AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I told him I was fifteen minutes out from Cat’s.
He said, “Do you understand that I’m worried? Can you give me the headlines maybe? Boil it down?”
I said, “Okay,” but I didn’t know if I could. My mind was scrambled; my anger, volcanic. I didn’t want to relive this horrible, mind-altering day and I couldn’t avoid it. I pictured standing over Marty’s body at the feet of the crowd this morning—and then I was stuck, staring down at the criminal who had faked being my father for my whole life. I felt the crowd blocking me in on all sides. I saw the anguish on Richie’s face as he held up Marty Boxer’s driver’s ID.
Joe was saying my name, repeating it. I said, “Hang on a sec.” I followed the wide curve in the road and when I hit the straightaway, I said, “I want to tell you everything, but I should wait until I get home.”
“When will that be?”
“Could be hours.”
I buzzed down the window and let the breeze dry the sweat from my brow. “It’s about my… I learned some things about Marty Boxer today. Things I really need to talk to Cat about in person. I need to pull myself together for her.”
Joe said, “Got it. I wish I were with you. I’ll wait up.”
I wished he could be with me, too, but I needed to speak with Cat alone.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “Call if you need me.”
“I will, Joe. Can you…? Go to Pet World, and bring Julie. Buy an aquarium.”
“I will. Now keep your eyes on the road,” he said.
I promised and we clicked off.
I drove on. Light faded as the sun melted at the horizon. The highway dropped off to my right where the ocean rolled slowly in, pulled away, came back to shore. When I saw the sign in the twin beams of my headlights, I turned right off Highway 1 toward Sea View Road.
I arrived in Cat’s driveway still trying on versions of the best way to tell her about Marty’s life and death. I turned off the engine, leaving my car in the dark, the better to see the lighted rooms in her sweet-looking, beachy clapboard house on a dead-end street. It was backlit by sunset and animated by the sound of waves.
I’d just pocketed my keys when Cat’s kitchen door flew open and she ran down the short flight of steps, opening my car door while I was still releasing my seatbelt.
She stood impatiently like a racehorse stamping at the gate and then I was free and Cat pulled me out of the front seat, flung her arms around me, and sobbed into my shoulder.
“He wasn’t supposed to die, not yet,” she cried out.
She’d known he was still alive?
I hugged her and rubbed her back and let her cry.
I was furious and Cat’s heart was broken. How could both things be true?
CHAPTER 19
WE WERE ON Cat’s bed with the bedroom door closed. The volume of the TV on the dresser was high enough to prevent Cat’s daughters, Meredith and Brigid, from hearing us talking, crying, and occasionally laughing. Cat twisted her long blond hair into a knot, shook it out, cried into her pillow, and let it all out. When she caught her breath, she had questions and commentary.
How had this happened? Dad was too smart for someone to get him from behind. Do you have any suspects? This is killing me, Lindsay.
I said, “I thought he was already dead.”
She nodded miserably. “I know you did. And I’m so sorry I never told you, but the way things ended last time…”
“How long have you known?”
“For a few years now. There were so many times I wanted to tell you,” Cat said. “He did have a heart attack, you know, and thatiswhy he missed your wedding… but he recovered. I guess I figured it was up to him to reach out to you after that, and when he didn’t… I’m really sorry, Linds.”
“Do you understand how crazy mad I am?” I said. “I feel betrayed. Left out. Treated like an idiot. Am I mad at you? No. A little, maybe. Mom? Same thing. Marty? I’ve hated him for so long, this is just another layer of knowing what a shit he was and I’ll tell you, Cat, we didn’t know the half of it. He was not just a dirty cop and a terrible father, he was a criminal.”
Cat said, “I’ll be right back,” and she went to put the girls to bed. Exhaustion took me right there on her soft bed.
