Was that only five weeks ago? It feels like she’s lived a lifetime since then, between therapy appointments for Sebastian, therapy for herself, and the ongoing establishment of a structured routine that her now five-year-old son very much craves.
He’s doing well, though. The child psychologist reassures her often that kids are resilient, and Dr. Chen has said the same thing. It turns out Lorna was quite good to Marin’s son, as far as the circumstances went. Sal had lied to his mother at first, telling her she needed to help him keep Marin’s son safe from Derek, the supposedly abusive husband, and of course Lorna had complied. She’d believed everything Sal told her … until, finally, she didn’t.
Over the sixteen months she had Sebastian, Lorna had taken good care of him. She fed him. Bathed him. Read books to him. Brought him toys. Took him outside every day that she was able to, letting him run around in the fresh air and sunshine. She talked to him about Marin every day, about how much his mommy loved him, and missed him, and would come for him as soon as she could. Nothing much was said about Derek, as Lorna believed Sebastian’s father to be the villain, but neither did she badmouth him.
Lorna’s hip, by the way, was fine. She’d recovered well from her hip replacement surgery the year before, and it turned out that all her additional ailments were more lies Sal had made up to justify going home to Prosser so often to check on Sebastian. The gunshot wound to her arm was more of a nick, but the head injury she sustained wrestling her son for the gun was pretty bad. She’d had another surgery, and she was still in the hospital under close observation.
Marin takes a seat at the table, placing the duffel bag down on the floor beside her. It’s not that heavy, but it’s awkward, and she’s glad not to have to carry it anymore. McKenzie takes the seat across from her, placing the wet rag she was cleaning with on the table between them like a microfiber barrier.
“You look terrible,” Marin says.
“Uh, thanks?” McKenzie answers, but then she shrugs. “I guess I deserve that. I’ve been couch-surfing since I got kicked out of my apartment. The person I stayed with last night has a dog who hates my cat, so none of us got much sleep.” She looks down, picks a cat hair off her shirt. “How’s your son?”
“He’s wonderful,” Marin says. “He’s actually the reason I’m here.”
The other woman tenses. “I don’t understand.”
“You might have heard from Sal—sorry, J.R.—that I hired someone to kill you.” Marin keeps her voice low. Spoken out loud, the words are both ridiculous and horrific. “Obviously, I know now that he was never going to go through with it. I was conned by a con man. But between you and me, and I feel like I can trust you with this, I really did want you dead. I had already lost my son, and it felt like you were trying to take away the only family I had left. I was, to put it mildly, not in a good place.”
McKenzie nods. It’s almost imperceptible, but Marin catches it.
“Have you heard from Julian?” Marin asks.
McKenzie shakes her head. “Not since the day he took the ransom photo. J.R. suspected that he was going to screw him out of the money you paid him and disappear, and it seems that’s exactly what he did.” She offers a tiny smile. “Good thing you didn’t get hosed for another two hundred and fifty thousand.”
Marin uses her foot to push the duffel bag forward until it touches the other woman’s leg. “Yeah, good thing. Or else I wouldn’t be here to give it to you.”
McKenzie frowns. She glances down at the bag, then back up at Marin. “What are you talking about?” She looks around. “Is this some kind of trick?”
“No trick,” Marin says. “I paid someone to kill you, and whether it was real or not, I’ve been living with the knowledge that I sincerely wished you dead. I did change my mind, and I did call it off. But still, it was wrong, and I can’t live with that. Especially now that I have my son back.”
McKenzie opens her mouth to speak, but no words come out. She shuts it again.
Marin stands up. “So this is me, making amends. We could have had you charged with extortion, but Derek told the