Shadow of Doubt (18 page)

“I called him from school,” I admitted. “I wanted to thank him for all his gifts and to ask him to call me—if he still wanted to.”

Morgan beamed. “Finally came to your senses, huh?”

I didn't know what to say. I had been thinking about Ben almost nonstop since the shooting. What if I hadn't called him? What if he hadn't called back? What if he hadn't been at my house when I got there with Ms. Denholm? I wouldn't have been able to go after her. I would have had to call someone instead—Ted or my mom. Or the police. Maybe this time they would have believed that Ms. Denholm was in danger and would have gone to her house to check on her. Maybe if they had, Ms. Denholm wouldn't have had to shoot Mikhail Mornov.

Or maybe it would have turned out the way that Ms. Denholm had predicted. Maybe the police wouldn't have sent anyone. After all, Mornov had had an alibi for when Ms. Denholm's car was trashed. And it was Ted who had thrown the first punch in his altercation with Mornov. So things would have ended just as they did, with Mikhail Mornov threatening Ms. Rachlis and Ms. Denholm having no choice but to shoot. The only difference would have been that, without Ben there to perform first aid, Mornov would have died.

“What's the matter?” Morgan said, frowning at me. “You called Ben. He showed up. That means you two are back together, right?”

“I don't know,” I said. “We didn't have much chance to talk, and I haven't heard from him since last night.” I was too afraid to call him, too afraid of what he might be thinking. The longer my phone went without ringing, the more convinced I became that he had changed his mind about me.

“Call him, Robyn. Talk to him,” Morgan said. “A guy like that isn't going to wait forever.”

I knew she was right. I wondered if it was already too late.

As soon as Morgan left, I did call Ben. He didn't answer. I left him a message:
Call me. Please
.

Five minutes later my phone rang. My mouth went dry. But it wasn't Ben. It was my father.

“What's this Vern tells me about Melissa Denholm shooting someone?”

“Where are you, Dad?”

“I'm still in Switzerland. Are you okay, Robbie? Vern said you were there when it happened.”

“How does Vern know that?” I said. “Never mind. Stupid question. Yeah, I was there. So was Ben.”

“What happened exactly?”

I told my dad what I had told Charlie Hart.

“So everyone is okay?” my father said.

“Apart from Mikhail Mornov, I think so,” I said. “The police haven't charged Ms. Denholm with anything, but I think Ted is worried that they will. Mom keeps telling him that no news is good news. She had to do what she did, Dad. He had a knife.”

“Looks like my antennae were off this time,” my father said. He asked me a few more questions. He also asked me about a dozen times if I was sure I was okay. Then, probably to change the subject, he told me about the wedding. “You wouldn't believe how much money they're spending on this thing, Robbie.” Before he rang off he said, “I'm flying back on Saturday night. How about brunch on Sunday? We can catch up.”

“Won't you be tired, Dad?”

He laughed. “I'm never too tired for you, Robbie. See you Sunday.”

. . .

Ben phoned me that night.

“I'm sorry I didn't call sooner,” he said. “Things have been kind of crazy here. While I was waiting for you to finish talking to the cops, I called home. I wanted to let Catherine know I was going to be late. She was freaking out because she couldn't get in touch with my dad. He's out of the country on business.”

“Freaking out?” I said. Nothing Ben had ever said about his stepmother had led me to think she would do something like that.

“She wasn't worried about me,” Ben said. “She was in labor. You wouldn't believe how fast I ran out of the police station when she told me. I had to flag down a cab because my car was still at Ms. Denholm's place. I took Catherine to the hospital. Robyn, I was with her when everything happened. It was amazing. I have a baby sister! You should see her. She's so tiny.”

I congratulated him. Then there was a brief silence on the other end of the line.

“Are you okay?” Ben said finally. “You sound kind of funny.”

“I—I thought you were mad at me,” I said.

“What for?” He sounded astonished.

“For what I did. You know, when you told me to call an ambulance.”

“I'm not mad at you, Robyn. You were in shock. It wasn't your fault.”

Relief flooded over me.

“Well,
you
were amazing,” I said. “Charlie Hart told me that if it hadn't been for you, Mornov might have died.”

“That first-aid training really kicks in when you need it,” Ben said modestly. “So, how about we get together tomorrow night?”

“I can't,” I said and hoped he heard the disappointment in my voice. “Now that all of this is over, my mom and Ted want to do a sort of family get-together with Ms. Denholm. Hey, do you want to come?”

“It sounds like something the four of you should do together,” he said.

“How about Friday night?”

“I've got a few family things of my own, Friday
and
Saturday,” Ben said. “Because of the baby. How 'bout Sunday?”

I thought about the brunch date I had made with my father, but I knew he would understand.

“Sunday is perfect,” I said.

“I'll pick you up at ten. We'll grab some breakfast and then maybe go skating. Do you like to skate?”

I imagined Ben holding my hand as we circled the rink.

“I love it,” I said. “I'll see you then.”

I

went back to school. So did Ms. Denholm. Everyone was talking about what she had done—it wasn't every day that a teacher shot someone—but Ms. Denholm acted as if she didn't notice. She called Billy aside before the play rehearsal and told him that he might have to hold off on sets for a couple of days. Ms. Rachlis wasn't coming back to school. Ms. Denholm had been told that there would be a new substitute art teacher by Monday. “She'll be able to advise you,” she said.

. . .

The dinner was Ted's idea. Because of everything that had happened since Ted found his daughter again, my mom hadn't had many opportunities to get to know Ms. Denholm. Ted thought it would be nice if we all spent an evening together.

The phone rang just as my mom and I arrived. Ted answered it but didn't say much.

“That was Melissa,” he said. “She's running a little late. A reporter was waiting for her outside her house. She's refused to answer her doorbell and her number is unlisted, so they have no choice but to camp out if they want to talk to her. So far they've stayed away from the school, but I gather that's because the principal read them the riot act. They've been calling me too, at the office.”

He took our coats and then showed us into the living room. He poured a glass of wine for my mother and a soda for me and then sank down onto the sofa beside my mom.

“You look exhausted, Ted,” she said.

“I am,” he admitted. “I want this whole nightmare to be over. The police still haven't said what they're going to do. They're waiting to question Mornov if he regains consciousness. If he doesn't...” His voice trailed off.

“They have Natalie Rachlis's statement,” my mother said. “The man was attacking her with a knife. They have Melissa's statement. And Robyn and Ben were there. They witnessed the whole thing. I doubt they're going to charge Melissa. It was self-defense, Ted.”

“Do they think he's going to recover?” I said.

Ted shook his head. “He's still critical,” he said. His expression was unusually somber. “I know this sounds callous, but in a way, I almost hope he doesn't. That way, this whole thing will be over for Melissa.”

I caught the look on my mom's face even if Ted didn't and knew right away what she was thinking: if he died before the police had a chance to talk to him, maybe Melissa would have one more thing to worry about.

“The police haven't been able to figure out how he got into the building to leave that note,” Ted said. “The guard didn't see him. There are cameras at all the entrances and exits, but they didn't pick him up, either. Some of the condo members wanted cameras on every floor, but that was voted down. Even I voted against it. I thought it was too much like Big Brother. Now I'm not so sure.” He shook his head. “Melissa tells me he's a very clever man. He must be if he got in and out of this building without being seen. I asked them if they found any fingerprints. That would prove to them once and for all that he was stalking Melissa. But they won't tell me anything.”

“They never do,” my mother said.

The buzzer rang twenty minutes later. Ted went to the intercom by the door. He poked his head back into the living room a moment later.

“She's on her way up,” he said.

A few minutes later the doorbell rang.

“I tried to talk Nat into coming with me,” Ms. Denholm said while Ted helped her off with her coat. “I thought it would do her good to be around people. I'm worried about her. She quit her job. She refuses to leave her apartment. She's leaving town this weekend.”

“Before the matter is resolved?” my mother said, surprised.

“She spoke to the police. They have her statement and she promised to keep them informed of her whereabouts,” Ms. Denholm said. “She says she can't sleep. She keeps remembering what happened.”

“A change will probably do her good,” my mother said. “Sometimes that's the only way to put a bad experience behind you. How are
you
doing, Melissa?”

“I'm fine,” Ms. Denholm said. “Well, as fine as I can be under the circumstances.”

I wondered if she kept playing the incident over in her head the way I did. The screams, the knife, the sound of the gunshots. For her it must have been a thousand times worse. She had confronted her nightmare. She had saved Ms. Rachlis and stopped Mikhail Mornov. But it must have occurred to her that the end result could just as easily have been much different, and that must have shaken her—badly.

She managed a smile.

“At least I don't have to look over my shoulder,” she said. “I'm grateful for that. But I'd like it to be over, once and for all.”

“Let's pretend it
is
over, just for tonight,” Ted said. “We won't think about it. We won't talk about it. We'll just try to have some fun.”

And we did.

Gourmet cooking is one of Ted's hobbies. We ate—five courses in all—and talked and even laughed. I could tell from the things my mom said that she liked Ted's daughter. And when I said, “Ms. Denholm, could you please pass me the pepper?” Ms. Denholm said, “Please, call me Melissa, at least when we're not at school.”

After dinner, Ms. Denholm announced that she would clean up.

“Oh, no,” Ted said. “That can wait.”

“I insist,” Ms. Denholm said. “After everything you've done...” She reached across the table and touched his arm. “It's the very least I can do...Dad.”

Ted's eyes got misty. She squeezed his arm. He beamed at her.

“I'll help,” I said. I got up and began to clear the table.

“You two relax,” Ms. Denholm said to Ted and my mother. “We'll be done before you know it.”

We carried the dishes into the kitchen. Ms. Denholm rinsed them, and I stacked them in the dishwasher.

“I'm sorry about Ms. Rachlis,” I said as I worked.

“So am I,” Ms. Denholm said. “She feels so guilty about what happened.”

“Guilty? It wasn't her fault.”

“You don't know Nat,” Ms. Denholm said. “She blames herself. It's because of her that I met Mikhail.”

That was a surprise. It must have shown on my face.

“Nat's a good friend. I met her during my last year at college,” she said. “We did our teacher training together. Shortly after I accepted the job I have now, Nat told me that she was looking for something out this way. Then, when the art teacher had that accident, I spoke to the principal about her. Nat got the job. She's been so supportive. But she keeps saying that if it weren't for her, Mikhail wouldn't be in my life. I was so introverted back then...I don't know if Ted told you about my stepfather—the man my mother married after she left Ted.”

“He told me a little,” I said. Actually, it was my dad who had told me, but I wasn't sure how she would feel if I admitted that.

“He turned out to be a real psycho,” she said. “He never wanted to let my mom out of his sight. He was awful to her—and to me—whenever I was supposed to go and see Ted. I used to be afraid to go—I worried what James might to do to my mom if I left her alone with him.”

“When my mom finally left him, he went crazy,” she continued. “He broke into her car. He broke into the house so many times I lost count. She complained to the police, and they always went and talked to him. But they never had enough evidence to arrest him. They told my mom there was nothing they could do. Finally, in the middle of the night, we moved. She changed our names and spent the rest of her life looking over her shoulder. After all that...well, I guess you could say I was cautious around guys.”