Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

she always knew this day would come? That she dreaded it? She loves you both. Last night you heard Daphne’s pain and it nearly tore you apart. But last night it was only an echo of what it was twenty-eight years ago. What do you think it was like for Maggie, to hear it fresh and not have anyone she could share it with? She’s carried a heavy burden all these years. And I think, even knowing how angry this has made you, she’d do it again the same way. For your daughter.’
    ‘She could have shared it with me . She didn’t have to bear it alone. She had no right to.’ Her voice rang with conviction. He wasn’t getting through.
    He mentally backed up, came back at another angle. ‘My dad taught me to drive.’
    She blinked. ‘What?’
    ‘Yeah. I was a hothead when I was a teenager and not about to let anyone push me around. I remember sitting at a four-way stop. Another driver took my right-of-way and I wasn’t going to have it. I put my foot on the gas and went through the intersection. Next thing I knew I was in the ER getting stitches and my dad’s car was totaled.’
    ‘And the point of this is?’
    He smiled at her, gently. ‘I’m getting there. My father wasn’t happy, especially when I tried to defend myself. I was in the right, the other guy in the wrong. Dad got real quiet and told me I could be right, but I could be dead right. You had the right to know, Simone. But you could have been dead right. And where would that have left your daughter?’
    She faltered. ‘I don’t understand.’
    ‘Beckett has killed to keep his secret. He killed your niece. Just last night he nearly killed a nurse at the hospital, just to steal his ID so he could sneak inside. We found that young man just in time. Beckett was smothering your grandson with a pillow when Daphne walked in on him and he stabbed the officer standing guard outside Ford’s door. God only knows how many he’s killed in the past twenty-eight years. He threatened to kill you if she told. He threatened her with that over and over again. Your daughter may have saved your life by keeping this secret. So be mad if you want, but be mad at the right person.’
    ‘Daphne didn’t tell me about the nurse,’ she said, as if that one fact was enough to tilt the scales toward belief from disbelief. Sometimes it worked like that, that one detail tipped the balance one way or the other.
    ‘I think she was pretty overwhelmed at the time. I don’t think a lot of this has sunk in. It may not for weeks.’
    ‘But when it does, you’ll be there for her?’
    ‘I promise.’ Because I’m her mate . He knew it as clearly as his own name.
    ‘Thank you,’ she said hoarsely.
    ‘Don’t thank me for that. It’s the smallest thing I can do for her. Simone, you’ve had a terrible shock and it probably hasn’t sunk in with you either. But Daphne’s in a different position.’
    ‘She’s still in danger.’
    ‘Yes, but we’ll find Beckett and we’ll find Doug.’ He knew that as clearly as his own name, too. He wouldn’t let Daphne go through life looking over her shoulder in fear. ‘I’m talking about her career. Everything she’s worked so hard for. This will all come out and even though she was a victim in all of this, people will ask why she didn’t turn Beckett in earlier.’
    ‘It’s nobody’s business,’ Simone said fiercely.
    ‘No, but she’s a prosecutor. She expects victims to come forward, to testify. That she didn’t . . . nobody will blame her per se, but as Grayson told me last night, she’ll become the story in the courtroom. It’ll die down eventually, but she’s going to need all of us around her, supporting her until it does. She’s going to need you and Maggie. She loves you both.’
    Her shoulders sagged. ‘You’re saying I have to let my anger go for her own good.’
    He shrugged. ‘You are her mother. Isn’t that what mothers do?’
    She regarded him for a long, long moment. ‘You, Joseph Carter, are damn good.’
    He smiled. ‘I know. Now, I’m going downstairs to walk Tasha and get coffee. Can I bring you anything?’
    ‘Coffee would be nice. But I’ll walk with you. I could use the exer . . .’
    She trailed off as the door next to her opened and Maggie came out, a music box in one hand and a small suitcase in the other. She stopped short when she saw them, her expression carefully blank. ‘Joseph, Simone.’
    ‘Where are you going?’ Simone asked, pointing at the