AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Did you two continue to see him after you turned eighteen and his visitation officially ended?” Nick asked.
“Not regularly. We might see him once or twice a year, usually the day after our birthday since he spends our birthday with Aggie, and around Christmas,” Clara answered.
“Do you know any place where he might hide Emily? We’re worried she doesn’t have much time left.”
“I know you think you have this all sorted out, but my father would never hurt anyone. You don’t even know him,” Aggie protested.
“Do the rest of you think he’s capable of murder?” Nick studied the others.
“I'm not convinced,” Andrew replied. “Sure, it’s a coincidence about Selene and Claudia and the hearts, but I think it’s just that, coincidence.”
“Sorry, I'm not convinced either,” Naomi said. “Although I get why you think he did it.”
“I'm out too,” Clara added.
“Okay, you guys need proof.” Nick looked undaunted. “And we have it. Forensic evidence that Emily Hadden was in your father’s car.”
“You told us already that they were arguing the day she disappeared,” Aggie reminded him.
“That doesn’t explain why we found Emily’s hair and blood in the trunk of your father’s car.”
* * * * *
1:11 P.M.
“Hey, you okay?”
Aggie lifted her head from where it had been resting on her folded hands, elbows propped up on the table, ever since Nick had told them that he had forensic evidence her father may have done something to Emily. She didn’t remember much after that. Although at some point she must have sat down at the table, and Nick and his partner appeared to have left the room, Andrew and Jonathon too.
Naomi stood beside her chair, a hand on her shoulder, brown eyes sympathetic. “I know that was a shock. Do you think there could be any way he did it? You know him better than we do.”
“I … I don’t think he’d ever hurt anyone,” she stammered. But what did she really know? She was the same woman who kept falling for the wrong guy over and over again, her ability to read people was obviously broken.
“But you're not sure.” Clara sat beside her.
“I don’t know anything anymore,” she whispered, burying her face again, embarrassed to cry in front of two strong, smart women.
“I'm sorry, this must be hard for you. You’re closer with him than we are.” Naomi also sat at the table. “Since he actually raised you.”
“No, that’s not true, you saw him more when we were kids. That’s why I was angry with you two,” she admitted. “My dad worked long hours, I was usually in bed asleep before he got home each night, sometimes he was already gone in the morning when I got up. Then on the weekends he was always with one of you. I practically never saw him.”
“I didn’t know that,” Naomi said.
“Me either,” Clara agreed. “When we were kids, we were jealous of you because you were the only one who had both of their parents together. I guess things were tough for all of us.”
The situation with Nick must have used up her quota of loathing because she was no longer angry or resentful of her sisters. “I'm sorry, years ago when you came to me wanting to get to know me, I was so rude to you.”
“Aggie, look at me,” Naomi ordered gently.
She shook her head and refused to lift it. She had trusted Nick when she shouldn’t have, and yet she had refused to let a bond form with her sisters when she should have.
“Aggie,” Naomi repeated patiently. “We get it. We really do. We were the cause of all the stress in your family. We were a reminder to you of what your dad did to your mom, it’s understandable that you didn’t want anything to do with us.”
“I blamed you,” she admitted, deciding she may as well just say it. “For my mom’s death. I was at a friend’s house, but we fought. I wanted to go home. My mom didn’t like driving at night, but my dad wasn't home because he was with one of you.”
“He was with me,” Naomi said softly. “I'm sorry.”
Finally, she lifted her head. “It wasmyfault. My friend and I had already made up by the time she would have gotten there. I blamed myself, but it was so much easier to pretend to blame you two. So I did. I told myself so many times that it was your fault my mother died that I started to believe it. I'm sorry.” Aggie had never told another person that before. Those first few nights she had bargained with God every night, begging for her mom back, willing to pay whatever price necessary to be able to keep her.
