Page 74 of The Last Mrs. Parrish

What was he doing? And how did he know where I was? I hadn’t given him any indication that I was leaving. I had made sure that none of the staff had seen me. Did he have a tracker on my car somehow?

I picked up the phone and dialed him. He answered on the first ring.

“You bitch! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I could feel his fury over the phone.

“I’m going to see my mother.”

“Without telling me? You turn that car around and get back here now. Do you hear me?”

“Or what? You can’t tell me what to do. I’ve had enough, Jackson.” My voice shook, and I glanced at the backseat to make sure Tallulah was still asleep. “You threatened to hurt our baby. Did you really think I’d let you do that? You’re not getting near her again.”

He started to laugh. “You’re such a little fool.”

“Go ahead and insult me. I don’t care. I’m going to tell my mother everything.”

“This is your last chance to come back, or you’ll regret it.”

“Good-bye, Jackson.” I pressed end and put the car back in gear.

My text tone started pinging again. I turned the phone off.

With every passing mile, my resolve strengthened, and my hope blossomed. I knew I was doing the right thing, and no amount of threatening on his part would sway me. I was still in Massachusetts when a flash of lights in my rearview mirror gave me pause. As the police car closed the gap between us, I realized he wantedmeto pull over. I was only going a few miles over the speed limit. I pulled the car to the side of the road, and the state trooper approached.

“License and registration, please.”

I retrieved them from the glove box and handed them over.

The officer returned to his car with them, and after a few minutes he came back. “Please step out of the car.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Please, ma’am. Out of the car.”

“Have I done something wrong?”

“An emergency confinement order is in effect. It claims you’re a danger to your child. The baby will have to stay with us until your husband arrives.”

“She’smychild!” That bastard had actually called the police on me.

“Please don’t make me cuff you. I need you to come with me.”

I got out of the car, and the officer took hold of my arm.

Tallulah had woken up and started crying. Her little face was beet red, her cries turning to screams. “Please, she’s frightened. I can’t leave my baby!”

“We’ll take care of her, ma’am.”

I pulled my arm away and tried to get to the car, to take her from her seat and comfort her. “Tallulah!”

“Please stop. I really don’t want to have to restrain you.” He pulled me away and into the waiting cruiser, and I had to leave her there with the police while they drove me to a local hospital.

I didn’t find out until the next day that Jackson had put a contingency plan into effect weeks before. He’d convinced a judge that I was suffering from depression and had threatened to harm the baby. He even had two signed statements from physicians—doctors I’d never even met. I could only imagine that his money had bought them. My claims that I’d been set up fell on deaf ears. Crazy people have no credibility, and I was now considered crazy. During my hold at the hospital, I was evaluated by a number of doctors who agreed that I needed treatment. No one believed me when I told them what he had done, how he’d manipulated the situation. They looked at me like I was a lunatic. The only thing they would tell me was that Jackson had picked Tallulah up right away from the police station and taken her home. I’d been informed that I was being transferred to Meadow Lakes Hospital, which was in Fair Haven, the town neighboring Bishops Harbor. After seventy-two hours of screaming, begging, and crying, I was no closer to being released than when I’d first arrived, and by then I was doped up with who knew what. My only hope rested in convincing Jackson to get me out.

Once they moved me to Meadow Lakes, he left me there for seven days before he finally came to see me. I had no idea what he’d told my mother or the staff about why I was gone. When he showed up in the common room, I wanted to kill him.

“How could you do this to me?” I hissed under my breath, not wanting to make a scene.

He sat next to me and took my hand in his, smiling at a woman across from me who didn’t bother to hide her curious stare as she observed us.

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