Her head jerked up and I heard Aubrey gasp. “Dad?” Lynn asked. “What do you mean, keep Dad?” She jumped to her feet and began to pace. “Please tell me that he’s not here.”
“He’s here, but not in the way you think.”
I pointed to the bars on the windows and the industrial locks on the doors. “I brought him here after he started harassing you, when he broke into your apartment. I wanted him to be out of the way.”
“But Dad is dead.”
“Well, he is now, but he wasn’t then. He stayed here for a short while.”
She sat down, folding her legs beneath her. “I never believed you killed him.”
I huffed out a breath. “I kind of did.” I swiped a hand down my face. I was exhausted, and the hours spent during questioning were finally starting to catch up to me.
“What do you mean?” She leaned forward, waiting for me to tell her the story.
“I kept him here for a few weeks. I wanted him where he couldn’t hurt anybody.”
“Go on,” she encouraged.
“He was here for about five weeks, but then one day when I came to bring him food and supplies, he overpowered me at the door. He ran. I chased him as far as the bridge a few miles away. Then he had this great idea to jump from the bridge into the water, but he hadn’t taken into account that it had been raining for days and the water was already high from the run-offs. He got caught in the current of the stream, and he didn’t make it.”
“He didn’t make it?”
“He didn’t make it to the shore. He hit his head on a rock. I found his body a few days later, floating face-down in the stream. I buried him in the woods.”
“That was more than he deserved,” Lynn spat out.
“Jesus, you people are cut-throat,” Aubrey said, her mouth hanging open.
“He was evil,” Lynn countered. He’d done unspeakable things to Lynn, and he was the reason she had suffered so many years of her life. He was the reason her personalities had split. He had done it. He had caused it.
Lynn came to sit next to me on the couch. “I’m sorry,” I said.
She looked surprised. “I’ve never heard you say that before.”
“I’ve never felt it before. But about him, I am truly sorry.”
“I’m sorry you felt like you had to bury him all by yourself. I wish I’d been someone you could have asked for help.”
I’d spent most of my life taking care of Lynn. It was my purpose. This wasn’t any different.
“I wish I’d been stronger,” Lynn said.
“You’re one of the strongest people I know,” I insisted. And I meant it.
“One day, I might ask you to take me to his grave. Will you show it to me if I do?”
I nodded. “Sure. I’ll take you now if you want to go.”
She shook her head. “No. I’m not ready right now.”
“Okay.” I would wait until she was ready. No more secrets, not about that. My soul felt lighter than it had in years.
The crunch of gravel in the driveway made Lynn jump to her feet. She walked to the window and pulled the curtain back so she could peek outside. “He’s here,” she said. She got a dreamy look on her face, the kind where I could almost see little heart bubbles erupting around her eyes. She motioned for Aubrey to get up. “It’s time for us to go.”
Aubrey got up, and they both hugged me, one after the other. Aubrey reached into her purse and pulled out a friendship bracelet. “I finished it for you,” she whispered. She winked at me and pulled me into another hug. I shoved it into my pocket just as they walked out the door.
“Call me later!” Lynn yelled before she got into her car. And then they were gone.