I had asked him how long it took before he found out that couple had died and he said, “Too late to own up to it. Once Dad got involved, I could have screamed it from the steps of the courthouse and no one would have listened to me.”
Anyone not directly related to Randall Everett would have called bullshit on that answer, saying it’s never too late, but I knew what he meant. Our father had fixed it before Silas was even sober. He had Ben on board as an alibi and basically threatened Margaret within an inch of her life if she ever spoke of it. He had the chief of police willing to look the other way. All within hours of that accident.
He is a force that we have never been able to withstand.
In that long-overdue phone call, I realized I’ve never had the distance with my family that I believed. Ben has been connected to Dad and Silas in ways I never understood. By covering for Silas, he secured his place in one of the most powerful families in south Louisiana.
And he wasn’t the only one. Margaret secured her place that night too.
Silas told me to go back and wait in St. Francisville until it was time to meet Aubrey. He was insistent that I let her finish the day out as me, not to alert her to what happened with Ben. Aubrey is the unknown in this scenario, and neither of us wants her to know Ben busted me and discovered she’s here, pretending to be me.
I thought about going back to my room at the inn but I felt claustrophobic just thinking about it. I would climb those walls while I waited for the clock to count down to midnight.
So I’ve been following Aubrey at a distance from stop to stop. She’s just finished dinner and was supposed to go to a nice bar where she would have a cocktail until it was time to meet me back at the gas station but somehow she’s found herself at some run-down honky-tonk.
“Why are you stopping here?” I ask aloud, and park at the edge of the lot, near the road, and watch her hobble into the bar. She definitely should have practiced walking in the heels. I think I put too much emphasis on the wrong “be me” part. I should have been more worried abouther unsteadiness in those heels than about her ordering my drink of choice.
Aubrey disappears inside and I throw the Honda in park. My stomach is in knots while I wait for this night to be over. Silas was going to go to my house and talk to Ben but I haven’t heard from him yet and that’s got me really nervous. I can’t imagine that conversation went well at all. And I don’t want to think about what the days ahead will be like when I have to deal with Ben.
But that’s an issue for tomorrow. There’s a little more than an hour before I change cars with Aubrey and so I’m not thinking about anything other than that until then.
This bar has a steady flow of traffic. I’m watching everyone come and go when someone familiar catches my eye.
“What in the hell!”
My hand slides around the passenger seat until I feel the burner phone. I tap the last number I called, watching Silas’s reaction when he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulls it out while scanning the lot.
“Please tell me you’re not here right now,” he says.
“Me! You’re the one who shouldn’t be here!”
I can tell the minute he spots me. When I spoke to him earlier, I spared no detail, telling him everything from the old beater of a car I bought to Aubrey’s full schedule. Silas ends the call as he walks toward me. He slides into the passenger seat and we stare at each other. It’s only been a few weeks since we’ve seen each other but so much has changed since then.
So many secrets between us. So many lies. But down deep, we know we’re the only ones who will truly know what it’s like to have Randall Everett as a parent.
“What are you doing here?” he asks.
“I couldn’t go back to the inn. I’m a nervous wreck. Aubrey hasn’t spotted me.” I may be two years older than him but I am forever the little girl who will always try to follow orders, afraid to let anyone down. “What did Ben say?”
His jaw clenches. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to him. I knocked but he never answered.” Silas just shrugs. “He was either gone or he was avoiding me. But he can’t hide from me forever.”
The one thing I left out when I spoke to Silas earlier is Ben’s plan to go to Foster’s, mainly because I was scared about what Silas would do if he followed Ben there.
“Then why are you here?” I ask.
He nods toward the bar. “Got to the restaurant you said she’d be at right as she was leaving. Followed her here. Was giving her a minute to get settled before I went in.”
“But why?”
“I’m worried that whoever sent Ben that pic of her shopping earlier is still around. I thought I’d come by and make sure everything was okay. She shouldn’t be involved in this. Not after everything she’s gone through.” He ducks his head like he’s embarrassed.
“She wanted to do this. It was her idea actually. She’s a lot tougher than you think.”
He gives me a sad smile. “I’m sure she is.”
Twisting around in my seat so I can look at him more closely, I ask, “Did you know Margaret was going to see Ben today?”
“No. She shouldn’t have done that. I told her I was going to handle this.”
