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I pinched my eyelids and pulled them away from my eyes just to let them snap back into place.
“Did my parents know that they were each cheating?” I asked curiously.
I mean, the parents that I thought I knew were no longer.
And for my parents to help their lovers to get insurance policies on the people they were seeing, and not their own family? On me? That was like a shot straight to the heart.
But another part of me was happy that my little sister was being taken care of. Even if she was conceived due to treachery.
Hell, it may not even be treachery. It might just be that my parents knew exactly what they were doing and offering.
Motherfucker.
This was killing me.
I scrubbed my face.
“I’m…” I groaned before he could answer. “I don’t want to deal with this anymore. I’m confused as hell, nothing is making too much sense, and I’m just over it. Let’s just forget it ever happened, okay?”
There was a long moment of silence before Lynn cleared his throat.
“I wish I could say that it could be forgotten,” he admitted. “But I don’t think that it can. I think that Howard Bales had something to do with your hit and run.”
“It wasn’t my hit and run,” I admitted. “It was Logan and Katy.”
“It was your hit and run.” Lynn shook his head.
“Because you were supposed to be in the car today, not them. You left in the car. Maude Cobb has a pretty isolated parking lot. With the window tinting on your mom’s SUV and the darkness? There’s no way he could tell that you weren’t the one in that car. This was meant for you.”
Derek’s words had me turning to him with a shock of pain written all over my face.
“You’re saying that what happened to them was my fault?” I gasped.
Derek smoothed my hair back.
“It wasn’t your fault,” he said carefully. “But whatever happened today, I think it’s linked to you.”
Tears started to leak out of my eyes as I started to understand the repercussions.
His family could’ve been killed. His sister, brother-in-law, and niece. All because of me.
Another fat tear slid down my cheek.
“I would’ve expected it from Rachel before I thought it was that weird guy,” I admitted. “I thought he was still in jail.”
There was a long moment of silence before I heard Lynn shift across the counter from me.
Moments later there was a, “Yeah, I need to check the files on someone.”
I looked up to see a look of confusion on Lynn’s face.
Sure enough, moments later, he started to curse.
“He is still in jail,” he admitted. “It couldn’t have been him. His bail was denied because they deemed him a flight risk.” His eyes went far away. “So if it wasn’t him, who was it?”
Lynn left a bit after that, he and Derek discussing the possibilities.
Rachel Howell or Lindia Bales.
Those were their two suspects. Two women that could easily be checked out, and they deemed me safe for now.
Though, I had a feeling that Derek would be giving me a ride to and from school from now on. Oh, and I’d also be on the receiving end of no freedom.
But I didn’t have a problem with that right now.
Not putting other people in danger felt like the best option at this point.
Staying home and keeping my nose clean seemed like the best course of action.
“My father was distraught. About my mother,” I said into Derek’s chest. “You can’t fake that kind of emotion.”
Derek squeezed me tighter. “No. But baby, maybe he really did love your mother. Maybe they just had an open relationship. We just don’t know.”
We didn’t, which sucked the most.
If I wanted answers, I’d have to talk to the woman that slept with my father while he was a married man.
Talking to the man that held me at gunpoint, I had a feeling, would be a no-go with Derek.
But with her being a suspect in the hit and run today? Well, I just didn’t see this as ever being solved.Chapter 16Valentine Schmalentine.
-Avery’s secret thoughts
Avery
Later that night, as I lay in bed, I thought back to the day of my father’s funeral.
***
I stared at the crowd as I watched the auditorium fill up with so many cops that it was unreal.
My father was a loved member of the law enforcement society, and even more, he loved his town. His town that had come out in droves to attend as well. Though they were outside watching the funeral at the stadium and not inside in the auditorium.
They were live streaming the funeral to the jumbotron, as well as onto the local news channel.
Still, I watched as all the seats inside filled.
I started counting seats when I’d gotten here earlier, and I knew that there were five hundred and forty-two seats. And they were all filled.
