I arrived home four days ago and, despite it being the most profitable four days of my life, I’d give my eyes to go back in time and change it. I was eager to see the kids when I pulled into the driveway, and couldn’t wait to tell them about the plans I’d made for the whole family to go to the carnival over in Larrington the following day. When I walked in the house, Clyde was watching Happy Days on the television. He greeted me like nothing new, but Kate, Sasha and Maggie were nowhere to be found. I called for them and got no answer. It took me awhile to find them holed up in Kate’s room.
The three of them were lying in Kate’s bed when I walked in. She had Maggie under one arm and Sasha under the other as she read to them. I was a little disappointed…usually the girls would’ve jumped up to see me, only this time, just Maggie rolled off the bed to give me a hug.
I squeezed her tight, trying not to let my feelings be hurt, when I noticed how pale Sasha looked. I sat on the side of the bed and pressed my lips to her forehead, checking for a fever, and she flinched.
She flinched.
I turned to Kate, not knowing what I know now for sure, but my gut knowing it all the same, and I asked what was wrong. I hoped maybe Sasha was still mad about me going away for so long.
If only it was something as little as that.
Maybe because the truth was just too awful to bear, to my everlasting shame, I let it go and didn’t press. Until yesterday. Clyde came into the living room while Maggie and Sasha were watching Saturday morning cartoons together. Kate handed him the remote and herded the girls into her room the second he sat down. I acted like everything was normal until he went to the store for a pack of cigarettes an hour later. The second he was out the door, I cornered Kate in her room and asked her again what was wrong. She didn’t reply, and refused to look at me. I asked her if Clyde had done something to hurt her feelings. And, for the rest of my days, I will never forget Sasha’s face as we both looked her way.
Her eyes were wide and her mouth seemed glued shut. I knew that face, though. I’d seen it in the faces of countless women. I’d seen it in the mirror. And that face told me everything I need to know.
All this to say?
I don’t know how yet, but I’m going to kill the bastard.
Kate
Kate's head had a heartbeat as she leaned it against the cool stainless steel of the refrigerator door.
It was well past noon and this hangover still had legs. "That's what happens if you drink like you're in college thirty years too late." She let out a groan as she opened the fridge and peered inside. She'd stuck to dry toast, so far, but everyone knew cold pizza was the cure after a night of drinking.
"Grab me a piece, too," Lena murmured as she padded into the room.
Kate snagged two slices from the box and made her way gingerly over to the kitchen island and handed Lena her pizza.
"How you feeling?" she asked Lena as she took a seat on one of the high-backed stools.
"Emotionally or physically?"
"Either." Kate shrugged and blew out a sigh. "Both."
"I've been better. I'm making an appointment to talk to Alistair, to find out what we can do to accommodate Maggie and Sasha’s wishes, so that's a start. Realizing Maggie didn't know about Clyde was a bit of a shock. I had assumed because she and Sasha are so close, it would've come up over the years..."
"It wasn't something she ever talked about, except for the once when Maeve took her to the doctor. As for our mother, she went through that long period of depression afterward that most people assumed was because of Clyde's death. Getting it out of her head was the only way she knew to cope. Nowadays, it's different, but she grew up in a time where girls suffered in silence. I think she felt like justice was done...or as much justice as was possible, and the best thing for everyone was to close that door and focus on moving forward. Sasha followed her lead. And Maggie was so young and still struggling from the loss of her own mom. It probably all sort of ran together for her." Kate set her pizza down, appetite gone.
Maybe she should've pressed Sasha to go to therapy when she was a little older. But dredging up something so awful seemed cruel. As silly as it sounded, maybe part of her had hoped Sasha had pushed it out of her head for so long, she'd finally actually forgotten...
Or maybe you just feel guilty you weren't home that day to protect her.
She cleared her throat and went back to the fridge to pour herself a glass of club soda.
"In any case, it's out now and she's finally talking. Let's give it a little time and see if we can get her to go talk to somebody or find a support group."
Lena nodded thoughtfully. "I think that's probably for the best, if she'll consider it. Have you seen Maggie today?"
"Just for a minute when she came down for aspirin and water. She was feeling rough. I heard her praying to the porcelain gods early this morning, so I expect she'll be sticking close to her bedroom. I was planning to check on her and see if she wanted some food around dinnertime."
Lena was polishing off her cold pizza when Kate's phone began to ring. She glanced down and saw Frank's name light up the screen. It rang four times before it went to voicemail.
"What do you plan to do about that?" Lena asked softly.
"I honestly don't know," she said with a sigh. "I've never said any of that out loud before. Heck, I've never even said half of that to myself before. I need to take my time and think it through. We've got a lot of history..."
Lena looked like she was about to argue, but instead inclined her head. "I understand. It's your life, Kate. Just know that you deserve to be happy."
Her phone began to ring again and Lena stood.
"I'll leave you to it."
Kate snatched up the phone as Lena left the room. She considered sending it to voicemail again, but she knew he'd only call back.
"Hi, Frank, what's up?" she asked, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice, and failing.
"I washed the whites with something red and now my undershirts are pink," he said without preamble. "If I bleach them, will it come out?"
She tapped her fingertips restlessly on the granite island. "I'm doing well, and yourself?" she asked, the sarcasm in her tone thick. She wasn't prone to snark, but between her literal hangover and her emotional one, she wasn't in a mood to be trifled with.
"How are you, Kate?" he said, having the grace to at least sound a little sheepish. "I just saw you yesterday, though..."
"Right, and you didn't ask me then, either. But it's been a bit of a garbage few days, for your information."
He cleared his throat and she could hear him shifting in his leather recliner. "I'm...sorry to hear that. What's...uh, what's going on that's so bad?"
"Let's see, my mother is dead, my sisters and I are trapped in a house for three months like something out of a bad reality show, I drank like a sailor on leave last night and I feel like hammered dog doo. Oh, and someone is sending us threats and seems to be intent on blackmailing us. But I imagine since you called and let the phone ring over and over, you had something more important to ask me than about your pink t-shirts, so what else did you need, Frank?"
The other end of the line went silent and a tiny, evil part of her wanted to cheer with glee.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low and tentative. "Actually, I can figure it out. I'll just...I'll take care of it. Sorry you're having a bad day, Katie," he murmured.
She let her eyes drift closed and shook her head slowly. "It's okay, Frank. It's not your fault. Look, just throw the t-shirts out and go on Amazon to order yourself another pack, okay? You're due for some new ones anyway."
"Okay, can do," he said, sounding grateful for the direction.
They chatted for the next few minutes about everything from the dog to the kids before she hung up with perfunctory "love you"'s.
She set her phone down with a sigh and wondered if she should've mentioned the potential change of plans with the selling of the house. Probably better until she had somet
hing concrete to tell him anyway.
She hadn't been lying when she'd told Lena she had no idea what to do. Listening to her younger sisters talking about their dream business ventures had been electrifying. Maggie and Sasha were taking leaps of faith. Maybe it was time for her to do the same and get out of this rut and this marriage. It would be so easy to get swept up and carried away by the new and shiny glinting just out of reach. Seeing the chemistry between Joe and Lena had only made it more apparent that there was more to life than what she shared with Frank.
But at what price?
She vowed to drag this out for examination once they got on the other side of this. When she was back in her own house, not blinded by some mix of grief and fear and new hope.
One thing was for sure, though, now that this genie was out of the bottle, she wasn't stuffing it back in. She would find a way to be happy, by hook or by crook. Because, like Lena said...
She deserved it.
Lena
“I really appreciate you staying late to see me this evening. I’m sorry to keep you here, but I have something important to discuss with you…about Maeve’s estate,” Lena said as she took the seat across from Alistair. “And, frankly, it’s too sensitive to talk about on the phone.”
“Not a problem at all. I’m sorry I couldn’t squeeze you in earlier. I’m going away next week so Eunice has been packing my days full until then. What can I do for you, Lena?” Alistair asked, no doubt seeing the anxiety in her face.
“It’s Serina McFadden. Clyde’s daughter?”
Alistair’s mouth went tight.
“Go on.”
“Obviously, this is all confidential, as we’re trying to keep it as quiet as possible, but since we’ve been staying at the house, we’ve been getting some threats. We have reason to believe Serina is behind it all.”
If she hadn’t thought it before, the fact that the Sheriff or Rusty hadn’t come knocking after the whole crowbar incident was pretty telling. They didn’t want the police involved, either. It was hard to blackmail someone with the cops sniffing around.
“I’d heard about the rock through the window. I hadn’t realized there was more,” Alistair said, shaking his head hard enough to make his jowls sway. “People have no respect these days. Your mother, rest her soul, hasn’t been dead two weeks and you girls are having to put up with this nonsense. What can I do to help, dear? Name it.”
“What I really need is information. I believe Serina’s motive is money,” Lena said, crossing her legs at the knee as she tried to determine exactly how much to tell him. “She hasn’t made a demand yet, but I have the sense that she’s building up to that based on the wording of the threats we’ve been getting. If we don’t give in to her demands, I believe she will try to get the police to re-open Clyde’s murder case and point the investigation in Maeve’s direction. I tried to search online, but couldn’t seem to get a definitive answer. Can a deceased person be tried for murder?”
Alistair steepled his fingers in front of his face and hunkered down as he considered the question. “Theoretically, yes. But even there, the motivation would likely be financial. To set a precedent for a civil suit. In the specific case of Serina McFadden, there’s also the matter of your inheritance. If memory serves, Clyde had a reasonable life insurance policy that was paid out to Maeve after his death. Clyde’s offspring could certainly make a case for being owed those monies, as well, if Maeve was actually the cause of his demise.”
Lena’s stomach sank. She hadn’t even considered that part of it. Her sisters couldn’t afford to have the estate tied up in some drawn out case, regardless of the end result. This might be Sasha’s only chance at making a better life for herself, away from all the bad jobs and even worse men that she’d been involved with over the years. For Kate, the money represented an escape hatch from her unhappy marriage, if she decided she needed one. And even Maggie was on the verge of going down a new and potentially very profitable career path that she’d seemed so excited about…not to mention Maeve’s legacy.
Lena’s mind drifted back to the envelope that Harry had given her and she lifted her head in renewed determination. There had to be a better way. Knowledge was power. She’d lived her whole life by that adage, and she wasn’t about to stop now.
“I’m assuming you handled Clyde’s will at the time?”
“I did, yes,” Alistair said with a nod.
“If possible, it would be very helpful if you could get any records you might have on that, including his life insurance policy, along with anything else you think might be helpful. I need to know what we’re dealing with so I can make a decision on how to go forward.”
Alistair pursed his lips and studied her over the rim of his glasses. “I don’t want to tell you what to do, Lena, but your mother wouldn’t want you to put yourselves in danger. No amount of money is worth that. Maybe you should allow the Sheriff to handle this and let the chips fall where they may. Maeve would have set fire to everything she owned before seeing one of you hurt.”
Lena bit back a harsh laugh. It wasn’t Alistair’s fault that the ghosts of Maeve’s past were coming to haunt them, but she couldn’t deny the old wounds throbbed deep today after hearing Sasha say those words out loud.
Clyde molested me.
She shoved the memory from her mind with sheer, brute force. This was no time for an emotional breakdown. There was work to be done, or the wrongs of the past would only continue to hurt her family.
“I’ll keep that in mind, Alistair, thank you. But for now, if you can get me that information, to start.”
He sighed, clearly sensing her mind was made up. “Everything from before two thousand will be on paper and in archives. I don’t throw anything away, so it’s there…it will just take some time to get it all together. Eunice is anxious to head home before her program starts, so we’ll start digging tomorrow. This scenario isn’t something I’ve ever run into before, so it will also give me time to look into the laws on other potential financial ramifications if a civil suit is filed. I expect I’ll have some news for you in the next few days.”
“Thanks. Oh, one more thing,” Lena said, almost forgetting to ask the question she had told the others she was coming here to ask. “What are our options if one of us wanted to keep the house? Assuming we’re able to nip this Serina thing in the bud, Sasha is hoping to live there and start up a distillery in the barn. If you can maybe come up with some options for us, as far as splitting the equity but giving her some time to get the business up and running, potentially look into permits for her, and the like. Between her goals and Maggie taking the reins at The Luxe, we’re in over our heads with regard to how we can make it all work while not necessarily tying up all of Kate’s share for a super long time.”
“Your mama would be excited to hear all this, I think,” Alistair said with a fond smile. “Let’s make an appointment when I get back and the five of us can talk about it until we find a solution that works for everyone. And, in the interim, I’ll have Eunice pull some info on permits. Sound good?”
Lena nodded and picked up her purse, standing to go. “Excellent.” She smiled down at him. “You should know we appreciate all you’ve done for our family. Maeve valued your friendship, as well as your service.”
He nodded his thanks and she made her way out his office door and down the hall.
“See you soon, Eunice,” she called, tossing a wave at the older woman.
“Goodbye, Lena dear.”
When she stepped outside, the sun was going down, taking some of the edge off the oppressive heat. She paused for a second and sucked in a breath, trying to dislodge the tightness in her chest that had been there since last night.
Drinking and talking with her sisters had been cathartic, but it had also dragged up some feelings that she typically kept buried in the darkest corner of her mind, locked up tight.
Maybe that was what had kept her away for so long. Maybe it wasn’t residual anger at her mother, or not wanti
ng the stain of her checkered past to dirty her nice, pristine new life.
Maybe she was just a big, fat chicken.
She let out a sigh and jogged lightly down the steps, making her way across the postage stamp-sized parking lot. She sidled up to her rental car and frowned when she noticed another vehicle well over the yellow line into her space, forcing her to have to suck in to scoot past and slither into the driver’s seat.
She shot the beat-up Pinto a glare as she slid her keys into the ignition, but the man seated inside was too busy staring at his phone to notice her irritation.
Jerk.
She pulled out of the parking lot, already thinking ahead to the rest of her evening. She had some friends in the criminal justice department of the university. Maybe she could make some calls and get ahead of this a little more while Alistair got things together on his end.
She flicked on the radio in hopes of quieting the constant chatter in her brain, and had just found a station she liked when she glanced in her rearview mirror. Squinting, she saw what appeared to be the gray Pinto that had parked too close to her sedan in the distance behind her.
Probably a coincidence.
Although, why had it been in the parking lot in the first place? It wasn’t there when she’d arrived—she would have never parked so close. And Alistair and Eunice were the only people who worked in that office space…
She gripped the wheel tighter and stretched her tense neck and shoulders. She was making mountains out of molehills. And who could blame her if she was feeling a little paranoid? It had been a trying few days, after all.
As she continued the short drive back to the house, though, she found herself glancing behind her every so often. Each time, the Pinto was still behind her, never getting further than twenty yards out.
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