Her friend nodded and disappeared from the room.
Lila sipped on the mug of hot tea, hoping her voice would improve. She unwound her scarf and flipped through her wardrobe, finally settling on a high-necked crimson sweater that hid her bruises from view. She caked on more makeup, hoping to conceal the rest of the marks, then trudged downstairs.
Tugging her palm from her pocket, she skimmed a message from Sutton before sliding it back into her pocket. Dr. Rubio is missing. We’re searching her condo, but her wife is protesting. I’ll message you when I know more.
If the senator didn’t want to press charges against Jewel, then Lila could at least punish Rubio for her part. She might not be able to arrest the doctor for the stolen drugs, but she could at least take them away so no one else would get hurt. They’d take care of things inside the family, forcing Rubio to resign her position at the hospital.
She’d never work in healthcare again. Lila would see to it.
Lila padded into the dining room. Pax sat at the table across from Jewel’s empty seat. It didn’t surprise Lila to find her sister missing. She glanced up at the ceiling in the direction of Jewel’s room, wondering when she might actually make an appearance. No one would be able to bear it when she did, not for months.
“Sit, Lila,” the chairwoman said gently.
The family dined on sea bass. Lila picked at hers and ignored her glass of wine, sipping several cups of tea. The group spoke of trivial things, all careful not to mention Jewel.
It was almost normal, just another day with an unpredictable, emotional sister.
But Lila knew that the chairwoman had not demanded her presence for no reason.
Pax excused himself as soon as he finished his meal, sensing the looming cloud between the two women.
“The lure of organic chemistry cannot be ignored,” Lila said, her smile strained.
Lure is not the correct word. There’s not a bit of meat on the hook.”
“I’m sure you’ll do well. Study hard.”
Pax nodded, and his thundering steps soon faded on the staircase.
The women had been left alone at last.
“You sound ill, Lila.”
“It’s just a cold.”
The chairwoman nodded. “It appears that Jewel had a dramatic morning. Would you happen to know what it was about?”
“No idea.”
“Don’t be difficult, Elizabeth. I have heard from the staff that she is upset, and Senator Dubois left without a word to me this afternoon. He’s usually much more polite. I can only assume that the pair has had a lover’s quarrel. I find it exceedingly odd that he kept his manners with his future sister-in-law but not with me.”
“Fishing, Mother? That’s not like you.”
Lila wondered who had seen the senator slip into her bedroom. Most likely, the chairwoman had dug it out of Pax, though she doubted he had given it up willingly or knowingly. Did the chairwoman know more? Had anyone heard the conversation play out between Lila and her sister, between her sister and the senator? Lila had raised her voice a few times, that was for sure, but it was too broken to be heard in the hall. She had not heard Jewel’s usual dramatics while she confessed to her fiancé, either. The hysterical crying had not occurred until after.
Perhaps the chairwoman had not been told what had happened. Perhaps Lila’s reaction, as well as Dubois’s, had conferred to Jewel the nature of her betrayal. She didn’t want anyone to know what she had done. She knew that she would get no sympathy this time, only more looks of disgust.
But Lila didn’t believe for a second that her mother was in the dark. “Let’s stop dancing, Mother. You already know.”
“You give me too much credit, Lila.”
“No, I gave Jewel too much. I didn’t really think about it until just now, but she’s not devious enough to have engineered such a plot all by herself. She had help. You gave Jewel the idea, just a few hints she could connect, and then you waited for her to carry it out. You allowed her to harm her lover, her fiancé, a senator of New Bristol. For what? Just so you have me as prime again? You should be brought up on charges like Jewel.”
Her mother intertwined her fingers. “Lila, am I the architect of every plot against you?”
Lila glanced at her mother with a bland expression.
“Perhaps I have authored a few, but I did not manage this one. Never, at any point, did I speak with your sister about poisoning her fiancé. Does that satisfy your sense of responsibility and honor?”