Chapter 14 - THE LAST QUESTION BEFORE THE DOORS OPENED
St. Matthew’s Cathedral filled with people who believed they were attending a memorial.
Employees from Madison Maternity sat together near the rear. Neighbors brought casseroles to Ruth’s house and then came downtown in dark coats. Preston’s friends from North Pine occupied the front pews.
A framed photograph of Madison stood beside white lilies.
The picture had been taken at her baby shower. Preston had cropped himself out.
He wore a black suit and accepted embraces with practiced exhaustion. Vanessa’s seat beside him remained empty, but he explained that she was “too devastated to attend.”
At 3:48, Ruth asked him to step into the side chapel.
Detective Bishop watched from the cathedral entrance. Madison waited in a private corridor with Richard and two plainclothes officers.
Ruth faced Preston beneath a carved wooden crucifix.
“I need you to answer one question before I speak about my niece.”
Preston checked his watch.
“Not now, Ruth.”
“Did Madison fall, or did you push her?”
His eyes moved toward the chapel door.
“Grief is making you cruel.”
“I believed you when you called. I repeated what you said to other people. I helped you.”
“You helped Madison by pretending she was stable for years.”
Ruth’s face changed.
Preston saw it and softened his tone.
“She was scared of becoming a mother. She panicked. I tried to stop her from going near the edge.”
“You said she took the SUV alone.”
He paused half a second too long.
“She came back for me.”
“Then why did you clean the car?”
Preston stepped closer.
“Who have you been talking to?”
It was his final opportunity.
Not to escape consequences.
Only to choose honesty before the truth became public.
Ruth waited.
Preston looked toward the cathedral, where the organ had begun its opening notes.
Then he said, “Whatever you think you know, Madison can’t contradict me.”
Ruth lowered her eyes.
“No,” she said. “But she can.”
Preston grabbed her wrist.
The side doors opened behind him.
Bishop entered first.
Preston released Ruth and backed away.
The detective did not arrest him yet. The plan required him to remain until the exits were secured.
From the main cathedral, a minister invited Preston to the lectern.
He walked out with Bishop following at a distance.
Madison heard his voice through the speakers.
“My wife and son were taken from us by the cold…”
Richard offered Madison his arm.
She looked at it for a moment.
Then she took it, not because he had earned the title of father, but because she refused to enter alone.
May you like
The cathedral doors began to open.
Preston was still speaking when the winter light reached the aisle.
