Chapter 3 - Mom Knew Too Much
Nobody moved.
Detective Reed slowly turned toward my mother.
“How do you know that?”
Mom’s lips trembled.
Brooke stepped between them. “She doesn’t. She’s in shock.”
“Move,” Reed said.
Brooke’s face hardened. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
Officer Hale came away from the door. Brooke finally stepped aside.
Mom stared at me as if asking permission to destroy what was left of our family.
I blinked once.
She broke.
“Because I saw Brooke clean the trunk.”
Brooke laughed, but there was no humor in it. “That is insane.”
“Saturday night,” Mom continued. “At my house. She came by after midnight. She said she had hit a deer. There was blood on her shoes. She asked for bleach.”
“Mom, stop.”
“She took your spare car key from my kitchen drawer, Claire.”
My whole body went cold.
I remembered giving Mom that key years ago in case I ever locked myself out.
Reed asked, “Whose blood was it?”
Mom looked toward Brooke.
“I don’t know.”
Brooke exhaled, relieved too quickly.
Then Mom added, “But I know whose watch was in the trunk.”
She reached into her purse.
Brooke lunged.
Officer Hale caught her arm before she could reach Mom.
“Don’t touch her.”
Mom pulled out a small plastic bag.
Inside was a cracked silver watch stained dark brown around the band.
I recognized it immediately.
So did Brooke.
My father had worn that watch every day for thirty-two years.
But Dad had been dead for six months.
At least that was what we had all been told.
Nurse Carter whispered, “Jesus.”
Detective Reed took the bag carefully.
“Where did you get this?”
“Brooke dropped it near my washer after she cleaned the car mats.”
Brooke twisted against Officer Hale’s grip. “It’s Dad’s old watch. So what? Claire kept boxes of his things.”
No.
I hadn’t.
Dad’s personal effects had never been returned after the accident that killed him.
Reed looked at me.
“Claire, your father died in a boating accident, correct?”
I blinked once.
He looked down at the watch.
Then he said, “His body was never recovered.”
May you like
Brooke stopped struggling.
And in that second, I knew the blood in my trunk was connected to something far worse than what had happened to me.
