Expired Cache - Lisa Phillips Page 0,97

“It’s too late for that. I’ll be gone by the time you get here.”

Dean heard the unmistakable sound of the slide being pulled back on a Sig. “Don’t do this.”

“I’m not going to jail. For a boy who meant nothing? Coming here with the ridiculous notion that he’d get revenge?” He exhaled against the phone mic again.

Conroy made a circle motion with one hand and mouthed, “Keep him talking.”

Dean nodded. He figured Ellie would want to know, so he said, “And Chief Ridgeman? What was his part in all this?”

Gilane was quiet.

“Might as well set the record straight.” At least until the police found him, and he was arrested and given the right to a lawyer. “Tell your side of the story.”

“My side? You sound like Ridgeman, trying to get me to confess. Like he was my priest? He should’ve just kept his mouth shut. Like Holmford should have. Old men and their weak stomachs. Now, suddenly, they can’t handle what they’ve had to live with all these years.” His tone shifted higher, and he mocked someone whining. “Oh, they had it harder than me? Please. I was the one who started this whole town. It was my idea. And when I started handing out the money to do it? No one had a problem then. Did they?”

Conroy’s brows lifted. Dean saw the earbud in the police chief’s right ear. He was following the conversation.

“Ridgeman suspected who the boy was, but he could never prove anything. Besides, what was the point? Back home no one cared. Until the boy showed up. Tried to kill me. I knew Ridgeman wasn’t going to accept money to keep that quiet as well, so I had Holmford help me bury the kid.” Gilane pushed out a breath. “Only, Ridgeman found us before we could get him in the ground. By that time, it was too late for him to save the boy. He tried to arrest me but halfway back to town, he gets a call. His wife is in labor and bleeding everywhere. So who is going to help her?”

Gilane started to chuckle.

“He let you go.”

“I was the only doctor. I managed to save the baby, but his wife died. Never forgave me for that. Tried for years to prove I’d done something to her.”

“Did you?”

“I didn’t need to. By the time we got there, all I could do was save that baby.”

Dean squeezed the bridge of his nose. He pleaded with Conroy, without words, to be able to hang up and be done with this conversation.

“Ridgeman had nothing, and we gave him everything. All he had to do in return was keep his mouth shut about it. Couldn’t even do that when he was dying.”

“Did you help him end it?”

Conroy’s face lost all its color.

Dean said, “Well? Did you?”

“It’s not illegal everywhere. Helping someone drift into the beyond, at peace.” Gilane paused. “Mine won’t be quite so peaceful.”

“Surely there’s a statute of limitations on murder? You can’t still be held responsible.”

Conroy shook his head, and mouthed, “Yes, he can.”

Gilane just chuckled. “What’s dead is my reputation. I’ll never practice again, and no one will ever look at me to heal them.”

That was all he was concerned about? “You have done good in this town.”

“Your father was right about you.”

“What—”

“I’d rather die than live losing everything I’ve worked for.” The line crackled. A sudden blast of sound that was much too loud. Gunshot. Dean winced, moving the phone away from his ear.

Conroy pulled out the earbud. “He killed himself.”

Dean tossed his cell phone onto the nearest chair. It bounced on the seat, tumbled over, and landed on the floor.

There was satisfaction in the crack as his screen shattered.

But it would’ve felt even better to have kicked the chair. Or punched the wall.

Instead he strode toward Ellie’s room.

“Dean!”

He ignored Conroy and let himself into her room. Jess lifted her brows and stood. “I’ll give you guys a minute.”

Dean paced. He didn’t even look at Ellie, he couldn’t just yet. Too many thoughts swirled in his head. The doctor. What had happened. The chief. His father. Dean shook his head.

“I know. I look hideous, right?”

He whirled around to her. It wasn’t a shock, seeing the bandages. He’d checked on her before he went to sit with Stuart. When she was still out.

“What happened?”

“I should be helping you feel better.”

“Dean.”

“What?”

She held out her hand. “Come here.”

Dean took her hand and sat on the bed in the spot Jess had vacated. No doubt she was hearing the