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“I’ll let you know when I’m ready.” He hung up, knowing the agent wouldn’t be able to track the call back to him or call him back.
He stared at the box he’d packed on the bed. Once he sent it, it was the beginning of the end for him.
Unless he found another way.
Chapter Twelve
Kenna was brushing down Ziggy in his stall when the call came and brought her out of her peaceful bliss and took her right back to the night Marcus died.
“Hello.”
“Is this Kenna?”
“Yes. Who’s this?” She didn’t recognize the female voice.
“This is Mrs. Perry.”
Marcus’s mom. Her heart dropped. “Mrs. Perry, I wanted to call you but I didn’t have your number. I meant to ask the high school office staff if they had it, but I...” She’d been too busy trying to get through another day and find some joy with Ziggy before falling back into reality.
Mrs. Perry didn’t care about any of that; she missed her son.
Kenna tried to think of the right words to express her sympathy and remorse. Nothing seemed enough, so she went with the banal. “I’m so sorry for your loss. I... I don’t have the words to express how sad I am that he’sgone.” A fresh wave of tears hit her, even as she tried to hold it together.
Mrs. Perry sniffled back tears, too. “Just last week he mentioned seeing you. He said it was new, but going well. He talked about all you had in common, both of you getting out of long-term relationships and looking for someone new, who wanted to start a family and build a life. He seemed excited about the future.”
Overwhelming guilt joined her grief. The two sent her stepping back into the wall and falling to her butt in the straw.
Ziggy went to his water trough and slurped up a gallon of water.
“And then this happens.” Mrs. Perry’s stern voice warned something was coming. “I spoke with Officer Wilde this morning. He told me this wasn’t some random break-in, but that the man was after something your brother left with you.”
“I didn’t know that at the time.” As defenses went, that one sucked.
“Yes, well, that doesn’t change the facts.”
No, it didn’t. Nothing would now. “It all happened so fast. One second he was dropping me at my place, the next...” It all came back so clearly. Her breathing became erratic as the terror returned. “He w-was d-dead.”
“He was murdered,” she snapped. “Because he was seeing you.”
Kenna understood Mrs. Perry’s anger and kept her mouth shut to allow Mrs. Perry to have her say, to get it out, whatever it was she needed to do to help ease hergrief, though nothing would diminish the aching loss of a child. Kenna could take it. She would, because that was the least she owed Marcus’s family.
“I know it’s not your fault.” Mrs. Perry calmed.
“But it feels that way,” Kenna acknowledged.
“I’m just... I’m angry.”
“I completely understand. So am I. I can’t change it. I can’t fix it. I can’t take it back, and I want to so badly.” She couldn’t even get her brother to do the right thing.
“I want to yell and scream at you. I want you to hurt the way I hurt.”
Kenna’s pain was all too real and all-encompassing. But she could take more. She would for Mrs. Perry’s sake. “Go ahead. Do what you have to do. I deserve it.”
Mrs. Perry let out a huge sigh. “No, you don’t. I know that in my heart.”
Kenna spoke from the heart. “I hurt for him. For you. For all the people who loved him. I want to make this right, but there’s nothing I can do, so I’m left feeling as helpless as I’m sure you feel. I hope, in time, the sharp edge of your grief will dull, so it won’t always feel so piercing. I don’t know exactly who is responsible for all that happened, but I promise you, I will help in any way I can to bring them to justice for your son. For you and your family. And if there’s anything more you need from me, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“I know you’ll be speaking tomorrow to the students about Marcus. I think that’s good. The students need that. But...”
