Page 218 of Override

The garage flashes behind them. Concrete. Fluorescent lights. Her dress. His hand. My jaw tightens.

"Yesterday evening..." The words almost don't come. "I regained visual contact." I can still see it. She'd looked so small standing beside him. So tired.

"I observed Mr. Gallagher place both hands around Mrs. Gallagher's throat."

The room disappears. For one second I'm standing in that garage again, every instinct I possess screaming at me to move before I'd even realized I'd dropped the laptop.

I feel something warm against my hand. My eyes open. Maeve. Sometime during my explanation she'd stepped closer. Her fingers gently uncurl mine before slipping into my palm.

I hadn't even realized how tightly I'd been clenching my fists.

She had.

I look down at our hands for the briefest moment before lifting my eyes to Cormac. Then to his wife. Who has tears running down her cheeks.

"I'll provide a full account privately." Her mother doesn’t need to hear the rest.

"But there is one thing you need to know." I don't look away. "Mr. Gallagher put his hands on your daughter for the last time."

Silence settles over the room again, heavier this time. Not because no one has anything to say. Because there isn't anything left to explain.

I straighten my shoulders.

Chapter 47

Maeve

The house feels different now. Not because anything has changed. Because I have.

My mother sits beside me on the couch, one hand wrapped around mine while Rachel occupies the chair across from us, quietly pretending not to watch me every time I stop talking. Every few minutes I hear voices drifting from my father's office down the hall. Low. Serious. Occasionally Wheels says something loud enough that even the closed door can't contain it.

Some things, apparently, transcend walls. My mother smooths a strand of hair behind my ear the same way she used to when I was little.

"I keep thinking about the other night." Her voice is soft. Careful. "When I saw you at the fundraiser."

I look down at our joined hands. "So do I."

"I knew something was wrong." A lump forms in my throat. "I should've pushed harder."

"You did."

She shakes her head. "No."

Her thumb brushes across my knuckles. "I should've asked the questions you didn't want to answer."

I swallow. "I wouldn't have answered them."

She sighs. "Maybe."

Silence settles between us.

Not uncomfortable. Just...heavy. Finally, she asks the question I've been expecting since the moment I walked through the front door.

"Why didn't you come to us?"

I stare at our hands for a long time before answering. Because now that I know the truth... Now that I know they didn't know...The answer feels ridiculous.

Embarrassing. But it's still the truth.