Chapter 7 - The Mother’s Wisdom
I returned to the hospital later that night,
the weight of the day pressing down on my shoulders like lead.
The nurses moved quietly in the dim light of the ward.
My mother was awake,
propped up by pillows,
watching the news on a small television.
She looked at me and saw the truth written on my face.
“You found it,”
she said,
her voice thin but clear.
“The ledger,”
I replied,
sitting on the edge of her bed.
“And the drive.”
“I’m so sorry,
Kelsey,”
she whispered,
reaching out with her good hand to touch my arm.
“I wanted to tell you sooner,
but I was afraid he would hurt you.
I thought if I could get the proof myself,
I could protect you.”
“You did protect me,
Mom,”
I said,
tears finally stinging my eyes.
“You protected me,
and you protected the country.
He was selling secrets,
the kind that get people killed.”
She closed her eyes,
a look of relief washing over her face.
“He always seemed so perfect,”
she said.
“Too perfect.
No one is that kind all the time.
He never got angry,
never raised his voice,
until that night.”
“What happened that night,
exactly?”
I asked.
“He came over with that pie,”
she began,
a shudder passing through her.
“He said he wanted to talk about your ‘stress.’
He told me he was worried you were losing your mind,
that the Army was breaking you.
He wanted me to sign a paper,
something that would give him power of attorney over your medical decisions if you had a ‘breakdown.’”
I gasped.
He was going to have me committed.
He was going to use my mother to help him gaslight me into a mental institution,
so he could continue his operation without me asking questions.
“I told him he was the one who was crazy,”
she said,
a spark of fire in her eyes.
“I told him I knew about the warehouse.
I told him I had seen the boxes with the military stamps.
That’s when he went to the car and got the bat.”
She squeezed my hand.
“He thought I was a weak old woman.
He thought I would just cower and cry.”
“He was wrong,”
I said,
kissing her forehead.
“He was very wrong.”
“What will happen to him?”
she asked.
“He’s going to a place where he will never see the sun again,”
I promised.
“And the money?”
“We’re tracing it all.
Every cent he stole,
every bribe he paid.
It’s over,
Mom.”
But as I said it,
I knew it wasn't over.
May you like
The "multimillion-dollar secret" had layers.
And we had only peeled back the first one.
