“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.”
When Molson had brought it to his brother Drew, a detective with the local police force, Drew had disappointingly discounted it. David was never mentioned by name, so no one could prove that it was him.
Molson had never felt so powerless or so guilty. He knew that he hadn’t taken any actions that had put Michael in jail. Molson knew it was all David’s doing. Yet he still had a sense of gnawing guilt that he couldn’t shake. It ate steadily inward, like an ulcer that wouldn’t heal.
He needed to clear Michael’s name. He needed to see David back in prison where the man belonged.
Molson wasn’t the only one who wanted that to happen. Michael’s brothers and cousins believed in his innocence as well. Drew had been invited to a meeting with the group. They hoped to pool their resources and information. Reluctantly, Drew had told Molson about the meeting, suggesting he come as well.
Molson wasn’t sure what the Rameslys would think of them. The illegitimate half-siblings that had never invited to grace the billionaire family’s door before now. Part of Molson felt a little bitter about the fact. Then again, it wasn’t like they had invited any of the Rameslys to the small, old and run-down home that the Colbornes had grown up in.
That might have been interesting to see what the illustrious Rameslys would say about his childhood home, Molson thought. Two families with the same father had never been so far removed. Then again, one couldn’t expect the mistress to live in the same circumstances as the wife, Molson reflected.
Normally it didn’t bother him. He just accepted that life was how it was. Molson knew that he just had to make the best of it. For the most part, he felt he had. It helped that he didn’t have the same anger toward their father that Drew and Jana had. Both of his siblings had memories of David as their father. David had left before Molson was born so he had no childhood memories, nor had he experienced the pain of abandonment from a parental figure.
If a person could call a sociopath who framed his oldest son a parental figure.
Margot Colborne been involved with David for ten years before he simply never returned. She insisted that David had married her, that they were deeply in love despite their separation. She told of a man who brought numerous gifts, stayed for short periods of time, then whisked away to do international business. She made it sound like the most romantic relationship on earth.
However, one couldn’t always believe Margot. She wasn’t the most mentally balanced person.
Molson checked the time and decided he would have to skip the shower this morning. He’d spent too long watching the Ramesly family drama on his phone. The hot water tank was broken anyways.
Pulling himself out of bed, he donned clean clothes and went to find out where Margot was. She’d strewn her clothes all over her bedroom again, probably looking for something that didn’t exist or had been pawned ages ago. Molson grimaced. He’d clean it up when he got back later tonight. Downstairs, he found the back door open. Annoyed that she was letting the heat out of the house, Molson started coffee then went to the yard. “Ma. It’s time for breakfast. I brought home a couple of breakfast sandwiches last night that we can heat up.”
“I’m feeding the ducks,” Margot was tossing something onto the patchy overgrown lawn. “Aren’t they pretty?”
There were no ducks. Molson ran a hand along his face. “Yeah Ma, they’re pretty. Are you almost done? I don’t want to be late. It’s my first day at the hospital.”
“That one is a mallard. I love coming to the pond in the park,” she smiled happily, pointing to her imaginary friends. “That brown one there is a duff.”
“That’s nice,” he humored her. Wondering what she was tossing into the grass, Molson came to stand beside her. He knew the kitchen was bare. There was little point in buying a large quantity of groceries. One day they might be in the cupboards, the next she might flush everything down the toilet or decide to give it a bath. He watched as a piece of sausage went flying into the grass. Frowning, he looked at the wrapper in her hand. “Are you feeding them the breakfast sandwiches?”
“They’re hungry today,” Margot merrily threw the rest of the pieces into the grass.
