Page 92 of Mountain Freedom
“Oh.” Daphne cringed. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Allison said quietly. “Mama and I have had a lot of good talks about it, and I understand her more now. It’s helped me have empathy for why she was the way she was and why she pulled me out of Rosemary Mountain in the middle of the night.”
“I can certainly relate to that,” Daphne said, exchanging glances with Janet.
“Anyway,” Allison continued, “my dad had apparently signed something agreeing to givemeto Dr. Johnson when Mama refused to continue. And when Mama found out, she left to protect me.”
I squeezed Allison’s hand. As much as it had hurt for her to disappear like that, now that I knew the truth, I was so gratefulher mother had taken her away. And in a lot of ways, it had saved me, too. With her gone, Russell hadn’t had the same leverage over me. It was something I’d never really thought about, but looking back, I could see how getting Allison away from his reach had changed the course of my life for the better. I needed to thank Allison’s mom the next time I saw her.
“Dr. Johnson never gave up though,” I added. “In fact, I think Allison leaving made it more of an obsession for him. He watched her career from a distance and kept tabs on her. It seemed innocent—a family friend who was rooting for a young girl to succeed. But in reality, he had these crazy fantasies about her still belonging to him, and when he saw an opportunity to get her here, he made it happen.”
Willa shook her head. “That’s awful,” she murmured. “Are you okay, Allison?”
Allison nodded, then glanced up at me. “Yes, thanks to Jackson. Dr. Johnson started stalking me, but I didn’t even realize it was him.”
“He used Russell to do his dirty work,” I explained. “Paid him to spy on Allison. Dr. Johnson wanted to know everything—if she was seeing someone, what her hobbies were, what movies she watched, everything. He wanted to know her daily routines. He was gathering information, trying to figure out how to play it. I think at first, he was hoping to seduce her. He delivered flowers to her when she first arrived in town, though she assumed they were from the rental agency.”
Greg jumped in. “What he didn’t realize was that Russell had an agenda of his own.”
“What do you mean?” Daphne asked.
Greg looked at me and I nodded, letting him know I was fine with him sharing all the details.
“Russell was angry at Jackson. He realized the assignment wasn’t just a paycheck. It was a way to get back at the personhe blamed for destroying his livelihood. He knew he was at the end of his life and didn’t care about keeping a good working relationship with Dr. Johnson. He just wanted revenge. When he saw how close Jackson and Allison had grown, he decided to kill her. Dr. Johnson realized it and killed him instead.”
Emerson’s eyebrows shot up. “Russell was murdered? I thought it was an overdose.”
“It was,” I confirmed. “Dr. Johnson switched out his meds to ones laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl. The pills looked exactly like legit pharmaceuticals. Dr. Johnson knew that, even if we sent the body to the crime lab and discovered the cause of death, we would go looking for Russell’s heroin suppliers—not suspect legitimate prescriptions.”
“So how did you know it was Dr. Johnson?” Daphne asked, those curious eyes of hers all lit up.
“After Jackson arrested him—ever so gently”—Greg coughed behind his hand—“Dr. Johnson wasn’t talking. Lawyered up right away, even though he’d been caught literally red-handed. Jackson’s gut told him to look for a connection with Russell’s death, so he tested the pills. Confronted Dr. Johnson, who then decided to make a deal.”
“Wow,” Daphne said, shaking her head. “So what was the deal with Mike? Was he not stalking you at all?”
Allison glanced my way, knowing I still got annoyed at hearing Mike’s name. “Not exactly, no. Hewastrying desperately to get me back—for all the wrong reasons.” She rolled her eyes.
Willa shuddered. “Men like that are bad news. I have to tell you, I ran into Beverly at the grocery store yesterday. She was singing your praises. I guess you won her over.”
Allison nodded, smiling. “Yeah, we’re good now that she knows the whole story. We’re developing a solid workingrelationship.AndI have a new nurse, so things are going much better at the clinic.”
“A new nurse?” Janet asked, popping the champagne and pouring glasses for everyone.
“Yeah. Danny quit when I tried to hold him responsible for his job performance.” Allison shook her head. “He has some major growing up to do. Everyone always let him get away with whatever because of his connection to Doc Rogers. He wasn’t interested in working for someone who expected him to actually do his job.”
“Well, I’m glad everything is going better.” Daphne leaned against Emerson, letting him wrap his arms around her.
“Me too,” Allison said. “And I’m sorry to have brought so much drama with me to Rosemary Mountain.”
Daphne and Willa looked at each other and started giggling.
“Welcome to the club,” Daphne said.
After the sunset and the dark sky lit up with fireworks, Allison leaned against me, tucking her arm underneath mine.
“Freedom,” she whispered. “I think we finally found it.”
I kissed the top of her head. “I think you’re right. But does any part of you still want to go find it in one of those places you always dreamed about? New York or San Diego?”
