“You put a pillow over my face.”
Even Chloe looked at him.
“What?”
Julian’s head snapped toward Mother.
“That never happened.”
Mother’s voice grew stronger.
“You said if I died in my sleep, everyone would call it natural.”
Sheriff Mercer signaled to the deputies.
They moved toward Julian.
He backed away.
“This is a misunderstanding.”
“You have the right to remain silent,” Mercer began.
Julian shoved one deputy and lunged toward the hallway.
He made it three steps.
The second deputy caught him, forced him against the wall, and secured his wrists.
Chloe began sobbing.
Not for Mother.
For herself.
“I didn’t know about the pillow,” she said. “I never agreed to murder.”
Julian twisted against the handcuffs.
“Shut up!”
Mercer ordered another deputy to detain Chloe.
As the cuffs closed around her wrists, she stared at me with naked hatred.
“This is your fault.”
I looked at my mother standing in the center of the house she had once filled with music, birthday cakes, and Sunday dinners.
