The Secret Life of Ceecee Wilkes Part 40

"I'm sorry." Lorraine rested her hands on Eve's shoulders. She looked at the ma.s.s of people around them. "This must be overwhelming, having them take over your living room like this." She suddenly clapped her hands together. "Outside!" she called. "Set up on the lawn. We'll put Mrs. Elliott on the front porch."

Lorraine put her hands on Eve's shoulders again and looked hard into her eyes as the crew began funneling out of the living room. "You feel wobbly to me," she said. "Sit down."

Eve took a few steps toward the sofa and sank onto it.

"Where's Jack?" Lorraine asked.

"At work." She'd called Jack to tell him her plan, not wanting him to be broadsided by the news that was sure to spread like wildfire through the university.

He'd been as furious as she'd ever heard him.

"You're going to destroy our family, and for what?" he shouted into the phone.

"I'm sorry," she said, but the words sounded as empty to her as they must to him. She had to seem like a stranger to him, a stranger bent on harming him and their daughters for the sake of someone he cared nothing about.

"Do you want him here?" Lorraine looked confused. "Should we wait for him to get here?"

Eve shook her head. "I don't know if he'd come, even if I begged him," she said.

Lorraine tipped her head to the side. "What's going on, Eve?" she asked.

"I don't have time to explain it," Eve said.

Dru sat down next to her on the sofa, putting an arm protectively around her. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her nose stuffy from crying. Wordlessly she rested her head on Eve's shoulder.

"All right," Lorraine said. "I'm going outside to get things organized. I'll come get you when we're ready."

Eve nodded, lacing her hand with her daughter's.

Once the room had cleared out, Eve sat alone with Dru.

"You're really brave, Mom," Dru said.

Eve tried to smile. "Brave or stupid, I'm not sure which," she said. "The only thing I'm afraid of right now is that the police will come the second this airs. And I'm afraid they're going to...to take me away." She teared up, tightening her hand around Dru's. The moment she'd been dreading for nearly thirty years was finally upon her and she was bringing it on herself. "I can't let them do that until after I've spoken to Cory. So somehow, as soon as this is over, I need to drive to Raleigh."

Dru nodded, her head still on Eve's shoulder. "They'll be looking for your car, though," she said.

"I'll have to take that chance."

"Take my car," Dru offered. "I can drive you."

Eve's throat tightened up. It was Jack she longed to have at her side when she spoke to Cory. Remembering his angry words stung her. "I should go alone," she said. She wouldn't put Dru through any more of this than she had to.

"Maybe they'll still figure out where you've gone," Dru said, "but in my car, it will at least take them a little while longer to find you."

Eve looked through the window at the crowded street. Neighbors stood on the sidewalk now, wondering what was going on. There would be no way to get to Dru's car in the driveway without being seen by dozens of people.

Dru read her mind. "I'm going to move my car right now," she said quietly, as if used to such clandestine dealings. "I'll put it on the other side of the block. You just have to go through the Samsons' driveway." It was the route Dru had taken as a child to get to her friend's house on the street behind them. She lifted her head from Eve's shoulder. "Can you walk that far okay?" she asked.

Right now, she wasn't sure she could make it to the front porch, but she nodded.

Dru stood up. "I'll go move it," she said. She bent over to kiss Eve's cheek. "Keep to the speed limit when you drive to Cory's," she warned.

Eve nodded. Dru left the house, and through the window, Eve watched the crowd turn in her daughter's direction as she walked toward her car.

Lorraine pushed the front door open. "Let me pin this on you, Eve," she said. She crossed the room, holding up a tiny microphone and receiver. Sitting down on the sofa, she clipped the receiver to the pocket of Eve's jeans and the mike to the crew-neck collar of her sweater. "When you're ready," she said, "just come onto the porch. I'll be the person asking you questions, all right?"

Eve nodded and got to her feet. She walked through the front door onto the porch, her mouth suddenly dry as paper. She saw neighbors she knew and pa.s.sersby she didn't, all crowding the sidewalk to see what was going on. Two huge cameras were on the lawn, along with blinding lights. She hadn't expected that, and she blinked against their glare.

Her gaze was drawn to the street, where she spotted Jack's car jerk to a stop in the middle of the road. She watched him leap from the car, run across the street and push through the throng, and she guessed he intended to prevent her from making her statement. She braced herself to stand firm, but it was unnecessary. He stopped short at the bottom of the porch stairs.

Looking up at her, breathing hard from his sprint across the lawn, he mouthed the words, I'm here. I'm here.

Tears filled her eyes, and she nodded at him. In front of her, Lorraine stood on the porch step, opening her mouth to ask a question, but Eve didn't wait for it.

"Timothy Gleason is not guilty of murdering Genevieve Russell," she said. "And I can prove it because I was there."

Corinne

Chapter Fifty-Four.

Her mother looked small and fragile on the TV screen. She'd lost weight, and perhaps she'd also lost her mind. She'd been there? Where? Where? What did she mean? What did she mean?

"What the h.e.l.l is she talking about?" Ken asked. "This is my my story! She has nothing to do with it." story! She has nothing to do with it."

Corinne thought of the string of phone messages. Was this the reason for all those calls?

"Have you told her anything about what I've uncovered?" Ken sounded accusatory.

"I haven't even spoken to her," Corinne said. They were standing in front of the TV in the bedroom, and her arm was around him, her hand clutching the fabric of his T-s.h.i.+rt. "And you certainly haven't uncovered anything that exonerates Timothy Gleason, have you?"

"h.e.l.l, no."

"Maybe someone told her something confidentially," Corinne suggested. "You know, as a counselor. And now she feels she has to go public with it."

"Well, it would have been nice if-"

"Shh," she said, as Lorraine Baker suddenly appeared on camera.

"I'm here at the home of UVA student counselor Eve Elliott in Charlottesville, where Eve is speaking publicly for the first time about information she has regarding the Timothy Gleason case. Eve? What do you mean, you were there?"

Her mother cleared her throat. "I was there when Genevieve Russell died," she said.

"She has so totally lost it," Ken said.

"Shh!" Corinne said.

"Where was that?" Lorraine asked.

"In the cabin on the Neuse River near New Bern."

"Where Mrs. Russell's remains were found?"

"Yes."

"How did you come to be there?"

Her mother's face suddenly went blank as she looked into the camera, and Corinne recognized her expression: panic. She'd seen that look in the mirror any number of times.

"How did you know the Gleason brothers?" Lorraine tried a different question.

Her mother glanced at Lorraine, then seemed to pull herself together. "I met Tim when I..." She stopped, then shook her head. "My name's not really Eve Elliott," she said abruptly. "I was born CeeCee Wilkes, and I met Tim Gleason when I was sixteen years old and...we dated."

"Oh, my G.o.d, Ken, she has has lost her mind," Corinne said in disbelief. lost her mind," Corinne said in disbelief.

"I helped him and his brother with their plan to kidnap Genevieve Russell," she said.

For a moment, it appeared that even Lorraine was at a loss for words.

"Why?" Lorraine asked. "What made you help them?"

"I..." Her mother licked her lips. "Tim lied to me about why his sister was in prison...he said she'd been wrongly convicted. I stupidly...naively...believed him, and said I would help them."

"How did you help them?"

"I was supposed to guard her in the cabin. Tim testified that he and Marty left her there alone and that she was gone when he returned, but he was saying that to protect me...or rather, to protect CeeCee Wilkes." She rubbed the back of her neck. "He has no idea who I am. Who Eve Elliott is."

"This is bananas," Corinne whispered. "She's the last person who would..." Her voice trailed off as her mother continued speaking.

"She went into labor while I was alone with her," her mother said. "She was early by about a month, and she told me that she'd had problems with hemorrhaging after the birth of her first child. Something to do with having red hair."

"That's where she got the redhead thing from," Ken said.

"Did you you deliver the baby?" Lorraine asked, and Corinne could still hear the disbelief in her voice. deliver the baby?" Lorraine asked, and Corinne could still hear the disbelief in her voice.

Her mother nodded. "Yes, and Genevieve hemorrhaged after the baby was born. No one No one killed her." She spoke that sentence forcefully, directly into the camera. "She died of natural causes." killed her." She spoke that sentence forcefully, directly into the camera. "She died of natural causes."

"What did you do with the baby?" Lorraine asked.

Her mother hesitated. "I panicked," she said after a moment. "I left Genevieve there, but I grabbed the baby before I ran out of the cabin. I drove to the house of some people the Gleason brothers knew. They got-"

Corinne didn't hear whatever her mother said next. She was running dates through her mind. Genevieve Russell had been kidnapped in 1977. The year Corinne was born.

"Oh...my...G.o.d," she said quietly, then to the TV. "You incredible b.i.t.c.h!"

"Shh." Ken sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning toward the television.

"So they made new IDs for me and for...the baby. I tried to drop her off at the governor's mansion on my way to Charlottesville, but there was too much security around."

"Are you saying you kept the baby?" Lorraine asked.

Her mother swallowed, her eyes wide and vacant like a deer blinded by headlights. "Yes," she said, regaining her composure. "She's my daughter, Cory."

"No!" Corinne wailed, raising her hands to her mouth. "Oh my G.o.d, Ken. Tell me I'm not hearing this."

The phone rang.

"Don't pick it up!" she said.

Ken checked the caller identification display. "It's work," he said, lifting the receiver to his ear. "h.e.l.lo?"

"You stole me from my life!" Corinne shouted at the TV while Ken carried the phone into the other room.

Corinne sank to the floor, leaning back against the bed while the room spun around her. Her mother was still speaking, answering Lorraine's questions, but it was as though their conversation had been muted. She didn't hear them. Her heart filled with hatred, like a poison entering her bloodstream. Your mother ruined you, Your mother ruined you, Ken had said to her more than once. She pictured Irving Russell. The president of the University of Virginia was her father! She thought of the photo of him they always used in the paper and on the news, and of the smiling picture of Genevieve Russell shown in the media. Her mother. Her real mother. The mother who wouldn't have sucked the breath out of her with a pathological need to keep her safe. Who wouldn't have made her afraid of the world. They'd had another daughter, too. Corinne had seen her interviewed on Ken had said to her more than once. She pictured Irving Russell. The president of the University of Virginia was her father! She thought of the photo of him they always used in the paper and on the news, and of the smiling picture of Genevieve Russell shown in the media. Her mother. Her real mother. The mother who wouldn't have sucked the breath out of her with a pathological need to keep her safe. Who wouldn't have made her afraid of the world. They'd had another daughter, too. Corinne had seen her interviewed on Larry King. Larry King. Ken had even mentioned a resemblance between Corinne and the beautiful Vivian. Ken had even mentioned a resemblance between Corinne and the beautiful Vivian.

Ken returned to the bedroom holding the phone limply at his side. His face was bleached of color.

"That was Darren," he said. "They're giving me what they call 'a break.' 'Too bad about the Rosedale,' he said, like it's no big deal." He looked at the television, where the footage of her mother's interview was being repeated. Ken laughed bitterly. "Now we've both been screwed by your mother," he said. He looked at her sitting on the floor, as if only now noticing her. He crouched next to her, his hand on the back of her neck. "Are you all right, Cor?" he asked. "I'm sorry. You must feel-"

The phone rang again and he stood to pick up the receiver from the bed. "It just says Virginia, Virginia," he said.

She reached for the phone. "That's Dru's cell." She hesitated a moment, then pressed the b.u.t.ton as she lifted the receiver to her ear.

"Dru," she said.

"Oh, Cory." Dru sounded breathless. "Do you know what's going on?"

Corinne's eyes filled at the sound of her sister's voice. Her treasured baby sister. "It would have been nice if she'd told me before she told the rest of the world," she said. She watched as Ken, lost in his own disappointment, left the room. "How could she do this to me?"

"She tried to reach you a million times today," Dru said. "She felt like she had to do it before he was sentenced."

"I knew knew I didn't fit in," Corinne said. "I knew it from the time I was little. I just never realized how much I didn't fit in. I can't believe she did everything she said she did. And I can't believe she had the gall to tell the world about it." I didn't fit in," Corinne said. "I knew it from the time I was little. I just never realized how much I didn't fit in. I can't believe she did everything she said she did. And I can't believe she had the gall to tell the world about it."

"I think it's been so hard for her the past couple of months," Dru said. "Keeping the secret while the trial's been going on and everything. Her RA is much worse lately."

"Don't defend her to me, Dru," Corinne said. She heard Ken turn on the TV in the living room. "You're still her daughter. You've always known right where you belonged." still her daughter. You've always known right where you belonged."

Dru fell silent, and Corinne regretted her words.

"I'm sorry," she said. "None of this is your fault."