Five feet, three, two, they’re still looking away, and she reaches for the handle. She flings open the door and slips inside. But as she does, she trips, and something knocks her off her feet, and she goes down, hard, her shoulder smacking into the door, which swings closed as if caught in a draft. It slams behind her, loudly. She scrambles to her feet and turns the lock just as Zack and Jasper and the cops turn to see her, their mouths open, calling. Hands go to waists to pull weapons, the door handle starts to rattle, but Lauren is already looking toward her daughter. She rips off the wig.
Mindy is groggy and bleary-eyed in the bed. Lauren feels a rush of love; she recognizes this state. Her daughter has just woken up. Must have been the fire alarm.
“Mom? Is that you?”
“Sweetie, yes, it’s me. I am so sorry, darling. I know you’re scared, and there is so much to explain—”
A low growl starts near her leg. Lauren looks down in horror to realize that somehow, Zack’s dog has gotten into the room.
84
The Malinois moves like lightning, putting herself between Mindy and Lauren, hackles raised, teeth glistening. Angered as she is, she looks more like a wolf than a dog, and Lauren is afraid to look away. Maintain eye contact but don’t try to stare them down? No, with dogs, no eye contact, so it’s the same when you’re about to be attacked by a wolf. It will be seen as aggression. Make yourself bigger. Wave your arms and shout. Throw things at them. Or so the literature says. They live in the woods; Lauren knows what to do if faced with all sorts of wild animal attacks.
But there is nothing to protect herself with. This room is cleared of all extraneous blankets and pillows. The IV pole is on the other side of the bed.
“Mindy, darling, call off the dog. I know she’ll listen to you.”
“Mom, what have you done? Tell me the truth, what did you do to Aunt Juliet? Is it true? Did you kill Vivian Armstrong and steal me? I saw your letters. I know you were in the hospital with her. I know you tried to kill yourself. Those scars on your arm aren’t from a car crash. Why did you lie to me?”
The plaintive note breaks Lauren’s heart. This isn’t how things were supposed to go. Mindy is accusing her of something that she can’t answer fully without a long talk. It upsets her, she who has become so touchy, so feral, in these last few days.
Sensing the change in Lauren’s demeanor, the dog growls, low and mean, crouching down on her front legs. There is banging now—Zack is pounding on the door, Jasper on the window—but Lauren ignores everyone but the dog. And Mindy, of course. She read the letters; she knows everything.
Kat inches forward, lips trembling with her growls, and Lauren stamps her foot and raises her arms.
“Bad dog. Bad!”
Kat growls louder, showing her teeth.
“Mom. Stop! She’ll attack you if you don’t stop. Kat, stop. Stop!”
Kat’s growling ceases but her teeth are still bared. Lauren feels a moment of pride—even a stranger’s dog recognizes how important it is to protect Mindy—but she must get the dog to calm down. She takes two steps to the left, and the dog follows with her head but doesn’t move. Her teeth glisten in the fluorescent lights.
“Mindy, sweetie, don’t fret. Mommy’s here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Mom, what are you doing? Open the door. Let them in.”
“I need to talk to you, sweetheart.”
“Then talk! They’re calling you a murderer.”
“I am not a murderer, honey. There’s an explanation for all of this, I swear. I need to tell you the truth myself. I want you to hear it from me.”
The room phone begins to ring. Lauren glances up to see the row of furious faces at the window, and Dr. Oliver at the door. He has a key, he has it open, and then the guns step in.
Kat is not distracted by the shouting of all the cops. She has been trained for this. She doesn’t like the guns, though, backs up a few feet, growling heavily.
“Kat, Kat, come here,” Mindy calls, but the dog takes a step toward Lauren, who is caught between the weapons of three officers and the wall.
Lauren has no recourse. With an almost audible sigh, she pulls the weapon from her waistband. The gun is small, perfect for her hand, and she raises it. The calls are immediate, and the tension in the room rises.
“Don’t do it!”
“Put it down!”
“Put your hands up, set the weapon on the floor!”
But Lauren’s hand doesn’t waver. She speaks to Mindy, not losing eye contact with the cops. “I didn’t do what they’ve said, I swear to you. None of this is what it looks like. I’ve only ever wanted to protect you. You’re the only person who’s ever mattered to me. Mindy, darling, you have to know everything I’ve ever done is for you.”
“Mom, stop moving. Put the gun down.”
“I can’t do that, darling. But I want you to know you are everything to me. I love you. Everything I have ever done is because I love you so, so much.”
“Mom, please.” Mindy is crying now, and Lauren risks a glance at her only daughter.
“Honey, don’t cry. It’s all going to be okay. It’s what Vivian wanted. I swear it. You are everything, to both of us.”
“Stop moving, Mrs. Wright.”
Lauren edges closer to the bed.
“Last warning. Stop!”
“You leave, now,” Lauren says to the cops. “If you don’t shut the door, I will hurt her.”
A deeper voice now, calm and assured. “Let me talk to her.” Zack Armstrong strides to the door, looking every inch the grieving widower. “Put down the guns. Let me talk to her. Trust me,” he adds in a tone that makes the cops take notice. They lower their guns. Lauren takes a deep breath, shoulders dropping an inch, but doesn’t lower hers.
Zack steps through the door. Mindy cries out for him, but he ignores her, takes another step forward, a hand out as if he could stop a bullet if she tries to shoot.
“She loved you,” Lauren says. “Until the end. You and Mindy were her last thoughts.”
“I know she loved me. I know she loved Mindy. I know you do, too. Put the gun down, Lauren, before someone gets hurt.”
“I only wanted what was best for Mindy. Even Vivian knew this was the best way.”
He edges farther into the room, signaling with his hand for the cops to back away.
“Lauren, you don’t want things to end this way. We can all sit down together and talk, but you have to put the gun down. If you put it down, I will pull the door closed, and we’ll talk.”
She is trapped, she knows it, but she still wants to find a way out, a way to make this right. “Don’t you dare tell me what I want. You leave me alone with my daughter, let me talk to her, and then I’ll talk to you.”
“Not going to happen.”
“Leave. Us. Alone!” Lauren spits out the words, and the hate in her voice is enough to make Zack take a step back.
“You’re scaring Mindy,” he says quietly.
Mindy is scared, Lauren can sense this without even looking at her daughter. But it can’t be helped. She has to talk to her. She has to make her understand. The words keep playing in her head, Help her understand, let her love me again.
“Don’t make me do this. You have to leave now so I can talk to Mindy by myself.”
“Talk, Mom. Just...talk. But don’t do this.”
Lauren turns to her daughter, her joy, her life. Her gun arm is still raised, and with her turn, the nose of the weapon points at her daughter’s head. Mindy gasps and scrambles backward, but there is no place for her to go. She falls off the edge of the bed, and from outside the room, there is a flurry of motion.
As Mindy falls, and Zack dives to catch her, the dog sails into the air and latches onto Lauren’s gun arm, her sharp teeth puncturing the fragile flesh. The weight of the dog takes them both down.
Lauren screams her frustration, tries to pull free, but the strong jaws are clamped tight. The pain helps her focus on the unjustness of the situation. Mindy’s eyes are huge, staring at her from under the bed like she’s a monster, and the small parts of Lauren that are still hidden crack.
“Mindy,” she chokes out. “It was the only way. I want you to understand. I love you, honey.”
Zack is standing over them, shouting at the dog. He kicks the gun away, and whatever he’s saying makes Kat release her prey and back away. Lauren is hurt, stunned, bleeding heavily, and doesn’t make a move when the cops rush in and handcuff her.
She lost. She’s lost it all.
Zack steps between her and Mindy, and she is grateful. She doesn’t want Mindy to see all of this blood. Mindy can’t see the carnage. Mindy must be protected, still.
“Mom? Mom!”