Page 83

“I need to ask you something.”

“Okay,” she looked up at me with a smile on her face.

“I need you to be real with me, Storie.”

Her smile faded. She straightened up, pulling her legs underneath her.

“About what?”

“Did you kill Midnite?”

“What? No!”

She said it so loud I glanced toward the hallway.

“Keep your voice down.”

“Why would you ask me that?”

“Because I need an answer.”

“I just gave you one. No, Daddy. I didn’t kill that horse.”

I watched her rub her palms over her knees. She looked offended but I knew she was lying. It was all there in her eyes.

“You sure there ain’t something you need to tell me?”

“It was Kira. You know it was Kira.”

“I’m asking about you.”

“And I’m telling you I didn’t do it. You saw her coming from behind the house. She wasn’t even supposed to be here, remember? Then you found her earring. How did her earring get there if she didn’t do it?”

I remembered every fucking bit of it. I had carried that earring into Kira’s restaurant and put it on her desk. I hadn’t asked her to explain. I had already decided.

Storie was giving me the same reasons I had given Melody when she tried to question it.

“I loved Midnite,” she said. “You saw how upset I was. Dream was crying. We were both crying. I would never do something like that.”

I nodded once and reached for the door.

“Are you mad at me?”

“Finish your reading, Storie.”

I stepped into the hallway before she could ask me anything else.

For the first time since I had gone after Marceline’s, I felt bad about Kira. I had sent Bryce into those restaurants to destroy what she and her family built. Their employees had lost work. Their name had become something people laughed at online.

I had wanted all of that. I had enjoyed watching it happen.

There wasn’t a phone call I could make to undo it. Even if the doors reopened tomorrow, those videos would still be out there. People would still associate their food with mice and fucking roaches.

Kira had told me she didn’t do it. But I didn’t believe her.

I should’ve listened to Melody rather than jumping to conclusions. I fucked up and I needed to fix it. There had to be a way to fix it.

Then there was still the question of whether or not Storie was mine. I’d get a test done without her knowing. I didn’t even want to ask her if that letter were true.