Page 71 of The Feud

“The first three letters were P-E-N. And I knew right then what it was for. I didn’t want to believe he could do something like that, and after all, he didn’t complete the prescription. He threw it away, so perhaps he’d had a change of heart. But I had to be sure, so I went through his desk. Buried deep in the back of the top drawer, I found the actual pad of blank prescriptions. I’m not sure how he got them, but I’m assuming he paid that doctor for the pad. I’m sure he would’ve thrown a pretty penny to get it. And I could see the indentations on the top piece where he’d written out the entire prescription for it. It was just three days ago.”

“Jesus fuck,” I rasp, feeling nauseated. “And I’m the one who gave her permission to stay the night here. He had access to her.”

The guilt is oppressive and I want to vomit.

After I murder Lionel Mardraggon.

“I called the police right then and there. Didn’t even hesitate.”

That shakes me out of my funk and my gaze lifts to his. He might not have hesitated, but he looks tortured.

My tone is soft, gracious. “You did the right thing, Gabe.”

He nods ever so slightly. He looks broken.

I can’t say I’m sorry, but I keep that to myself. They deserve every bit of misery heaped upon them, although I’m slightly empathetic to his plight. “Thank you, Gabe.”

His expression turns ice cold, his tone no longer defeated. A chill runs up my spine when he says, “Don’t thank me. I hate your family now more than ever. If you’d have kept your fucking hands off my sister, none of this would have happened.”

He’s not wrong about that but I feel compelled to point out, “And you wouldn’t have Sylvie.”

“And my dad wouldn’t be going to prison for the rest of his life,” he hisses.

I stare at Gabe, wondering where his loyalties really lie… with Sylvie or his father. Maybe it was a burst of conscience that compelled him to go to the police, but right now he’s more livid over his father going to jail than acknowledging the beauty of a niece who I know he loves.

Or maybe he’ll end up resenting her the way he does me.

If that’s even a slight possibility, I don’t know that I can trust Gabe around Sylvie.

Without another word, I nod at him and spin on my foot. I head to my truck and pull out of the driveway without a backward glance.

CHAPTER 25

Marcie

I pull aside the sheer curtains on the living room window and look out at the street, willing Ethan’s truck to come into view.

“Marcie, please tell me what’s going on,” Sylvie says, not for the first time since I brought her to my house. She was still upstairs showering when Ethan walked into their kitchen with such a look of torture on his face, I thought someone had died.

He then proceeded to tell me and his mom what was going on in as succinct a way as possible without opening the door for more questions. He turned to me and said, “My attorney is on the way as well as the crime technicians from the sheriff’s department. Can you take Sylvie to your house? I don’t want her here while they’re searching.”

“Of course,” I replied without hesitation. “What are we going to tell her?”

Ethan cursed, paced around the kitchen and looked helplessly at his mom for advice. She shook her head.

He then looked to me. “You know kids best.”

I’m not sure if that’s accurate but he needed guidance. “She eventually needs to know the truth, but I think it would be too upsetting for her to know the police are searching your house, even if they suspect Lionel. I think it would make her feel very insecure. My suggestion is you just tell her something serious has happened, that everyone in the family is safe and okay and she’s completely safe, but we need to hang out at my house for a little bit. Promise her she’ll get the full truth later today.”

Ethan nodded effusively, not because it was the best plan but because he couldn’t confidently come up with his own. I have no clue if it’s right or not, but we enacted it. He went up to talk to his daughter and we were back downstairs within ten minutes, Sylvie with her backpack over her shoulder and her hair still damp from her shower.

She looked neither frightened nor affronted that she was being asked to leave without any real knowledge as to why. Ethan hugged her and said, “Thank you for trusting me on this. We’ll talk later today and I’ll tell you everything.”

And she was okay with that.

For about two hours. And then she started pelting me with questions.

“What’s going on?”

---