Fight It Out Series Box Set

by T M Kelly

  As I stepped up into the ambulance, Mom reached out her hand. Dad didn’t suddenly become this crazy killer. Which meant Mom had suffered for so many years and never let me know. I suddenly felt guilty for leaving.

  “I see you thinking,” Mom said and squeezed my hand. “Penny for your thoughts?”

  “What am I missing? This is not something new, is it? Dad has been abusing you for years.” I was afraid to hear the answer.

  “There’s more to it, sweetie.”

  “How much more?”

  There was a beeping that sounded off on a monitor next to my mom’s head. “Excuse me, ma’am.” The paramedic said and leaned over Mom to adjust her settings.

  “Is she okay?”

  “I’m working on it.” The paramedic sounded concerned and continued messing with the buttons on the machine. He slapped the wall separating him from the driver. “ETA,” he yelled.

  “Charlie,” Mom said and reached for me.

  “I’m here.” I knelt down beside her and looped my arm with hers.

  “There’s a box in my closet. A small shoebox. It has all the answers.”

  “You can show me later.”

  She patted my arm. “Just listen. It’s on a shelf hidden behind several items.”

  “Mom let’s focus on you getting better right now.”

  “I’m so tired.” Then she closed her eyes.

  A second later, the monitor started to beep louder, and this time showed two flat lines moving across the screen. I knew what those lines meant, but I didn’t believe them. She couldn’t be dead. I needed her alive. My life was not making sense, and she seemed to be the only person who knew how to ease that emotion.

  “Defibrillator.” The ambulance stopped, and the driver jumped out. A few seconds later, he appeared at the back of the truck. “Two seconds to charge. Okay, clear.” The paramedic rubbed the paddles together and then placed them on Mom’s chest. “Again.” He repeated this process two more times. The monitor still showed two flat lines. The guy set the paddles down and leaned back.

  “What are you doing? She needs your help.”

  Brooks appeared out of nowhere. “Charlie.” He stepped up into the truck and sat down beside me.

  “Brooks why aren’t they helping Mom?”

  “Sunshine—”

  “No.” I placed my hand over his mouth. “No, no, it can’t be.”

  He pulled me close. “I’m so sorry.”

  The ambulance felt too crowded. I needed to get some air. Nobody said a word as I pushed Brooks out of the way. I stepped down and noticed Jackson running toward me. The moment he was in front of me, I collapsed into his arms.

  I may have avoided giving my dad what he wanted, but he successfully managed to fuck up my life in a blink of an eye. How was I supposed to move past this?

  “Where are you going?” Jackson said as he opened the passenger door to his rental car.

  “We need to go to our house.”

  “Charlie, Dad could be there.”

  “I really don’t care.” The rage I felt inside was ready to be unleashed. “Actually, I hope he’s there.” As I sat down, I looked in the rearview mirror. Lily and Brooks were sitting in the backseat already. I wasn’t surprised to see them. “Did you buckle up?”

  “Do we need to?” Lily said.

  The trip to my parents’ house took us about thirty minutes. I knew which back roads to use to get us there, so we managed to avoid any traffic. When I pulled into the driveway, I glanced around to see if another vehicle was parked nearby. The garage door was closed, and I knew someone could’ve parked in there so we needed to be on alert. The only light I could see on in the house was shining through the kitchen window.

  Before I took another step forward, I thought about what I was doing. The chances I was taking. Then I could see Mom’s face, and that propelled my body forward. I needed to find that box. We needed to find the answers. My father was not going to let up, but if I had some leverage maybe he would finally leave me alone.

  “Let’s stay together. I think we’re safer as a team,” I said and reached for the hide-a-key under the pet ceramic frog sitting in the corner next to the front door. It felt too quiet as we stepped inside. “Mom’s room is at the top of the stairs, last room on the right.”

  Lily stepped on the back of my heel right as I reached the top step causing me to fall forward. “Sorry.”

  “Maybe stay back a few inches.” I wanted to keep the rest of my body parts intact. I noticed a light shining under the door that led to my father’s study. Before continuing down the hall, I pointed to the light.

  “We’re splitting up,” Brooks said and kissed my cheek. “Listen, I love you. Find what you need. If your Dad is in there, Lily and I will take care of him.”

  I stood there staring at him. He loved me. Even after all this, he still cared about me.

  “I love you, too.” Then I turned and ran down the hallway toward my mom’s room. The shoebox she mentioned was not going to be easy to find because she had a gorgeous walk-in closet that was filled from front to back. “Okay, where do we start?” I stood there in the middle of the room and glanced around.

  “Here,” Jackson pointed to two shelves sitting side-by-side. There were several boxes, bags, and clothes lining each shelf. “It has to be here.” He turned and looked at me. “I still have no clue what I’m searching for, yet this seems like the perfect spot to look for a secret.”

  “Mom said there is a shoebox hidden in here somewhere.”

  “She didn’t bother to tell you where?” Jackson said while pulling items off the shelf. I stood there with that type of expression that said, you’re a dummy. He looked over at me. “I mean, I—”

  “Pull everything off the shelves. I’ll go through this stuff over here.”

  After about thirty minutes, we had managed to throw pretty much everything on the shelves into the center of the closet. I had not found a shoebox yet and was starting to lose hope it was even here.

  “Got it,” Jacks said from behind me.

  I turned and noticed him holding up a worn box that at one time was red. The box looked more pink and had duct tape wrapped around it. “That has to be it.” I walked out of the closet with Jackson, and we both sat down on a big king-size bed. He placed the box in between us. “Are we really ready for this?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Yeah, I agree. I’m surprised Mom kept the box in a space where Dad frequented.”

  “Or maybe that was the goal. Place it in an obvious location, someplace he wouldn’t look.”

  “True, that is how Dad would think.” I rubbed my hands over the top of the box, trying to get mentally prepared for whatever was inside. The way the duct tape was placed, it was almost impossible to break through the pieces. I ran into the adjoining bathroom and searched through drawers for something sharp. “Bingo. Toe nail clippers will do the job.”

  I tossed the clippers to Jackson and settled in front of him. “Mom managed to make it difficult to open.”

  “Score one for Mom.” As my brother cut the duct tape, I worked to peel off each piece. When we had one piece left, I took in a deep breath. “I love you. You know that, right?”

  “Don’t get all sentimental on me.”

  I shoved at his shoulder and flipped off the lid. There were several envelopes stacked together and a few images hidden underneath everything. “We start reading?”

  “She’s making us work for the answers.”

  “That’s Mom.” I winked and opened the first envelope.

  32

  “We need to go.” Lily ran into the bedroom completely out of breath. I looked up at my best friend. The one person in my life I had trusted since we were in grade school. Well, we did have that argument over crayons once, but it was minor. “Charlie, did you hear me? We need to go and now.”

  Jackson threw everything back in the box and picked it up. “Charlie, you can do this.”

  “Do what?” Lily sounde
d confused as she stepped closer to the bed. “Is your head injury causing you problems? Are you okay?” She placed her hand on my shoulder, causing me to flinch. “Talk to me, C.”

  Finally, I stood and let go of my thoughts. “What? I’m fine. I promise.” I grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Is Dad here?”

  “No,” Lily said and ran to the door. “Your dad left us a trap. I think more of his assholes are on the way. Some could already be here. Brooks is standing guard.”

  “You left him alone?”

  “Well, you both went silent on us. What were we supposed to do?”

  I grabbed Jackson’s hand. “Don’t lose that.”

  “Never.”

  My mind was struggling to process all that we had just read. It didn’t feel real. I was walking behind them. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Before I left the room for the last time, my eyes locked onto a small jewelry box on my mom’s dresser. Without thinking, I grabbed it and continued to follow everyone down the stairs.

  At the bottom step, Brooks yelled, “Stop.”

  His words caught me off guard. “They’re here already?”

  “Yeah, and we’re surrounded.” He stepped closer to the stairs. “Is there a way out of here? A trapdoor? Anything.”

  I thought about when Jackson and I used to get in trouble running all over the house chasing each other. “Jacks, that hiding spot you loved to use.” My words sounded vague.

  He snapped his fingers and motioned for us to follow. “Good memory, Charlie.” When we reached the small bathroom on the main floor, he stopped. “It’s a tight squeeze, but it leads to the basement. There’s a door down there that will take us outside.”

  “Tight squeeze?” I teased as he pulled some paneling off. “You were what, two hundred pounds lighter when you hid in here?”

  “Suck it in.” He pushed me through the hole.

  I had a death grip on the jewelry box I found in Mom’s room. The space was small, but I was able to inch through it and push open a door at the end of the space. Before Jackson shoved me through, he let me know this hide-away space led to a dark room which was beside the basement. It apparently had never been touched from what he discovered. As I carefully stepped down, the place felt damp.

  “Coming through,” Lily warned from behind me.

  “Do you have your phone still?”

  “Yeah, need a light?” A second later, my friend was illuminated in front of me. My heart burst with excitement the moment she came into view. “Charlie, you okay?”

  “Of course,” I lied again and looked around the room. “What was this area supposed to be used for?”

  “I think it was an extra space that was ignored,” Jackson said and jumped down out of the crawl space. “I found a way to get out and enter the basement, but it was never used in all the years I lived here.”

  Lily shined the light on a wall. “But you managed to deface the place.”

  “It was my space. Well, I made it my place.”

  “Cute.” I nudged my brother’s side. “Let’s reminisce later. How about we get the fuck out of here first?”

  We spent the next several minutes wiggling our way through a second crawl space that Jackson had created. It was almost too tight of a fit for Brooks, but we managed to tug him out as a team. “This is the last stop before heading outside. You ready?” Jackson had his hand on a small wooden door, prepared to open it.

  “Will we be walking out in plain sight for everyone to easily aim and fire?” The words fell from my lips before I had a chance to think about what I was about to say. “I mean, do I need to take cover?”

  “You’ll be out of sight. Just sit and wait until we’re all together again.”

  Before I stepped through the door, I looked back at Lily. “I love you so much, Lily Bug.”

  I noticed her scowl at my words. “Um, shouldn’t you be getting all mushy with that guy?” she said and pointed toward Brooks.

  Her words made me smile. I couldn’t wait to tell her my mom’s secret.

  33

  Twenty-four hours later…

  “Well, he thought he had us surrounded,” I teased and looked at the monitor. All six of us were waiting at the police precinct. Dad was being interrogated by two cops. By his words and body language, it was obvious he still thought he was untouchable. The thing was, we found all the answers in that small worn shoebox.

  “Your father really was the head of what most would call a mob organization.” Lily grabbed a cup and filled it with stale coffee. I watched when she took a sip and then immediately gagged. “How is it possible that a police station has shitty coffee?”

  Before we could respond, the lead cop on the case walked into the break room. I sat up a little taller in my seat, prepared for anything. We predicted they would let my dad off because we didn’t have enough evidence against him. “We just got a warrant to search your father’s house and business.”

  “He’s not walking?”

  “No, you had enough proof to show he needed to be locked up for the time being while we go through all the evidence. Plus, your father made the call to shoot your mom. He forgot to turn off the cameras in the bar.” The detective stepped forward. “All of your statements match.”

  “So that’s it?” I knew my voice sounded relieved.

  “Well, his defense team will try to say there is not enough evidence to show he was the one that directly killed your mom.”

  “But?”

  “You and Brooks were almost killed in the U.K. Your mom and sister are gone.” The cop paused for a moment. “Plus, what you found in that box has all the evidence to lock him up for a very long time.”

  Jackson reached over and squeezed my hand.

  “This is really our life. How is it possible?”

  “You did always love mystery and thriller shows,” he teased.

  “Officer, what happens to my brother Mason?”

  “He is showing signs of flipping his loyalty from your father over to his family.”

  I burst out laughing. “I’m sorry. I know laughing is not appropriate, but if you went through the hell I did—”

  “I can’t even imagine,” the officer said and turned to leave. “Listen, we need to keep most of the contents in that box. We did make some copies for you like you asked.”

  When we arrived at the station earlier, I found a way to talk to the cop privately. So what he was sharing at the moment was directed at me personally. “Thank you, that means a lot.”

  He just nodded and left the room.

  “Charlie, you have held onto that jewelry box like it lives and breathes. Want to share?” Lily said.

  The jewelry box was not the thing on my mind, but since I was not ready to share my mom’s secret just yet, this was a good distraction. I set the small wooden box in the center of the table. “My mom used to store all her special jewelry in the small little space. She would tell me we didn’t need a lot of treasures in our lives and if you have too many, then they weren’t treasures anymore. That confused me at first, and then she showed me what was in the box.” As I slid the lid open, my heart started to beat faster. Inside was her wedding band—because she admitted to me once how much she hated wearing it—and a small brooch that was passed down over several generations. Coiled up in the corner was a necklace with a heart charm attached. I reached in and grabbed the gold chain. She had placed the gift I had given to her several years ago in her treasure box. The fact that my mom valued the small piece of jewelry meant the world to me. “I knew Mom had special valuables in here. What I didn’t know”—I held up the necklace so it dangled in front of my face—“was that she considered this a treasure.”

  “You bought that for her one Christmas.” Lily reached forward and ran her hand over the gold surface.

  “I did.” My friend had such a good memory.

  “I remember why you bought it, too.”

  “Why?” I honestly didn’t know this answer. “Was there a ‘why’ to this story
?”

  Lily reached forward and placed the necklace in the palm of her hand. “Your mom was admitted to the hospital for two broken ribs. It was never revealed that your Dad attacked her, but after today, I would bet my life on that fact.”

  “That’s right.” The memory caused several emotions to run through me. I remembered how I couldn’t go see Mom personally, so I sent her a special gift.

  “You bitch!” I jumped up from my chair the moment I heard the words and spun around. My dad was fighting with two cops as he stood in the doorway. “You won’t get away with this,” Dad yelled as the men dragged him down a long hallway.

  “I’m sorry about that,” the detective who was head of our case said as he ran back into the room. “Are you all okay?”

  “Did you tell Lily the truth?” Dad yelled from down the hallway. I walked over and peeked around the door frame and saw him struggling with the two cops. “Did you? Your mom was a whore. She deserved to die.”

  “Get him the fuck out of here,” the detective yelled.

  I stood there, staring at the spot where my father had just been standing. When I turned, Lily was standing just inches from my face. “What didn’t you tell me?”

  How was I supposed to drop this bomb shell? I thought about just blurting out the words, but that seemed wrong. The slow explanation would be annoying.

  “Charlie.” Lily grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly. “Whatever it is, we will attack it like we always do: together.”

  I had a copy of the paperwork from the shoebox folded up and stuffed in my back pocket. Instead of saying anything, I decided to let Lily read the words on her own. She took the papers from my outstretched hand and looked completely confused.

  My friend was reading the papers and never made a peep. The suspense was killing me.

  “What?” Lily blurted out. “No.” She glanced up at me. “Is this for real?”