“Thanks.” Her hand trembled, and water splashed out as she managed to get the bottle to her lips.
Jane saw the worry in the girl’s big blue eyes.
Megan unfolded the other beach chair. “I want to swim.”
“I’ll come with you,” Will said.
Megan’s ponytail bounced as she and Will ran toward the water with Parker on their heels. Olivia’s smile was wistful. “Young love.” Her words were slurred.
Jane chose her words carefully. “You don’t seem to be having a good day. Didn’t you have a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday?”
“I had blood drawn. He called this morning to give me some test results.” She paused and studied Jane’s face. “Surprising news, Jane. I was going to call you but decided to tell you in person. He doesn’t think I have ALS. He says it’s moving too fast.”
Not ALS? That had to be good news, though Jane didn’t like the sound of moving too fast. “So what is it then?”
“He thinks it might be Guillain-Barré. That’s good and bad news.”
The term was vaguely familiar, but Jane didn’t know much about it. “It sounds like all good news to me. Let’s hear it. I need some good news.”
“I might be perfectly fine in about six months. Seventy percent fully recover.” Her smile made an appearance then.
Seventy percent! Jane wanted to clap and cheer. “Olivia, that’s wonderful!”
Olivia held up her hand. “The bad news is that I’m going to need care. I’ll likely be this bad or a little worse for months. If they’d caught it sooner, treatment might have shortened it, but it’s a little late now.”
Jane exchanged a long look with Reid. “We’ve already talked about this. Reid has plenty of room, and we want to help.”
Olivia nodded, and her throat worked. A tear slipped from one eye, and she fumbled in her purse.
Jane found a tissue for her. “I’m here for you and Megan. Reid and I both are.”
“You’ve done so much already. I hate to be a burden. I could go to a nursing home if you can take Megan.”
“You’re not going to a nursing home. We’ll figure this out.”
But how? She had a job to do, and she couldn’t ask Reid to play nursemaid. Could they hire someone to help out?
Reid took her hand. “I’m here too. We can take shifts caring for you, Olivia. I’ve got plenty of room at my house. I’ll get a room ready for you and one for Megan.”
Jane had never loved him more than in that moment. How many men would be willing to do something like this? Not many. But even as she thanked him with her eyes, she didn’t see a way through the maze of problems that faced them.
* * *
Reid parked behind the detective’s car. They’d come this way the minute Scott had called. He wanted to tell them in person what the police had found, and Reid hadn’t liked his attorney’s somber tone.
His stomach was doing calisthenics, and he knew Jane was just as rocked by what was going on. He glanced at her before he got out with Parker. Her outer calmness was a mask her eyes couldn’t hide behind.
“Will, you can go inside and start cleaning your room. We need to get ready for Olivia and Megan to move in with us.”
That bombshell left the boy speechless for a moment. His eyes gleamed. “Really? When is this happening?”
“In the next couple of days. Olivia needs help.”
That sobered Will in an instant. “She’s dying? Oh, man.”
“Actually, no. They’ve found out it’s something that is likely temporary. But she’ll need too much help to stay at home. She might be here for three months or maybe six. But we don’t want her to go to a nursing home.”
“I’ll do whatever you need to help. Olivia’s awesome.” He went to the porch, and the dog went with him.
“That’ll keep Will occupied,” Reid whispered to Jane as she came around the front of the SUV.
Scott rose from the chair on the porch. The front door stood open, and even from here Reid registered the mess inside. The officers had been thorough. He might have to order pizza instead of cooking something.
Will bolted past them to reach Scott first. “Is everything okay?”
Reid and Jane hurried after him, and Scott waited until they were all on the porch. “It’s not good, guys. They found a tackle box in Will’s closet. Looked like it had blonde hair and blood on it. The officers were quite excited, as I’m sure you can imagine.”
Reid tried to speak and couldn’t find the words. This was horrible beyond his worst fears.
Jane gasped. “It had to have been planted.”
“You and I know it, but the police are heading back to seek an arrest warrant. I’ll push for Will’s release into your custody, but you can probably expect at least a night in juvie, Will. I didn’t see any way to sugarcoat this news. Sorry. You’ll want to pack a bag, son. Try to be calm. I’ll get you out as quickly as I can.”
Reid’s words welled up from some place deep inside. “I did it.”
“You did not. You were with me,” Jane said in a wobbly voice. “Don’t go there, Reid. It will make it look like you think Will did it. And we know he’s innocent. We have to trust God like you said. And Augusta. Trust justice. Someone is trying to hurt my family, and I’m going to find out who is behind this.”
He opened his mouth to list all the ways he could have had Lauren killed, then closed his mouth. She was right. Any detective would see straight through his confession. And it would make it worse for Will, not better. He hadn’t thought his plan out well enough. There was no trail leading to him at all. It would be a confession with no substance.
“What do we do next?” he asked.
Even though she had tears in her eyes, Jane tipped up her chin. “We follow the law. Will is innocent, and we’ll prove it.”
How did they go about proving Will’s innocence? While the evidence was circumstantial, it was compelling. Blood and tissue.
Will bolted for the house, but not before Reid saw the tears in his son’s eyes. He wanted to go after him, to tell him he wouldn’t have to go to juvie, but it would be a lie. They all had to face this tsunami heading their way.
“We have no witnesses, no proof. But someone evil is moving us around like chess pieces.”
“We’ll find something.” Jane blotted her eyes. “The person behind this can’t stay hidden for long. Augusta told me everything she’s looking into. She’s a good detective. She’ll find some path to the truth. And so will we.”
“Like what?”
She held his gaze. “Elliot is good with online stuff, right?”
“He’s great at it. So am I.”
“Now that Lauren’s been found, we might be able to track down who she left with eight years ago. We still know so little about Lauren’s whereabouts. And what about talking to the neighbors? Someone might have seen the altercation between Will and Lauren.”
Hope bubbled in his chest. “I’ll call Elliot. He’s been going stir-crazy while he’s recovering. Computer work will be right up his alley.”
Scott nodded toward the end of the drive where another police car rolled toward them. “Get Will. I’m sure they have an arrest warrant.”