Achilles Heel

‘I get that you don’t care about your daughter,’ I said. ‘But what about your husband and your stepson? Rusty’s still in jail, isn’t he? Trespassing, assault, destruction of property, false imprisonment, criminal intimidation…The prosecutor’s going to throw the book at him. He could be going away for years, if not decades.’ Alison clutched her purse, indecisive. I leaned forward. ‘If you want me to talk to the prosecutor, who happens to be a friend of my husband’s, I’m going to need you to come with me to the hospital. Today.’ Alison set her jaw. ‘He’s not my real son, anyway.’ ‘So you are just going to let him rot in prison?’ She shrugged. ‘There’s nothing I can do.’ There was, but it was simply not worth it, not in her eyes, to trade her health for her stepson’s release. I had not seen Alison for years, but I was starting to remember why I never liked her in the first place. ‘What about money? You care about that, don’t you? Your husband’s company is going under. I can talk to Kieran