Page 185 of Capturing You
“Your sister,” Bergstrom supplied.
Rosie was married, so of course her name wasn’t Ballentine anymore.
Bizarre that he hadn’t even known her last name. Bizarre that she was still alive.
All this was going to take him a while to process.
“We have some information for you,” Putnam said. “I’d rather tell you all at the same time. Shall I bring them back in?”
“Please.”
Grandmother led the way. He wasn’t sure what the ladies had said or done while he was being questioned, but she met his eyes squarely this time.
He smiled at her, reaching out with his good arm, and a little of the starch went out of her spine as she took his hand.
“I don’t understand everything.” He kept his words low, just for the woman who’d raised him. “But I know everything you did, you did to protect us. I love you for that.”
“Well, of course.” Though her words were strong, tears dripped from her eyes. She dabbed them with a tissue in her regal way.
Rosie stood next to Grandmother, and Brooklynn rounded to the other side of the bed. All of them looked at the two cops who’d summoned them.
Putnam cleared her throat. “Here’s what we know. As you two suggested”—she nodded to Forbes and Brooklynn—“we’ve pulled video footage from the cameras recording the happenings at the inlet on the Ballentine property. We’re still putting all the pieces together, but one of the men we arrested last night…” She flipped back in her notebook. “Owen Stratton. He’s been really chatty about everything going on. He’d been hired to haul boxes. Though nobody told him what was inside, he peeked once. Saw bags of pills. Fentanyl, probably. They’ve been pouring into the area, but we didn’t know where they were coming from.”
“He told you about his grandmother? Maury Stratton?” Forbes asked.
Putnam’s eyes narrowed, and she looked at her notes again. “Not his grandmother. It was?—”
“Lois Whitmore.”
Forbes shot a look at Brooklynn. “Your friend? Your mentor? But…the break-in at her house.”
“Was staged, or made up entirely, I assume.” Brooklynn shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “She would’ve shot me last night if not for your sister, who shot her first. I’d forgotten until you suggested Stratton could be a married name. I realized it could be Lois. I didn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it.”
“I’ve still got some painkillers running through me,” Forbes said. “Stratton was Maury’s married name, right? I’m confused.”
“Sorry, Whitmore isLois’smarried name. Maury married Lois’s brother, the one who moved them to North Carolina. Before she got married?—”
“Oh. L.S.” It was coming together now. “LoisStratton.”
Brooklynn nodded, and then Forbes realized what else she’d said. “Is she…? Did she survive?”
“She’s in critical condition.” Brooklynn swiped the sleeve of her sweatshirt beneath her eyes.
Somewhere along the way, she’d changed out of the old-lady jogging suit, though he didn’t know when or how she’d gotten clothes.
“Even if she survives… She was going to shoot me. I’m thinking she’s no longer my mentor.”
He held out his hand for hers, then squeezed it. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m glad I know who she really is.” Brooklynn faced Putnam. “She got her nephew involved. Owen.”
“Owen?” Forbes had heard the name earlier, but now it registered. “Your sister’s boyfriend?”
“I haven’t told Delaney yet.”
“It’s all over the internet.” Rosie looked apologetic when she added, “Sorry to say, but she probably already knows.”
“Right. I hate that. I’ll call her when we’re done here.”
