"My mom? She’s an old bitch! Why would you help her?"

Hearing this attack on Faye’s character angered the drunken Richard and he punched the door with his fist. "That’s enough!!", he said loudly.

"Richard, please", Bette said, trying to entice an atmosphere of calm and serenity out of a potentially explosive situation. "Cora", Bette continued. "This may be hard for you to believe right now but your mom and I...we’ve made our peace with each other. We’ve been helping her. She’s been trying to find you. We all just want to help you. To keep you safe."

"Even him?", Cora asked, pointing behind her with a thumb.

Tina smiled. "Even him. Maybe even especially him."

"Where is she? Why isn’t my mom here?"

Tina and Bette exchanged tentative glances. "Well", Tina started. "Your mom has been sick. Very sick."

"So where is she? Is she at the hospital?" Again, there were silent glances. Frustrated by the lack of cooperation she turned to Richard. "Where is she?!", Cora demanded. Richard’s only response was a trembling chin and moist eyes.

Cora turned back to Bette and Tina. Correctly fearing the worst, she weakly dropped the pepper-spray to the floor. Richard slowly walked up behind her, still keeping himself between Cora and the door. "Honey", Tina said, stepping nervously toward her. "I’m so sorry to have to tell you this. Your mom...she died."

Cora stood in a stupor. Her ears filled with an annoying hum while the lights faded from the room. Before it went completely dark she saw Bette lunging for her with an outstretched arm. And she heard Bette call out, "Richard!"

TBC.