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“I don’t believe Dad killed anyone, Aggie.” Her brother took her hands and met her gaze squarely, indicating he wasn't lying to her. “You know him. You know he’s not violent. What happened to Selene and Claudia, it’s odd that there were those similarities, but that’s just a coincidence. Weird stuff happens sometimes. And we don’t even know that anything sinister happened to Emily. Maybe she just took off for a while. Who knows, I don’t really care, but I know our father, and I know he isn’t a murderer. It’s that man, that detective, that put that doubt in your head. Because of what he did he made you doubt everything, even yourself. You should stay away from him, Aggie. He’s not good for you.”
He was right. She knew that. Right about everything. About Nick and about their father. And yet a teeny tiny bit of doubt remained. “What about the hair and the blood they said they found in Dad’s car. They said it was Emily’s.”
Andrew shrugged. “So what? That could be anything. Maybe she was helping Dad move something and cut her finger. Maybe she threw her jacket in there and there was a hair on the collar, and it came off in the trunk. It could beanything, Aggie. Absolutely anything.”
She was surprised by Andrew's adamant support of their father. Not that her brother and her father didn’t get along, but they had never really been all that close. Aggie had always felt like Andrew was more like a cousin than a brother. Between the eight-year age difference and him spending at least as much time with their grandparents as he did at home, she had never really felt the sibling bond with him. “How are you so sure?” she asked. “I mean you're right, of course you are, but you and Dad have never been all that close. Why are you so positive that he’s innocent?”
“Because I like facts, and the facts are that Dad is way too wrapped up in himself to ever kill anyone. Dad and I aren’t close, we’re nothing alike, and he and Mom, they messed up by being so irresponsible and getting pregnant when they were just kids themselves, but here’s the thing with grudges, you can hold on to them forever, cherish them, or you can let them go and move forward. I may not really get along with Dad, but I know he would never hurt anyone. Besides, what would he do in prison without being able to find a new woman to fawn all over him?”
Smiling at his joke, it coaxed a small chuckle out of her. Andrew was right, their dad was super egocentric, and he didn’t seem to be able to survive without a woman in his life. “I wish I had your faith.”
“Trust your heart, like you always do, it will tell you what’s true. Now go inside, it’s the middle of the night, you should be in bed. I keep a little food in the cupboards, and there’s a small town only a couple of miles away. I’m not sure I like the idea of you being out here all alone with no way of contacting anyone if you need anything,” his voice had gone all big brotherly.
“I need the time alone. I’ll be all right, I'm probably just going to chill out. Swim in the lake, walk through the woods, kind of get back to nature. I might even use the diving pool, it’s been years since I last dived. Not since that Fourth of July party we had here a few years back.”
“You can't. The pool had to be drained about a year ago. A tree was blown down in a storm, put a crack in it. Sorry, I know you love to dive.”
“No problem, I'm sure I’ll be able to find plenty to do to occupy myself, really I'm just looking forward to relaxing. Andrew, you're taking my phone, right? I turned it off after Nick left earlier because I was scared he was going to try calling me. I just, I'm sorry, I'm not strong enough to deal with him right now.” Aggie felt ashamed that she didn’t have enough willpower to stay away from Nick. She needed to toughen up her heart a little.
“Of course. But are you sure you're okay with being here with no phone?”
“It’s perfect. But I was going to catch up with Clara and Naomi tomorrow. Could you call them, tell them that I just need a few days to myself, but I’ll call them as soon as I get back?”
“Consider it done. All right, here are the pills, you head on in, get into bed, I’ll bring your suitcases in, and make sure everything is okay before I leave.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to just stay the night? It’s after midnight, you could drive back tomorrow morning.”
“I have an early meeting. Besides, I kind of like driving at night, no traffic. Now go, bed.” He handed her the bottle of pills and shooed her out of the car.
“Night, Andrew.”
“Night.”
Too tired to prowl around the cabin and remind herself of the layout, Aggie followed her brother’s directions and headed straight for one of the bedrooms. Dry swallowing two of the sleeping pills, she collapsed onto the bed fully clothed, it was warm enough not to bother about the covers.
Of course as soon as her eyes closed she thought of Nick. He’d been different today, not the sweet, gentle guy she had been dating. Instead, he had been hard and rough, she had seen glimpses of the cold man who had ruthlessly made the decision to break her heart. Since she found out who he really was, she hadn’t seen him smile, his eyes were empty, he hadn’t used any terms of endearment when talking to her. It made her realize just how much of an act he had been putting on. He had really gone all out to convince her that he had fallen for her.
But it was just lies.
Lies upon lies upon lies.
Her mind grew heavy as the drugs started to take effect.
She was safe here. Away from the lies. Away from drama. Away from everything.
Here she could be quiet, she could think, she could let herself feel every single one of the emotions battling inside her without having to be afraid of doing something she would regret.
Here she could just rest.
August 25th
3:32 A.M.
“I'm so sorry, I just heard what happened. Are you okay?” Nick asked as he walked through the hospital.
“We’re okay.”
Jonathon Dawson and Clara Candella were standing in the corridor outside a hospital room. Jonathon had his arms around Clara, who was resting against his chest like she needed it to remain upright. Given what they'd just been through maybe she did. Clara had a bandage on her right temple, and her right forearm was wrapped in white gauze. Jonathon had bruising and a lump on the right side of his face, but from what Nick could see no cut.
