very proud of her and all she’s achieved.”

“How long did it take you to rehearse that?” Valerie joked.

“I’m proud of her too,” Tom said, squeezing Valerie’s hand.

Valerie felt simultaneously happy and frightened. She was glad that her sister was acting so positively toward her and Tom, but Valerie had hidden her own mental health struggles for so long now that even her own sister wasn’t aware of them.

Will she still be proud when I’m sick?She thought.

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