Page 80 of Dead Love

The flower shop had been in a horrible state. It made sense that Shea wouldn’t bother with coffee. I took a sip, and though it tasted a little sweet, I smiled at her.

“Thank you,” I said.

She beamed at me. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

Home was a bittersweet word. The hotel obviously wasn’t our home, but to Shea, home was a state of being. Home meant that I, her only child, was close to her. It meant safety. And while I didn’t feel the same way, it was all she had. In some ways, it was all I had, too.

My safe place didn’t exist anymore. Not really.

But had I ever really been safe?

As Shea took a shower, I turned on the television, flipping through the channels. I was never allowed to cable surf at home; Shea was the one who chose what we watched—but she didn’t seem to notice. It was as if those little things—controlling what shows I watched, how I dressed, who I spoke to—weren’t problems anymore. As long as I was simply there.

I stopped on a reporter’s image, her face filling the screen.

Sheriff Mike arrested the main suspect for the Echo murders,she said.At the time, the suspect’s name has not been released. The arrest interfered with the sheriff’s latest charity event to donate to Punica Little League, but his supporters are relieved, knowing that he brought peace to Acheron County once again. The same suspect is the abductor of his daughter, Kora Nova, who went missing after the Sheriff’s house was decimated in a fire. She’s been brought back to her mother, and though Mrs. Nova has refused to comment, the sheriff says that the family is happily reunited.

I scrunched my forehead. Why hadn’t I been interviewed myself? Had my mother and father not allowed it?

My father flashed on the screen.Our people can sleep comfortably tonight,he said,and that’s all you can ask.He rubbed a hand through his hair.Family means everything, and here in Acheron County, we are all family. We have to serve each other.

At first, I rolled my eyes in annoyance. My father had never wanted a family and had made that perfectly clear. He only wanted power. But then something made me stop: There was no way that Vincent had committed those murders. It wasn’t possible. And it’s not like I wanted to save Vincent, but—

Maybe I did.

If Vincent had helped me to realize what freedom was—even if it was a false sense of freedom—then maybe it was my job to help him. He might have deserved a lot of things, but years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, didn’t seem fair.

And I wanted this guilt in my stomach to go away. I needed to do something.

Shea returned to the room with a towel wrapped around her head and fresh clothes on. She stood in front of the sink, rubbing cream on her cheeks.

“I want to visit Dad,” I said. She continued smoothing her face. “At work.”

“Is this about your statement?” she asked. “We visited him yesterday. I don’t think he’ll have time for us.”

Those words made me crumble internally. Even Shea knew that he rarely had time for us.

“I want to try,” I said.

She breathed steadily, trying to concentrate. Her hands shook in the mirror. Once the cream was blended in, she turned to me.

“You just want to see your father?” she asked.

Did she think I wanted to sneak out or something? “Maybe I can go see him by myself,” I tried.

Her eyelids fluttered, but then she smiled, her teeth clenched.

“I agree. That’s a fantastic idea.”

The word ‘fantastic’ sounded strange coming from her mouth, but I couldn’t help myself from being excited.

“Really?”

“You need more responsibility. If that means going to the police station and visiting your father, then why not?” She shrugged her shoulders. “Besides, you’re going to be the new assistant manager once we open the store back up.”

“Assistant manager?” I repeated. “You realize that means I have to talk with customers, right?”

Despite the cream, her skin turned blotchy, but she smiled anyway and stroked my arm. We both knew that I could have done Nyla’s job ages ago, but my mother never wanted me to. Never wanted me to have contact with anyone else.