Chapter 14 - The Witness Called June
Mara refused to enter the house until Rowan checked every room. Her daughter, Iris, stayed pressed against her side, clutching the stuffed rabbit from the photograph.
“I don’t want my child near any of them,” Mara said.
“Near whom?” Andreas asked.
“Your father. My mother. Holt. Me.”
Elena reached for her. Mara hesitated, then placed two fingers in Elena's palm.
Elena closed her hand around them.
“She saved me,” Mara said. “And then she disappeared.”
“Where did you go?” Rowan asked.
“A shelter in Arizona. Then New Mexico. I changed names because Holt found every address I gave the police.”
“Why come back now?”
Mara looked at Andreas. “Because your mother was being hurt. I thought if I stayed away, the past would stay buried. I was wrong.”
June entered carrying coffee. Mara stared at her.
“You were there,” Mara said.
June stopped.
“At the fence,” Mara continued. “You saw me climb over.”
June set the coffee down. “I saw a girl running.”
“You saw Marina chasing me.”
“I heard shouting.”
“You saw me.”
June's eyes filled. “Your mother came to my house that night. She asked me to call an ambulance if she didn’t return.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Denton was watching my windows.”
Mara turned away.
“I’m sorry,” June said.
“Sorry is what people say when they want the past to leave them alone.”
June took a folded envelope from her coat. “I kept this.”
Inside was a receipt from a gas station dated the night Victor died. On the back, June had written the license plate of a white truck.
Rowan compared it to the photograph Cal had taken. It matched Denton Price's vehicle.
“Why didn’t you give this to police?” Andreas asked.
“I was afraid they would ask why I waited.”
“They will ask now.”
“I know.”
Mara told her story in fragments. Victor had found her in the shed and cut the lock. He had taken her to the fence, where Elena waited with a shovel. The shovel was not for a grave. Elena had dug beneath the fence to recover the metal box before Holt's men arrived.
“Your mother told me to take the memory card and run,” Mara said.
“Why didn’t she run with you?”
“She said someone had to stay.”
“She stayed for Dad.”
“She stayed for Leah.”
Andreas looked at his sister.
Mara nodded. “Leah came through the back door. She was crying. Victor grabbed her. Marina appeared behind him with a bottle of sedatives.”
Leah whispered, “I didn’t know what it was.”
“You knew enough to push him.”
“I was trying to get him away from Mom.”
“And after he fell?”
“Marina gave him the sedative. Holt’s man came through the gate. I ran.”
“Did Dad die that night?” Rowan asked.
Mara's face tightened. “No.”
Andreas stopped breathing.
“He was alive when I left. He was begging Marina to call an ambulance.”
“The coroner said he died at home.”
“He was alive when I crossed the tracks.”
“Then who let him die?”
Mara looked at Elena.
Elena picked up the letter board and spelled one word.
H O L T.
May you like
The house lights went out.
Outside, the fence gate began to swing open.
