Drew scowled. Maybe he should get a ring sooner rather than later. If guys were going to be sniffing around Bethany, Drew wanted something to claim her as his. Not that Molson was any competition, but he’d seen the way Colby and others had looked at her.
“My name is Bethany,” Bethany called sleepily from the bed. She stretched out an arm reaching for Drew’s pillow.
“Not until he puts a ring on you,” Molson happily ate his toast, teasing his brother. “Until then, you’re Sugar to me.”
“Beth,” Drew asked, half serious, half joking. “Will you marry me and wear my ring so this fool brother of mine will shut up?”
She smiled dreamily. “Yes.”
Drew couldn’t help the answering smile on his face. He loved her. He was going to buy a ring.
“Bethany it is,” Molson set his cup in the sink. He decided to leave before the two of them got all gooey and stuff. “Good to meet you.”
“You too,” Bethany sat up and smiled at him.
“Next time knock,” Drew reminded Molson.
“Sure thing lovebirds,” Molson let himself out. He finished the last of his toast and took the stairs. As he was nearing the ground floor, his cellphone rang.
“Yo,” it was an unlisted number, but Molson answered it anyways. He enjoyed razzing telemarketers.
“I wanted to thank you,” the voice said.
Molson stumbled to a stop on the steps, grabbing the railing. He gripped the phone a little harder before asking cautiously, “What for?”
“For what you said to the psychiatrist,” David Ramesly continued. “Telling her to inform on us to save herself.”
“You’re not gonna hurt her or nothing, are you?” Molson looked around the empty stairwell.
“No. There’s no point. Dr. Urshman can’t touch me,” David chuckled. “Neither can Bethany. It was her father that was so worried about her. Now neither Ted nor his daughter can touch me. I suppose you can tell your brother his heart’s desire is safe.”
“What do you mean by Ted can’t touch you?” Molson activated the voice recorder on his phone. He hoped that it would make a clear recording from the call.
“Ted died in jail earlier today. So tragic,” David gloated.
“You killed him,” Molson stated flatly.
“He had an allergic reaction. It was unfortunate.”
Molson seriously doubted it was a simple allergic reaction. Not when David had been the head of a pharmaceutical company and had a myriad of drugs at his disposal. “What’s this all got to do with what I told Doc Urshman? When I told her to roll on you before she found herself in a difficult situation?”
“I’m just a poor old befuddled man, riddled with a touch of dementia,” David sighed dramatically. “I had no idea what was happening right under my nose. It was easy to cooperate with the Feds.”
“What are you talking about?” Molson frowned.
“All these years, he’d been running drugs and I’m sorry to say, I became a very cooperative witness,” David’s smile could be felt through the phone. “Then again, family loyalties aren’t what they used to be.”
“You informed on someone else,” Molson gritted his teeth. “You threw someone under the bus.”
“And I thank you for the idea. It was all you,” David gloried in the revelation. “It took some doing to lay the groundwork in case I was arrested but it’s turned out quite satisfactory. I’m out of jail because of you.”
“Tell me, is he guilty or innocent? This sucker you’ve put in jail in your place?” Molson demanded. He didn’t like that David was trying to manipulate him into feeling guilty.
“Everyone is guilty of something. He defied me. That was enough,” David sneered.
“Who is it?” Molson questioned angrily.
“You can read about it in the papers and know that it’s all your doing,” David said smugly. “Once again, thank you, son. I appreciate your contribution to my freedom.”
