Read Online As Time Goes By by Mary Higgins Clark - Free Book Online Page B

arm to stop him and he turned and slapped her face. It was a very hard slap. She fell back in her chair and began to sob. Dr. Clifton, Angela, the caregiver, and I took Dad back to his room. He suddenly went limp as though he was exhausted. Angela gave him a pill to calm him down. We got him into his pajamas and put him into bed. After a few minutes, he closed his eyes and his breathing became even. He fell asleep.”
    â€œAt that time what did you do?”
    â€œI noticed that Angela was very pale and I asked her what was wrong. She told me she must be getting some sort of bug because she was having terrible stomach pains.”
    â€œWhat was your response?”
    â€œI suggested that she go home.”
    As he spoke, it seemed to Delaney that the pain on Alan Grant’s face was too obvious to be faked.
    â€œWhat did she do?”
    â€œShe said that if she didn’t feel better soon, she would have to leave.”
    â€œMr. Grant, were you familiar with the furnishings in your father’s bedroom?”
    â€œYes, I was.”
    â€œOn the night table next to his bed was there any display, award or decoration?”
    â€œYes. There was a mortar-and-pestle set. It was an award he had been given by Hackensack Hospital. I was at the banquet the night he received it.”
    â€œWhen you were in your father’s room that night, do you recall if the pestle was present?”
    â€œYes, I do. I am absolutely certain it was present. Dr. Clifton, Angela Watts and I were all talking to Dad, trying to calm him down. I very clearly remember pointing to the award and saying to him something like ‘Dad, it was so much fun that night when we went to the awards dinner. You gave such a great speech.’ Who knows if he understood a word I was saying. But the whole time I was talking I was looking back and forth between him and the award.”
    â€œAnd the pestle was present in the mortar bowl?”
    â€œYes, definitely.”
    â€œGoing back, after you suggested that Ms. Watts go home, what did you do next?”
    â€œI went back to the dining room. Dr. Adams had put a cold cloth on Betsy’s face. She was still sobbing at the table—holding the cloth.”
    â€œDid your stepmother say anything to you?”
    â€œShe said ‘I can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry, I just can’t take it anymore.’ ”
    â€œAnd what was your reaction to that statement?”
    â€œI was sorry for Betsy. My father had just struck her. She was overwrought.”
    â€œDid you in any way consider her statement ‘I can’t do it anymore’ as a threat to your father?”
    â€œAt the time I did not. Not at all. Later on I began to wonder if it had been a threat.”
    â€œWhen did you learn that your father had died?”
    â€œThe next morning.”
    â€œWho told you of his passing?”
    â€œBetsy phoned me.”
    â€œHow would you describe her emotional state based on how she sounded on the phone?”
    â€œVery matter-of-fact.”
    â€œDo you remember her exact words?”
    â€œYes, I do. She said, ‘Alan, Dad passed away last night. I’m sure you will believe as I do that it was a blessing.’ ”
    â€œHow did you respond?”
    â€œOf course, my first reaction was great sadness. But then I said something like ‘The father I knew has not existed for the last several years at least. You know how I feel, Betsy. I am glad that his suffering is over.’ ”
    â€œAt that time did you suspect there might have been foul play?”
    â€œAbsolutely not.”
    â€œWhat was your reaction when you learned that his body had been sent to the medical examiner’s office?”
    â€œI was incredulous. I thought there must be a mistake.”
    â€˜When you learned that he had been the victim of a fatal blow to the back of his head, what was your reaction?”
    Alan Grant looked directly into the eyes