She was beginning to raise her voice and cops were turning and looking over at us. An older detective came over and ushered us into a small questioning room.
“Where’s my mother? I want to see her right now,” Patience demanded.
The detective looked at her with sad eyes and I knew right away he was about to give her awful news.
“Ma’am, your mother never made it to the station. When we saw the state she was in, we called in an ambulance to have her taken to the local hospital instead. But she never made it to the hospital. I’m sad to tell you she died in the ambulance.”
I reached out and pulled Patience to me as soon as he said those words, but she pulled away from me and slapped me hard across the face. She looked at me like I was an intruder, like I wasn’t the man she was in love with, and my heart broke. I understood she was upset and I needed to let her grieve the death of her parents, but still, it hurt like hell.
She turned back to the detective.
“I killed my father! Do you hear me? I killed him. That bastard sexually molested me all my life and I wasn’t about to let him do it to my little sister. Arrest me, damn it! Arrest me!” She was crying hysterically.
The detective calmly sat her down in the chair and handed her a tissue.
“Miss Phillips, this is off the record. I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. It’s in the books that your mother killed your father and the case has been closed. If what you say is true, then the bastard deserved to die. Let’s not ruin your life because you were protecting yourself and your sister. I can keep a secret if you can.
With luck that I didn’t know we had, Patience and I walked out of the police station and weren’t sentenced to life in prison, thanks to the detective who decided to turn his head.
He was right. There was no need for Patience to ruin her life over that asshole, especially when the blame had already been set and her mother had already passed.
When we got back to my apartment, I followed behind Patience and shut the front door. For the first time since I’d told her about her mother’s confession, she turned and acknowledged me.
“I’m going to go be with my sister. Stay away from me, Zeke. We’re over.”
She didn’t even look me in the eyes, and just like that, Patience had killed twice in less the twenty-four hours. I was sure my heart had stopped and I was positive I was dying as she walked away from me, went into my bedroom, and shut the door behind her.
Twenty-Six
Patience
Three days later, my mother was buried at a private burial. Sydney stood beside me and held my hand as we watched them lower her pretty pink coffin into the ground. I felt numb inside. I couldn’t cry even though the tears were choking me. Her death was expected, but I’d hoped she would die warm in bed at home.
As for my father, I ordered that he be cremated and his ashes spread over the Atlantic. He didn’t deserve that much, but since the news stations were making a big deal out of everything, I figured it would draw more attention if I didn’t do at least that. Had it not been for the reporters, I would’ve left his ass on ice in the morgue.
They both had life insurance on them, but I couldn’t touch it until I was twenty-one. My Aunt Sarah in Florida had custody over Sydney and even though I called her and begged her to let Sydney stay with me, she refused and I had to pack my sister up and send her to Florida. It was the hardest thing for me to do. I’d spent years protecting her and there I was, sending her off to live with a stranger.
I promised her once all was settled with our parents’ possessions and properties, I’d move to Florida, too, and I would. I wanted to get the hell out of this town and leave everything behind, everything including Zeke.
I couldn’t get past that fact that he’d allowed my mother to take the blame for my father’s murder. I couldn’t let it go that he was the reason she died in the back of an ambulance and that Sydney and I didn’t get to say a proper good-bye. I loved him, but I hated him for doing that to me.
He called continuously and texted constantly until finally I had my number changed. I didn’t want to hear his voice. I didn’t want to talk to him. I just wanted everything to go away.
I was now able to drive the gray Toyota, so I drove over to Megan’s to tell her good-bye before I left for Florida.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she said as she hugged me tightly.
I told her the truth about everything. I wasn’t worried about her telling people. She agreed that my father deserved what he got, but what she didn’t agree with was my decision to leave Zeke.