Meanwhile, Charlie suffered the indignity of it all, as Vince slept with a young pretty girl and probably enjoyed it. It must’ve been hell, all of it.
And my cousin, my poor, brave, beautiful cousin, she fucked Vince. She tried to get pregnant. And she failed.
I want to throw up.
She lied to me for so long. She sounded happy whenever she called like her secret boyfriend was taking good care of her. She even bragged about him being a part of the Manzini mafia—like that was a good thing. And now small things begin to make sense: the way she dodged any details about the guy, the way she refused to say his name, the way she was quick to get off the phone if I started asking too many questions.
She was terrified. And she was desperately trying to fool me and maybe herself into thinking she was happy.
God, Riley, why wouldn’t you just tell me the truth? Would you have really understood back then, girlie? Little West Virginia Gracie never would’ve gotten it, you know that, come on. I hate that my mind-Riley’s right. I hate that she kept it from me to protect us both.
“That’s how I knew you early on,” Charlie says, wiping her face. “I mean, that’s why I wanted to get closer to you, because I realized you were Riley’s cousin the second we first met. It wasn’t until later when you were talking about how your cousin was dead that I understood what happened. Vince told me Riley left town, that he paid her off and she went back home to West Virginia, but that’s not what really went down, is it? He killed her, Grace, my husband murdered Riley because she knew too much, because he used to fuck her and couldn’t get her pregnant, and so he made her disappear like she was nothing. But she wasn’t nothing, she was a nice girl.” She’s shaking, trembling with rage, and I’m trying to process what she’s saying, but it’s impossible.
“How do you know it was Vince?” Calvino, my Calvino, so strong when everyone else is falling apart.
“I can’t be sure. It feels like forever ago, but I do remember Vince complaining about Riley a few times, saying she was asking for more money even after we’d moved on to something else. But he never acted like it was… like it was worth killing her.” She stares at me, tears running down her face, and I don’t know if I want to hit her or hug her or run away and hide in the bathroom. “I’m so, so sorry, Grace. I should’ve told you sooner but I didn’t know how. It’s so terrible, so fucked up, and I don’t know what I’m going to do. My husband’s a killer, and I’m just… I’m so scared.”
And all at once, I know what’s right. I know what’s important and what I need to do. It hits me like a revelation, like a spotlight shining from the clouds and it hurts so bad, so fucking bad, but I know I can’t turn away just because it’s hard.
That’s right, girlie. I’m gone, I’m gone and I’m not coming back. So what if I got mixed up with some bad people? I wanted to live my dream. I went for it. I failed, but at least I tried. Now what are you gonna do, let this poor girl suffer for something her husband did? The Riley in my head smiles at me, and it feels like she’s fading a bit, getting more indistinct. I want to keep her around forever but I know that’s impossible, Riley can’t be with me, not really.
“We’ll help you,” I say, nodding once to myself for strength, and Calvino doesn’t look like he agrees. But I push on anyway. “We can help you, but we need your help in return. You need to swear to tell us everything you know about the night Calvino’s parents died.”
Charlie turns pale. She blinks rapidly and the tears keep falling, but she wipes them away. “Why would I know anything about that?” But it’s obvious she’s lying.
“We know you were there. Please, Charlie, this is so important. We need to know what happened to Calvino’s parents.” I glance at him and he’s stone-faced and troubled, but I know this is right. Charlie’s the key to everything and she needs our help.
I could be angry. I could rage at her and yell and scream, but it wouldn’t bring Riley back and it would only damn poor Charlie to more suffering. She’s been through enough and I won’t sit back and let Vince claim another innocent woman just because she’s married to the wrong man. I won’t do it, I can’t stomach it, and I’ll fight and struggle and push to fix the mistakes of the past by doing better in the present.