“I don’t know,” she whispered, “but I wouldn’t have said that this was normal behavior for him at all.”
“Meaning?”
“He would never commit suicide.”
“And was he alone? Outside of being with your grandchildren?”
Agnew’s mom looked at her in surprise and then slowly nodded. “As far as I know, yes.”
“What was it your grandson said when he called you?”
“Just that Daddy was bleeding everywhere and that he couldn’t wake him.”
“It’s good that you phoned for an ambulance first.”
“Yes, yes, I know.” She put her hand on her chest. “I can’t imagine what it would have been like if I hadn’t.” A sob escaped. “We’re taking the grandkids home with us. Agnew’s not in any shape to deal with them at the moment.”
“No, of course not,” Kate agreed.
And, with a warming smile, Agnew’s mom added, “Now we’ll go spend some time with them. We’ll come back and see our son later today.”
Kate watched as the couple walked away. Agnew’s father was still bristly and upset that anybody would be talking to his son about this whole mess. Just then another thought entered the back of her mind, but it would necessitate talking to Agnew first. She poked her head inside his hospital room and saw that he was awake, staring at the door.
When he saw her, his gaze hardened.
“Glad to see you made it,” she said quietly.
He closed his eyes. “Stupidest thing—trying to take your own life, I mean. Some people would say that it was stupid, but I just got really depressed. Couldn’t handle it.”
“And what were you doing?”
“What do you think I was doing?” he snapped. “I was drinking, and I don’t do well with booze.”
“Yet I think it’s probably an understandable reaction, given your life right now.”
“I hadn’t expected to be in this scenario. Ever.”
“And I’m sorry. Obviously your wife’s death has been hard on you.”
“Not just her death,” he stated, “her murder, and there’s something so much worse about that.”
She had to admit she’d heard that a few times before. She wanted to tell people that losing somebody and not having any answers ranked right up there too. But this wasn’t a case of who had it worse, it was about how all of these things sucked.
She nodded. “Your parents will be back this afternoon. They were heading out to spend some time with your kids.”
He sighed. “Good. That’s probably for the best.”
“You know your kids need you, right?”
He turned and looked at her and asked, “Do they?”
“Yes, they do.”
He stared at her for a long moment and then shrugged. “I didn’t think I was suicidal when I started drinking that booze—but, man, sometimes it just brings out the worst in me.”
“So maybe,uh, don’t drink?”
“Ha, ha, ha. As if that’s even funny.”