“But then I thought about how he rushed out after me. Maybe the drug impaired his judgment and he was already worried and upset, and who knows—”
“Stop,” I said gently. “You’re spiraling. You are not responsible for the sequence of events that led to Dad’s death.”
“I wish I could believe that.” She looked at me with red, watery eyes. “But we’ll never know for sure, will we?”
I held my daughter while the tears flowed. My heart contracted painfully as I rocked her and hummed the old lullaby that I used to sing to Ayla when she was little and I could shield her from the world’s horrors.
“You’re a liar.” The words were out of my mouth before Lizzie shut her hotel room door behind me.
“It’s nice to see you too.” She faced me. “What’s going on?”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you saw Ali the night he died?” My voice rose. “Aside from Ayla, you were very likely the last person to see him alive.” I’d left Ayla asleep on the couch and asked Lulu to come over and stay with her while I went to see Lizzie.
Her expression softened. “Your daughter finally told you.”
“I saw the surveillance tape.”
“What surveillance tape?”
“At the Parkview. There is tape of Ali looking very upset.”
She nodded. “He was upset. He went to see Mother that day because the guilt about what happened to Daddy was eating away at him. He wanted to make sure Mother forgave him.”
“And did she?”
“Of course. She never blamed Ali. You’ve seen for yourself how fond of him she still is. We all knew Daddy’s death was a terrible accident.”
“Why was Ali so desperate to see you on the night he died?”
“He’d had enough of the secrecy. He wanted to come clean with you, to tell you everything.”
Tears stung my eyes. If only he had confided in me earlier. I could have helped him through it. “And what did you say?”
“I told him it wasn’t my call. But I questioned whether it was fair to put his burden on you.”
“You didn’t want him to tell me.”
“Honestly? No, I didn’t. We’d kept everything quiet for so long that I didn’t see the point in telling anyone else.”
“How do I know that you’re not lying now? For all I know, you hate me. Or you’re still jealous that Ali broke up with you to marry me.”
“Because, if you think back, you’ll realize that I’ve never lied to you. Yes, I avoided telling you the truth about how Daddy died—for obvious reasons.” Her mouth twisted into a sad smile. “But if I hated you or were jealous, why wouldn’t I lie and say, ‘Yes, Ali did buy me a house. Yes, we were madly in love and had an affair for all of these years.’”
She had a point. As much as I hated to admit it.
Lizzie went on. “To be honest, seeing Ali wasn’t easy. It always took me back to that awful night. I didn’t blame Ali, but, in my mind, he was forever connected to the most horrible thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Why would you hide the fact that you saw Ali the night he died?”
“Because of your daughter.”
I blinked. “What about her?”
“She arrived and immediately misinterpreted everything. She was upset, and he ran off after her. I was trying to protect her.”
“By withholding the truth?”
“I was trying to shield your daughter the way I think Ali would have wanted me to.” She paused. “I didn’t want you to blame Ayla for killing her father.”
