for all your cooperation during my investigation. You were incredibly helpful with all the information about Munchausen by proxy. I learned a lot.” He smiled at her.
“So did I,” she said sadly. “I lost a friend yesterday,” she admitted to him.
“You lost her a long time ago, if she ever really was a friend. It’s hard to say, but I think you were just a pawn in her game. She was too sick to have friends.” It struck Cathy that they all spoke of Zoe as though she was dead, and Austin did too. In some ways, she was. She was just a shell of a body with a twisted mind and no heart.
“I wanted to tell you something else too,” he said, hesitating, but he didn’t know when he’d see her again, except in court. “I don’t usually cross any lines, but I was tempted to this time. You’re a remarkable person, and I’ve met with you in an official capacity. I didn’t want to screw that up, but I was hoping to call you when this is all over. That’s never happened to me before.” She looked embarrassed but touched by what he said. She liked him too, but she wasn’t sure she liked him that way. She hadn’t thought of it before. “But I realized something yesterday. You’re an honorable woman, which I knew before, and I don’t think you or Austin Roberts would have betrayed his wife, no matter how twisted and dangerous she was. My guess is that it never even occurred to you. You’re both genuinely nice people. I wanted to give you a call, but you already have a family, Cathy, and I don’t think you even know it.” She looked at him in surprise, unsure what he meant. She didn’t ask and he didn’t pursue it.
“Let’s have lunch sometime when this is all over, after the court case, however that turns out. I know she was your friend, but she tried to kill a child. She belongs in prison, and I doubt they’ll let her plead insanity. She knew what she was doing every step of the way. She willingly and knowingly risked Jaime’s life. I hope they make her stand trial. She deserves it.” It made her heart ache to think about it, but she was angry at Zoe too.
He left a minute later, and she thought about what he’d said, trying to sort it out. It sounded like he had wanted to date her, but decided that it was inappropriate. He was a good guy, and she would like to be friends with him, the way she was with Paul Anders.
She went home after that and tried to unwind after the anguish of the past two days. She thought of Austin and Jaime, but decided they needed time alone together. They’d both been through so much. They all had. She shuddered every time she thought about what might have happened if she hadn’t dropped in on Zoe and been there to save Jaime’s life.
Chapter 19
The morning of the sanity hearing, Austin dropped Jaime off at school, as he did every day now, not just some of the time. He made breakfast before they left. He burned the pancakes sometimes, but managed the rest okay.
Jaime had turned four, and she’d had a birthday party without her mother, which was sad in theory, but mostly different. She still thought Zoe was in California, and Austin was trying to find ways to tell her the truth. School was getting out soon, and she wanted to go to Santa Barbara to visit her mother. She didn’t know that Brad and Pam were in town for Zoe’s hearing. The time wasn’t right for them to see her anyway. Brad was deeply involved with the lawyer he’d hired for his daughter, and they were optimistic about getting Zoe committed to a psychiatric hospital long term in lieu of prison. The press had covered the story for weeks. It was shocking to read in the papers and hear on TV. A pillar of the community had tried to kill her child.
Austin hadn’t heard from or seen Zoe since she was arrested. He wanted to write her a letter but hadn’t yet. He was still adjusting to everything that had happened, trying to understand it, and taking care of Jaime every day when Fiona left.
Austin had arranged to meet his parents and both his brothers just inside the courthouse, and they looked somber as they filed